I recently posed a question on a popular message board and the responses I got confirmed that “rich” isn’t always the goal. Moms want to “pay bills and have some in savings,” “pay my bills and take care of kids, and “pay the bills, have some fun and still have enough to set aside in savings/retirement.” Others mentioned “financial security” and the “peace of mind” that comes from not worrying about money.

Often after meeting some immediate needs with our first business endeavor, we start looking more towards the future and wanting a little more. I think about how I’d like to enjoy retirement without worrying about money. And how I’d like my son to be able to choose his career or business path without being so concerned about whether his chosen path will net enough income. I even think about how much fun it would be to help other moms get started in business by providing some start-up cash or funding a business expansion.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t go for millions if that’s what you want. In fact there were a few responders who said they want to be rich and be able to afford luxuries. What I am suggesting is that if you are marketing your business to moms, don’t assume we’re all looking for big bucks. Promising fancy cars and six figure incomes doesn’t attract as many moms as you think it might.

The key is to listen to what each individual prospect is looking for and help her meet her goals.

Post from: Linda Stacy's Business Opportunity Connection

Marketing to Moms – Don’t Bother Promising Millions

Things consultants seem to especially like about selling Cookie Lee Jewelry:

• Customers take home their jewelry the night of the party so consultants receive their proceeds immediately
• The incentive programs, including trips and cars
• The jewelry is very reasonably priced

 


Get more information and contact a consultant to find out how to start your own home business direct selling jewelry by visiting the Cookie Lee Jewelry company page in the InternetBasedMoms.com Direct Sales Directory.

Post from: Linda Stacy's Business Opportunity Connection

Spotlight on Cookie Lee Jewelry – Affordable Fashion Accessories

1. Lead by example. Many of your team members will emulate you not only when leading their downline, but when dealing with customers. Setting a good example will have a positive effect on the entire team’s business. Be respectful, courteous, and honest in all your interactions. Reply to emails and return phone calls in a timely manner. Treat your team the way you want to be treated and the way you want them to treat customers.
2. Leaders need to have confidence in their self, their decisions, and in their actions. If you, as a leader, are constantly second guessing things, it will be hard for your team to take you seriously. If you find yourself wondering about a decision or choice you made, consult your own upline or the company. It’s fine to ask your team for input before you make a decision, but once you make it, don’t ask you team to weigh in whether or not it was the right decision.
3. Communicate clearly and make sure you encourage your team to ask questions when they don’t understand something.
4. Listen. When your team members ask questions, ask for help, or make suggestions make sure you really hear and understand what they need. Sometimes we get so caught up in delivering our planned presentations that we forget to adjust for the audience.
5. Be organized. Good organization saves time, reduces stress, and helps you present yourself more professionally.

By being a good leader you will help your entire team stay motivated and become more profitable.

Post from: Linda Stacy's Business Opportunity Connection

5 Team Leadership Tips

If you are not using social media to promote your services, products and website, you are missing out on one of the hottest marketing trends in years. And in doing so, your competition is very likely capturing sales that could be yours.

Social media is opening doors for entrepreneurs and businesses worldwide. Through social media you can:

• Formulate joint venture partnerships with someone you otherwise would have never connected with.
• Interact with customers and clients in real time offering support and guidance.
• Interact with people who are interested in your product and services and in you.
• Drive traffic to your website, squeeze page and brick and mortar or online store.

And, if all that isn’t enough to convince you to incorporate social media into your strategic marketing efforts, the costs of social media most likely will.  Aside from your time to network and connect with friends, followers and connections, nearly all social media tools and applications are free. Affordable and powerful strategic marketing…NICE, huh?

Ready to get started?

Click the “Add to Cart” button below and find out whether Twitter, Facebook, and/or LinkedIn are the right social media platforms for you and your business. Learn social media best practices and how to avoid the pitfalls of social media marketing. And get a list of tools that will help you make the most of your social media efforts.


16 Page PDF…..$4.50
Wait! Before you click that button you should know that our mailing list subscribers get a 50% discount on all our special reports. Subscribe now.


Our product link (Why tell?)

Click here to see other available business guides.

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Note: Every effort has been made to accurately represent our product and its potential. Each individual’s success depends on his or her background, dedication, desire and motivation. As with any business endeavor, there is an inherent risk of loss of capital and there is no guarantee that you will earn any money. Click here for complete terms of use and disclaimer.

Post from: Linda Stacy's Business Opportunity Connection

Special Report: The Pros and Cons of Using Social Media

We normally answer that question with a question of our own “What is the difference between renting and owning your home?”

Whether you’re blogging for fun or profit – or both, you’ll be pouring time and love into your creation. Do you want to own your blog and everything on it? Or would you rather just rent it and let someone else control how it’s treated, how long it stays online, and what kinds of limitations are placed upon you?

Me? I want to own my blog. I want to have 100% rights to my creation – whether it’s a personal blog with pictures of my puppies or whether it’s a blog that I’ve set up to make money.

Can you imagine owning a house and having someone come by and say “Ma’am… you can’t paint your bathroom that color. And, we can’t allow you to have a Tupperware party, either. Oh, and by the way, we’ll be moving your home in the next 24 hours and all of your addresses will need to be changed.”

You’d be thinking “No WAY!”

While that’s a long list of “What if’s” – all of those things can happen when you are using a free service. I certainly would not recommend that anyone build a business on a free blog.

Now, I’m sure you’re thinking that’s all well and good, but how the heck does it work? And, that’s where a good web host like MomWebs.com comes in to save the day. Not only do they offer email support, but you can pick up the phone and leave a message day or night and they’ll call you back.

Just go to MomWebs and look for the link that says “Blog Installation”. They’ll set up your blog for you and you’ll be set to go with a blog that you own today, tomorrow, and in 10 years for your kids to look at.

All you need is an idea and the desire to blog for fun or profit or both. We wish you the best – with whatever you decide.

Nicole Dean & Kelly McCausey love helping moms to earn money online without struggling and making mistakes like they did. Both women have been mentoring potential online business owners in the work at home mom community for many years. MomWebs.com was created to help work at home moms to overcome the technical hurdles that may be preventing them from sharing themselves with the online world. Check out the free training at MomWebs.com

All links in this post are affiliate links (Why tell?)

Post from: Linda Stacy's Business Opportunity Connection

I Want a Direct Sales Blog, but Don’t Want to Pay for Hosting

But in my opinion, the only way the nonsense will stop is when people stop responding to outrageous claims of instant riches.

I want to be very careful here and not blame the victims. None of us are immune to being duped by some of the very sophisticated frauds, con artist, and scammers out there. But for the most part, I don’t think the direct sellers using these less than honest recruiting methods fall into the category of scammers. Many are simply misguided marketers who continue to use these types of methods because they work.

Many of us want to believe. We ignore common sense and allow ourselves to think that it is possible to get rich quick or that there’s easy money available. Just look at state run lotteries. Despite slim odds of winning, people in the U.S. spend more than $50 billion a year on lottery tickets. They’re hoping to hit it big for overnight riches. It’s the same mentality that makes claims of overnight success in MLM attractive.

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the possibilities. But as Jennifer said, the reality is that while there is the potential for big earnings, “it’s a lot of work, and it takes time.” Jennifer and others have been teaching that reality for years, and I think that’s the message we need to keep in the forefront. A bit of skepticism can be a good thing when evaluating an opportunity.

Still Jennifer’s plea for truth in recruiting is important to reach that group of misinformed and misguided direct sellers. Perhaps they’re using the same methods that they responded to or they’re just doing what their upline teaches. Again, everyday Jennifer teaches direct sellers how to become successful by conducting themselves with honesty and integrity. Lister to her!

The truth is most of us don’t need to be rich and that’s not what we’re looking for. We just want to live comfortably, take care of our families, and have a few extra dollars to indulge ourselves once in a while. Direct sales can help achieve those goals. Recruit with that reality.

Post from: Linda Stacy's Business Opportunity Connection

Do You Really Want the Truth?

The Business Opportunity Connection launched five years ago today, February 19th.
To celebrate, I have a few gifts for you. (Sorry, the gifts are no longer available.)

The very first post on this blog was simply a welcome and introduction and then several days later the first direct sales tip was posted – a tip that still applies today.

Welcome to iRepNetwork’s Business Opportunity Connection
Posted on February 19, 2005 by Linda Stacy

The Business Opportunity Connection will provide news and information about home based business opportunities and tips on building your network marketing team.

iRepNetwork’s communication service provides a unique way to connect with potential team members online. We’d like to go a step further and help you build on that connection by becoming an information source to help business owners build a better team and help business seekers make a better choice.

Please check back regularly and feel free to add your comments so we can get some good discussions going.

Enjoy,
~ Linda

Shared goals make good teams
Posted on February 25, 2005 by Linda Stacy

When looking for a network marketing sponsor, look for someone who shares your goals. She doesn’t have to already be where you want to go, but if she’s moving in the same direction she can share her successes and failures with you to help you get there. If you have a common goal it will be easier to work together and stay motivated.

And find out what your sponsor does to help her downline meet their goals. Does she provide any special training or hold team meetings? Ask about her team & how many other people has she sponsored; how many are still active; how many have reached higher sales levels or build their own teams?

Finding a mentor who shares your goals will help keep you motivated and successful.

This is what the blog looked like back then. I remember being so proud that I had figured out how to change the color of the default WordPress theme.

I had been online for about 3 years before launching the Business Opportunity Connection. Before blogging, I frequented message boards and chat rooms for Work at Home Moms and belonged to a couple of Yahoo Groups where we discussed business via email. Twitter was basically unheard of and Facebook was still just for college students.

Things have changed quite a bit in five years, but there’s one thing I work really hard to keep the same – I always do my best to offer quality tips and resources to help you choose your direct sales business and market it online.

Let’s celebrate! Here are your gifts:

March 1, 2010 – Sorry… the gifts are no longer available. Please click here to find our special reports, including some free reports.

I look forward to connecting with you for another 5 years!

Post from: Linda Stacy's Business Opportunity Connection

It’s Our 5 Year Anniversary – Gifts for You

All kinds of products and services come with a guarantee, but some guarantees aren’t really what they seem. Adrian Jock exposes “the truth about guaranteed hits” in his article below. It’s the kind of examination we should all do before making a buying decision based on a guarantee. And it got me thinking about other guarantees.

I won’t even go into the madness of guaranteed income for online business opportunities. That’s a whole article in and of itself and hopefully by now we all understand the impossibility of that guarantee.

Another common guarantee that many online business owners come across is guaranteed uptime for website hosting. The guarantee makes it sound like a promise that your website will be available 99.5% or even 99.9% of the time. But the hosting company is really guaranteeing is that they’ll credit or refund part of your hosting fees if they don’t maintain that level of service. Personally, I stand to lose more than a few dollars if my site is down for any length of time, so I look for actual uptime statistics rather than guarantees.

When making purchase decisions of any kind, a guarantee may be an important feature. Just be sure you understand what it means. Read Adrian’s article to understand guaranteed hits and please leave your comments and questions.

Email Marketing – The Truth About Guaranteed Hits
By Adrian Jock

Since no traffic equals no sales, hits to his website is the goal of any email marketer. However, many email marketing campaigns fail by delivering few clicks. The reason is simple: this type of marketing is not that easy. You need an attention grabbing subject line, a good ad copy and more. What if someone guarantees you hits?

All hard work is simply skipped. The prospects land on your salesletter without you wasting your time on copywriting and testing. Doesn’t sound great? Yes, it would be nice, but… how true (and effective) are those guaranteed clicks on your link?

Let’s see. So what actually means to get guaranteed hits? Well… No matter how bad my subject line is, no matter what I write in the ad copy, no matter anything, someone (let’s call it from now on the seller) will make his opt-in subscribers click on my link. Wonderful! But how can the seller “force” his subscribers click on my link?

Maybe his subscribers are all dumb. Maybe they don’t do anything all day long but wait for the seller to send emails so that to click on the links from the emails and make happy the seller and the advertisers. How does this sound? Quite unreal, right?

Then… if the subscribers are not dumb but they still click on links no matter how bad and not attractive is an ad copy, then it means that there is something the advertiser doesn’t know… What can it be? An incentive for subscribers! Something to make them click on links, no matter the content of the email. In comparison with the first assumption, this one looks very possible, right?

What if behind the seller’s mailing list there is actually a get paid to read emails program? What if there is a credit based safelist, or a similar program, or a combination of such programs? Wow! That’s it, right? This sounds very real and it seems that we found out how can someone guarantee hits. OK, but this is not what it was advertised when I placed my order, right? Not so nice practice, but… at least is it effective?

Let’s see… Who are those people clicking on my link? Hungry buyers? Hmm… I doubt… a) they waste their time clicking on links because they cannot afford a serious and professional promotion way (or they are freebies hunters) and b) they are looking for credits in order to blast their own ads – they are sellers, not hungry buyers.

Will they at least take a look at my salesletter? No one can tell exactly what other people will do, but… we can estimate their actions by asking ourselves “Why did they land on my page?”. Because they were interested in my very bad subject line? Because they were interested in my ad copy that they did NOT read? Nope! They landed on my page in order to get credits (Most of them are wasting their time, but that’s another story) and right after that will close my page and go to the next email to continue their job. To be honest, if I’m lucky, maybe some of them will take a look at my page, but… hey, did I say lucky? Is this email marketing or gambling?

What is the conclusion? Hmm… No further comments from my part. You know my opinion and actually you know my conclusion. It’s your turn… Be wise!

To Your Online Success!
Adrian Jock

P.S. If you want to read more internet marketing tips, you’re invited to subscribe free to the Worst Newsletter in the World. Why would someone call his own newsletter “the worst”? The mystery is revealed here: http://www.adsmarket.biz/internet-marketing-tips-news.html.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adrian_Jock
http://EzineArticles.com/?Email-Marketing—The-Truth-About-Guaranteed-Hits&id=3763160

Post from: Linda Stacy's Business Opportunity Connection

What Good is a Guarantee?

Tsunami survivors and others in need handcraft Laga’s embroidered handbags and travel bags, natural fiber bags for the Tasik Collection, and beaded purses. Independent consultants sell the bags at home parties and through other direct sales methods.

Get more information by visiting the Laga Handbags website or find information on this company and many others direct sales companies in the InternetBasedMoms.com direct sales directory.

Post from: Linda Stacy's Business Opportunity Connection

Spotlight on Laga Handbags – A Future for Tsunami Survivors

We’ve all heard stories about ordinary people turning their hobby into a profitable business. Artists and crafters are often encouraged to sell their creations. And the advice most often offered to someone looking to start a small business is to “turn your passion into profit.”

Is it really possible to make money from a hobby? Can a craft or passion become a full-time career?

Yes, it’s possible. It won’t happen overnight, but with a great idea, a marketing plan, and dedication and hard work you can make money from a hobby.

Think about how much you’ve personally spent on your hobby over the past year. Like you, many people happily spend on hobbies and crafts because they provide entertainment and relaxation. And some people are willing to make a huge investment in their passions. It’s estimated that in the U.S. crafts are a $10 billion industry.

There are many ways to profit from your hobbies. Some people create and sell their arts and crafts at local shows, fairs, and consignment shops. Others sell their creations online through auction sites like eBay, at marketplaces like Etsy, or by launching their own website.

If you sell your own creations you are limited by the number of items you can make. An alternative is to sell supplies for your hobby or craft. You might also consider teaching your craft by offering classes locally or online through ecourses and ebooks.

Many people start out seeing a little bit of money trickle in from turning their hobby into a business, but with the right approach, your passion can bring you a decent income in addition to a lot of satisfaction.

Other resources to help you profit from your passion:

• How to Start a Craft Blog
• Candy Wrapper Business Ebook
• How to Start a Greeting Card Business

Affiliate link or our product link (Why tell?)

Post from: Linda Stacy's Business Opportunity Connection

Can You Really Make Money from a Hobby?