10 Steps to Success

Every year thousands of men and women across America start a home based business, hoping to make money for new car, a vacation, or some new clothes. They sell a little merchandise to a few relatives and close friends. Then they are through. They quit before they give themselves a chance to learn the basics of success in business. “I am simply not a born business-person!” they often say.

No one is born a businessperson; any more than one is born a doctor or born a lawyer. To be successful in any profession you must learn not only the basic techniques, but also how to apply those techniques. Success on the Internet makes use of all the abilities one is born with, plus all those acquired through education and experience.

If you are looking for a career opportunity or “extra income” to help with the family budget, Internet marketing offers you dream- fulfilling possibilities. However, you must give yourself time to learn the techniques of Internet marketing. Ask yourself. “How long does a doctor study, to become a doctor? A lawyer to become a lawyer?” There is an old adage, which says “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

The rewards of owning your own home-based business are many:

1. You can be your own boss.

2. You can set your own hours.

3. You can own your own businesses with little or no investment.

4. You can pay yourself more than any boss would ever pay you.

5. You can give yourself regular raises as your business grows.

It is only fair to tell you that there are failures, too. There are people who will not work for themselves. When working for a boss, they rise early, are well groomed, and get to the office on time. However, when they are their own boss, they are still in a bathrobe, drinking one more cups of coffee at 11:00 A.M.

If you can be your own boss and discipline yourself to do what has to be done when it has to be done, Internet marketing offers a most unusual earning opportunity.

THE TEN STEPS

Here are ten steps that will assure your success:

1. BE A GOAL SETTER.

What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to save for college education for your children? A new car? A new home? A better life? You can have whatever you want, but you must want it enough to do the things that have to be done to get it. Whatever your goal, write it down and set a target date for reaching it. Divide the time period into blocks of achievement that are reachable. Work consistently toward accomplishing each day, each week, each month what you set out to do. Goal setting is a must in every area of life. Little is ever accomplished without definite goals.

2. BE ORGANIZED.

Each evening list all the things you want to get done the following day. That gives you an organized approach to each day. As each task is finished, mark it off your list. It is amazing how much gets done when one works with a “things-to- do” list. Today a friend of mine, Steve, told me that one of the things he does with his “to do” list is to tackle the toughest things first in the morning.  “By facing, and doing the most difficult tasks on my list first, I not only take care of them early when I am fresh, but by getting them off my list I free myself up emotionally. Putting them off until the last on the list wears on me for the entire day,” says Steve. Also, have a notebook, hand held palm device or contact software listing appointments, potential clients, repeat clients, and referrals, and keep it up to date at all times. You will be adding to it constantly.

3. BE ENTHUSIASTIC.

Enthusiasm is the high-octane “fuel” that salespeople run on. Enthusiasm generates its own energy. Energy and good health are synonymous with busy, happy people, people who are achieving.

4. RECOGNIZE THAT THE MAGIC WORD IN BUSINESS IS “ASK.”

In Internet marketing you don’t have to wait for business to come to you. You create your own business by asking for it. Ask for business, and then you will close sales. Ask for referrals, and then you always have a full list of potential clients. Be quietly, yet firmly aggressive.

5. EXPECT NO’S.

Realize that no’s are not personal. In business, as perhaps nowhere else, the law of averages work. Every no gets you closer to a yes. Keep track of your ratio. It will help improve your techniques. Are you getting ten no’s to one yes? Is your ratio five to one? Remember, the yes’s are your income. Also remember that “no” does not necessarily mean “no.” Often a “no” is simply a stall for more time to think. It may be a request for more information about your product or your service. What your client is actually buying is assurance. Assure here by your helpful attitude and your complete honesty, that you want what is best for her. She will most likely respect you and do business with you.

6. SCHEDULE TIME WISELY.

A schedule is the road map by which good businesses travel. It takes the frustration out of the day. It assures that the necessary things get done and get done on time. Plan your work then work your plan.

7. BE POSITIVE IN YOUR ATTITUDE.

Success in business, as in all areas of life is 90 percent attitude and 10 percent aptitude. All of us must work at developing habits of constructive thinking. Listen, read, or communicate daily with positive people and information. Be proud to be in your own business. Small businesses make the wheels of our economy turn.

8. HAVE AN OFFICE AREA.

Internet marketers work from their own homes, but it is essential to have a place where you can work in a organized and efficient manner. An office plus a strict working schedule gives you dignity. Both are absolutely essential for efficient operation and accurate record keeping, so important to the success of any business.

I work out of my home and have two children. Certain “rules” are established and often repeatedly taught. One is that if Mommy is on the phone there can be NO interruptions unless there is blood or fire involved—and sometimes it even works!  My girlfriend has a red baseball hat.  She puts it on when she is ready to start her workday. Her children know that if mommy has on the red hat, she’s not home so to speak. She is at work. You determine what works for you and your family…then stick with it!

9. BE INVOLVED.

Both in online communities and offline in your local community. Know what’s going on and what’s current in your field. Be a part of what’s going on and network with other’s in your field.

10. LEARN TO HANDLE MONEY INTELLIGENTLY.

A regular nine-to-five job usually means a paycheck at the end of the second week. In your own business you will handle money constantly. Internet marketing is instant income and constant income. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to become an efficient money manager. Deposit every penny collected from clients into a checking account set up especially for its business. Since bank statements show an exact record of all monies collected, and business expenses can be verified by canceled checks, record keeping becomes simple and accurate. Everything except a few “petty cash” transactions can be directly taken from bank statements. Money saved regularly and put at interest, soon develops a second income in addition to earned income. A long-term goal, which is realistic, is to be able to live in retirement off the interest earned on savings.

Would financial security mean a lot to you? If so, ask yourself these questions:

* Am I honest?

* Do I really like people?

* Am I willing to learn?

* Am I willing to work?

* Am I capable of being my own boss?

If your answers are yes, find a good product and a good company, one that you like, one that fills the need of a lot of people, and go to work for yourself! You can turn dreams into reality.

DREAM BIG!

© Cynthia Stewart founder of Dream Big is an international speaker and the author of several books, which include “Dream Big! A Woman’s Book of Marketing” and “Creating Wealth on The Web”. Through many challenges that she has fought and won, Cynthia knows first-hand how to dream big and has dedicated her life to empower other’s to stand-up, step-out, and reach their dreams. She can be reached at http://www.cynthiastewart.com

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Overcoming Obstacles

Welcome to Dream Big Newsletter, the motivational newsletter for winners. Here is your bi-monthly dose of encouragement, insight, and cheerleading to get you thinking more powerfully about the success in your life.

Enjoy, and pass it along to a friend!

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First Thoughts From Our Readers:

Hi Cynthia,

Your newsletter came at exactly the right time – the day my husband’s got the word his contract was not renewed and called by the highway patrol letting us know our son was being life-flighted to the hospital after a serious accident!  Our son is fine today and there were no casualties, thank God, but having after having heard that our son was ok we then moved our thoughts to, “Now how are we going to pay for all this?” As I stepped outside to turn on my phone your newsletter popped up and for some reason I took the time right then to read it. I am so glad I did! Thank you for your inspiration, wisdom, and willingnesss to share good thoughts and words.

Elizabeth McCain, Los Angeles

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Strength Comes From Struggle

Struggle is a clever devise through which nature compels us to develop, expand, and progress. It is either a terrible ordeal, or a magnificent experience depending upon one’s attitude toward it. Success is impossible—unthinkable even—without it.

Life, from birth to death, is literally an unbroken chain of ever-increasing, unavoidable struggle. The education we receive from the struggles we face is cumulative—we get it a little at a time from every experience along life’s journey. Someone once said, “That, which does not kill us, makes us strong.”

A favorite poem from my youth is titled Good Timber. Its author is anonymous, but its message is clear. It illustrates the point I wish to make—through surviving struggles and trials that we can become stronger, better, more prepared to succeed.

Good Timber

The tree that does not have to fight,

For sun and sky and air and light,

But stood out in the open plain

And always got its share of rain,

Never became a forest king,

But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil,

To gain and farm his patch of soil,

Who never had to win his share

Of sun and sky and light and air,

Never became a manly man

But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease,

The stronger wind, the stronger trees,

The further sky, the greater length,

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and man, good timber grows.

Where thickest lies the forest growth,

We find the patriarchs of both.

And they hold council with the stars,

Who’s broken branches show the scars

Of many winds and much of strife.

This is the common law of life.

Struggle similarly toughens the human spirit. Most people try to go through life following the path of least resistance. They often fail to understand that this philosophy is what makes rivers crooked—and sometimes does the same for humans. Much like trees, the strongest people aren’t those that are most protected; they are those that have struggled against the elements—and survived. Without the strength of character that grows out of struggle, we might be sorely tempted to flow through life without plan or purpose.

As we understand the broad purpose of life, we accept the struggle for what it is—opportunity. Obstacles force us to move when we might otherwise stand still. And it leads us eventually to success that only comes through struggle. Every one of us knows someone who has failed at something—whether it was a test, a diet, a relationship, or a job. Failing is a part of winning.

Whenever you find a successful person, you find a person who has struggled in their live, who has met difficulty, faced it, over came it and moved on to the next challenge.

(Written by Cynthia Stewart. Excerpt from Chapter 10, Overcoming Obstacles, in her best-selling book, Dream Big! A Woman’s Book of Network Marketing. )

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DREAM BIG!

© Cynthia Stewart founder of Dream Big is an international speaker and the author of several books, which include “Dream Big! A Woman’s Book of Marketing” and “Creating Wealth on The Web”. Through many challenges that she has fought and won, Cynthia knows first-hand how to dream big and has dedicated her life to empower other’s to stand-up, step-out, and reach their dreams. She can be reached at www.cynthiastewart.com

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

PLEASE REFER THIS NEWSLETTER

Help us reach the next 10,000 subscribers. Please forward this newsletter to all you know who could benefit and encourage them to sign up!

To subscribe put your email in the top right hand of this page or write an email to cynthia@cynthiastewart.com, with “subscribe dream big” in the subject.

May good fortune smile on you today!

Achieving Greatness

Welcome to Dream Big Newsletter, the motivational newsletter for winners. Here is your bi-monthly dose of encouragement, insight, and cheerleading to get you thinking more powerfully about the success in your life.

Enjoy, and pass it along to a friend!

************************************************************

First Thoughts From Our Readers:

Hi Cynthia,

Thanks for all the good words in your newsletters. I always  appreciate reading them and feel inspired to do more in my business and my life to build others up. Your encouragement helps!

Sarah from Chicgo

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Achieving Greatness

What is the difference between mediocrity and greatness?  Maybe not as much as you think.

You know, it really takes very little to make a big difference in our lives and in the world. In professional baseball for example, most batters hit for an average of about .250, which means that they get one hit for every four times at bat. Anyone who hits .300, three hits out of ten, is considered a star.  By the end of the season, there are only about a dozen players out of hundreds in the leagues who have maintained a .300 average, and these are the ones who get the big contracts, the acclaim, and the TV commercials.  Even my son, Tyler, knows that you can’t hit the ball if you don’t swing!

In other words, the difference between the great players and the ordinary players is only one hit out of twenty!  This slim margin of greatness in baseball symbolizes to me the dynamics of greatness in life, because when we use just a tiny bit more of our potential, we become outstanding human beings.

Now, the purpose of being outstanding is not to win acclaim or glory, but to be more of what we can be.  If you accept the idea that most of your present limitations are not based on any unchangeable reality but are rather the result of beliefs you hold about reality, then the next step is to deliberately and systematically change those beliefs. It’s called possibility thinking, and it’s a skill you can learn quite easily. I know you can do it too.

Control of Your Life

Recently I have been hit with some pretty huge obstacles. Life is like that. Most of us are hit with the unexpected from time to time and sometimes we can even feel helpless to make things right again. Do you ever feel like events in your life have gotten out of control? No matter how diligently you set goals, visualize results, and affirm a positive outcome, every once in a while your life is going to feel as if it’s gone a little crazy. Carefully laid plans go up in smoke – sometimes quite literally. People you counted on bail out on you. A health or family crisis strikes. A loved one is lost. An unexpected accident puts you out of commission for a while. Your car breaks down. A long planned promotion at work falls through. Your business didn’t hit the level you had worked and planned for. An earthquake or tornado puts you back to square one. Suddenly you feel as if you are completely off course, out of control, and lost at sea. At times like this, there are a few things it may help you to remember.

1.) First of all, no one can control every aspect of his or her lives. Adversity comes to all of us, no matter how moral we are, no         matter how hard we work, and no matter how good our attitude is. Bad things happen to good people all the time.

2.) Second, it’s important to realize that there is one and only one thing in life that is completely within your power to control, and that is your response to what happens to you. Your response and your attitude are the two things that are completely within your control and the only thing you can adjust when the storms and tragedies of life strike.

3.) When you find yourself overcome with feelings of fear, helplessness, doom and gloom, you can put the brakes on these feelings by gently but firmly choosing to shift the focus of the thoughts that are running through your mind. You can instead replace those negative thoughts with a picture of what you would like to see become the end result.

How do I do that, you may be thinking? It may be easier than you imagine. Your feelings are a direct result of the thoughts you think. Setting aside some time every morning and evening for positive visualization, affirmation, or guided meditation is a highly effective way of getting these thoughts back under your control again. A powerful example of this comes from an experience of Arjuna, a friend of mine. He and his wife were facing a challenge of unspeakable depth. Read about their life-changing turn around here: I Found Out What True Happiness Is

Another thing I have recently begun doing is to take some time each morning and write three pages of thoughts. That’s it—three pages. It doesn’t matter what you write down, just that you do it. Somehow putting your thoughts down on paper frees your mind to do the more creative and productive things that create positive results in your work, home, and relationships. Try it. I think you’ll be surprised at just how well it works. And when that next wave of challenge rises it’s ugly head, you’ll be better prepared to face it, overcome it, and move through it to a better day.

Be Extra-ordinary!

You may ask yourself, how do athletes go from contender to superstar? How do ordinary people become extraordinary? Here’s a secret to achieve breakthrough performance in your everyday life.

Everyone has times when they feel like they are unstoppable, times when they are doing whatever it is they do with ease, grace and incredible skill. But no one, not even the best of the best, can operate in that ideal performance-state 100% of the time.

The secret to achieving extraordinarily high levels of performance is learning how to take command of your mind and body so that you can operate at your peak when you need to, and relax and recover in between. Here’s how.

1.) First, goal setting is a key. Many people don’t like to set goals because they don’t like to fail. However, you have to develop mental toughness if you’re going to grow, and setting and achieving goals is one way to do it.

2.) Another way is to develop the ability to get rid of negative thoughts when they occur and substitute images of success and power.

3.) Finally, sticking to a sensible program of self-care – including good nutrition, regular restful sleep, built-in periods of laughter and play, and vigorous physical exercise – will do wonders for your self-image.

Are you willing to settle for “ordinary” in your life, or do you want something more? If you do, go after it with everything you’ve got and believe in your ability to do it!

Effectiveness

Have you ever thought about the difference between efficiency and effectiveness?  They both sound good, but I believe one is far better.  Most businesses want to run an efficient operation, and spend a lot of time and energy trying to get there.  But it is equally, if not more, important to make your business effective.

Efficiency means doing things with a minimum of effort – low input for high output.  In other words, efficiency means doing things right.  But what things?  A very important question!  You see, effectiveness is doing the right things right, and that is what you want to aim for.  You see you can be as efficient as the dickens at doing the wrong things.

You can practice the wrong technique or the wrong moves until you have them down perfectly. Then, you are going to wonder and worry about why your business is failing, why your customers aren’t coming back, why sales are down profits are dropping, and your relationships are suffering even though everything is working like a well-oiled machine.

When you visualize yourself or your business, don’t just see yourself doing things right.  See yourself doing the right things right.

Remember that sometimes the right thing, even if done imperfectly, can beat the heck out of a flawless performance of the wrong thing.  This holds true for everyone, not just those of you in business.  It makes just as much sense for athletes, homemakers, teachers and students – anyone who really cares about excellence.

It’s great to be efficient, but effectiveness is what you really want.

And remember, Dream Big!

Cynthia

© Cynthia Stewart founder of Dream Big is an international speaker and the author of several books, which include “Dream Big! A Woman’s Book of Marketing” and “Creating Wealth on The Web”. Through many challenges that she has fought and won, Cynthia knows first-hand how to dream big and has dedicated her life to empower other’s to stand-up, step-out, and reach their dreams. She can be reached at http://www.cynthiastewart.com

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

PLEASE REFER THIS NEWSLETTER

Help us reach the next 10,000 subscribers. Please forward this newsletter to all you know who could benefit and encourage them to sign up!

Subscribe to cynthia@cynthiastewart.com, with “subscribe dream big” in the subject.

May good fortune smile on you today!