Hot Success Formula

“Top 10 Distinctions between Entrepreneurs and Employees” by Keith Cameron Smith

Lets get a clear picture…why some people make it in their own business, and why others dont.
Go ahead…examine yourself.

1. Entrepreneurs educate themselves more than they entertain themselves. Employees entertain themselves more than they educate themselves. What are you doing daily to educate yourself? What is the habit to adopt? Commit and get an accountability partner.

2. Entrepreneurs have an empowering perspective of failure. Employees see failure as bad. Fall in love with mistakes…for they are merely learning experiences. Never get down…just move on. “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” Robert Kennedy

3. Entrepreneurs are solution finders. Employees are problem solvers.
Never raise a problem without having possible solutions. Never whine; only win.

4. Entrepreneurs know a little about a lot. Employees know a lot about a little.
Do not become an expert on anyone thing. Hire experts around you and become well-rounded.

5. Entrepreneurs give and receive praise and correction. Employees don’t praise and try to avoid correction. Fall in love with feedback; what is feedback? Have a heart of appreciation…for all things.

6. Entrepreneurs say “The buck stops here.” Employees say “It’s not my fault.”
Personal Responsibility is a character of Compassionate Samurai. Being a Victim robs you of any effectiveness…but you know what you get? You get to be right!

7. Entrepreneurs build wealth. Employees make money. Build an asset… Leverage off others. You have a choice…you either make others dreams come true or make your own.

8. Entrepreneurs fly with eagles. Employees peck around with chickens. Surround yourself with winners! Your environment is incredibly important. Sorting is critical. Don’t discard people; help those who help themselves.

9. Entrepreneurs look into the future. Employees look into the past. Keep your eyes on the goal. You can not change the past. Don’t let it control your future. Focus on the problems and they will continue happening “As a Man Thinketh…”

10. Entrepreneurs take risks because of faith. Employees play it safe because of fear.
“Better safe than sorry” WRONG! Take risks. Winners take risks…why? No fear.

What will your eulogy be?
—I had a good life.
—I had an incredible life of continuous contribution, living my core values daily because I truly believed anything was possible.

“There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why…I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” Robert Kennedy.

You want to become more successful? Post these …and start making those changes.

My friend Joe and I went to the Santa Monica Promenade yesterday to conduct a simple survey. I posted the results of our 2- hour walk and talk. We started out by asking…
Would you be willing to participate in a quick survey about the economy?

We were curious to see how many people would get involved in our number-one issue here in America. We came up with the following….

NO…I do not want to participate in a quick survey about the economy…..22
YES…I want to participate in a quick survey about our economy……8

So out of 30 people we approached, only 8 (37 percent) were willing to take the time to particpate. We were not aggressive in our approach, nor did we chase down those in a hurry. These were people strolling down the mall or relaxing on a comfortable bench. We emphasized a “quick” or “2 minute” survey to let people know we are not asking much of their time. The following questions were asked….to our 8 willing participants:

1. How do you feel about your current job?
88 %…did not like their current job

2. How do you feel about the health care your job offers you?
100%…were not happy with their current health care

3. Do you think there is a solution to these problems (job/health care)?
100 %…think there is a solution

4. If you could change things in your life, would you?
88%…would change things in their life

5. What do you think about being your own boss?
75%…would like to be their own boss

6. What do you think is a good salary and why?
89%…$300-400 a day (average), 12%…$800 or more per day

7. Do you think that health care can exist without insurance?
100%…No, healthcare cannot exist without insurance

8. How many hours a week would they be willing to work to make a good salary?
75%…would be willing to work about 40 hours per week…to make a good salary.

9. What in your opinion is a reasonable start-up cost for your own business?
100%…$500-1000 is a reasonable start-up cost for your own business

The survey revealed that over 75 percent of our participants
……..were not happy with their current job or health care coverage.
……..are willing to make a change in their lives.
……..are open to other opportunities.
……..would enjoy having their own business
……..believe start-up costs should be reasonable in the $500-1000 dollar range.

Times are changing and people want MORE CONTROL of their lives. They show a strong interest in building their own business. With this kind of momentum taking place, do we really need more government control? An interesting conversation we had with 2 gentlemen from Europe…working for the airlines…Air France. They believe life in America is more difficult. But with economic HARDSHIPS, more ENTREPRENEURS are born. They expressed that with MORE GOVERNMENT CONTROL comes laziness, and a declining incentive to build empires and create legacies. Something to think about…

We will conduct weekly surveys and record the trends…as we head into fall and winter, and the economy recovers…as the experts, the government and the media keep telling us.

In today’s economy, many return home to start a business. SEE THE ABC NEWS VIDEO…..on what to consider before embarking on a home based business….

The following TIPS were given:

EVALUATE YOUR OWN WORK PERSONALITY…

Not everyone is cut out to be their own boss, so you should take an analysis of your own personality. Its wonderful going to work in your bathrobe with a coffee in your hand, and not having to fight the traffic. But…Are you a self starter? Can you work well on your own…or do you NEED a lot of personal interaction with others?

NEED A PERMIT OR LICENSE…

Some municipalities may require you to get a city and state permit or license, depending on the type of business you have. Check with your neighborhood, apartment or condo association if they permit such a business. Why are some home-businesses not allowed? One concern is…strangers coming in and out of your house, or condo area. The association may not allow this kind of public traffic.

YOUR HOME-OWNERS POLICY

Does your home-owners insurance cover your home-based business? It depends on the type of business. If it requires insurance, your present policy may not cover business related equipment. In the event of a fire or other disaster….you may not be protected. Anotherr huge consideration is…..inventory, client files, or clients coming into your home and there is a slip or a fall.

You need to check with your home owners policy to see if you’re covered. In some cases all you need is adding a writer to your existing home owners policy, depending on your provider.

ESTABLISH PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS PRACTICES…

Separate your personal expenses from your business expenses. Separate your personal income from your business income. Set up a book keeping system…..using software products. There are many great on-line tools for you to get professional advice. And don’t be too cheap…get a professional looking website, and email marketing campaign program. The support is out there…many available with a 24/7 help desk.

CONSIDER SECURITY…..

When starting a home-based business, you may be home alone. So consider getting a PO BOX instead of using a home address.

SET UP A BUSINESS-LIKE WORK ENVIRONMENT…

You need to set up a professional area in your home. This should be dedicated for your home-based business where you have your computer and all work tools that you need. Its gotta be off limits to the rest of your household. And yes, a home office deduction is available from the IRS.

COMMIT TO YOUR SUCCESS….

There are many distractions…laundry, personal errands, TV, etc. These can take you down. The day is over quickly, and your distractions will burn up precious hours…you need SELF-DISCIPLINE. Working at home is more difficult than having a JOB. Keep this in mind…you got to treat it like a JOB. Otherwise you will fail.

OTHER QUESTIONS THAT CAME UP IN THE INTERVIEW….

HOW DO YOU RETAIN EXISTING CLIENTS, WHILE GETTING NEW CLIENTS IN THIS ECONOMY?

Remember the 80-20 Rule……80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your clients. So look at those clients that give you the most value, your most loyal clients. Make sure that they are getting value from your business. Stay in constant communication with your clients..don’t ignore them. Use an email marketing campaign service…providing them with EXTRA VALUE, and EXTRA INFORMATION.

Offer them incentives…to refer business to you. It may be a discount on a future project, or some other type of loyalty program. Give them a reason to want them to refer you. You are focusing on their needs, and engaging them in helping you build your business.

WHEN SHOULD A COMPANY WORRY ABOUT NOT TURNING A PROFIT ?

Times are tough. If you’re breaking even…its certainly not a bad thing. But what are you doing to grow your business? Are you taking your business to the next level? Are you investing in new technology, and marketing progams? Constantly re-evaluate your present business practice, and how to make it more profitable.

WHAT IS AN ECONOMICAL WAY TO MARKET MY BUSINESS?

There are many marketing tools available…the simplest being word of mouth, referrals, etc. But you also need to be a fan of networking….on 2 levels.

1. On the internet, using social media ….twitter, facebook, to gain new clients.
2. Face-to-face networking, especially …you need to get out there and get that personal connection

Remember, networking is not prospecting…..its about BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS. So get comfortable doing a lot of networking…and be creative. You can put up flyers at designated areas and businesses. But you MUST KNOW…where your customer is, who your customer is, and where can you reach that customer best. Other great places are networking in coffee shops, or partnering up with a local business that caters to your type of client.

The above notes were taken from the video interview. AGAIN, depending on the type of business you have, you can avoid some above-mentioned pitfalls. For that reason, I choose the NETWORK MARKETING INDUSTRY. After all, the goal is to build for a BETTER lifestyle, with MORE freedom and FUTURE residual income. So pick your business carefully…

.

There are a couple of very interesting applications/games inside of Facebook that are excellent for teaching economics and business skills, and those are Zynga’s FarmTown and SlashKey’s FarmVille. If I were an economics teacher, I would make all my students play for the duration of their time with me and to see what they learn in business skills. The games can also develop critical thinking skills in children.

Both games work on the principle that you are given little plots of land that you can work, design and build. Although you can use real money to purchase game coins or dollars to buy some things for your land, nothing will move you up in the ranks except working your farm. FarmTown offers the additional benefit of being able to work other farms for coins and experience points. It’s the experience points that send you up the ladder, and the coins you can gather in won’t change that. FarmVille, a newer game, has yet to be interactive. You can visit other farms, but you can’t harvest or plow them like you can in FarmTown.

FarmTown allows you to go to the market and hire yourself out for work. How much you want to work will determine how fast you can have the coins to expand your farm to the current largest size.

Both games start you off with a little coinage and the ability to plow a few plots and buy some seed. But how do you determine which seed will put money in your pocket fastest? When you’re just starting out, a 4-day crop is a bad idea. Raspberries are harvested in 2 hours and grapes in 4, and the experience points for sowing and plowing rack up fast. If you’ve planted a 4-day crop, you’re sitting on your hands.

These are terrific business skills to learn. How much does it cost to invest in a seed, to plow each plot, and what is the ROI? What gives the best ROI in the shortest amount of time? How can you expand your farm without going broke?

I would have a contest with my students to see who could get the furthest in the game by the end of the term. Each student would also be required to make all the classmates their neighbor so they can gift things and also visit each others farms to harvest and plow for them. The leaders will rise to the challenge immediately.

FarmVille, besides not being as interactive, has a different, more realistic factor, in that if you don’t harvest your crops in a timely fashion, they waste away, and you’ve lost your time, money and effort.

FarmTown is more addictive of the two games because there is a frenzy to constantly find work to get coins and points. People will play the game but how does that translate into real life? Pineapples pay the best to harvest and raspberries the least, but when someone hires you to work on their farm, you have no idea what crops await you or if you’ve been called to plow. You do the job, thank the person, and you’re off to your own farm again or back in the market looking for work.

FarmTown also has the benefit of not only being a game but also a social networking site. You get to know other farmers, you become buddies with them, and eventually you learn about them on a personal level. I’d rather do FarmTown than Twitter any day. I have yet to see real value in Twitter.

In my opinion, FarmTown is one of the best social networking programs out there, along with teaching excellent business skills. Check them out on Facebook.

Whether you are selling a product, or buying that product, you want maximum protection for many obvious reasons. As a business owner, you want to give your customers maximum assurance. As a consumer, aiming to improve your health, you want to swallow that vitamin…knowing it will not harm you. In today’s world, you can take on that responsibility yourself. The first thing to do is…check to see if your company is at the “Good Manufacturing Practices” standards. This will give your company a great reputation.

GMPs impact all aspects of your product realization:

* Development
* Manufacturing and evaluation
* Storage and distribution
* Process recordkeeping
* Sanitation and cleanliness
* Equipment qualification and process controls
* Customer complaint handling

At a higher level, for even greater protection…let me introduce you to NSF International.

NSF International, The Public Health and Safety Company™, a non-profit, non-governmental organization, is the world leader in standards development, product certification, education, and risk-management for public health and safety. For 60 years, NSF has been committed to public health, safety, and protection of the environment. While focusing on food, water, indoor air, and the environment, NSF develops national standards, provides learning opportunities through its Center for Public Health Education, and provides third-party conformity assessment services while representing the interests of all stakeholders. The primary stakeholder groups include industry, the regulatory community, and the public at large.

NSF is widely recognized for its scientific and technical expertise in the health and environmental sciences. Its professional staff includes engineers, chemists, toxicologists, and environmental health professionals with broad experience both in public and private organizations.

NSF has earned the Collaborating Center designations by the World Health Organization (WHO) for Food and Water Safety and Indoor Environment.

Serving manufacturers operating in more than 80 countries, NSF was founded in 1944 and is based in Ann Arbor, MI USA. The NSF Mark is recognized for its value in international trade around the world and is respected by regulatory agencies at the local, state, and federal levels.

Your confidence in products can further be ensured by the fact that a growing number of them have been certified by NSF International. Now, a leader in dietary supplement certification, NSF is acting as an independent, third-party organization that develops standards and certifies products worldwide. It has a comprehensive program for product testing and manufacturing evaluation, helping ensure that supplements and ingredients are labeled accurately and do not contain any adulterants or contaminants. So with that in mind, and to eliminate the competition, look for a company who has a growing list of products that have received NSF Certification to date, which feature the NSF logo on their labels.

The bottom line? You should be looking for high standards-so you can be sure that your products are of the highest quality.

So check your label again. Examine your company for GMP and NSF certification. And see if the company you are doing business with…is doing all it can to protect you. As a business owner, its all about your reputation and how to serve others best. As a consumer…its much more than that!!

For more information click here…NSF International website

Does your company have NSF certification?…Search For NSF-Certified Products

A friend of mine sent me the following information…and I thought, if it can help just ONE PERSON, it would be totally worth it. Its all about protecting yourself…I really like the advice on contacting the credit bureaus (….see no. 7). Read it and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday yourself. Maybe we should all take some of his advice! A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company.

1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put ‘PHOTO ID REQUIRED.’

2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the ‘For’ line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won’t have access to it.

3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.

4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel.. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We’ve all heard horror stories about fraud that’s committed on us in stealing a Name, Address, Social Security number, or credit cards.

Unfortunately, this attorney has first hand knowledge because his wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change his driving record information online, and more.

HERE IS SOME CRITICAL INFORMATION TO LIMIT THE DAMAGE IN CASE THIS HAPPENS TO YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW:

5. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately.. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

6. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

BUT HERE IS WHAT IS PERHAPS MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL: (I never even thought to do this.)

7. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number. The attorney had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell him an application for credit was made over the internet in his name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

By the time he was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves’ purchases, none of which he knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw his wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, if it has been stolen:

1.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285

4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271

We pass along jokes on the Internet; we pass along just about everything. I just put a fraud alert on my name over the phone, using only the Equifax 800-number, and they extended the alert to the other companies automatically. It took all of 5 minutes!!

PASS THIS INFORMATION ALONG…IT COULD HELP SOMEONE THAT YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT.

There are so many business opportunities out there. How do you choose one company from the next? First of all, you want to make money. So you want to look at companies that are addressing the needs of people, present day and far into the future.

For starters lets ask some questions that can help choose a secure opportunity out there. Every company will have either a product or service they are selling. Forget for the moment, what you want. Thats right. If you want to be successful, you need to serve others FIRST.

Lets begin our questions to see what can guide us to better servicing others TODAY and in the FUTURE. Regarding the company’s product or service….


Is there a true demand for it?

Is it recognized or even taught at the highest education levels in today’s society?

Be as objective as you can. This is the secret to real success. You want to serve others first,
not yourself. Now that being said…if you have done your homework, and you have chosen the company…based on the above questions…you are better off than most.

NOW…If you have filtered many companies through the above questionaires, and you are down to 2 or 3 finalists, you can look at yourself and ask the following questions…


Can I personally benefit from this product / service every day?

Does this company give me a renewed sense of purpose…in my life, in my being,
and am I truly excited about sharing this passion…to the world?

Now you have something that will carry you through from day 1 untill you can say ‘good-bye’ to your JOB (just over broke) and hello to…your dreams coming true. If it becomes a ‘calling in your life’ to serve others through this product or service, you will become successful. Because you will go through the fire…before coming out the other side…to a ‘golden nugget.’

Keep in mind, your destination and how successful you become, is ultimately up to YOU…not your team, or your upline, or even your company. Understand from the start of this race…you are developing yourself into an entrepreneur and you will become unstoppable….if you take on full responsibility for yourself, and avoid the ‘blaming-others’ game. Because true winners become true leaders…and others will follow YOU, not the other way around.

This past week my partner and I played some with Twitter, based on a Perry Belcher seminar we listened to. We are not big Twitter fans and don’t really see the value to it. Can you sell things there? Can you make a living off of your followers on Twitter? What is the reality of Twitter?

Followers on Twitter come and go, and follower counts rise and fall like the tides, and eventually they fall completely. But who is really listening? We worked for a few days to get the follower count over 500, but then what? Whenever we posted something, it disappeared quickly in the onslaught of other posts by the other 500 people we were following. So who would see the things?

I am actually following some people I am very interested in, including actress Elizabeth Taylor, who on Twitter is DameElizabeth. Do I ever see her posts? Never. If I want to know what’s going on with her, I have to search on her name and read it? Why? I have to be at my computer at the exact time she posts to see it, or it her post is buried immediately in that non-stop tidal wave. Tsunami of micro-blogging. Certainly if she were selling something, I would never know it because I would never see it.

So when Perry Belcher talks about his 100,000 followers, and I am one of them, I want you to know I haven’t seen a Perry Belcher Twitter for days – and believe me, he’s tweeting!

What I do see a ton of is that almost everyone is selling something, shoving it down your throat, completely missing what attraction marketing is all about. But can I mention Mike Dillard there? Well, I have… and my micro-blog is one of the millions that get posted…

Is it a productive place to do business among the melee trying to sell something? Personally, I don’t think so… but the jury is still out.

This appeared in yesterday’s news:

DEAR ABBY: How does a person find direction? Career counselors have told me that I need “direction,” but they never tell me how to go about getting it.

I’m in my late 20s with two degrees and no specific job skills. I have had a few crummy jobs. I’m not afraid of hard work, but I don’t know what sort of job I should be seeking.

I spent 10 years trying the touchy-feely “just follow your dreams” approach. Well, my dreams are to be financially independent and have a meaningful personal and intellectual life!

Is there another approach? How do I find a job that fits me? Perfect would be great, but at this point, I’m just shooting for good enough. — UNDIRECTED IN NEW JERSEY

DEAR UNDIRECTED: The career counselors you consulted should have given you enough direction that it stimulated your thinking about ways to apply the knowledge you have worked so hard to earn. With their help you should have been able to identify some area of the profession you prepared for that would enable you to be financially independent. Because that didn’t happen, I recommend you look further for career counseling because it appears the ones you consulted did a poor job.

***********************

It’s too bad Dear Abby didn’t point the person to Network Marketing as a way to become financially independent. However, even if she had, would this be the person you would want on your team? Let’s look at what’s going on:

1. He says he wants to be financially independent. But what has he done to look into how to do that? What is he reading? What self-education seminars is he attending by entrepreneurs? It doesn’t sound like he’s doing anything.

2. He’s not taking leadership of his own life. He’s meadering, and he has no goals set.

3. He wants to blame the career counselors for his lack of direction, and Dear Abby took the bait.

Many times when we are interviewing people about the Network Marketing business, we get those types of people. They say they want to be financially independent but have done absolutely zip to explore how to get there – and it isn’t as if that information isn’t readily available!

The truth is that Network Marketing has made more millionaires than any other business! It has pulled countless people out of poverty, welfare and homelessness. It has made hard workers work harder. It separates the worker bees from the wanna bees.

The fellow says he’s a hard worker, so why isn’t he working hard at becoming an entrepreneur instead of whining about his life? Becoming and entrepreneur and using Network Marketing as a vehicle to become financially independent is an excellent avenue to take. It’s too bad “UNDIRECTED IN NEW JERSEY” didn’t get that advice from Dear Abby!