America’s New Deadly Obsession

I’m Guilty of America’s New Deadly Obsession – Are You, too?

It was as if I just had ice water thrown in my face.  I was guilty on all counts and charges.  I had unwittingly set myself up for looking death straight in the eye and had selfishly placed my friends, family and people I didn’t know in jeopardy too.

Like most of you, I’m always working to save on time and ways to multi-task to get things done.  My car has become a sort of office away from home, allowing me the mobility to speak to clients, colleagues and family.  I have even, at times, responded to a text message while driving.

Pure stupidity.

What I didn’t realize was the frightening statistics of using a cell phone while driving.  After watching a recent recorded show of Oprah Winfrey focusing on “America’s Deadly Obsession”, I took the Oprah pledge and have made it my mission to get everyone I love to take the pledge too.  I’m hoping after you read this article, that it will prompt you to action also.

We all know the devastating results of driving under the influence of alcohol.  Innocent people are killed, maimed, lose their loved ones, and carry unshakable guilt.   A drunk driver is 4 times more likely to be in an accident than someone not drinking.

Here’s the downright terrifying news.   Talking on your cell phone while driving, whether using your handheld, a Bluetooth, or speaker, places you in the same high risk as a drunk driver.  Texting intensifies the statistics to 8 times more likely to get into an accident.

Oprah is using her powerful platform to get this message out and ask for your pledge.  Go to Oprah’s site right now and make the commitment:

“I pledge to make my car a No Phone Zone. Beginning right now, I will do my part to help put an end to distracted driving by not texting or using my phone while I am driving.  I will ask other drivers I know to do the same.  I pledge to make a difference.”

Save a life.  It may be a child, a mother, a spouse, a friend, or a complete stranger.  Or your own. Think about your responsibility to your family, friends, and those you don’t even know.   Don’t wait until it’s too late.  Become a shining example and do not use your phone while driving.  Take the pledge now. I did.

Warm regards,

Alicia Bausley
Empowered Business Entrepreneurs, LLC

P.S. I made my business partner take the pledge too.  No more brainstorming sessions while we’re running errands and rushing off to meetings.  It’s was difficult at first to make the adjustment, but now we are fine.  And most importantly, we are safe.  Please, if you hate drunk drivers on the road, take the pledge now.

7 Steps to Market your Small Business Online: How to Simplify Information Overload

The steps to market your small business online is an overwhelming task  (information overload) unless you have some guidance and resources to help you along the way.  Reading The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto will start you on your journey to learn how to use the power of the Internet to attract customers who are interested in YOU and your small business.

In our free ebook and video,  “The Inside Scoop on The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto”, we highlight three of Ann Sieg’s key principles for successfully marketing your small business online:

1. Simplify information overload
2. Master the basics of online recruiting and selling
3. Move past lead generation

Before you can do steps 2 and 3, you must deal with step 1.  In fact, if you cannot simplify information overload you will end up like most beginner online marketers.  Overwhelmed, burned out, and broke!

The best thing to do to address information overload is to make a commitment to learning the skills you need to succeed, and then get into a training program that will teach you those skills.  It all sounds simple enough.  Especially when there is an excellent all-in-one training site just for Internet marketers.  (Look at this training video on how to create a Squidoo Lens to attract people to you.)

But there is still confusion about how and where to start.  Andrea Beadle sums it up when shes states,

I’m so excited about all of this that my head is spinning and I am struggling to work out what to implement first… there just aren’t enough hours in the day and I’m not up to getting up at 4am like you guys!

I’m currently re-writing my site, changing keywords etc and wanting to implement some more of what Ann and Mike talk about but there are just so many things I want to do that I don’t know which to focus on first!! Twitter, squidoo, articles, my website or a blog, writing my own ebook….

Are you able to give me any advice about where we should focus first?

One of the big mistakes we see small business owners make when learning how to market a small business online is to dive into different trainings without understanding the basics of online marketing.  For example, we urge you to understand the term attraction marketing (learning to attract buyers to you), learn the importance of providing valuable information first and foremost in your marketing content and become a solutions provider to others.

A perfect example of helping others and ultimately landing a sale is Lowes website.  Lowes is a home improvement store.  Take a look at how they educate their buyers who are searching for a home improvement solution.   They make no mention of the fact that they want people to buy from them!

The sale ultimately happens because they are teaching and earning credibility through their website.  Thus, they drive real traffic (the kind who have to get in their cars!) to their store where they select and purchase their supplies for their home improvement project.

As a student in online marketing, it’s great to learn how to put up a YouTube video, but if you do not have a website, blog , or lead capture page to drive your viewers to, then you have skipped crucial parts of your marketing plan.  You need to create a platform where you will be visible.  All the training in the world without the proper kind of action will get you nowhere.

The second big mistake we see is that people jump all over the place in their training and refuse to stay on one course of study until they complete the training session (for example if you are studying blogging  – stick with it for several weeks or months before moving to the next category such as building a website or YouTube).

In Andrea’s case (above) where she is excited about all the options, but unsure about where to begin, we recommend doing some planning and following these steps.

1.    Understand the basics of marketing online(attraction marketing, provide value first, not trying to sell in your content).

2.   Get the proper training for online marketing.

3.   Study one to two categories that you are most interested in.  Some examples include blogging, YouTube video, ezine articles.

4.   Establish the primary platform (website, blog, Facebook, Twitter) through which you want to communicate to your audience and set it up.

5.   Set your calendar (by actually writing in your weekly hours) and remain accountable to yourself to study and get into action.

6.   Find a study partner (more on this very soon!) that matches your personal profile, goals and desire.

7.  Write a daily to do list and prioritize what needs to be done first.  At the end of the day take the things you did not accomplish and put them on the next day’s to-do list.  Prioritize again.

The biggest challenge we face as we teach other small business owners how to simplify information overload, is that training is just one step.   If all you do is sit in on training class after training class without ever putting your new knowledge into action (such as consistently adding new content to your blog to provide value and attract prospects), then you are missing a critical part of the business building equation.

It may be helpful to write a list of all the things you want to accomplish (e.g. Twitter, Squidoo, Articles, Website, Blog, Write an ebook, etc.,) and next to each item and prioritize which ones you want to do first.  Please don’t try to do them all at once.  That will be information overload.  Here are some of the strategies you will want to implement into your business plan of things to accomplish:

• Attract prospects to you and your business
• Provide valuable content to them to build teach and build credibility
• Create sales and cash flow
• Bring more customers through the door and make repeat sales
• Position yourself as an expert in your field

These 7 steps to market your small business online can start today.  Get into consistent action.  Plan out your training schedule and then implement what you’ve learned by creating valuable, sought-after, needed content.  When you provide information that solves other people’s problems, they will keep coming back for more.

Also, you will minimize your feelings of overwhelm and frustration if you map out your schedule and stick to it.

We have some exciting resources to give you that will make your training and action steps easier to accomplish.  So stay tuned!  Be sure to register for our next Webinar on March 28, 2009.

Warm regards,

Lisa and Alicia

Small Businesses Survive a Struggling Economy By Using Internet Skills

Even with our struggling economy and grim outlook on our financial future, small business owners can survive using Internet marketing skills.

The Labor Department released harsh details for February that another 651,000 jobs were lost due to employers laying off employees.

Analysts are concerned that although our economy may recover, the job loss may continue to mount. Small business owners are frantic too.

The Orange County Register recently reported that 4.5 million people are jobless in just two categories alone, including college-educated and those with some college education, which is one third of all unemployed in the United States.

As the jobless figures continue to climb and our economy struggles to survive, small business owners are feeling the heat and many are closing their doors, going bankrupt and losing their life savings.

However some remarkable statistics recently released provide relief, financially and emotionally, to those savvy small business people who are becoming skilled in Internet marketing.

In the book The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto, Ann Sieg quotes the following statistics:

According to Forrester Research, online sales will continue to grow by 11% in 2009.

According to Jupiter Research, online video marketing will QUADRUPLE in 2009.

It’s becoming apparent that becoming a skilled marketer on the Internet doesn’t take a college degree.

With the proper direction and hands on training, small business owners can be creating valuable content and driving people to their site or blog and converting this traffic to a sound and repeat customer base. Not only through written content but through social media marketing which is absolutely free.

In fact, Ann Sieg’s The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto leads her readers to the answer to immensely shorten this learning curve.

As founders of Empowered Business Entrepreneurs, we’ve realized the potential of becoming skilled in Internet marketing. Because of our own successes, it’s hard not to share the journey with other small business owners.

If you’re a small business owner and concerned that the economy is going to wipe you out and take away your financial security, you need to take the steps to insure yourself. We call it “Online Steps to Offline Freedom™.”

At the end of this struggling economy and frightening job loss rate is a rainbow for those who think “out of the box”. This means not sticking to the same old thing. If the same old thing is not working, move ahead and get skilled in marketing online and experience for yourself the dramatic results the Internet is bringing to small business owners worldwide.

We’d love your feedback on this blog post. Be sure to let us know what you think!

The Inside Scoop on The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto

“The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto” is Ann Sieg’s new free report that details why attraction marketing is the easiest, least expensive, and most effective way to bring motivated customers to your small business.  It is full of practical tips to help you — as a small business owner or network marketer — to attract leads, prospects, customers, clients, patients, (whatever type of people you are looking for) directly to you, without you having to go out searching for them.

If you want the “Cliff Notes” version, then check out “The Inside Scoop on The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto”.  This is a free video and ebook offered by Alicia Bausley and Lisa Hanfileti of the newly formed Empowered Business Entrepreneurs.com as a companion guide to Ann Sieg’s free report.

You can download the free ebook as well as the entire recorded webinar by requesting it on the form below the video on this page.

If you attended this webinar (or saw it in its recorded version) we welcome your feedback, comments, questions, and insights.

Also if you do not have Ann Sieg’s free ebook yet: Download The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto Here.

As we stated earlier, attraction marketing is the easiest, least expensive, and most effective way to bring motivated customers to your small business.  If you are new to the concept and are looking for step-by-step training to use the power of the Internet to effectively advertise and grow your business, then be sure to visit our website.

We will be posting a chedule of live webinars as well as recordings, ebooks, and other free training materials.

Also on Saturday March 28th, 2009 we will be offering another free webinar on, “How to Get the Most Out of Renegade Professional:  The Empowered Business Entrepreneur’s Guide to Marketing Your Small Business on the Internet”.

Please register in advance for the March 28th Webinar on How to Get the Most Out of Renegade Professional.  We are expecting another packed house!

And don’t forget to post your comments!

Warm regards,

Alicia & Lisa

P.S. If  you haven’t downloaded your free copy of The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto, go ahead and pick up your copy here:  The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto Free Download