What Is Luck Anyway (and How Do I Get MORE)?
As many of you know, in addition to being a global internet business coach, I am also a scientist in New York City, where I work in a laboratory that specializes in infertility.
When I was first getting started in that line of work, back in the early 90’s, I was “lucky” enough to land a job as a Laboratory Director at one of the most prominant Infertility Programs in Boston.
It was my first real break, and many of my colleagues thought I was lucky.
You see, at the time I worked in another laboratory in an adjacent building, and had come to know many of the doctors in the Infertility Unit over the course of a couple of years. I was working as a Postdoctoral Fellow doing research at Harvard Medical School. I was preparing for my future.
As my Postdoctoral Fellowship was coming to an end, this particular position as Laboratory Director just happened to open up.
Luck, right?
I don’t think so, although it depends on your definition of luck.
Roy D. Chaplin, Jr, former CEO of American Motors, once said it best…
Luck is the Time When Preparation and Opportunity Meet
What a perfect definition. I was not “lucky” in the classic sense to have landed that job. I was preparing for that job for many years, doing research, learning skills, meeting people (networking), and “paying my dues”.
Then the opportunity came. Was I fortunate to be at the right place, just as I was looking for a job? Absolutely.
Was I lucky? Well, I was prepared when the opportunity presented itself.
There are 2 key components here.
First is preparation. In Network Marketing, that means learning your craft, honing your skills, and learning new and better ways to do things. Things like marketing, networking, closing sales, and phone skills. These skill all need to be developed and improved for success to occur.
Second is OPPORTUNITY. Knowing a good opportunity when it presents itself, and MOVING ON IT. I’ve seen so many qualified people come and go through the network marketing industry because they were unable to or unwilling to take advantage of an opportunity when it came about.
There is nothing more frustrating to watch.
I see it in people looking for a better way of life, looking to stop the madness of trading time for dollars with no freedom and no savings.
These are people that I KNOW could succeed in Network Marketing, yet they don’t move on an opportunity because they are paralyzed by either fear or procrastination.
You must be able to ACT on an opportunity. If you can’t act, then it doesn’t matter how prepared you are.
I was “lucky” to get that first Laboratory Director job back in the 90’s. And I am again “lucky” to be a successful Internet Marketer today.
And both times, luck came for the same reason.
Preparation met Opportunity, and I took advantage.
That, my friends, is the key to success in life.
To YOUR success!
Dr. Bob Clarke
Global Internet Business Coach
Cresskill, NJ; February 21, 2009
How An Entitlement Mentality Will Destroy Your Home Business… Before You Even Get Started
The Entitlement Mentality. I see if everywhere I go.
Entitlement is defined by Websters Dictionary the following way:
The belief that one is deserving of certain privileges.
I see it in our workforce, people believing they should get a raise even though they are lazy in their jobs.
I see it in our children, who believe they deserve material things just because everyone else has them.
I see it in our society, who believe that everyone is entitled to own a home, even if they don’t have the means to support it (now hasn’t THAT gotten us into a heap of trouble!).
And I most definitely see it in Would-Be-Entrepreneurs. The people who believe that simply by starting a home business, the profits should automatically roll in.
I could write a book on each of the above examples, but for today I’ll focus on the last group, because experiences are fresh in my mind.
I find it fascinating talking to people who call me, asking about starting their own home based business. I am part of a rather popular opportunity because of its many automated features.
In this opportunity, the automated system pretty much does everything for the business owner, except for one thing…. Marketing. Yes, SUCCESS does take work, and study, and perseverence, and getting through lean times…. just like anything else worthwhile.
But I continue to get calls like this from people who have joined our business opportunity.
Caller: I don’t get it. I paid my money to get into the business. I read over the website. But it’s two months into it and I still haven’t made any money.
Me: Tell me what you’ve done in marketing so far.
Caller: Ummm.. well… I’ve read over the marketing material on the website and I understand it pretty well.
Me: Okay, but what action have you taken?
Caller: Well… ummm…. I haven’t actaully taken action yet, but I plan to very soon.
Me: Good! Call me back about a month after you’ve taken some action, placed some ads, put your face out there… and we’ll talk again.
Caller: Silence. Ummm.. okay.
Thankfully this isn’t an every day occurence, or I’d be ripping out whats left of my hair.
But every time it happens, I just sit there looking at the telephone in amazement.
People think they are entitled to make money on the Internet simply because they bought into a business.
People get really pissed off when the money doesn’t automatically just start rolling in.
And many times, people quit without really taking any action at all. And they blame it on the business, or their sponsor, or the bad economy, or a hundred other circumstances going on in their lives.
They point the blame everywhere but where it belongs….
IN THE MIRROR.
The reality is simple.
Business is Business.
Business is Work.
Business is Sacrifice.
But done correctly, business can be wonderfully profitable and provide you freedoms that you cannot possibly imagine in a J-O-B.
But you are not ENTITLED to it.
You have to WORK for it. Just like the rest of it.
And when you work for it, and you succeed, and you have that first 5 figure month, there’s no better feeling.
To your success and your work ethic!
Dr. Bob Clarke
Dr. Clarke’s Income Opportunity
Starting a Home Based Internet Business — How Will I Get Paid?
This is the 3rd in a 3 part blog series about Starting a Home Based Internet Business.
The first part focused on “What Products Will I Sell?. The second post discussed the topic of “How Will I Market My Products,” and explained the value of using an automated marketing system to reduce the number of skills you must master to become a successful Internet marketer.
The third and final part of this series concerns the topic,
“How Will I Get Paid?”
When evaluating any home business opportunity, the compensation plan is critically important, because it is within these paramaters that you will derive your income.
What should you look for in a Comp Plan?
- Commission Percentage — what percentage of the products retail sale do you receive as a commission. Typically, commissions for home based businesses are around 20-30%, although a few are a high as 50%. Look for one with a high commission base — THE HIGHER THE BETTER.
- Residual Component — not only do you want to be paid through your own efforts, but also by the efforts of your team. Make sure that there are no sales quotas that must be met each month in order to receive these residual commissions. Again, the higher the residual commission base, the better — but look for some companies that offer residuals at 25% or greater.
- Multiple Streams of Income — look for multiple ways in which you can get paid each month. These could include straight commissions, residual commissions, funded proposals and affiliate commissions. Ideally, a home business opportunity should have all of the above income sources in place to maximize your income each month.
There you have it — the 3 characteristics to look for in a great compensation plan. Do your homework here, guys.
There are definitely opportunities out there that offer the best of all worlds — high commission base, a residual component, and multiple streams of income all under one roof.
Don’t settle for anything else.
To your success!
Curious which home business Dr. Clarke chose to work with?
Sustainable Marketing — The Funded Proposal As A Powerful Network Marketing Strategy
Sustainability is a buzzword often used today in discussions about green living. Just to be perfectly clear, sustainable marketing has nothing at all to do with a green approach to running a business. But it’s a network marketing strategy that every online entrepreneur should employ simply because it makes sense.
Before we discuss how to leverage sustainable marketing, let’s first talk about marketing itself. A definition that seems to work well describes marketing as the process of bringing prospects to your point of sale. For an online marketer, the point of sale is the website or squeeze page where a prospect is encouraged to buy. More on that in a minute. Arguably the most important word in that definition of marketing though is process, because effective marketing is just that-a process, as opposed to an event. In order to work-to consistently fill the sales pipeline-marketing needs to happen continuously. Online, that means 24/7, 365 days a year. And by the way, advertising costs money.
Now the sales part. At the heart of every business transaction is an exchange of value. In its most basic form, you provide a product or service in return for a payment of some sort. Selling is always a challenging undertaking, but selling online is even more so. Someone buying a product in person can actually see it and touch it. In much the same way, when buying a service in a face to face situation the seller can establish personal rapport-and credibility-in order to close the sale. Online, this kind of direct personal experience isn’t possible, so a seller needs to build credibility some other way. This is important because as credibility grows, the customer’s willingness to buy grows as well.
A good way to build credibility-and to offset online advertising costs-is the use of a funded proposal. The basic concept is that instead of trying to sell your prospect on your entire product or service, you sell them a little piece of it at a nominal price, typically well under $100. This does several things. The customer can start doing business with you at minimal risk. Even though they haven’t spent a ton of money, that prospect is now partially qualified as serious since they’ve actually spent at least something. And the revenue generated from your funded proposal can be used to offset your online advertising costs.
Most people fail in network marketing because they run out of money, or a willingness to spend it. Funded proposals create a sustainable marketing system that can run indefinitely until the business begins to turn a profit. It’s a tool that should be in every online marketer’s toolkit.
Starting a Home Based Internet Business — How Will I Do My Marketing?
There are 3 keys to finding a home based Internet business that’s right for you. The first, covered here previously, is to find the right products to sell. There’s no easy way to find this out except to do your market research.
The second key to finding a home based Internet business is finding a company that includes a marketing system that is automated to a great extent, is duplicatable, and supplies enough training to allow you to learn different marketing methods in a reasonable time.
Here are 3 must have features for any marketing system:
The Marketing System Must Include Automation
Most people just getting into Internet marketing greatly underestimate just how many new skills they will need in order to become successful on the Internet.
This non-inclusive list includes:
- how to market online and offline
- how to develop a website so that your leads will have some place to go to hear about your offer
- how to write a compelling story so that your leads are compelled to buy (this skill is called copy writing)
- how to talk to people who are interested
- how to close your sale
- how to develop a way to keep in touch with people who are undecided (usually through autoresponder emails)
And many, many more. Now you see why I said its important to find a company to work with that has as many of these skills automated and done for you. These systems are generally called Automated Marketing Systems, and there are a few out there that are quite good. Google it and seek them out when looking for an online opportunity.
The Marketing System Must Be Duplicatable
If you can’t copy what others are doing and get success fairly quickly, you’ll be out of money and out of business before you know what hit you. You have to seek out business opportunities where people can PLUG IN to the marketing system and duplicate their success.
In the opportunity I have chosen, we have marketing system averages for sales and profits. As long as you continue to drive leads to the marketing funnel (via your marketing), you are almost guaranteed to hit these company averages, resulting in sales AND profits.
That’s because the system is EASY TO DUPLICATE, a must have feature when considering any new home business opportunity.
The Marketing System Must Include ADEQUATE TRAINING
This is a big one, and non-negotiable. If there is not enough training, there will be no way for you to learn how to market to take advantage of the automated system. And I’m not talking about the rah-rah, have a bigger why kind of training. I’m talking meat and potatoes here guys, the kind of training that tells you how to market and shows you how to get it done.
Anything else is unacceptable. Be sure to ask about a company’s training before signing up. Ask how many training calls there are each week, and what the topics of these calls are. Ask if individualized training is possible at no cost (it should be). Don’t neglect this one — it will come back to haunt you BIG TIME.
Next time we’ll talk about the 3rd key to finding the right home based Internet business for you: Compensation.
I wish you all success and prosperity,
Dr. Clarke’s primary business opportunity
Starting a Home Based Internet Business — Home Business Scam or Negative Advertising?
This is Part II in a series called Starting a Home Based Internet Business.
This installment will talk about how to evaluate a business opportunity and more specifically, how to tell the difference between a supposed “scam” and simply negative advertising of a competitor.
When doing research before joining a home business opportunity, the easiest place to start is Google. Simply type in the name of the business opportunity you are thinking of joining, followed by the work “scam”.
For example, type in the name of my primary business opportunity, Carbon Copy PRO Scam.
Let’s take a look at the top 5 organic listings for this search.
1. A press release purportedly providing an independent review on the validity of Carbon Copy. While the author makes some valid points regarding price points, the bottom line is that he is providing an alternative to Carbon Copy PRO —> his OWN opportunity!
2. A blog from one of the top earners in Carbon Copy PRO, making several points as to how this business is NOT a scam.
3. A video from a gentleman who “checked out” the CC PRO opportunity. A nice review, with a few mention of the good points of the business followed by several aspects of the business that he has decided are “limitations”, followed by….. you guessed it… a link to HIS business opportuntity, which is “much better” than Carbon Copy PRO.
4. An article on GoArticles.com entitled, “Carbon Copy Pro Scam? Don’t Pay $49 To Find Out – Read This First”. Nicely written, great word usage, but factually incorrect, and all leading to….. surprise! His business opportunity link.
5. Another article entitled “Is Carbon Copy PRO a Scam?”. More of the same, I’m afraid.
The point to all this?
You NEED to be able to distinguish between Negative Advertising and evidence of a real scam.
If you see a scathing review of the opportunity you are thinking of joining, but it is followed by a pitch for another biz opp, you can pretty much disregard it. It’s negative advertising.
And by the way, if after reading one of these supposed “reviews” where they point out everything bad about the company you are researching, you are considering checking out HIS opportunity, consider this…
If this person has to promote his business by demeaning others, what does that say about HIS opportunity? Not much, I’m afraid.
When you see negative advertising, discount it. If you come across evidence of people who were actually IN the business you are researching and are telling horror stories… and ARE NOT PITCHING ANOTHER BUSINESS… now you’ve found something to sink your teeth into and you need to proceed with caution.
To your success!
Bob Clarke
Check out Dr. Clarke’s primary business opportunity
Jay Kubassek’s Simple Secret To Success in Network Marketing
I just came across this video from a great friend and hugely successful network marketer that I want to share with you.
Jay Kubassek is the CEO of the company I chose for my primary income source on the Internet, but his wise words apply to all network marketers in any opportunity.
Truer words have never been spoken. It’s a problem we all face daily and one that needs to be overcome if you want to be successful.
Enjoy folks.
Have a great and productive day!
Bob’s Primary Income Opportunity
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