So I’ve had one of ‘those’ weeks. You know the one where you’re already juggling seven elephants and right in the middle of all that you have to stop to have an emergency root canal! Yeah, that kind.

 So, I’m already spazzin’ over the new video marketing campaign I’m working on with my son when I wake up Wednesday to a very disturbing sight. My right cheek is most definitely abnormal, very swollen to say the least.

At 6:30pm I find myself in the dentist having a root canal and I’m supposed to be on my way out of town to stay with my Mom overnight and work remotely on the campaign with my son. Ain’t gonna happen now!

So we get through the procedure, get home, pain kicks in and it’s bad. The next morning I wake up, look in the mirror and my cheek looks like that of a Walrus or so my loving husband says.

Anyway for the next couple days it’s massive antibiotics, pain meds, steroids for swelling and soft stuff to eat. By Saturday I’m feeling a little better, swelling is almost gone and I’m getting hungry for a little something more to eat.

My husband suggested we go to Walmart to the grocery to get a couple things and although I’m still taking some pain meds I’m feeling better for the most part so I agreed and off we went.

After getting a small buggy load which is not our norm I decided I had had enough fun for one day and indicated that I was ready to go. He agreed so off to the checkout we go.

As is our normal procedure we hunt like lions on the prowl for the least congested lane. I stake one out that looks doable and I take a stand as Dean continues on searching for that all elusive empty check out lane. There is none and as he makes his way back toward me someone pushes past me and grabs the next place in line. Too bad we’re stuck. So we wait.

Now it’s our turn and after strategically placing our goods on the counter we move forward within ear and eye shot of the nice lady who is going to be checking us out.

She starts the process, things seem to be going well enough but all of a sudden she stops dead in her tracks, looks straight at me and sighs the biggest sigh. I acknowledged her but did not say anything and she continued checking and bagging.

Then it happened again. She placed the item she had just thrust over the scanner down in the bag, stood up, looked at me, took another big breath and let it out. This time she said, “Well at least I don’t have to come in tomorrow.”

By this time my meds are running low and I’m ready to get ‘er done. But again I acknowledge and say, “Well that’s good.” Because that is apparently what she wanted to hear.

As I stood there I was thinking how many of my past network marketing upline leaders would be chomping at the bit to introduce her to their network marketing home based business opportunity. They would just ‘die’ if they heard that I let someone slip through my fingers who showed such obvious signs of not liking their job. They would consider her a red hot prospect.

I however did not.

I would bet you that that lady as much as she hated her job would fight for the right to stay broke, busted and disgusted. Like most employee minded people she does not like what she does, where she works or how much she earns. But like most employee minded people getting her to take up the guantlet and charge toward freedom would be shear insanity.

The problem is most people do fit the criteria of the ‘hot prospect’ if you consider hating your job as a qualifier but few and I mean very few of those are budding entrepreneurs just waiting to be found.

So I let her go.

Yep, I got my stuff together and out the door we went and I’m not the least bit sorry. I’d much rather spend my days bumping into serious minded entrepreneurial types via internet network marketing than trying to convince an ‘employee’ that they can do this.

When you find something that really works and you spend your time talking to people who are looking for what you have…that’s when the fun begins. That’s what I have found and now share with others. And for those who are determined to prospect everyone they come into contact with…I’ve got a red-hot one for ya at the Walmart in Louisville, Kentucky!

Just something to think about!

Until Tomorrow…

This may sound like something you would hear in a crowded room at a self improvement seminar. But this is more than just a good idea, in fact, in Habakkuk 2:2 the Bible actually instructs us to… ‘Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by.’

 Well we could park right there on that ‘hastens by’ thing considering the speed at which we live these days.

But that’s a message for another day.

I’ve heard and read many times about the importance of keeping photographs of things that remind you of your dreams and visions before your eyes. It makes perfect sense to those of us to aspire to pursue the seemingly impossible.

People with small minds think we are only interested in material possessions when they see the pictures of nice homes and cars. It makes them feel bigger in their smallness I think but that’s just my opinion.

Yes most entrepreneurial minded people have a desire to live in their dream homes and want to live how and where they want. It’s part of the pay off for all the hard work, effort, determination, brow beating, failures, low times, hard times and other such things we must endure to become successful.

But beyond that we aspire to accomplish way more than provide that comfortable home and lifestyle for ourselves and our family. We have dreams of helping many others accomplish what we have accomplished especially in the network marketing world.

But I don’t want to get into that today either. We will stop there for now and move on to the process of actually ‘writing’ that vision. Well as much as we have talked about it many times before my husband and I found that taking the time to accumulate those photographs, attach them to a board and hang it on a wall in our daily pathway just was not happening.

Then one night while going through some pictures on the internet I got a brilliant idea. Now you may be light years ahead of me and made your ‘vision folder’ forever ago. But I’ll venture to bet there are a few people who have either not heard of it or have not done it yet.

I decided to create a folder within My Pictures on the computer. I’m in there all the time getting pictures to place on my blogs and sometimes just scroll through to smile at my family as a way to take a break. But now I have a folder marked ‘Vision’ and I have started to accumulate those photographs into it to remind me of our dreams and visions.

I’ve heard you should look at your vision board once in the morning upon waking up and again at night before you go to bed. Well since the computer is just a ‘way of life’ for me that is easy to accomplish. I can sit right down, pull up that folder and as those photographs scroll by in a slide show presentation I’m firmly reminded of why I’m doing what I’m doing.

I felt like I had accomplished an amazing task by creating this folder. It truly is meaningful to be reminded of the things you are striving so hard to accomplish and why.

It’s also way easier than trying to find all those photographs in magazines, cutting them out and putting them into a notebook or paste to a board.

I hope this nugget has helped you and you’ll think of me as the pictures of your big dreams and visions go scrolling by!

No matter what, don’t you dare ever lay down your dreams!

Until tomorrow…

What do you do when the vehicle that should be saving you is about to run you over? The Home Based Business industry is a multi-billion dollar a year monster to be reckoned and many find themselves left in its wake daily.

What do you do when something comes along that has all the potential in the world to take your life to incredible levels yet you cannot seem to grasp hold of it? Not to mention it is not slowing down for you in fact to your dismay like the mighty ocean liner it is slipping past you and into the night.

You find yourself sinking back into your boat discouraged beyond words and wondering how this could be happening.

People come to this industry with serious financial and life issues. They are introduced to network marketing, internet marketing and all things related to owning a home based business. They understand both the business model and its potential and it is what seems like ‘the’ answer to what they have been looking for.

Then with not much to go on they push out into the deep and before they know it the rip tides of this arena have them lost at sea. Determined not to quit many spend thousands of dollars and countless hours looking for answers.

This is where without determination it is easy to become completely annihilated. Like the young men in that boat you must possess a will to live a determination to survive against all odds.

Please read the next statement and reread it until it really sinks in because it is the most important thing you must know in order to succeed.

Becoming a marketer is no different than any other profession it requires learning new skills and there is a learning curve.

The sharks of this industry know that but they are feeding on the desire of the individual to by-pass the learning curve and get into massive income quickly.

They offer complicated systems or programs that require advanced marketing skills and budget to conquer. They allege anyone can achieve millionaire status with nothing more than the ability to send and receive email…not true.

These marketing piranhas claim earnings of millions of dollars in record time and declare those results can easily be duplicated…they cannot.

They insist the high price is justified by the fact that you are about to make it back many times over. They convince you to see the exorbitant cost is an investment in your future…it is not.

It is easy to quickly be in over your head when trying to take on complicated systems that require a strong and solid working knowledge of marketing to maneuver…they do not care.

This is only one of the many different obstacles you can encounter while trying to carve out a career in this industry. I know all to well what those young men felt while in that boat. I too was left to die in the wake of this industry but I refused to draw the last breath and quit.

Saving my story for another day suffice it to say that financial and emotional death was certainly nipping at my heels more than once during this journey. But I refused to cave in, give up and quit.

Watching what those boys endured in their tiny vessel on the show, “I Should Be Dead” that night made me think of my experiences and how many times I thought for sure it was over. But I believed and held on and eventually was rescued finding something that was affordable, doable, and fun and now I’m helping rescue others.

The obstacles that can keep you from success in this industry will come in waves. But instead of giving up grab your surfboard and learn to hang ten!

Many need it…

Few ever possess it…

No one is going to the next level without it…

Do you have it?

 Tell me and I’ll forget…

Show me and I’ll remember…

Involve me and I’ll commit…

~ Unknown ~

 Perhaps you’ve seen the show.

 Anyway this particular night the episode was about two young men who one afternoon decided to hop in their non motorized boat play around for awhile then come back. They took no cell phones, food or water. 

They weren’t prepared for what happened next.

Even though they had lived near the ocean all their lives and were on the water routinely they opted not to check for any possible advisories before embarking on their journey.

There was trouble lurking…bad trouble.

Now I could stop right here and write a book about the similarities between these boys and what many have experienced with their network marketing businesses. It can and does pertain to just about any other type of business but I focus on network marketing because that is my passion.

However I’m moving on.

They no sooner rowed out into the deep when their boat was caught in a massive rip tide and immediately they found themselves not only in very deep water but very deep trouble.

All signs of land were gone.

It did not take long for the exposure to the scalding rays of the sun and lack of food and water to take effect. From time to time they would jump into the water just to cool off and to their horror realized they were in shark infested waters when one of the huge man eaters raced from the deep and rammed their boat. Frantically they swam back and managed to climb on board without getting eaten alive.

Another incredible point here relative to the network marketing industry, if ever there was a time in history when the waters were full of sharks it is now.

But this is not our stopping place today either  – we move on.

As both time and heat continued the two friends were trying to hang on but death was nipping at their heels. It was late during the fourth or fifth night at sea when the unthinkable happened.

Lying in the little raggedy boat they had become too weak to talk so they took turns slipping in and out of consciousness.

Then it happened.

They sensed it more than heard but out of no where and before they knew what was happening they realized there was a massive ocean liner bearing down on them. 

What a nightmare this thing that epitomized safety and sure freedom from death was about to become their cause of death.

Without slowing down this gargantuan object shoved their tiny vessel out of the way and moved past them. After realizing no one was hearing their cries for help and that it was not going to stop they sank back and watched as it slipped past and disappeared into the night.

 This is where I want to park for now.

Stay tuned for part two and the conclusion of  ‘I Should Be Dead.’

That is why it is imperative for those of us in the home based business industry or any industry for that matter to be aware of the grade level. Don’t worry about offending anyone’s intelligence even the sharpest of minds appreciate an easy read.

Now this may be ‘old news’ to some folks if so sorry perhaps we’ll catch ya’ll next time.

So here goes…

Your writings whether blog post, article or anything should be on an 9^th grade level or below. Some even say 8^th grade or below. Yep I’ve heard that many times but it was not until I was listening to some internet marketing training that I discovered Microsoft Word will give me this information and much more if I just tell it to.

I’ll explain how to find and activate it and then the next time you create a Word document you can see it in action.

*Pull up a Word document

*Click on TOOLS at the top

*Scroll down and click on OPTIONS

*A little box will pop up click on the SPELLING AND GRAMMER tab

*Then scroll down until you see SHOW READABILITY STATISTICS and check that box.

That’s it…

Then the next time you create a Word document for any of your writing projects your stats will show up after the Spelling and Grammer check is complete.

Count:

Words

Characters

Paragraphs

Sentences

Averages:

Sentences per paragraph

Words per sentence

Characters per word

Readability:

Passive sentences

Flesch reading ease

Flesch-Kincaid grade level

The three main things to pay attention to are: Word count, passive sentences and grade level.

Word count is important especially since some article sites can be picky on the number of words in submitted material.

And you sure don’t want to have to count ‘them’ words yourself!

Another stat of importance is passive sentences. The goal is to have 0% passive sentences or very near that. I have included some examples of active and passive sentences for clarification.

ACTIVE: They speak English.
PASSIVE: English is spoken.

ACTIVE: They spoke English.
PASSIVE: English was spoken.

ACTIVE: They will speak English.
PASSIVE: English will be spoken.

Now don’t get scared I’m not turning into an English major or anything. In fact, I’m still trying to figure out…

…what the heck is a dangling participle?

My old English teacher would probably be really mad at me right now.  I’m sorry but I’ve yet to be in a crisis and heard someone yell…

“Quick! get the dangling participle!”

Sorry about that moving on now…

Finally, the last stat shown is your Flesch-Kincaid grade level. If the level is above 9^th grade or above you should consider a ‘re-do’. You can figure out the reading level on your own but the formula to do so sounded to much like Quantum Physics to me so…

I say just push the button and let the computer spit that info right out at ya…wa-la!

In checking my stats for this post I had 0% passive sentences and the grade level was 7.4.

Yeah we did it!

How easy was that?

Okay so I know this was not the most entertaining post you ever read. Unfortunately there is just not too many ways to jazz this up. My goal was to share a nugget that might help you in your marketing efforts.

If this was helpful information please leave me a quick comment here or Facebook me and let me know.

Hope this helps!

Sherry

Click Here To Visit Me On Facebook

Okay so you gotta be a little old school to fully ‘appreciate’ this old Wendy’s commercial but it makes an excellent point relative to our industry today. I’m a little crunched for time today so I’m gonna get right to it.

If you’ve been hanging around the network marketing industry for more than five minutes you’ve been on a bazillion conference calls not to mention the  webinars and all the other trainings both online and offline.

Have you ever walked away, hung up or logged off from any of those and asked yourself…

…where’s the beef?

There are so many trainers, mentors, coaches and gurus to tap into today it is mind boggling. And most of us spend countless hours not to mention tons of money in the process of trying to capture and reproduce results.

Yet sometimes even with all that is available it’s not uncommon to look back and feel like we did not leave with information that could be quickly and easily implemented.

Well last Tuesday night I was on a call with some friends from the Home and Small Business World community and it was really good. I wanted to take just a moment today without dragging it out and…

…I’m gonna give you some beef.

As I’m sure you’ve heard many times that facts tell and stories sell. Yet many find it difficult to formulate their own story and therefore continue to give facts about their company or products or compensation plan which is…

…icky…yuckie…poo!

Well on the call Tuesday night which is open to the public to share marketing tips and strategies for any small or home business I was reminded of a formula that really makes putting your story together very easy.

Here’s some super simple network marketing training…

You fill in the blanks.

All I know is before I got started with ________________ I was _________________. The first thing I noticed since starting with them was _________________. Since then I’ve __________________________. And the best part is____________________.

I’ll give a quick example…

All I know is that before I started with this business I was spending on average $800 to $1200 a month on groceries. The first thing I noticed since starting is how people get so excited when they find out I’ve completely eliminated my grocery bill they are asking me if they can do it too. Since then I’ve shopped at Walmart and Sam’s Club for free and the best part is in addition to those $200 gift cards I get $300 commission checks that we are using to eliminate our debt!

And that’s it?

Yep it really can be that simple.

Your prospects really aren’t as interested in all the ‘details’ of your company as they are in you and how your being part of it has changed your life. In addition, you can use this formula in any part of your marketing it is not limited to your verbal conversations with someone.

Convey in a simple manner your ‘experience’ and you will become much more effective in your recruiting efforts. The people you prospect truly are more interested in your results and want to know if they can do it too.

With all the information out there today it is easy to over complicate every aspect of this business. In fact, some of the so called gurus want you to continue to believe it is complicated and that the only way for you to ever understand all this and ever make anything is by spending thousands of dollars with them first.

Again…ickie…yuckie…poo!

Well there you have it some beef to go on your business buns. Be sure to hook up with me on Facebook. I post the days and time of these free training calls and there will be much more coming as I make some updates to my blog and marketing.

Hope this helps and enjoy the beef!

Sherry                                                                                                                                                                              

“Confidence is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat and taking the tartar sauce with you.” — Zig Ziglar