Build Your Marketing Campaign On a Strong Foundation

By icjackson1913 | October 22, 2008

Unfortunately, most people who try their hand at home business ownership crash and burn; they give up before they even really get started.

Why is that?

It’s usually not because they were in the wrong business, didn’t have the capacity to run an operation from home, or didn’t have a real chance to succeed. Most home business owners give up too soon because they don’t understand that it simply takes time to build a foundation. You don’t just get an idea, open up shop, and wait for the money to start pouring in.

Life just doesn’t work that way, sweetie J

In all things there must be a solid foundation built before the structure can be erected. This is especially true for any online marketing campaign. You as a business owner have to establish credibility in a number of areas, including your expertise, your message, your relevance, and your lasting power. That means you might be working at it for a while before sales are made. There is also a learning curve involved, even when you have a mentor and a system; you have to walk before you can run.

Have you been trying to trying run and just ended up running out of gas?

Be encouraged; if you stick with it and continue to learn as much as you can about your field, your market, and yourself, you will get where you want to go. There is progress even in failure, as long as you use failures as stepping stones instead of stumbling blocks.

 

P.S. Make sure to register for Home Biz Marketing so that you can get our helpful blog posts right in your email box! We won’t spam you or overload you with email; we promise :-)

 

To your continued success,

I.C. Jackson

 

Topics: Marketing, Success Tips | 1 Comment »

Want To Be a Leader In Your Field? Then Start Leading Already!

By icjackson1913 | September 8, 2008

Leadership is a very interesting phenomenon; it is part art, part science, and part instinct. Some people just know how to lead. Others, who may not be born leaders, still have the character and quality to lead, and they develop leadership skills that propel them into leadership positions. Many home business owners want to be leaders in their industries and even within particular companies, but how to do it eludes most of us.

Why?

Because most of us have no idea what it really takes to be a leader! We think we know good leadership when we see it, but it just hasn’t yet materialized yet in our own efforts. So, what do we do? Do we just jump out on a limb and pray that we make it? Do we begin to promote ourselves as if we were great leaders and hope that prospects buy it?

Of course not.

The key to leadership is…leading! I know that sounds silly, but it really is the truth. It’s not your accumulation of followers that makes you a leader, it’s your leadership. If you start leading, soon followers will follow. It makes perfect sense, although it’s a lot to understand. That’s why those of us who are ready to go to the next level begin to study leadership. Study helps us to connect the dots and understand the esoteric aspects of leadership that we need to be able to bring to the forefronts of our minds so that we can manifest them in practice. You can study more about leadership by visiting my Squidoo lens, How To Be a Leader - it’s a great start for anyone who wants to hone their leadership skills and take their business to the next level.

So get started already ;-)

 

To your continued success,

I.C. Jackson

 

P.S. Make sure to register for Home Biz Marketing so that you can get our helpful blog posts right in your email box! We won’t spam you or overload you with email; we promise :-)

Topics: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

You Are a Business Evangelist - But What Does That Mean?

By icjackson1913 | August 30, 2008

An evangelist is a person who spreads the word about something with the intent to convert listeners to belief in the subject of the message. This person is also supposed to be an expert on the subject that he or she is preaching or teaching about. In the religious sense, an evangelist goes from place to place, spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The word “gospel” actually means “good news”.

So, what does that have to do with you?

Among other things, you are an evangelist for your business; you are supposed to spread the ‘good news’ about your product, service, and/or opportunity. You’re an expert in your field, and you have come to Everywhere, USA to share what others will perceive to be good news. If it’s not perceived at good news, it won’t matter to the consumer or prospect because you will have given them no reason to care.

See where I’m going with this?

Don’t just run your mouth about what you do and why - that may not be of any concern to those with whom you’re attempting to communicate. When advertising, marketing, and even having conversations with people about what you do, tailor your message to fit into the “good news” category. Solve a problem, address a concern, or make a difference based on what the listener is thinks is important.

Otherwise, people will feel like you’re preaching to them about what you think will save them - and most people don’t care what you think unless it lines up with what they think.

 

Keep on spreading the word,

I.C. Jackson

Topics: Advertising, Marketing, Shameless Self Promotion | 2 Comments »

Take The 60 Day Squidoo Challenge - Make a Supplemental Income

By icjackson1913 | August 19, 2008

Many home businesses experience busy seasons and slow seasons, and there has to be something to fill in the gaps. Other home business owners who are still building their work-from-home empires simply aren’t bringing enough in yet, and may need some something extra to pcik up some of the slack. Then there are the freelancers, who rarely are able to predict their income from quarter to quarter. It can be tough staying motivated and encouraged when all of your work-from-home income isn’t steady yet.

So, what do you do?

One thing you can do is leverage the power of Squidoo. You’ve heard me talk about it before, but you may not know exactly how to do it.

I understand :-)

However, there are a group of ambitious lensmasters who are strategically working to create the foundation for a nice residual income simply from writing about things they know about - including their businesses! The motivational tool we’re all using is The 60 Day Squidoo Challenge, and you are invited to join as a contender!

Have no idea what you would write about besides your business? Take a look at my lenses to date and you might get some ideas!

[NOTE: This is indeed shameless self promotion, but in my defense, it does serve a constructive purpose, too.]

 

I.C. Jackson’s Squidoo Lensography

 

I hope that you join us and learn how to earn some extra cash as well as build your web presence with Squidoo!

 

To your continued success,

I.C. Jackson

Topics: Marketing, Shameless Self Promotion, Social Media, Squidoo, Supplemental Income, Web 2.0 | 5 Comments »

Market On Websites That Will Pay You To Do It!

By icjackson1913 | August 12, 2008

There isn’t one home business owner reading this blog who couldn’t use some more supplemental income. However, it’s many of you are actually losing money, especially if you are just starting. We sometimes find ourselves spending more than we’re bringing in, all in the name of marketing. So, before we can make profits from sales, we spend money just so that we can find customers who will buy.
That stinks.

But it takes money to make money, right? Well, most of the time. However, you deserve a break from the norm. You deserve an exception.

Hey, you’re a hard working home business owner; you’ve earned it ;-)

So, instead of always paying for your marketing, or marketing on free sites that may or may not provide any return on your time investment, market on sites that pay you to do so.

THAT’S a win-win situation!

All Paid Content Sites Are Not Created Equal

Be forewarned, however; all sites that claim to pay for your activity do not live up to their hype. I have been on a number pay-to-post sites that only offered pennies for a very time consuming effort. If you didn’t recruit a million people, you never saw more than a few bucks. I don’t have time for that, and neither do you.

So, here are a couple of sites that come through on their promises, and provide opportunities to make a real supplemental income for a reasonable effort.

 

Get Paid To Market Your Business On…

Squidoo.com

Everybody’s an expert on something! Use your expert knowledge to create a supplemental income by creating a collection of “lenses” about whatever you know about, including your business. It’s free to join and use, affiliate links are allowed, and Squidoo pays you through revenue sharing for using the site! There are real people making thousands a month just from their Squidoo activity. You can create an income stream by using Squidoo to market your business(es) and your expert knowledge.

* If you haven’t already, check out The 60 Day Squidoo Challenge to jumpstart your marketing efforts on Squidoo! *

 

WhatBusinessToDo.com

This interesting gem of a site is designed for home business owners and those who wish to be, and provides a unique networking eand marketing xperience that you can get paid to take advatnage of. Their 7-tier affiliate program is VERY nice so your networking and marketing time can be spent inviting contacts to and posting on a SEO supercharged site that helps small companies get to the top of Google just like the big dogs.

Got any suggestions for this list? Leave your comments - they might even be featured here!

 

To your continued success,

I.C. Jackson

 

 

Topics: Marketing, Networking, Productivity, Squidoo, Success Tips | No Comments »

Don’t Be Afraid To Fail

By icjackson1913 | August 6, 2008

Too many home business owners don’t take risks because, well, we think that we can’t afford to. Or we’re afraid to ruin our reputations. Or we simply are afraid of the F-word.

Failure.

However, it is only in being courageous enough to go out on a limb that we will ever experience success. Think of the successful people that you look up to, and then think about how many times they failed in business before they found their way and climbed to the top. Success guru Mason Weaver writes about how a baby has to muster up the courage to take his first steps - how he is essentially going out on a limb, knowing that he will probably fall. This baby actually knowingly fails his way to success (from Polishing the Diamond in the Rough - available in the right sidebar here on HBM).

Another mentor of mine says, “You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.” Now of course, he stays on me to work toward getting it right in the long run, but the point is that sooner or later, you’re just going to have to take some risks. The best you can do to protect yourself is to take calculated risks based on through research. Do your homework, sure. Just know that in doing your homework, you will find that you are going to have to put on your track shoes and get out there in order to see any results. Playing it safe is not going to slowly bring you to the finish line.

It will leave you at the gate.

So, get out there, and show the world who you are and what you’ve got to offer. You’re probably not going to become an overnight success story. You’ll actually probably get it wrong a time or two. But isn’t getting it wrong and learning how to get it right better than not having the cahones to go out there and get it at all?

 

Be encouraged, and subscribe to HBM to continue getting high quality, focused advice just for home business owners,

I.C. Jackson

Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »

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