Want to make money online? Here’s 10 Proven Ways!

In tough and uncertain economic times, people are taking charge of their economic future and turning to the Internet to earn money. The Internet is filled with legitimate ways to earn from home if you know what to look for. This article provides realistic advise on how to earn from reputable online sources and run your own profitable home-based business successfully.

Let’s get started. Here’s what you need to know to make money online consistently and legitimately.

1. Do set yourself up with an online place of business – get a domain address. For $10 or so per year, it’s worth it to book your own domain name. It makes you look more reputable, permanent and more accountable. Separate yourself from the sketchy programs out there by having your own domain name. Your website with a domain name is your place where you do your business and the location for all your programs, products, services or resume. If you have other websites from various affiliate programs you are involved, that’s fine, you can add the links to those programs on your domain based website.

2. Do book a website hosting account with a reliable hosting company. It doesn’t matter if you use WordPress to create your site, or a Content Management System provided by your host, but DO get an account that gives you 100% control over your site to add content, pages, widgets, images, video, search engine optimization, stats tracking, sub-domains etc. The days of a 3 or 4 page bland static website are long gone. Today, website owners can (and should) add tools, gadgets, blogs and other resources on their site to make it more customer friendly, search engine friendly, and social media friendly. Effective sites engage the visitor with live chat options, video, member areas, commenting and more. If your hosting provider doesn’t include site analysis and traffic tools, Google offers a free program that is very helpful for tracking important data related to your site traffic. It’s called Google Analytics. Website hosting will be in range of $10 – $50 per month.

Now let’s look at proven successful revenue sources.

3. When it comes to earning from online sources here are some proven successful ways to making money online:

a) Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing means that you sign up with a company as an Affiliate, refer business to those companies and you collect a commission for sales. You will be amazed at the growing number of large brick and mortar companies that offer affiliate programs. You’ve likely heard of Amazon but what about the Affiliate programs offered by WalMart, Pay-Less Shoes, Orbitz, Old Navy, G.I. Joes, ABT Electronics and American Express to name just a few. How each company pays commission and how much varies but with a high traffic website and precision marketing you can generate tidy income from affiliate marketing sources. Don’t be afraid to look outside of recognizable retailers for good Affiliate Marketing ideas. ClickBank.com for example, allows you to promote thousands of digital products. Vendors post their digital product to ClickBank, you promote it, when a sale is made you collect a commission. ClickBank handles payments and refunds so your only job is to pick the products you want to sell, promote, and collect commission. Pick a number of solid reputable affiliate marketing programs, but only a few so you can focus on those and only those to see success. I have to include a shameless plug here for my own company, Worldprofit.com. Worldprofit includes in our Earn-At-Home Program a number of Affiliate Marketing products, reseller opportunities as well as a comprehensive sales and marketing training program. As the economy has fumbled, affiliate marketing and work at home programs such as what we offer at Worldprofit have exploded.

b) Blogging: Don’t stop at Affiliate Marketing, money can be made from popular blogging sites by adding in advertising revenue from sources like Google Ad Sense, this is called Monetizing. Food bloggers, celebrity gossip bloggers, expert columnists and many more are generating sweet advertising revenue by including ads on their high traffic blogs. The ads are generated from an Advertising program such as that offered by Google and many others. They key to this revenue source is high and ongoing traffic. You will also need really unique frequently posted niche content to generate a following and get steady traffic.

c) Sale of Products: Of course you have seller options such as E-Bay for selling products either new or used. E-Bay is not a new idea for making money online but it is a source that many people have been relying on for years. Wholesale items, overstock products, collectors novelties, bankruptcy sale items, fire sale items, garage sale items – even houses – are just a few examples of what people are selling on E-Bay. Those who are reliable sellers earn status as trusted sellers and can earn significant money selling products.

d) Site Flipping: Flippa is a website that through an auction process, allows you to buy or sell complete niche websites, many with an existing customer base and verifiable traffic. If you are clever and have built up a successful online property you an sell it on Flippa. It’s a similar concept as buying a home, fixing it up and selling it. In this case though you create a site for a nice market, monetize it, grow traffic, a prospect list and a customer database, then simply sell the site. For someone who doesn’t have the interest in creating a site and all the work of building traffic and customers, a ready-made website can be purchased. Take a click over to Flippa.com to see new for sale listings, active listings, browse, price range, sold sites and more.

e) Freelancing: If you have a specialized skill or knowledge, have a look at freelancing sites such as Elance.com. Over 1/2 a million jobs are posted every year on Elance. This is a site where you can post your unique skills. Both companies and freelancers (called contractors) can post their jobs/skills. It’s unique in that you can access specific jobs including work for programmers, writers, designers, consultants and so forth. There are so many options, take some time to review these mentioned and keep an open-mind about what is available. Other sites offering a similar service include FreeLancer.com and Freelancejobs.org By posting your profile to these sites and taking on contact work you can earn considerable income.

f) YouTube.com Not everyone is destined for instant success like Justin Beiber after simply posting a video to YouTube. There IS money to be made with YouTube, that fact is a certainty. YouTube’s partner program allows you to post videos and earn revenue as your audience grows. Remember the scared baby video? What about the talking dog videos? Those videos and lots more are generating a steady source of income for someone due to the popularity of those videos. Initially the income can be very small, but if your video becomes hugely popular your commission checks will grow at the same time. Get good at it, get a following and then release videos to keep that source of income growing. Visit YouTube’s Partner section of their website to read success stories and how the program works.

g) Multiple Streams of Income. Here’a final thought on earning from online sources. Multiple streams of income is the key to consistent revenue, pick a few programs or options and focus on those to EARN something before you move on to the next. Make sure you are not spread to thin and can devote adequate time to building those sources of revenue. You need to have the time, commitment and an advertising budget to promote on a consistent basis.

4. Realize you must work your business every day to expect to see results. Don’t expect overnight success, or even success after a few weeks. If you are in this for a hobby fine, but if you want to build an online business with a steady source of full time income realize that it will take time. It’s a slow build and a lot of work.

5. Understand that CONSISTENT marketing and promotion is critical to your success. Ever notice that Coke is always advertising? Coke is continually in your face reminding you they are there. They sponsor events, they run TV ads, Super Bowl commercials and taste-test booths. The reason is simple. Every business, big and small must constantly promote their product or service. Your online business is no different. Promotion is a daily task. How much you earn is directly related to how much time and effort you invest in marketing your product. Learn about the power of social media including FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, YouTube, and so many more. If you don’t have a blog get one, and post unique content daily with rich key words related to your products/services/business and include integrated links to social media for maximum exposure.

6. Factor in that you will have to allocate and spend some of your hard earned money on advertising. Any successful business requires that you put money back into it. If you think you will build your earnings relying exclusively on free methods of advertising you will be disappointed. Yes, you can promote your business using free sites, and free services, but accompany that with actual paid ads at reputable sites. Don’t limit yourself to the major search engines like Google and their Ad Words program. Also consider Safelist Advertising and Traffic Exchanges. Safelist advertising once spurned as the poor man’s advertising vehicle has gained popularity and is free to get started with very low cost advertising options. Traffic exchanges work in a similar way and are worth consideration. For best results in either Safelists or Traffic Exchanges be prepared to pay for ads to see the best results. If you are on a tight budget combine both free and paid methods of advertising, and make sure you have an Ad Tracker software program so you know which ads are generating clicks and from which source.

7. Set goals. Are you going to make $100 today? $500 this week? How much? Once you have set your goals, set your plans for how you will accomplish this. What are the daily, weekly, monthly tasks you will do to make your financial goals a reality? Don’t allow your self to get distracted or pulled down with tasks that don’t get you closer to where you want to be. If your day ends with no commission report or sales report that says you earned SOMETHING today, rethink your plan for tomorrow. Get up early and get busy.

8. Have a positive attitude, I can’t stress this enough. Put a smile on your face, believe, then do. In my work as a trainer and consultant, I talk to people everyday who have had mixed success in building an online business. The people I have watched grow and build their own successful business are those who think positive and take action. Don’t be brought down by negative people, the know it alls, the ones that rain on your parade. Be mindful that while they are talking you down, you are doing something to improve your financial situation. Let that negativity slide off your back and propel you forward to work harder, and smarter.

9. Accept that you will have failure. Get over it. Learn from your mistakes. Move on. If it was easy to build a successful online business everyone would be making millions.

10. Find a mentor or training program that fits for you. The web is filled with software, e-books, training programs, webinars and more. You have all of this information at your fingertips. Find the best sources and get started. Don’t make the mistake of learning, study, analyzing but never actually doing anything. You won’t find success thinking about it, success is the results of DOING something to make it happen.

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100% sales. The ‘must read’ for business people who want more money and want it NOW!

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author’s program note. I have the inestimable privilege of training some of the brightest business people on earth… people of wit, intelligence, good humor… and a fierce determination to be successful, climbing the greasy pole, making more money, and living just the way they want. I find this work enthralling, exhilarating… and (I’ll admit it) frequently frustrating… as I watch even the best and the brightest muff it.

And so, today, I am writing about the one essential thing these fine folks — and that now includes YOU — must do every single minute of every single day that you want more money. For, let’s not kid ourselves… if you understand this crucial article and follow its directives… you are going to make more money, lots more, and leave your lackadaisical and languid colleagues in the dust. And won’t that be sweet?

To put you in the mood for my insistent message, I have selected a dance number that once made you gyrate and awe… “I Want Your Love” by a group named Chic. It hit the charts in 1978, and it made its point early and often:

“I want your love. I want your love. I want your love. I want your love.”

In other words, they kept on message, driving home the point of their endeavors until even the most mentally challenged “got it”. As a teacher with a sledgehammer, repetitive delivery, I like that… I like it a lot.

And so to set the stage for what follows, look this tune up in any search engine now and move that overweight, arthritic body; because you’re about to recapture your alluring youth… and be the person who got what you wanted, oh yeah!

Painful, so painful.

It happened again yesterday… and it gets me, right in the solar plexus, each and every time I see this fundamental error. The sales person I was training was operating solo. In other words, they had progressed sufficiently far in their instruction to where they get to fly all alone. I am there, of course; I am always there… but I try to remain as silent as the grave and unobtrusive so that I am seeing the student and just the student. And make no mistake about it… this situation (as every parent knows) can make you as nervous and frustrated as all get out.

Lights, camera… think!

Picture the scene. All parties are on the ‘net. I am present in my video box, the student is in his… and the “real life” prospect enters… like a bull at a corrida. Everything happens in real time…. and has real world implications, for good… or for ill.

Ok… the student (and, remember, my students are established business people, not wet-behind-the-ears kids) goes into closing mode. This starts by greeting each and every prospect by name; then asking each prospect to watch a 20-minute video packed with the vital data that both excites the prospect and instructs her.

These steps are crucial… and the students know I am a stickler for ensuring that they occur. In other words, make SURE the prospect has the critical facts before any further action can occur.

The prospect is prepped… are you?

“As soon as you’ve finished the video, return to me for a spectacular one-time-only offer.”

These words usher in the next phase of the operation. We make it clear what must be done (watch video) and what is coming thereafter (spectacular offer). So far… so good.

Close but no cigar.

The first mistake the students make is to present the offer before the prospect has been adequately prepped. This is a critical error. Prospects must have the necessary facts… or they end up asking a ton of unnecessary questions; questions which have already been answered — and in precise, clear detail, too — in the video.

The video, the whole video, nothing but the video.

As soon as you have confirmed that the prospect has watched the ENTIRE video, proceed to the “Big rock candy mountain,” your scintillating offer. It IS scintillating, isn’t it? For if it doesn’t snap, crackle, and pop you’ve just thrown away a sale. Sales occur because the offer sizzles, excites, is just too thrilling to decline. You ARE making such an offer, I trust. And if you’re not, you’d better make its improvement “Action this day,” which is what Winston Churchill did when as Prime Minister of England he demanded instant attention and RESULTS.

And now… the critical moment that turns you into a master… and puts another sale in your pocket: 100% sales.

To remain an average closer, keep doing what you’re doing.But to fly high as one of the world’s sales masters you must set the desired goal… then do everything possible, everything necessary to achieve it.

That is… 100% sales.

Is this what you do?

Make your objective immediately clear to the prospect: “I want you to get the benefits of this widget… and I’m going to do everything I can to make it happen.” Don’t just say these words… mean them. Because once the prospect knows you’re serious, they can be serious too, working with you for fastest, most complete mutual advantage.

At this moment, the prospect may well start back peddling saying things like this:

“I don’t have any money.”

“I can’t do it today.”

“I need to tell the little woman. We’re a team.”

And so forth. Your job is to thrust these obstacles out of the way and CLOSE THAT DEAL.

To do this, you must remind yourself AT ALL TIMES that you have a 100% closing goal… and that you are going to make this close. If the prospect stalls or blocks you, keep things going by asking for the prospect’s undivided attention and for an all- important OPEN mind. Make sure the prospect understands what the offer is…. and if necessary improve it; always making it clear that this offer expires the second the prospect leaves. In other words, there is a premium for staying, working things out, but irrevocable loss if they won’t.

Now, gun it.

Keep in mind at all times, with the terrific offer you are making, the prospect will be better off… if… and only if… they take immediate action. It is your job to drive this home NOW… making it abundantly clear that action now is the only sensible course.

Do this, and do it with enthusiasm, gusto, and good humor, and you will not only want that sale… you will get it! For as Chic sang, “a better love you won’t find today…” or a better offer either.

*** What do you think? We invite you to post your comments below.

I accuse you of doing everything you can to sabotage your online success…. and what you must do — at once — to change that and profit.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author’s program note. In 1894 Captain Alfred Dreyfus, artillery captain for the General Staff of France, was charged with treason and espionage… thereby inaugurating one of the most outrageous and ignoble events in the entire history of France.
It was a story of lies… but not by Dreyfus.
It was the story of evidence made up… evidence tampered with… evidence destroyed… but not by Dreyfus.
It was the story of grave injustice… deliberately done and with malice… but not by Dreyfus.
It was the story of a man attacked, mauled, censored, imprisoned, humiliated, villified because of his religion… but not by Dreyfus.
And above all it is the story of how one man with brilliant, slashing language changed the entire debate… securing at long last freedom, restitution and justice for Dreyfus.
This man was celebrated novelist Emile Zola who took just two words and transformed them into the most powerful weapon on earth… two words that galvanized a nation, securing the attention and support of the good people of France who, because of Zola, were outraged by the terrible and enduring blot on the honor of France… and who joined their voices to his in the service of truth.
J’accuse!
These are the words — I accuse — which by making the outrages clear — began the healing process that saved France from ignominy and redeemed her. Now I intend to use the great model created by Zola and to save you from business ignominy… to redeem you… and enable you to profit online… for you have been doing everything possible to fail… and little or nothing to succeed.
To help you on your way I have selected the soaring 1937 score Max Steiner wrote for the Best Picture of the Year; “The Life of Emile Zola” starring Paul Muni. Such grand music must enable success… so go to any search engine now and play it. We are ready to begin the transforming process that starts with “I accuse…” and ends with “I salute…”, wafted on our way by the grandeur of Steiner’s composition.
I accuse you of not understanding what business is… of understanding that business is now and always will be about two things and two things only: the generation of prospect leads… and following up with each and every one of these leads to make offers and close business.
I accuse you of engaging in endless trivia every day, focusing on anything and everything instead of generating prospects… and calling these prospects, to work with them and begin the development of the business relationships necessary to secure success.
I accuse you of trying to run a business solely by email… trying that is to motivate people to buy without doing the most important thing to profit: picking up the phone, calling prospects, engaging prospects, building relations with prospects.
I accuse you of sloth, laziness, of sitting around and waiting for success, instead of doing what is necessary — everything that’s necessary — to build the business you say you want… but for which there is absolutely no evidence that you have ever done on its behalf any meaningful thing at all.
I accuse you of the sin of inertia… of waiting, waiting, waiting, for, what?, a sign from Heaven, an email from God? I accuse you of not knowing what needs to be done, of not educating yourself so that you know how to do it, and not doing the least thing to secure your success.
I accuse you of spending more time gossiping on the phone with people who cannot make you richer (your best friend, your bowling buddies, the chick you met bar hopping last week) instead of using the phone to do what it does so well… connecting with the people who can buy from you, buy now, and make you money every single day.
I accuse you of trying to build your online business alone, all by yourself, when all the evidence says this is not possible, is absolutely impossible, because there is too much to do…too many things to master… and insufficient time to learn them, then do them. You need a team… and you need it at once.
I accuse you of the sin of talking about success far more than doing the necessary deeds and actions that ensure success. You have become, thereby, a specialist in the endless rhetoric and bombastic language of success, while achieving nothing. It is time, therefore, past time, to cease and censure the flatulent babble and get on with the doing.
I accuse you of not staying at your post every day until you have achieved the financial objective you have set for yourself for this day, focusing, persisting until you have achieved this goal… every penny of this goal.
I accuse you of coddling yourself, of a too prompt tendency to forgive your inadequacies, overlook the negatives, whitewash your poor performances, rationalize your failings, pooh pooh each and every peccadillo, extol too greatly minor triumphs instead of pushing on to make the insignificant significant.
The words used by Zola to end his famous declamation to French president Felix Faure, January 13, 1898:
“I have but one passion: to enlighten those who have been kept in the dark, in the name of humanity which has suffered too much and is entitled to happiness. My fiery protest is simply the cry of my very soul.”
I couldn’t say it better myself, so won’t try. Zola’s letter changed the world… my hope is that this changes yours.
** We invite you to post your comments to this article below.

The most bully pulpit on earth — your blog, and how to use it to make a difference.

Author’s program note. Have you ever felt that the problems of our muddled planet are too much for you… that you’d like your brief span on our bit of terra firma to matter… but can’t imagine how to get started? In short, have you despaired… about your power, your abilities, your significance… about the future of our 3rd rock from the Sun… about making a difference that will last and make you proud?
Let me tell you this, fellow pilgrim, every single good person on Spaceship Earth has these thoughts; you wouldn’t be the sentient soul you are if you didn’t burn the midnight oil pondering these great questions of our species and its impact.
If you truly want to make that vital difference, then you will read this timely article and read it again… because it makes clear and in necessary detail just what awe-inspiring power you have at your immediate disposal… and how to use it, over and over again, with ever growing experience and impact; a power that no Caesar ever had… no grave thinker… no nimble statesman… no dedicated man or woman of any kind (no matter how bold and innovative)… until the Internet came along and gave you — you — the power to change… to motivate… to chide… to encourage … to uplift… to censure… to rethink and to re-examine… to educate… to cherish… to bring kindred spirits together… and lighten their labors whilst singing their praises.
You — you — wherever you are on this fast-spinning sphere, can alter the course of events, scrutinize and reshape the present, transform the future, enhance anything, enrich everything, place nefarious and heinous deeds under the most stark and unremitting light… whilst bringing to widespread public notice good thoughts, good deeds, good actions of every kind from every quarter and source.
All this and more is inherent in what we call a blog…and you have trod this world at just the right time… a time every reformer, redeemer, and revolutionary of the past envies you — you — for you possess what they could never even dream of whatever their station, intellect, or influence.
Commit.
First, commit and re-commit yourself to making a difference…not merely thinking of doing so, but actually pledging yourself to do so. When I was a young man thinking often about and baffled by my future, my mother offered me a salient piece of advice I have not only recalled from time to time… but crafted my life by: commit yourself, she said, to a cause that’s bigger than you are, a cause that will need every skill you may master and all your imagination, energy, and the full measure of your heart, above all your heart.
This is a worthy objective for a life… though it never ceases to challenge and make demands which can sometimes seem too great, too exhausting, too strenuous. However, you will never know who you are unless you set such a rigorous pace and objective; for the grand goal and how you handle it make clear beyond question and cavil who you are…
Just one little candle.
Every great deed, every worthy thought, every beneficial action of every kind has begun with one step. Instead of being oppressed by all there is to do, instead be glad and comforted by the fact that you have the power now to begin… for as we say in New England, “well begun is half done.”
Begin by saying, writing down and carrying with you at all times, the first four lines from the song “One Little Candle”. You can find it in any search engine.
“It is better to light just one little candle Than to stumble in the dark Better far that you light just one little candle, All you need is a tiny spark.”
(Music George Mysels, Lyrics Joseph Maloy Roach. Published 1952.)
Bully pulpit, not cliche, dross, drivel.
The term bully pulpit was coined by President Theodore Roosevelt, who referred to the White House as a powerful platform for advocating a progressive agenda. In his day only presidents and other holders of high offices had this power… but that is true no longer. You — you — have at your immediate disposal powers and the potential for change, influence, and impact greater even than the man who coined the phrase and used it to effect the broadest possible results.
Unfortunately, some blog publishers are unclear on their mission and thus regularly publish material that is second-rate, old-hat, badly written, verbiage that would be better trashed than recycled through endless editions. Instead be clear on this: the material you publish must be worthy of a blog’s potential and your ability to live up to it. That is every word, every sentence, every paragraph, every page must adhere to the highest possible standards, or else the whole enterprise is pointless, derisory, infra dig. And that result will never do… nor will it help you reach your goal of influencing the maximum number of people on this planet and so effecting meaningful change.
Celebrate, sustain, advance the underdog.
People of power, means, access, influence and position have absolutely no need for your services. They already occupy every significant place on Earth and the benefits and emoluments pertaining thereunto. Your task, to be worth the doing, must be to be clear on what you should be doing… who you should be supporting… and who scrutinizing and holding accountable. In other words, the best use of your blog is to support the underdog in any and every way at your empowered disposal. The world is full of the dispossessed, the disenfranchised, the desperate, the down trodden, the disappeared, the destitute. They are legion as are their stories of alienation, injustice, abuse; all too often thrust aside, deferred, buried, belittled, unregarded, distorted, dismissed.
Which is where you, your commitment, your blog, that bully pulpit, come in. In a world of such unending outrages, your task is clear and crucial, for all there will be days when it seems overwhelming.
Remember this, to have the power to effect good and to fail to use it regularly, pointedly, thoroughly is not merely an error, but dereliction, sacrilege, incomprehensible, immoral.
Thus, vow to set your blog on the path of unremitting reform. It will demand everything you’ve got with results unpredictable and never final. But this is God’s work… and so it must be done… and why not by you and the blog that can touch and transform all? For, after all, you yourself are the one little candle that must be lit, that you may stand out in bold radiance, a beacon of hope for all the world and all who need you so.
### Your response to this article is requested. What do you think? Let us know by posting your comments below.

OMG! You’ve got The Color Green Syndrome… and it’s killing your business, absolutely killing it!

Author’s program note. Are you one of the billion or so people worldwide who’s been blaming the recession for all your woes, including that pimple on your back you popped… but should have left alone? Then this article is for YOU… and not a moment too soon either. In it, we’re going to examine just what you did yesterday to make money and whether you were focused on what you should have been focused on… or whether you had succumbed to one of the greatest of business maladies of all time: the pernicious Color Green Syndrome.
To put you in the mood to deal with this problem and to root it out of your business and life, I’m calling up Stevie Wonder, particularly his 1982 song “Do I Do”. (Go find it in any search engine; use the long — 10 1/2 minute — version that features Dizzy Gillespie.) It’s guaranteed to get you up, breathing deep, gliding across your floor with a practised dexterity you didn’t know was in you. Good! For this article and the resurrection of your business you need all the right moves… and Stevie is going to help you get them… as I am.
Are you suffering from The Color Green Syndrome? I bet you are… and it’s killing you.
What is this condition that’s worse than any plague, that’ll knock you for a loop faster than any flu… yea verily, that will cripple your enterprises more assuredly than the IRS or any other government intervention? Listen, my children, and you shall learn it here, find out how to perceive it, deal with it, eradicate it forever and so soar….
The heart and soul of your business is two things, just two things you must know and do EVERY single day without fail, every day that is when you want to use your business for what your business is for: making money, making money, oh yes, making money. Ou la la!
Okay, let’s dig in, in the spirit of medical research and solution. The two things you must do EVERY day in your business are to 1) generate prospects and 2) close those prospects. Nothing — absolutely NOTHING — is as fundamental to your success as this. So, let’s take a sustained gander at what you did yesterday to grow your business and reap rewards from it… and whether The Color Green Syndrome laid you low.
How the Syndrome got its name.
According to my trusty and much used dictionary, syndrome is defined as an aggregate or set of concurrent symptoms together indicating the presence and nature of a disease. One of the most destructive and insidious of these syndromes is the subject of this article. Here’s how it was discovered and named.
A person not unlike you came to visit me one day, asserting with vehemence and vigor that he wanted to make money online. To do so he knew he needed tools, training, traffic and ongoing help, and he paid me to provide them. I got down to business with a will; I am a man who believes in action, action now… and so in due course I presented him with a website that was 100% focused on stopping prospects in their tracks, motivating them to take notice, leave complete follow-up details (the better to have and develop those essential prospect lists) … and move like greased lightning to get the stupendous offer I had persuaded him to make.
But things, begun so auspiciously, slowed to a snail’s pace — or slower — at this moment. Why? “Because the green you selected for the background color isn’t the green I want. Show me some others.”
And so began the descent into madness and the unraveling of a great enterprise with a killer website standing at the ready to make lucre, and a lot of it.
The client didn’t like the green… but wanted to show his partner… who definitely didn’t like the green…
One requested one green; the other requested another. And while they reviewed, considered and discussed the virtues and winning attributes of greens ranging from apple green… chartreuse… hunter green… Islamic green…. fern green… Paris green… Shamrock green and several dozen other greens, far more greens than either you, me, or the customer even knew existed… their business stopped. So important was getting just the precise shade that all other matters, including the prosaic little matter of generating prospects, closing prospects, making money fell by the wayside… prospects ungenerated, offers unmade, sales non existent… until just the right green surfaced, was seen, discussed, selected, and shown off.
“So sad, but what has this to do with me?”, you ask.
You will recall that a syndrome is an aggregate of symptoms… and so it is here. The Color Green Syndrome can easily morph into any of the following conditions:
“I cannot generate prospects, call prospects, close prospects, until…”
* I have 2 cups of coffee, not a drop more or less;
* I have watched my favorite television program, never missing a minute or an episode:
* My dog is walked, my newspaper read, my toast prepared just so (and oh if my favorite jam is gone).
“I cannot generate prospects, call prospects, close prospects until I’ve….”
* called my children;
* fluffed my pillows;
* considered lunch and dinner menus.
And several million other situations, conditions, “really important things” that (by definition and sanctified usage) are important, way more important than doing what’s necessary to generate prospects… contact prospects… close and make deals with prospects.
Don’t say you aren’t subject to this malady. This is Dr. Lant you’re talking to, your friend, ultimate realist…. and we both know better, don’t we? You’ve got a bad case… and blaming it on the recession just passed — or anything else — just isn’t good enough….
So, unless you’re prepared to let The Color Green Syndrome (in any of its many manifestations) continue to undermine your business, you’ve got to change your ways… today… and I’ve asked Stevie Wonder to assist.
START with the two essential money-making activities — generating leads,calling leads — BEFORE you do ANYTHING else. Treat the prospects you’ll generate like this:
“When I see you on the street My whole body gets weak.”
In short treat that all -important prospect like the lover you cannot wait a single minute to contact… and make this kind of offer:
“Yes I got some honey suckle chocolate dripping kisses full of love for you.”
Go on, try it. It’s the only way to eradicate The Color Green Syndrome and focus on the only green that matters in business… the green backs your new moves and attitude are sure to deliver. Now turn up Stevie Wonder… and dance! After all, as soon as you generate and call all those prospects, you’re going to make a whole lot of money today…. and that calls for boogie!

You SAY you’re in business, but that proposition is dubious, as this article reveals in shocking detail.

Author’s program note. One of Broadway’s happiest and most enduring musicals is “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.” Written by Frank Loesser; it was released in October, 1961 to immediate acclaim — and a Pulitzer Prize to boot. Most recently it was revived with Daniel Ratcliffe — famous for his eponymous role in the Harry Potter films — starring in the lead role originally done to mischievous perfection by Robert Morse, simultaneously menace and mastermind.
I have selected one of the lesser tunes from the production for the occasional music to this article. It’s called simply “Coffee Break”, and you should go to any search engine now to listen to it. It’s about how the absence of coffee — and therefore the coffee break — raises more anxiety and lamentation than a plague of locusts and completely stops the whole company, convinced that the end of the world as they know it is at hand. Oh, my! So much grief for one missed cuppa. However, the real shock is not that the coffee was late for the company coffee break, no indeed; the real shock is that more time, trouble, energy, irritation, and anger was expended on this event than on anything else that entire day… including the company’s business they were hired to transact…until the outrage about the coffee break was surpassed by certain stale items on the lunch menu… thereby diverting everyone’s outspoken attention to this even greater snafu.
The sad part is that this kind of ludicrous “crisis” and massive waste of time does not occur solely or exclusively on Madison Avenue or in Broadway shows… it is most likely the way you are running your “business” and why it doesn’t prosper.
That’s why today, I am going to put you and your “business” under the most minute scrutiny, the better to help you understand that your business, as you currently organize and run it — cannot make the desirable profits of your imagination… until such time as you rethink everything — absolutely everything — so that the focus of your energy and action every day is NOT the coffee break… but actually doing BUSINESS. And as this analysis develops right before your very eyes, you are most likely to be chagrined, embarrassed, and horrified – and that’s just for openers.
On the acute need to perceive what you are really doing every single day.
You say you are in business, correct? You say you want substantial, increasing profits, correct? You say you are a hard worker; indeed that the sun never sets on all the work you do, the tasks done, the challenges confronted, correct?
In short you are about as swift, intelligent, able and valuable a business person as business has ever seen and that your DNA should be donated to the nation so that generations yet to come may have the benefit of you and your unmatched business expertise and execution.
You, of course, are even now nodding your head in sage agreement with this flawless description of you and your business acumen. Modest though you are, you cannot but admit that you are the very paragon and model sketched above… just like Kansas City, you’ve gone about as far as you can go.
It is this proposition swallowed hook, line and sinker by the overwhelming majority of business owners of every kind that keeps you trapped in a business that doesn’t grow, expand, prosper and that does not make and will never make the profits you consistently and repeatedly say are the reason you are in business to get and enjoy.
YOU and your business under our microscope.
Now, it’s time to knuckle down to the important, sure-to-be-shocking analysis of what you do during your “business hours”… for you cannot improve your business until you know precisely what you do and precisely when you do it.
Business is about two things and two things only…
Quick! Can you guess what they are? The correct answer is 1) the generation of qualified prospects and 2) contacting these prospects, making them the most lavish, persuasive offer ever, then closing the deal forthwith. This is the two- step dance that keeps you in business, expands your business, and leads to money, money, money… yours, all yours.
Now let’s see just what percentage of your average day focuses on these two key points… and what percentage of your business day goes to anything but these two essential tasks.
You’ll need a pad, a watch, and total honesty.
To make this crucial scrutiny work, you will need to be clear about what you do, when you do it, and how long it takes to do it. In other words, you must start by creating a detailed picture of your average business day… and why it either works to produce the prospect leads and orders you need… or why it doesn’t. Give this essential project which can launch the most profitable epoch for your business your fullest attention. Nothing will come of this project unless you are careful, thorough, and complete.
Your first task is to list all the things you do during your average business day. These will include but will certainly not be limited to
* all breaks, kind and duration;
* non-business related telephone and other communications;
* time spent “surfing” the Web, especially at sites unsuitable for visits during business hours;
* gossip with friends and co-workers;
* writing ad copy;
* creating offers that make sales;
* time on the telephone etc where you connect with prospects, and either upgrade them to be qualified prospects, or close them by making sales.
Get the picture? What you’re trying to do is this: show yourself in unanswerable detail what you do on the average day that has absolutely nothing to do with the identification and closing of prospects… and how much time and effort you expend generating prospects and closing them.
Reforms must follow identification of what you are doing wrong, over and over again.
Chances are, you will be shocked and abashed by what you discover, for instance now seeing that you spend far more time surfing the Web and gossiping on the phone than you do on that same phone contacting prospects and closing deals. Such pernicious reality must be dealt with at once, for it is costing you money every single day.
Start today.
Do you care whether your business succeeds or fails? Do you care whether you make more money than less? Do you care whether the limited time you have on this planet is transformed into the maximum amount of coin of the realm, and so serenity, security, satisfaction?
That is why you must do this necessary exercise, and do it today. For you see, succeeding in business without really trying makes a dandy theme for a witty musical… but can in no way be regarded as a truth to build your ever more prosperous business by. That truth will be vividly apparent to you as you implement the recommendations of this important article.
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