Follow Your Dreams & Never Give Up

Anyone who knows me will totally get why I have written this blog post.  You see, I absolutely adore dogs and any positive stories relating to a dog immediately has me going into meltdown.  This video below did exactly that but it also resonated with me on another level.

The message I want to pass to you from this and I hope you get it like I did is “never, ever give up on following your dream.”  If you believe you are worth something, let no-one tell you differently and just keep trying to find that way in.  It may be that your true strengths lie, not within your immediate goal but more effectively in doing something different although possibly related.

I really hope you enjoy Ricki’s story just as much as I did:

When one door of happiness closes, another opens;
but often we look so long at the closed door that
we do not see the one which has opened for us.
Helen Keller

Lessons from geese – a leader is nothing without their team

The acronym TEAM represents Together Everyone Achieves More and there is no truer representation of teamwork and teambuilding at its best than through the geese that share out planet.  When I first read this, it just made so much sense to me and having always operated in a teamworking environment, I know that although I was in a leadership position, I was nothing without the backing and support of a strong team. 

I have carried this through to my current business in internet marketing, and although it is my own business, there is always a strong team with a positive mindset behind each individual that makes the opportunity and business sustainable and profitable for everyone.

Learn from the geese

As each goose flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the others behind it. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.
Lesson: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of another.

Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the “lifting power” of the bird immediately in front.
Lesson: If we have as much sense as the goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed where we want to go (and be willing to accept their help as well as give ours to others.)

When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position.
Lesson: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership–with people, as with geese, we are interdependent on each other.

The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
Lesson: We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging, and not something else.

When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it is able to fly again or dies. Then they launch out on their own, with another formation, or catch up with the flock.
Lesson: If we have as much sense as geese, we too will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.

By Milton Olson

What influenced you to be the person you are today?

I was reading an e-book that really had nothing to do with internet marketing but more to do with perception and in particular how we perceive ourselves and others.  It was all about dealing with the ‘big issues in life!’.  As I was reading I was able to relate much of it to what I have observed in my life and how I actually live that life today.  It talked about influences in your life, be they teachers, church elders or it may even have been a random stranger.

I have met many, many people in my life who have impacted on it in one way or another, some in a good way, some not so good but they have impacted nonetheless and helped mould me into the person I am today.  That person today is someone with good strong values, someone who can see the human being behind the trappings of either wealth or poverty and who is committed to making a difference in other people’s lives.

So let’s take a journey back (quite a few years) to when I was at school.  I was a naturally bright child, I rarely had to do homework having a bit of a photographic memory and I believe that was more out of necessity than anything else as trying to do any homework in a dysfunctional household was just a non-starter.  I was brought up in a very poor home, one of 5 siblings and where feeding and looking after the kids always came second to alcohol and cigarettes.  This was no different to almost all the other families who lived around us on the estate.

Please don’t feel sorry for me though, I am far from a victim and see myself as a survivor.  You see, I had to survive from an early age and that has helped me through life.  I rarely allow anything to get in my way of trying to do something, I will find a way round it to make it happen.  This is never at the expense of anyone or anything though.  I loved animals, still do and found them to be a lot of solace when I just needed to get away and grab some ‘me’ time.

I had some fantastic teachers and I would always sit at the front of the class eager to learn and they seemed to like that.  In fact whenever I went on any seminar in my corporate job, I always sat at the front in the middle!  I love to learn and aim to gain a new bit of knowledge each and every day.  I also had one teacher who just didn’t like me, no reason that I knew of, she said I smelled and made me sit at the back.  This then evolved into her not allowing me in the class and making me stand in the corridor for the whole of the lesson.  Consequently, my grade rapidly dropped and no-one in the school noticed (or cared).  They always say that you may not remember what someone said to you but you will always remember how they made you feel, and this is absolutely true for this happening.  I would never in my life ever make someone feel the way she did to me.

I left home as soon as I could and joined the Army.  Many people from similar backgrounds to myself do this, they join a very disciplined service that has strict boundaries but gives them the feeling of being part of a very large family.  You could  make mistakes and someone always had your back.  It built my confidence by recognising in me something I didn’t know I had, leadership qualities.  Whenever there was a task to be done, I was right up there full of ideas as to how it should be done and what part everyone should play in it.  I was fortunate to have some excellent role models who allowed me to grow and develop, who encouraged me when I doubted myself and who, at risk of losing some credibility themselves, allowed me to be better than some of them were.  I now know this is a sign of a true leader, someone who is not threatened by those who can do things better, but is willing to learn from less experienced and younger team members.

I reached the top of my tree in this career and moved onto various careers that had a common thread running through them.  They were all about helping others.  I got immense satisfaction from this work and even to this day receive kind inspirational messages thanking me for how someone has moved on with their life and achieved things they never thought they could.

Now with my own home based business of internet marketing, I am combining everything I’ve learned in my life.  I’m continuing to educate myself every day, I’m helping others how to market on the internet and I pass on all my knowledge and skills confidently and with great pleasure.  There is nothing more rewarding that seeing someone achieve using tools and techniques that you have taught them.  I would far rather give a hundred times over than to receive.

So if you’re reading this and perhaps you’ve had some experiences similar to my own, I am living proof that you can achieve anything you want in life.  You just have to adopt the right mindset.  If you believe in yourself and think you’re worth it, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something!  Find a way, ask someone, ask ME!

YourNetBiz home business has the X Factor – do you?

Now that the X Factor (UK equivalent of American Idol) is back on our screens we finally have something interesting to watch on Friday and Saturday evenings.  It got me thinking though, what has happened to many of the previous years’ winners; we never hear of them now?  Obviously they had lots of talent because they won and it was the great British public who liked what they saw and voted in their millions.

So I was thinking about it and some real similarities with my home business sprung to mind.

You see, I think they had the wrong mentor.  These youngsters were completely new into the industry, had come from all walks of life and needed taken by the hand, encouraged and put in front of people.  Instead they all had one UK hit song then disappeared off our radar.  This is probably because their mentor was now chasing the next best thing and left them to their own devices.  Like a fish out of water, they slowly faded and that talent that WE voted for and that WE wanted to hear was denied to us.

Analogy with internet marketing

Within internet marketing, there are many similarities.  Many people join home business opportunities not knowing the first thing about internet marketing.  It is vital to their success or otherwise that they have access to a first class mentor, someone who has been there and done it, someone who has learned through their own mistakes and therefore can prevent others from making similar.  When someone first joins, they are buzzing with excitement and eager to get going.  It is crucial at this point that their hunger is fed, but as they are babies (newbies) to the industry we, as mentors must be careful about overloading them with jargon and technology.  Instead a drip feed approach is what is required, a little bit at a time delivered in a simple language that they can relate to.

Some mistakes internet mentors make

Your newbies still need you!

A common mistake some mentors make is that once the ‘newbie’ has made their first sale, the presumption may be that they now know what they are doing.  Do we want them to be a one-sale wonder?  Absolutely not, I want like minded people who have a vision, are determined and can see way beyond their first, second, third or even tenth sale.  I want them to build a business for themselves that is sustainable and one where they continue to learn, gain experience and in turn can pass that onto others.

It is very easy to lose focus in the early days as all this learning is completely new.  Within our back office we have over 100 hours of training coupled with over 1800 learning and coaching products.  We have live webinars with our business gurus and guest speakers at least once per week but mostly twice per week.

It is vital therefore that real guidance and direction is given by their mentor.  If a gentle prod is needed at times, and let’s face it we’ve all been there, then that is what will be given.

Trish Mullen’s mission statement

With YourNetBiz, I will never state to anyone joining my opportunity that they will be 5-figure monthly earners after a few weeks in the business.  Some have done this, but it is normally those people who have a previous background in internet marketing.

I am an honest person with strong values and these qualities have made me very successful within my corporate life.  I will never compromise on them for the sake of earning money.  I want to know that when someone joins with me in YourNetBiz, they are fully aware the commitment that is required of them and this way they make a fully informed choice as to whether YourNetBiz is the right home business for them.

Summary

Just like the one-hit wonders from the X Factor, many newbies will give up because they lack direction, can’t see where they’re going, are overwhelmed by it all or basically have been left to their own devices.

If you’re an internet mentor reading this, please take heed.  Yyour prospect joined you because they seen something of value in you.  Remember those values you promoted either through your site or through video marketing or whatever means, and just take stock of your promise.  You were obviously an inspiration to them.  Take yourself back to your first days.  Why did you join with the mentor you did?  What value did they offer you?  When dealing with your new downline, for a few moments just revisit your own first weeks/months; what you were seeking and desperately needed.  Make a note of all the points – now go and deliver all those and more to your downline.  They really need you, you may think they’re doing okay, but when did you last check?

"INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATE YOURNETBIZ" www.MyInternetDisclaimer.com

Forum marketing – generate endless leads in a targeted marketplace

What is forum marketing?

Forum marketing a super simple strategy that almost anyone can use for networking, building relationships and building leads in this industry.  All over the internet there are a vast amount of interesting and free forums ranging from any niche you can imagine, from houses to animals to cars etc.  Network marketing, internet marketing, residual income, you name it, there are forums absolutely anywhere that you can network in.  Not only can you network in them, but you also get a signature file in a forum.  This is like a little ad that displays underneath every single post that you ever make in a forum.  This is one of the primary ways that you can generate traffic and leads from within forums.

A post (known as a thread) relates to something you write; anytime you think of a topic you want to write a short note about or you see topics displayed that you can add benefit to, then you are submitting a post.

Forum marketing is free, takes little effort and is lots of fun because you’re interacting, learning and building relationships.

Some recommended sites

Some forums I can recommend are:

• Richdad.com
• conqueryourniche.com
• warriorforum.com
• Betternetworker.com
• wahm.com (work at home mums)
• homebasedbusiness.com

The wahm.com forum, although by implication may be aimed at a specific audience, is not that at all, there are lots of different types of businesses on there and a variety of threads that you can add value to and promote your business opportunity.

For example, I went into warriorforum for the purposes of adding some value to this article and there are currently 689 people viewing the internet marketing forum threads in there.  What potential is that for you to promote your opportunity?

It’s not all about you and your opportunity though, and if that’s all you go into forums to do, people will get annoyed; you need to go in and add value.  This can be done by educating others, sharing experiences or simply starting a thread on a niche topic that is of interest to you and you wish to gauge the opinions of others.  The main point of all of these is about building relationships; remember people join people not businesses!

The main concept about online marketing and internet marketing is ‘What attracts people to you?’  It is the amount of value that you offer them, the depth of the relationship that you have with them.

How to position yourself when in the forums

This is how you want to position yourself when you’re in any social networking.  You want to promote the team training that you have to offer alongside the team infrastructure.  You want to position the fact that you are plugged into people or that you yourself can teach people how to make money.  It’s that simple – you can teach people how to be a true professional in this industry, how to understand the true marketing principles out there that allow people to generate leads or bring in new business and do all these different things and that you know how to teach that to anyone.  On top of that, you’ve got the whole training platform infrastructure in place so when you’re networking and building relationships and talking to other leaders, you can relate to the unnecessary duplication required because everything is already there.

So, what are you waiting for?  Get out there and start building new and productive relationships within the many forums connected to your niche, promote yourself as a leader in the industry, provide value to others and raise awareness of your opportunity in a targeted marketplace.

A duck or an eagle, what will I be today….mmmm….

I read something today that simultaneously inspired and educated me.  Whilst reading it, I was able to relate much of it to how I went about my daily life in my job as a corporate leader and more recently in my home based business which happens to be in internet marketing.

It was a story about a cab driver in the USA and written by one of his passengers who was so blown away by the actions of this one cab driver that at the end of the ride, he made an immediate decision that he would effect immediate change in both his thoughts and behaviour.

He was waiting in line for a cab and as this immaculate cab drew up, the door opened and out stepped a driver dressed in immaculate white shirt, black tie and trousers with razor sharp creases in them.  The driver rushed to open the back door and in doing so handed the passenger a car that read; “I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk, I’d like you to read my mission statement.”

Wally’s Mission Statement:

To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This totally blew the passenger away and even more so that on entering the cab, the pristine condition inside matched that of the exterior.  Once behind the wheel, Wally said “would you like a coffee, I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf”.  The passenger jokingly said “no, I’d actually prefer a soft drink”.  Wally’s reply to this was “no problem, I have a cooler here with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice”.

As they were about to set off, Wally offered a choice of daily newspapers and handing the passenger another laminated card, he was pleasantly surprised to read about the various music stations available and the music each played.

Setting off, the passenger was informed of the best route to his destination considering the time of day and a further offer to show the sights or leave him to his own thoughts if this was preferred.

Obviously a number of questions were now in the passengers head and on asking Wally how long he had been in business and how his business had evolved, he was informed that Wally had been a regular cab driver like all the others for about 5 years.  He said he spent his time complaining like most of the cab drivers do then one day happened to listen to a personal growth guru called Wayne Dyer on the radio.  Liking what he heard, he purchased one of Wayne’ books.  The real message Wally said he took from this was ‘Stop complaining!  Differentiate yourself from your competition.  Don’t be a duck.  Be an eagle.  Ducks quack and complain, eagles soar above the crowd.’  He went on to tell the passenger that he looked around at other cabs; they were dirty, drivers unfriendly and customers generally unhappy.  He immediately began to put in changes and as the customers responded well, he put in some more.

I related to much of this story as I read it and above is only a short excerpt.  In my place of work and being a leader, I love to innovate, get the team on board and make things happen.  I used to get frustrated by senior management’s reluctance to make decisions, move things forward and generally suppressing innovation.  One of my favourite thoughts was “how can I soar with the eagles when I’m tied to the turkeys.”  So I suppose it was the eagle analogy that caught my eye in this article I’m writing about today.

Once I mastered the rules of the business in my organisation, I adopted the philosophy ‘it’s best to just do it and beg forgiveness later than to ask and be refused.’  If my gut instinct tells me I need to do something, change something then I just do it.  It has not let me down; to the contrary, I have won accolades and also an award for leadership, innovation and producing results.  I always recruited like minded people and we constantly sought out new and better ways of delivering to our customers, to our stakeholders and to ourselves.  I quickly recognised my eagles and constantly fed their hunger.

So are you a duck or are you an eagle? Do you spend your day complaining, whining and generally stalling?  Do you seek out like minded ducks that wallow with you in procrastination?  Do you like to have long conversations that have a basic theme running through them i.e. ‘100 reasons why we can’t do this.’

Or are you an eagle? Are you constantly seeking out new and better ways of developing your life and business?  Do you surround yourself with positive and like minded achievers?  Do you just go for it, make lots of mistakes, laugh at them and continue to learn and grow?

Ducks, you don’t have to sit around in the water then, every now and then giving a wee kick with your webbed feet under water.  Start flapping your wings, raise yourself up a wee bit at a time, and move away from all the others who are content to sit there.  Look up at the birds in the sky; aren’t they having fun seeing how high they can really fly?  Ducking and diving, trying new heights a small distance at a time.  Try it, you may find a whole bunch of people who see much more from where they are; learn something new every minute of the day.  Move away from your fellow ducks who sit there, reliant on people bringing bits of bread or food to them, get out there and seek your own, you can then eat anything you want because you’ve made it happen.  Don’t rely on others, it’s far more rewarding when you’ve learnt something for yourself and the rewards are then all yours.

How to be a leader rather than a manager – 3 basic differences?

Leaders get the job done and keep the group going.  Leaders sell the tickets for the journey; Managers drive the bus to the destination.

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Peter F. Drucker
Define your vision

What is fundamentally crucial and an essential aspect of leadership is ‘visionary thinking’.  Constantly having a vision is what sets the leader apart from the manager.  The manager is the person who normally implements someone else’s ideas.  A leader will work from the end to the beginning i.e. they will start with planning their goal and then put steps in place to reach it.  Having this vision is the currency of all leaders.

Share your vision

The Rev. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is an excellent example of how a vision can be communicated. Through his skilful use of language and imagery, King brought his vision to life.
I have found my most successful ideas are communicated informally, through one-one-one discussions in offices or chatting over lunch.  A night out with colleagues where invariably the conversations turn to the workplace can be invaluable in sharing ideas and bringing everyone into agreement.  Visions build excitement, leaders must have the ability to enthuse others and be a cheerleader for the cause.  Achievements should be celebrated and progress must be acknowledged and rewarded.  Strong and positive 2 way communication is vital to the success of any goal.

Recognise your leadership style

All leaders lead differently and it is important to recognise which style comes most naturally to you.  We learn through watching others do things and often imitate them at times but when the pressure builds, you are most likely to revert to the style that best suits your personality type.  It is okay to practise other styles of leadership so long as you are aware which style it is.  The most common type of leadership is the facilitative one:  i.e. you know what the end result should be and you actively empower others to arrive at a similar result.  This can be done through simple questioning techniques such as: 

1. Have you thought about….?
2. I wonder what would happen if…?
3. Imagine if we could…..
4. What do you think of…..
5. Who in the team do you think would be best to do…?
6. What obstacles are we likely to face…?
7. Where do you think would be an ideal starting point…?
8. Why should we do it this way…?
9. When would be best to start…?

Another approach is autocratic.  Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of Great Britain is an example of this style of leadership whilst former USA President Bill Clinton is an example of one who used a facilitative style of leadership.

A third style is charismatic – having the gift of power.  Former presidents John F Kennedy and Franklin D Roosevelt were two historical figures with special abilities to energise those they led.

Although each of us has a style that comes most naturally, the best leaders can use various styles as the situation requires. For instance, a facilitative leader may need to act more autocratic in times of emergency; if the situation requires swift, bold action, the leader must be able to switch gears and provide what is needed in the crisis.

Just imagine how much more productive your team would be if they actually took ‘ownership’ of effecting changes either in the workplace or within the team dynamics.  Their ideas are readily sought and implemented and in turn a great sense of achievement is felt by all.  They need never know this was all your idea in the first place; your leadership skills have influenced and convinced them it was their idea all along!

Trish Mullen has over 20 years experience leading from the front within a military environment and many years since then coaching and mentoring others to be the be the best they can be by believing in themselves and knowing they deserve their achievements.  Trish is now leading and mentoring successful teams within her home online business to achieve enormous wealth in their own home businesses.  Find out more at http://www.wealthyincome4u.com and http://www.whoistrishmullen.com