'Want To Know Something Amazing About This MLM Cat Of Mine?

We have this cat see? She lives with us, like one of the family you understand? We call her MLM and here's why...

MLM landed on our door a couple of years back - the way cats do sometimes. She was a bit rough at the edges and looked like a good meal would be easily lost on her skinny frame. We didn't want a cat. Never wanted a cat (nothing against them but our middle child has allergies and her eyes blow up like Marty Feldman and we've three dogs who like the idea of chasing anything that moves).

So we fed her. Yeh, I know, not the best idea ever but she was hungry.

And we agreed as a family she wouldn't be allowed in the house and would make a bed for her in the shed if she wanted it.

But, as cats do, she didn't see it the same way and spent the first couple of months on the window ledge, looking in when we were eating as a family and tapping on the glass to see if we would open the door and throw her some food. She was just being herself and we liked that so let her stay.

After a while we would leave the window open a little and throw food through it every so often to keep her quiet (she had started to meeow loudly by then and the tapping on the window was almost non stop).

Then one day she made her way in through the window and sat beside us as a family while we ate supper. This was a persistent cat you understand.

So we fed her again. Yeh, I know, not the best idea but she was pretty entertaining to have around and the kids loved her meeowing as we ate.

And we agreed as a family she was only allowed in at meal times and all other times she would be outside.

But as cats do (and great networkers too) she had other ideas. MLM persisted, she made her meeows more amazing and entertaining (she even started to meeow when we were talking as a family at meal times as though she were agreeing or disagreeing) and we were smitten. Smitten with this amazing big MLM kitten if you want to know. She had got through the door and we were hooked!

7.00am this morning and MLM is walking on top of my head to wake me from my slumber beneath the duvet. She wants her breakfast and she's just letting me know. Honest and to the point so I get up and I feed her some fresh salmon from the fridge. I know, not a great idea but this is a long term relationship and you have to make a few sacrifices don't you...?

So, if you're struggling with your network marketing business, or any other home based business in fact, take a few tips from MLM.

Be persistent
Be entertaining
Be amazing
Be focused
Be honest
Be yourself

Follow MLM on twitter.com

The Long And Winding Network Marketing Road

In the mountains of West Cork, a short drive from where I live, there is an old gravel road that winds through the hills for miles like a gigantic snake before coming to a long-forgotten lake the size of a small village. We canoe there in the Spring, swim there in the Summer and camp there if the weather is fine in Autumn. In the Winter we walk the dogs.

We have christened this place 'The Long And Winding Network Marketing Road' and I'll explain why...

I take our three dogs here once a week with the family to blow out a few cobwebs, drag myself away from the social media drug I seem increasingly addicted to and give my wife and three children a few hours of family time with dad (whether they want it or not!)...

The dogs love it. It's wild and rugged with all kinds of distractions along the way and plenty to sniff, smell, roll in and occasionally consume and at the end there is the lake; blue and deep and free for all to take their share.

The dogs know this place well by now of course. They have seen the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and drank from the lake, swam in it and chased geese across it in the Summer and when we take our walk each week they have the same choices to make.

They can race towards the lake, head down, forcing anyone in their way to either run for cover or follow their frantic lead.
Or..
They can take their time, enjoy what the jorney has to offer them, maybe even see if they can make a few good friends along the way or learn something no other dogs know.

Hey..

They can think about the size of the lake and wonder if there will be anything left for them to drink when they finally get there, racing headlong towards it.
Or..
They can tell a few good friends where the lake is and what a great and wonderful place it is. Maybe there are other lakes and rivers they might find along the way, who knows?

If you hadn't guessed I'll tell you what they do. They stroll, play, roll in the long grass and meander on and off the road like three old friends returning home after a long night on the black stuff. They enjoy each and every second of their journey along 'The Long And Winding Network Marketing Road' and when they reach the lake they take what they need and leave the rest behind, after all there is more than enough to go around.

And every week with every walk I notice how much pleasure they take from the journey. You can race towards the lake, leaving your family and friends wondering where you have gone and who you are or you can take your time, focus on the end but enjoy the ride along the way. Swim in the ocean when you get there but don't forget to dip your toes in the river along the way.

How To Lead Your Social Media Marketing Tribe

If you're using social media such as facebook, myspace and YouTube to build your business and wondering how to grow your downline then maybe you should take a closer look in the playground next time you walk past the local kindergarten...

Danny McDermott was a small boy with a square head, buck teeth and ears that turned red in Winter. He was one of those kids who found school tough going. Even so, Danny was the first leader I had ever known.

He was the youngest of three brothers from Belfast who came to our school just before Christmas and took the place by storm. I was six at the time but I can remember it like it was yesterday...

You see Danny had a unique gift which he used to amuse, entertain and intrigue his followers with in the school yard. He could hold a ball on his foot for hours, catch it on the back of his neck and balance it on the end of his nose like a seal to the amusement of all who followed him. Danny was one of the greatest soccer players I have ever seen.

But Danny wasn't naturally gifted, in fact I'd say he was clumsy at most things, but what made him special was his dedication to learning new skills and practising them until they seemed second nature.

Only nobody ever realised this.

He would practise each and every day for hours, improving his knowledge of how the ball should be worked, how to recognise his strengths and focus on them and how to teach others to master the same tricks that had made him popular, so that they could feel good about themselves and not foolish.

Then one day, for no reason, Danny picked up the ball and placed it beneath his arm. Then he began to run. And a strange thing happened...

His followers ran too...

One by one at first, then quickly in small groups racing behind one another like middle distance runners. Within minutes Danny had the whole playground, seventy or eighty kids in total, running behind him while he charged ahead smiling like he'd never smiled before.

Danny's tribe of followers smiled too and you know even today I can remember their faces. They believed in him see and he could have ran out the school yard and away through the fields and they would have ran too, each and every one of them without question, following Danny wherever he went.

Stop trying to work out which marketing system will work for you and start to understand how the tribe works and maybe one day you can run like Danny McDermott.

Homer's Odyssey...

The winter sun is shining across the hills of West Cork. My three young children are sitting by the fire, their faces glowing, filled with laughter as Homer begins his latest adventure...

Like Homer, it has taken me a long while and many work from homr adventures and exploits and a few disappointments to realise this is truly where I belong and as my children sit by the fire, warming their skin and bones and wondering what Santa Claus will place on the hearth a few days from now, I begin to wonder what will be my story in 2009 and how will I tell it...

Will it be delivered with humour or sorrow. With love or passion. With hope or fear. With regret or with promise...

I hope my story, and your story, will be delivered with all these things and more. And for that, people will listen.

So, tell your story. It is your unique gift and one which others will share with you like warm bread through laughter, sorrow, hope and promise, taking them to a place far away from where they began.

Tell your story...

Can You Really Blog Your Way To The Bank?

Is it really possible to blog your way to the bank? If you believe everything you hear online these days you might well think so. But, if like most online newcomers you find yourself shouting loudly into space you might just start to wonder what you're doing wrong with your weekly scribbles.

If your blog is failing to generate an income and struggling to attract traffic then listen up...
The truth is that these things take time. You must learn the secrets of effective blog marketing and consistently apply them over time if you want to reap the rewards of google ranking, consistent traffic and a loyal list of blog followers.But there are a few simple things you can do to begin with which will get you on the right track.

Here is my list of ten simple steps to blogging for beginners;

1. Decide what your blog strategy is going to be and make a plan.
2. If you're looking to build your profile then be clear about who you are and what you do from your first post so your readers will know who they are listening to and why.
3. If you're looking to attract business partners then tell them why they should work with you and not every other business builder out there in blogsville.
4. If you're trying to attract sales for your product or income for your company then learn how to market your product effectively. What makes it unique, desirable, and why should your customers buy from you?
5. Learn to understand keywords and the power of blog marketing so that you can drive targetted traffic to your blog.
6. Learn to set up an effective data capture form on your page to allow you to build your profile through emails and autoresponders. Customer relationship management is essential for any business to survive online.
7. Offer value to your followers and they will return. If your blog is based around entertainment then be entertaining. If your aim is to educate your followers about online marketing and build your profile then keep ahead of the game, learn what the latest online techniques are and apply them, talk about them and ask your followers to review them.
8. Write good content and keep to the story. Google will crawl all over your page in milliseconds to see if it looks relevent for your target audience, searching out keywords, monitoring popularity and reviewing originality and will reward you for your effort and relevence so take the time to improve your writing skills and this will pay off.
9. Keep busy. Post every week or twice a week if you have the time. Google will look for activity as well as content coming from your blog so a little and often is the key to improving your google page ranking.
10. Enjoy what you are doing. If you don't enjoy it then it's fair to say that nobody else will either.

If you're looking for more information on online marketing or have a few ideas of your own to add to my list feel free to leave a comment. If you're new to online marketing and looking to generate more sales. Attract more customers or simply build a positive profile for your business maybe this link will help.

Network Marketing In The Twenty First Century

Network Marketing In The Twenty First Century

Network marketing has changed quite a bit over the last fifty years or so from it's door to door beginnings, through the golden age of hotel meetings, the three foot rule, flyers, posters and newspaper ads to the era of online marketing and the power of the internet.

During those years, networkers have gone from peddling vacuum cleaners, delivering catologues door to door and selling cosmetics to making millions in a matter of months with an effective online marketing system. And when the goldrush began the prospectors followed, and then more followed, and more followed until finally the internet was full of networkers looking for customers.

Time went by and the clever guys (and gals) Mike Dillard, Eben Pagan, Ann Seig, and a few others realised it was time to start selling shovels and stop panning for gold. Teach marketers how to market for customers and stop chasing customers and the world's your oyster, at least the network marketing world.

So, magnetic sponsoring was born and attraction marketing followed in many different guises and soon the online marketing world was full of people pretending not to be networkers and doing whatever they could do to avoid telling anyone what they did for a living. Why? Because nobody likes to be sold and the salesman was dead in the street. So we began to coach, mentor, provide valuable content to help others grow and build their business.

The result; a sea of online talent unimaginable five years or maybe even three years ago. Thanks Mike, Eben, Ann your work is much appreciated!
But where does it go from here?

Like most things in life it will go full circle in the twenty first century. The old saying 'customer is king' will, I believe, return to demand a return to the beginning once again. Only this time the customer will be more educated, informed, experienced and demanding.
So, if you're to survive in this new era what will you need to know?

How to target your customers worldwide to build long term, stable income instead of constantly fighting attrition as your team leave to find the next big thing.
How to market your product to offer real value to those customers month after month
How to use the internet to reach millions of potential customers in seconds
How to lead your team to a never ending supply of customers
How to build a massive organisation while hardly being noticed by your competitors, after all if the cat gets out the dogs will follow.
How to identify your niche and maintain your market share without breaking the bank

If you're not able to do these things then you need to learn and if you are unable to understand find yourself a good teacher. Either way, stay in the game, learn how to leverage your time, skills and contacts effectively and be consistent. Not for a day or a week but for months and years until you begin to understand the business and discover the secrets of online customer acquisition.

Sunday Morning...

It's Sunday morning and the rain is falling on the mountains of West Cork, Ireland, as I look out of the window across the fields to the back of my wonderful home.

My children are climbing a fallen tree in the woods across the way and laughing as our chocolate labrador attempts to do the same with little success.

This is a wild part of Ireland, for those of you who don't know it, with stray cats and dogs that walk the narrow lanes like New York street gangs and old men who pose as tourist attractions in the pubs and bars, their faces covered with lines that show the world their wisdom.

For me this is home. This is where I work from home. This is where I belong.

The last week has been fairly hectic as I start to roll out my plan to expand my home based business in Ireland across the water to the United Kingdom. A small step on the map and a narrow stretch of water compared to the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans but from a business perspective very different and quite unique.

I lived in the UK for many years- so know the people well and have a good feeling for what works and what doesn't - and yet this step feels enormous and potentially life changing. For some that's exactly what it will be. For those who choose to take action.

So here I sit, pondering and contemplating, planning and structuring the way I like to do to get things just right- building my empire one day at a time.

Enjoy your Sunday morning my friend...