Borrowing from your credit card to invest in your online business or home-based business: good idea or bad move?

This is a great question that was posted on Work From Home Board by Debby Stewart. I wanted to share my response here.

From Personal experience, I say don't do it.

In my first business 6 years ago (an MLM) I invested over $1500 in products that were difficult to move and I spent about $1000 a month in buying leads. It was a lesson learned.

Long story short. If I were starting all over again with very little money, I would start with free advertising like free classifieds, blogging, article writing, squidoo etc. and then I would roll the profits back into my business until I could start doing some paid advertising like pay per click.

The only thing worth investing in would be personal development products that would help to teach me the skills that I need or perhaps a proven system to help me be successful. For example 2 years ago I invested in Mike Dillard's Magnetic Sponsoring. Because I wanted to learn how to "attract Prospects" rather than buy leads. It was a great investment.

Make sense? So I would only invest in personal development and do free marketing until I gained the skills to be successful.

I hope this helps.

~Wendy

What do you think? Borrowing from your credit card a good investment or bad move?

Still Buying Leads? What if prospects actually called you?

I did exactly what my up line told me to do. I invested in buying leads. I was told that if I wanted to be successful, I should call these leads and use the proven script that was given to me. I found that this was easier said than done. Often I would be hung up on or the person would say that they are no longer interested.


I found myself getting frustrated. I was following my steps exactly as I was trained and I just wasn’t getting results. Worse, I was going broke by continuing to buy leads. I thought it was something I was doing wrong, or maybe I just got a bad batch of leads.


But the truth is, my up-line didn’t know the secret and was therefore passing on bad information to me. She didn’t know that selling is about building relationships with people and being attractive so that people would come to me. This is called attraction marketing.


So I stopped trying to “get” people to join my business. Now I simply give away my knowledge and friendship without a hidden agenda. Now people are joining me.


Attraction marketing is a totally different approach to networking.

Generate leads with Squidoo (click-by-click)

I have met the most amazing people through social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Squidoo.

Social Sites are great ways to keep in touch with friends as well as a great way to make new friends. Social Media is also an wonderful way to generate very highly targeted leads for your business.

I am building my home based business without spending money one advertising. I simply build relationships with people and make new friends. I don't know about you, but it sure is a fun way to grow a business.

I am generating tons of leads just from squidoo. Check out this video that Mike Klinger put together to help teach people how to Squidoo. You will be amazed at the amount of traffic you can generate. Click here to watch free video.

Oh yeah, and here is my latest lens. http://www.squidoo.com/High-Quality-Leads

PS... If you don't have a squidoo account, you can get started here.

18 different ways to get free leads

I just saw Mike Klingler on this amazing video and I urge
you to see it right away.

Mike, in case you didn't know, is Ann Sieg's partner in the
new Renegade Professional marketing training site.

Here's why I'm so excited about this video:

It shows you how to leave every other marketing method
in the dust!

Every other method, that is, besides what Mike calls
"social marketing." Using sites like YouTube, Squidoo and
Facebook to attract hot, interested leads who are ready to
spend money --with you!

And Mike shows you how to do this so much more easily
than you ever imagined.

In fact, he even reveals 18 different free sites he uses to get over 6,300
visitors to just ONE of his websites every week - without spending a dime on
advertising!

http://tinyurl.com/dcxpkc

You know how everyone is always trying to get in on the
ground floor with new MLM opportunities, so they can
cash in big-time?

Well, the same is true right now (and for the next year or
so) with social marketing!

Mike proves this convincingly with statistic after statistic.
(Don't worry, these numbers are VERY easy to
understand!)

And he shows how you can still enjoy a "first mover's
advantage" by getting started in social marketing now
(ahead of the crowd).

Did you know, for instance, which website 2/3 of all people
online visit (and if you thought I was talking about Google,
you'd be wrong)? Yet very few people are taking full
MARKETING advantage of this major site.

But speaking of Google, if you know how to use social
marketing sites, you stand a better than ever chance of
showing up on the free side (the left side) of the FIRST
Google search results page.

That's huge!

Many businesses spend big bucks to get that kind of
mention on Google's first page. Mike tells you on the video
how people like you do it every day for free.

So as you can see, this video is pure gold. For a limited time
Mike and Ann Sieg are giving it away, and I promise you it
is well worth your time to watch it.

Because if you take action now, as Mike says, you can "reap
the rewards for years and years to come."

Here's the link to watch the video:

(Oh, and you don't even have to give your name or email
address to watch it)

http://tinyurl.com/dcxpkc

Let me know what you think!

Wendy

P.S. - One other thing: Mike also talks about where to find
the prospects who have the most money to spend.

Specifically, prospects who make 20% MORE than the
average income and also SPEND 25% more than the
average person.

This is crucial information if you want your business to
thrive right now in this economy.

Go here to watch it right now:

http://tinyurl.com/dcxpkc

Why 2009 could be your best year ever!

If you're like me, you've been a big fan of Ann Sieg's
"The 7 Great Lifes of Network Marketing" and "The
Renegade Network Marketer."

But let me share something. I've always had a problem.

As good as they both are, neither product really gives you
enough of the "what to do" and "how to do it" information.

Today, all that has changed.

Ann has released an amazing new report called "The
Attraction Marketer's Manifesto"

Ann solves one of network marketing's biggest paradoxes
in this report.

I'm not kidding. See if this doesn't sound familiar:

Every marketing expert on the planet tells mainstream
business people they need to "stand out from the crowd"...
"focus on your uniqueness"... "show how you're
different"... etc.

They even have special names for this, like "Unique Selling
Proposition,"... "Competitive Advantage"... "Marketing
Identity"... and so on.

And yet...

In network marketing, everyone is trying to market their
product exactly like everyone else is.

Now let me ask you something. How in the world can you
market exactly the same way everyone else does (which is
what most companies and uplines insist that you do), and
still "stand out from the crowd?"

There's a very simple, honest answer to that question:

You can't.

But Ann shows you an easy way to "repackage" your
product so your customer sees it as one-of-a-kind... even
if everyone else is selling the exact same thing you are!

AND... without getting into hot water with your company.

Pretty neat, huh?

It also shows why many people begin generating leads online
using methods like Google Adwords... Youtube... Twitter...
etc...

And then suddenly hit a plateau, finding themselves unable
to increase the flow of visitors or leads to their websites.

And believe me, that's only scratching the surface of what's
in this report. And the report is free!

Click Here for your Free Report

"Mom, you're number 1 on google!"

"Mom, you're number 1 on google!"

My son told me he was playing around on the Internet and did a search for me and he couldn't believe all of the things that he found.

This brings up a good point that I think every net-worker should be aware of. It is really really important to use your name when you market.

When I first started marketing 6 years ago, I was afraid to use my name and began using a nick name on the Internet. I thought that if I used my real name, I would have people calling me and bugging me. I quickly learned that if you want to be successful in network marketing you need to open up and let people know a little bit about you.

Using your name gives you integrity. It lets people know that you are real and you don't have anything to hide. Now this doesn't mean that if you use a nickname that you do have something to hide. I'm just saying for me, when I started using my real name, I started getting better results on the Internet. I think a lot of it is perception. I tend to see someone more as an expert when they use their name rather than a nick name. Think of it this way, would you think of Mike Dillard the same way if he marketed his business with the nick name MickieDillie? I don't think I would. When you use your name when marketing your home based business it gives you more integrity.

And as my son Josh pointed out, another huge reason why I use my name is because I want people to be able to find me. I have had clients contact me and when I ask them how they found me, they said they saw a post on a forum and then googled my name. Now how cool is that. By the way, google loves Squidoo and forum posts.

So go right now and google you name. What do you see?

Wendy Krick
Watch How New Prospects will Find You!

Choosing the Right Proven Duplicatable System

I knew I needed a proven duplicatable system in order to grow my MLM business. I looked at a few and even joined a few. And discovered that the best system needs to have these 3 things.

#1 You need to have a website that anyone can use to generate prospects. Most people do not have the skills to create their own website. Nor will they know how to set up an auto-responder system. The great thing about using a system is that it is done for you and you can get started right away.

#2 You need to have an excellent support system and team of people eager to help you. A lot of people don't have up-line support. Or they may have an up-line who doesn't have a clue what they are doing. Be sure to pick a system that has a wonderful group of people ready to help you.

#3 You should not have to pay a monthly website fee to use the site.
Some systems charge you 19.95 or more a month to use their site. Choose a system that lets you use their site for free. Better yet, choose a system that pays you to prospect. That's what I did. With Magnetic Sponsoring, I am earning money even if people don't join me in my primary business.

Attraction Marketing Reviewed

In Network Marketing you are constantly learning new things. You also learn a lot of lessons. Here are a few of the lessons I learned in 2008.

The first lesson was that old school methods like buying leads, home parties and bugging friends and family don't work. People don't want to be prospected. So I learned to become the leader that people would want to follow and people began coming to me.

I also learned that you need a proven duplicatable system to grow your business. This way your new prospects can easily follow you.

So I began researching different systems and signed up for two of them.

Both systems were very similar. They both focused on attraction marketing. They both had wonderful resource's to teach you the skills you needed to be successful. I loved them both and learned a lot from both of them.

Now in 2009 after incredible statistics and results I have decided to only use one of those two lead generation companies. Can you guess the name? It is Magnetic Sponsoring.

How did I decide? Well it was pretty much a no brain-er. First of all I don't have to pay for a website (The other system charged 19.95 a month). Second, I get paid to prospect. What this means is I get a check whether the person signs up or not. Last January I earned over $400 from Magnetic Sponsoring.

Learn how you can attract Prospects and distributors for Free.
Click Here for Free Video.

~Wendy Krick