www.parentsINCorporated.com

Guys, I have moved over to www.parentsINCorporated.com, a portal that my wife Jenny and I founded to help parents get the information needed to get started in the home business arena.

See you there…

Home business tips: How to apply the teachings from the ‘parable of the sower’ to your home business

I took up the habit of reading the Bible after being reminded time and again, by my mentors, Napoleon Hill, Jim Rohn and Norman Vincent Peale. It is said that the Bible is a library in itself, a fact that I did not believe at first. However, as I started going through what was mentioned, things started to get clearer and clearer. Many puzzles in my life started getting solved, I came to understand the reason why certain things happen and how, etc. It turned out to be a revelation. Before I go ahead, I would like to make it very clear that there are no religious connotations to this article whatsoever. It’s just age-old wisdom applied in practice.

Today, I would like to share with you a wonderful parable and how it totally applies to home business as a whole.

For the readers who are unaware, the parable of the sower goes like this: “The sower went out to sow. As he sowed, some of the seeds fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up. Some of the seeds fell on rocky ground where it had little soil, it sprang up immediately because it had no depth; but when the sun rose and burned it, it withered because it had no roots, other seeds fell among thorn bushes and the thorns grew and choked it, so it didn’t produce any grain. But some seeds fell on good soil and grew and increased and yielded grain; some produced thirty times as much, others sixty and others one hundred times as much.”

Most of you might be thinking, “Okay, I understand it. So what? What is so special? And, most importantly, how does it apply to our home business?” I do not blame you at all, as I felt the same way too. Nevertheless, this is how it adds up. Read carefully and understand.

I have divided this parable into 4 parts for easy understanding…

Part I: “some of the seeds fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up”

This means, regardless of the value or importance of your message/idea, some people will not pay heed to it. They will treat it with indifference. I would say that 80% of your general audience would fall in this zone. I do not blame them; I just believe that their time has not come yet. I believe that at that particular moment in time, their mind is not in alignment with yours. There is no need to get upset about their ignorance. Because if you do, then you are the one who is ignorant.

Inference: Your job as a home business owner (sower) is to market your product or opportunity (spread the seeds), and keep moving on. Do not worry about why people do not see what you see, even if it is plain obvious to you.

Part II: “Some of the seeds fell on rocky ground where it had little soil, it sprang up immediately because it had no depth; but when the sun rose and burned it, it withered because it had no roots”

This section is potent with valuable knowledge. If you read it carefully, you will see that the plant grows immediately (all height but no depth), but does not last for long because the roots did not have place to grow. What this means is, some people will listen to your message and choose to become your partner. They will please everybody with their activeness, eagerness and excitement (grows immediately), but after few weeks or months, they fade out.

This happens because success is an INSIDE-OUT game, and not the other way around. First, the roots should catch on, then and only then should the stem grow.  The roots in this case refer to the mindset, attitude, self-development and/or self-mastery of the new partner. This will give him/her the necessary strength to deal with the challenges (the hot sun) that show up in the journey. That is why it is very important for a home business owner to ensure that the new partner focuses on developing himself by setting goals, reading books, attending trainings and learning from the leaders.

Inference: The moment somebody signs up to be your partner and joins your team, get him working on himself before the business.

Part III: “other seeds fell among thorn bushes and the thorns grew and choked it, so it did not produce any grain”

This means, some partners and team members who have the potential will start-off on the right foot, but they will eventually die off without producing results because they give in to the negativity and discouragement (growing thorns) dished out by their circle of influence.

This happens because he/she did not disassociate with the dream-stealers. It is obvious that the day will come when the negativity will win which in turn will kill the spirit of your partner. Here is what you do to correct the situation. First, talk to them about the business and opportunity and try to get them to see your vision. If they buy into it, great. However, if they do not, then do not try to convince them on how and where they are wrong, but instead gradually stop hanging around with them and distance yourself in due course of time.

Inference: If you want your team to produce the desired results, then ensure that they associate with successful persons and prevent them from associating with the dream-stealers

Part IV: “some seeds fell on good soil and grew and increased and yielded grain”

This is plain simple and does not need any explanation. These seeds refer to the people who have the right attitude and aptitude. These people are nurtured correctly and follow what is told of them. They are passionate, creative and enthusiastic. They persevere and are laser-focused on their goals. They are action-oriented and daring.

Inference: These are the people you want to collaborate with in your business. They will follow the system and are good students (good soil). These people will get you an early retirement and a fat bank balance. They will be the leaders of tomorrow and achieve great success.

In conclusion, your job as a home business owner in the network marketing industry is to nurture your team…encourage them, appreciate their efforts, celebrate in their successes, support them during challenges, guide them and most importantly, lead them.

To your success,

Until the next time…

Network Marketing success tips: 8 reasons why people fail in home-based businesses – PART VIII

Folks, this topic brings us to the end of the 8 part series on why people fail in home-based businesses. This has a do a lot with a common misconception that people have about home-based businesses. Most of them think that it is a Get-Rich-Quick scheme. If a person starts his/her business with this intention in mind, he/she is going to fall short…and most often do.

Let us explore why people think a home-based network marketing business is a get-rich-quick scheme. There are two main reasons for this.

a) They were sucked into the sales pitch of the marketer: It’s true that if you want to market a business effectively, whether it’s online or offline, you need to paint a rosy picture. There is no two ways about it. However, over-promising and under-delivering is NOT acceptable. Ironically, this is where the vast majority lies.

In order to coax the prospect into a sale, the message is conveyed in a way such that it forms an impression that there is little or no work involved for the huge income that one can generate. People generally fall into this trap, as the whole world wants something for nothing.

However, the successful entrepreneur knows that nature abhors the principle of something-for-nothing. It just isn’t going to happen.

b) They set very high expectations of themselves: There is nothing wrong with setting high expectations. Do not misunderstand this! The reason why we see successes like Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, etc… is because they go against the norm and set unrealistic expectations. The difference there is that they BELIEVE that they can do it. But the average Joe does not have that self-belief. He/She is NOT expecting obstacles to crop up and set themselves up for a smooth ride. Therefore, when the obstacle does show up, they are taken by surprise and weaken.

Many people fall off the way side, when the results don’t match. However, not all do. Take me for example: I started my home-based internet marketing business after seeing testimonials of top earners who made $10,000 in their very first month. And I too expected a similar income level, but it was not to be so. However, that did not put me off, rather it got me to acknowledge the fact that I may not have put in the same effort as the top earners did. As it’s said, ‘Net-Worth is equal Net-Work’. I revised my expectations and marketing plan and now I am in good stead.

So the next time you review a business opportunity, please do your due diligence and set expectations based on your expertise and intuition.
To your success.

Until the next one…

Know more about me and how I can be of help and service to YOU at http://www.EarnWhatYouDeserve.com

Network Marketing success tips: 8 reasons why people fail in home-based businesses – PART VII

Have you heard of anybody going through school without a teacher or tutor? Well it does not happen because humans learn from fellow humans. That is how a child learns to walk, talk, etc…he/she imitates what the elders are doing. I am sure you have heard the phrase ‘Monkey See Monkey Do’. There has to be a tutor or mentor to guide the pupil in whatever task he/she undertakes. And it is no different in business. There has to be a mentor who will show the correct way of working the business. Without a mentor, the new entrepreneur will find the going difficult and solitary. This brings us to another reason why people fail in their home-based businesses: Lack of Effective Mentorship.

There can be many reasons why the entrepreneur lacked mentorship…

a)     Unsupportive sponsor: With today’s training and marketing techniques, it is not difficult to pose as a genuine and caring mentor. This causes many gullible new entrepreneurs to believe that they are in safe hands. But once they sign up and seek guidance, the sponsor vanishes. All the advice they get is,” Go through the training manuals, watch the videos, attend training calls, etc”. The personal touch is non-existent. This causes the new entrepreneur to lose faith and commitment, thus killing his business

b)    Associating with the wrong people: It is said that if you want to achieve a certain level of success then you must associate with only those who have already attained the level of success that you seek. In other words, one has to be mentored by a successful person and not by someone who is in the same level as they are. This is critical; failure to do so will almost certainly lead to dismal results. I would like to point out here that one can also choose an author, hero, etc. as their mentor. It is not necessary that he/she is a person that you are acquainted with. To illustrate: My mentor in my previous home business decided to call it quits after achieving his goals when I was still a novice in the industry. This totally caught me off guard and to compensate I sought support and guidance from three different sources: 1) God himself – I got my strength and wisdom from the Bible. 2) Napoleon Hill (author of Think & Grow Rich) – I got my mindset from his books 3) Top earners from my company – I learnt the strategies and techniques from them

c)     Unwillingness to learn: Many new entrepreneurs get into the industry thinking that they can do it on their own and do not need any guidance or mentorship. Their ego comes in the way of learning and growing resulting in them not going far.

So, if you are a new entrepreneur running a home-based business or are looking to get into one, then ensure that…

• You choose your sponsor wisely. Ensure that he/she is ready to support you through the journey, no matter what
• Ensure that you get into the habit of reading and learning from the successful people who have been there before you
• Be humble enough to be a good student. Be a good learner and apply as you go along.

May you be bestowed with the best in the world.

Until then…

Network Marketing success tips: 8 reasons why people fail in home-based businesses – PART VI

Imagine having an excellent product that is new in the market and has huge potential to make a large profit, but no one has ever heard anything about it! Do you think this product is going to sell? Of course not. Well, why not? For the simple reason that, nobody can buy a product, which one has not seen nor heard of. Sadly, this occurrence is much more common than meets the eye or ear. Many products get invented but fail to make it to the marketplace because of lack of marketing efforts. And that brings us to today’s topic: Reason #6 on why people fail in home based businesses…Lack of Marketing!

Many entrepreneurs have top-quality products but have no idea on how to market it. There are several reasons for this…

a)     They do not invest time to learn the necessary marketing methods

As per my experience, this is a major reason why people fail in marketing. They just do not take time to learn marketing. This can be either because they are not interested or because they are treating the business like a hobby. These are the curious types and not the serious ones. Sometimes an entrepreneur adopts the I-know-it-all strategy, and tries his own way instead of learning the proven methods from more experienced individuals.

Advice: Be proactive in learning from the successful people and mentors. Apply what you learnt from them, and seek feedback from them on your progress.

b)    They get overwhelmed with the different marketing strategies that are out there, and cannot decide which ones to focus on

In the old-school method, marketing used to be more of face-to-face meetings, group presentations and marketing events. It was plain and simple then…all one had to do was prepare a list of prospects, meet the listed, present to the listed and invite the listed to the events.

Things have changed quite a bit now. Marketing has gone online, due to the emergence of social networking sites. Web 2.0 marketing has become the in-thing. Zero cost and lasting effect is the mantra in social media marketing. However, the downside is that there is a plethora of marketing strategies out there for the interested. I personally know of around 22 of them. But do I indulge in all 22? No! I am familiar with all 22, but I have chosen around five of them, which suits me best. This is exactly what the new entrepreneurs do not do. They try to master all 22! And guess what, it becomes a ‘Catch 22’! They do not see results and eventually burn out and disappear off the radar completely.

Advice: Get familiar with the different marketing strategies available, but work on only five of them which suits you best. Try it for 90 days, and if it does not work then choose some other ones. However, never fool around with more than five at a time.

c)     They get stuck in the ‘Getting ready to Get Ready’ mode

This is the stage where people invest their time in learning everything and more, but fails to apply their learning’s. They go into the PhD mode and forget that there is a business to be run. Why do you think this is? It is because many new entrepreneurs fail to muster the courage to get into action mode. It may be because of fear of rejection, or the uncertainty factor. As it’s said that one of the deep-rooted needs of a human being is to feel CERTAIN of a particular end-result. This is the very reason why so many people tend to do a JOB, as a salary is a certainty. However, as an entrepreneur, there is no such certainty; ups and downs are part of the game. It is the fear of the ‘downs’ is what keeps the new entrepreneur from taking action.

Advice: Have a weekly and daily action plan in place. You should schedule specific time for the selected marketing activities. Mastermind with your mentor/sponsor on a weekly basis to check on your progress.

So in order to avoid falling into this pitfall, avoid the commonly made mistakes highlighted above and you will be in good stead.

May you be bestowed with the best in the world.

Until then…

Six minutes to success: A Must have

To all my readers,

What I’m about to tell you will make you afraid. Probably very afraid. But more importantly it has the potential of making you a bucket load of money.

Listen carefully: A woman living in downtown Ontario, Canada came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said “I don’t think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat.” “Is the man of the house home?” they asked. “No”, she replied. “He’s out.” “Then we cannot come in”, they replied. In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. “Go tell them I am home and invite them in!� The woman went out and invited the men in. “We do not go into a house together,” they replied. “Why is that?” she asked. One of the old men explained: “His name is Wealth,” he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, “He is Success, and I am Love.” Then he added, “Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home.” The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. “How nice!!� he said. “Since that’s the case, let’s invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!” His wife disagreed. “My dear, why don’t we invite Success?” Their daughter was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: “Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!” “Let us heed our daughter’s advice,” said the husband to his wife. “Go out and invite Love to be our guest.” The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, “Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest.” Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: “I only invited Love, why are you coming in?” The old men replied together: “If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would’ve stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever he goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!” I heard that story from an amazing friend of mine, Bob Proctor. He went on and told me this: “Most people don’t have wealth or success in their lives and that’s probably because they don’t know how to love. Whether you want just wealth, success or love in your life… I can help you achieve it.” I believe in Bob Proctor 100%. He has helped me achieve great success in life, and he can help you too.

But there’s one condition… You’ve got to give him 6 minutes of your life everyday till the day he helps you achieve your goals.

Is that a deal? Okay, then as a first step, go to this website right now.

Make sure you read all the way through to the end. There is a HUGE secret hidden within the website.

Warmly,

John

Network Marketing success tips: 8 reasons why people fail in home-based businesses – PART V

Have you heard the saying,” Where there is no vision, the people perish”. It perfectly answers why some entrepreneurs do not make it in the home-based industry. They do not have a VISION for their business. Either people do not have a vision altogether, or it is very vague and fuzzy.

So, what exactly is VISION? Sadly, many of us do not have a clear understanding of the term. People mistakenly consider a ‘hope’ or a ‘wish’ to be a vision. They could not be further away from the truth. A vision is something that you should be able to perfectly define. It is a very clearly defined goal that you want to achieve with a detailed road map and schedule necessary for it’s fulfillment.

So why does a lack of vision cause the business to fail? Because without a vision you do not know what to do, when to do and more importantly why to do it. As a result, one ends up drifting and never on target. This is a problem because when obstacles and opposition presents itself down the road, a lack of vision causes a person to weaken and start giving up on their cherished dreams. To illustrate: Imagine an enthusiastic network marketer who is just starting out and is all pumped up to grow his business. He/She is all excited, goes, and talks to his/her friends about the opportunity. However, to his/her dismay, they do not see what he/she sees and ends up feeling rejected. This feeling of rejection now becomes an opposing force, and if he/she does not have a stronger motivating force with which to fight it, he/she is going to back down. A vision provides the necessary motivation and inspiration to keep carrying on in spite.

Most entrepreneurs in the home-based industry get in the game to get rich quick. They think that the journey is an easy one and are unaware of the obstacles and the pitfalls that await them. If only they would sit down with their mentors and chalk out a detailed action plan to achieve their goals, they would go much farther and longer. Have you ever come across any Fortune 500 company that does not have a VISION? It is highly unlikely. Similarly, every business out there, whether it is a brick-and-mortar or home based, has to have a vision. A vision not only gives you the destination but also the road map and the schedule to get there. It lets you track your progress based on the schedule you have set for yourself.

That is why the moment one signs up as a new entrepreneur, he/she has to make it a point to sit down with their mentors and discuss their dreams and targets, based on which the specific goals, steps and tasks should be listed down with an appropriate time schedule. Once this is accomplished, the entrepreneur should move into action based on the plan.

Remember, “Failing to plan is Planning to Fail”.

To your success.

Network Marketing success tips: 8 reasons why people fail in home-based businesses – PART IV

As part of the 8 part series, here is part IV on why people fail in home based businesses. Reason #4 arises from the fact that the person is not humble enough to accept that he is not a master, but a student. This leads them on the path of failure, as they do not invest time to train themselves. So reason #4 is LACK OF TRAINING

I have come across several young entrepreneurs who have this notion that they are too good, and it’s beneath them to attend training programs. They think that a home-based business is a small time enterprise, and think it’s easy to dial it in. What they don’t understand is that it’s SIMPLE to run a home based business, but definitely NOT EASY. It requires training, knowledge, planning, consistent activity and commitment.

The good news is that the training needed to succeed in this industry is very simple and easy to understand. It’s not electrical engineering, and certainly not rocket science. Because of the simplicity of the training provided in this industry, young entrepreneurs take it lightly and think that they can get to the bottom of it right away. But what they don’t realize is that training is not merely education, it’s a bit more than that. The main difference between Education and Training, is the word REPETITION. In order to get properly trained, the acquired knowledge and education have to be repeated till it gets embedded in your system. Because of this basic lack of understanding on how training works, the characteristic thing that happens is that the person shows up for training during the initial stages and then decides, by himself, that he can do it on his own. This takes the REPETITION out of the equation. The result is that the incumbent has gained some knowledge but now lacks the skill and ability to apply the knowledge. You get what I am saying here? So when he faces some obstacles and hurdles he is not equipped to overcome them, and subsequently succumbs.

It’s very important to know that the only way you can stuff your brains with the right knowledge is by replacing the wrong ones. You CANNOT delete wrong information, you can only REPLACE it with the right ones. This is where repetition comes into it’s own. Without repetitive learning one easily forgets what they have learnt. To illustrate: Try learning to swim or ride a bike by practicing only once. If you can, then you are superhuman, or probably not human.

This is where I would like to share with you the cone of learning, if you have not heard about it already. It illustrates that we tend to remember more of ACTIVE learning (doing the real thing, simulation, dramatic presentations, etc…) than PASSIVE learning (reading, writing, seeing, hearing, etc…).

All training activities fall both in the passive as well as the active zone. And for training to be most effective, one has to be put through the passive zone first, before graduating to the active. That is why when you learn how to drive, you go through classroom sessions before you physically drive the car. The problem with most young entrepreneurs is that they start off with the passive training i.e. reading, hearing, etc…,but walk off before moving into the active zone because they think that they have heard enough.

So guys, if you are just starting off on your entrepreneurial journey, do yourself a favor and give utmost importance to the various training programs extended by your company…that is only if you want to succeed.

The only way to succeed in entrepreneurship and life, is by applying this famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever”

To YOUR success…

Network Marketing Success Tips: 8 Reasons Why People Fail in Home-based Businesses – PART III

Welcome to the 3rd part of the series ” 8 reasons why people fail in home based businesses”. Today, I will be covering, probably, the biggest killer of all. A good portion of home-based entrepreneurs back down due to this reason in their journey towards financial freedom. It is none other than DOUBT!

See more on it in my video here.

Until then…

Network Marketing success tips: 8 reasons why people fail in home-based businesses – PART II

Hello everyone. How’s it going for you today? I have been keeping myself busy…writing articles and press releases, shooting 3 videos, etc…

I have published PART II on the series “8 reasons why people fail in home-based business”. You can find the article on goarticles.com and also a video on youtube here.

Let me know if you need any clarifications…

Cheers.