Reasoning Theorems of Success

Is it hard to get rich? If you’re young, not really.

Its fun to play with financial calculators and see what
might happen.

If you have just graduated from college and are about 22
years old and if you put $100 a month in an IRA that
grows at 10% a year, you will have
around $865,000 at age 65. 10% a year is about what you
should expect if the money was placed in a no-load S&P
500 Index Fund.

So for about $23 a week or $3.30 a day you will be close
to being a millionaire.

If you contribute the full $4000 a year allowed right now
(rising to $5000 in 2008), you would have $2,600,000. For
about $11.00 a day, you would have a small fortune.

If you didn’t want to take a chance with the stock market
(after all, it goes down sometimes), you would
still have over $600,000 if you could get a 5% return.

If your grandmother leaves you $10,000 in her will and you
invest it for the same 43 years at 10% without adding
another cent, you’d still have over
$600,000 if you placed it in a tax sheltered account.

Time and the power of compound interest are on your side.
So if you’re in you twenties, do whatever you have to
scrape together that IRA contribution. Every day you
procrastinate is another day your money is not working
for you.

However, most people in their twenties need the money for
more important things, like new cars and HDTV’s. You also
have student loans to pay, children to raise and the new
mortgage to pay off. But if you prioritize your life and
stick to a budget, $11.00 a day is doable, although you
might have to scrimp here and there.

Consider that most people are spending their livings
paying the freight for borrowing ‘other people’s money”.

If you save and invest, other people are paying you to use
your money. It’s a lot more fun to see your money working
than having to work yourself.

It gets harder to amass wealth as you get older. If you wait
until you’re 32 and put away $4000 at 10%, you would have
about $975,000, still a respectable amount.

At 42, you’d only be able to accumulate approximately $350,000.

If you’re 50 and can start putting $5000 (those over 50 are
allowed “catch up contributions”) away today, you’ll have
around $175,000 at age 65.

Everyone knows that Social Security is not going to allow for
a comfortable retirement. Even if the plan can continue to
pay out forever, which is questionable right now, the money
you receive will be far from generous and is subject to
taxation.

You might have a good pension plan at work now, but will
you be able to hold your current job to retirement?

If you have a Roth IRA, you can withdraw the money tax free
after age 59 . Imagine having a million tax free dollars
you can play with. It will well make up for the small
sacrifices you have to make to get there.

No matter what your age, start saving what you can now
- today. Even if you only amass $100,000, you’ll be
better off than most people entering retirement.

Chris Cooper is a retired attorney who has spent several periods of his life deep in debt. At http://www.credit-yourself.com he tries to pass on some of the knowledge he picked up in his journey to become debt free.

When you develop a sales brochure, you have a mental checklist of what needs to be in it. You probably look at brochures from other vendors. You get advice from friends and colleagues. You probably also notice the sales flyers you get in the mail. What do you notice? What gets your attention?

A web site for your business has many of the same purposes as a sales brochure. At the same time, it is more “delicate” and requires more attention. It is technically more advanced and therefore more challenging to design as well as to keep up to date.

Below are 10 things you should consider when developing a web site. These will give you a good start. After reading them, you may be able to add more.

Know your audience. You need to know who are the people most likely to look at your site so that you can target that audience. Who are your current and potential customers? What kinds of words or pictures do they respond to? You are more likely to make sales to those who spend time at your site, so you need to make the pitch to your most likely candidates.

Learn from the best. Spend some time on the web. Look at your competitors’ sites as well as unrelated sites. Discover which presentations you like and what colors work well together. Take note of how easy or hard it is to navigate through the sites. Save the addresses you like so that you can return to them easily (this is called a “bookmark”). The better your web site looks, the more time people will spend with it and the better your chances of increased business or sales.

Plan ahead. Once you know your audience (who is most likely to be interested in your product or service) take time to lay out the content of each page and how different pages will link to each other. The more planning you do up front, the easier it will be to get up and running, and the fewer changes you will need to make down the road.

Graphics are worth 10,000 pixels. This is a play on the expression, “A picture is worth 1,000 words.” Text in different colors can highlight important information. Animation, sound, and video may be important, especially if they are business related. Be aware, however, that if graphics take more than 8 seconds to load, a potential customer may get impatient and move on. On the other hand, the effective and efficient use of graphics can provide a lot of information that will catch people’s attention. Potential customers may not take the time to read text, but they can judge quickly from a picture if the product or service will meet their needs.

Be a good neighbor. If you want to quote a source, get permission. If some of the ideas you present are not yours, give credit where credit is due. Use disclaimers or disclosures when required or appropriate. This enhances your reputation as a vendor.

Connect with the world. Provide links to other sites that sell accessories, add-ons, or related products. This will make it easier for them to do get all they need with minimal searching. Try to arrange for reciprocal links. The more ways people can get to your site, the more people will see it.

Test your site. Always check your text for errors in both spelling and grammar. Remember that a spell checker will find incorrect spellings but not incorrect usage (i.e., the difference between “its” and “it’s”). Also, what you see in one browser may not be what you get in another. You need to make sure that all the fonts, centering, and alignment work. Test uploading times and links with slow modems. While you can’t examine every possible computer hardware and software configuration that users might have, the more scenarios your site works well on, the more people will spend time with it.

Get outside opinions. Find out what people think about your site. Ask for specifics like colors, fonts, graphics, time to load, and ease of navigation. Receive both positive and negative feedback graciously. Thank people for their suggestions. Remember that you will not be able to please everyone, but the more people who like your site, the more they will recommend it to others.

Let people know where you are. Register with search engines. Tell your current and potential customers through phone calls or email. Include your web address on your business cards, letterhead, print ads, and email signature. The best web site in the world will not make money if people don’t know it’s there.

Keep it fresh. Update the content on a timely basis. Use contests and promotions. Conduct surveys and polls where people can vote. Make your web site fun and interactive. Your site should be interesting and constantly refreshed so people will keep coming back to see what’s new.

Remember that your web site is an electronic ad for your business. Make certain that it reflects your business well.

© Copyright 1999 - 2005 Alicia Smith

Permission to reproduce granted if all attribution & contact information is included.

Alicia Smith is a Coach and Trainer whose specialty is helping coaches to Make Money Now. To learn more about that course and her other products and services, please visit the following sites:

www.AliciaSmith.com
www.InternetAssessments.com
www.90DaystoaProduct.com
www.DiscNinja.com
www.CoachingBlunders.com
www.90DayMarketingMarathon.com

Whether or not you consider yourself a writer, penning articles that are of value to your target market is one of the most effective ways to get your name out there and become known as an expert in your niche, attract visitors to your website, and gain new subscribers for your ezine or other Pink Spoon (free offering to entice prospects into your Marketing & Product Funnel).

And crafting a Top Ten article is one of the easiest ways of actually getting that article written! To help you, I’ve created a Top Ten on how to put together your own Top Ten article:

1. Visit www.topten.org

This is a great website to give you ideas and samples of how a Top Ten article looks. Once your article is complete, you can add yours to this website as well. (There’s also loads of good info on this site, but try not to get too distracted by it until your own article is finished… :))

2. Decide who your Top Ten is going to be written for.

To give you the best return for your investment in writing your Top Ten, it should be written for your niche. You can write a general article that applies to your entire niche, or you could choose a segment of your niche to write the article for.

3. Decide what your Top Ten is going to be about.

To take #2 a step further, choose one issue that your niche seems to grapple with over and over, and write the article based on your solution(s) to that problem.

4. Give it a title.

For example:

Top Ten Ways to Choose the Perfect Massage Therapist for You Top Ten Reasons for Not Writing a Blog Top Ten Steps to Making a Sound Business Investment Top Ten Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing a Babysitter Top Ten Blunders Most New Business Owners Make Top Ten Questions to Ask Before Hiring A Virtual Assistant Top Ten Answers to How to Design a Website Top Ten Requirements for Traveling to Europe Top Ten Points to Make in Any Presentation Top Ten Hints to Keeping A Clean House Without Maid Service

(I just made all of those up, so feel free to “steal” any of them.)

5. Create a summary paragraph about your Top Ten article.

Write a short paragraph that describes what your article is about. Three to five sentences should suffice. This will become your introductory paragraph.

6. Write down your Top Ten points.

Write down the ten points you want to make in your article. Keep each of the ten points short. For example, if your top ten article is “Top Ten Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Massage Therapist,” your Top Ten points might be:

Point 1: Is the location of the massage therapist’s office desirable?

Point 2: Does the massage therapist accept your insurance?

Point 3: Are the fees reasonable for you, if insurance is not accepted?

Point 4: Can you talk to some current clients?

Point 5: Is scheduling an appointment easy?

Point 6: Can you have your choice of a male or female therapist, if you have a preference?

Point 7: Is the environment of the therapist’s office to your liking?

Point 8: Does the therapist hold certain qualifications that are important to you?

Point 9: Does the therapist have a reasonable cancellation policy?

Point 10: Know you don’t have to stay with a therapist if they aren’t right for you!

7. Explain each of the ten points.

Write 3 to 5 sentences to illustrate each of your ten points.

For example,

Point 1: Is the location of the massage therapist’s office desirable?

Think about how much time you want to spend getting to and from a potential massage therapist’s office. Less is probably more desirable, or, if you’re like me, I drive 30 minutes because his office is very close to the only Starbucks around where I live, so the drive is worth it to me for my weekly chai.

8. Write your author’s resource box info.

For example, one version of mine says:

Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & Coach, & Founder of www.ClientAbundance.com, teaches coaches, consultants, online entrepreneurs and solo professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve.

For FREE tips on how to create abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com

9. Proofread!

Please proofread your article and your author’s box. Even better, have someone else proofread it, too. Best is to have at least three sets of eyes look it over before you consider it ready to be published.

10. Leverage your article.

Submit your article to article submission sites and directories. I personally use and highly recommend SubmitYOURArticle. Also, submit it to www.topten.org. Use it in your ezine and on your website as a free valuable resource for your readers and visitors. Eventually group together a series of your articles with a common theme into an ebook to create a passive stream of income for you.

Follow these ten steps and in no time you’ll have written a solid and polished article with which to market your business!

Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & Coach, & Founder of http://www.ClientAbundance.com , teaches coaches, consultants, online entrepreneurs and solo professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve.
For FREE tips on how to create abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com

We drive by them everyday abandoned houses, commercial property, apartments all boarded up some fenced in. They’ve been there for so long it doesn’t register any more doesn’t trigger us into action. There is gold in those boarded up properties follow these 7 steps to make small changes in how you do business.

1.A New Start - Tomorrow start with a new perspective know in you mind that you have missed a great deal of opportunities in abandoned properties that were in front you all the time. Drive slower, look at every property you go by with your new eyes. Drive a different way each day.

2.Bird-dogs - Hire a bird dog; pay by the lead or by commission. Just get someone out on the street actively looking for vacant properties. They are out there ready for you to make an offer. Banks and dead-tired owners are waiting for you.

3.Real Estate Agents - Don’t waste your time they have already had these properties listed and couldn’t sell them. These are the dogs that nobody wants anything to do with. No commissions for agents here.

4.When You Find One - Now the real work starts. Sometimes it is easy to find the owner through the tax records, no problem. If that doesn’t work try the neighbors’ maybe they know something. What’s next how about hiring a skip tracer private investigator could be expensive $400 or $500 to make $25,000 you do the math. Abandon run-down properties are usually that way for a reason, nobody can contact the owner.

5.Found The Owner - Find out what they know about the property. It may be Uncle Charlie’s house left to them in his will and they don’t want anything to do with it, an opportunity for a good deal. Again it could be the whole family knows about it and they have been waiting years to get their piece of the pie, maybe not such a good deal.

6.Offer an Embarrassing Amount - Remember it’s abandoned nobody wants it. To get your point across use photos with your offer, maybe the City Building Dept has notices posted, danger signs. Use anything ugly, photos of other ugly properties near by or newspaper articles about the neighborhood.

7.Closing the Deal - Use your real estate attorney to prepare the paperwork and close the transaction. Before money changes hands, do your due diligence, have it appraised, order Title report and insurance, a survey, research building code and health code violations.
You should be ready to go.

Bill Carey with over 30 years in real estate sales, investments, and home building offers a unique perspective to the buying and selling process of residential real estate for F*R*E*E consumer information and reports log on to http://www.CharlotteNCExecutiveHomes.com and see
“Insider Real Estate Secrets Revealed”
…a must-read for Home-Owners and Renters!
It’s a F*R*E*E 12-lesson e-course covering more than 20 topics exposing the realities behind buying and selling a home.
It Could Make(or Save) You Thousands of Dollars

See http://www.BillCareyRealtor.com and sign up for our monthly e-newsletter with tips for buyers, sellers, home owners and soon to be home owners.

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