Liane Carmi

About a month ago, the studio where I practiced Muay Thai three to four times a week for over 10 months suddenly closed its doors and went out of business.

Initially, it was a big shock to me.  How could this place I have been relying on for my stress relief, for my health, a place I imagined myself being a part of for years and year to come, suddenly disappear?

But then I realized how normal this was in our current economy. In fact, if you haven’t already opened your eyes to it, go for a quick drive in your neighborhood and see how many businesses are closing their doors, having “going out of business” sales, or just starting to look a bit run down.  And how many of your friends and colleagues were recently laid off because their employer can no longer afford to keep them?

How is your local laundromat doing?  Gas station?  Pizza shop?  Doctor?  Can you imagine having to go out and find a new dentist, after having gone to the same one for over 20 years?

The good news is that in this economy, internet marketers are making a killing.  Network marketers are doing particularly well – and is it a wonder, with so many people losing their jobs and looking for a way to keep their heads above water?

But here’s the deal.  There’s a certain code of ethics I believe every online marketer should follow.  Online marketers are, after all, entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs excel at filling a need of some sort.  Right now, the greatest need involves your local area businesses.

If I had just opened my eyes a little bit, I would have seen my teacher’s struggle, and I could have helped keep him stay afloat.  In short?  I feel guilty, knowing that I had the skills to help, but didn’t.

That’s why I am now actively going out and seeking small businesses in my neighborhood, and offering them a solution to the economy.  A website, a way to attract customers online, multiple organic (free) listings on page one of Google, a database of customers to follow up with…a way to stay afloat.

Of course, being me, the big note-taker, I would never go out and offer a service without being sure I am doing the best that I can.  That’s why I’m involved in two training programs.  The first is IM Leadership, which is run by Howie Schwartz – someone who has taught me 80% of what I know about online business.  The IM Leadership program teaches you how to do everything I mentioned above, and more.

The second is the Offline Gold Summit.  Mark Ress, one of the founders of this upcoming summit, has given me so much incredible information for free that I could probably write 10 eBooks and make a killing selling everything I’ve learned from him.

Look-  right now, offline businesses are suffering.  I believe it is our duty as internet marketers to open our eyes and look around the real world.  Just because we’re making a killing online doesn’t mean everything is good around us.

If you’re ready to help – and I hope you are – the quickest way to brush up on your skills and learn how to help people is to attend the Offline Gold Summit. Go there as soon as you finish reading this post, and read about all the presenters, and all the incredible bonuses that are being offered.  And sign up.  When you return home, you’ll be making anywhere from $500 to $2500 per month per client – and you’ll help stimulate your local economy.

If you prefer to stay home, I highly recommend Howie’s Apprentice.  I can’t promise that it’s still open, as training has already started, but it’s worth a shot.

Don’t wait until the economy affects YOU to open your eyes.

My friend James Busé wanted to know how to close sales.  He’s gotten very good at bringing traffic to his websites, but his conversion rates…well…they kind of stink!

Listen to this audio to learn about a few ways to convert traffic to sales.

A few things I mentioned are:
Preselling – letting people know where you’re sending them & why by writing a story they can relate to.
Building a List – collecting email addresses so that you can contact people who don’t convert right away and possibly convert them at a later date when they’re ready to buy.  A good tool for this is aweber.

Remember to leave comments below, and if you found this helpful, do a little bookmarking

Many MLM companies nowadays provide you with an autoresponder service.  They set up a page for you on the internet with a form that collects prospects’ information – email address, name, and sometimes more.  Then, they email your prospect for you on a regular basis (every few days) and try to convert sales for you.

What Happens When You Use Your Company’s Autoresponder

Many new marketers (including myself when I started) make the mistake of using this pre-made autoresponder.  It may seem like a good idea – after all, if you are inexperienced, how do you know what to write in the autoresponder emails?  However, when it comes to marketing online – making money online – the money is in the list. Without a list, you have nothing.  In fact, all the time and money you spend putting your list together goes to waste if you don’t keep the list yourself.

Here’s an example

Person A joins an amazing opportunity called Product X.  Using the company’s autoresponder, he advertises on Google Adwords for five months for a total cost of $500.  He creates web pages to try and drive “free” traffic to his website, costing him an hour a day for 5 days a week, totaling 20 hours a week or 100 hours in five months.  Person A still has a job that pays him $20/hour, so that’s another $2000.  He buys a few business tools and hires a few outsourcers, which adds $500 to the figure.  So all in all, in a matter of 5 months, he used approximately $3000.

Person B joins Product X.  Person B does the same things as Person A, but also pays $20/month for the autoresponder.  All in all, in 5 months, Person B spends $3100.

Okay – all is good.  Both Persons A & B are driving traffic to their sites.  Their prospects are being emailed and some even purchase the product.  Then, Product X encounters legal problems and must shut down.  This is totally unexpected.

Person A joins a new opportunity, Product Z.  Person A must now spend thousands of dollars once again to advertise Product Z. Person B, on the other hand, emails her downline from Product X and most of them join her in her new opportunity.

The thing to remember is that YOU are your own company – not whichever MLM you are in.

Your list will not only save you in case your company suddenly disappears; it also gives you the opportunity to monetize your list – what’s called a “funded proposal” – so that you can cover the cost of your advertising.

So how do you set up an autoresponder

In YourAttractionMarketing, I’ve included a video that walks you through setting up an autoresponder.  I’ve also included a link to Aweber (under my “favorite money-making tools”).  Finally, it’s likely that you’ve been receiving autoresponder emails from your company (if not, sign up under your own account).  Read through those emails to get some inspiration and help writing your own messages.

Remember – the money (and your security) is in the list!