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In Seth Godin’s insightful book “Free Prize Inside / Purple Cow”, I’ve once again arrived at a conclusion I’ve come to many times before regarding success. This conclusion can perhaps be marketed to be a “success secret” of some sort, eBooks and reports can be written about it, video and audio discussions can be created about it, and all of these would generate traffic and be popular conversation builders.

The conclusion OR secret OR whatever YOU choose to call it is that success is found by those who have three essential qualities. Though certain case studies may show that individuals possessed other attributes as well, the three I’m about to mention are universal and absolutely necessary.

The three success attributes are:

1. Leadership
2. Uniqueness
3. Vision

To define and dig deeper, let’s look at each individually.

Leadership – People want someone to look up to and follow, hence the term and way of life for most in our culture, “Follow the leader.” How, you ask, does one become a leader? Declare yourself one. That’s all, see yourself as a leader and from that point forward make decisions and act like a leader. It’s a choice really: Do you want to take direction or determine the direction that’s taken?

Uniqueness – In Godin’s book he uses “Purple Cow” to refer to a product that is remarkable…it stands out from the crowd. This goes hand-in-hand with leadership. You must make decisions to be different, to be better, more memorable, etc. Whatever your uniqueness, you’ll be lauded and applauded for it, worst case you’ll have critics…any of these cases are better than being ignored. “Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.” –Goethe

Vision – To make it all come together, you must have the foresight to look beyond where you are right here and now. Beyond the potential of an affiliate program, network marketing distributorship, or joint venture. These things are just the beginning…develop an empire…it all starts with an idea. Be in the moment, but anticipate and plan for the future, and always set your goals and standards higher than what you believe to be possible. No one who’s ever pushed the bounds of possibility has aimed too low.
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Mike Filsaime, whom I consider a friend and most definitely a mentor, was once telling me about creating “buttons.” What he meant by this is similar to Staple’s Easy Button — The idea that as business owners and entrepreneurs, we should provide our consumers with solutions that are push button simple.

For instance, don’t just give the customer a fish…instead, give them a light-weight, high-quality fishing rod, a heavily populated lake, a grill, fire, lemon, butter, other fresh seasonings that will make the fish taste delicious, an easy to follow series of Camtasia videos that walk them through using all the things you just gave him to catch and make a delicious fish dinner, instructions on how to watch the videos, a support line or helpdesk in case there are any questions, and then on top of that, offer to cook the fish for them if they’d rather not learn how to fish themselves, and also offer all of the above for some great side dishes and dessert!

Buttons…not just products or services. Make sense? It does to me, and that’s what I’ve tried to do with my latest site, iBizTraining.com. I’ve tried to put all the pieces together for online business newbies so they can do the equivalent of cooking up a delicious gourmet dinner.

The site will launch on November 6th, and I invite you to check it out. It is free to join and I hope you find it to be a button!

“The way you treat others is a direct reflection of how you feel about yourself.” To be honest, I don’t know who originally said it, but I quote this saying quite often. It is, in a roundabout kinda way, the law of attraction at work. Actually, it’s the result of the law of attraction…and the cause of the law of attraction… it’s all the same.

The point is that what you put out in the world in the form of Energy, comes back to you in a similar form of Energy. How does this have anything to do with online business and Internet marketing? Everything!

Take viral marketing for instance. To give a specific example, let’s take a YouTube video that gets forwarded around amongst friends. If you put out a YouTube video to promote your product, service or good, the most import element in that video is your Energy, because once you go on camera, the viewer is looking to YOU for encouragement — if they first pick up on a positive, warm, good Energy. Otherwise, the viewer will want to shoot you down or find a hole in your argument from the start. YouTube marketing is becoming one of the most powerful forms of Internet Relationship Marketing to date.

So, then how do you vibrate at a level that is Attractive? Well, consider marketing on the basis of VALUE…truly show others the value in what you’re promoting, how it will benefit THEM, without thinking of you. This is different than the typical marketer who is thinking about their benefit first and foremost (the sale). Believe, get excited, see the value in your product or service.

Along the way, of course you’ll want to inject some mental triggers to get them to take action or to create some influence (in plain language, you’ll use some marketing tactics ), but ultimately convey the real value for your customers. But first, the belief in the value must start with you.

In any sport, discipline or art, fundamentals are always stressed, even at the highest levels. Why is it then, that we don’t hold the same regard for fundamentals in the world of online business?

By over-hyping opportunities, placing too much emphasis on automated processes and making everything seem so incredibly fool-proof, as marketers we’re not only setting up others for failure, but ourselves, as well, in the long run.

Completely missing, is an emphasis on the fundamentals of doing business online. Whether it be affiliate marketing, network marketing, reselling, eBay or some other business model, there are foundational basics that must be mastered for success, with no exception. Completely lost is guidance on how to choose a good model, how to generate free and natural traffic, how to structure and protect our assets, how to choose and penetrate a niche…I can go on and on.

On November 6, 2007, I’ll be launching a training system that addresses these shortcomings that plague our industry. iBizTraining.com will act as a free boot camp for aspiring online business people or those who need a boost. We’ll go back to basics, correct habits and start from a fresh perspective.

Let begin to be honest with ourselves, our prospects and our customers. We’ll all benefit from it in the long run…and remember, if you want to make a real living working from home with an online business, our discipline is a marathon, not a sprint.

In the immortal words of Willy Wonka, as portrayed by Gene Wilder, “Wait, strike that, reverse it!”

With the pre-launch of my newest (and most exciting) service looming this weekend — iBizTraining.com/October 20, 2007, and subsequent launch on November 6, 20007 — I’m looking for ways to maximize my time and check, double check, test, retest and do as much quality control at the new site as humanly possible.

For that reason, I’ve been fairly silent here, but after 10/20, I’m going to be back, full-time in a big way!

My coaching practice is growing and I’m elated with all the progress and success we’ve had. iBizTraining.com will be the cornerstone of what I do on the web, so I invite you to check it out, come Saturday, October 20, 2007. It is a free comprehensive training resource for anyone looking to build a successful online business. I’ve basically taken all of my experience and that of my partners, put what you need to know, warned you what to watch out for, and have give you some inside tips onto dramatically improving your learning curve, so you can achieve lasting success with an Internet business a lot quicker than you would have on your own.

I encourage you to join the teleseminar I’ll be featured on this weekend to promote the pre-launch campaign. It will give you more insight and also allude to some other exciting things to come. You can join via telephone or the web. Details can be found at: www.smartincome.biz

So I received another email from my new favorite hype-marketer, Juan. At the end of his over-the-top message, he said, “So call me!” I intend on doing that to pick his brain a little, see how he’s been doing with his biz opp and also find out how he got my email address. Don’t worry, I’ll be nice.  ;)  What I ultimately intend on doing is to persuade him to use some alternate methods rather than spam, such as video.

There’s no doubt that video will be the norm for any iBiz in the very near future. Problem for independent marketers is that many don’t realize how easy it is to use video. One of the coolest video sites out there is FreeIQ.com.

FreeIQ’s tagline is, “The Marketplace for Ideas.” This is what differentiates it from YouTube, Google Video, or the rest. FreeIQ is where you go for good information, or to upload good information and is the brainchild of Brad Fallon, the coolest guy on the planet (do a Google search…it’s actually an SEO experiment he’s been doing, and I see that he’s actually fallen to become the second coolest guy on the planet…lol.)

Below is a video of Brad at Mike Filsaime’s 2007 Figure Business event from earlier in the year. He explains more about Free IQ. BTW, the video is 90 minutes, but well worth every second. Brad is, without a doubt, one of the best Internet marketers around. (P.S. I paid over $500 for a 20 set DVD series that included the video below, and this is one of the very best sessions. So consider this my gift to you.)

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If you’ve been actively involved in Internet Marketing over the past year or so, you’ve undoubtedly heard of, seen, or read about Eben Pagan in one way or another. During this time, he and his company, Get Altitude, LLC. have been all over the place, with some of the best entrepreneurial training and advice available.

A few weeks back while at the Authority Summit in Las Vegas, I was having lunch with Dave Lakhani (a genius in his own right) and a few others who were in attendance, and Eben’s name came up. Turns out, Eben is a friend of Dave’s and he was telling us about Altitude’s upcoming event. I was sitting with some of the brightest minds in the Internet Marketing world, and we all agreed that this guy is an absolute phenom. It was at that moment that I realized that I probably wasn’t the only one who had been feverishly taking notes while watching his YouTube videos.

And I thought Eben was my discovery!

I encourage you to watch his series of videos titled, “Keys to Success”, (beginning with part one shown above). They’re interesting, enlightening and dead on. Eben is a dynamo and his material is a fabulous place to start if you’re looking to significantly grow your business, no matter where you’re at right now.

I’ve always maintained that persistence is one of the most evasive keys to success for most, because many do not have the wherewithal to persist through adversity, through challenge, through fatigue and all else that comes with the entrepreneurial lifestyle. The read I’m linking to below just solidifies my belief in this.

On top of persistence, entrepreneurs also need to take ACTION! They can be patient about processes, testing and strategy, but not about getting started. You have to jump right in, learn as you go, make changes on the fly. The truth remains that taking the first step is the biggest challenge.

Enjoy the story below, as there are always lessons to be learned. Remember, success leaves clues!

Cerner co-founder Illig says persistence key to entrepreneurship

Today is the first gathering of my personal mastermind group. I anticipate great things from having a group of intelligent, fun, professional and just plain good people to bounce ideas off of. In preparation for this meeting I did some research on mastermind groups. Listed below is one that I found to be captivating. Enjoy!

During the early 1900`s 6 men in Chicago formed a Mastermind Group. These men put Chicago on the map. When these 6 started their Mastermind, which later became known as the CHICAGO6, none of them had any money. They met every Saturday at a local restaurant over dinner,
and after a very few years each one was worth several millions of dollars (at a time when that was a lot of money!).

One was Charles Wrigley, who created the Wrigley`s Chewing Gum empire. Another was William Hertz, who built the Yellow Cab Company. Their businesses were started and succeeded with the great help of their Mastermind Alliance.

Have you ever been in a situation in a social setting with friends of friends who didn’t really know you? Sometimes this can be a great place to make new friends and engage in interesting conversation, but have you ever experienced this type setting where you wanted to contribute to a conversation, but you weren’t really heard because you were viewed as an outsider? Frustrating, isn’t it. Especially if the topic of conversation was something that you’re well-versed on, or have an incredible story to tell.

The reason this happens goes back to basic social dynamics such as rapport, credibility, familiarity and expertise. Perhaps in that social setting, your good friend who invited you chimes in to end your frustration to mention how you have a great story while that fits right into the situation.

But who can do this for you in the online business setting? No one can and no one will, only you can position yourself as a familiar, credible, approachable subject matter expert.

Wondering how…well, the best way is through having immediately available (because we have to respect the immediate nature of the web) resources that position you as that knowledgeable and recognized party.

Perhaps the best way to do this is by having your own info products. Through books, audios and videos that showcase your know-how, talents, passions and experiences, your audience will gather around the table to listen to what you have to say, rather than you trying to interrupt the conversation from the outside to interject your two cents.

This best applies to small business owners, professional service providers, affiliate marketers, resellers and network marketers, since each of these type of business people could all use a voice and a competitive advantage.