10 Steps to Success in Direct Marketing

by Shelley Lowery

If you're looking for a lucrative homebased business, direct marketing may be just what you've been looking for...Offering you the possibilities of making your dreams come true.

WHAT IS DIRECT MARKETING?

Direct marketing is offering a product or service directly to the consumer via mail order, Internet sales, personal sales, etc., with no middleman involved. Many direct marketing companies are now being operated right out of the home. Home based business is the waive of the future and can offer you a wonderful opportunity to actually be able to compete with the large, well established companies with large bank accounts. That's what is so wonderful about the Internet. You don't have to have a large bank account to succeed. You just have to have a little "know how."

* 10 Steps to insure your success

1. SET YOUR GOALS

What do you want to accomplish? Do you want a new home? Do you want to save for your children's college education? A new car? You can have whatever you want, but you must want it enough to do the things that have to be done in order to get it. Set your goals, write them down and set a target date for reaching them. Set short term reachable goals and long term higher goals, yet don't set them too high. This will cause you to become discouraged if you don't achieve them. Work consistently towards accomplishing your goals each day, each week and each month until you reach your short term goals. When you have attained your short term goals, set them a little higher each time. Ultimately you will achieve your long term goals. Goal-setting is a must in every area of life.

2. BE SELF DISCIPLINED

Get up early each day. Get ready for your job as if you were working outside your home. Have a list of all the things you want to accomplish during the day. This will give you an organized approach to each day. It's amazing how much you can get done using a "To Do" list.

3. BE SELF MOTIVATED

Set up a schedule and stick to it. Be Enthusiastic. Enthusiasm generates its own energy. Energy and good health are synonymous with motivated, happy people. Achievers.

4. BE ENTHUSIASTIC

Positive thinking will literally be your key to success. You have to convince yourself that you can succeed at whatever you desire, because you can.

5. DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO BECOME DISCOURAGED

Remember... The more "NO's" you get, the closer to a "YES" you become.

6. SCHEDULE YOUR TIME WISELY

A schedule is your roadmap to success. If you have no direction, you'll travel in circles and ultimately never reach your goals. Plan your work then work your plan.

7. HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

Success is 90 percent attitude and 10 percent aptitude. Learn the art of positive thinking. You can do whatever you put your mind to. It's mind over matter. Your attitude will either guarantee your success or guarantee your failure. You're only a failure if you give up.

8. SET UP AN OFFICE AREA

Most direct marketers work from their own homes, but it is still essential to set up a specified work area. Take pride in your business to insure your success.

9. HANDLE YOUR MONEY WISELY

Set up a written budget. Set aside a percentage of your business income to put back into your business. This is a must. Failure to reinvest your money will result in the failure of your business.

10. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF

Get plenty of sleep, eat right and take some time to stop and smell the roses... Be Persistent... Persistence Pays Off... Don't Give Up... Most Businesses fail Just At The Moment They Are About To Succeed...

Sales is one of the highest paid of all professions. "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime."

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Business is a microcosm of Life. To stay competitive, be successful and overcome barriers standing in your way, you need to regularly assess where you are and what you want to achieve. Your mental attitude can make the difference between reaching or not reaching your goals.

If your business has suffered a setback or you have an employee facing personal or professional challenges, maybe it's time for some rehabilitation. Many of the same approaches used to get a person back on track after a physical injury are also key to keeping your business and employees moving forward. One good example of how rehabilitation can work is to apply the characteristics of a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA).

Gary Faris, a corporate trainer, learned first-hand how PMA works. Since he was a kid, he loved to run. A few years ago Gary, 38, was practicing for a quarter mile race in the Masters category. While training on a quiet country road, he was suddenly hit from behind by a pickup truck going 60 mph. The driver had not seen him because of a small rise in the road. The driver tried to stop but Gary was knocked 120 feet into a farmer's field.

The prognosis was not good. If he lived, he would never walk normally and he would have to forget about ever running again.

During his painful recovery, Gary applied his understanding of how to create success in business and decided to search for the core characteristics of a successful rehabilitation.

The Six Characteristics of a Positive Mental Attitude Gary discovered are as applicable to all aspects of business as they are to helping someone recover from an injury or setback.

There is a science to creating a positive attitude of achievement. It is made up of very specific elements. They are presented here in a sequence, but it is the simultaneous interaction of them working together that creates the chemistry for a winning attitude and success in just about any endeavor.

Read over this list. Then, follow the exercise at the end.

1. Set Your Inner Motivation

Inner motivation happens when you are clearly motivated toward a very specific goal and away from the unpleasant consequences of not achieving it.

2. The Value of High Standards

Set your own high standards. This means achieving anything less is unacceptable. Personally dedicate yourself to this level.

3. Chunk Down Your Goal

Break down your goal into manageable, bite-size chunks. The benefits are:

• You'll focus on small tasks you can and will do.

• This creates a sense of satisfaction in completing each small step towards achievement.

4. Combine Your Present and Future Time Frames

Think vividly and fully in the positive future. At the same moment you are concentrating on achieving the task at hand, you can also see the big bright picture of your future accomplishment drawing you forward.

What step can you take right now to reach your next milestone? Fully experience the present and take action toward your future.

5. Personal Involvement

Get involved in your own success. Don't wait for it to happen to you. When you participate, you influence what's going on. It increases your commitment, focuses your intensity, and makes you more determined. Personal involvement leads to owning a bigger stake in your own future.

6. Self to Self-Comparison

How do you judge your performance? Traditionally we compare ourselves to others, judging success and failure.

Try looking solely at your own progress, comparing yourself to yourself. What progress have you made since yesterday, since last week, last month, last year? Achievement is about moving from where you were to where you are now and on to where you are going in the future.

In the physics of motion, these Six Characteristic elements are like spokes on a wheel. Together they support the hub of your life as you roll towards manifesting your dreams, your goals and your future achievements.

Now, try this exercise.

Choose one of your goals and take it through the Six Characteristics.

TIP: To be successful in any endeavor you need first to know your specific goals or outcomes.

1. Do you have both specific outcomes to achieve and clear negative consequences of not reaching your goal?

2. Have you set a high standard for yourself?

3. Have you chunked your goal down to manageable steps?

4. Is your visualized future accomplishment presently drawing you toward it?

5. Are you taking action or waiting for it to happen to you?

6. Lighten up! Compare yourself to yourself. Use others as inspiration, not comparison.

Using these Six Characteristics and a lot of determination, Gary Faris was able to get through two years of painful rehabilitation and is now running again. Amazing! Apply these Six Characteristics to your business, to a struggling employee, or to your health, and notice your increased effectiveness. Let me know how it works for you!

© Robert Knowlton, Options Success Coaching and Training
URL: http://www.successoptions.com

Persistence!

by Glen Hopkins

One of the keys to being successful in anything you do is persistence. Once you have determined exactly what it is you want to accomplish, you must take massive action on a consistent, persistent basis in order to succeed. Think of it like building a muscle. If you have never weight trained before, the first time you walk into a gym, chances are you will not be able to bench press 250 lbs. However, if you are persistent, and you consistently go back to the gym, you will find yourself getting stronger and closer to your goal with each and every visit.

One of the things you'll notice on your journey towards your goal, are roadblocks. That is, you will encounter obstacles that seem to jump out of nowhere in an attempt to halt your progress. Count on these obstacles. They are a part of life. Everyone would have every success they ever wanted if there were no obstacles. Your job is to be persistent and work through those obstacles. If you find little or no obstacles along the way, chances are you are not really challenging yourself. And when you do reach your goal, you won't experience the feeling of 'sweet success'.

Make your goal a challenging one!

If you take the time to study any successful person, you will learn that the vast majority of them have had more 'failures' than they have had 'successes'. This is because successful people are persistent; the more they stumble and fall, the more they get right back up and get going again. On the other hand, people that don't get back up and try again, never reach success. For example, Walt Disney was turned down 302 times before he got financing for his dream of creating the "Happiest Place on Earth". Today, due to his persistence, millions of people have shared 'the joy of Disney'. Colonel Sanders spent two years driving across the United States looking for restaurants to buy his chicken recipe. He was turned down 1,009 times! How successful is Kentucky Fried Chicken today?

Having said this, keep in mind that you must constantly reevaluate your circumstances and the approach you are using to reach your goal. There is no sense in being persistent at something that you are doing incorrectly! Sometimes you have to modify your approach along the way. Every time you do something you learn from it, and therefore find a better way to do it the next time.

Today is the day to begin your journey, using consistency and persistency, towards tomorrow's successes!

Glen Hopkins, owns Motivational-Messages.com, your Free resource for daily motivation and inspiration, including quotes, tips, and stories to help you lead a successful life. To join the Free mailing list, send an e-mail to:

mailto:motivationalmessages-subscribe@listbot.com
or visit http://www.motivational-messages.com today!

Are you paddling your canoe? Or just floating
down the river of life with your eyes closed?

Live your life with no regrets!

When you get older and think back on your life you want to be able to say, “I have lived a full life and I have no regrets!” The problem is most of us have not even thought about what we really want out of life. We get too busy with day-to-day activities and never stop and think what our dreams and goals are.

Decide today that you will be different from the rest and take charge of your life!

Make out a list of everything you have ever wanted to do or accomplish in life! I suggest you write out at least 100 different things whether it be acquiring material possessions such as paying cash for a brand new mint green Volkswagen Beetle or taking a trip of a lifetime cruise around the world. Maybe, you have always wanted to go to college but got too busy and put it off…WRITE IT DOWN! Take some time with this and really think it through.

Don’t worry if some of your goals and dreams seem ridiculous. Remember, you can do it if you really believe. If you aim for the moon and hit a star so what! When you are done I suggest you re-type your list neatly on a sheet of paper and frame it and hang it up where you will see it every day.

Now pick something that you want to accomplish from the list. Buy some sticky notes and write down what it is and put it on your bathroom mirror or on your computer monitor for you to see every day! This will help to continually remind you of your desires and keep them in your conscious thoughts. Maybe you are overweight and want to weigh the same as you did when you were a freshman in high school. Write this on a sticky note and put one on your scale that says, “I will lose 30 pounds”. Put one in your car so you see it when you are driving. Put one inside your locker at work. Be creative!

Have you ever had a craving for a food such as chocolate and just couldn’t stop thinking about sinking your teeth into some? Nothing could stop you from this craving because it was an all consuming thought and you weren’t going to stop until you got your hands on some delicious mouth watering chocolate. This is how you need to be with your goals in life! They need to consume your thoughts and with some effort eventually they will become reality.

Decide what you want out of life by writing out your goals and dreams and you will be ahead of the other 95% that floats down the river of life with no direction. Take control of your life today and buy some oars! Write out your list and live your life with no regrets! Put both oars in the water and start paddling to your goals and dreams!

About the author: Douglas Burns is a Member of SFI Marketing Group. His website is http://www.ezmlmbiz.com His email is dougselvis@dellepro.com

The Purpose and Power of Action!

For you to manifest your Purpose and contribute, Action is required.

Doing something.

It is my belief that your true purpose is trying to come forth and manifest in some way or other at all times.

To come forward, to manifest, it requires action. It requires doing.

We "do" all day, everyday. So, the act of doing is ordinary to us.

True power comes in conscious action. Conscious authentic "doing" that is in natural alignment with what you want to create, which is in alignment with what you want to contribute, which comes from the drive of your purpose.

We are actually driven to bring form to our purpose.

You and your authentic purpose exist as potential. You exist as possibility until you add action. Through action, your purpose has a way to be expressed. You move from potential (what you are capable of) to kinetic (what you manifest in the world). Your actions create a context for your natural purpose to flow.

Although we anot as simple as plants, they can offer us a basic understanding of this process. The influences are similar because they are part of nature.

A seed's natural drive to sprout and grow is contained within it (the oak tree potential within an acorn). The built-in nature within the seed is unconsciously "driven" to manifest itself in growth. It can't not have this "drive." Its nature is to do this no matter what the context. It uses all the resources available to it. Sometimes it succeeds, sometimes it doesn't. When the appropriate resources are kept away (for example you store the seed in a watertight light-free container away from the elements necessary for it to grow), the seed remains completely in the potential stage waiting to manifest itself. (It seems, unlike humans, seeds don't get frustrated when they don't manifest their purpose.) :-)

As soon as we provide appropriate conditions for the seed, an environment of water, soil, light and temperature, the healthy seed will seek to optimize all the elements available to it NO MATTER WHAT!

The seed and then the plant will shift from its potential into active manifestation and grow. The seed has no choice. It is in its nature to manifest itself as a plant.

The plant will do whatever it can do to seek out the resources available. It puts down roots to take nutrients and water. It reaches to the sun for light and warmth, maximizing all that is available.

We are similar in that we are naturally driven to manifest our potential. The seed and the plant don't have to think about that. Conscious choice is the difference here.

The key point I am raising is about action. The seed/plant strives to optimize all that is around it. Its clear goal and purpose is to optimize all that is available at the moment, to grow and be productive as a plant.

Human beings also seek to optimize. We optimize with an added element. We have choice. Choice to create the context in which to optimize.

Given we have choice and we are naturally driven to optimize our gifts and purpose, how have you chosen to act? Your reality is a good reflection of your choices.

Many people ask me, "What action should I take to manifest my Purpose? There are so many options. How do I know what path is right for me?"

Here are a few ways to help align your actions with your purpose.

1) As I have mentioned previously, it is VERY helpful to clearly identify your purpose -- what you want to contribute.

2) Have a clear and particular outcome you want to create. Creating is a critical tool you have at your disposal. Create by identifying the emotions, feelings, sounds, and pictures of what you want. See how your desire aligns with and is a natural extension of who you are.

3) Take Action. For maximum effectiveness, take action aligned with both your purpose (what you contribute) and your goal (what you want to create). Not just one burst of action; take continual action.

As you proceed, you will identify opportunities to optimize; opportunities that call on your purpose and help you manifest your goal.

Without action, you don't give "the system" an opportunity to respond. When you get a response, you then act again. Appropriate action will give you appropriate results. Results are the yardstick to tell you if your action was correct. Did you hit the target or do you need to adjust your aim?

This sounds simple because it is natural. Take aligned action and let's see where it takes you. From there, act again. From there...

Take consistent action and give the seeds of fulfillment, purpose, and creativity the space to grow so we can all share in your gifts.

© Robert Knowlton, Options Success Coaching and Training
URL: http://www.successoptions.com