My Buy Essay

Posts Tagged ‘financial freedom’

Over-spending, this is possibly the easiest and most damaging trap to fall into when starting out on your Internet Marketing venture. Not having a clear idea of your budget.

This is not only the AMOUNT of MONEY that you want to spend (or have available to spend), but just as importantly your TIME allocation and the HOW and WHEN you are going to spend it.

It is after all pointless to spend a hundred dollars on a product or service if you realistically are only going to see returns from the investment in a year &ndash be it increased visibility or actual sales. What you want to do is work out where to do your spend to get ‘the most bang for your buck’ &ndash equally for money and time. One of the great things about marketing on the net is that there are still ways to promote and start earning income that will cost either very little or are for free. So, the idea is to get the business to PAY for itself as soon as possible &ndash via sales, commissions, whatever.

One part of the problem in going in and denting your credit card is that at the end of the day, you have to fund that spend &ndash you have to first recover the initial outlay BEFORE you can say that you are in profit. Another part is that if you have spent this months grocery money on your start-up, the pressure to perform and get results makes this venture no longer a pleasurable journey, but becomes a slog and very stressful for all.

This leads on to the allocation of time. Your body and mind function best if they have diversion, so it is vitally important to balance the time you spend setting up your Internet Marketing business with family time or time with friends or even ‘me’ time &ndash you know, when you go to a movie or out to the wild places to recharge your spirit. This is critical to your success and well-being.

As with any business venture, the driving motivation should be to get cash positive as soon as possible. After all, that is why we are doing this &ndash to make money! So the main thing is to ‘box smart’ &ndash know what you want and where to spend to get it.

This sounds a bit trite, but in this article and others to follow, I share with you techniques that will enable you to operate on a realistic budget &ndash a budget of MONEY and TIME – and this will go a long way in shaping your success on the internet &ndash but more importantly, will get you into the ‘cash-positive’ scenario easier and most times sooner.

Another of the pitfalls of starting out on the Internet Marketing arena (whether it is to promote ‘brain tools’ like books etc, or if you are selling sun-beds for hamsters), is that we all tend to take on too much and become overwhelmed with information and advertising as well as a multitude of marketers wanting you to join/buy/use/sign-up. This can create havoc in your life &ndash all these decisions &ndash “Should I?” “Shouldn’t I?” “But if I did then I could….”

Taking on too much can be the downfall of your business right at the outset.

Make no mistake; there is a lot of work to be done and knowledge to acquire &ndash THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH! The secret is being able to sift through all of the ‘stuff’ and then making a good decision based on your understanding. What most of us do though is try to ‘do-it-all’ and do it quickly &ndash this is so typical of how our lives are run. My best advice is to identify someone who has done it and is prepared to show you how you can do it &ndash I do not mean Joe Schmooze around the corner &ndash I mean an actual marketer who is making money on the internet.

Yes, I know, “How do you identify such a person?” especially as I said earlier, there is so much garbage out there. Unfortunately, that is going to be up to you &ndash advice and recommendation I can offer, but in the long run, it is up to you to see where you feel comfortable and with what vehicle you feel you can earn money.

If I can leave you with one thought for today:

Have a clear goal of what you want to achieve (financial freedom, family time, giving to others, whatever) and try to build a plan on how to get there &ndash like a road map. This is not as simple as it sounds, but once you build the discipline to plan your future, the rest really does start to just drop into place.

Passion and purpose are the common denominators shared by the happiest, wealthiest and most successful people on this planet.

Bill Gates is passionate about making health care available around the world.

Oprah Winfrey is passionate about making education available around the world.

Martin Luther King was passionate about making freedom available around the world.

These lasting legacies of clinics, schools and human rights stem from the vision of people just like you and me. What sets them apart from most of us is the clarity and power of their passion and purpose. These successful people knew what they wanted to accomplish and felt passionate about making a difference in the world. They grew their purpose as their successes grew. They created the momentum required to change the world by focusing and acting daily on what they could uniquely offer. Businessman, TV celebrity and preacher, they had their eye on a bigger prize, that would change the lives of many.

What is your passion and purpose?

Perhaps you’ve been sidetracked by the efforts and distractions of daily life in the 21st century. Getting through the day, acquiring homes and cars, preparing for our next vacation or retirement, checking e-mail and watching TV can fill our hours. When we fill our days with these efforts and distractions it is easy to feel dissatisfied. This feeling that something is missing from our lives is a gentle nudge that there is more to experience.

Once we have secured safety and stability for our loved ones and ourselves it is time to address that place in our being that wants to be satisfied through purpose, which gives meaning to our lives. We don’t have to create world peace, end crippling disease, or educate the continent of Africa for our interests to have value.

What do you most enjoy thinking about? What do you do for pleasure? What were your passions as a kid? What makes you lose track of time and feel invigorated by when you are involved? What we are most passionate about points directly to our unique purpose in life.

Passion and purpose do not need to be global to be powerful, but to be profitable; they must contribute to the experience of others.

David is passionate about connecting and relating to people. He’s making big profits in real estate. People are enthusiastic about doing business with him and referring their friends to him because they know he is passionate about their successful participation in the American dream. His simple website makes it easy for prospects to get to know him and for him to educate his clients.

Kathleen and Mark are passionate about their art. They are gaining profitable momentum as they apply their craft to making beautiful bonsai pots for the thousands of people worldwide that are passionate about the art of growing miniature trees. A simple website and a smart marketing blueprint allows them the freedom to pursue their art instead of a paycheck.

Peg is a techie and always has been. She enjoys tinkering and has given it purpose. She maintains my computers and dozens of others from hundreds of miles away. She gets satisfaction and she profits from an interest in knowing how things work. Having a website lets people all over North America take advantage of her remote services.

Turning Passion and Purpose Into Profit

Whether your joy comes from serving people, creating art or applying technical information, you can turn your interests into your work by recognizing that by sharing it you can improve the quality of living for yourself and others.

You can turn your purpose into profit by sharing it worldwide. There may not be many local people interested in model trains, carnival secrets, or the fine art of teaching your dog to count to ten, but with the ability to reach out and market to the world, there are sure to be others who share in or would benefit from your interests and knowledge.

Imagine your daily delights if you were making money doing what you love! Pick your own hours, pick your location, pick your passion. There has never been a time before where you could instantly reach around the world and connect with others so easily. There has never before been such an opportunity to build a business out of thin air and create a connection worldwide with others who want to know what you know.

It takes a little courage, a little know how and a desire to focus your time and energy on what is important to you. Imagine what your life would feel like if you were making a prosperous livelihood doing what you love. Is now the time to take action?

Kristin S. Kopp

Prosperity Coach