E4, and then another E4! Hooray for the American League! The game isn’t quite over but it might as well be. Poor Dan Uggla of the Florida Marlins made two huge errors and it looks like the AL will win the All Star game and have home field advantage in the World Series.

I know, this has nothing to do with online marketing or building an online business, but it’s one thing I have a passion for so I’d thought I’d share my feelings.

The drama, however, there are now two outs and the bases are still loaded; we’ll see what happens.

UPDATE: the game continues - somehow the NL got out of a bases loaded no out jam to get to the 11th inning.

Another UPDATE: Yes, Uggla had one more error before the night was over, although the ball took a bad hop. Yes, I did stay up until the bottom of the 15th inning to watch one of the longest All Star Games in Major League Baseball history, and YES, the American League did finally win (although I thought they got some bad calls on the play at home and on the steal of 2nd earlier in the extra-inning episode.) What this all means is that my Yankees will now get home field advantage in the World Series!

Staring an Online Business Tip:

How can this whole article tie in with what you are doing with your new online business? Always remember, writing about things your passionate about is always going to be a lot easier than trying to re-invent the wheel and learn a completely new industry. As an online business owner, you either need to like writing or hire someone who can write for you: your main way to communicate with visitors is via “sales copy”.

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I found this really cool picture while doing my daily Stumbling. If you haven’t already, I recommend you set up a StumbleUpon account and use it to build your online reputation. One thing I’m attempting to do more of is find cool stuff like this that can help my clients realize that building a business is fun, it’s exciting, and there are NO RULES on how it has to be done. Just because your friend, family member, or whoever says it can’t be done doesn’t mean they’re right.

As I think back to the first few days, weeks, and months of my dance bags and clogging shoes website, I remember some of the initial reactions I received about my ideas: “A clogging and dance website - how you going to make money with that?” or “No one’s going to buy shoes online without trying them on first.” or “What’s clogging?” This could have really had an effect on my decision but thank goodness it didn’t or I wouldn’t be sitting here at 11:50 p.m.

The best part about getting negative feedback like that to me is thinking: “I’ll prove you ALL wrong - watch me succeed!” I know certain people who doubted my ideas initially are now full of questions every time I see them - “When can you help me build my site? How’s ClogOn? What else do you have going on these days?” I just chuckle and remember how doubtful they were before. EXPECT SUCCESS!

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Is your business “turned on”? Are you making consistent sales every day? Are new and more exciting opportunites coming up around every door? Why (or why not)?

A few days ago I wrote about stepping out of your comfort zone and making things happen with your business. One of the toughest things about being an entrepreneur is that many times you’re on your own. There’s no one there that’s going to kick your butt, call you on your laziness, or motivate you when things aren’t going as well as you’d like them too.

Here is a fun update I just received from one of my clients who sells awesome wall murals and photo murals:

So, you want to know about how changing my attitude directly affected my sales? Last week, my mentor Nate from Prosper and MollerMarketing.com gave me a little phone call. It was a kind of business kick in the butt talk. And man did I need it.

I was spending 8 to 11 hours daily at my website, fixing keywords, adding new content, videos, podcasts, crunching numbers, and analyzing things to death. Truth was I hadn’t made a single solitary sale in 30 days. I felt like crap!

When Nate called, I sure let him know my sad story. He didn’t buy it for a minute. “Lisa, one year ago our attitude and enthusiasm was contagious. Why aren’t you making sales?”

Why indeed. I have known Nate long enough to get the message. I was not focusing on what I can do every day to make sales! Because of the 30 day business slump, I was not believing I could achieve big things. I was sabotaging myself and my business by staying on the proverbial pity pot.

The phone call gave me cause to look at myself and realize I needed to re-focus my attention on what I could change (my cruddy attitude!) The next day, I was back on my game. I got my moxie back ( or mojo for all you young-uns out there.) Was it uncomfortable? A little. By the end of the day I was a changed woman.

I went out to local businesses with my business cards and networked. I made things happen. I told people what I do and what I sell. The cool thing was, out of 8 businesses I approached that day, only 2 said no ( and I could hear Nate in my ear saying, “Who cares? Welcome to business!.”)

It has been 4 business days since that phone call. In addition to feeling great on the inside, I have made 3 sales, each for over $350. I also have 5 – 8 other sales in the works as well as 4 to 5 prospective joint ventures. Is this magic? Hardly! It’s simply what Nate reminded me: Believe it and you can achieve it. And small success leads to big success!!

Thanks Nate! Your old pal, Lisa

So what can we learn from this: a positive attitude has a direct correlation with success. Lisa’s business didn’t really change; the economy didn’t all of a sudden take a turn for the better; gas prices didn’t drop; but a slight change of attitude “turned the business on” again.

Thanks for the great case study Lisa. It’s stuff like this that I encourage clients to print out, pass along, and read from time to time as a reminder.

Add this to your favorites and email it to 5 people to help them get “turned on” too

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I just received an email from a good friend and former (or ongoing) client.  This is what it said:

Nate,
I just went out and got 6 local businesses to let me look at their websites and make recommendations, in return they will give me ringing endorsements and testimonials so I can [get] started…  I also posted on craigslist, I also applied for my local Rotary…Nate when I started I was shaking in my shoes! By the end of my trip down main street with my 6 yes and 2 no’s, I was singing!! I gave out my business cards to everyone and I now remember how good all this feels!! (bold added for emphasis)

Thanks again, I’ll keep you posted!

What can we learn from this email?  How can it relate to YOUR BUSINESS?  Why is having a positive attitude crucial to your business success?  Is a positive attitude enough?

The point is, in order to see success in ANY endeavor, you have to learn to not let fear hold you back.  I recently read an article that said “Fear is the antithesis of faith.”  Faith is confidence; confidence is key.  The only way to gain confidence, in my opinion, is by making a few mistakes, learning from them, making adjustments, and then taking the “bull by the horns” and making it happen.

As you can see by the quote above, my friend was “shaking in her shoes”.  Like all of us when we do something new, she was nervous - afraid of the unknown.  What were people going to think?  What if they said no?  My answer to those questions…WHO CARES!  Nike’s “Just Do It!” slogan is so fitting for business owners.  You just have to step out, take a risk, and EXPECT SUCCESS!  Having a positive attitude, in and of itself, will not pay the bills - you have to TAKE ACTION and DO!

To make this post a bit more fun and to encourage readers to “step out and be heard”, MollerMarketing.com will be doing a drawing.  Anyone that makes a valid comment letting us know what you’ve done to “Step Out of Your Comfort Zone” will qualify for the following:

• 2 Free Text Links on MollerMarketing.com (PR4 Website with High Traffic)
• 1 Free SEO Review of your website.  (30 minutes via phone)

Look forward to hearing from you.

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Self motivation and positive attitude are two very important aspects of a successful online business. I read an article recently directed to already established businesses that are stagnant. So your business doesn’t become one of these, here are a few sayings that you need to avoid now and in the future as you become more successful:

1. We’ve always done it this way - If this is used as a justification about why something is done a certain way it probably means the company has forgotten the reason they do things a certain way. This also means they might be doing things the wrong way or there’s a better and more efficient way to do things. You need to constantly be studying, revising and testing new things to see what works. There’s probably always a better more efficient way to do things.
2. Let’s save money on customer service - If you don’t take care of your customers, you may make an initial sale but you can rule out “repeat business”. Don’t make customer service so low in the priority order that it is seen simply as a cost to be cut: your customers will eventually go to a competitor that actually takes care of them.
3. All we need is more traffic - Yes, traffic is one of the keys to success with any business, especially an internet based business. However, more traffic is often the mantra of companies who do not get the internet business model. Traffic is not the only metric nor is it a “perfect answer” to a badly performing website. I’ve worked with clients that say “If I can only increase traffic, my Internet business will succeed.” I wish it was that easy. If you aren’t getting traffic that actually DOES SOMETHING, the traffic is not too valuable at all.
4. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it - Danger! Danger! Business should be a continuous search for better ways to do things, improvements and efficiencies. How can you serve your customer better? What new ways can you reach them? How can you get current clients to buy from you again?
5. We will make it up in volume - If you are not careful with this one you might sell sell sell all the way to bankruptcy. Make sure, after everything is said and done, that you are making money. This is one reason finding good suppliers and manufacturers is such an important part of this entire process. Without good wholesale pricing, you are waisting a lot of time.
6. This guy says he has a secret trick to get us top Google rankings - How quickly do you want to be banned from the search engines? It’s called “Black-Hat SEO”. Strategies to “trick” Google may work short term, but in the long run you will be banned. I told a client the other day, if a company ever says they can get you to the top of Google by a certain time, usually they are lying. Granted, there are “White-Hat” things you can do, but Google works on its own time frame of which we don’t have much control of. BEWARE, BEWARE, BEWARE!
7. Don’t worry about sales figures, this is premium advertising - Sales is not a dirty word! In fact, everything starts with a sale. One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone tries to “sell” me on why they hate sales or why they aren’t a salesman. Everyone should have at least one sales job just so they understand how important it really is in everything we do. Negotiating prices, working with suppliers, interviewing for a new job position, forming a joint venture or partnership - all these things require effective salesmanship. So, if you think you’re weak at sales, it’s time to step up to the plate and MAKE A SALE!

Can you think of any other dangerous phrases to hear in a company? Please share in the comments …

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