Wouldn't you Like to Fire Your Boss!?

Wouldn't you Like to Fire Your Boss!?

Are you one of the growing number of people that wakes up on a Monday morning wishing that there was another few hours of sleep, or that you really didn't have to get up and join the hundreds and thousands of people travelling the same roads as you on the way into work?

You are aren't you?

Hi Jon and Debbie Lake here and we were exactly like you 9 years ago. Thankfully for us, we had the decision made for us when we were both laid off within 9 months of each other completely out of the blue. Instead of trying to find another J.O.B (Just Over Broke) we decided to create our own destiny and our online business journey began.

But for many, like you, it seems almost impossible to make the leap of faith and make your own income online. Is that how you feel?

Certainly do NOT believe all the people out there that offer get rich quick schemes, you have to treat it like you would a real business - because it IS a real business!

But with a little determination and a dogged determination to change the rest of your life, your future can be fantastic once you have fired your boss!

Now, we are not saying that this can be achieved overnight, but if being your own boss is something that tugs away at you then give it some serious thought. Set a date in the future (maybe 6 months, maybe 12) at which you want to be going into your bosses office with your resignation letter in the knowledge that you are making more money each month than you do at your job.

Here is a report we have highlighting how you can fire your boss

Here's an interesting question that you really should be asking yourself. "Do you know how much money you need to make a month to be financially free?" Would you like to know?

This article will give you an insight

Not knowing what your financial freedom number is, means that you have no real focus, you are literally firing into the unknown! Knowing what you need to achieve gives you clarity and empowers you when starting out on your journey towards financial freedom. In today's society, making money online is heavily linked with social media. We have been creating a new online business which leverages the power of social media. It is an awesome ride!

Take a look at what we are doing to grow our online business

We hope you have enjoyed this article. Find out more about us at http://LakesideProfits.com 

2 Magic Words To Make You A Marketing Rockstar

If you want your content to be seen and shared, and if you want it to make a lasting impression of prospects, then the written word is seldom enough anymore. Let's do a test: Tell me everything you can about the person who wrote the blog post you read yesterday. Drawing a blank? Now tell me everything you can about a video you saw yesterday. Different story, right?  

What if someone calls you on the phone to sell you something you're interested in, versus someone that shows up at your door. Which one are you more likely to buy from? Assuming you're not freaked out that a salesman appeared out of no where with the product that adequately fits your needs, you're going to buy from him, not the faceless person on the phone. 

Obviously you can't visit your prospects in person, but you can do something almost as good – USE VIDEO People remember video over the written word because it engages more of the senses. If you only use the written word, you're simply not going to make nearly the same level of connection that you could have with video.  

Now then, you might be afraid to get in front of the camera. If so, you can start out with slideshow videos, animated videos or screencast videos. Then move up to videos of yourself because this is the real pay off. This is where people start to feel like they can really connect with you and they KNOW you. Remember, content is more important than quality. You don't have to be the next Steven Spielberg to make this work, you just have to be authentic with something to say that people want to hear.

21st Century Business Women and How to Be One

When the first generation of women entered the workforce in earnest in the 1970s, they succeeded in the only way they could – by imitating men. Authoritarian leadership and tight control was the hallmark of that day’s businessman, and women were not exactly welcomed into the ranks of management. Well ladies, that was yesterday, and today is today!

Forget what your mama or your boss told you, because following the rules can be bad for your career. Today’s CEO/entrepreneur can no longer tap his/her company’s full potential using a “command-and-control” style. The 21^st century business woman needs to be able to build a vision based on the awareness of economic transformation, then help her partners and staff fulfill that vision. She must draw on a wide range of skills to get to the top and stay there. Following are 7 Key Characteristics that are essential:

1. Sell the Vision: A leader with a fresh, independent plan for her company’s growth and future has a distinct advantage in luring and keeping great talent and investors. Vision is not some lofty ideal, but an obtainable concept that is easy to understand and will make the company grow to another level.
2. Reinvent the Rules: While women have traditionally been socialized to please others, the 21^st century leader knows that good girls rarely post great returns. The strong managers/owners today not only anticipate change, they create entirely new organizations that respond to shifts and search for innovation.
3. Achieve With A Laser Focus: Go where others fear to tread! Being aggressive and ambitious has long been considered male traits, but they are key qualities for new leaders. Today’s business woman has the ability to home in on opportunities that others may simply not see, and then excel in that uncharted territory.
4. Use High-Touch in a High-Tech Era: When a number of leaders are conducting business by e-mail, voice mail, passwords, and PINs, the female entrepreneur succeeds because she guides with a strong, personal, bed-side manner. Today’s business woman is just as technologically savvy as her peers, but her skill with staff and customers is “high-touch” which gives her a critical edge and separation from the “pack”.
5. Challenge or Opportunity? – Women are great at turning a challenge into an opportunity instead of using the “slash-and-burn” approach. They are able to make bold strokes, but they also win the cooperation of others in the organization in making any transformation a success.
6. A Customer Preference Obsession: In this information age which makes it easier to shop around for the best “whatever”, businesses must work harder to give people what they want before their competitors do. There is no substitute for spending time with clients to become expert at their businesses and learn their demands. Female leaders are almost intuitively adept in doing just that, and without the client even suspecting.
7. Courage Under Fire: Show me any career woman or female entrepreneur today that isn’t able to “stand-the-heat” in any tough-call situation. Their decision-making skills are rooted in a high level of confidence, because they’ve had to weather and surpass any and all “corporate” storms they’ve encountered over time.

It takes a certain mind-set and bravado for anyone to start their own business and succeed, but it’s even more difficult for a female entrepreneur. Let’s face it, ladies! We’ve always had to be twice-as-smart and twice-as-confident as any male counterpart in the corporate world. After all, if we can bear and raise the future generation, how can running a successful business scare us?

Affiliate Marketing Terms and Their Meaning

Affiliate Marketing is a concept with it's own terms. To get started, you'll have to know what the middlemen and affiliate program pitches mean when they use them, otherwise it will strike you as a bunch of gibberish. For those of you with some experience already in this matter, these terms are for the beginners.

These will get you started with your affiliate marketing understanding. Some programs are also multi-tier, which means you get paid on downline several tiers beneath you or more.

• Two-Tier Program: An affiliate program that pays you for your sales and those of anyone you recruit. For all intents and purposes, if you recruit and train your second tier, they will make you money.
• Super Affiliate: An affiliate marketer in the top 5% of all affilate marketers. These are the ones that make 80% of all the commissions in affiliate marketing and the aspiration of all affiliate marketers looking to get rich doing this.
• Pay Per Sale: The most common ways to get paid in affiliate programs. When you send someone to a site and they buy a product, eBook, download, or membership, you get paid a percentage of the gross on it.
• Pay Per Lead: This one is not common but very handy. When you send someone to a site and they sign up for a free trial, e-mail list or sales call, it's called a lead. Some companies pay you to give them leads, which is good for you, because you are getting paid to give a potential customer something for free.
• Pay Per Click: You get paid anytime someone clicks on a link from your site. The biggest example of a program that does this is Google AdSense, which gives you Pay Per Click ads to put your site and pays you every time someone clicks on it. Miva ARX and Yahoo! also have ad programs that work this way.
• Creative: The collective reference given by some programs to the sum total of all their advertising stuff, like ad gif's, testimonials, product photos, and copy text.Conversion: The percentage of people you send to an affiliate site that buy. 1% is the industry average. Getting conversions is the name of the game in affiliate marketing.
• Commission: This is how you get paid by all affiliate marketing programs. It's not a salary or a fee, and taxes are not deducted and thus your problem to track. Commissions are usually expressed in percent, although some are given in dollars per sale.
• Affiliate Program: An agreement with a given company that has this sort of program to advertise and promote their products in exchange for payment, usually as a commission per sale. You do this at your own expense, although the programs themselves are free to join. I have heard of those that require payment to join, but I strongly recommend against them, as there are plenty of good programs you can join for free.
• Affiliate Link: This is how the company knows who to pay. These are the hypertext links given to you by the affiliate program that differentiates you from generic traffic at large. Unless you send someone through an affiliate link, you don't get paid.
• Ad Copy: A written sales pitch, also known simply as 'copy'. Most follow the AIDA form (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) and examples can be seen on any site that's selling something.

5 Common Mistakes That Drive Visitors Away From a Website

The way your website is designed and presented influences your opportunities to make money online. A professionally designed and well presented website will bring you a lot of customers and sales.

So, what common mistakes drive visitors away from a website?

• A template that is similar to other websites. There are a lot of website templates which although they make things easy for you since you get a ready-to-go website for your online business; they are not good for your business in the long term. It is not good for your business if your website is similar to hundreds and thousands others. Online customers do not want to see precisely the same website layout. Have your own original website designed, or if buy the ready made website template, it is highly recommended that you hire someone to adjust your template to personalize it and make it your own.
• Confusing websites. These are the websites whose layout is not efficient, and you can not easily navigate the site. For some websites, the website name, URL and blog names do not seem related to the website’s focus. These websites can also have a lot of products and services on offer that are not related. Make sure that your website, as well as services and products you offer are focused.
• Too many graphics. Too many graphics simply make your website slow to load. For many people websites with too many graphics can be annoying and unprofessional. These graphics do not add much to your website in terms of search engine rankings or user-friendliness, and are not therefore helpful for your online business. What is important to have on your website is distinctive, relevant and high quality content.
• Ineffective use of keywords and phrases. This is essential for your visibility on search engines. Make sure that your website is well optimized.
• A website that lacks any ‘benefits’ to prospects. Although you are selling your online business’ services or products mainly, your website must also offer the reader high quality unique information.

Also, if you offer an e-zine or e-course on your website, it must also offer some useful information. It is also a good idea that you get creative and offer many other ‘stuff’ that relates to your website. The idea is to make visitors want to come back again.

If you want to succeed online, it is important that you avoid these common website mistakes. A professional and informative website will make your visitors want to come back again, which is good for your business.

The Seed of Internet Marketing Success

Selling other peoples products is all well and good, but every successful marketer will tell you, that to reach REAL success you need to create your own products and put them into a funnel.

It is vital to create a product that will allow you to eventually expand into other markets. The goal is for the people who initially buy your product to also buy your next products. Since you have proven that you can be trusted by delivering a product to your clients that they love, it should be much easier to obtain their business when your new item hits the online marketplace. We need to understand a seed is truly important indeed. You need to see your first product as that seed.

You see this is about creating an Internet marketing kingdom, a virtual empire of products that all start with one tiny seed that is planted in the fertile soil of those hearts that are eager for your particular product.
Here is an example, someone I know is in the process of creating a set of online videos where they teach students the various techniques needed to speak English. Their area of expertise lies in the field of ESL (English as a second language) of which they have been blessed to have over 10 years of experience teaching to adult learners.
Their target market would be foreign adults who wish to learn English via video. They realize though that if they want to branch out and sell different yet similar products later on, they will have to pick a product that these learners would also enjoy.

This led them to recall the great end of the semester food parties in the classes that they taught where both they and their students brought in dishes from other countries that many enjoyed. Now they know that their second product launched could be an ESL cookbook with recipes submitted from actual students. The cookbook will be sold to other ESL students online. Branching out even further, a cooking forum would be established as well as an online cooking class with graduates of their ESL video courses eventually teaching the course.
It is amazing to see how all this began from the planting of one little seed. The online ESL videos seed grew to become a cookbook, an online cooking school and a cooking forum. As we all know marketing is a numbers game and the bigger number of people you have on your marketing list the better your chance of survival and dominance.

Think about your online marketing seed before you plant it. You want to plant something that will grow into something huge.

When you look into the jungle you see an incredible array of trees. That is what you should want your seed to turn into. The trees in your Internet jungle will be represented by the vast amount of names on your email list who want your first and additional products.
The product you create should also appeal to as many people as possible. I know those who may not be interested in ESL may be interested in cooking and vice versa.

I could use the cooking bait to reel in the ESL fish and use the ESL bait to reel in those who love cooking! See what I mean?

When your Internet marketing seed is sown you will reap the harvest of personal and time freedom. In fact done digitally, this also gives you location freedom as well, so you can run your online business from anywhere in the world.

This translates into having the freedom to spend time doing what is really important. Even though I am blessed to be doing well working from my home right now, my goal is to create an online marketing kingdom.

It all starts with that tiny Internet marketing seed. You need to have blind faith and then you can see what can happen. We have to have dreams, big dreams and seeing those dreams become realities is quite inspirational and shows that this Internet marketing thing is real. No one in your circle of naysayers can argue with your results unless they choose to be up against the truth of your success.  

Internet Marketing for Beginners

Really useful vlog and well worth grabbing a coffee for!

Affiliate Marketers Must Have Tools

If You’re an Affiliate Marketer, You NEED these Tools!

There is a proverb that goes, “A bad workman always quarrels with his tools.” Why he does that is anyone’s guess… maybe he is hot tempered or maybe his tools are argumentative. Whatever the case, tools are crucial for both cantankerous workmen and SUCCESSFUL affiliate marketers.

Have you heard of the super affiliate who uses free hosting and free autoresponders? No? You haven’t? Don’t worry… no one else has either.

Many beginner affiliate marketers try to skimp on costs and make the mistake of trying to use free alternatives rather than paid services. Any saved costs are then squandered on some get rich quick system that never delivers on its promises.

As an affiliate marketer, it is of paramount importance that you understand that this is a business and all businesses have fixed and/or variable costs. There is no getting away from this fact. You will need to spend some money in order to make much more.

Being penny wise pound foolish will not only sabotage your efforts but also impede your progress. To be a successful affiliate marketer, 3 tools are crucial. In fact, you could almost say that they are the cornerstones in your business. Without them, it is almost certain that you’ll fail.

The first tool you’ll need is your own domain name. The operative word here is “your own”… Ignore the fact that that’s 2 words. You absolutely should not build your business on someone else’s web property.

Yes, you may have to spend a few dollars buying a domain, but at least you will know that you have control over it.
Many marketers spent a lot of time and money building Squidoo pages a few years ago. All of a sudden, Squidoo, changed its policies and these marketers found that their earning dried up overnight.
You will always be subjected to the whims and fancies of some other person/s decisions if you don’t own your own domain name.  Your content may be deleted, your pages may have ads for Viagra, etc. There is a price to pay for free domains.
My 2 favourite places to buy domains are Godaddy and Namecheap

The second tool you’ll need is hosting. Web hosting is extremely affordable. Companies such as Hostgator, Arvixe, Dreamhost and many more provide plans that most beginner marketers can afford. There really is no excuse to not get paid hosting.
Sure… you could opt for free hosting. Just like choosing a free domain, you’ll once again have no control over your business.

Free web hosting usually comes with a ton of unrelated ads that will appear on your site.
Choose paid hosting. You can also host unlimited domains on the same account for one low monthly price. My favourite is Hostpapa. If ever you have a problem, their live chat never lets me down.

The third tool you will need is an autoresponder. You may have heard the saying, “The money is in the list” repeated ad nauseam.

Yet, many beginners try to save money by not getting one. This is understandable since an autoresponder is an ongoing cost. However, it would be myopic to not build a list because of this.
Initially, the autoresponder may be costing more than it makes. However, with time as you build your list and your subscribers swell in number from hundreds to thousands, the list will pay for itself. You’ll be able to develop a relationship with many people through email.

You can provide them with free, useful content so they start to trust you. This will reap rewards when you promote something they will find helpful. You’ll get sales and earn commissions that far exceed the cost of your autoresponder.

Besides these 3 tools, there are several other tools such as keyword tools, rank checking tools, spy tools, etc. However, these tools are nowhere near as important as those mentioned in this article.
If you’re a serious affiliate marketer who actually plans on making money be sure to grab a domain, hosting plan, and an autoresponder to make your business easier and increase its chances of success.

So, What is Internet Marketing