So, did you manage to watch Piers Morgan interview Simon Cowell over the weekend? I must admit I’m a sucker for this type of entertainment and love reading and watching how people became successful.

One of the things that caught my attention was one of the questions Piers asked Simon. “Would he would ever give up and when? How would he know?” etc.

Simon answered and it really hit home with me. When he was at school (which he hated) every Sunday night he would get a sickly feeling in his tummy as he would simply dread getting up the next day. He hated Sundays because of this too.

So my point is, (and luckily I haven’t reached this yet!) do you dread Sunday’s? or do you look forward to them? Do you get a sickly tummy at the thought of going to work? Or excited?

I really liked his statement – Simon clearly doesn’t need to work. He continues with it as its fun and he enjoys it. As he said, he’ll stop when he gets that Sunday feeling again.

I know I often talk about we only have one life and should live it free from regret and sometimes it takes something upsetting to make us realize this.

Life is for living, about fun, family and enjoyment. Work is such a big part of that. What I do isn’t for everyone, I know that. I respect that. For me I love it. I’m sitting at home as we speak, looking out of my window. I can see my garden and my cat wondering around the bushes. In a couple of hours it will be time to pick up my daughter. She has swimming tonight after school so will be a mad rush to get there for 4pm but whilst she’s having her lesson I can swim some laps and then go in the steam room (bliss!).

I chose my lifestyle. I chose to work from home. I chose to be able to pick her up from school every day and have play dates, activities etc.

Is it easy? No. I’m not going to lie. I work hard. Please don’t believe the hype about making $60,000 each and every month. It doesn’t work like that. Very few people earn that kind of money and those that do, rarely have time to spend with their teams as they are too busy playing golf etc.!

But, I love what I do. I am passionate about it. Yes I work hard, but at the same time I feel very privileged to be able to pick my daughter up from school, work from home and have a good lifestyle.

I believe it takes a certain type of person to succeed in this business. As not everyone will. There – I said it. Why don’t more people say this who are trying to sell you a money making opportunity? I’m telling you now, my lovely fellow subscriber. The only way you will make it in this business is by having the right mindset, hard worker, driven, disciplined with you time and of course having the right mentor who can help you.

I’ve been undecided about what to write today. As most of you know I always write about what’s been going on in my life. I’m a great believer in people buy from those they like and trust and try to build relationships with my lovely subscribers.

I also always say never write about negative or sad things.

But today I’m breaking my rules! Sadly my wonderful aunt died last Friday. Sunday we had the funeral and last night we had a beautiful memorial service for her.

My aunt bless her was a good age; she was 89 and had a wonderful life. We were very close; she was like a grandmother to me as mine died when I was very young.

Often when we are faced with death or sad things it makes us reflect on our lives. We are only given one life and it’s so important to live it free from regret.

My aunt’s carer came up to me yesterday and told me how proud my aunt was of me, all my achievements both in business and personal. I do feel proud of what I have achieved and often forget how far I’ve come. When I went to Downing Street for Best Mumpreneur of the Year my aunt and all my family were so proud of me.

Remember your dreams, your aspirations. Dreams CAN come true. Sometimes they just need a bit of work:)

What are your dreams? What do you hope to aspire to?

I feel very privileged to be able to be in a position where I can choose the hours I work, how much time I want to work, be able to pick up Emily every day from school and of course earn a good income.

But it wasn’t always like that. I chose to have my working life like that. I’ve chosen a path where I can spend more time at home and be with my family. Yes, it can still be stressful, but I have “procedures” in place to help reduce the stress. We all get stressed, its natural, it’s how we deal and cope with it.

Today I’m back at work so please do give me a call on 07590 554292 if you would like to have a chat about how I can help you with your business or if you have questions about Yournetbiz.

Being in a network marketing business and in particular, making money online there is a lot of hype in this business.

Do you believe in the hype? Are you sucked in?

Should I as a mentor and someone who is clearly trying to get you to sign up with my opportunity, Yournetbiz be using it?

What is hype anyway? Who is attracted to it?  Does it sell?

Well clearly it does sell but it only attracts a certain type of person.

Personally I avoid the hype like the plague!  Websites with fancy cars, fancy houses, just don’t do it for me.  Should they when I’m trying to make money?

Does seeing a picture of a nice car and lovely big house make me want to buy from you?  Does it automatically mean I’m going to have a piece of that too?

Well sadly it doesn’t.

Hype is old school.

Sex and money have always sold well.  They are appealing to others.  They are news worthy stories in magazines, papers and TV.  People are naturally drawn to them looking for get rich quick schemes.

But do they work?

How many of us have been sucked into buying a product because of an eye-catching  advert and then been  thoroughly disappointed that it didn’t live up to our expectations.  Is it clever marketing or hype?  Is there a difference?

Ok, so you’re looking to make money online.  By showing that one has got lots of fancy cars, a huge house and go on holiday 4 times a year to 5* accommodation is showing that they have made lots of money.  But does that necessarily mean that you will?

Let’s look at the maths.  The people who have made their money and are living this amazing lifestyle that we are seeking don’t have time to help you achieve it.  They are too busy going on holiday, playing golf and having lunch.

Now I’m not for one minute suggesting you go with someone who is a pauper and hasn’t achieved financial success.

Let’s think about the scenario above for a moment.  If you’re looking for an opportunity to make money online are you going to be attracted to all the hype that goes with it?  OR be attracted to a new approach.

I’m talking about attraction marketing.  People buy from those they like and trust.  Can we sell “make money online opportunities” without the hype?  And if so, how?

Firstly hype and marketing are two different things.  Every business needs marketing in order for it to survive.  It’s how you brand yourself and your business.

By becoming a leader and an expert in your field people will naturally be drawn to you so they can learn and duplicate what you have done to achieve success.  Do we really need to show people our income so they believe us?  Is this business that sceptical? Or are we just showing off?

Whether you believe in the hype or don’t is a huge debate and I look forward to receiving your comments.

Happy Christmas everyone!  Hope you and your families have a happy, healthy and fun Christmas and New Year!

Check out my fun greeting to you!

Enjoy

I have created a survey on where you get your leads from.

The survey can be found here

Many thanks in advance for those of you that take the time to complete – much appreciated 

I will of course share the results of the survey with everyone here.

Lilach

When times are hard, your business will have to put in that extra effort to attract the loyal customer. You may have the best quality product, but your competitor may offer the best value – and that is why the customers are going there.

Value is not merely about ‘quality’, especially if that quality has too high a price tag. In fact value is a balanced combination of a number of things: price, features, how well-made is the product and the benefits to the purchaser. In summary value answers the questions: what is it worth to the customer and how well does it meet their needs?

For example, if the customer primarily wants transport for shopping at the local supermarket, they probably do not want a Rolls Royce.

So, while you may have the best-made product with the most features, do your customers think that they can afford it in a weak economy? It all depends on your marketing approach and how you represent ‘best’ and price.

Value is perceived

There are no fundamental values in your marketplace that cannot be influenced by good marketing. You need to understand your customers and provide a solution to their problems. If you do, you will be providing value to them.

If your solution provides much more than they expect, then that perceived value may increase, subject to cost. If you can provide products of exceptional quality but at a reduced cost, then you have a high-value offering. But quality relates to the ability to meet the customer’s needs and is subjective. In many instances this perception can be influenced to create greater demand.

A possible place to start

Information products can provide the basis for low-cost, high-quality offers that result in the perception of high value. These products can be developed with little time and money. Using the Internet they can be duplicated and delivered ad infinitum. Since the manufacturing costs are reasonably low, you can create bundles of these products as high-value packages without additional cost. Then instant delivery, via the Internet, will result in instant customer satisfaction.

Marketing over the Internet

You can market most things over the Internet. However, some market niches are more suited to this medium than others. To those providing high quality, low cost and quick delivery, the Internet can be a blessing in difficult economic times. You need to concentrate on products and services where you can influence the perception of value. This will help keep demand constant or even increase it during hard times. For the next few years at least, value will be the key factor in both online and offline marketing strategy.

I recently spoke to a guy who was seriously interested in joining YourNetBiz.  He asked me a few questions that I am asked time and time again by prospective team members, will I succeed?  Can you guarantee my success and that I’m going to make lots of money!  And if the opportunity is so good why isn’t everyone joining up?

This is actually a very important question and one which I will try and answer, but obviously this is my own personal perception – everyone has their own thoughts on this matter!

Yournetbiz is a business and we all know that not everyone succeeds in business regardless of what type of business that is, online or offline. This is a Fact.  No amount of training, resources, and money can guarantee that your business will succeed.

Let’s go back to the beginning.  Not everyone chooses to set up their own business.  Some people don’t like taking risks, others like the comfort blanket of a regular guaranteed income.  Some people like to be employed; they enjoy knowing what tasks they will be doing every day, where they are going etc.  Others don’t like taking orders and think that they could do a better job than their boss.

I could go on and on with the differences  but the point I’m trying to get at is that whilst I love running my own business as the pro’s far outweigh the negatives (in my mind) some people don’t want to run their own business for whatever reason.

So why go into business?  Do we suddenly wake up and say “there has to be another way”; are we forced into it through the present financial climate?  Is it a lifetime goal?  Personal circumstances change?

Regardless of how we get to setting up a business I think the key ingredient is having the right mindset.

Often we decide to start a business without really understanding what it actually involves.

So, let’s go back to the original question of whether you can succeed.  I could give you the usual comment that there are no guarantees and I don’t know if you will succeed etc. but give me your money anyway lol!

But I won’t for the simple reason that isn’t actually true.  I strongly believe that if you have the right mindset, are passionate about the product/services you are promoting, work hard (THERE ARE NO get rich quick schemes), are disciplined with your time and willing to learn then success can be achieved.

Is it really that easy?  Don’t you need certain business skills? Be able to sell?  Well people buy from those they like and trust.  If the product is good, shouldn’t it sell it self?

Time and again I am inundated with people wanting to sign up to Your Net Biz, they think it’s easy, they think they can earn money and lots of it immediately.  Why do they think that? Are they lead to believe it by the marketing and the hype?  Is it the fault of us as mentors that is making them think this?

There will always be some people who will succeed in business regardless of what it is.  I myself have run and sold a successful business and am now working with other opportunities like Your Net Biz.  Does that guarantee me success?

If you look at the top business men, most of them have some kind of failure in the past, I know some big names who have even gone bankrupt but have built themselves up again and are now multi-millionaires.

Is business success determined by how much money you earn? Or by how much time you have to spend with your family?

When I used to carry out my training I was often asked by people, why are you training them and giving away all your secrets, they will then become your competitors.  My answer was always simply that I believed that there was enough room in the market, that competition is healthy and more importantly, only a few will actually carry out what I have said to do.

The same principal applies with yournetbiz.  As your mentor I can’t guarantee that you will succeed but what I do strongly believe is that if you do carry out my suggestions together with having the right mindset you will succeed.

Is it really that simple?  Try it, I dare you to prove me wrong!

Really listen to your clients and empathise with their needs? This used to be the province of only some professions and businesses. While times were good, most retailers were not into counselling or coaching. 

But that’s all changed. Consumers are struggling with harsh economic realities. They have changed an unquestioning mindset to one of prudence. In this situation your business strategy needs to be paying close attention to your customers’ needs and attempting to meet them. 

Many customers are going to face the same problems in this recession: less income, greater costs and products that don’t meet all of their immediate needs. Business theories tell us that that consumer demand has three parts:

• income
• personal preference
• price.

You can’t do much about your customers’ falling income. You may be able to do something about price. However, falling prices can risk your business profitability. So that leaves personal preference as the key way to influence consumer demand.

For some big retailers it will be sensible to cater for the mass tastes and to phase out choices that are not in wide demand. This is because they need to carry the stock that their customers will eventually (and hopefully) buy.

That is where the online business may have an edge. It can offer customers choices without necessarily having to have them in stock beforehand. If you listen to customers who are having problems, and if the solution could be purchased online, then you may be able to offer this solution. This is an approach that will raise demand for your services.

Just because consumers have less to spend, and are more careful in spending it, does not mean that they will always go to the cheapest option. We do not know for how long the recession will bite. Hence value has become more important. A product that lasts longer is of more value than one that breaks or looks worn out after only a few months. So is one that suits our particular requirements closely rather than one with which we ‘make do’.

Consumers are becoming more careful to purchase products and services that meet particular needs and preferences. They also want their purchases to last, to stand the test of time. If you can meet all of these things, you will have clients for life, long after this recession is just a memory.