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Piggyback Your Way to New Customers

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

It was 1992, and I’d been operating my ballroom dance instruction business for less than a year. I wasn’t actually starving, but times were tight. My car was very old and had no air conditioning. (In South Florida, where I live, this is a big deal.) And my diet consisted of lots of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.

I desperately needed to bring in some new customers, but I had virtually no money to invest in marketing. I needed all the meager profits the business was generating just to survive.

Fortunately, I found a solution that allowed me to increase my revenues by more than 25 percent within 30 days. I call it the “Piggyback Method,” because you climb on the back of another business to find new customers.

In my case, I took advantage of the fact that couples who are planning to get married frequently want to take dance lessons so they’ll look good on the dance floor at their wedding. So I contacted some large bridal shops and offered them a 20 percent commission on any business I got as a result of referrals from them.

The shops allowed me to set up a booth at some of their bridal shows. They also allowed me to set up displays with flyers in their stores. These flyers included a discount coupon that was marked with a different code for each shop. That way, I could tell where each new referral came from.

This same approach can work for many different businesses. The idea is to hook up with other businesses that attract the kind of customers you’re looking for, but sell non-competing products or services.

Here are some of the basics for making “piggyback” deals:

Step 1: Search out and identify businesses with a customer base that would likely be interested in your product or service.

To find potential piggyback partners, you’re going to have to do a little legwork (or phone work). If you are a masseuse, for instance, you might contact local gyms, sportswear shops, and beauty salons. If you are a party planner, you could contact paper goods stores, local bands, and event venues.

Step 2: Do some research to determine the right person to contact at each of those businesses.

Usually, the best way to find out who you need to talk to in order to make a piggyback deal is to make a phone call and ask for the name of the person in charge of marketing. Depending on the industry you’re in, you might also be able find the name you’re looking for in a trade directory.

In my experience, it is easier to sell the idea of a piggyback venture if you are willing to speak to these people personally (by phone or by setting up a meeting). But if you’re not comfortable doing that, a letter or e-mail will work. The important thing is to direct your inquiry to a specific person.

Step 3: Create a detailed plan for getting the referrals.

When I promoted my ballroom dance lessons at bridal shows, I set up a TV and VCR that played a looping video showing me dancing with a partner, both of us dressed in formal wear. The video got people’s attention. And when they stopped to get a closer look, I handed them my flyer and answered any questions they had. As for the flyers displayed in the bridal shops, I’d drop by once a week to replenish the supply.

This arrangement required almost no work on the part of the businesses I was piggybacking with – and that’s exactly what you should aim for.

Let’s say you have a pest control service. You want to piggyback with a landscaper, and you’d like him to include your flyers with his billing statements. If you tell him that you’ll e-mail him a pdf file of your flyer so he can print it out and then have his people staple them to the bills… that probably won’t sound very attractive. On the other hand, if you offer to drop by his office with a stack of printed flyers and staple them to the statements yourself, he’ll be much more likely to agree to your deal.

It should sound like there’s almost no downside for the other business. All they have to do is give you access to their customer base, and substantial extra profits will fall into their lap.

Step 4: Draft a formal proposal that makes financial sense for both sides.

Before you can come up with proposal, you’ve got to figure out how much of a commission you can afford pay your piggyback partner – and you’ve got to make it worthwhile for them. In the case of my ballroom dance business, I gave the bridal shops 20 percent. (Had I offered them 50 cents per referral, they obviously wouldn’t have been interested.) At the time, I was charging $50 an hour for a lesson. But, though I earned only $40 for each one-hour lesson that came from their referrals, it was still profitable for me.

Even when times are tough, you can still build a thriving business without investing a lot of capital. The “Piggy Back Method” is just one of many low (or zero) cost ways to do it.

[Ed. Note: In the current economy, finding ways to stretch your marketing dollar is not just smart - it's a necessity. You can get more of Paul Lawrence's strategies for making money with little to no capital in his "Cheapskate Marketing" program. Get the details here.

For more marketing strategies that can add millions to your company's bottom line, pick up a copy of Michael Masterson and MaryEllen Tribby's brand-new book, Changing the Channel.]

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Making $10,000 in a Weekend With One Fun and Easy Venture

Saturday, October 25th, 2008

Creating your own videos is a great way to make a little – or a lot of – extra cash. In fact, I’ve been producing instructional videos for years. I enjoy a steady stream of income from this fun side venture. And you could, too.

Despite the profit potential, some people are reluctant to get into the business of producing and marketing their own videos. One of the main reasons is that they don’t know what kind of video to produce.

In past ETR articles, I’ve recommended producing videos where you teach a subject or skill that you’re an expert in.

I’ve also recommended hiring outside experts to “star” in your instructional videos. For instance, one of my videos featured a gentleman who had created his own exercise program for middle-aged and older men. (That video brought in over $30,000 in 30 days.) For another video, I hired a fitness instructor to demonstrate a back-stretching technique she’d developed. (That one made me a $5,000 profit within just a few days of offering it for sale.)

But there is an even easier way to produce marketable videos.

All you need to do is find an upcoming event that people might want to watch, and make a deal with the promoter of the event to videotape it.

You could, for example, produce a video of stand-up comedians performing their acts… a financial consultant giving a seminar on investments… a Little League championship game. The list of video-worthy events is practically endless.

I know one entrepreneur who records the performances of amateur contestants at ballroom dance competitions. A major ballroom competition has hundreds of amateur dance enthusiasts who dance in multiple heats. Naturally, they want to buy the videos of themselves dancing. In one weekend, without spending a dime on marketing, he clears $10,000. By working just one weekend a month, this guy can make close to $120,000 a year.

And remember, you don’t need to be a video expert yourself to produce a video. It’s easy to find hungry videographers who will record your event professionally for a very reasonable rate.

The key to making serious money by recording live events is to find promoters who have not already made plans to videotape their events. You will find plenty who either haven’t thought of it or just don’t have the time or desire to do it. These people will be your perfect partners.

To create marketable videos of other people’s events, take the following steps:

Step 1: Identify Potential Events

Most large and well-organized events will already have a video program in place. ETR, for example, always has its fall Bootcamp professionally recorded. You can certainly approach the promoters of major events, but you’ll have a higher likelihood of success with smaller operations. Combing through the “upcoming events” calendars in local newspapers and websites is a good place to start.

Step 2: Create a Marketing Plan for the Video(s) You’ll Produce

In some cases – as in my example of the fellow who videotapes ballroom dance competitions – your marketing plan will be very simple. All you have to do is sell your video to the attendees and participants of the event. But for many other kinds of videos, you’ll need additional marketing strategies.

Let’s say you produce a video of a tax expert giving advice on how to take advantage of little-known tax deductions. Your best shot at marketing that kind of video would be via the Internet, and maybe through direct mail, too.

Before you produce any video, make sure there’s a market for it. Using pay-per-click ads is a quick, cheap, and easy way to see whether people will buy it at a price that will allow you to make a reasonable profit.

Step 3: Submit a Proposal to the Event Promoter

You’ve got to give the promoter a reason to let you record and sell a video of his event… and that usually means money. Some promoters will agree to a one-time fee – and if it’s cheap enough, that might work for you. But you might be better off with a profit-splitting deal, where they get anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the profits on every video you sell.

Sometimes, you can get the promoter’s permission simply by persuading him that your video will benefit him in some way. This approach is especially effective when the promoter is an expert in some area (like martial arts or business) and the video will enhance his image.

Step 4: Make Sure the Participants Have Agreed in Writing to Be in the Video:

I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t offer you legal advice – but my lawyers have told me that, in most cases, you cannot commercially exploit other people’s images in a video without their consent. Fortunately, consent is usually not hard to get. One good way to get it is to have the promoter require each participant to sign a release form before they can take part in the event. (You can find boilerplate language in books with legal forms or you can have your own lawyer create a release form for you.)

Creating videos of live events is an excellent way to get a side business started with a very small investment. And if you choose marketable subjects, you could have a real moneymaker on your hands.

[Ed. Note: Making money in any venture - including the video business - is much easier when you've mastered marketing strategies that are proven to create profits. You can discover 12 powerful marketing strategies and get step-by-step instructions for how to put them to work in Michael Masterson and MaryEllen Tribby's new book, Changing the Channel. The book will be released on Tuesday - but you don't have to wait to learn more about the profit-building advice it contains. Learn more right here.

For more detailed strategies on how to make money by producing your own videos, sign up for entrepreneurial expert Paul Lawrence's "Get Rich in the Videobiz" program. ]

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Quick Tip: Egos Can Help You Sell Out Your Event

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

When you have a limited budget, one of the best resources you have for promoting an event is the people who’ll be participating in it. And one way to get those people really pumped to help out is to appeal to their egos.

For example, a martial arts fight promoter I know asks all the fighters in her program to submit action photos of themselves to be included in posters for upcoming bouts. With pictures they are proud of featured on the posters, the fighters are more inclined to make sure those posters are put up all over town.

And more publicity means a larger take at the box office.

[Ed. Note: Promoting events - comedy shows, ballroom dance competitions, or hot rod exhibitions - is a low-cost, no-experience-necessary way to make money. Paul Lawrence, a screenplay writer and business author who specializes in starting low-capital businesses, has produced dozens of profitable live events. To learn more about how to start your own event promotion business, check out Paul's program.]

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The Power of Who You Know

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

“Who should I say is calling?” the assistant to the TV network producer curtly demanded.

“This is Paul Lawrence. I’m the executive producer of the International Sketch Comedy Championships, which I produce with the Laugh Factory,” I responded.

“Please hold,” the assistant said with some skepticism in her voice.

A moment later, she was back on the line, apologizing for the wait. She explained that her boss was in a meeting but would call me back. I thanked her. As promised, the call was returned later that day.

This powerful television network executive had never heard of me. So how did I have enough clout with her to get my call returned?

I used a power technique called “Allied Power Linking.”

Although she didn’t know me, she most certainly knew of the Laugh Factory, an important player in Hollywood. And because of my alliance with this club, some of its muscle was automatically linked to me. The result was a return call from an influential executive who might not have even gotten my message, much less called me back, had I not used this technique.

“Allied Power Linking” is a powerful tool. But, as with any power, you have to use it carefully so it doesn’t backfire. Here are some tips to keep in mind when employing this technique.

• Don’t lie about who you are in business with.

I could call the president of a major film studio and say I’m Donald Trump’s business partner. If the call is perceived as legitimate, a return call would certainly be made.

But before that happens, someone in that president’s office is likely to try to verify that I am, indeed, Trump’s business partner. And if it comes to light that I am misrepresenting myself, the following would happen:

1. It would kill the possibility of ever getting a meeting with the studio president or doing business with his studio in any way.

2. There’s a good chance that I would get contacted by Donald Trump’s legal team.

• Be certain that the person you reference is agreeable to being portrayed as your ally.

Before you start dropping his name, you want to make sure he’s okay with it.

Assuming you share the same goal, there probably won’t be a problem. But your powerful ally might set some parameters regarding how you represent your mutual affiliation and to whom. For example, there may be certain people that the ally would prefer you didn’t contact because of previous dealings he’s had with them.

• Be sure that the name of your ally will be meaningful to the person you’re trying to reach.

If I call a senior buyer at Wal-Mart and let him know that my cousin Ernie, a busboy at a local deli, is my business partner, that’s obviously not going to help me. But there are times when it’s not so easy to figure out how valuable it will be to use a particular name. Since you have only one chance to make a first impression, do your research.

When I called that Hollywood producer, I knew that the Laugh Factory had several business deals with her network. And I knew that many of its star performers also had deals there. So I rightly assumed that this ally link would have a lot of leverage.

Even if the ally has no business dealings with your target, if they are well-known in the industry – or at least well-known to the person you’re trying to reach – dropping their name is almost certainly going to help you.

• Don’t overestimate the power boost.

Sure, mentioning a powerful ally can help you get a foot in the door. But don’t make the mistake of wielding their name like a weapon. Never threaten the executive’s “gatekeeper” with something along the lines of, “If you don’t put me through, you’ll never work in this town again.” Politely reference your ally and hope that it will be enough to achieve the results you’re after.

If mentioning your ally’s name doesn’t help, it may be that you’re trying to use it at the wrong time or in the wrong situation. Still, you might want to reevaluate just how much power that ally can really deliver for you.

The entertainment business is certainly not the only industry where you need power behind you just to get a call taken by an assistant, let alone returned by someone with the authority to make a deal. This is a challenge faced by every entrepreneur seeking to build a business and develop potentially lucrative partnerships.

Knowing how to identify and use the right “power sources” will make the job a whole lot easier.

[Ed. Note: "Allied Power Linking" is a very effective tool, and must for success in today's business world. Get 8 more secrets to instant business power with Paul Lawrence's audio program.

You'll be able to make lots of powerful contacts this November at ETR's 2008 Info Marketing Bootcamp. Rub elbows with some of the biggest names in Internet marketing... and discover the strategies that helped these men and women make over $1 billion in revenues.]

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A $5 Trick for Collecting What You’re Owed

Saturday, October 4th, 2008

There’s a way to increase your chances of collecting from a delinquent customer – or anyone else who owes you money – without worrying about a potentially nasty confrontation. Here’s how…

In a firm but professional manner, write a letter demanding payment. Then send it by certified mail. It will cost about $5.

Unlike phone calls and e-mail messages, certified mail is hard to ignore. And it’s intimidating to have someone in an official capacity (the letter carrier) require your signature. Not only that, but people who are somewhat educated about legal procedures will recognize that this could be your final step before you take legal action. (Certified mail is frequently used to establish that an effort was made to communicate with the target of a lawsuit.) That could be the impetus they need to pay up.

[Ed. Note: Part of being in business is dealing with delinquent customers. But Paul Lawrence - who spent about five years as a collections manager for two national retail chains - can help you get the money you're owed. He explains the collection methods that work in his "Getting Paid Without a Hassle" program.]

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The Secret to Selling the Rights to Products

Saturday, September 27th, 2008

Obtaining and selling the rights to products can be very profitable for entrepreneurs, even those with little or no capital.

As I mentioned in a previous ETR article, securing product rights is a painless process. And in most cases, once you have those rights, you’ll make a deal with a larger company that has the resources to mass-market it. Your payoff comes in the form of an upfront fee or a share in the back-end profits.

I receive checks every quarter for thousands of dollars as a result of having made deals like these. And today, I want to share with you a secret on how to approach larger companies and convince them to buy the rights you’ve obtained – whether it’s for a health product, an information product, or anything else.

Many people own the rights to great products or ideas, but are unsuccessful at marketing them. A big part of the problem is that executives at big, successful companies are constantly barraged by product rights holders who are trying to make deals with them.

To break through that clutter and get those executives to sit up and take notice, take these three steps:

1. Catch their attention.

If you use a letter or e-mail to get to the decision-maker you’re trying to reach, your attention-getter will be your headline. If you intend to contact him in person, it will be the first sentence you say. Whatever method you use, you must have a powerful grabber that will make him want to take action and buy the rights to your product.

When marketing the rights to a natural supplement formula for men, I sent an e-mail to one company with something like this in the subject line: “This supplement will enlarge your bank account.” Since I expect to earn a six-figure payment in royalties from that particular deal, it’s obvious this attention-getter worked.

2. Show them how to promote your product.

Don’t just write a couple of paragraphs saying that your product is sure to sell like hotcakes. You need to convince the decision-maker that your product can be marketed effectively.

Show him exactly how to do it. Create some promotional literature for the product, including sample ads, Web pages, and/or direct-mail copy. Give him a marketing plan that the company can put into action and quickly start seeing profits pour in.

3. Have the actual product or a prototype in your possession.

A young man I know had a great idea for a breakthrough technology for computer games. The executive he met with loved it. Then he said, “Let me try it out and see how it works.”

The deal soured when my friend admitted that all he had was a computer program that illustrated how it could be done.

If you don’t actually have the product, the best you can hope for is that your prospect will ask you to get in touch with him when you do. But that’s a long way from making a deal. If you expect to close a deal on the spot, you need to have the goods.

You may be thinking, “Why would a big company need me? Surely they can develop their own products to market.”

Well, what they want is what anyone in their position wants: a potential money machine handed to them on a silver platter. If you can provide the full package – the product as well as some good marketing ideas for it – you will get very serious consideration… and maybe your first “Getting Rich With Rights” deal.

[Ed. Note: Acquiring and then marketing the rights to products is a good way to start a business without much capital. Paul Lawrence reveals his detailed strategies for making money with this business opportunity in his "Getting Rich With Rights" program. Get the details here.]

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A Free Way to Come Up in Google’s Top 10

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

Getting to the top of a search engine results page is a never-ending quest for Internet business owners. But guess what? I’ve found that banging out a few short articles – on a subject I already know – has a powerful effect on the amount of traffic my websites get. And you can harness this power for yourself by following a few simple guidelines.

You may be wondering how much a little article can REALLY do for search engine rankings. Well… more than you would think. For instance, as I’m writing this, the keyword phrase “sell a reality show” brings up three links on Google to articles I’ve written and posted on article-publishing sites. And those three links are all in the top-10 organic search results. (Remember, unlike pay-per-click advertising, you don’t pay anything to be in organic search results.)

Since most people don’t look past the first few pages of organic results, this is a major coup.

When a person clicks on one of those links, they find my article and a link to the website where I market my course on how to sell a reality show to Hollywood. Those highly ranked articles have attracted more than 10,000 visitors to this site.

If you’re interested in getting free traffic to your website, publishing articles is one of the best and easiest ways to do it. (You have to admit that the results I just mentioned are pretty impressive.) And I’ve discovered a few “rules” that will help you achieve maximum success.

Rule #1: Post your articles on high-traffic sites where they’re likely to get read.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of websites that allow you to post articles. I’ve tried at least 20 of them – and not all have gotten me a significant number of reads. (Most article-publishing sites have tracking tools so you know how many people are reading your article and clicking through to your link.)

To improve your chances, search for the keyword or keyword phrase you want your article to rank for. If an article-publishing site comes up when you plug in that term, your article will likely come up too when you post it there. I also now check the volume of articles on the website, the quality of articles posted on it, and whether the site seems to be well established. (My postings that got few reads have been with new sites.)

The three article-submission sites I’ve had the most success with – achieving high rankings for specific keywords – are Wikihow.com, Howtodothings.com, and Ezinearticles.com. But there are many others – so do some digging before you start posting.

Rule #2: Understand the way the site works.

When I first posted on Wikihow, I included a link to my website in the body of the copy. I was bombarded by angry e-mails from people who felt that this was too commercial for the site – and it was. One reader moved my link to the resource part of the page, which is where it belonged. And since then, everything has been fine.

With Wikihow, other people can edit your articles. Maybe that’s okay with you, but if you’re going to post on this site, it’s something you should be aware of.

There are things you need to be aware of with any article-submission site. Many require you to customize your article to fit a certain style. Some, for instance, want you to write your advice as steps that the reader should take. There might be a section for warnings or suggestions. Or a specific way to insert the link to your site.

Because there are so many differences in the way these sites work, I don’t recommend using any kind of software that will supposedly post your articles to hundreds of them. Each submission has to be done individually and properly.

Rule #3: Make sure your content is good.

Telling you to “make sure your content is good” may sound obvious – but it’s important. Most article-publishing websites allow readers to post comments. And the more positive comments your article gets, the more likely it is that other readers will want to read it. On the other hand, if your article doesn’t include much good, specific, useful information, it will probably get bad ratings and/or reviews. Even worse, an article with no real substance won’t convince readers that you know your stuff… and they won’t be inclined to visit your site.

Unfortunately, there are some people out there who seem to get a kick out of being super-critical, so even a good article can get a handful of negative reviews. Don’t let it bother you. If the quality is there, other readers will come to your defense.

By the way, you don’t have to be a talented writer to write articles that will get the attention you’re looking for. If you’re stuck for an idea, try this one from David Cross: Interview an expert in your field – maybe even yourself. In my experience, the interview format never fails to produce great content.

While there are many effective ways to market online, the ones I’m interested in are those that cost little to nothing. Posting articles on popular article-submission sites has gotten me plenty of free exposure – and some amazing results in terms of organic search engine rankings on Google.

Try it!

[Ed. Note: Marketing your business online doesn't have to be an expensive endeavor. In fact, starting an online business is one of the most inexpensive ways to create your own fortune. This fall, you can get 12 insider secrets to making millions online - and could be making $1.2 million or more in 2009.

Paul Lawrence is an expert on entrepreneurship. For dozens of business-savvy techniques and strategies that you won't find in any business-college textbook, check out Paul's Street Smart Business Program. For dozens of "no-nonsense" tactics for the small-business entrepreneur, click here. ]

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Get Free Names From eBay

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008

To keep growing your Internet business, you have to keep acquiring the e-mail addresses of prospective customers. When you have their e-mail addresses, it costs next to nothing to keep in touch with them on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. And the more you communicate with them, the more likely you are to reach them when they’re ready to buy your product or service.

There are many ways to collect those e-mail addresses, but here’s one you may not have heard of: Sell your product or service on eBay.

While you can’t directly solicit e-mail addresses on eBay, you can include a link on your posting that allows people to find out more about you – even if they don’t buy the item you have posted. When those interested prospects click on your link, you send them to a landing page. And you make sure there’s plenty of benefit-oriented copy on that landing page explaining what the prospect will get by signing up for your e-mail list then and there.

[Ed. Note: Collecting names via eBay is just one smart business-building strategy. Find more information on how to make money on the Internet without investing any capital here.]

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The SPV Secret to Getting Others to Do Your Bidding

Saturday, August 30th, 2008

I love the movie business. (You already know that from reading some of my articles in past issues of ETR.) I’ve even produced a feature film. So I happen to know a few people in the “biz.” And a recent encounter reminded of a powerful persuasion technique that can apply to almost any situation.

You see, a few months ago, a couple of independent film producers approached me to help them raise funds for a film they were working on. The movie was almost completely shot. All they needed was about $50,000 for some scenes that they had decided to add.

The producers were willing to give me a piece of the action, as well as a producer credit and a small part in the film, if I could help them find the money. But despite the fact that the film was almost finished and had a few known actors in it, it was still a highly speculative investment. Even so, it was potentially very profitable. And I thought it might be an attractive deal… for the right person.

I knew an investor who was interested in the film business. And it seemed to me that he would be the perfect fit for this particular independent film project.

He was a very shrewd businessman. So, because of the high risk involved, it would’ve been difficult for me to convince him to make the investment based strictly on its profit potential.

I needed to find another way to create intense interest on his part.

The approach I decided to take was to appeal not to his values as a businessman but to his personal values as a family man. I did it by using the “SPV” (stimulating people’s values) persuasion technique.

I knew that this potential investor would do almost anything to help his children. I also knew that he had a son in film school who was studying production. So I checked with the producers and asked if the investor’s son could play a role in the film’s production. They readily agreed. Then I went to the investor and presented the opportunity to invest in the film as one that would give his son’s career a boost.

Was he interested? Of course, he was.

A deal was quickly closed and everyone got what they wanted. The producers got the money they needed to finish the film. The investor got his son some solid experience in his chosen profession. And I got what had been promised to me. Had I approached the investor and presented the opportunity strictly in terms of its profit potential, I’m sure he’d have passed.

Using the “SPV” persuasion technique can be a powerful way to get others to see your point of view and take the actions you want them to take. Here are the basic steps for putting it to work:

Step 1: Analyze the person you wish to persuade.

First, you must get an understanding of the deeply held values of the person you want to persuade. To do that, pay attention to more than what she professes to believe in. You have to observe how she behaves and lives. What kind of clothes does she wear? What kind of car does she drive? Is she always early for work, or does she scramble in 15 minutes late every day? Does she do any volunteer work? The more you know about her, the better.

Step 2: Identify which of the person’s values/beliefs you are going to stimulate.

Let’s say you want to persuade someone to buy an expensive watch. One of the things you notice while studying him is that he wears tailored suits that fit him like a glove and white shirts that are always crisply pressed. So you come to the conclusion that he strongly believes a person has to look sharp in order to be successful. Based on this, you decide to create a persuasion plan that focuses on the way that watch is going to enhance his professional appearance.

Step 3: Create and execute the persuasion plan.

If your target rejects your initial proposal, it is going to be tough to get her to change her mind. (To do so, you’d have to get her to admit that her first decision was incorrect. Not an easy task.) Thus, to maximize your chances, you want to start out with a well-thought-out persuasion plan.

At the very least, that plan should answer the following questions: How will you bring up the matter? Will it be with a phone call, an e-mail, or in person? Will the sole purpose of that effort be to get your target to accept your proposal… or will you mix it with other business or conversation? (In my experience, being direct is the best approach.)

Your target will probably realize what you’re trying to do. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In the example I cited above, I made it clear to the investor that I would be benefiting if he put up the money for the movie. It made no difference to him, because he felt that he would be getting so much out of it that mattered to him. In fact, by being honest and up front about what you stand to gain, you’ll strengthen your credibility with the other person. When he understands your motivation, he won’t worry that you might have some sneaky agenda up your sleeve.

As Michael Masterson has pointed out, decision-making is initially the result of a gut reaction, not a rational process. That’s why it’s much easier to convince people to do what you want them to do by using the SPV technique than by simply presenting a logical argument. While this persuasion tool gives them a good reason to say “yes,” it taps into their emotions first. If you can do that, you’ll have the maximum shot at achieving your goal.

[Ed. Note: Knowing how to persuade people can get you everywhere. It can help you move up the ranks in your career, get people to buy your products, and so much more. You can become a Master of Persuasion in your own right by learning more of Paul Lawrence's highly effective persuasion secrets here.

And for persuasive tactics that you can use to make more money for yourself and your company, check out Breakthrough Advertising. The strategies you'll discover helped one man make over $2 BILLION in sales. Get the details here.]

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Issue# 2438 Break Out of the Crowd to Get Free Publicity

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

A big article about your business in a publication (online or offline) – or even a brief mention on television – can catapult you to a whole new level of success. That kind of exposure just can’t be bought at any price. As a result, there are hordes of businesses trying to attract the media – and that makes it difficult for you to stand out from the crowd. Difficult… but not impossible.

For example, let me tell you about a technique I used to catch a reporter’s attention and get enough free publicity to transform myself from a starving ballroom dance instructor into one who was completely booked with a waiting list several hundred names long.

I sent the reporter a letter inviting her to watch one of my dance lessons – any one that she wanted to see. I also told her that I had so much confidence in my ability that I would happily take on the challenge of teaching her any dance she wanted to learn… no matter how complicated and no matter how many “left feet” she had.

The reporter was intrigued by my proposition. She came. She saw. She learned how to dance the tango. And she wrote a great feature article about me for her paper. The rest is history.

If you can come up with an idea that a TV or newspaper reporter might be able to turn into a good story, you can practically guarantee that you’ll become “newsworthy.” And with exposure like that, you’ll have customers knocking down your door.

[Ed. Note: Getting publicity for your new business can be tricky. But Paul Lawrence has dozens of secrets to getting the media to pay attention to you. Get the details here.]

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How I Increased My Profits By 1,000%

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

Richard called me in a panic, begging me to fill in as a guest on his local cable TV show. Seems that one of the people he’d booked had cancelled at the last minute. It sounded interesting, so I agreed.

I was surprised to find that his show was recorded in a tiny room instead of a professional sound studio. The format was similar to a talk show. He had four guests, including me, all of us local businesspeople. He interviewed us, one at a time, about what we did – giving each of us a chance to indirectly plug our product or service.

At one point, Richard whispered to me, “Can you believe I’m making three thousand dollars right now?”

I was floored. I had been producing my own little cable show, and was struggling to make a profit by selling airtime for commercials. So, when Richard’s show was over, I asked him to reveal how he was making so much money for just an hour or so of work. He explained that each of the other businesspeople on the show had paid him $750 to be there – including the one who didn’t show.

“But how are you getting these people to pay that much for such a small amount of media exposure?” I asked.

”They don’t care about the money,” he replied. “They’re paying me in barter dollars.”

That’s how I found out about a whole world I never knew existed.

I learned that there are networks made up of thousands and thousands of businesses that participate in formalized bartering. These networks, in effect, create their own currency – what they call “barter dollars.” And those barter dollars, in theory, have the same value as real dollars. Not only that, but barter club members are very receptive to buying products and services from other members, because they are always looking for ways to spend their barter credits.

I was amazed to see how many things can be acquired with bartering. That includes almost any professional service you can think of, from doctors and lawyers to copywriters and public relations experts. Also restaurant meals, furniture, travel, and too many other goods and services than I have room to list here.

As I said, I was barely breaking even with my cable show… until I discovered bartering. But as soon as I joined a large national barter network, I found a video production company that would work for me in exchange for barter credits. This greatly reduced my cash expenses.

I had been paying a videographer $500 to come out and film my show, and another $500 to do the editing. I was paying for that, as well as the airtime I bought from the cable company, with the income I was getting from advertisers. And I was usually left with about $100 in profit. Hardly worthwhile for all the time and effort I was putting in.

But because this videographer accepted payment of $500 in barter, that allowed me to retain the real dollars I was getting from my regular advertisers. I was also able to sell out my previously unsold airtime to barter advertisers. That barter income was then applied to the bulk of my expenses.

My cash profit soared from $100 to over $1,000 per show.

Now you might be wondering if the products and services you get with barter dollars are below par in some way. Absolutely not. The production services I used for my show were equal to those of any I had paid cash for. The restaurants I ate at with barter dollars were expensive and popular. The lawyer I used gave me better advice than several others who had charged me hefty hourly cash fees. The dentist I used did a perfectly good job. And I was very happy with the lamp I bought with barter dollars from a furniture retailer. I also noticed that the advertisers who bought airtime from me with their barter dollars had thriving businesses – a massage therapist, party entertainment company, chiropractor, perfume distributor, and Italian restaurant, among others.

You might also be wondering how wide-ranging barter networks are. Certainly, if you live in a relatively big city, you will have access to more local merchants who are members. But there are many kinds of barter transactions that can be done no matter where the participants live. For example, I use a Web programmer who lives in Connecticut and a pay-per-click marketing consultant who lives in Orlando. And when I ran a mail-order house for a colleague, our fulfillment house was in the Midwest and our phone center was in the Northeast.

If you decide to join a bartering organization, here are some things to keep in mind:

• Joining a well-established organization offers a lot more security.

Many national barter networks have thousands and thousands of members. While there is no guarantee that any bartering organization won’t suddenly go out of business – and, in doing so, vaporize your barter credits – if you join one that has been around for a number of years, there is a much smaller chance of that happening. If you simply put the term “barter club” into a major search engine like Google, you’ll find many options.

• Barter earnings and expenses are treated like cash by the federal government.

Barter organizations are required to report the barter earnings of their members to the IRS, so don’t think the barter dollars you get are tax-free. Yes, you’ll have to declare your barter income – but you will also be able to deduct legitimate business expenses that you pay for with barter dollars. If you are smart about it, you can actually lower your tax bill.

• Most barter organizations prohibit members from inflating their regular prices for barter transactions.

Even if there’s a willingness on the part of some barter members to pay a premium for your product or service when they’re using barter dollars, you can’t charge them more than you charge your cash customers. In fact, some barter organizations will terminate your membership if you get caught doing it.

• The cost of joining a barter organization varies.

As I said, a quick search on a major search engine will turn up many barter club options. So shop around.

Bartering offers a great way to fatten the bottom line of any business with excess capacity that can be turned into extra profits. It opens up a whole new market to sell to. Plus, you can potentially lower your cash expenditures drastically by using other barter club members as vendors.

Let’s say you operate a company that puts together travel packages. Some of the services you provide for your clients include transportation from the airport, hotel accommodations, and restaurant discounts. As a member of a barter club, you could arrange for all of that to be paid for with your barter dollars – and then the entire fee you charge your clients would be pure profit.

Or perhaps you’re a CPA, and have just opened your own office. Until you build up your business, you could fill your idle time with barter clients and use that barter income to pay your doctor, your lawyer, or maybe even treat your family to a vacation.

Bartering can’t totally replace a cash business. But it can vastly increase your cash flow and profitability – as it did mine.

[Ed. Note: By joining a bartering network, business-building expert Paul Lawrence says it's possible to make your dollars stretch... and multiply. You can learn more about bartering with Paul's new audio program, "Secrets to Get Rich With Bartering."
Check out the details here.

Of course, with or without barter dollars, starting your own business is one of the very best ways to achieve financial independence. And you can do it with as little as $100. Learn how right here.]

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Get Rich With Rights

Saturday, August 2nd, 2008

“If the TV ads do as well as we hope, you’ll get a big payoff,” said the company’s president as she handed me a check.

I didn’t even bother to ask how much the “big payoff” might be. That’s because the “small money” she’d just handed me was a six-figure amount.

Why was her company paying me so much? And why was she willing to pay me even more in the future?

You see, I’d made a deal with her company to market a product I had the rights to. This – obtaining the rights to a product and then selling those rights to someone else – is a cash-cow of an opportunity that many entrepreneurs ignore.

It’s a great business for two reasons:

1. You can earn unlimited income.

2. It’s possible to start with little to no capital.

For the purposes of this article, let’s define “product” as anything that can be assigned the right to market it. That can include physical products, information products (like instructional courses), or even ideas.

In the deal I described above, I had acquired the rights to a line of natural health supplements. I had crunched the numbers, and they looked very promising. Plus, the supplements had a very marketable USP (unique selling proposition), so I thought there was a good chance they would be a hit with consumers.

Why didn’t I just market the supplements myself?

For one thing, in order for me to fully implement the marketing plan I had in mind, it was going to take a few hundred thousand dollars. Although I had confidence in the product line, it wasn’t a sure thing. And though I could have come up with the money on my own, I didn’t feel comfortable risking that much on a relatively speculative investment.

Besides, my business philosophy is to pursue opportunities that require little to nothing in the way of capital. In this case, some money changed hands when I obtained the rights to market the supplements. But my out-of-pocket expenses were still under $500.

So I felt it made sense for me to sell my rights instead of the supplements themselves.

You may be wondering why a person or a company would be willing to part with their rights to a product. There are several reasons:

They may do it because you’ll have to buy the product from them – which means they can make a profit with it without having to do any of the marketing.

They may think the product is a dud, and anything they can get by selling the rights is better than nothing. (That was the case with the supplements.)

They may grant you the rights on a revenue-sharing basis, where you’ll split any profits you earn.

They may simply have no idea how to monetize the product.

All of these reasons give you the opportunity to acquire the rights to a highly marketable product – and then turn around and make big money with it. Here are the basic steps:

1. Find an interesting product with rights that you can control.

You can create the product yourself (a book, video, song, formula, etc.). But it will probably be easier to find an existing product and acquire the rights.

Search the Internet for websites that are old and haven’t been updated recently. What you’re looking for is a great information product that hasn’t been promoted for a while. You can also search manufacturer listings for physical products. Another way to find good physical products is to check inventor chat rooms and sites.

2. Make the deal for the rights.

When you find an interesting product that has potential, approach the owner of the product with a proposal to acquire his rights.

There are essentially two ways to obtain the rights to a product. The simplest is to offer to purchase the rights outright. Once you’ve paid for them, you own them, free and clear.

If you don’t want to shell out the money up front, you can option the rights. In other words, you can agree to buy the rights at a later time for an agreed-upon price. What this means is that if, for example, you option the distribution rights for a patented invention for $5,000 and then sell those same rights to a manufacturer for $100,000… you’ve just made a killing!

3. Monetize the rights.

Once you’ve got the rights to a great product, decide how you want to make money with it. You could sell the product directly to the public. Or you could sell your rights to another company that would then market it. (That’s what I did with the supplement deal I told you about.)

To find a company that you might be able to interest in your product, you’ve got to do some research. Create a list of a dozen prospects, and contact them. If you’re not afraid of personal selling, simply pick up a phone and make some calls. But if you prefer, you can create a sales letter and send it out. Either way, it’s helpful to do a little investigating first to get the names of the people in those companies who are in charge of considering new products. (Those are the people you address your sales letters to or ask for when you call.)

How you structure your deals with those folks depends on the way you negotiate them. You might want to sell your rights outright – or you may prefer to go for profit-sharing.

Either way… you can’t lose.

[Ed. Note: Acquiring and then marketing the rights to products is an amazing way to make a lot of money without much capital. Paul Lawrence reveals his detailed strategies for making money with this business opportunity in his "Getting Rich With Rights" program. Get the details here.

And for a crash course in selling practically anything, check out this book from a man who was directly responsible for over $2 BILLION in sales. Get your "PhD" in persuasion right here.]

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An Unusual Way to Make a Fortune With Service Businesses

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

You can make great money with service businesses – but it can take a lot of work. At least that’s what most people think. And I was one of them. Until I discovered a money-making secret almost by accident.

I was in college at the time, and, with a partner, had built a modest swimming pool cleaning business. We were making a reasonable profit, and then some.

The only problem: We were full-time students. And the pressure of running a business and keeping up our grades was starting to become overwhelming. Finally, the demands on our time got to be too much. So we decided to investigate selling the business.

Back then – in the 1980s – the going rate for a pool service account was about six times what the customer was paying per month for the service. In our case, that was an average of $42.50. Multiplying $42.50 by six meant that each of our accounts had a market value of about $250.

Our company handled about 100 pools. My heart began to race when I realized that the business was worth about $25,000. If we could sell it for that, I’d have more than enough money to finish college. And since I didn’t have many other expenses (I was living at home with my mother), I’d also be able to put aside a nice little nest egg to help me start a career.

We put an ad in the local classified section of the newspaper. It wasn’t long before we found a buyer with enough cash to buy us out. And then something interesting happened…

This buyer wanted twice as many accounts as we had. So he offered to purchase 100 more accounts from us if we could procure them.

From our experience in the business, we knew it would cost about $50 in marketing expenses to acquire a new account. Then we could turn around and sell the account to this buyer for $250. That meant an automatic $200 profit. A deal too good to refuse.

In less than 30 days, we’d filled the buyer’s "order" for 100 new accounts – and made a tidy profit of $20,000. (That was on top of the $25,000 he had already paid for the business.)

It didn’t take long for us to realize that if we could find more people in the pool service business who were interested in buying new accounts, we could make a lot of money quickly. And we could do it without servicing a single customer, without paying any employees, without dealing with overhead, and without all the other time-consuming details of running a business.

Over the next couple of years, my partner and I made several hundred thousand dollars in profits by building pool service routes. And we didn’t have to service a single pool.

This money-making opportunity is easy to replicate. You can build and sell all sorts of service businesses – so long as the business has a standard formula for placing a dollar value on each account. That includes lawn care, exterminating, aquarium maintenance, and house cleaning.

And it doesn’t require a lot of time. You don’t need any employees, or even an office. All you need is a little marketing know-how.

Not only that, it doesn’t take much money to start. It’s customary for a buyer to make a deposit of, maybe, one-thirdprice when doing a deal like this. That gives you the capital to do the marketing.

Here are the basic steps to get started:

1. Identify a service business that has a standard value for an ongoing account. In the case of our pool service, it was $250.

2. Develop a marketing plan to bring in new customers. For the pool service business, we had a mailer that that brought in a consistent response. But other forms of advertising could work too – such as door-to-door flyers, newspaper advertising, Internet marketing, etc.

3. Get your business started. Your goal here is not only to build a service business that you’ll be able to sell, but also to test and perfect your marketing approach.

4. Find a buyer for your business. You can use classified ads in newspapers, network through local business groups, and, of course, search for potential buyers via the Internet.

5. Offer to help the buyer build his business by bringing in new customers. This is where having a proven marketing system is essential. By knowing how much an account is worth to a buyer ($250 in our case), and exactly how much it costs to bring in a new one ($50 in our case), you’ll be able to structure a deal that works for both sides.

6. Once you’ve successfully helped your buyer expand your former business, you’re ready to approach similar service businesses and make them the same offer. Helping other entrepreneurs build their businesses gives you a way to extract considerable profits from a service business without needing to operate one on a day-to-day basis.

One final important note: Most states have laws that regulate the sale of business opportunities – and you must comply with the laws of your state. So make sure you get professional legal advice before you get started in this business.

[Ed. Note: You can make a fortune in the service business with Paul's recommendations - and you can do so faster by becoming a master marketer. Get proven advice about how to develop this money-making skill right here.

Putting a twist on the service business industry isn't the only unusual way to make a living. Entreprenuer Paul Lawrence reveals dozens of unique ways a small businessperson can make money with his Street Smart Business Program. Get the details here.]

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Attact Customers Cheaply With the S.I.A. Marketing Method

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

Being in business means staying on your toes. It means being flexible and quickly adapting to changes in the marketplace. This is especially true for small-business owners – people like you and me who don’t have the resources to compete one-on-one with major corporations.

The good news for us is that the Internet levels the playing field, putting us nose to nose with the big guys. As a small Internet publisher I’ve spent my time focusing on ways to attract new customers that don’t require a lot of capital. Today, I’m going to share one of the most effective – and least expensive.

You already know how important it is to capture the e-mail addresses of your customers and prospective customers. (That point has been made many times in ETR.) Once you have their e-mail addresses (and their permission to contact them), you can continue to send them promotional e-mails at virtually no cost in order to convince them to buy.

Many shrewd marketers use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to collect new e-mail addresses. They make an attractive offer in their ad – often for some sort of free information. And when people who are interested in that information click on the ad, they’re directed to a Web page that (1) asks for their e-mail address so the free report, e-book, etc. can be delivered, and (2) asks for permission to send them additional information/offers.

Although I certainly use PPC advertising myself, I have found another way to acquire names that can be even more economical. I call it the S.I.A. (Special Interest Advertising) Method.

Let’s say you offer a product or service that caters to a special interest – such as water skiing or knitting or gardening. You can usually find a number of websites that attract many visitors who have an interest in that subject. And the owners of those high-traffic, special-interest websites often sell advertising on their sites to other Internet marketers.

For example, when I decided to sell my screenplay marketing manual via the Internet, I looked for a website that appealed to aspiring screenwriters. And I found one that reported recent script sales. The site provided free information on what producer bought which script, who sold it, what agency represented the writer, and even the reported sales price. This site got a lot of traffic, and I knew it was attracting tons of MY potential customers. So I checked out their advertising options.

The cost for a small display ad on the site was $150 a month – well within my budget. So I placed an ad for my manual. I ended up selling two manuals at $79 each, which means I broke even. Not very exciting.

The next time I advertised on that site, I was smarter. Instead of offering the manual itself for sale, I offered a free report on a related subject that people could download once they submitted their e-mail address.

This time, I hit pay dirt. Almost 200 people signed up for the free information – and I had almost 200 e-mail addresses of potential customers for my manual. At $150 for my ad, that means it cost me less than $1 per e-mail address. (And anyone who’s been doing pay-per-click will tell you that $1 is a pretty good price for a bona fide name.)

My next step was to start sending e-mails to those people that pitched the manual. Within 60 days, I’d made seven sales. Within three short months, I’d made a nice profit – and I still had the e-mail addresses of 200 potential customers for other screenwriting-related products I might develop. All from placing an inexpensive ad on a targeted website and sending a few promotional e-mails.

Now my immediate profit on this particular deal wasn’t huge. However, you can see that if you have a series of products that would appeal to the same special-interest group, you can set yourself up to have a nice steady stream of moolah trickling in. And if you can find 50 sites for your ad that get a lot of traffic from your target market, you could be making some serious money.

Advertising on special-interest websites and offering free information to capture names is a strategy I strongly recommend. You can put it to work by following these simple steps:

1. Scour the Internet to find websites that (a) cater to your potential customers and (b) accept advertising. You can find them by using keyword searches in major search engines like Google.

2. Contact the website’s marketing department and check out their advertising rates. They should be based on the amount of traffic the site attracts. The best way to know if the rates are reasonable is to "comparison shop" at a number of sites.

3. Put together some free information that your prospective customers might want. PDF text files are easy to create. Audio files are also effective, and there are many inexpensive programs that allow you to create these files yourself.

One free gift I currently give new subscribers to one of my natural health websites is a PDF manual on how to avoid knee problems. Since knee problems often afflict middle-aged and senior adults – the prime market for my natural health products – this report helps bring in super-targeted names. I am also about to launch a marketing campaign for entrepreneurs that will give new subscribers a link to a free 10-minute audio program that delivers five keys to success when starting a small business.

4. Create your e-mail address capture page. You have a lot more space here than you’ll have with your ad. So this gives you the opportunity to really go into detail to make your prospect see the benefits of the free information you’ll be giving away in exchange for their e-mail address. Once you’ve got the copy down, any Web programmer with basic skills can easily upload it to your website.

5. Create a small ad that you’ll place on the special-interest websites. I like to include a small attention-getting image in my ads – but check with each website’s marketing department, as they don’t all allow you to do it.

It’s best to use an image that shows the main benefit of the information you’re giving away or the product you’re selling. For a muscle-building program, for example, you might advertise with a banner ad showing before and after photos of someone who used the program. If you can’t think of a way to portray the benefit with a small picture, at least use an image that has some relevance. For instance, when marketing my screenplay marketing manual with a banner ad, I used an image of a movie projector.

If it’s not possible to use an image to grab attention, you’ll have to do it with a strong headline. The headline is always the most important part of an ad – and even more important when it doesn’t get any help from an illustration. The most effective headlines either describe the benefit or say something outrageous that piques a website visitor’s curiosity. An example of a benefit headline would be something like "Lose 10 pounds in 15 days." An outrageous headline might be something like "Every doctor you’ve spoken to is dead wrong!"

6. Be prepared to send the information/product you promised as soon as people sign up to receive it. But don’t stop there. Be prepared, too, to keep sending them additional information they might find interesting, as well as promotions for the products/services you’re selling.

It’s critical to establish a relationship with your potential customers as soon as possible. One way I do this with new subscribers to my natural health e-zine is by sending them a special report with up-to-the-minute information – maybe something about a just-released study on how to relieve pain naturally.

7. Track your results. If your first ad is profitable, find additional special-interest websites where you can expand the program. If it’s not profitable, tweak the ad and try again with a different website.

[Ed. Note: Growing your e-mail list is a classic direct-marketing technique that can help you pull in bigger profits. Learn more about how to attract boatloads of customers from two marketing masters.

Starting a business doesn't have to deplete your bank account. Expert entrepreneur Paul Lawrence is the publisher of a new program for entrepreneurs who don't have a lot of extra money to spare. Check out the details of Cheapskate Internet Fortunes: 8 Ways to Start a Million Dollar Internet Business for $99 or Less right here.]

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Give Your Prospects a Taste, Get More Sales

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

I was walking in the food court at the mall. I planned to get my lunch from one of the fast-food franchises, where I knew exactly what I could expect. But an employee from a place where I’d never eaten was passing out free samples of their entree of the day. I tried it and loved it. In the two years since then, I’ve spent a lot of money on lunches there. Plus, I’ve referred half a dozen other people who now also eat there regularly.

There’s no doubt about it – giving away free samples is a powerful marketing tool.

The obvious benefit of a free sample is that it allows the customer to confirm the quality of a product before they spend any money on it. Free samples of all sorts of things are given away regularly – ice cream, vitamins, cosmetics, shampoo. But you can also take advantage of this strategy for attracting new customers by giving away free information.

You’ve read lots of articles in ETR about why giving away free information is so effective. For example, if you pack your free e-zine full of useful advice, you build a loyal group of subscribers who often turn into loyal customers for other informational products you’re selling.

And the Internet has made it so easy – and cheap – to produce those products, the ones you’re selling as well as the samples you’re giving away. All your customer needs to do is download your e-zine, e-book, etc. to his computer.

This applies to videos, too.

One of the businesses I run markets instructional and specialty videos. And I’ve written before about how easy and profitable this business can be. I’ve been in it for over a decade, and it’s been pulling in over $250,000 each year. My videos go for $29 to $50 apiece, and I’ve been able to amp up sales by giving away samples so my prospective customers can see that a particular video is exactly what they’re looking for before they open their checkbook.

One way I give away video samples is by posting clips on YouTube and other free video-sharing sites. While I don’t generate huge quantities of orders from those postings, I do pick up a few.

But an even better and more profitable way to provide free video samples is on your own website. The reason this works so well is because the people who view a clip on your site are highly targeted prospects who are already interested in your product. They found you by doing a Google search for the type of video they were looking for or clicking on one of your online ads. Now, it’s up to you to sell them on making a purchase.

Here are the steps to take to put this marketing technique to work:

1. Choose where to host your video clip.

You can choose between hosting the video on the same server where your website is located, or you can use a video-hosting website such as YouTube or Google Video. I would consider the second alternative, since uploading videos to your server can take up the storage space that the hosting company gives to your website. This means less space for new Web pages, documents, images, and other information you might need to upload later.

2. Post a video clip to your website.

Whether you choose to use a video-hosting company or host the video on your own server, you need to upload it first.

This is easier than you may think. Video files used to be so big, it was a pain to post them online. But these days, it’s no problem to post a small clip that people can click on and watch.

If you can create your own website, then you can post the video yourself too. If not, just give your programmer the video clip file. He should be able to do it for you very inexpensively.

To upload the video with a video-hosting company, simply go to their website (such as YouTube.com) and create an account. Follow the steps to upload your video, keeping in mind that YouTube and most other video-hosting companies have limits for length and file sizes.

After uploading the video, the video-hosting company system will automatically provide you with html code that you can insert into your website so users can play the video clip directly from your Web page. Doing this does have a downside. Your video clip will have a link to the hosting company’s website. And once you send a prospect to the video-hosting website, there’s a chance that they will start watching other people’s videos when they’re done with yours, instead of clicking back to your website to finish reading your sales copy.

If you decide to host the video on your own server, simply create a folder on your website, name it something like "videos," and upload the video as a regular file. (I recommend using an FTP program to do the uploading.)

After uploading the video to your website, test it. Type the address to the folder where you upload the video (e.g., www.mysite.com/videos/myvideo.avi). After testing the video, your link is ready to be used. Remember that since you don’t have a video player program on your website (such as the one that YouTube provides you with), the link will redirect the prospect to a new page on which there will be nothing but the video playing.

Make sure your video or the link to your video is placed in a spot that is easy to see but doesn’t interrupt the flow of your sales copy for the full video. I have found that putting it at the top of the website, before my sales copy really starts rolling, is best.

3. Choose a section of your video to use as a sample.

I recommend a clip between 30 seconds and two minutes. That’s long enough to whet your prospects’ appetite. If you give them too much, they’ll feel "full" and won’t want to order. But if you give them just a tease, they’ll want to see more.

You want to entice your prospects and give them an idea of how good the full video will be. So choose your clip carefully. And keep in mind that people tend to be attracted to such things as attractive faces and physiques, swift action, catchy music, and anything unusual or unexpected. That’s why, for a cardio-exercise video that I market, I don’t show a clip of the fitness trainer doing an arm stretch where she hardly moves. I show a clip of her doing a cardio exercise that most people have never seen before.

4. Come up with a good caption for the link.

Your caption should say something like, "For a free sample, click here." Then make sure you also have an order link right below that – something like, "To get your copy of the full video, click here now."

You say you don’t have any instructional videos to market? Well, you can use this technique to help sell just about anything. If, for example, you’re promoting a conference, you could post a clip from last year’s event. If you sell some sort of gadget, you could show a clip of someone using it. And if you provide a service, you could show a clip of yourself working with a client.

Posting a clip on your website that provides a significant amount of quality information is an excellent way to get people to "taste" the product or service you’re selling.

Put a few samples up on your site, and watch your sales increase.

[Ed. Note: Marketing skills like the one Paul just taught you come in handy only if you have a business to apply them to. You can start your own business within a week for under $100.

And if you're interested in making instructional videos, Paul can show you the ropes. Discover how he turned a hobby into a $250,000 side business.]

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Persuade People With Deductive Reasoning

Saturday, June 7th, 2008

My son Jose is 11 years old. So when he looked at me and said, "I think it would be a good idea for me to clean the birdcage and throw out the garbage now," the heavens opened up and a chorus of angels sang. If you have children, you know that hearing words like that can seem like a miracle.

Of course, I simply could have ordered him to clean the cage and take out the trash, but that might’ve led to an argument. Instead, when discussing chores with Jose, I use a powerful persuasion technique called "Triggering Deductive Reasoning." The idea is to get him to logically decide that it’s in his best interest to do his chores right away. And that’s why he’s (usually) eager to take care of them.

Ordering people around – even if you’re in a position to do so – is one of the least effective ways to get them to do what you want them to do. It’s always better to use proven persuasion techniques to change their thinking – and even their actions – without sounding like a dictator or a jerk.

You can use the Triggering Deductive Reasoning technique to get your own kids to do their chores. But you can also use it to persuade clients to buy your products… to get an employee to take on an unpleasant project… or to get your spouse to agree to take you out to dinner. I’m going to show you how.

First, let me explain why there’s more to this technique than appealing to the other person’s sense of logic. For instance, I could have said to Jose, "Why don’t you do your chores now, so you don’t forget?" In asking that question, I would hope Jose would recognize the wisdom of my logic and agree. But that approach would’ve likely failed miserably. Why? Because he didn’t come to the conclusion on his own.

If you can subtly lead the other person to make the decision you’re hoping for, their conviction that it is the right thing to do will be very strong. And they won’t even realize what you did.

Here’s how I did it with Jose…

I knew he was really looking forward to playing at his friend’s house, and he didn’t want anything to interfere with his plans. So I said, "What time are you going to your friend’s house?"

"I’m supposed to be there at 2:00," he replied, without looking up from his video game.

I responded, "Mom’s going to drive you over there, right? What time are you leaving?"

"1:30," he said, glancing at his watch. "It’s 12:30 now."

"Well then," I said, "I guess you can keep playing your game for a while."

"I’m supposed to clean the birdcage and take out the garbage before I go," he said, looking up from his game.

"I’m sure you won’t forget," I said.

I watched his eyes as he thought about it. It was obvious that he recognized the distinct possibility that he could, indeed, get wrapped up in his game… forget about the chores… and have his mother tell him he couldn’t go because he didn’t get them done. He deduced for himself that the wise choice was to do the chores right then, and not take the chance of missing his afternoon fun.

The Triggering Deductive Reasoning technique works just as well with adults.

A few years ago, a partner and I were getting ready to produce an instructional video. He was going to fund the venture, and I was going to do the legwork. Neither one of us owned any video equipment at the time, so I investigated what it would cost to hire a professional videographer. Because we intended to market the video by showing clips in television ads, it had to be of the highest quality.

After getting many quotes, I came to the conclusion that for 25 percent more than we’d budgeted, we could purchase everything we needed to shoot and edit the video ourselves. A big advantage of this plan was that we could then produce further videos inexpensively. However, I was reluctant to approach my partner and tell him that he should put in more money than we originally discussed.

So I decided to use the Triggering Deductive Reasoning technique. I showed him the quotes I’d gotten from all the videographers, and told him, "I’m not sure any of these guys know more about shooting and editing a video than we do. But as much as I’d like to buy the equipment, we can save at least $5,000 by paying one of them to produce this one for us."

Being a smart guy, he instantly realized that it would be much better for us to own the equipment. "Remember," he said, "we already have plans to do three more videos together." And so he decided, without me asking, to make the additional investment.

To use the Triggering Deductive Reasoning technique, take the following steps:

1. Identify your goal.

You must know precisely what you want to achieve. In my example with Jose, my goal was to get him to make the decision to stop playing his game and get his chores done immediately. In my video-production example, my goal was to get my partner to make the decision to invest an additional $5,000 so we could buy our own equipment.

2. Make a statement that leads the other person to the conclusion you want him to come to.

The leading statement I made to Jose was, "I’m sure you won’t forget [to do your chores before it's time to go]." The leading statement I made to my partner was, ""I’m not sure any of these guys know more about shooting and editing a video than we do."

Let’s say you want to persuade your boss to increase your budget for a particular project. In that case, you might say something like, "I can definitely get this project done within the budget – although, with the shortcuts we’ll need to take, there may be some quality issues."

That statement would lead your boss to the realization that not giving you a bigger budget might be a bad idea.

3. Reinforce the logical conclusion the other person comes to "on his own."

When the person you’re using the Triggering Deductive Reasoning technique on comes to the conclusion you were hoping for, agree with him that he made a wise decision. You might even admit that you were thinking the same thing… and he convinced you it was the right thing to do.

[Ed. Note: Being able to persuade someone to do or think what you want is an enviable skill. It's one you can develop quite easily - especially with Paul's proven persuasion techniques. Learn more here.

Persuasiveness comes in handy every day when you're in business for yourself. Get the details on starting your own business for under $100 right here.]

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The Truth About the Vending Business

Friday, May 23rd, 2008

When Steve and his father met with the vending machine distributor’s salesman, warning bells should have gone off in their heads the first time he opened his mouth. "Listen," he told them, "if you want a guarantee, go get a CD at the bank. If you’re businessmen, then let’s do business."

That’s when they should have said, "No thanks." But they had pre-sold themselves on the deal. So they plunked down a quick $5,000 to buy two machines, and they were promised excellent locations.

Now Steve and his father weren’t outright swindled. But the locations they were given didn’t perform nearly as well as the salesman had promised. Steve’s father badgered the distributor for better locations, but they refused. As far as they were concerned, they’d honored the contract – and the lawyer Steve checked with was in agreement.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that every distributor who sells vending machines in the classified section of your local newspaper will give you lousy locations. But Steve’s didn’t produce enough income to cover his investment in the equipment.

So one of the first "insider secrets" I learned about the vending business is that your written agreement with the distributor must describe the kind of locations you will be getting. It’s unreasonable to expect them to guarantee that a particular machine in a particular spot will bring in a specific minimum income. But you can negotiate for other things. Like traffic – the number of people who work at the location or the average number of people who walk by each day.

If, for example, your agreement calls for the distributor to provide locations in buildings with a minimum of 100 employees onsite, there’s a good chance your machines will be profitable. If you don’t specify the number of employees in your vending location, you could end up in a building with 100 of them… or with five.

You can also negotiate to include a non-compete clause in your agreement stating that no other machines at that location can sell the type of product you’re selling (beverages, snacks, etc.). You may also want to include a pre-approval clause so you can check out the location before your machine gets delivered there.

Admittedly, there are some landmines in the vending business that newcomers have to learn to watch out for. But if you know how to sidestep them, this is a very real profit opportunity. More than 100 million Americans use vending machines every day, National Automatic Merchandising Association spokeswoman Jackie Clark reported to The Christian Science Monitor. And it’s a nearly $30-billion-a-year industry.

The vending machine business is…

Simple: If your machines are at locations that aren’t too far from each other, you (or someone you hire) can easily service your route in one day. And all it requires is loading them with merchandise and collecting the cash.

Lucrative: If you have 10 to 20 vending machines, you can bring in as much as $2,000 a day.

Flexible: Whether you want to be a part-time operator or a major player, this business can accommodate you. You can have as few or as many machines as you want. Some well-capitalized operations have as many as 500 or 1,000 machines.

If you want to get started in the vending business, here are some of the basic steps:

Decide What You Want to Sell

You can sell gumballs, condoms, ATM services, phone cards, beverages, snacks, health sundries, etc. in vending machines. I’ve even seen machines that sell makeup, iPods, cellphones, headphones, DVDs, USB devices, and more.

Purchase the Machines

You can buy new or used machines from the distributor who will be supplying you with merchandise. I preferred used machines, because I could buy them at a fraction of the price of new ones – and they had very few mechanical problems.

I began with one used snack machine that I bought for $50. Within a couple of weeks, I’d made enough money to buy a number of small machines that dispensed handfuls of candy. These were also cheap – less than $100 each. Within a couple of months, I had a 100 percent return on the cost of those machines, so I started buying some larger snack and beverage machines. In a matter of months, I had a 40-machine route that made a profit of almost $500 for every day I worked it. When I eventually sold the route, I made a profit of 400 percent on the cost of the machines, because they’re worth a lot more on location.

Secure Your Locations

Like retail, this business is all about location, location, location. You want your machines in places that have lots of traffic – large companies, auto dealers, hospitals, colleges, airports, etc.

If you buy from a distributor that supplies the locations as well as the machines, follow the advice I gave above to negotiate for good spots. If you’ll be finding the locations yourself, you’ll have to do some work. For my first vending route, that meant marching into business after business and getting a hundred rejections to hit that one "yes." For my second route, I saved time and energy by using direct mail to get leads that I would then follow-up on in person. You can also hire a third party to scout out locations. Most of them get a flat fee that is negotiable, but it usually ranges from $150-$500 for each spot they find for you.

No matter how you find good locations for your machines, you’ll have to use the powers of persuasion you’ve been learning in ETR to convince the owners or managers of those properties to let you set up shop. ] Some of them will want a percentage of the profits. (What you agree to is negotiable, but I would suggest no more than 10 percent.) Others will just want to make sure you will keep the machines well-stocked and in good working order.

Service the Machines

Machines in really hot locations may need to be serviced more often, but for my vending business, a weekly visit to the machines to collect the money and restock them was enough. The distributor you buy the machines from will train you on how to do it. It’s not hard. I’m not a very mechanical person, and I had no problems.

So give a little thought to the vending machine business. If you do it right, it’ll be a nice source of side income for you.

[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR's program for starting a business for under $100. If you're interested in the vending business, Paul offers an audio course that explains exactly how to do it. Check out the details here.]

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Does It Take Money to Make Money?

Saturday, May 10th, 2008

"I’m just so tired of working for someone else and making them rich," lamented my friend Mitch.

"You should start a small business on the side," I replied. "Then, once it’s big enough, you can quit your job."

Mitch shook his head glumly. "I don’t have enough money to start my own business, so I’m stuck."

I get so frustrated when I hear people say that. Now don’t get me wrong. I admit that having substantial cash to begin a new business can be very helpful. But having a lot of money on the line also means you’re taking a bigger risk.

The truth is, money just doesn’t matter all that much when it comes to starting a business. I know from firsthand experience that it’s possible to start a profitable business with virtually nothing.

When I began my entrepreneurial career, I was a college student living at home with my mom. And while there was enough money to pay the bills, there wasn’t much more than that. I had a part-time job, but I was desperate to find a way to make more money. And though I had zero start-up capital, I had no trouble starting a pool service business. Before I knew it, I was earning three times as much as I had been making at my part-time job.

That business made over $100,000 its first year. Since then, I’ve started more than 20 profitable enterprises with under $100 in initial capital. So having minimal capital should never stop you from starting a new business. And it shouldn’t stop you from marketing your business either.

Some people assume that they need to throw around big piles of cash in order to "properly" market a business. But a little creativity can go a lot further than money. Here, for example, is one zero-cost strategy I used…

When I was looking for ways to promote my ballroom dance instruction business, I discovered that most cable companies have a public access channel that’s available to almost anyone in their viewing area. And there’s more to public access TV than nutty shows like "Wayne ’s World." If you create a format for a show that’s informative, it can become quite popular and bring in lots of business.

Keep in mind that cable access is supposed to benefit the community, so the cable companies can be finicky about too much blatant self-promotion. But they do allow you to say who you are or what company you’re with, so people can find you.

One exciting thing about these shows is that the cable company bears the expense of producing them. For my show, I brought on guests and gave them a dance lesson on the air. I would arrange to have my guests meet me at the cable company’s studio, where they had a director, three camera operators, and other stage help to produce the show. And I didn’t have to pay anything for it.

You’d be amazed by how many people watch cable access. I was getting stopped on the street by people who were excited to meet that "dancing guy" from television. The show increased my business by about 25 percent. (I know that because I asked every new client how they heard about me.) And remember, I got this bump without spending a penny.

Not only did I get a steady stream of new clients, but having a television program gave me more credibility as an expert dance instructor. I began including the fact that I hosted a local ballroom dance TV show in my marketing materials, and I mentioned it whenever a prospective client asked about my credentials.

Almost anyone with a business that has a local customer base can take advantage of this strategy. If you’re an attorney, you could have a program where you answer call-in legal questions. If you sell real estate, you could interview guest experts on your local market. If you’re a copywriter or public relations specialist, you could provide information to help small businesses get more out of their advertising budgets. If you’re a marriage counselor, you could work with couples on the air. If you run a restaurant, you could give cooking lessons. The possibilities are endless.

If you’re interested in having your own local cable access show, here are the basic steps:

Contact the cable companies in your area to find out about their local access programming.
You’ll want to know about any rules and regulations they have. If there are any costs that you’ll have to cover. When they shoot and how you get a slot on their schedule.
Come up with a format that will be entertaining but also have the potential to bring you business.
Interacting with guests on your show is a good way to demonstrate your expertise. And you won’t have any trouble finding local experts who will be excited to appear on television. Getting the exposure will often be enough of a payment for them. Or maybe you can do what I did and give your guests free instruction in your area of expertise in return for their participation.
Plan the show.
A half-hour can be a long time if you don’t plan it out well.

When professionals plan a television program, they plot it out visually on a "storyboard." You can use a similar, though less formal, tool.

Let’s say you will be producing a 30-minute show. Take a piece of paper and draw a horizontal line across it. Mark off five-minute increments, and then write in what the audience will be seeing during each of those increments. The first five minutes will probably be your introduction. The next 10, you might spend interviewing guest number one. The next 10, you might spend with guest number two. And then you’ll give a five-minute closing.
Do it!
Most of the cable companies that produce public access programs are used to working with people who aren’t experienced, and they can help you a lot.

Help them by making sure that you and your guests arrive on set early. Have an outline of the show for the director, so he understands what will be shot. Bring any props or other items you might need on the air. And if you’re going to be interviewing your guests, be prepared with a list of questions.

[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR's program for starting a business for under $100. Producing your own cable access show is just one method he teaches in his Cheapskate Marketing Program. Check out the details here.]

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The All-Time Best Way to Get (and Keep) a Customer

Saturday, April 26th, 2008

If you can’t sell your product or service, you don’t have a business. Plain and simple. So, as Michael Masterson has said in ETR and in Ready, Fire, Aim, your primary concern has to be making sales. Even if you have a good product or service – one that is in demand – you can’t force people to buy from you.

The customer has the advantage. And if she wants to ignore you and spend her money elsewhere, you can’t stop her. But what you can do is give her a reason to choose you over your competitors.

As a small-business owner, you don’t have a whole lot of business-building tools at your disposal. In terms of resources, a small business just can’t stand up to a mega-corporation. But you don’t need a lot of money or employees to find – and keep – customers. You just need a few easy-to-come-by strategies.

In fact, being small can actually work to your advantage when it comes to one of the all-time best strategies: establishing a relationship with each customer. It can:

Get the customer to trust you enough to take the chance of doing business with you that first time.
Build loyalty – so the customer wants to continue to buy from you rather than your competitors.
Get the customer to refer you to other potential customers.

You develop relationships with your customers the same way that you do it in your personal life. In big part, that means caring for them.

Think about the people you consider to be friends. Aren’t they people you genuinely care about – and who seem to genuinely care about you?

And think about your relationships with companies – big and small – that you deal with on a fairly regular basis

You must admit that it’s awfully hard to believe that the mega-corporations – General Motors, for example – care about you. They are nameless, faceless conglomerates. It’s a lot easier to believe that your local car salesman has a sincere interest in you. After all, he lives in your community. His kids go to school with your kids. You meet him face to face when you step into his dealership. That’s why, unlike General Motors, he can – if he chooses – establish real, caring long-term relationships with you and his other customers.

And that’s why you, too, will have any easy time proving to your customers that you are concerned about them and their problems… and that you’re there to help.

With blogs and social networking sites like MySpace and FaceBook, there are more ways than ever to communicate with your customers – and allow them to actually interact with you. You’ve been reading articles in ETR about how to use these new channels to increase your profitability (and will be reading more in the near future). Meanwhile, try this classic three-step method for establishing those all-important customer relationships:

1. Focus on a narrow niche market.

I publish informational programs for wannabe entrepreneurs who want to start up and run one or more businesses on a shoestring. Since I’m not trying to cater to all entrepreneurs, I can focus very specifically on what my customers want and need. Because it is obvious that I am devoting my time and energy to helping only people like them, it is clear that I sincerely care about their success.

Customers will believe that you genuinely care about them when they have a reasonable basis for that belief. By specializing in delivering a product or service that is aimed directly at them, you take an immediate step in that direction.

2. Take the time to understand your customers and their problems.

Only by putting yourself in your customers’ shoes – taking the time to figure out not only their wants and needs but also their worries, fears, and hopes – can you develop products or services that will truly help them.

When you do that – when you give them something that will make their lives better or easier in some way – you’re sending a very strong message that you care. This is especially true if you continue to develop new products or services for them.

I’ve got a catalog of about a dozen different programs that I offer my customers – covering a wide range of businesses they can get into with little capital or experience. That way, I’m able to give them exactly what they’re looking (and hoping) for.

3. Make your promotional messages personal.

Building close relationships with customers is all about communicating on a personal level (as it is with family and friends). That’s true of any direct contact you may have with your customers in person or over the phone – and it’s just as true of the indirect contact you have with them in your marketing materials.

Here are a few suggestions for making your sales copy more personal:

Write your sales message in a conversational tone, as if you’re talking to a friend. For example, instead of saying "This business program can help entrepreneurs earn substantial profits," say "You know that new car you’ve had your eye on? Well, check out this program. It will help you get it."
Share information about yourself. When people feel that they know you, they’re more inclined to trust you and want to do business with you.

In my marketing copy, I frequently admit what a slow starter I was… how I was in my late twenties and was pretty much broke before I started my first successful business. When my prospective customers hear things like that about me, they sympathize with what I went through. And that makes them feel closer to me.
Be honest. Say what you really think, not what you think your customers want to hear.

For instance, instead of sugarcoating my sales pitch, I come right out and tell my prospects to stop feeling sorry for themselves… to stop blaming their past failures on bad luck and, instead, to take responsibility for whether they will succeed or fail in the future. I’m sure that turns a lot of people off. But, hey, you can’t please everyone. And those who see things your way will become profoundly loyal to you – and rightfully so.

You can’t pretend to be someone you’re not. Your sincerity – or insincerity – will always shine through.

These three steps will help you quickly establish real rapport with your customers. And not only will they willingly pull out their credit cards to make that first purchase… they will be loyal customers for years.

[Ed. Note: Michael Masterson calls Paul Lawrence "the best guy in the business for starting a business on a shoestring." Paul is the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR's program for starting a business for under $100. He is also the publisher of the Street Smart Business program, which has dozens of "no nonsense" tactics for the small-business entrepreneur. Check out the details here.]

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Learning How to Fall

Saturday, April 12th, 2008

When I found that I could earn college credits by taking judo, I jumped at the chance. I’d been taking karate for a couple of years and I was pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. I was used to getting punched and kicked, so I figured judo wouldn’t be any big deal.

As I entered the first class, I felt pretty confident. The instructor gave me a hearty welcome and explained that judo was basically like wrestling. I paired up with a guy about my size and the instructor said to "give it a go." My opponent quickly grabbed me and flipped me over his back and onto the mat. The pain was excruciating. All I could do was lie there in shock. This sure wasn’t karate!

If I hadn’t needed the credits to graduate, I may never have gone back. But I did need the credits, so back I went. And in the next class, my instructor taught me something that changed the way I have since thought about all challenges – physical or mental, personal or business. He taught me how to land.

Landing in judo involves twisting and absorbing the impact of the fall in your leg and hip while slapping the mat with your hand. Do that, and it doesn’t hurt at all.

Once I knew how to protect myself by landing right, I lost my fear of being flipped. A few weeks later – despite being such a novice – I agreed to participate in a judo tournament. And because I was no longer afraid of getting flipped, I actually won a few matches.

It’s amazing how much self-assurance you can suddenly have when you know how to negate the risk of something that had seemed frightening. Of course, learning how to "land" is different depending on the challenge you’re facing. But as long as you know how to minimize the potential "pain," you can take on almost anything.

Here’s another example. When I first began doing stand-up comedy, I was terrified that people wouldn’t laugh at my jokes. My fears, it turns out, were well founded. I bombed the first time I performed my act in front of an audience. I was so bad, the crowd booed me off the stage. And the agony of that experience dwarfed any physical pain I’d ever felt.

Shortly thereafter, I began training with professional comics in a weekly workshop. There I learned that when you tell a joke that bombs, you’ve got to acknowledge it to the audience. They will usually laugh and be happy to give you another chance. So if I told a joke that got zero response, all I had to say to keep the audience on my side was, "Wow, I guess that joke sucked! It sure seemed funnier when I wrote it."

The technique worked. No longer afraid of trying out jokes that might tank, I became fearless onstage. (And I still am.)

Learning how to fall in both judo and comedy gave me massive courage where I had once been apprehensive. And this confidence-building technique applies in almost any challenging situation. I call it "The Antidote Strategy."

Being self-confident can help you get a job, win a new client, or get other people on your side. It can help you try a new hobby, lose weight, or even get a date. By developing an "Antidote Strategy," you can guarantee that you’ll be at your best when attempting to succeed at just about anything.

Here is how to put The Antidote Strategy to work:

* Identify the possible negative outcome of the challenge.

Let’s face it. A lot of things you could do that might help you become more successful are risky. Let’s say you’ve been working on a new project idea. And to show your boss how creative and innovative you are, you want to present the idea at the company’s next staff meeting. But you’re afraid.

So Step One of The Antidote Strategy is to determine exactly what it is that you are afraid of. Will you feel stupid if your idea is rejected? Will you be disappointed? Will you be embarrassed?

* Create or find a way to prevent that negative result.

Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Do some research. Chances are many other people have struggled with the same type of challenge and have come up with a good way to deal with it.

Let’s go back to our example. The experts I polled suggest a method similar to the one I use as a comic: self-deprecation. If your new project idea is ridiculed by your boss and co-workers, brush it off. You really can win people over by being humble – maybe even getting a laugh. So just smile and say something like, "You’re right. I guess that wasn’t one of my brighter ideas. But I’ve got more. You’ll be hearing from me again."

* No matter how scary the challenge you are faced with, remind yourself that you have nothing to fear. You are prepared. If the worst happens, you have an antidote.

A lack of confidence prevents many people from achieving their full potential and reaching their goals. But with your safety net in place, you’ll have a winning edge – the inner strength to take a chance and boldly "jump off buildings"… because you know you won’t get hurt.

[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR's program for starting a business for under $100. He is also the publisher of the Confidence: The Key to Riches program. Check out the details here.

You can achieve all your personal, social, financial, and business dreams with the help of ETR's Total Success Achievement program . Learn more here.]

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How to Produce an Expert Video When You’re Not an Expert

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

A few years ago, I suffered from terrible back pain. It was so bad that I was taking steroid injections and trying every other pain-relieving method I could find. Looking online, I discovered that millions of others were going through the same ordeal. That’s when I had a brainstorm: If I could find a way to rid myself of my own back pain… maybe I could create a little side business by helping other people get relief at the same time.

How was I going to do that? I had no idea.

Then one night I was talking to an acquaintance, Jamie K., about my back. It turned out that Jamie was a certified physical trainer – and she had some stretching techniques that she was sure would help me. She taught me a few of her stretches on the spot, and it felt good. After performing those stretches for just a few weeks, I felt noticeably better. And after a few months, I felt better than I had in years.

A light bulb went off in my head. I would produce an instructional video to help people use stretching to ease their back pain!

I’d already produced a successful ballroom dance instruction video, so I had experience doing it. And that video was pretty easy for me to make. After all, I’d been a dance teacher for years, so I was qualified to teach the material myself. I was totally unqualified to teach others how to do stretching exercises – but Jamie was the perfect person to do it.

That was the first instructional video where I hired an outside expert to be on camera. It turned out to be a bonanza that profited me over $5,000 within 48 hours of putting out my first ad. Three years later, I still regularly fill orders for that video.

Realizing I could use outside experts in my instructional videos opened up a whole new world of opportunity. I no longer had to stick with skills I was personally adept at.

My next video featured a very fit senior who had created his own exercise program for middle-aged and older men. That video brought in over $30,000 in 30 days.

Now you might think it costs an arm and a leg to hire an expert to star in your videos. Sure, if you asked Tiger Woods to star in a golfing video for you, you’d need to shell out big-time. But it can be surprisingly inexpensive. For instance, I paid Jamie only $100 to do the back-stretching video.

The instructional video business is an easy and fun way to make extra income. There’s a demand for how-to videos in just about every area of interest. So the opportunity to make money is practically unlimited – especially when you realize you don’t have to star in your videos yourself.

Here are some guidelines to help you…

* Choose a subject that you believe will fill a need in the marketplace.

Like I said, there’s a demand for videos in almost every area of interest. Just be sure the market isn’t too obscure. Let’s say you want to produce a video teaching people how to do magic tricks. Based on the fact that there are plenty of books and videos on the subject, you could guess that the market would be large enough for you to earn a reasonable profit. On the other hand, a video that teaches people how to identify the nest of the North American Spotted Owl would appeal to too small a market. You might find a handful of customers, but not enough to make the venture worthwhile.

* Figure out what you’re going to pay your expert.

When I was working with Jamie, she was employed by a spa where she made $15 an hour. I offered her $25 an hour for the time it took to shoot the video, which made her quite happy. But if, for example, you wanted to hire a lawyer to be your expert, you’d probably need to pay quite a bit more.

You can also go the royalty route by offering your expert a low upfront payment as well as a percentage of the video’s sales. This is often the better deal for both sides. It keeps your out-of-pocket costs down, and eases any worries he may have that he’ll get a piddling amount for his time… and then your video will wind up selling 100,000 copies.

I’ve found that offering a royalty of something like $1 per sale is usually well received. Even if your video ends up selling only 500 or 1,000 copies, your expert would still be getting a pretty good deal for a few hours’ work.

* Recruit your expert.

I’ve had a good deal of success advertising on Craig’s List for a variety of different experts. Those who responded to my ads were all well-qualified and willing to work for a reasonable fee.

You can also find experts in special-interest chat rooms on the Internet, via local newspaper classifieds, or sometimes through simple word of mouth.

* Get an agreement in writing.

I’m not an attorney, so I’m not able to offer you legal advice. But I can tell you that having a contract in writing is a good way to protect yourself and your experts. In my contracts, I always spell out very clearly what the compensation will be. In fact, I write in big, bold letters that this is the only compensation the expert will be getting and that no other promises have been made. My agreements also include a statement that says I own the full rights to the video, and can do whatever I please with it. And I include a clause that says I’m allowed to use the expert’s image, name, and material in any way I choose to promote the video.

You can find templates for contracts in the library or online that you can adapt to your purposes. But if you want to be sure you are fully covered, you should consider having an attorney write up a contract for you. Yes, this may cost a pretty penny. But you can use the same basic contract for every expert, so the cost won’t be that great in the long run.

Producing specialty videos is one of the best low-capital businesses you can get into. And by using outside experts, there is almost no limit to the number of subjects or markets you can appeal to.

[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR’s program for starting a business for under $100. Learn more of Paul’s video-business secrets HERE.

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The Power of Price

Saturday, March 15th, 2008

When I was in college, I was desperate to find a way to make some money. And I wasn’t crazy about the idea of working at the usual part-time, minimum-wage jobs available to students. So I came up with a business plan and put it into action. One hot summer day found me trudging from door to door, passing out flyers and praying that I would get some customers from the effort.

By the time I returned home, I’d received my first inquiries. And those quickly resulted in my first customers. Within a week, I had a business that was earning more money than I needed. Within a year, that business earned over $100,000 in profits. Not bad for a college kid living at home with his mom!

That first successful start-up was a pool service. Since then, I’ve launched more than a dozen very profitable small businesses. When I analyze what made those businesses successful, I can pinpoint several reasons. But my pool service was successful because of one business strategy: price.

I got people’s attention by offering a monthly rate that was 20 percent lower than the competition. On top of that, I had an introductory "special."

Michael Masterson says that underpricing the competition may be "the most important secret a businessman can know, for it is the most powerful and most reliable way to make a small business grow." It’s also one of the best ways to enter a market and grab a share of the customer base.

When it comes to consumer merchandising, a small business can’t compete with giants like Wal-Mart. But a new service business can usually offer a better price than larger established companies providing the same service. That’s primarily because a small start-up can keep overhead low and sometimes accept a smaller profit margin. So if you can operate your small service business out of your back bedroom, without hiring a lot of employees or needing a lot of fancy equipment, you can almost certainly afford to underprice the competition.

But just because you enter the market with the lowest price in town doesn’t mean you stay there forever. For example, one of my entrepreneurial ventures later in my career was a ballroom dance instruction business. When I entered the market, I was a one-man operation, and I offered lessons at $29 when most studios charged $60. Sure, I made less money per lesson, but it was still pretty good money for me at the time. And once I had a nice little client base, I gradually inched up to the going market rate. That allowed me to hire other instructors to teach the lessons… and freed up my time to develop additional sources of income.

I already had considerable experience as a ballroom dancer – and teacher – before I decided to go into business for myself. But with the pool service business, the only "skill" I needed was the willingness to do the work. So let’s go back to that example so I can show you how well the underpricing strategy works.

Here in South Florida, where I live, the average monthly rate for pool service is about $65. In this particular industry, an account is generally worth six times the monthly gross. So an average pool account would be worth $390.

But let’s say you decided to get into the business by undercutting the competition by $15 a month. That means your average account would be worth $300. That’s a difference of just $90. Would you be willing to give up $90 a month to get a loyal, long-term customer?

And you’d only have to give up that $90 for the first six months. I can tell you from experience that if you do a good job of servicing your pool customers for six months and then raise your price by $15, at least 95 percent won’t drop you. In fact, most of them will feel that they got a bargain, because they enjoyed a very low price for a reasonable period of time. It’s not like you low-balled them and then jacked up the price right away.

And, let’s not forget that you were still making money on all those initial $50 accounts… just not as much.

Here’s how to use this strategy to start a small service business:

* Identify a service business where you see a chance to compete on price

Some of the easiest service businesses to get into are house cleaning, lawn maintenance, exterminating, and car washing. Services like these are often offered by big operations that have been in business a long time. But they tend to have big overheads, and aren’t hungry for new business, so their prices are somewhat inflated. Crunch the numbers and see if you can offer the same level of service at a better price.

* Create a marketing campaign that emphasizes the price savings

Whatever advertising medium you choose, make sure the discounted price is mentioned prominently. For the pool service business, I used flyers and direct-mail pieces. But for the ballroom dance business, I started with classified ads in newspapers and the local Yellow Pages.

A good way to emphasize the savings is to show how it adds up over time. For instance, in the pool business, I didn’t just tell prospective customers that they’d be saving $15 a month, I pointed out that they’d be saving $90 over six months.

One thing to keep in mind: Make sure your customers know they won’t be getting a lower standard of service from you. Explain that you can provide high-quality service with a lower price because, for example, you’re doing the work yourself and have practically no overhead.

* Be ready to begin operations immediately

When you launch a marketing campaign that offers a greatly discounted price, you can expect to get customers ready to do business with you in as little as a few hours. So make sure you’re prepared. Providing the promised service efficiently (and well) will assure your profitability.

[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR's program for starting a business for under $100. He is also the publisher of the Street Smart Business program, which has dozens of "no nonsense" tactics for the small-business entrepreneur. Check out the details here.]

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A Small-Business Success Formula

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Stuart and I clinked glasses, toasting our upcoming success. It was New Year’s Eve about 20 years ago. My entrepreneurial career had just begun. I was a college student living at home with my mom. I didn’t have much money, but I felt good about the $500 each of us had just invested.

About six weeks later, we’d lost our precious money.

We’d been suckered into investing in a poor business idea. The idea? Buying the rights to distribute video memberships where customers could rent videos through the mail for 35 cents. It sounded good, but there were a couple of catches. For one thing, the customer had to purchase an expensive membership. For another, the customer had to pay an exchange fee on every transaction. (Details that weren’t included in the sales literature we saw.)

Eventually, I picked myself up from the disappointment of that first business failure. But several other failures followed. And they all fit the same general pattern: Identifying a product that seemed great, trying to sell it, and then discovering it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

For the longest time, I couldn’t see what I was doing wrong. In fact, it took me several years before I figured it out and made a major change in the way I did business. That single change had an enormous effect on my success as an entrepreneur. By implementing it, I was able to create a string of profitable small businesses.

What I’m talking about here is a strategy I call the F.A.N. ("Fill A Need") Formula.

What I had been doing was first coming up with the product or service to sell, and then going out into the marketplace to see if anyone would buy it. But with the F.A.N. Formula, I first studied the marketplace to look for customer needs that were not being met. Only if I discovered a hole would I create or find something and try to sell it.

And it’s not hard. You don’t have to come with revolutionary new ideas. Sometimes you can find a need for a "bread and butter" type of business that just has to be tweaked a bit to make it stand out from the competition.

My first successful business was a pool maintenance service. I was cleaning my mom’s pool when a neighbor peeked over the fence and said, "Hey! You’re doing a good job!" Then he started complaining about how expensive and unreliable his pool company was.

A light bulb went off over my head. I realized that there was a big need right there in my own neighborhood. And where there is a need, there is an opportunity for an entrepreneur to make money.

I printed up some flyers advertising my "reliable pool cleaning services at good prices," and began distributing them. Within hours of posting the first ones, my phone was ringing. This led to what eventually became a six-figure business… a nice accomplishment for a college student with no capital.

Later in my entrepreneurial career, I became interested in the ballroom dance industry. While working in a dance studio, I discovered two holes in the market. First, virtually every dance studio in the area aggressively sold "packages" and persuaded clients to learn all the dances. Second, I noticed that it was hard for many busy people to make the time to get into the studio.

So I came up with the idea of "pay as you go" lessons. People didn’t have to buy a package, and they could learn only the dance or dances they were interested in. Plus, they didn’t have to come to a studio. They could take the lessons at home.

My approach was so novel that several major metropolitan newspapers did feature stories about me. (Free publicity!) And the business took off. I was soon earning $40,000-$50,000 a year with it. And since I was only working that business part-time, I was able to develop other businesses simultaneously.

Applying the F.A.N. Formula to Your Own Ventures

Here’s how to start a business with the F.A.N. Formula:

1. Pay careful attention to markets that interest you. Then search out information about customer needs that aren’t being served efficiently.

Keep your eyes open. Just look around for things that annoy YOU. Keep your ears open too. You can sometimes hear about a need that’s not being met straight from a disgruntled customer. (That’s what got me started on my pool cleaning service.) You should also read local newspapers, particularly stories about consumer problems. And articles in national magazines can help you identify trends that could inspire you to come up with a business idea.

2. Once you’ve pinpointed a need in the market, figure out how you can fill it. What will your product or service offer? How will it benefit the customer?

My dance instruction business had three main selling points:

No contracts to sign or packages to buy
Learn only the dances you’re interested in
Convenient, private in-home lessons available

3. Evaluate the feasibility of the business.

Just because you see a need for the product or service you intend to offer doesn’t mean you can sell it profitably. Sometimes, the reason nobody is doing it is because there’s not enough of a market for it. So crunch the numbers first.

With my pool cleaning business, I figured out that by being a "no frills" operator with little overhead I could undercut the competition by about 20 percent. And I found that I could still make an acceptable profit even if I hired other people to do the work.

Operating your own small business is rewarding in many ways. It offers you job security. (You’ll never be afraid of a boss letting you go.) It’s a good way to accumulate wealth. And it allows you to spend your days doing something you can enjoy and be proud of. By using the F.A.N. Formula, your odds of success will increase exponentially. Try it.

[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR's program for starting a business for under $100. The F.A.N. Formula is just one of the techniques Paul teaches in his "Smallbiz Rocket Launcher Program." Check out the details here.]

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You’re Just 3 Steps Away From Your New Business

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

I’m willing to bet that one goal you have for this year is to become wealthier than you are right now. If you’ve been paying attention to Michael Masterson’s advice, you know that means starting your own business – which, says Michael, is " one of the best (or possibly the best) ways of growing wealthy."

Well, what’s stopping you?

Starting your own business may sound like an overwhelming task – but, like every worthwhile goal, it can be broken down into manageable parts. In fact, I’m going to show you how to do it in three simple steps.

The important thing is to take action. Instead of just dreaming about starting your own business, do it! Don’t worry about the details, just come up with a sensible overall plan and get your business off the ground. You can go back and fine-tune it later. As Michael says, "Ready, Fire, Aim."

I have helped start dozens of small businesses. And all of them were the result of combining Michael’s Ready, Fire, Aim philosophy with my own three-step approach.

Here’s how it works…

Step 1. Identify something that people want and will pay for.

One of the most common stumbling blocks for aspiring entrepreneurs is deciding on a product or service to market. The primary consideration is to choose something that people will buy. And the easiest way to do that is to go with something that other people are already selling successfully.

Ideally, that will be something you love and/or know a lot about. For instance, if you’re an accountant, you could create and sell programs about how people can prepare their taxes, how they can make a household budget, and how they can find hidden tax deductions. Or, if you’ve always loved animals, you could sell pet toys, treats, and accessories.

If you have trouble coming up with a likely product or service based on your own interests and/or expertise, choose a relatively simple service that’s in high demand. A house cleaning service, for example, or bookkeeping, lawn mowing, resume writing, or house painting. The possibilities are almost endless.

Step 2. Find a way to supply it.

This step just requires a bit of business common sense. If you’re selling a service, you would either supply the service yourself or hire someone else to do it (or help you). If, for example, you’ve decided to go into the moving business, you don’t have to be capable of handling furniture yourself. Simply hire a few people who can do heavy lifting and either buy or rent a truck.

If you’re selling a product, you would ideally seek out suppliers that can provide you with merchandise at a low enough price for you to be able to make a profit. But that usually means buying in volume – which may not work for you when you’re just starting out. Let’s say you’d like to sell bookshelves. In this case, it might make more sense for you to get your business going by buying the lumber and building the shelves yourself (or hiring someone to build them for you).

Step 3. Sell it to the people who want it.

I’m a big believer in direct marketing for small start-up businesses. It’s a relatively inexpensive way to get your marketing message to prospective customers via e-mail, regular mail, ads in local papers, or even flyers distributed door to door.

Let’s say you want to start a housekeeping service. You’d identify a few affluent neighborhoods where the homeowners could, presumably, afford maids. Then you’d target them with either flyers or small mailers.

Or suppose you want to start a business where you take people on charter fishing boat trips. You’ll be marketing primarily to tourists, so you’d work on getting yourself listed in local tourist guides and maybe advertise on a few bus benches in your city’s hotel district. If you decide to go after locals too, you could contact local fishing clubs and see if you can rent their membership lists to do a mailing. You might also make a deal with local bait shops to distribute your flyers.

Obviously, starting and running a successful business requires time, energy, and effort. Still, when you break down the process, it’s just three simple steps:

Identify something that people want and will pay for.
Find a way to supply it.
Sell it to the people who want it.

If you really want to run your own business, it’s time to take action. Just think – by this time next year, you could be living your dream.

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3 Ways to Cash In on Public Speaking

Thursday, September 20th, 2007

In March, I spent four hours giving two seminars at the Learning Annex in Los Angeles – and I walked away with about $2,000 in my pocket. Since I needed to be in Los Angeles anyway for other business, that money is what I would call "gravy."

It’s "gravy," because it was extra money that I picked up by speaking about subjects I’m very knowledgeable about and actually like discussing – so it only took me about an hour to prepare for both seminars. And, frankly, if I hadn’t been presenting those seminars, I would’ve just been trying to find some way to kill time before my meetings the next day. So, it was like found money.

Though I "only" made about $500 an hour for that gig at the Learning Annex, I’ve personally seen top speakers earn as much as $10,000 an hour when you combine their speaking fees with their profits from "back-end" sales – products or services they sell to people attending their presentations.

And speaking offers an additional income opportunity. In fact, as a direct result of my two Learning Annex seminars, I expect to earn an additional $15,000 this year (half of which I’ve already pocketed). This amount of money certainly isn’t a fortune, but it’s a nice piece of change that I’m picking up with little effort.

Here’s how…

One of the seminars I gave was on the art of direct-mail copywriting. This is a craft that I’ve been fortunate enough to become well schooled in as a result of completing AWAI’s basic copywriting program and masters program. Since completing these programs, I’ve had the chance to earn a nice six-figure income in the direct-mail business over the last few years.

At the end of my seminar on copywriting, two attendees approached me and asked if they could possibly hire me for some copywriting projects for their businesses. While they both felt they had learned a lot from my presentation, they realized they weren’t going to be able to get the results they needed for their respective businesses just from what they learned by listening to me for a couple of hours. I gave them my contact information and invited them to get in touch whenever they were ready to do business.

Since then, both have contacted me to procure my services as a copywriter. And one of them has become a steady repeat client.

This is not the first time I’ve spoken on a subject and had people want to hire me after the presentation. After a seminar I did on screenwriting, for example, an attendee asked me to help him with his scripts. I picked up a quick $5,000 from this gentleman – something I did not expect to happen when I agreed to do the presentation.

Aside from all the money you can make, there some other really attractive reasons to get into speaking as a business:

You can speak about a subject you love – turning just about any type of expertise into a business.
You can start the business with virtually no capital.
You can easily do it part-time.

To start a business that can help you find new clients in addition to earning speaking fees and profits from back-end sales, take the following steps:

1. Determine a skill you have that is in high demand in the marketplace – one that people in your audience might be interested in hiring you for in the future.

Some subjects make perfect topics for seminars or other speaking engagements – and can earn you income via speaking fees and back-end sales – but might not generate much income from people who want to hire you afterward.

For example, if you are an expert at preparing very economical and delicious family dinners, there’s an excellent chance that you could attract an audience of people who want to learn how to prepare those meals. And there is the potential for back-end sales to them with such products as recipe books or instructional videos. But it’s unlikely that people who are interested in creating economical meals would want to hire you to cook for them.

On the other hand, if you were giving a lecture on how to catch more bass in the Everglades, you could likely attract a good paying audience and also sell them various back-end products … fishing lures, videos, and maps, for example. Plus, it’s likely that some of the attendees would want to hire you to guide them on a fishing expedition. And it’s just as likely that they would be willing to pay you a lucrative fee for providing such a service.

2. Create a curriculum that will sound attractive to potential attendees and provide them with a valuable learning experience.

To market your seminar, you need to spell out exactly what the attendees will learn. And to get your attendees to want to hire you after the event, you must prove to them that you are a knowledgeable expert and have solid skills that would benefit them. So you want to make sure you provide high-quality information with real value during every speech you give.

3. Market your speaking business to people who will be interested in hiring you.

Your speaking business can go one of two ways: A third party can hire you to do the presentation or you can produce the event yourself.

Which third parties should you approach? That depends on your subject matter. A place like the Learning Annex, for example, offers hundreds of courses on business and all sorts of lifestyle subjects. So if you are an expert in something like Internet marketing or Zen meditation, the Learning Annex could be one third party you’d want to market your presentation to. But if you are an expert in urban planning and engineering, the Learning Annex won’t be for you. You might be better off contacting industry organizations or large engineering firms.

If you want to produce your own speaking events, you’ll need to get your message to prospective attendees directly. Again, the nature of your subject will determine how you’ll go about promoting it. If you want to give a seminar on how small-business owners can save on taxes, a direct mailing to a list of small-business owners in your area could be very effective. If you want to give a seminar on improving back pain through yoga, you might advertise in local general-interest publications or consider partnering with another business that has a client/customer list of likely attendees – like a chiropractor – instead.

A speaking business can be a full-time business that can generate an income as high as six or seven figures… or it can be a side business you run on weekends that brings in extra cash and additional clients for your primary business. Either way, if you have a skill or knowledge that others would be willing to pay to learn, a great new business awaits you.

[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is a produced screenwriter, direct-mail copywriter, and business author. He is also the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR’s program for starting a business for under $100. Learn how to make as much as $500 to $5,000 an hour just by talking about a subject you love by clicking here.]

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YouTube Can Bring Video Profits

Thursday, July 26th, 2007

I wanted to buy a how-to video for a partner-dance called the West Coast Swing, so I went to Google and did a search. As you’d expect, I instantly found 2,480,000 results, including quite a few sites that looked like they might have the professional-level show dancing that I was looking for.

What you wouldn’t expect was that a number of those websites were actually extension pages for YouTube.com.

Unless you’ve had your head buried in the sand for the past few years, you’ve probably heard of YouTube. It’s a website where anyone can post a video on almost any subject and make it available for the world to view.

At one end of the YouTube spectrum, you’ll find videos posted by silly teenagers to show off their pranks and shenanigans. At the other end, you’ll find serious "audition" videos posted by folks who are hoping to break into the entertainment industry. I know of many struggling actors/dancers/singers/comics who posted a video that became wildly popular – and, as a result, wound up with a deal with a major network or studio.

Based on my own experience, I can tell you that YouTube also has the potential to turn producing instructional or specialty videos into a fun and very profitable business for you. In my first video venture (where I was a partner), we began with under $100. Now, 10 years later, that business still makes over $250,000 annually.

If you are an expert in almost any field, you can produce a video to teach others some of what you know. You can star in your own video – or, if you’re camera shy, hire someone else. One of my most profitable videos features a certified exercise trainer teaching back stretches.

Almost anything that people might be interested in – from cooking to fishing to chess – can be a possible subject for your video. All you’ve got to do is produce it, market it, and reap the profits.

That’s where YouTube comes in. This free Internet phenomenon is a perfect marketing tool for instructional videos.

When I was searching for that West Coast Swing video, I assumed I would find a site where I could buy one. But, on a lark, I decided to take a look at some of the YouTube postings.

To my surprise, I found some excellent footage of the kind of thing I was looking for. Several of the postings had links to websites where I could then buy the full-length video. And because I’d seen samples of the material, I was confident that those videos would have what I wanted, so I ordered one.

It didn’t take me more than another 10 minutes to realize that I could be using YouTube to promote some of my own videos. I have several – including a basic instructional ballroom dance video – that I market. I posted a clip from that video on YouTube and, to my pleasant surprise, it immediately started getting views… and a few sales.

I don’t expect to get an avalanche of sales from this marketing strategy, but I do believe it will continue to be a steady source of extra income for me. Sweetest of all, these sales cost me nothing. There are no pay-per-click fees or profit-sharing deals. All the profits from YouTube-driven sales are mine to keep.

If the idea of using YouTube to market instructional or specialty videos interests you, here’s how you do it:

1. Go to YouTube.com.

2. Register yourself, and create a user name and passcode.

3. Upload a clip of your video. (YouTube provides easy-to-follow instructions. I did it myself – and I’m not very Internet savvy.)

4. List some keywords or search terms that are applicable to your video.

5. On your profile, write a little something about your credentials and put in a live link to your website (so interested viewers can learn more or buy the video).

Using YouTube as a marketing tool is a fabulous way to earn some extra cash. Take a few minutes to try it out and see how it works for you.

[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is a produced screenwriter, direct-mail copywriter, and business author. He is also the creator of the Learn more of Paul’s video-business secrets HERE.]

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Paul Lawrence's Newsletters

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Making $10,000 in a Weekend With One Fun and Easy Venture

Quick Tip: Egos Can Help You Sell Out Your Event

The Power of Who You Know

A $5 Trick for Collecting What You’re Owed

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A Free Way to Come Up in Google’s Top 10

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Issue# 2438 Break Out of the Crowd to Get Free Publicity

How I Increased My Profits By 1,000%

Get Rich With Rights

An Unusual Way to Make a Fortune With Service Businesses

Attact Customers Cheaply With the S.I.A. Marketing Method

Give Your Prospects a Taste, Get More Sales

Persuade People With Deductive Reasoning

The Truth About the Vending Business

Does It Take Money to Make Money?

The All-Time Best Way to Get (and Keep) a Customer

Learning How to Fall

How to Produce an Expert Video When You’re Not an Expert

The Power of Price

A Small-Business Success Formula

You’re Just 3 Steps Away From Your New Business

3 Ways to Cash In on Public Speaking

YouTube Can Bring Video Profits

Make $250,000+ a Year … With Your Video Camera

The No-Contacts, No-Experience Guide to Hollywood

Raising Capital for Small Business Ventures

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