10 Ways You Can Be A Successful Early Riser

The average person sleeps about 8-9 hours a day. Now, just imagine for a second how much more exciting and successful your life could be if you would gain 3 additional hours of valuable time every single day.

Imagine, getting up at 5AM without being tired and buzzing with energy throughout the entire day.

In only one year, you would gain almost 1100 hours or 45 days.

What would you do with all that extra time?

You could take your business to the next level, you could learn a foreign language, you could spend more time with your family…

But, isn’t it terribly difficult to get up early every day?

Sure, forming a new habit is always somewhat challenging at the beginning. You may be struggling a bit the first few days. After one week it is already much easier and after 3-4 weeks you will have created a new habit and it surely won’t be a big deal any longer.

So, yes, you probably will be tired for about a week. But, your body gets used to the new rhythm and to having less sleep very quickly – much quicker than you may think.

And you know, it is not so much the quantity of sleep you get, but much more the quality of your sleep that really counts.

Several years ago, I was sleeping almost 9 hours a day. And still, several times during the day I felt very tired. Now, I’m sleeping only 6 hours a day and I’m feeling much fresher and much more energized.

Here is the simple formula to greatly improve the quality of your sleep and to make getting up at 5AM really easy:

1: Change your beliefs about getting up early

Most people believe that they need 8 or 9 hours of sleep a day to “function” properly. I know from my experience and from the experience of many other people, that 6 hours is absolutely enough.

Re-condition your mind and tell yourself that after a short period of adaptation you will be feeling absolutely great with only 6 hours of sleep a day and that it is NOT a big deal at all to get up at 5AM.

2: Don’t eat several hours before going to sleep

I recommend, you don’t eat anything after 7PM. Also, avoid drinking coffee, black tea or alcohol 6-7 hours before going to sleep.

If you eat before going to sleep, additional energy will be required by your digestive system, the quality of your sleep will suffer and you will wake up tired in the morning.

3. You need a good reason to get up early

Think about why you would like to have more time in your life. What drives and motivates you? This will help you to get up early.

I also recommend you write a task list for the following day and you define what task(s) you will tackle first thing in the morning. If you get up early and then you don’t know what to do, there is a “risk” that you just go back to bed.

4: Calm your mind before going to bed

Make it a habit to meditate or relax 20-30 minutes before going to bed. Don’t work or watch TV just before going to bed. If you do that, your mind keeps on running, it will take you longer to fall asleep, your sleep won’t be as deep and relaxed as it should be and you will be tired the next day.

5: Make a firm decision to get up at 5AM and turn it into an exciting challenge

Before falling asleep, tell yourself to get up at 5AM – no matter what! Visualize yourself having a deep, relaxing and energizing good night’s sleep and getting out of bed at 5AM feeling refreshed and excited to start the day.

That way, you condition your subconscious mind and getting up early will be much easier.

Make “getting up at 5AM” an exciting challenge. Most people won’t even try their entire life, many of those who try give up after only a few days… Yes, getting up early is a habit mostly used by highly successful people.

Will you succeed? Of course you will!

6: Don’t Snooze

I know, it’s tempting to snooze when the alarm clock rings, but it only makes your challenge of getting up early more difficult. You snooze once, the next day maybe twice, then you stay half an hour longer…

Don’t think, don’t negotiate, don’t try to find any reasons why it would not be a problem to stay a few minutes longer… just get up, just do it!

You can even practice this behavior during the day: Lie down, set your alarm clock to ring in 5 minutes, relax and pretend you are sleeping… and as soon as the alarm goes off, tell yourself: “Time to get up, I’m looking forward to another exciting day…” – and just get out of bed.

7: Put your alarm clock out of reach

If the temptation to snooze is too strong, put the alarm clock further away from your bed so that you have no other choice than getting out of bed to switch off the alarm.

8: Time to fully wake up

Ok, you just got out of your bed, but probably you are not fully awake yet. Open the window and take 5-10 deep breaths of fresh air. I also recommend some light physical exercises for at least 10-15 minutes to fully oxygenate your body and to get ready for the day.

9: Be proud of your achievement

Less than 1% of the population gets up at 5AM and typically it’s only the high achievers and the super successful people. So, take a minute, enjoy your achievement and be proud of yourself.

This may sound a bit childish, but it’s really important. Having this feeling of accomplishment will provide you with additional motivation and it will make getting up early easier for you the following days.

10: Make sure your nutrition is healthy and balanced

The quality of your nutrition has a huge influence on your energy level. The higher the quality of your nutrition, the more energy you will have and the less sleep you will need.

I recommend you buy a good book on healthy nutrition. Here are some basic tips to give you some ideas: Eat more fruits and vegetables (ideally organic), drink enough water. Avoid alcohol, fast food, junk food, too much coffee or black tea… Reduce your consumption of sugar, unsaturated fatty acids, meat… as much as possible

Trust me, it’s not as difficult as you may think and it gets easier every day

The Conclusion:

Once again, getting up early will probably be somewhat challenging at the beginning, but it gets easier every day. You just have to push through the first 7-10 days. This takes some discipline and will power, but it is well worth it.

Yes, you will be tired at the beginning, but after a week or so you will realize having more and more energy during the day and feeling less and less tired.

Our goal here is to be buzzing with energy throughout the entire day while sleeping less. There is no point in getting up at 5AM if afterwards you are tired for the rest of the day.

Some people recommend to make getting up early a slow and incremental process, where you get up 15 minutes earlier every 1-2 weeks.

When I decided to get up earlier, I immediately went from about 8AM to 6AM and about a year later I decided to give 5AM a try and it worked quite well for me.

But, you can experiment with both approaches.

This Is More Effective Than Your New Year’s Resolution

We are creatures of habit. Unfortunately most people never decide how they want to live. As a result they get taken wherever the wind blows.

But not Addicted2Success readers, you want more. You live consciously. You decide how you want to live and what you want to have. You build the habits conducive to the good life.

Aristotle famously said:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”.

Unfortunately, most people never set goals, or challenge themselves. Year after year on December 31st whilst jacked up on alcohol, in the midst of self-pity they decide to set some new year’s resolutions. Their excitement may last for a few days, or even two weeks, however, because the resolution was formed on alcohol and emotion they rarely see this through.

How do I know? Because I was one of those frustrated individuals on every January the 15th. I decided 9 years ago to no longer be flimsy about my approach to life. I realised that if you don’t consciously choose the direction of your life, you will most likely go with your emotions. This is the last thing you want to do. Success will rarely come on this path.

When you decide the life you want, you start to think about your daily, seemingly unimportant actions. To the onlooker what you are doing seems irrelevant and redundant; you know that those conscious daily actions will become habits.

Your habits will naturally draw your dream life into existence. Leaving that onlooker dumfounded.

“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so masterful at all.” – Michelangelo

Habits and the examined life is something I treasure greatly. About 10 years ago I was, well, a bit of a no-hoper. I was failing school, university was a no go and I lacked any kind of direction. That was until I read my first personal development book. 100s of books later, I’m now my own best-selling personal development author.

It wasn’t just knowledge that awakened me to my greatness. It was the action that succeeded it, that truly made the difference. I started doing 30 day challenges. With the sole purpose of building good, constructive habits that put me on course for the life I knew I was capable of.

In 30 days you can remove a vice or learn a new skill. The time frame holds you accountable to see the challenge through. The main benefit I found from challenging myself was the increase in discipline. Where I was disciplining one area of my life, all the other areas of my life became more structured and productive because I was motivated from honing my mind.

Over the last 10 years I’ve done various challenges such as quit meat, stopped consuming sugary drinks, started writing a book an hour a day and quit masturbating (it was hard – pun intended).

You really can use this simple tool to improve your life drastically. Before you get started ask yourself some questions like:

• What area of my life can I improve?
• What could I give up that would make me happier/healthier?
• What would excite me for 30 days?

From your answers you should have an idea where you want to start.

I have failed many times, so let me give you 5 tips to help you successfully complete your first 30 day challenge.

1. Know your success criteria

If you don’t know where you’re going you won’t know when you get there. By clearly defining your outcome and what you need to do (or don’t do) daily, you will be setting yourself up for success.

When I first started doing the challenges I would have a loose idea but never clearly define it. This caused many slip-ups, especially when I was quitting sugary drinks.

2. Nothing wrong with failing

Yep, it’s true. There is absolutely nothing wrong with failing a challenge. Mistakes happen, what matters is you learn from it and start again. Try not to leave it too long before you start the 30 days again, maximum of 3 days.

Life has a funny habit of getting in the way. Then it’s 2 months later and we never started again. See through what you committed to completing, after all there was a reason you started.

3. Visualise yourself succeeding 

Let’s say you are doing 5am wake ups for the 30 days. For a night owl this is an unbelievably hard challenge – I know I’ve done it. What helped me was visualising myself hearing the alarm clock, waking up (and being happy about it) and getting straight out of bed to make a coffee. You can do this daily, weekly or once. The more frequent you do it, the more impact it will have.

When we visualise a better future we are creating a neural pathway in our brain. This pathway will trick your mind into accepting this as truth.

4. Do one challenge at a time

It’s easy to get carried away. I’m still struggling to keep to one at a time. Now I just want change, hopefully you will too. If that’s the case it’s easy to want to do multiple challenges at once. The issue here is that we only have a finite amount of will power each day.

Some of these challenges can be very trying. To start with just pick one that will enrich your life.

Then after your first challenge, consider picking two that compliment each other if you have the desire to do more than one.

5. Reward yourself

It’s important to reward yourself. You may get disheartened at times throughout the challenge. Energy is low, will power fading and you are starting to forget why you even began.

It’s important to reward yourself each week with something that is meaningful to you. That may be your favourite meal, a hot bath or drinking with your buddies.

Conclusion

Most of my good habits that are building success in my life right now have come from doing these 30 day challenges.

By challenging yourself you will increase your motivation levels, clarity for your goals and be building success habits that will propel you towards your dreams.

So many people in life don’t try or at best set New Year’s resolutions, but you’re different.

Challenge yourself, I dare you!

How The Power of Focus Can Lead You To Success

How do you wake up in the morning?

Do you jump out of bed and look forward to starting the day?

Do you wake up in the morning and you did not want to get out of bed, hear the alarm clock ring and you press the snooze button over and over again until you are forced to get up and go to the bathroom?

Or wake up even more tired?

With the busy life style that we lead today, most of the time human beings are operating on autopilot, seldom do we stop and ask ourselves essential questions.

In addition we are being constantly bombarded with information (breaking news, whatsapp messages, tweets, emails…) and we are reacting to the situations, that our lives are being controlled by external environment that we have forgotten simple concepts of life.

What do you think about when you wake up?

Do you think about all the things you need to do, the list is endless and you feel overwhelmed before you get out of bed.

Or

You wake up in the morning, thinking about all the challenges that you are facing in your life, think about all the critics that people have given you, even the areas where you have not succeeded. Then you feel discouraged and de-motivated.

Or

Think about what is missing in our lives not enough money, no big title (Director, CEO) after your name or you do not have a flashy car and so on.

When faced with a problem what do you do?

Spend time discussing and analyzing the problem in great depth and then defining it in unsolvable terms?

Or do you find out who is to blame?

Our thoughts

Human beings think between 50,000- 70,000 thoughts a day (mental chatter, images or movies playing in our head) 95% of these thoughts are repetitive of previous days and 80% of the habitual thoughts are negative.

In order to achieve success we need to learn how to focus these thoughts on what we want.

Story

One day the Zen master wanted to show his students a new technique of shooting an arrow. He told his students to cover his eyes with a cloth and then he shot his arrow. When he opened his eyes, he saw the target with no arrow in it and when he looked at his students, they looked embarrassed because their teacher had missed.

The Zen master asked them, “What lesson do you think I intend to teach you all today?” They answered, “We thought you would show us how to shoot at the target without looking.” The Zen master said, “No, I taught you that if you want to be successful in life, don’t forget the target. You have to keep an eye on the target, otherwise you may miss a good opportunity in life.” They looked at each other, impressed with the lesson.

The moral of the story is we need to consistently focus on what we want and we need to realize that :

• What thoughts we focus on we FEEL, therefore our thoughts have a direct effect on our emotions
• What we focus on and feel we attract in our lives. Our destiny is consistently shaped by our thoughts.

“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” - Joshua J. Marine

Tips: How to control the FOCUS of your thoughts

When faced with a challenge or a problem spend 5% of your time discussing the problem, 95% of your time finding innovative and creative solutions. Remember “The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude to the problem”

Ensure that you do the following on a daily basis:

Learn something new on a daily basis. Learning does not end when you obtain your degree or leave university. The journey of life is a learning process, successful people converted their failures into stepping stones by learning from it and moving on. When you try something and it does not work out, do not despair, all you have to do is find a better way to do it.

Enjoy – Ensure that on a daily basis that you are able to enjoy and have fun. You have the ability to create memorable moments on a daily basis. Remember

“life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but how many moments that take our breath away”

Appreciate – As soon as we develop a sense of appreciation (gratitude), we are shifting our focus of thoughts on what we have and what we have been able to achieve.

Reflect on your life. “An unexamined life is not worth living” Socrates. Reflection allows for self assessment, checking that you are on the right track. Reflection gives you time to monitor your thoughts and actions, to check whether they are in alignment with your purpose in life.

Negative thoughts have a way of coming when you least expect it to. People spend too much time thinking about what happen to them in the past or the possibility of negative things happening to them in the future.

To get rid of these negative thoughts ask yourself one QUESTION “If this was my LAST day alive, what would I Love to do..” then go and do it.

Do not postpone living.

Sometimes, it`s the smallest decisions that change your life forever.

Seven years ago I was that athletic, hyperactive person you could look at and admire.

I was madly in love with cardio, and I could easily work out twice a day, six days a week, without a single complain, not to mention jogging at 6AM five days each week.

In college I went through lots of rough times, especially in my senior year. I was always stressed, I procrastinated a lot, and I couldn’t care less about working out, until one day I woke up and realized that I had gained forty-six pounds in less than a year.

In just twelve months, I found myself transforming into a less attractive, obese young man who couldn`t breathe properly or even fit into an old pair of jeans. I also had stress problems and a non-stop bad temper.

I tried hard to get back on track and get my old self back again, but with so much stress in my life, it was only a matter of days until I gave up and went back to my bad eating habits.

I would plan my diet, stick to it for a couple of day or weeks, and then give up. Working out was no longer easy for me; the gym was boring and healthy food was unbearable.

For seven consecutive years I faced lots of difficulties and tried to lose weight more than 100 times. All failed. I was desperate, I was helpless, and I felt stuck, until one day I asked myself:

Why don`t I start small?

Why don`t I forget about doing too many things at once and change only one thing and see what happens next?

Why don`t I just go to the gym—without caring about how much I eat, how heavy I lift, how fast I run, and without even sticking myself to a specific schedule?

What if I just put my shoes on and walked myself to the gym three days every week, and considered my daily goal done once I stepped into the gym. No more doubts and no more worries—I’d just try to be someone who goes to the gym more often.

I did it, and it was the best thing I ever did for myself.

In a matter of three months, I have lost thirty-eight pounds, gained control over my life, and become more disciplined. And junk food has finally no control over me.

I did that by following a set of universal laws that most people neglect when trying to change their lives. I strongly believe that if you manage to follow these universal laws, changing your life is guaranteed.

I have summarized these laws in four simple rules that are applicable to almost all types of human behavior. Whether you’re trying to lose weight or build self-confidence, follow these four rules and you will see results.

Rule 1: Make it easy to start.

I asked myself: What are the obstacles that made me hate going to the gym?

The answer was:

• Feeling bad when I fail to reach the specific number of reps for each exercise, or when I don’t lift heavily.
• Feeling bad when I can`t push myself to run on a treadmill.
• Feel like I’m not disciplined enough and I lack control over my life whenever I miss a workout (even if I have a busy schedule).

So I decided to eliminate all the obstacles and make it easy to go to the gym consistently.

I knew that if I kept lifting weights and running even with 50 percent of my strength, my body would change and I would see progress. That`s why I decided to:

• Lift only what I could, especially when I wasn’t in the mood to lift heavy.
• Do only what I could when it came to cardio. If the ideal intense cardio workout is made of four intervals, then I’d be satisfied if I did two or more.
• Be less strict with timing. I’d hit the gym any day at anytime as long as I go there at least three times each week.

I did that and I realized something very strange. When I dropped the stress off my shoulders, I started to lift heavy weights, run faster, and go the extra mile in almost all of my workouts. And that made me stick to the habit more than ever because I made it easy for myself to progress.

If you want to see results, you must make it so easy to start that there is no place for thoughts of quitting or backing up. Life is already hard. Don`t make it harder.

Rule 2: It`s all about consistency.

No matter who you are, you will have some sort of resistance to change. This resistance is at its minimum when you introduce change into your life step by step until it becomes a part of who you are, or face any kind of emotional trauma or a situation when change is a must (like losing your job or getting a divorce).

Since you don`t want to put yourself in a traumatic situation, and because your reasons are sometimes not strong enough to weaken your inner resistance immediately, the best way to change your lifestyle is by starting small and being consistent.

By focusing on one—and only one—thing to change at a time (so you don`t stir up your inner resistance) and taking consistent actions toward this goal until you have a new way of life.

Take my dieting example:

It was hard for me to exercise regularly and introduce a healthy lifestyle to my daily routine, so I changed only one variable (going to the gym) and left the rest unchanged. Within a month I found myself changing my eating habits completely without feeling bad about it.

Why? Because being a gym-goer had changed the image I had of myself, which made overeating seem less exciting.

I simply didn`t want to lose the calories I worked hard to burn in the gym on a can of soda or a cheeseburger.

Consider change as a snowball; all you need is to build a small ball, clear the path, and let the ball roll.

Start small now and build on it. It`s the tortoise that wins in real life, not the lazy rabbit.

Stop trying to revolutionize your life in a single shot. Small and consistent is what you need to explode.

Rule 3: You never start at the end line. 

When playing a new video game, the best way to show fast progress is to start at the amateur mode and get used to it for sometime before you move to the Pro level.

The same goes with real change; you start at the bottom in the amateur mode and keep progressing until you become a pro.

Your goal is to move from the beginner level to the pro one fast and safe, and to do so you must know that:

• When you demand too much too early, you lose.
• When you be over judgmental and beat yourself up too often, you lose.
• And when you choose perfection over progress, you still lose.

Don`t look far and forget where you`re stepping. You have two eyes; keep one on the sky and the other one under your feet.

Rule 4: Regret is a complete waste of time.

I had my moments of relapsing. I have cheated many times but I didn`t allow such mistakes to ruin my diet because I realized that regret is useless.

When changing your life, keep in mind that it`s immediate action that fixes a mistake, not crying over it. It is your reaction toward a mistake that counts, not the mistake itself.

Get over your mistakes fast, and you will be amazed by how far you will go with your life.

If you learn something in this article, feel free to comment below.

5 Ways Dreamers Can Become Doers!

Maybe you’ve been called a dreamer your whole life—by others and by yourself. However, saying you are a dreamer or a doer is like saying you are good or bad. Nobody is 100 percent one way or the other, but they may lean more in one direction. It’s a spectrum, and the good news is that you can shift the paradigm so you’re a little more balanced.

Remember that being a doer isn’t necessarily better than being a dreamer. You need both to succeed. 

If you’re really off kilter and have a lot more dreamer tendencies, it’s time to take action. Here are some of the easiest, quickest ways to embrace your inner doer so your dreamer can take a little break. Remember, without a comprehensive, balanced approach you’ll just keep going in circles:

1. Write down goals and give them a deadline.

So, you say you want to write a novel and have it ready to submit to literary agent or publishing house. That’s awesome - but how far along are you? What do you define as “submission ready”? How long can you write per day, and is it scheduled into your routine just like work or going to the gym?

Depending on where you are with your draft, choose a deadline for being submission ready (less than two years out), or schedule mini-deadlines, such as two chapters written by month's end. This approach works for any goal, not just a novel manuscript.

2. Balance wants and needs.

 Every time you decide you want to do something, follow that up with a list of steps you need to take to make it happen. This might mean saving a certain amount of money for a special event like your wedding. If you want to save $10,000 in one year, look at your budget and figure out what you need to cut to make that happen. You might also need to pick up more hours at work, a second job or practice more frugal living.

When I decided for the first time to stop living paycheck to paycheck I sold the new BMW I was driving and bought an old Ford Focus. That was one of the best decisions I've ever made. It allowed me to save an extra $800 per month. After a year I had almost $10,000 in the bank, which allowed me to start my business, Pixloo, that eventually was acquired.

3. Surround yourself with doers.

Birds of a feather certainly flock together, but you probably have more doer acquaintances and friends than you realize. Who are your five best friends? Dreamers feed off of each other, but if you’re around doers they will inspire you. The staunchest ones aren’t quick to indulge your dreamer tendencies and will want to know what your plan is. Remember: you are in charge of your support network.

4. Stop doing what doesn’t work.

You know Einstein’s definition of insanity, so why do you get stuck in that rut? If you’ve been dreaming about something but your attempts haven’t led to positive results, it is time to stop, reassess, figure out what’s wrong and try a fresh approach. You’ll never get anywhere making the same mistakes over and over again.

5. Assume everything will take longer and cost more.

One of the downsides of being a dreamer is that it is easy to think of everything as, well, easy during the dreaming stage. However, things have a tendency to take more money and time than you imagine. When writing down your action plan, increase time and money by ten percent and give yourself a buffer. The worst case scenario is you’ll succeed with time and money left over.

Don’t let your drive to be a doer brush your dreaming tendencies totally under the rug. It’s your source of inspiration, creativity. and means of reaching for the stars.

If you learn something in this article, feel free to comment below!

How To Generate Leads

I worked cold market MLM leads for years, and was blessed with great Success. The cold market can  be brutal, but also can be fun and easy if you know what to do.

What are some of the Success Secrets of working MLM leads?

1) Make sure you know who you are looking for.

What kind of person are YOU looking for? You need to make sure that the MLM lead knows that you are looking for a particular type of person, and that you would like to see if they qualify. The 5 traits you always look for are:

Ambitious.
Friendly.
Positive.
Leader.
Good communicator.

Let them know that those are the traits you are looking for, and the traits that have proven to be needed for Success in Network Marketing. Also, a good track record of Success helps as well.

2) Always give them an Exit Strategy.

Make sure that you let them know they are free to end the call anytime they choose. There are many ways to do this, but my favorite way is the FEEL FREE tactic we teach at PassionFire School of Network Marketing.

People will perceive with an Exit Strategy that there is NO pressure and that you are not trying to do anything except hold a conversation with them.

"And feel free anytime during our conversation to end this call if you feel that this is something that simply is not right for you. Does that sound fair enough?"

3) Keep the topic, focus, and conversation about them.

Ask, ask and ask more questions about the MLM lead. They want to see if you are interested in THEM, not just recruiting them. Ask about their family, where they live, the type of work they do, what they like to do in their spare time, what kind of spare time they have, what kind of money they are looking out of a home business, why they are looking at a home business, and what kind of Success are they expecting if they start a home business.

"Tell me about yourself" is the ULTIMATE Cold Market MLM Lead opening phrase that can be magic in MLM Cold Market recruiting.

4) Your first priority is to RELAX the prospect, then CONNECT to them.

You MUST Relax the MLM Lead if you are going to be on the phone with them and hold a conversation with them. How do you do that? get them talking about themselves, and you MUST come across as totally relaxed and in control as well.

Then find some things you have in common with the MLM lead, and connect with them on those things. It could be knowing someone in their city or state, same hobby, same type of family, same school attended, same industry you work in,etc. Find something to CONNECT with them, and it will be easier for them to connect to you.

5) Let them know that you only need 1 minute of their time.

We found that if you simply say, "I really only need 1 minute of your time, as I am not sure this is something that would be right for you or not," that will open them up much more to listen, and you will find that most people will appreciate the respect you just showed for their time.

Many people are kept on the phone for 15,20,30 minutes at a time. Don't do that. Set yourself apart from the crowd. Give them a timeline, and stick to it. If they find that you have something they might be interested in, you will know it. Say, "Is this making sense to you?" They will let you know if it is.

There are many great ways to create Success in MLM leads and in the cold market, but these 5 tips are the start of what you need to do in order to create a solid start with your MLM Lead and Cold market prospect.

Thank you for reading. As always, if you find value in these emails, please share them with your friends.

Difference Between Affiliate Marketing and Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)

There are many people in the world, whether they frequent the internet or not, that make the mistake of saying that affiliate marketing and MLM or multi level marketing, are one and the same. They are, in actual fact, totally different, and here is a brief reason why. 

First, MLM marketing has been around for a lot longer than most people think. This type of marketing can be done offline, and many people still do today when selling baby products for someone else. This is what a multilevel marketer does. They become associated with a certain product that they like or believe in, which they then buy from their supplier and resell to the public at a profit. As you can see, MLM is simply having a small franchise of a large business. 

The reason that it is called MULTI level marketing is because if you are a marketer, you can then start your own chain of marketers. This is called a down line. What would happen is that you buy your products from your supplier at a discounted price and sell them at market value, but if you have a friend that also wants to start this business he or she can buy their batch of products directly from you, instead of going to your supplier. In this way you can make more money, because you will sell them to him or her at a slightly higher rate in order to make a profit. 

This can continue, but what most people do not realize is that the further down the line you go, the less money you make. This type of marketing technique can be difficult to sustain for a long period of time. 

Affiliate marketing is totally different. You are not selling any products directly. You are simply the mouthpiece, or the advertising board that tells people where to go and buy products. You will not have to purchase anything, but you will still make money just for telling people where to go to get a product. Affiliates get a commission when the person that they refer to a website buys something, so in this way the company is paying for a good lead and they will pay generously. 

Another difference between affiliates and MLM's is that all affiliates get paid the same amount of commission. Instead of people joining on the bottom of a line, they join into an adjacent line. You can find that affiliates will get paid an extra amount if they refer more affiliates, but this will be a once off commission and they will not have any further dealings with the affiliate. Sometimes companies will reward affiliates who get other affiliates by paying a small commission when their affiliate generates a sale. This amount however, is totally separate to the new affiliate's amount. They will still get paid as much as older affiliates. 

If you think about it this way; the MLM style of marketing is direct sales for a product, whereas affiliate marketing is an advertisement telling people where to buy a product.

Learn How To Rise in Failures

There are a lot of great entrepreneurs out there, but one of my favorites is Thomas Edison. I think I’m such a fan because, like me, he failed so much more than he succeeded. Of course, he learned how to turn those failures into golden lessons.

When I was a kid, we learned about Thomas Edison in school. When I told my rich dad that we were studying Edison’s life, he asked me if they’d taught me how he became so prolific. “No,” I replied. “We only learned about how he invented the light bulb.” “Well, I'm sorry to contradict your teacher,” rich dad said. “But, Thomas Edison didn’t invent the light bulb.”

Rich dad explained that there were many other people who had invented light bulbs before Edison. The problem was that these light bulbs were not practical. They would die out too soon. Also, these inventors could not explain why a light bulb was commercially valuable.

In short, they had a great idea, but they didn’t have a business. Edison, on the other hand, not only invented a better light bulb, but he also built a business around it. He invented the first useful light bulb and he knew how to show its value.

Anyone can have a great idea, but only a great entrepreneur can make money with that idea. You probably have a great idea or product too. Just about everyone does. But do you know how to make money with it?

If you have the courage to pursue your idea, start with baby steps. Start with research, talking to people and flushing out your idea. Once you have figured out how to make money, THEN the fun begins. But, start with step one.

Thank you for reading. As always, if you find value in these emails, please share them with your friends.

Salvador Gaviola III

How to Start a Business Online

There is a proven sequence of steps you can follow to guarantee your success when you're starting a small business online. I've seen thousands of people start and grow successful businesses by doing the following:

1. Find a need and fill it.
2. Write copy that sells.
3. Design and build an easy-to-use website.
4. Use search engines to drive traffic to your site.
5. Establish an expert reputation for yourself.
6. Follow up with your customers and subscribers with e-mail.
7. Increase your income through back-end sales and upselling.

Anyone, from newbie to seasoned online entrepreneur, can benefit from this process in learning how to start a business online.

Step 1: Find a need and fill it

Most people who are just starting out make the mistake of looking for a product first, and a market second.

To boost your chances of success, start with a market. The trick is to find a group of people who are searching for a solution to a problem, but not finding many results. The internet makes this kind of market research easy:

• Visit online forums to see what questions people ask and what problems they're trying to solve.
• Do keyword research to find keywords that a lot of people are searching, but for which not many sites are competing.
• Check out your potential competitors by visiting their sites and taking note of what they're doing to fill the demand. Then you can use what you've learned and create a product for a market that already exists--and do it better than the competition.

Step 2: Write copy that sells

There's a proven sales copy formula that takes visitors through the selling process from the moment they arrive to the moment they make a purchase:

1. Arouse interest with a compelling headline.
2. Describe the problem your product solves.
3. Establish your credibility as a solver of this problem.
4. Add testimonials from people who have used your product.
5. Talk about the product and how it benefits the user.
6. Make an offer.
7. Make a strong guarantee.
8. Create urgency.
9. Ask for the sale.

Throughout your copy, you need to focus on how your product or service is uniquely able solve people's problems or make their lives better. Think like a customer and ask "What's in it for me?"

Step 3: Design and build your website

Once you've got your market and product, and you've nailed down your selling process, now you're ready for your small-business web design. Remember to keep it simple. You have fewer than five seconds to grab someone's attention--otherwise they're gone, never to be seen again. Some important tips to keep in mind:

• Choose one or two plain fonts on a white background.
• Make your navigation clear and simple, and the same on every page.
• Only use graphics, audio or video if they enhance your message.
• Include an opt-in offer so you can collect e-mail addresses.
• Make it easy to buy--no more than two clicks between potential customer and checkout.
• Your website is your online storefront, so make it customer-friendly.

Step 4: Use search engines to drive targeted buyers to your site

Pay-per-click advertising is the easiest way to get traffic to a brand-new site. It has two advantages over waiting for the traffic to come to you organically. First, PPC ads show up on the search pages immediately, and second, PPC ads allow you to test different keywords, as well as headlines, prices and selling approaches. Not only do you get immediate traffic, but you can also use PPC ads to discover your best, highest-converting keywords. Then you can distribute the keywords throughout your site in your copy and code, which will help your rankings in the organic search results.

Step 5: Establish an expert reputation for yourself

People use the internet to find information. Provide that information for free to other sites, and you'll see more traffic and better search engine rankings. The secret is to always include a link to your site with each tidbit of information. 

• Give away free, expert content. Create articles, videos or any other content that people will find useful. Distribute that content through online article directories or social media sites.
• Include "send to a friend" links on valuable content on your website.
• Become an active expert in industry forums and social networking sites where your target market hangs out.

You'll reach new readers. But even better, every site that posts your content will link back to yours. Search engines love links from relevant sites and will reward you in the rankings.

Step 6: Use the power of e-mail marketing to turn visitors into buyers.

When you build an opt-in list, you're creating one of the most valuable assets of your online business. Your customers and subscribers have given you permission to send them e-mail. That means:

• You're giving them something they've asked for.
• You're developing lifetime relationships with them.
• The response is 100 percent measurable.
• E-mail marketing is cheaper and more effective than print, TV or radio because it's highly targeted.

Anyone who visits your site and opts in to your list is a very hot lead. And there's no better tool than e-mail for following up with those leads.

Step 7: Increase your income through back-end sales and upselling 

One of the most important internet marketing strategies is to develop every customer's lifetime value. At least 36 percent of people who have purchased from you once will buy from you again if you follow up with them. Closing that first sale is by far the most difficult part--not to mention the most expensive. So use back-end selling and upselling to get them to buy again:

• Offer products that complement their original purchase.
• Send out electronic loyalty coupons they can redeem on their next visit.
• Offer related products on your "Thank You" page after they purchase.

Reward your customers for their loyalty and they'll become even more loyal.

The internet changes so fast that one year online equals about five years in the real world. But the principles of how to start and grow a successful online business haven't changed at all. If you're just starting a small business online, stick to this sequence. If you've been online awhile, do a quick review and see if there's a step you're neglecting, or never got around to doing in the first place. You can't go wrong with the basics.