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Have we taken the networking out of direct sales and Network Marketing?

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Many network marketers have recently moved onto the internet in a huge way.  They have jumped into Pay-Per-Click marketing, blogging, email marketing, social media, affiliate marketing – all in an effort to promote their businesses.

The question I have is:  Just how effective is all this for truly building their business into a long term financial success?   My opinion coincides with Mike Klingler who says, a “Climate of Hype” has entered the online marketing world. This climate is where over-promotion, wild claims, pushing emotional hot buttons, and a saturation of similar marketing techniques has led to a concentration of success among a very few.

Let me make myself clear, I am not arguing against use of online marketing strategies.  I employ these tools in my business and definitely believe they are essential marketing tools for promoting your business.  I also teach their use.

What seems missing to me is the building of authentic relationships. In today’s world of marketing and sales, direct sales, and network marketing, relationship building is sometimes overlooked.

That led me to review an old cassette program I have (yes, I did say cassette – remember?) that I listened to years ago by Bob Burg, called “How to Cultivate a Network of Endless Referrals”.

Here is Bob Burg’s Golden Rule of Networking: “All things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those people they know like and trust”.

From my perspective, networking is about how to connect with people so that you build a relationship of like and trust.  And then to know what to do to nurture that relationship so that it is beneficial to both of you.

I have been employing Bob’s Endless Referral strategies.  They work both in the traditional person to person networking and in the online world of networking.  In a short time, I have made new connections, signed new customers, and been referred to customers and business seekers.

Isn’t that the goal of marketing and business?

I highly recommend his program.  Bob now offers it in a CD version.

Please watch for my follow on to this post where I will review his strategies that include:

  • Create a list by networking
  • How to effectively use your Business Cards
  • How to Work a Crowd
  • How to remember people’s names
  • Effective networking follow up techniques.

Posted in Attraction Marketing, Lead Generation, Social Marketing.

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Are Your Retirement Plans on Hold?

Are Your Retirement Plans on Hold?

Here are a couple of headlines and sub headlines that got my attention:

“3 Out Of 5 Baby Boomers Don’t Have Enough For Retirement” “Newsflash! America is rapidly graying, and many Baby Boomers haven’t saved enough for retirement.”

“Retirement on Hold: American Workers $6 Trillion Short” “The $6.6 trillion figure is based on projections of retirement and income for American workers ages 32-64.”

Are you searching for ways to supplement or rebuild retirement assets? The decline of defined benefit programs, focus on defined contribution plans, and reliance on 401ks has dramatically changed the retirement picture for many Boomers.

And now recent economic and government actions have added to the pain.

The good news? The network marketing industry is booming as a result of many people looking for alternative means of making money and because of a new found credibility for the industry.

Industry projections indicate that 65,000,000 million people world wide will join Network Marketing companies this year. Wow!

But this boom is not only due to the economic situation, but also because the industry has come of age.  There is a new found credibility gaining prominence for the industry.  This is because many seasoned and financially strong network marketing companies are offering superior products at extremely good values.

That is good news for Boomers because as a group – their experience and talent is not being fully utilized in this economy!  This means for those Boomers who recognize and act there is tremendous opportunity.  They can help their fellow Boomers and others by introducing products and services that can help them.

This means is there is an opportunity to build a business that can resuscitate their retirement programs – while truly helping people.

Where did this new credibility for Network Marketing come from?

One of the voices that has brought huge credibility to Network Marketing in the past few years is Tim Sales.  He not only built a huge organization (56,000), he literally made his fortune in doing so.  He now owns a company assisting Network Marketers in building their business.

He is saying, here is what I did, you can do it too!  And here is HOW.  His goal is to build the credibility of Network Marketers as well as being a training resource for them.

Free – direct access to Tim Sales most acclaimed video about the business and how it can help you get the things in your life that you desire – including the retirement you dream about.

No opt in requirement – you will be taken directly to the video page. www.CashFlowFreedomNow.com

Need more income now to rebuild or shore up your retirement plan?

My personal goal is to help other Boomers, like myself, shore up their retirement programs, I show them how to the lose the crazy work hours and stressful work environments, and build a real and lasting financial security.

They can live the life they desire of time and financial freedom – which means not sacrificing lifestyle.  Have the resources and income to travel and enjoy the later years of life in a way that allows you the freedom to come and go as you want with family and friends.

Check this out.  You may be surprised at the sense it makes.

No opt in requirement – you will be taken directly to the video page. www.CashFlowFreedomNow.com

Free 20 minute consultation for those interested in seeing if this type of business would work for you and your needs.

Bob Nussbaum,                                                                                                                                                          Beacon Group Associates

760-634-8278 * bob@bobnussbaum.com

Posted in Blogging, Leadership, Retirement.

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4 Hour Work Week – Myth or Reality?

Does it even make sense to talk about a 4 Hour Work Week when people are losing or struggling to find jobs, banks are failing, and retirement programs are in trouble?

Does any of this describe you?

  1. Are you suffering from a tolerable and comfortable existence doing something unfulfilling?
  2. Are you sacrificing quality of life for some far off elusive abstract retirement goal?
  3. Are you still dreaming about the “perfect job”

While I was pondering these questions, I was led to Timothy Ferris and his book,  4 Hour Work Week.  At first I dismissed it as just more gibberish in an economic climate filled with lots of get rich quick scheme noises.  Then a couple of my mentors started talking about the results they were getting from applying the 4 Hour Work Week Principles.   So I bought the book.

Timothy Ferris delivers with a new approach. His book is an excellent outline for reinventing yourself and taking charge of your life in a changed economic world. In the book, he presents a new approach to working and running a business along with many resources – all based on what he has done.

Since I began reading and implementing principles in the book, I have been on a 16 day vacation (no work, check email every 4 days, just R & R, and lots of beach time) to San Pancho, Mexico.  It has been a long, long time since I have been on a 2 week vacation.  And I just got back from a 2 day Temecula Wine Country and am now planning a month trip to Switzerland with my sweetheart.

So how did this all happen? I employed several of Ferris’s principles that made a subtle, but huge paradigm shift in how I looked at my work, my income strategies, and how I was working.

I changed basic goals and strategies.  I employed his Dreamlining concept that shifts goals from ambiguous wants to defined steps with the focus on getting to where your dream really is.  I am accomplishing more with less. I am getting things done faster.  I have changed how I look at what I want and how I get it.  And I just do not do things that don’t really make sense.

Here is a quick outline of the concepts he uses to change the game:

D is for Definition.  Tim turns misguided commons sense upside down and introduces the rules and objectives of the new game.  The objective is to create a lifestyle design recipe that takes you to where you really want to be.

E is for Elimination.  This concept kills the obsolete notion of time management and focuses on increasing your results.  The lifestyle design benefit is TIME.

A is for Automation which puts Cash Flow first and on autopilot using the strategies and routines of the ultra successful.  The lifestyle design benefit is INCOME.

L is for Liberation. This is the mobile manifesto for the globally inclined or those who just want to live life their way, wherever that is.  The lifestyle design is MOBILITY.

In summary, Timothy Ferris’ book has become an outline and a giant resource book for how to build my business and have the life I truly wanted! I have had only two 4 Hour work weeks so far, but the 4 Day work week is moving rapidly toward me!  It is required reading for people who work with me.  And I am much closer to the reality of the 4 Hour Work Week then the myth!

Posted in Attraction Marketing, Leadership, Personal Growth.

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Is Network Marketing an answer to Retirement Risks and Income needs?

Prior to October of 2008, Retirees and people considering retiring were focused on their financial retirement programs and the returns that they were getting.  According to Robert Powel of Market Watch, the pendulum has swung the opposite direction and everyone is now focused on the risks.  Does this feel familiar?  What are you doing?

People are now focused on stock market risk and loss of principle. All of a sudden expectations are being challenged and reduced.  As these expectations are reconciled in the current environment, a number of other risks come into focus as people grapple for solutions to their retirement needs and goals.  As you read through the risks, hang on, as there is a solution.

Here is a list of other risks to be considered and evaluated.  Ignoring these can be costly.

Longevity Risk

Life expectancy has gone up and is now 78 and women on average outlive men.  Original assumptions may have positioned you to outlive your financial resources.

Inflation Risk

Anyone planning on retirement must be concerned about inflation.  Inflation has averaged 3% since 1913.  But is the average a realistic expectation for the next 5/10 years, given what the government has done in response to the financial challenges of the last year?

Interest Rate Risk

Prudent financial management directs more money towards fixed income as your grow older.  But with current low interest rates, you need an even larger savings, at a time when job loss and early retirement have been forced on so many.

Stock Market Risk

The radical decline and volatile nature of the market underscores this risk.  It always takes much longer to recover from steep losses then it took to lose them.  Older employees and retirees are counseled to limit there stock market exposure, which is where the larger returns normally are, limiting recovery of losses.

Business Risk

Retirement funds are also exposed to market woes.  The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp insures funds, but it is now experiencing difficulty.

Health-Care Risks

Needs and costs go up in retirement.  Government is experiencing difficulty in managing retirement health-care entitlement programs with the two major ones currently underfunded and prime for cuts.

Other Retirement Risks / a list to be aware of

  • Public Policy risks
  • Ability to live independently
  • Housing needs change
  • Death of a spouse
  • Marital Status change
  • Family member needs
  • Fraud and theft

Solutions to addressing these Risks?

These risks point to a need for increasing income and controlling costs.  The following are possible answers to these risks:

  • Phased Retirement
  • Bridge jobs
  • Postponing retirement
  • Astute financial management using among other things Roth IRAs and Roth 401ks
  • Medigap Insurance.
  • Establishing a home business by capitalizing on skills honed through a lifetime of work.  For many people this may a positive alternative to scaling back their vision for retirement.  It is also a way to create additional cash flow and build an asset that has market value.

Conclusion

The bottom line in my research and in my experience as an ex-corporate guy, you must survey the new landscape and develop a proactive plan.  And then act on it.  There are solutions to every situation.  Home businesses are growing dramatically, given the internet and large pool of talent and capability.  Many people concerned with retirement have leadership and communication expertise.  Network Marketing offers a key way to generate cash flow and also build a financial asset that has market value for you and  your heirs.  But the key is taking action.

Posted in Attraction Marketing, Leadership, Personal Growth.

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Resilient People Find Their Way to Network Marketing

The devastating economic and financial blows of the last year have created an environment that requires resilience and flexibility.  How are you doing?

Resilient people are like trees bending in the wind, They stay rooted in their own sense of self! The recent article: The Secrets of Resilient People, by Beth Howard, really got me thinking about solutions to the economic and financial devastation that many people have recently experienced.  My observation is that some aren’t flexible and they get uprooted; others are resilient and flexible and they end up thriving and standing up and tall through it all.

So What is the Secret?

Research shows that resilient people share some common qualities, and if you don’t currently possess those qualities, you can cultivate them through personal growth to master any crisis.  Here are some that are important to me:

They’re Optimistic.  Watch the spin you put on your own experiences, negative thinking is just a bad habit.  Change your thoughts, change your life.

They have a spiritual perspective. According to Al Siebert, PhD author of the Resiliency Advantage, religious faith tends to get people through tough times.

They’re Playful.  Resilient people enjoy themselves; they wonder, experiment, and laugh.  They put fun in their day.

They give back. Research sited by Goldstein, says “The benefit your derive for yourself is as a great as that you give to others.

They know when to let go and when to push harder.  Wallow in anger or fear, or move on?  It’s up to you!

Their health is a priority. I have found that a good diet and regular physical activity provide crucial buffers against stress.  It can even save your life!  By changing my diet and making different lifestyle choices, I literally healed myself despite a diagnosis that said I should have a body part removed.

They find the silver lining. Resilient people take misfortune and turn it into good luck.  And gain strength from the adversity.

The actively seek solutions.  Resilient people address challenges quickly and devise personal growth strategies for dealing with them.  They:

  • Ask for help.
  • Seek out resources
  • Always learn new skills
  • Boldly go down new paths
  • They are proactive; the don’t wait passively for things to happen

People are now looking for solutions to the devastation and impact of the current economic and financial environment.  The impact, especially for the Boomer Generation of lost jobs, severe decline in retirement accounts, and cash reserves has sent people back to the drawing board.  For some that will be a home based business or a home based network marketing business.

The benefits of owning your own business are many

  • You are the Boss
  • You control your own hours
  • You control who you work with (and who you don’t)
  • You control your income.
  • You control when you get a raise.
  • You control when you take a vacation and IF you return.
  • You get impressive tax advantages.
  • You can pass the business on to you’re your loved ones.
  • You are investing your time instead of spending your time
  • It’s YOURS!

For many people in the Boomer Generation, the financial answer will be establishing a business of their own, leveraging skills in a new way that were developed over a lifetime.  Personal Growth is a way to open yourself to that leverage and developing leadership skills.

Bob is National Home Business Consulting teaching the skills of using the power of the Internet in building a home based business.  I appreciate your comments and suggestions.  I am available for questions and support.  You can contact me through this link.


Posted in Leadership, Personal Growth.

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Why Create Your Own Marketing System for Network Marketing?

If you are building a home business or a Network Marketing business, your business is Marketing! As Mike Dillard said, in Magnetic Sponsoring:  he who markets best, wins.  This point is very often missed by people in Network Marketing, who more often then not are using the replicated sites on their primary companies web site.  They accept that choice without understanding that there are other choices.

A Customized Marketing System can be thought of as an organized Funneling System that causes a large numbers of prospects to enter at the top of your “funnel” and the serious and qualified make their way through the system to become buyers or very qualified prospects, or both.  This Marketing System should be unique and customized to you, allowing you to brand yourself.  This is lead generation at its best!

Your Customized Marketing System will consist of blogs, websites, email marketing tools and campaigns, and video all oriented to attracting and ultimately leading your “ideal” mlm prospect to buy. The initial and primary goal of your system should be to attract people to your “list”.  This is the nitty gritty of lead generation.  Your system does the rest of the work.

This list should consist of living, breathing, buying people looking for a way to make extra income or life changing income.  The idea is to attract them to your list where you then can communicate with them.  They may view your content, they may purchase some of your products, they may be interested in your business, or they may read your stuff until the time is right.  The time may not be right for them to do anything right now, but it may well be sometime in the future.  Meanwhile you continue to market!

Why spend time and money to build a Customized Marketing System rather then your companies replicated turn key system?

In a word:  CONVERSION! You will be able to attract more:

  • Website visitors and more visitors become subscribers.
  • More subscribers become customers.

With a Customized marketing system you become one of a kind and stand out from the crowd by:

  • Specializing in your niche
  • Putting a different spin on your content then your competition
  • Presenting content in a different format
  • Targeting a specific / different audience

What are the basic tools for a customized marketing system?

  • Domain name
  • Self-hosted blog
  • Capture pages
  • Autoresponder
  • YouTube Video Channel

You can build your system as you go and begin to attract prospects immediately.  The place to start is with a domain name and a blog.  You can utilize other pieces of other systems like Mike Dillard’s, Ann Sieg’s, and Mike Klingler’s lead capture pages.  Then as you begin to begin to generate activity and success, you can build out to a more completely customized system.

More information can be found on a post on this blog and in the Renegade Pro network marketing training program.

The Benefits of having your own Customized Marketing System

  • Maximize Results
  • Be Google Preferred
  • Highly Personalized (Develop your You, Inc.)
  • Complete control over capture pages and autoresponder messages.
  • Sell whatever you like.
  • Your LIST = FREEDOM!

If you are serious about using the power of the Internet to build your network marketing business, a Customized Marketing System is absolutely essential. You build your brand (You, Inc.) and generate highly qualified prospects and business partners which are essential to your long term success.

I appreciate your comments and suggestions.  I am available for questions and support.  You can contact me through this link.

Posted in Blogging, Email Marketing, Lead Capture Pages, Lead Generation.

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Lead Generation – The Lifeblood To Your Business!

Lead Generation is the life blood of any business. Without customers you are not in business.  This is true whether you are marketing a product or marketing a business.  Marketing is the number one challenge for all businesses and especially for the home business owner and Network Marketer.

Effective marketing is about two things:

  1. Marketing a product to people who already have a true desire or need to purchase it.
  2. Positioning yourself as a leader and solution provider.

That marketing strategy should position you, not as a sales person, but as an expert who provides solutions to those who are actively seeking what you have.

How do you learn to market, and secondly, how do you find the correct audience? My answer to both those questions was rooted in Mike Dillard’s Traffic Formula.  Mike has recently released Traffic Formula 2, updating and building on the immensely successful Traffic Formula 1.  I learned how to position myself, determine my Target Market, build my list, and market to that list.

The master Plan for the program is simple but detailed:

  • Discover the simple formula that will cut through all the buzz, so you know EXACTLY how all the marketing pieces fit and work together in a synergistic way.
  • Learn how to immunize your business against attrition and competition forever.
  • The one and only guaranteed way to create real, long term residual income in your business.
  • You, Inc:  your step by step process for creating a totally unique and attracting online presence around YOU instead of a Network Marketing opportunity

Here is a list of the Modules and a brief description:

  1. Market Discovery Formula – how to find and tap into the most profitable markets.
  2. Your Traffic Formula Nerve Center – how to set up and generate leads automatically from YOUR Marketing Nerve Center.  Step by step.
  3. Copywriting Mastery Formula – simple short cut methods for writing killer Google Ads and headlines to hook your readers and attract your Target Market.  Writing sales letters that convert.
  4. How to Make More Money with the Same Traffic – Scientific Marketing Simplified using tracking metrics and split-testing tactics to improve profitability.
  5. Paid Traffic Strategies – PPC Marketing blueprint for success, banner advertising, advertising co-ops and more.
  6. Social Media Traffic – learn state of the art tactics for leveraging Social Media.
  7. Video Marketing & Other Multi-Media Traffic – how to use this really hot area that generates large numbers of red-hot prospects
  8. Search Engine Opitmizaion for Non-Geeks – learning the search engine game without the night mare.
  9. How to Harvest Money from Your List – generate leads while making money.
  10. How to Sponsor More Reps – learn how to manage your contacts, sifting and sorting to find those appropriate for you business.  Learn to identify leaders.

The bottom line is if you want to reach your goals and for your business to be profitable, you must be effective at marketing. The most effective program for teaching internet marketing and generating leads that put you in charge of your business is Traffic Formula 2Mike Dillard is teaching from experience – the same strategies and tactics he reveals in Traffic Formula 2 took him to the top of his primary company, making him millions.  Traffic Formula 2 is reopening for one brief day – get this program today only at 60% off list price.

For more information on Magnetic Sponsoring and Internet Marketing strategies for your business, contact me or check out my blog:  www.BoomerNetworkMarketing.com or www.HomeBizNetMarketing.com

Posted in Blogging, Copy Writing, Email Marketing, Lead Generation, PPC Marketing, Social Marketing.

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How to Become a Successful Leader in Network Marketing

Network Marketing has both negative and positive images depending on your experience with it. Many people like myself are attracted to the industry because of quality of products and services.  When I didn’t get the business results I desired, I began to do business development research outside of my company.  This is an overview of one of the most successful marketing systems for Network Marketing / MLM that I have found and used.  It is Mike Dillard’s Magnetic Sponsoring.

Mike’s quote that got my attention:

“Unfortunately, this is an industry of business ownership pursued by people who have never been business owners.”.”

He used a non-traditional approach, but it was something that made real sense to me.  It was a straight forward business approach that created results.  In the end, success in Network Marketing comes down to achieving two things:

  1. Becoming a leader to others by increasing your value.
  2. The ability to express your value to prospects through marketing.

The business is ultimately about networking, talking with, meeting people, building relationships and sharing and spreading the positives of the product and the business.  However, it is driven on the front end by effective marketing and lead generation.  The success comes from branding yourself and attracting people to you and your system.  His approach is to take you from beginning to knowing what the most important things to do in being a business owner.

Here is Dillard’s list of the secrets that allowed him to do just that.  It differs from the traditional network marketing business strategies.  He developed a business model where he:

  1. Treated the business like a business.
  2. Increased his value to others by investing in training courses on marketing and personal development.
  3. Promoted him and his leadership team and marketed the team’s marketing system to prospects.
  4. Developed a “self-liquidating offer” for use in marketing on the internet that offset his marketing expenses and prepared qualified prospects for the next step.
  5. Promoted his product in his warm market.
  6. Developed the ability and awareness for finding and developing leaders in his downline.

Dillard’s system brought him prospects who:

  1. Had tried but failed in Network Marketing.
  2. Had not reached the level of success they desired.
  3. Were interested in Network Marketing, but didn’t know how to start or make it work for them.  It also attracted people who didn’t want to focus on friends and family or spend large amounts of money on opportunity leads.

Magnetic Sponsoring changed forever the way I view my Network Marketing business. Using his system, Mike Dillard was able to create the #2 distributorship in his company and create financial independence for himself within just months.  I learned how to approach the business from a professional business perspective that has strategy, appropriate tactics, and the discipline to make it all work.  The bottom line is you must produce income results to stay in business.  The Magnetic Sponsoring plan has done just that for me.

If you would like to learn more about Magnetic Sponsoring you are always welcome to contact me and I’ll be happy to explain how I have implemented these concepts in my business.

Posted in Leadership.

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Niche Marketing will make building your business easier and more profitable.

What is a niche? A niche is a clearly definable group of like minded people with a common and mutual interest.  It is a subcategory of a larger market that has specific issues, problems, wants, and needs.  By understanding those issues you will be able to focus your marketing communications and get that message to the correct audience in the correct format and medium.  This creates a message to market match.  You actually become an advocate for them and as result begin to attract them to you.

For example, if you market a nutritional product, you may focus on a the 50 to 60 year old demographic that is concerned with protecting and maintaining their health as they grow older.  Your messages to them would focus on particular issues such as heart disease or cancer, or generating more energy.  As you provide information about the nutrition that is related to their concerns, you qualify yourself as knowledgeable and a leader in that field.  You begin to establish trust and credibility.

Do you have a niche? Most people starting in Network Marketing are encouraged to adopt the strategy that everyone is their prospect and that all they have to do is talk to enough people, stay positive, do the personal growth work, and never give up. It may seem that the niche or market focus is naturally defined by the company and their products, but it is a strategy that is often too broad. This lack of focus and direction has led to major problems for many network marketers as they use this broad brush and try to address too large an audience.  Rather then getting to know their potential customers and business partners and their desires, needs, and wants, they quickly find themselves in a desperate selling mode which turns people off.  This type of behavior leds to a negative image of network marketing.

Finding your niche. Any successful business must communicate and provide value that solves customer wants and needs.  In order to do that, you must become intimate with issues, problems, wants, desires, and needs of your ideal client.  That is best and most efficiently determined by focusing on a niche or unique market segment that you thoroughly understand.  3 critical questions to answer in finding your niche:

  1. Who is a market? How do you define them?  Who is your best or ideal customer?
  2. What does your niche want? Specifically, what are they looking for?  What problem are they trying to solve?  Where do you have passion that matches what your niche wants?  How can you position yourself as a solutions provider?
  3. How do they want it? Often the delivery and the customer experience is more important then the product itself.  Learn how they get information and in what format.  Then put that strategy into action.

By specializing on a specific marketing niches or segments, you can bring ideal prospects to you. When you differentiate yourself from other people in the market place you set yourself apart from everyone else and gain attention.  As you demonstrate that you understand your niche or group’s specific wants and needs you establish greater credibility. You actually become an advocate for them. This builds on relationship and will lead to trust by actually demonstrating your ability to solve a problem that is important to them.  Now they will want to know more about you and what you have to offer.  You have become an expert in your niche which makes it easy to convert prospects to customers and price competition diminishes, making for a more profitable relationship.   Niche marketing lens itself to, and is an excellent application of Attraction Marketing .

Specific Instructions and training can be found in the Attraction Marketers Manifesto by reading pages 58-66.  There is also free training at Renegade University in the Renegade Classroom page. A very in depth video in an article by Ann Sieg can be found at Renegade Professional.  From the main menu, click Attraction Marketing, then Marketing Tutorials; see section titled Finding and Marketing Your Niche.

If you would like to find out how the principles of Attraction Marketing can be implemented by developing a niche for your business you are always welcome to contact me and I’ll be happy to explain how that can be done.

Posted in Attraction Marketing.

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