[NOTE: The 2 biggest complaints are 1) Fewer workers consider their jobs to be interesting and 2) Incomes have not kept up with inflation. Just imagine you are able to market your skills and products and business via Internet Marketing. Complaint #2 is always there at the beginning. Complaint #1 disappears if and when you follow the "17 Steps" - Please do not trust me - ask Jim Edwards and Joe Vitale, both are successful today after being broke, despearate and, in Joe's case, homeless. Their job satisfaction is quite high. Your's can be too.]

From: MyWay (AP News Service)

Americans’ job satisfaction falls to record low

Jan 5, 7:34 AM (ET)

By JEANNINE AVERSA

WASHINGTON (AP) – We can’t get no job satisfaction.

Even Americans who are lucky enough to have work in this economy are becoming more unhappy with their jobs, according to a new survey that found only 45 percent of Americans are satisfied with their work.

That was the lowest level ever recorded by the Conference Board research group in more than 22 years of studying the issue. In 2008, 49 percent of those surveyed reported satisfaction with their jobs.

The drop in workers’ happiness can be partly blamed on the worst recession since the 1930s, which made it difficult for some people to find challenging and suitable jobs. But worker dissatisfaction has been on the rise for more than two decades.

“It says something troubling about work in America. It is not about the business cycle or one grumpy generation,” says Linda Barrington, managing director of human capital at the Conference Board, who helped write the report, which was released Tuesday.

Workers have grown steadily more unhappy for a variety of reasons:

- Fewer workers consider their jobs to be interesting.

- Incomes have not kept up with inflation.

- The soaring cost of health insurance has eaten into workers’ take-home pay.

If the job satisfaction trend is not reversed, economists say, it could stifle innovation and hurt America’s competitiveness and productivity. And it could make unhappy older workers less inclined to take the time to share their knowledge and skills with younger workers.

Nate Carrasco, 26, of Odessa, Texas, says he’s been pretty unhappy in most of his jobs, including his current one at an auto parts store.

“There is no sense of teamwork in most places any more,” Carrasco gripes.

When the Conference Board’s first survey was conducted in 1987, most workers – 61 percent – said they were happy in their jobs. The survey of 5,000 households was conducted for the Conference Board by TNS, a global market research company.

One clue that may explain workers’ growing dissatisfaction: Only 51 percent now find their jobs interesting – another low in the survey’s 22 years. In 1987, nearly 70 percent said they were interested in their work.

Workers who find their jobs interesting are more likely to be innovative and to take the calculated risks and the initiative that drive productivity and contribute to economic growth, Barrington says.

“What’s really disturbing about growing job dissatisfaction is the way it can play into the competitive nature of the U.S. work force down the road and on the growth of the U.S. economy – all in a negative way,” says Lynn Franco, another author of the report and director of the Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center.

Conference Board officials and outside economists suggested that weak wage growth helps explain why workers’ unhappiness has been rising for more than 20 years. After growing in the 1980s and 1990s, average household incomes adjusted for inflation have been shrinking since 2000.

Also, compared with 1980, three times as many workers contribute to the cost of their health insurance – and those contributions have gone up. The average employee contribution for single-coverage medical care benefits rose from $48 a month to $76 a month between 1999 and 2006.

Workers under 25 expressed the highest level of dissatisfaction. Roughly 64 percent of workers under 25 say they were unhappy in their jobs. The recession has been especially hard on young workers, who face fewer opportunities now and lower wages, some analysts say.

The most satisfied were those ages 25 to 34, who may see some opportunities for upward mobility as baby boomers retire. Around 47 percent of workers 25 to 34 say they were happy in their jobs.

Some other key findings of the survey:

- Forty-three percent of workers feel secure in their jobs. In 2008, 47 percent said they feel secure in their jobs, while 59 percent felt that way in 1987.

- Fifty-six percent say they like their co-workers, slightly less than the 57 percent who said so last year but down from 68 percent in 1987.

- Fifty-six percent say they are satisfied with their commute to work even as commute times have grown longer over the years. That compares with 54 percent in 2008 and 63 percent in 1987.

- Fifty-one percent say their are satisfied with their boss. That’s down from 55 percent in 2008 and around 60 percent two decades ago.

Carrasco said he wishes his bosses would take time to listen to workers’ ideas – and their difficulties on the job.

“Most of the time they only listen to what their bosses are saying,” he says. “Bosses need to come down to the employee level more and see what actually goes on, versus what their paperwork tells them is happening in the stores.”

It wouldn’t be fair to blame low job satisfaction solely on bad bosses, Barrington says.

“It is two-way responsibility,” she says. “Workers also have to figure out what they should be doing to be the most engaged in their jobs and the most productive.”

Overcoming Shyness

Posted By Editor, Pick The Brain On October 9, 2007 @ 6:00 am

All my life I’ve been an inwardly directed person. While some people like to think out loud, I prefer to process the world internally, answer my own questions, and come to a conclusion before speaking up.

This personality trait has benefits and drawbacks. On the positive side, it’s a source of strength as a writer and analytical thinker. Without it I wouldn’t have taken an interest in books/writing and this site wouldn’t exist. On the downside, my tendency to keep everything inside is responsible for one of my major weaknesses — shyness.

Understanding Shyness

Shyness is rooted in fear — an irrational fear of speaking up and being humiliated or ignored. Why are some people so afraid of speaking out? In my mind the main causes are oversensitivity and insecurity. When you associate speaking out with pain and embarrassment, you’ll do almost anything to avoid it.

Unfortunately, shyness is an enormous detriment to success. For people who share this problem, it’s important to understand the causes and work towards overcoming it.

It’s Not You It’s Them

For naturally quiet people, the fear of speaking can arise from a few bad experiences, especially at an early age. When an adult reacts angrily or dismissively to an attempt at self expression, it’s natural to take it personally and shy away from future expression. Even if this only happens once or twice, people tend to exaggerate these incidents until they become mental monsters. Growing up, it took me a long time to realize how self centered people are. The way someone reacts to something you say usually has nothing to do with you–it’s more likely a reflection of the mood they’re in or a recent event in their life.

A key to overcoming shyness is recognizing these perceived slights for what they are–meaningless. When someone reacts to you negatively, don’t take it personally. Imagine the other person’s perspective. Is there something that may have put them in a bad mood? Are they trying to cover up their own inadequacy? Considering the perspective of the other person makes it easier to put their reaction in the proper context.

It’s also essential to let go of bad experiences. When you dwell on a bad experience, it grows into something much more frightening than reality. Don’t do this to yourself! The more you think about a bad experience the more power you give it. Don’t blame yourself. Think about something constructive. The more you can fill your mind with positive memories of speaking up the easier it gets.

Other People Aren’t So Different

Another important step in overcoming shyness is realizing that other people are basically the same as you. Everyone is insecure and afraid of embarrassment. Other people usually aren’t as smart as you think. If you have a question, chances are someone else is wondering about the same thing.

Don’t let one or two bad experiences dictate your entire opinion of humanity. By and large, people are friendly and interested in connecting with others. They’ll respond favorably to your attempts at communicating. In most cases, people will be thrilled that you took the initiative to break the ice.

Realizing Self Worth

The second cause of shyness is insecurity. If you don’t think you have anything valuable to contribute, what’s the point of risking embarrassment?

To get over this you need to recognize the merit of your own thoughts and the value they present to others. It’s ironic that the people most inclined towards shyness are often the most thoughtful. To reach your potential, you need to share yourself with the world. Your brilliant insights don’t hold any value until they’ve enlightened someone else.

The best way to get accustomed to sharing is practice. Force yourself to speak up, especially when you don’t want to. Sit in the front of the room and make yourself visible. Understand that sharing your insights with people is doing them a favor. Once you get used to opening up, you’ll notice how positively people react. This will build your self confidence ^[1] and faith in the goodwill of others.

The Duty to Contribute

Overcoming shyness isn’t just something you should do for yourself, it’s also part of being a contributing member of society. When you have a thought or idea that deserves to be heard, you’re not only hurting yourself by keeping quiet, you’re hurting the people around you.

A basketball coach once explained to me how passing can selfish. If a player has an open shot that she can make, and she decides to pass instead, that player is being selfish and hurting the team. When you pass up the chance to excel because of shyness or the fear of failure, you’re hurting the group to shelter yourself.

Other people need you. They need your intelligence and insight. They need your help to work through problems. By hiding behind shyness, you limit the help you can give to your friends, family members, and colleagues.

A college professor of mine used to make a big deal about overcoming shyness. He called it a, “silly, foolish habit,” and said, “the sooner you can break it the better.” Shyness doesn’t benefit anyone. Saving yourself a little embarrassment doesn’t amount to much in the long run. By overcoming shyness, you give yourself the chance to be recognized and promoted. You create opportunities and open yourself up to forming meaningful relationships.

Don’t keep your talent inside, share at every opportunity so it can grow and flourish.

See also:

• A Shy Person’s Guide to Talking to Strangers ^[2]
• How to Appear Friendly and Approachable ^[3

[1] build your self confidence: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/10-ways-to-instantly-build-self-confidence/

[2] A Shy Person’s Guide to Talking to Strangers: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/the-shy-persons-guide-to-talking-to-strangers/

[3] How to Appear Friendly and Approachable: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/rock-the-party-how-to-appear-friendly-and-approachable/

[4] mcwong: http://flickr.com/photos/63325133@N00/

The four-trillion-dollar market you cannot ignore

Posted By Troy White On December 31, 2009

In this issue:

• How to immediately double your sales to women entrepreneurs …
• Increasing your odds of a sale by 700% …
• The #1 thing women buyers look for in your business that most men completely ignore …
• And Much More!

Fellow Business Builder,

In celebration of International Women’s Day coming again in March, let’s talk about women.

More specifically … selling to women.

I love women! I am surrounded by them – between my wife and my twin daughters – I am seriously overrun. I love every minute of it, though.

Some of the best entrepreneurs I have ever worked with are women. And a significant percentage of my clients are women. Right from day one in my business, I knew that I was determined to become a better salesperson, and I specifically wanted to sell more to women than I had in my past career. (I sold million-dollar computer systems – and they were mainly sold to men.)

Selling to women is an entirely different ballpark than men. Women think, act, and buy based on different criteria than men.

And they are also the biggest buyers out there. If you are not selling directly to women, the odds are high that a woman is influencing the final purchase decision the man is being asked to make.

You must sell to your customers in a way that they want to be sold to. Trying to force them to buy from you “your way” will not work, and you will very quickly develop a very bad reputation for your sales techniques.

How challenging is this?

Well, a little story will help clear this up …

A man is walking along the beach in California when God speaks to him from the heavens. God says, “You’ve been a good, hardworking man all your life, so I’m going to grant you one wish.” The man immediately replies back, “I have always dreamed of traveling to Hawaii or reaching a beautiful paradise like that – filled with all the lush rewards it has to offer. But,” he adds, “I really don’t like to fly. I would like you to build me a bridge so that I can drive from here to Hawaii. Would you build me that bridge?”

God replies back, “Even for myself, that’s a monumental task. All the architecture, design and building of a bridge that large … the concrete … the structure … the planning. It has to extend miles and miles across the Pacific … isn’t there something else, maybe a little easier, I could grant you?”

The man thinks about this for a minute, “Well, I’ve always wanted to have a much better understanding of women and how they think. Could you help me with that?

“OK,” God says, “How many lanes do you want on that bridge?”

As silly as this story is, us mere mortal men out there have a tough time understanding the females we live and work with.

Many men, no matter what level of success
in their businesses or career, will agree
that selling to women is not something
that comes natural to us.

Even successful sales professionals that are women will agree that it is completely different (and more difficult) selling to women than it is men.

Men like to just get to it. Decisions are made quickly … and are done in a fairly methodical way. We like to solve the problem, close the deal and move on. Women are not so cut and dry in their decision making process.

Take the shopping mall, for example …

Many men, like myself, love to have one thing in mind that we know we are buying (we already know the exact color, and approximate price). We will park right next to the store we are shopping at. We walk in; go straight to the row with the goods we want. We look for about three nanoseconds, make sure it is the exact make and model, and we take it to the till to buy (maybe try and negotiate the price along the way).

Don’t get me wrong, we love to buy things … just HOW we buy things is different than our female counterparts.

Women have a little different way of shopping.

First, they can make an entire day-long adventure out of shopping. They love to browse and wander from store to store looking for that “perfect” thing to buy. They may have their friends involved in the trip and the purchase decision. They demand more input, expect more attentive service people, want more selection, require more thorough follow-up, and expect a very pleasurable experience when making their decision.

When you can sell successfully to women,
you will over-deliver to men.

The #1 problem that women notice much more than men … the sales experience does NOT match the marketing experience. It is not about making nice, pretty, softer, marketing materials focused at women … then waiting until they enter your sales system to hit them with your aggressive sales strategies.

Adding pink to your marketing is not the way to win …

Here’s how to double your sales to women business owners …

Impress them and they will buy twice as much from you. 86% of all women business owners surveyed by Working Woman say they will use the exact same products in their office as they do in their home.

So, if you give them the experience they want and deliver high-quality products and services to back up your claims, they will not only stay loyal to you for years to come, they will also double the amount they buy from you.

Men typically buy based on an educated decision.

Women typically buy based on an educated consensus (not meaning they won’t make a decision by themselves, but that they need to feel much more comfortable with all the information they have on you and your products than men do). They are not big on the hard close, the one so common in traditional sales training.

Think about their feelings.

Women buyers make decisions much more based on the intuitive feelings they have about you and your business. This is tougher to do through long copy sales letters.

So, I highly recommend you use video and audio on your websites and sales campaigns.

You can include videos and audio CDs with sales packages that go out – and the multiple media approach will drastically help your odds of a sale.

Men buy based on a very logical progression through the sales presentation – women do not. This is not the time or place to say “buy it my way, or else …” They will gladly take the “or else” option.

Think about the relationships.

What I mean here is not only the business relationship you will be forming with her, but also the relationships in her life that this purchase will impact.

If you are selling products or services that impact her business – talk about the people in the business and how they will be positively impacted with the use of your product or service.

If you are selling products or services that are put in the home – talk about how it will impact and change her home life for the better, and how her spouse, kids, and friends will enjoy the benefits as well.

The LAST thing you want to be doing is spouting off “feeds and speeds” of your products – that is how MEN buy, not women. It is important – but not nearly as important in the buying cycle as it is for men.

Think about what they have to say,
not what you want to say.

This is a real challenge for sales letters and reports – UNLESS you have done your research and have already found out the common problems, complaints, needs and desires.

Your ability to listen is critical here.

Put together questionnaires and surveys. Have open Q&A teleseminars. Find ways to touch base with your potential buyers and listen to what they have to say – and uncover the real reasons they buy or don’t buy.

I remember a few years ago, Kari and I went to a car dealership to look at a new vehicle for Kari. This was her decision on the car – and we made sure we told the sales guy this fact.

He was too stupid to listen to this fact and kept talking to ME, completely ignoring HER. I told him again, “This is her decision, talk to her,” and he couldn’t wrap it around his thick skull.

So we walked out and took her business to someone who actually had a brain and could listen to what Kari wanted. He made money on the deal – sales guy #1 is probably still out there completely ignoring the person who has the real buying power, the woman of the house.

Think about the factors that impact their life
outside of this buying decision.

The context you choose to present your offer in is critical. My wife, Kari, helps run my business, runs her own business, makes sure our house is kept in order, and looks after our twin daughters. If it was up to me, it would all be in complete disarray!

Women are incredible multi-taskers, and you have to recognize this in your sales process. Talk to their life, and the challenges they face in their life, and then you are talking their language.

Find ways to help them come to an agreement

You don’t close a deal with a woman buyer. You can, and it does happen. But, if you do it improperly, they will soon regret what you did and will immediately get a refund, and/or tell every single person they know that your business is NOT women friendly.

NOTE: Women immediately recognize, by a 3:1 ratio, those companies who market specifically to women. And … this is key … by a 7:1 ratio they will go far out of their way to buy from businesses who DO market specifically to women (in the right way).*

You need to BE that one company who gets this, and caters to women the way they want to be catered to. This can immediately boost your sales by 700%!!

(* Working Woman research study)

Some of the ways you can help their decision making process:

1. Give them space. They are not impulse buyers as much as men. So don’t push the close as hard. Give them the proper follow-up they will want – again, not pushing as much as you are used to.
2. Share with them testimonials of other women buyers. NOTE: a sales letter for a product of mine instantly DOUBLED conversions to women as soon as I put a video testimonial right at the top of a women client who sang my praises. It took two minutes to do – and resulted in 200% more sales. Simple, but effective.
3. Make sure that everything you have presented to her IS in her best interest. We all get caught up in our sales pitch, and, at times, may promise things that are not all that important. This can cost you significantly in selling to women. Promise to deliver what they want – then make sure you DO deliver what was promised.
4. Use multiple media to stay in touch if they decide not to buy right away. Birthday cards. Handwritten thank you cards (a rarity these days). Special event invitations. Audio CDs. Video DVDs. Teleseminars. Customer appreciation events. Do everything in your power to give them lots of opportunity to meet your other clients and alleviate any concerns they may have.

When you get this right, you have a
fantastic viral marketing machine in place.

Women love to talk to their friends and family about pleasant buying experiences. Be the one that delivers it to them, and you will quickly see a landslide of new, highly-qualified buyers at your door.

This article could turn into a book as this is so important for all of us to understand. I do not claim that this is everything you need to know about marketing to women, but should be considered a good starting point to a new sales process.

The opportunity for you is incredible here, but you must make sure you do it properly.

If a woman buyer visits your store or website and you are noticeably pretending to be women friendly, they will run as fast as they can. But, if they happen upon your business and you obviously know how to sell to women, they will buy again and again from you.

Do your homework and give them what they want.

Please let me know your thoughts, and if you have any further topics on this you would like to see discussed.

To your success,

Troy White
Editor, Small Business Mastery
Supplement to THE TOTAL PACKAGE

Looking for resources related to this article? Try some of these. ^[3]

Looking for more of Troy’s articles? Check these out. ^[4]

Looking for past issues of The Total Package? Click here for our archives. ^[5]

A Final Note:

If you have specific subjects you would like addressed, or have any comments on what you have seen here, please submit a comment below and I will see how I can help.

“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”

–Napoleon Hill

Attribution Statement: This article was first published in The Total Package

To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to The Total Package and claim four FREE money making e-books go to www.makepeacetotalpackage.com

By DANIEL MICHAELS

The recession has been good to Ryanair Holdings Ltd.

The Irish no-frills carrier’s low fares helped it carry more international passengers than any other airline in the world last year. It’s on course to keep growing and post strong profits again this year, as more traditional rivals struggle with weak traffic and discounted airfares, despite early signs of a pickup.

In a Boss Talk interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary discusses growth in a recession, transparency with passengers, and the fast-changing airline industry.

Barely a decade ago, Ryanair’s brash chief executive, Michael O’Leary, brought Southwest Airlines Co.’s model of simplicity and frugality to Europe. He put the business plan on steroids by squeezing costs and slashing ticket prices. The Nasdaq-listed Ryanair has been one of the world’s most consistently profitable airlines this decade.

In 2001, Ryanair became Europe’s first start-up to eclipse a state-owned national rival when it overtook Ireland’s Aer Lingus. It has since tried twice to buy the troubled carrier and now holds 29% of it.

Mr. O’Leary, who personifies the old Hollywood line that there is no such thing as bad publicity, grabs headlines by insulting regulators, competitors and suppliers. Unlike airline executives who try to evoke the industry’s bygone glamor, Mr. O’Leary compares flying to riding a bus.

After attending a recent conference at the European Union in Brussels, where he dismissed European Union transportation infrastructure plans as “nothing but rubbish,” Mr. O’Leary spoke with The Wall Street Journal about what he calls “mad” ideas he’s considering, like pay toilets on board and standing room tickets.

Excerpts:

WSJ: How has the recession affected Ryanair, and how have you used it to your advantage?

Mr. O’Leary: We love recessions. We’ve lowered fares, lowered costs and grown the business by another 15%, and pushed a few more competitors out of the way.

WSJ: Your costs are already low. Do you reach a point where it’s hard to keep cutting?

Mr. O’Leary: You do reach a point, but we’re probably 20 years from that. What you have to do is be more revolutionary.

This year, thanks to a weaker dollar, we’ll have lower aircraft costs and lower maintenance costs. We’re lowering airport costs and we’re lowering staff costs with pay freezes.

We now have to be more inventive in the way we lower costs, which is why we’re looking at things that seem revolutionary to other people.

Like, paying for checked-in bags: It wasn’t about getting revenue. It was about persuading people to change their travel behavior—to travel with carry-on luggage only. But that’s enabled us to move to 100% Web check-in. So we now don’t need check-in desks. We don’t need check-in staff. Passengers love it because they’ll never again get stuck in a Ryanair check-in queue. That helps us significantly lower airport and handling costs.

Now we’re looking at charging for toilets on board—not because we want revenue from toilet fees. We’d happily give the money away to some incontinent charity. What it means is, if by charging for toilets on board, more people would use the toilets in the terminals before or after flights, I could take out maybe two of the three toilets on board, add six extra seats and reduce fares across the aircraft by another three or four percent.

So, there’s always new ways of lowering costs, but you have to come at it with some imagination and some passion.

WSJ: Is it hard to spur that imagination, especially when you’ve got a pay freeze?

Mr. O’Leary: We have a very bright young staff. I think they put their pay freeze in context. In Ireland, there’s deflation of about minus 5%, so they’re well ahead, even with a pay freeze. What we try to avoid is pay cuts or job cuts. I think they appreciate that.

But I think the challenge is always within the company to try to come up with ideas. That’s why we try to encourage ideas being generated internally. We do that by having an open, enthusiastic culture that encourages people to come up with wacky ideas—the madder the better.

Another one we’re looking at is taking out the last 10 rows of seats and putting in handrails. In that case, you’d be able to offer on each flight, say, 125 seats. But you’d also have standing room for maybe another 100 passengers. And the proposition would be that if you want a seat, you pay €30 ($44). But if you’re willing to stand, you pay €1.

WSJ: What hasn’t worked well for you in the past year?

Mr. O’Leary: Our campaign to break up the Dublin airport monopoly clearly hasn’t yet worked.

Our offer to acquire Aer Lingus and grow it quickly hasn’t worked, which is why Aer Lingus are now reporting record losses and have announced another 800 job cuts.

The fact the Irish government [which owns 24% of Aer Lingus] has turned us down twice just shows how stupid the Irish government is. We could have been nicer to the Irish government. But I think since they’re so heavily in bed with the trade union movement in Aer Lingus, our offers were doomed to failure from the start. So I think it’s highly unlikely we’ll make a third offer.

WSJ: Some of your savings—such as charging for food and checked bags—once seemed shocking, but are now standard. How hard has it been to get people to change their expectations about what they are paying for?

Mr. O’Leary: I think it’s remarkably easy if you’re open and fair with the passengers. We’re open about our policies: You’re not getting free food. We don’t want your check-in bags. We’re not going to put you up in hotels because your grammy died.

But they understand the trade-off is we are going to guarantee you the lowest airfares in Europe, by a distance. And we are going to guarantee you the fewest delays, fewest cancellations and fewest lost bags.

And that’s what people really want—affordable, safe air transport from A to B. It’s a commodity. It’s not some life-changing sexual experience, which is what the other high-fare airlines have tried to convince you that it is.

WSJ: You’ve been very public about your frustration with the pace of yearlong negotiations with Boeing Co. for a big order. Where does it stand?

Mr. O’Leary: We have effectively reached agreement on pricing for 200 aircraft. But the discussions have now broken down because Boeing wants to go back and change the delivery conditions. It’s things like warranties and performance guarantees. But we’re not accepting inferior delivery conditions than on our current orders.

Our final board meeting of the year is next Thursday in Dublin. I don’t see any way of putting the deal back together again in the next week. The deal is now highly unlikely to happen.

WSJ: What’s your fallback plan?

Mr. O’Leary: We just don’t order any more planes from 2013. We still have almost 100 aircraft coming through 2012. Then we either go back to Airbus or go back to Boeing in the next downturn. Or we stop growing from 2013 and we start returning cash to shareholders. [A Boeing spokesman declined to comment on the negotiations.]

Updated December 04, 2009

Analysts expect the Labor Department will report Friday that employers cut a net total of 130,000 jobs in November, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

WASHINGTON – The economy is getting closer to generating jobs for the first time in two years, but it probably won’t be enough to stop the unemployment rate from rising.

What if you put all of the pieces together,
what would your business look like now?

Think and Grow Rich Action Step #16)
Budget Your Time and Money

Tell me how you use your time and how you spend your money,
and I will tell you where and what you’ll be ten years from now.

22 Laws #16 – In each situation, only one move will produce substantial results.

So now you have all the steps that’s will take you from poor and struggling to rich and famous – at least you have the blueprint for this accomplishment

Make a checklist – this will take you from step #1 to step #100 – or whatever the “final” step is – the accomplishment of your goal

You have the same or equivalent or better skills than most of the “friendly competitors” doing the same thing as you do

Wallace Wattles, the Science of Getting Rich which became the Secret has a central concept called “The Certain Way”

What is the Certain Way? It is following the treasure map, doing the paint by numbers and following the recipe, the formula for success – this formula has been around for thousands of years BUT, in once sense it is waiting for you to discover it – if you have not done so already.

Read any newspaper, watch any newscast – al you see is crisis and problems and bad things happening – well – don’t read that don’t watch that – get the image of what you want – focus on it and believe it already is yours.

Which of the steps seems the hardest? Was it the business idea or the elevator speech or the Facebook page? Which seemed impossible when you first heard about it? Possibly it was the very first one – that there could be a business idea that can be turned into a profitable business that will provide the lifestyle that you desire for yourself and your family.

Why would that be the hardest? Because we are trained since childhood to believe that – and for all too many, we go to our grave thinking we have these limitations.

Someone is succeeding at the same thing you are doing and here is a roadmap for you to be able to do the same thing.

Never before has the technology been so powerful and so cheap. If you understand it and how to use it – you can say that this technology is simple. Until you do – it is rocket science. Even rocket scientists have to start somewhere – and that is where you are starting.

Coaching has become a huge business in the past few years – the idea is – pay some money to an expert who will show you exactly what you need to do to succeed. Tiger Woods has a coach, why not you?

As your Skilled Trades coach, I and my (soon to be) staff are available to you 24×7, 365×24 to help – to help answer any questions. Just read this ebook and you might have all you need. Do you desire more help or assistance – that is available too.

Everything you need to learn to succeed is available to you for free – from your computer that is connected to the Internet – so, if money is an issue and I can certainly relate to that – just find the answer and implement it.

Or take a low cost but not free approach and buy the first in a series of products – this is referred to as a sales funnel in Internet marketing – and the idea is that you become a marketer of your own services and teach others to market as well.

Maybe you don’t want to teach, maybe you don’t want to coach, maybe you just want to be paid to do a job, perform a service, sell a product and go home at the end of the day. Cool. The ideas here can help you do that – imagine if you were 10 times more famous – had 10 times the demand – 10 times the customers calling you- not the other way around.

Attracting customers is the name of the game – and following these steps will allow you to do that – so what have you learned? The most important thing is that is it possible for you to succeed doing what you love.

As an American, you are blessed – and you probably don’t even realize that – as a child of immigrants who came to America – I have a personal duty to help others in my parents’ home country of Latvia – they want to come here – and there are countless others in other countries who want to do the same

Yet you are here already and it doesn’t seem so great. That is the goal of this ebook and the subsequent videos and mp3s and live performances – to show you how you can achieve the life of your dreams.

Just remember, “When your marketing is done well – Your products virtually sell themselves” so – Do your marketing well. You have been given the treasure map, just start where you are and follow the steps to your goal, your treasure.

Do you have network of allied, complementary – but non-competitor – skills that you could work together with on a larger project – a team – a master mind – that can mutually recommend and support each other?

Do you have low cost promotional “billboards” like T-shirts – a 4 color quality T-shirt – like AlexTheCraftsmans – are only $22 including shipping. You have your business card logo on the front and your catchphrase slogan on the back. What about Mugs and Hats – to give to your best customers? Offer a prize for the best testimonial. Offer free service if they are seen at a public sporting event.

Do you have a Mobile Billboard on your car? Magnetic signs can be attached to your car – when you are around the corner from your home – so your neighbours don’t see you. Your advertising is available – your problem solution is available in traffic – have people call you on your cell phone or e-mail you or visit your website. Stuck in traffic? This is good – you can sell something.