In Search Of Heroes Spreads Good News About Everyday, Real-Life Heroes Who Deserve Recognition For Their Good Works

Ralph Zuranski: Hi. This is Ralph Zuranski. I’m on the phone with Jeff Dedrick who is one of the new people on the Internet that is making quite a splash with some of the new software and programs that he is developing. I had the opportunity of spending some time with him at a couple of the seminars and found him to be kind and caring and just a brilliant individual and Internet marketer. How are you doing today Jeff?

Jeff Dedrick: Hey, Ralph, I’m doing great and thanks for having me here.

Ralph Zuranski: Can you tell us a little bit about your venture into Internet marketing? I know you haven’t been doing it for very long but you’ve been fairly successful haven’t you?

Jeff Dedrick: Yeah, I really just started. My first project was just launched on February 21st of this year so as we speak, that’s only been about three months ago.

Even though I launched on February 21st there was a good four months of planning going into that launch. It’s not true to say that I’ve just been around for a few months. It’s definitely less than a year.

Ralph Zuranski: That’s amazing. What is the worthy ideal that you are pursuing with honesty and integrity?

Jeff Dedrick: I have a family and I’ve got two girls. I think everything I do relates to my family. Every action that I take, everything that I say, I am always trying to set a great example for my girls. One is 13 and one is 7, so, pretty much everything I do from my whole idea of being in business for myself.

Actually I’ve always been in business for myself but just recently changed to 100% on-line Website so I could spend more time with my family, with my wife and my two girls. Pretty much everything I do now is just to be a great dad.

Ralph Zuranski: Well, Jeff, what do you want out of life in ten words or less?

Jeff Dedrick: You have asked me this question before, so I wanted to make sure that I got it down. It’s total freedom to do what I want when I want.

Ralph Zuranski: That’s a pretty good definition. What is the dream or vision that sets the course of your life?

Jeff Dedrick: The dream is just kind of to have that total freedom. I’ve always been a hard worker, but I also feel that I’ve been a smart worker.

A hard worker might be working really hard but if all you are doing is a job that you are not happy with or a low end job that you might not be bringing in the money that you want or you might not have that happy home life, you might not feel fulfilled. My vision is always just to work smart and that will create that total freedom that I was talking about.

Ralph Zuranski: How important is it to stay focused on your primary goal?

Jeff Dedrick: I want to say that’s number one. By far, that is number one. I see a lot of people jumping around to different ideas. It’s almost like an idea of the week or the idea of the day. They come up with an idea and maybe they implement it really just half-assed, hardly at all and then because they didn’t make a million dollars that week they move onto the next one.

In my past, I’ve owned real world businesses, pizza stores, restaurants, and even two fitness clubs that I just recently sold. When opening up those you need to have a timeline, a deadline, a calendar. You need to do step A and step B and step C. For some reason, online people don’t do that so they lose focus and they bounce around. I would say that the ability to stay focused is number one.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Jeff Dedrick Is an Amazing Person Who Has Been Successful In Most Of His Business Adventures Thanks To His Own Hard Work and the Self-Confidence Instilled In Him While Growing Up By Dedicated Parents Who Created A Nurturing Family Environment Based On Honesty, Integrity, Trust and the Belief That Actions Must Be Consistent With Your Words"

Click Play to hear Jeff Dedrick's In Search Of Heroes interview.

Click Here to visit Jeff's In Search Of Heroes webpage

Less than a year later Jeff has a successful and growing online business and has quickly made his mark on the internet scene. The launch of his first site at http://www.SecretArticleConverter.com was an instant success. We actually reached my one month goals in the first 6 hours, Jeff stated.

Posted by ralph at 10:25 PM | Permalink

RALPH ZURANSKI: Do you readily forgive those who upset, offend and oppose you?

TOM BEAL: The person that’s hurt the most by not forgiving is you and me. If I’m willing to hold that energy and not forgive somebody and hold that inside its only self-limiting. They are living their lives and they have no clue.

It’s one of the most important things I had to overcome. I thought “How could my family do the things they did?” But in reflection I can look back and say they did the best they could with the time and place they were. No one was out to get me.

People make decisions and they did the best they could or the best they were able to at that particular time. They probably made wrong choices just as I have made wrong choices.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Do you experience service to others as a source of joy?

TOM BEAL: Oh yes. Absolutely! That’s the most fulfilling thing in my life. I speak at churches and events. I went to an event not too long ago, and I told you about my car wreck, and there’s an organization called PRAYWIT and I forgot what it stands for but it’s basically for people who have gone through severe head trauma.

I went there and spoke and gave my 5 step Success Magnet System as well as my story about the car wreck and being able to overcome it without giving them a sense of false hope because there were people in there that brought tears to my eyes.

I remembered immediately that I’d walked with a walker like old people walk with. To see these young kids in that position still, it reminded me how thankful and blessed I am.

It also put things in perspective. I wasn’t going to give these people false hope. I don’t know what their circumstances are. I don’t know how I was able to overcome it but I wanted to at least give them some hope that they can take steps to be a little better tomorrow that they are today.

RALPH ZURANSKI: When was the lowest point in your life and how did you change your life path to one of victory over the obstacles you were facing at that time?

TOM BEAL: Wow, the lowest point. That’s a good question. Here’s one and it’s a weird one. I was the number one honor graduate in boot camp and had three merit choice promotions in 4 years, I was the man. I was like the kid on the block. I was like the epitome of a marine.

I was up for MECP, Marine Enlistment Commissioning Program. They were going to take me out of the enlistment and put me in college and have me come back as an officer. At the same time we had just been transferred from Cherry Point, North Carolina to Yuma, Arizona.

Little did we know there had been a circumstance there with hazing. This was right around the time of the movie with Tom Cruise called “A Few Good Men”. So hazing is like what fraternities do and all that fun stuff. But we didn’t know that since that event occurred they said the next time something occurs like this we are going to set a precedent.

We didn’t know that. We picked up a couple of dead beats that got passed over to our platoon and everyone wanted to get this one kid. I didn’t and wasn’t for that stuff. Basically I was there to make sure it didn’t get out of hand.

To make a long story short, I made sure it didn’t get out of hand but everybody that was there was busted including me. So I went in the matter of one sentence from being the top person in that whole base basically to being demoted.

Internally to be at the top of your game and have the carpet pulled out from under you and have the package ripped up was probably the toughest point in my life.

Because, I knew that I had done good and physically stopped this from getting where it shouldn’t have been. But I also chose to be there. I own the fact that I was there and also own the fact that I did make sure this kid didn’t get harmed in any way.

But, I chose to be there. By choosing to be there I chose to be demoted. It took me a long time to own that. So that was the lowest point. I was able to overcome it and getting meritorially promoted once again.

It took me a couple of months to work through that. I had to learn it is what it is. I was worrying about it but knew there was nothing I could do about it other than be the best that I can today. I decided to be the best that I could and I ended up getting promoted again after that.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Was there anyone who helped give you the willpower to change things in you life for the better?

TOM BEAL: Oh boy. Books, tapes, mentors and my grandfather. My grandfather was probably the stable rock I had in the chaos as a child. My mother was 17 so he was at an age where people his age were having kids.

Through all the adversity I lived with him a lot. He owned a business, a hardwood flooring business. I would go with him when I was about 7 or 8 or 9 years old with him and lay some hardwood floors and he taught me.

He’d say “Tom go clean up that room up we were just in.” I’d go clean the room. He’d say”OK everything is good but you didn’t clean this room over here.”

I called him ‘Papa.’ I’d say “Papa we weren’t even in that room.” He’d say “Exactly, Tom the lessen in life is to leave a place better than when you got here.” And if we could all do that, leave this place better than when we got here I think that pretty much sums it up.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Tom's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Tom Beal has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 08:58 AM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: When we are seeking after opportunity, is it important to have optimism?

Paulie Sabol: To an extent. If you are optimistic that others will contribute and make things better, and thus you are liberated from the responsibility to make things better yourself, it is detrimental rather than valuable. If your optimism is the measure by which you see success, then it may not be self serving because you may not move to the point of results.

You may just be remaining optimistic always despite the feedback that you’re getting. So it goes back to this question about setbacks, misfortunes and mistakes. If, for example, you don’t tie your shoe well, you have a setback with regards to your shoe tying system.

Because you don’t tie your shoes well, they come undone and you have the misfortune of tripping on them, and you fall and you hurt yourself. You become optimistic that next time, when you tie your shoe, it is just going to work out better for you.

But you do the same system, you do the same process, you don’t add the feedback, the lesson that came out of the result that you got, and you are just optimistic, you are going to optimistically fall and hurt yourself.

Optimism is important because it is another one of those emotions that gives us the energy. But the reason we should be optimistic is again because we selected a system that gives us the highest probability of success, we are taking consistent and conscience action, and we remain optimistic because we know the philosophy of trust the truth, that eventually because we are destined and designed to do something great, and we are great stuff, we are going to get great results.

Ralph Zuranski: That is so true. It is amazing how many people follow the pathway of insanity that do the same thing everyday and think that by doing everything the same way, they are actually going to change their lives and have a different output.

Paulie Sabol: And on top of that, they may try and do the same things as somebody else. They try to do that in efforts to perhaps maybe be liked or feel like they are trading it for some love, affection, or community. But the real fact of the matter is, they don’t like the results that the other person is getting.

Maybe they’ve been mean to them the whole time, but they want to be like them. It just doesn’t make sense. So we fall into that very often.

Ralph Zuranski: That’s a fuel source of insanity. When we are dealing with insanity and psychological aberrations, do you believe that it is important to maintain a sense of humor in the face of serious problems?

Paulie Sabol: I don’t know. What I think for me is a more direct question is how do I maintain any worthwhile position in the face of uncertainty? A lot of people say to me that I come across to them as being humorous. I think my humor is fairly dry and almost very British in its form.

I don’t know how I maintain it, or even if I do, or if it is just something that pops in. What I do believe that it is useful for me to act as if the following statement is true when it comes to this question of uncertainty and serious issues in life.

I believe, and it is useful for me to believe this, the universe itself, and all of its power and complexity, will actually conspire on the behalf of me. It will actually move in a way to help me, will actually use that area of uncertainty itself, that area of serious question and challenge and differential result to produce the results that I imagine, desire and attract to myself into being through my actions.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Paulie's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Paulie Sabol has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 08:21 AM | Permalink

"Jeff Dedrick Is an Amazing Person Who Has Been Successful In Most Of His Business Adventures Thanks To His Own Hard Work and the Self-Confidence Instilled In Him While Growing Up By Dedicated Parents Who Created A Nurturing Family Environment Based On Honesty, Integrity, Trust and the Belief That Actions Must Be Consistent With Your Words"

Click Play to hear Jeff Dedrick's In Search Of Heroes interview.

Click Here to visit Jeff's In Search Of Heroes webpage

Jeff Dedrick has been an entrepreneur and self employed for over 20 years.

From owning a DJ service in college to eventually owning 5 restaurants and 2 fitness clubs, Jeff has enjoyed the freedom that comes from being self employed.

In February, 2005 Jeff rolled the dice and risked it all. He decided to completely sell all his real businesses and move 100% online. Of course this was before he even started his first website or before he captured his first subscriber.

Less than a year later Jeff has a successful and growing online business and has quickly made his mark on the internet scene.

The launch of his first site at http://www.SecretArticleConverter.com was an instant success. We actually reached my one month goals in the first 6 hours, Jeff stated.

With more sites in the pipeline both within internet marketing and in other niches, Jeff sees only bright skies ahead.

Posted by ralph at 11:00 PM | Permalink

RALPH ZURANSKI: Do you have the courage to pursue new ideas?

TOM BEAL: It’s like a muscle; the more you work it out the more easily it will come to you. In the beginning as in anything when we had to learn how to peddle a bike it was a very difficult task. When we learned how to walk it was a very difficult task but the more you do it the more you get used to it.

You need to exercise that muscle. First you need to exercise your power of choice and your power of decision. Then once you get that muscle worked up then you can choose quickly and correctly.

You can decide on good manners fast. Then you’ll also be able to take action upon your ideas. Everybody has good ideas. People listening to this have probably had many $1,000,000 or plus ideas.

But the fact of the matter is not many of them have taken action upon it. So it’s a matter of choosing. It’s a matter of narrowing it down.

You talked about focus. Take all your ideas and see what’s the most fulfilling and satisfying one that you could choose to become real. Act as if it’s real all ready then take steps to make it and implement it.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Were you willing to experience discomfort in the pursuit of your dream?

TOM BEAL: Discomfort? I put my self in discomfort because the more you become comfortable I feel the less you are moving forward. If you are not uncomfortable many times a week your life is too complacent and you’re not going to reach great things. I deal with top people.

I deal with Hall of Fame quarterbacks, movie stars, singers, and top marketers. Not everything works for all these people. They make mistakes. They have things that fail. But they don’t quit, they just keep going.

Ok that one didn’t work out, how can I learn from it, how can I get better results? You’ve heard about all my accomplishments but we don’t have time to hear about all my failures. That would take 3 or 4 days if not 3 or 4 weeks.

I’m just too darn stubborn to quit. So put yourself out there. The more uncomfortable position you can put yourself in, obviously ethically and honest and following those proper guidelines, you’ll get used to it and work your muscles up. Then you’ll be able to choose more wisely on projects where a couple of years ago you may have turned that project down.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Is it beneficial to make decisions quickly?

TOM BEAL: Oh, 100%! Napoleon Hill had an egg timer to answer the question whether he was willing to pursue the study of success not compensated by the richest man in the world. That doesn’t sound like a pretty logical choice to make but he took it on.

But he had an egg timer and little did he know that Andrew Carnegie, he found out later, as soon as he posed the question to him & after a couple of days of downloading what this would require & how Andrew was going to make the correct contacts, he had an egg timer.

The ones that said “Let me check with my wife, let met me do this.” they didn’t make the cut. You have to be decisive based upon full information. Once you have full information then make up your mind, yes or no. The more you can flex that muscle of decision making the more quickly you can rise to the top.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Are you slow to revise or reverse an important decision?

TOM BEAL: It changes with information. For instance I can make a decision right now based on the information I have and believe it whole heartedly and would die for that decision but then new information may come up. If new information comes up that turns the table on it then you can decide again or choose differently.

But obviously for ethics, beliefs and honestly you have to have a foundation on those. Otherwise if new information arises I’m open to hear. If I’m walking this way and somebody says I can walk this way and get different results I’m willing to hear them. But based upon that I can continue to walk in the direction I’m in or choose to go off a little bit.

RALPH ZURANSKI: How were you able to overcome your doubts and fears?

TOM BEAL: How do I overcome fear? I go back to the statement of two things to worry about, things I can control and things I can’t control. If I am doubtful or fearful over something, what information is making that doubt or fear? Is it something I can control? Or something I can’t control?

Also what can I do to overcome it? The best way I overcome it is through prayer and through knowing that I’m making quick decisions based upon the information I have. I’m confident I’m going to walk boldly one step at a time.

Just like at night when we’re driving with the headlights you can’t see all the way to California but you can see a couple of car lengths ahead. All you need to do is just focus on those couple of car lengths ahead and you’ll make to wherever you are going eventually. All we can do is focus on that little bit.

I’d probably scared to death if I could see a couple of years ahead because I’m not at that level where I could understand the decisions I’d be making 2 years from now. I can only do the best I know right now.

So doubt and fear you have to work those muscles to be able to overcome those. If you’re not putting yourself in some fearful or uncomfortable situations you’re probably not pushing you’re full potential.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Tom's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Tom Beal has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 08:54 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: That is interesting that you say that, because I spent 24 years in alternative medicine, studying biomedical currents and the energies that are within the body, and came to the conclusion that we are all energetic beings and that we are limited by our five senses on what we can see.

But ultimately, we are all energy.

Paulie Sabol: Now, in addition to walking on fire, which seems like it is impossible, I’ve broke boards with my bare hands. Another thing that at one point would have seemed impossible to me. I’ve lain on a bed of nails. All of these experiences remind me that very often my action has to precede my belief. Very often I need to take action even when I’m in a state of doubt.

Here’s the cool part, and here’s the ultimate answer to your question. As I take action and I get results, the results transform and change my beliefs, just like the experiments that scientists do, transformed and changed their beliefs and their understanding of the electron and gave them a better understanding and ability to harness the power of this energetic universe that we are in.

In that same way, my actions are increasingly in alignment with my beliefs, but action always leads my beliefs, not the other way around.

Ralph Zuranski: Was it valuable to have highly charged emotions about achieving your goals?

Paulie Sabol: At the risk of sounding redundant, I believe that emotions act as an energy, just like you were just saying. Now having highly charged emotions without a highly probable plan of action is a fine way to get nowhere fast.

On the other hand, having highly energized emotion often is the key necessary to run the race as though to win. When there are others out in front of you, even when you seem to be behind, there’s no question that emotions are the fuel that allow us to move forward, even when, as I know you are going to ask about in short order, when there are setbacks, misfortunes and mistakes.

The last thing I want to say about emotions is, especially for our listeners who are in the earliest stages of their adolescence, or moving through their adolescence, 10 to 18 or so, you are going to have highly charged emotions as it is. From time to time, they might be emotions that really feel like they are bringing you down.

Other times they might be emotions that are making you feel like you are impenetrable and immortal in your nature. In either case, remember to always focus for just a moment on the high probability plan that is before you. Really engage not only the power of the emotion as energy, but the power of your rational, thinking mind to give you good guidance and good decision making powers.

Ralph Zuranski: That is funny that you would say that. I still can’t remember at what point I realized that I didn’t know everything and was the ultimate source of all knowledge in the universe. That’s kind of a humbling experience, that I think probably was the misfortunes, mistakes and setbacks that I had that sort of humbled me.

So is it useful to take a positive view of setbacks, misfortunes and mistakes?

Paulie Sabol: It is useful for me. That much I can say with absolute assurance. The reason that it is useful for me is twofold. It is the point that I made earlier about progress being my goal rather than perfection. Here’s why: if I set perfection as my goal, two things happen to me.

One, I make myself get more nervous. So the emotions, the energies that I put into place is nervous energy. It is uncertain energy. I know when I’m putting that energy out into myself, I’m decreasing the probability that I’ll have success.

It is kind of like I am combating myself. So the first reason is because setbacks are going to assuredly happen. If you try to avoid setbacks, then you’re going to strive for perfection and that is going to sabotage you.

If you are going to have setbacks, you’re going to have some misfortunes; you’re going to make mistakes anyway. You might as well view them as feedback. You might as well view them as a positive experience. You might as well view them as increasing, giving you new information to make your next plan even more probable to succeed.

Otherwise, the very worse thing might happen, which is that you might stop. Here’s what another one of the great thinkers said in this case is that the difference between someone who is unable to read, illiterate, and someone who doesn’t read is very little.

In fact the person who knows how to read and doesn’t is probably in the worse place. That’s what happens if we try to view setbacks, mistakes and misfortunes as something that isn’t positive in our life, we will be less inclined to move toward it. If we are less inclined to move toward it, we will be less inclined to move at all and we’ll miss all the opportunity.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Paulie's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Paulie Sabol has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 03:13 PM | Permalink

RALPH ZURANSKI: Do you invest time into daydreaming about what your life
will be like when you attain your goals?

TOM BEAL: Absolutely! I’m living my dream right now. I’m doing exactly what I dreamed. It doesn’t happen over night but when you have that and it’s a reality no matter what situation you’re in, and I’ve already envisioned this.

People ask “Tom when were you successful?” I was successful when I was homeless. I was successful when I was living in my car. I was successful when I didn’t have but $60.00 in my pocket.

I’ve been successful it’s just a matter of the material world manifesting it around to make it a reality in this time. It’s just a time difference.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Do you think that goes back to having a worthy ideal as expressed by Earl Nightingale?

TOM BEAL: 100%! I spend most of my time daydreaming because my life right now is a daydream even though I am still having tremendous adversities. Other people still look at me and say “Tom how can you be happy?”

It’s difficult but from that experience I had I truly feel I’m doing the best that I can. I have a second chance right now. This is my time. I’m living life full steam ahead and taking one bold step after the next enjoying every step ethically and honestly.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Do you feel it is important to make positive statements about yourself...the type of person you are and the your goals?

TOM BEAL: Yes as a matter of fact go to Zig Ziglar.com and he has a little piece you can download. It’s a little PDF report that I suggest you print out. It’s an affirmation called “A Life Changing Process” which it is.

I just took it out of my wallet. I go through spurts where I’ll read it for months. I’ll read it in the morning and read it in the evening. It talks about “I AM” and all these positive attributes. When you are not congruent with them it’s hard to look yourself in the eye in the mirror while you’re reading it.

For instance it says “I am sober”. There was a time in my life I wasn’t sober. If you are incongruent with it, it’s weird how your mind is a self regulator. When you start reading those affirmations you will take on all those traits and characteristics. I just feel that’s a natural law.

If you can boldly state those looking at yourself in the mirror you will attain those i.e., I am timely, I am responsible, etc you will pick up all those positive attributes and begin living them and you will be the embodiment of them. Going back to Think and Grow Rich Napoleon Hill told Andrew Carnegie this one statement, “Andrew Carnegie I’m not only going to equal your accomplishments I’m going to surpass them.”

This was back when Andrew Carnegie was the only billionaire on the planet. Napoleon Hill said “There was a time I couldn’t look myself in the mirror. I was laughing. I had my fingers crossed. I said who am I kidding he’s a billionaire. I will never equal his accomplishments.”

But he ended up believing it and he’s created more millionaires and continues to do so to this day. He passed away in 1973 or something like that. In those future generations he will still create millionaires and he passed away a couple of generations ago.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Do you take time out of your day to feed your subconscious positive thoughts about you, your goals and dreams?

TOM BEAL: Yes, through self-talk and through reading the proper material & watching programs like www.whatisthesecret.tv. I’m looking at the library of success I have over here. I’m looking at this one, you may or may not have seen this, and it’s called The Master Key to Success.

It was one of the first Nightingale Conant products that are actually a two VHS tape that’s over 3 hours of Napoleon Hill talking in black and white as if you are sitting there at his desk. He says “Oh, it’s a pleasure to see you today. Please be seated.” He talks like you are sitting there across the desk from Napoleon Hill. And things like that.

Also listening to Brian Tracy, Jim Roan and Tony Robbins and attending live events. Getting around people who are like minded. You heard my one trait, identify and align. Find someone who is doing what you desire to accomplish and do your best to get close to them.

You can do that through reading books, listening to tapes, watching videos and more importantly going to live events and meeting with these people one-on-one. I’ve been able to meet and work with my heroes and that is the quickest way to get pulled from where you are to where you want to be.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Tom's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Tom Beal has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 08:52 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: I think if everybody realized that we are all made in the image and likeness of God, and that we are all a part of the same family, that anytime we do something evil to somebody else, or we do something that is hurtful, we are affecting the entire universe; we’re affecting everybody on the planet.

If people realized that all the great leaders, spiritual leaders, they all thought that love was the most powerful of all the emotions. A lot of people are willing to sacrifice their life or love for other people. What are your principles and are you willing to sacrifice your life for?

Paulie Sabol: The idea of dying for something bigger than yourself is very attractive. And at the very same time, I do believe the world has had enough martyrs. I would much rather live for things than die for things.

Ralph Zuranski: That’s true. It is easier to die for things than it is to live them.

Paulie Sabol: But with that stated, if I were to die in the service of helping to organize against an oppressive, corrupt government, if I were to die in the service of extending rights to the most marginalized and disenfranchised of people, if I were to die in that, again, medieval value of the pursuit of true courtly love, then it would indeed be a noble and heroic death.

So that is my answer. I would much rather live with all those things.

Ralph Zuranski: It is harder to live – it is easier to die. It is much more difficult to take the burdens you have in life and helping others, and pursue that and have the right attitude of love and gratitude for having that opportunity to serve.

Are your goals consistent with your beliefs?

Paulie Sabol: Thankfully, no, they’re not. Let me explain why. My beliefs are naturally limited, where my goals are fundamentally unlimited. Because my key goal for myself and for everyone is fundamental abundance, and while the desire of that may approach a belief, and perhaps in believing it more, I can see it more, however, it is unquestionably my goal.

My goal is fundamental abundance for everybody, where all of their needs are exceeded. The fact of the matter is, when I look just to my beliefs, sometimes I believe something like this.

I’ll believe, gosh, I’m not sure I can change that; I’m not sure I can help that situation. This lack is so big. Sometimes my beliefs will be limited, but I don’t let that lack of believing confidence dissuade me one moment from the measure of the realization of my goal which is fundamental abundance for all.

Ralph Zuranski: I think that is probably the greatest lesson that I’ve had to learn, is that you can’t change anybody. It is only live your life to the best of your ability and hope that by your actions you can make a big difference in the lives of others as they see you work through your life.

So I wanted to ask you, are your actions consistent with your beliefs?

Paulie Sabol: Now that is a different question. That one is much easier to be in alignment with. Let me tell you the story of an electron. I mentioned that I have a physics degree. Many of your heroes and future heroes who are listening right now, they’ve probably seen an electron drawn in their science class.

The atom is drawn as having a big thick nucleus in the center, and the electrons kind of going in these circles around. For the longest time we believed that. That was what we believed the model was. Over time, our model, our beliefs improved.

Now we know that these electrons have the ability to sometimes be places that it doesn’t seem to physically. We are shocked that it seems to be somewhere that it is. We also know that the electron moves instantly from being in one place in space to another place in space. It doesn’t actually go through the space in between. It teleports, it jumps, it transforms in just a moment.

In fact, when it does so, it emits light. That is my test. I know that my actions are consistent with and my beliefs are finally catching up with the power of my actions. I have more light in my life. I believed and for the most part, it is a useful belief, that fire is going to hurt me or burn me.

But, you know what, Ralph, I’ve walked on fire.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Paulie's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Paulie Sabol has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 03:11 PM | Permalink

RALPH ZURANSKI: Do you maintain your sense of humor in the face of serious problems?

TOM BEAL: You have to. At least I have to. I choose to. I have the optimism and I have the positive thinking but there are things that others might interpret as “bad things happen” and I say “WOW! I didn’t see that one coming. Wow!” but you have to laugh and as I mentioned in the fifth step, you have to have fun.

When you enjoy doing what you love there’s going to be other people that interpret things as a problem and things like that. There are all challenges. It makes life more exciting. The more you progress up that level of consciousness the more other people would see these problems get bigger but your capabilities to handle them are more so.

If I was up to bat and there was a major league baseball pitcher pitching to me I’d strike out for sure, if not be shaking and pee in my pants cause that would be scary. But you know to jump from not knowing anything to jump up to the major leagues you have progressive steps.

Just like school has 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th, you graduate to different levels of how you can handle communication skills and how you can handle adversities.

You will never be given a major league baseball pitcher problem if you are only in the minor leagues or only at the tee ball level. You are only given the obstacles and challenges that you are capable of handling in life. Sometimes I feel like there’s a major league pitch and I’m not ready for it.

But it wouldn’t be happening if I wasn’t ready for it. As we are speaking right now I’m going to share some personal things. There are a lot of people that already know but my wife and I have been married for five years but we are currently separated right now.

You’ve been talking to me for awhile and you can tell I still have optimism and I still have happiness. Here’s my belief on that. I know that everything is going to work out exactly the way it needs to work out. I don’t know what the end result will be but I know it’ll work out exactly the way it needs to.

Here’s a little history. My wife and I have been married five years now. On July 10th, 2002 her father passed away. On July 13th, she spoke at his funeral. On July 20th at the same church we had our wedding, a Greek wedding. So that just puts things into perspective.

I had a conversation with her father prior to this saying “Look man this wedding is ridiculous at this time.” He told me “Tom I don’t care if I die.” That puts things in perspective.

Let’s talk about something you may or may not know Ralph. On Sept.11, 1998 I was in a car wreck. My car rolled four times and I was ejected from the sun roof and laid there with severe head trauma and had a “near death experience”. The car wreck was about 10:00pm. I had severe head trauma and it was a miracle I lived through it.

Just laying there I thought “No one is showing up.” Then it hit me, I’m going to die here in this field. I was out in the field and during the roll my battery flew out so my car was laying in this field way off the road. People were driving by and no one knew someone‘s laying there dying.

So it hit me, this is the way it’s going to end. Next thing you know I’m laying there and I see someone in the field and I’m up in the air. I’m like “Whose that?” I focus in and see that it is me.

Next thing you know I’m pulled up in the sky. It’s just like you see on TV, the bright lights. I’m standing there and I’m really confused. I’m trying to figure out what’s happening.

Then someone comes up and puts their arm around me and it was so comforting and I just felt like everything is ok. Then we turn around and we’re facing this big huge door and we start walking towards this door.

I stop and am shaking my head and I said “I know this is not how it’s supposed to end. I know you had more for me to accomplish. Send me back.”

Next thing I know I woke up and had been Mercy Flighted, which is a helicopter lift. A couple of hours later they got there. I had been lifted to a hospital and woke up with respirator breathing for me in Intensive Care.

I was in the hospital for just less than a week and the Dr.’s were telling me and my family “Tom will never walk and talk again properly. I wouldn’t accept that. The Dr.’s were getting real upset. I said “NO, I’m walking out of here.”

They had a meeting with my family and said “We are really upset. Tom does not understand the fact that he may never walk or talk again properly the rest of his life.” My family sat down with me and said “Tom this is serious and you may not walk or talk again properly.”

I said “I’m walking out of here” the best I could. I had to learn to speak and everything and there’s a whole weird story behind that. But you think I’d say “I’m going to walk out of here” but cat, red, blue, car would come out of my mouth. It was really weird.

I checked myself out. I signed a whole bunch of release papers against Dr.’s orders and left the hospital because they were trying to tell me I would never walk or talk again and I didn’t want to hear that. Thankfully I didn’t hear that because I am walking and talking.

There were a couple of years where my leg dragged. I had what was called “drop foot” and they never knew when that nerve damage would go away or if it would. Now I can walk, you’ve seen me, Ralph I walk and talk. I wrestled Russell Brunson a couple of times. I ended up going back and winning a couple of wrestling tournaments after that car wreck.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Tom's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Tom Beal has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 10:49 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.
No small business owner will argue that the life blood of their business is lead generation.

Some people call it prospecting for new customers.

What ever term you use, finding people who are interested in your product or service is critical to the success of any business.

What I Noticed While Getting My Car Washed

The other day I was at a local car wash getting my SUV washed. There was a waiting area where customers could sit down and watch TV while their car was getting washed.

Being the observant student of marketing that I am, I noticed a great little lead generation marketing tactic caught my eye sitting right in the waiting area.

It was a stand that was advertising not one, but four free car washes.

Knowing that there is a catch to everything that uses the word "FREE" I approached the stand to see what it was all about.

Want to see a photo of this lead generation stand?

http://url123.com/2mszw

The Fine Print

If you looked at the photo carefully you probably noticed that this company is giving away four free car washes or a f r e e dinner for four couples in exchange for viewing a "complimentary home fire safety awareness program."

It's kind of hard to see. You need to read the fine print.

On the stand was a small form that you had to fill out to get the f r e e car washes or dinners.

Here's a photo of the form.

http://url123.com/2m58m

Here's What I Liked About This Simple Lead Generation System and Why It Works So Well...

This is an ingenious little lead generation system.

Here's why...

1. It's hands free. (You place the stand in the lobby and it automatically generates leads for you.)

2. It gets the car wash to generate leads for them by using car washes, paid for by the home security company, as a referral reward.

3. It leverages the reputation (and customer base) of the car wash to generate leads.

It's a win, win, win lead generation system.

The customer wins by getting something for free.

The car wash wins because it sells more car washes.

The home security company wins because it gets leads.

How to Apply This Prospecting Tactic to Your Business

This lead generation system can be used by just about any business you can possibly think of.

Here's how to do it...

Step 1 - Make a list of all the businesses in your area that serve your target market.

Step 2 - Familiarize yourself with the products and services they provide, including pricing.

Step 3 - Determine which businesses have the products and services that you might be able to buy and then turn around and give away as a gift in order to entice the prospect to give you their contact information or an office / store visit.

Step 4 - Take the list you created in Step 3 and approach those businesses with your proposal.

NOTE # 1: Remember to position your proposal as a win - win - win situation. Focus on how their business will benefit from the proposal.

NOTE # 2: When proposing this strategy, don't talk about a big rollout. Simply suggest to the business owner a small pilot to test the concept. It works!

Here's What Will Happen When You Do This Marketing Tactic - - From My Own Personal Experience.

I've personally used this marketing tactic before. Here's what you'll find when YOU do it.

1. You'll have a difficult time finding and talking to

the decision maker for 50% of the businesses.

2. Once you find the decision maker, about 60% will

automatically say "no" because they just don't understand the nature of joint ventures.

3. About 40% will consider your offer.

4. About 20% will actually agree to your proposal

(Remember to pitch a small pilot program first).

From those 20% you'll be amazed at how many leads you can generate.

But Here's How to Turn that 20% Into 50% to 60%!

Once you have your lead generation system working in 20% of the complimentary businesses, the next step is to get some testimonials from them.

Document their positive comments and then take those comments back to the other 80% you proposed to previously.

What you'll find is that 50% to 60% of the businesses will want to sign on with you and your program.

People want proof before they make decisions.

Once you give it to them, they sales process becomes 10 times easier.

Conclusion

In this article I've given you a simple lead generation tactic that you can use to get in front of more new prospects.

The best thing about this tactic is that it's non-intrusive, very inexpensive, and it works!

It does take a bit of leg work, but the payback is handsome if you apply what I've taught you.

About the Author:

David Frey is the author of the best-selling manual, "The Small Business Marketing Bible" and the Senior Editor of the "Small Business Marketing Best Practices Newsletter." To get your free lifetime subscription visit http://www.MarketingBestPractices.com

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 07:19 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: We know that is so true. It is amazing how many people want to impose their moral beliefs on other people. You have so much catastrophe and so much death dealing and so much war based on what people hold religiously. If they actually looked at what the philosophers that they are following actually say, they would see that loving others is the primary foundation of the teachings they had that they wanted to spread to the world.

It is sad that so many people are so divisive and so willing to just judge others because they don’t believe the way that they do. I see that is probably the most and the greatest divisive factor in humanity today, is just people trying to impose their beliefs on others and wanting to try and change others and realizing that others can only change themselves.

What place does the power of prayer have in your life, Paulie?

Paulie Sabol: I think I’m going to be in the minority of some of your heroes, and that is a very good thing. What it means is that there is room at the top for all of us. I am one who experiences prayer typically as the last refuge of the wicked. As when somebody whose got some results coming in their life because of the habits that they’ve formed, the thoughts that they’ve acted upon, and they’re just not happy with those results, in a last ditch effort, they move to prayer to improve it.

On the other hand, there are some traditions which expand prayer to a broader form of communication with something you believe to be out there, rather than a living contribution to what’s around us. That is what I don’t participate in. But in the cases of where there is a communication with nature, or the communication to the power of knowing, which has historically been called Gnosticism, prayer still plays a small role in my life.

However, and it does, because I do believe in communing with those forces, I do believe in opening myself up to messages and invitations, and other than natural forms of knowing.

When people do say they are going to pray for me, I thank them with a nice smile. I’m happy to have prayers; I’m just not a very big doer of prayers. I want to respond to the question of the power of prayer.

From what those who do use prayer say it does for them, I see them as being plugged into a power. Again, I don’t know the means, and I don’t know the mechanism, but what I do know is that we learn in Physics and higher science. I do have a degree in Physics.

We are all fundamentally connected. There is only ONE sense, and you and I, we’re it. You and the listener is it. We’re all one. So the ability of prayer to bring people to the awareness of that oneness, and plug them into that oneness, I very much believe can occur through those particular rituals.

I just happen to use different ones.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Paulie's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Paulie Sabol has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 07:10 PM | Permalink

RALPH ZURANSKI: I have not had a chance to yet.

TOM BEAL: I feel it’s a “must see” for everybody that is serious about achieving any type of goals. What it talks about is the secret obviously. When Dr. Joe Vitalie was telling me about this on the cruise last November he and I were on and a few other marketers I asked and he wouldn’t tell us what the secret was.

He wouldn’t tell us what the movie was. I said “I know what the secret is. From Earl Nightingale he had the strangest secret in the world; we become what we think about most of the time. The thought that is most in your mind is what will fulfill or manifest.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Tom's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Tom Beal has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.
That’s exactly what it is about but it goes into more detail about what’s called “The Attraction Factor” which is a book by Dr. Joe Vitalie. Your thoughts mixed with emotions, mixed with enthusiasm produces the end result that you’ll manifest into reality.

Because you can have a thought but if you don’t have emotions to back that thought it’s like an impotent thought. You need to have that potency by having the emotions to back it up. That’s where you will begin to see you are what you think about most of the time.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Is it useful to take a positive view of setbacks,
misfortunes and mistakes?

TOM BEAL: There is a quote from Napoleon Hill that says “Every adversity carries with it the seed or an equivalent or greater benefit.” Those aren’t comforting words when you are going through adversity. They aren’t even comforting to me and I live by that quote.

But as I described some of the adversity I went through as a child I thought I was the only one going through that. As we grew up we noticed everybody has that type of stuff. Guess what, there is no such thing as a functional family, they are all dysfunctional.

Everybody has their problems. Now working with best selling authors and working with top athletes, I’m working with the “cream of the crop”. I even asked a NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, “Just because you have reached that success does that mean you don’t have any problems?” He laughed no problems? His son just died at eight years old because of a terminal illness. Try handling that problem.

One of the people I work with here is Jason Dinner. He said and which is very true “If you are in a big room with all these people and everyone throws their problems in a big pile you are going to want to get your problem out because you don’t want what the other people are going through.

Until you put it in perspective and just recognize that you are going to do the best you can with the circumstances you’re going through right now. That’s all you can do. You can worry about two things.

You can worry about things you can control or worry about things you can’t control. If you are worried about things you can control, control it and don’t worry about it. If you are worried about things you can’t control then what’s the point about worrying because you can’t control it.

So the point is if that doesn’t make sense, go get a book by Dale Carnegie called “How to Stop Worrying and How to Start Living”. Dale Carnegie wrote that in the early 1900’s because he had a lot of people coming to him that just had tremendous worry problems. If you look at society today, look at all these people on these pills to diminish the worry that they have.

I recommend reading that book. Then you understand that’s there is two things to worry about and neither one of them is not worth worrying about. It’s an awesome book! That one and “How to Win Friends and Influence People”.

You can get the double book by Dale Carnegie and it has both those in it, “How to Stop Worrying and How to Start Living” and How to Win Friends and influence People.” Those should also be recommended learning material for anybody who’s serious about becoming the best they can be in this life the brief time that we are here.

When I didn’t have much I was a student of life and going to the library. You can go the library for free. Unfortunately only about 3% of the U.S. population has library cards. But you can get all this information free. You don’t need anything.

There are stories of Og Mandino living on the park bench that went to the library and started studying and ended up becoming a multi millionaire many times over from learning. If you want success, study success. If you want happiness, study happiness.

If you don’t want to worry study how not to worry. Just like Napoleon Hill had his virtual Master Mind. He had a Master Mind with all the big wigs, F.W. Woolworth and Henry Ford. You can have all these people virtually like Abraham Lincoln and you can consult with them.

You’ve seen these bands today that people are wearing that say “WWJD?” what would Jesus do. Some people can’t grasp that but “What Would Abraham Lincoln Do?” What would your role model do in this situation?

RALPH ZURANSKI: How important is it to have optimism?

TOM BEAL: Optimism, man life will get you down if you read the papers and watch the news. You think the sky is falling. Chicken Little is a movie that just came out in cartoon but I tell you what if you watch the news and read the paper you’ll think the sky is falling and everyone is out to get you. You would lock yourself in your room.

You have live boldly. Stuff is going to happen. Back to that Attraction Factor here’s something that I personally, internally know, there is a conspiracy. Everything is conspiring to help me, assist me in accomplishing all my goals and to attract everything that I desire.

That’s a spin, yes there’s a conspiracy, but it’s a positive one if everything is working exactly the way it needs to assist me in fulfilling dreams and desires that I have. I may not understand why things happen but I know that all things work for good.

There are certain times I can’t interpret or understand, like my friend Jim Kelly whose son passed away at eight years old was born with life threatening illness. Why does that happen? Jim even says why me? I go to church and I’m a good guy so why me?

There have been studies and in the short eight years that Hunter was alive that disease he had is going to save thousands of lives and lives of kids that haven’t been born yet. That eight year old life impacted more lives than people who lived to be a hundred years old. There are things we aren’t meant to know or we can’t understand.

And all we know is what can we do? Do the best you can do. If you do the best you can do and everybody takes that upon themselves to do the best they can then the world’s problem would kind of dissipate.

There wouldn’t be any problems. If everybody’s being the best they can then that’s all we can be. We can’t be any other thing than that.

Posted by ralph at 11:41 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: It is pretty exponential, that’s for sure. I spent 24 years in that field and I know the value of good nutrition and doing the right things for your body, so I totally agree with you.

Paulie Sabol: One of his other quotes that he said that has meant a lot to me is, “An idea that is not dangerous, is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” That is a heroic statement, because it is talking about the fact that if you are going to get yourself behind something, you’re going to say, “I have a great idea,” it should make you tremble in its awesomeness.

You should be thinking to yourself, “If this idea can be pulled off, it is going to transform and change the world for the better.” I like that Oscar Wilde really reminded us that sometimes we treat any little notion that happens to pop by like it has the value of an idea.

But we’ve been told nothing is as powerful as an idea that has come at the right time, or whose time has come. I think it was Victor Hugo who said that. This is the same thing Oscar Wilde is reminding us. If an idea is truly great, is worth the title of an idea, it should really be just awesome, make us almost quake with the humility that we’ve been able to think it and receive it.

Ralph Zuranski: It is a little scary to indulge and also embark on journeys for great ideas and things that are going to make a dynamic difference in the world today.

Paulie Sabol: So with that, I will share a couple of my core philosophies. So this is 100% me, as opposed to my influences. One of my core philosophies, Ralph, is this one. It is called trust the truth. What I mean by the philosophy of trust the truth, and it is the profound number one reason why I agreed to accept this honor of doing this interview with you.

If we understand what a hero’s journey is, if we understand what that process is, then there are going to be times when things don’t go perfectly our way. When we do feel like we are about to be dashed against the obstacles, like there is just no energy to carry on. In fact, if we are in a relationship with a best friend, a boy friend, or a girl friend, perhaps even a mentor relationship, or a coach, and we’re trying to excel.

It is very important to be kind to ourselves as learners. Very often we want to punish learners. You’ll see some young person learning to do something and they behave in way that the parents or caregivers are objectionable to it, and they might reach over and slap them. We’re punishing the learner.

In the heroes’ journey, what I have found is that we just have to trust the truth. Know that the path of progress is just that. It is progress and not perfection. If we trust the truth and trust ourselves and know that over the course of all time, no caterpillar has ever turned into anything through metamorphosis except a beautiful butterfly.

They’ve never turned into a worthless pile of dung. They’ve always turned into a butterfly, every time. That’s what I mean by trust the truth. You see, I have a lot of interns; young heroes, like you are reaching out to, 18-24 years of age category, who come into our business as interns to learn how to achieve more and have more financial independence.

But I always trust the truth and I find that they get so much more than a revenue stream or income or work experience opportunity. They grow and transform as people just like the caterpillars into the butterflies.

Ralph Zuranski: What is your perspective on goodness, ethics, and moral behavior?

Paulie Sabol: This is an interesting question that you ask. There is much to be said. Here is my answer. I will actually take them in reverse order with your permission, because I believe taking them in that order actually illuminates a key issue.

I may be in the minority here, but I grow weary and tired of discussions for morality. Nichi said that morality is the best tool for leading humankind by the nose. He also called it the herd instinct of the individual. Morality in my view of the definition is outward focused.

It is usually used to censor, attack and divide. Ethics on the other hand, Ralph, is the thinking part of goodness behavior. Ethics is when logic, your intuition, and this understanding of value all meet together. That point, that thinking activity, is what ethics, ethical dilemma, ethical understanding, and ethical reasoning is all about.

Thus it is fundamentally personal. It is situational. It has a much higher ideal than can be comprised or codified into a series laws, commandments, or moral dictates. I think that ethics is the day to day activity of us walking through our heroic journey, whereas morality is very often a case of somebody else’s result of their heroic journey being imposed or imbued or endowed on somebody else.

In anticipation, or before, and sometimes unfortunately preventing them from making their own hero’s journey. That leaves us with goodness. Well, goodness is the doing part of ethical thinking. So through our ethical process, our understanding of value and situation and personal identity, we then act in accordance to that, and that is goodness.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Paulie's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Paulie Sabol has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 07:08 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.

A few weeks ago I was in Salt Lake City visiting with my brother. The first thing I would do every morning is go get the paper, sit down and do some reading.

An advertisement caught my eye.

It was an ad from a travel company that was promoting one of its websites. The website is http://www.LDSTrips.com

If any of you have been to Salt Lake City you know that it is the capitol for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (commonly called the LDS Church).

Well, to drum up business this clever travel company created trips that would appeal specifically to members of the church.

All of sudden, business started booming.

Here's the actual advertisement for LDSTrips.com

http://url123.com/ua3c6

Niche Marketing Is Where It's At..

The travel industry knows that niche marketing is where it's at for attracting new customers.

That same day I noticed the ad for LDSTrips.com I was in a grocery store with my wife thumbing through a few magazines.

My wife is a quilting nut. She loves to quilt.

(We even have an entire room in our home dedicated to the quilting industry.)

So she handed me a quilting magazine to look at something and as a good husband, I pretended like I was interested :-)

Eventually, I flipped to the back of the magazine to see the ads (the only thing interesting in a quilting magazine) and there was a 1/4 page ad for an "Alaskan Quilting Cruise."

Amazing.

Here's the ad for the Alaskan Quilting Cruise.

http://url123.com/uwkgu

Birds of a Feather Like to Flock Together

The reason the travel industry is so successful employing niche marketing is because people like to hang out with other people who have the same passions as they do.

- Marketers like to hang out with other marketers.

- Basketball players like to hang out with basketball players.

- Bird lovers like to hang out with bird lovers.

- Stock traders like to hang out with stock traders.

- Runners like to hang out with runners.

- Birds of a feather like to flock together!

Here's How You Can Use This Simple Human Fact to Get a Lot More New Customers, Clients, and Patients...

Because people like to hang around with people who have

similar interests, why not create events and offerings that appeal to specific groups of people.

For instance - - here are some ideas to expand your thinking.

- Clothing Store

Hold an "AARP" night and invite all the local AARP members to your clothing store for a closed door appreciation event.

- Accountants

You can create an "Auto Dealership Accounting Package" and send promos to all the auto dealers in town.

- Auto Repair Shop

Sponsor a local "teachers tune up" week in which all the teachers in the area get a special discount on a tune up.

- Window and Glass Company

Sponsor an education night for all the contractors and builders in town and offer free drinks and food.

- Insurance Agent

Offer a "Newlywed UCLA Insurance Program" for couples just getting married who attend UCLA (or any other university).

Take Your Cues From the Dating Industry...They Understand How to Do Niche Marketing.

Here's What I Mean...

Just look at these sites.

http://www.LDSSingles.com

(for LDS Church members who are single)

http://www.EquestrianSingles.com

(for singles who like horses)

http://www.CowboyCowgirl.com

(for singles who like living the country life)

http://www.AnimalPeople.com

(for people who love to have pets)

http://www.ChristianSingles.com

(for Christian singles)

http://www.GreenSingles.com

(for singles who are environmentally conscious)

Conclusion

Niche marketing is such an important concept for you small business. Every business should be doing some form of niche marketing.

Take advantage of the fact that like-minded people want to hang around each other and sponsor events for them that gives you exposure.

A west coast restaurant called http://www.Wahoos.com sponsors events for the "hip crowd" and drives scores of hipsters to its restaurants.

You can do something similar. The only thing that is stopping you is your own imagination.

About the Author:

David Frey is the author of the best-selling manual, "The Small Business Marketing Bible" and the Senior Editor of the "Small Business Marketing Best Practices Newsletter." To get your free lifetime subscription visit http://www.MarketingBestPractices.com

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 06:54 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: I think that is really true, because Earl Nightingale and Napoleon Hill talked about having that worthy ideal, about having faith in yourself, having belief that you can possibly achieve your goals, and having that self confidence in being able to do it, that it makes all the difference in the world.

I know, Paulie, you are striving to accomplish that. I was just curious; do you follow your hunches and intuitions?

Paulie Sabol: Increasingly so, Ralph. I entered into a mentorship program with a person who I am hopefully going to be able to share more with you about as we continue on. This is going to be shocking to some people, but the access to this mentorship program has an exclusive, not in the racial or gender sense, but rather an elite club.

It costs $30,000 a year to be a part of. When I heard a fellow here, and partner of mine, who is also in that program, is going to be on a long flight with our common mentor, I asked her if she would get a chance to deliver a message for me. My message to my mentor was to thank him for giving me the permission to depend upon trust, and act based on my intuition.

I had no idea, and I still have no idea, what the mechanism, or process of intuition is, I don’t even know if it is real or like a byproduct, that it could be something we trick ourselves into, because we have these magnificent, marvelous brains, that are able to take in and understand so much more, so much faster, than we could ever put words on.

So I don’t know what intuition actually is. I don’t know if it is something from inside of us that we get a glimpse of. I don’t know if it is something totally biological, ordinary, and natural. What I do know is that the more that I have allowed myself to be guided and to connect with these intuitive insights, and trust them, and act based upon them, the results that are coming to me are occurring with greater regularity, greater reward, and greater relaxation.

It is becoming effortless effort for me to act in a heroic way that has the rewards of heroism.

Ralph Zuranski: What is the specific philosophy or philosophies that guide your life and your decisions?

Paulie Sabol: When I prepared for this question, I misread it Ralph. I thought you were asking about the philosophers who had impacted me. So let me first share some of that, and then I will talk about a couple of specific philosophies that do guide me.

I did want to share that Oscar Wilde is one of my biggest guiding philosophers. He had some great things to say that I think are illustrative and important for all of us. One of his quotes is that, “A cynic is a person who knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing.”

This difference between value and price I thought was so very important. Very often we want to try to create numbers and let numbers be the way in which we rank one another, judge one another, experience one another, and even consider our traits, whether it is a social trait like hanging out with somebody, or whether it is a financial trait.

However, he said the cynic understands the price of everything. They understand only the price, but the value of nothing. The fact that there is a difference between what something may cost us or its price and its value is dramatic.

Think about it this way, what is the price of a marijuana joint? It is whatever it is – it is some number of dollars. That is the price. But what is the impact of developing a habit where we are consuming drugs, we’re giving up some of our passions and giving up some of our control to an outside substance.

The impact, the real cost in that case is large. That is the difference between price and cost. Now look at it the other way. What is the price of eating in the most healthful way possible – avoiding some of the fast food choices that are out there, avoiding some of the fried foods, and instead eating the healthy, nutritious live foods.

They might even have a slightly higher price than a lot of the fast foods, but the value to your body, the composition, the power, and the wellness that it gives you, is quite a bit greater than that little incremental price difference.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Paulie's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Paulie Sabol has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 08:07 AM | Permalink

RALPH ZURANSKI: What is your perspective on goodness, ethics and moral behavior?

TOM BEAL: I feel that every person has an inner thermometer about what’s good and what’s bad, what’s right and what’s wrong. But I also know that we also choose whether we want to partake in things that are good or things that are bad, or things that are right and things that are wrong. It all boils down to the power of choice.

No matter where you are in your life you can continue walking that path or you can choose to take a different route.

RALPH ZURANSKI: What place does the power of prayer have in your life?

TOM BEAL: I pray pretty much all day long. I have an inner talk and am always communicating and just try to be in touch with myself and God and the universe. While I’m driving and while I’m sitting I’ll try to have conversations. I feel it’s very, very important part of my life.

RALPH ZURANSKI: What principles are you willing to sacrifice your life for?

TOM BEAL: What’s right? I have a scar on my knee and on my eye because while I was in the marine corp. Mike Tyson had a comeback fight and we had a party in our apartment. When we went outside there was a group of people, because he fought McNealy, and I remember it because there was an event that occurred afterward that I’m leading up to.

Mike Tyson knocked McNealy out very quickly. We went out to our car. There was several marines and a couple of there wives. There was a group of other people who were apparently not satisfied with ending of the fight so they all circled up from different apartments.

They were having ultimate fighting championships and they were fighting one another. It happened to be right near our car. We stop and all of a sudden they start picking on us. Saying “You guys think your tough?” We said “NO, no everything is good.”

But then one of them pushed my friend’s wife. Without even thinking I just grabbed that guy and my wrestling came out and I took him down. What I didn’t think about was that we were out numbered at least 5 to 1. So what I would sacrifice?

I would stand up for what is right. If I have to have surgery a couple of times afterwards so be it. I was kicked in the head and had to have seven stitches in the eye and had to have knee surgery and all that fun stuff. But what’s right is right.

The guy chose to push my friends wife and I had to stick up for what’s right. I’ve since hung up my fighting shoes. There was a lot of testosterone going on back in those years. I try to talk things out.

Hopefully I am able to communicate things a little better than choosing physical aspects like that. But I will not sit back and keep my tongue tied if someone is doing wrong to someone else.

Actually just recently at one of the seminars I saw you at we were in the back of the plane and one airport was shut down, Chicago/O’Hare and this guy was just going off on the stewardess.

Saying “This is unacceptable. This is why your airline is going out of business, blah, blah, blah.” She said “Sir I apologize. It’s out of my control.”

He’s saying “I’m so disgusted with this!” I said “Sir I’m disgusted with the way you are talking to the stewardess. You need to put yourself in check here and give her some appreciation.”

His wife agreed. I’m just not the type to sit by if someone’s being treated wrongly I will communicate that.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Are your goals consistent with your beliefs?

TOM BEAL: 100%. I feel that to achieve any greatness or to achieve any goal you need to be congruent with your beliefs. Your goals need to be very congruent with your beliefs in order to fulfill them, is my belief.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Are your actions consistent with your beliefs?

TOM BEAL: Yes, and many times as a child my walk didn’t equal my talk or vice versa. I feel the people you see achieving the great results, and there are exceptions to the rule, but the majority by far, people’s walk equals their talk. I feel that’s a goal. To be congruent you need to have your thoughts, words and actions be congruent with the beliefs that you have internally.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Is it valuable to have highly charged emotions about achieving your goals?

TOM BEAL: Emotions are extremely vital to achieving your success. There’s a movie out now, that if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. As a matter of fact it should almost be required in my opinion for teenagers, for kids growing up and adults to watch. It’s called www.whatisthesecret.tv. That’s an awesome documentary. Have you seen that yet Ralph?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Tom's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Tom Beal has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 06:36 AM | Permalink

Paulie Sabol: Thank you. In the challenge to reduce my life mission into 10 words, I think this is it: It is to have high achieving friends worldwide with fundamental abundance for all.

Ralph Zuranski: What is the dream or vision that sets the course of your life?

Paulie Sabol: One of my mentors, a fellow by the name of Hakim Bay, said, “When we sleep we do not dream of a democratic state, we do not dream of a communist community. Nay, when we sleep we dream of anarchies and monarchies, where every person is a free king, queen, prince or princess.”

The dream and vision that propels me is almost a practical medieval pursuit, if you will, of the lost message, a lost bloodline, a sometime ago lost and then eventually found place and territory with no boundaries and no names, where the order that is there is really the order that comes out of the dynamic chaos that is created by itself.

A self-creating community of self-responsibility. What does all of that mean? It is kind of artistic language. To me, the dream that I have, the vision that I have, probably comes out of my having been adopted. Many, many adopted children have at some point and time in their life have a romantic, thoughtful connection to who their birth parents might have been.

In my case, I created this entire fantasy of this French/Jewish king lineage from which I came from. My original birth name is Boudreaux. I had studied and found what the Boudreaux crest looked like.

Still to this day, even though at one point I met my birth father and brought closure to a lot of those needs, I live and dream of that image of being the children of kings and priests and great heroes that I believe all of us have at the core of who we are, that sense that we were born of good, great stuff, to be good, great stuff.

Ralph Zuranski: That is so true on how important it is to believe that you are important, that you are worthwhile, and you can achieve great things. How important is it to stay focused on your primary goal?

Paulie Sabol: I’m so glad you asked this question. I believe there is actually a paradox, or a mystery, or a puzzle when it comes to focus. The way I like to do it is experientially, so I’m going to encourage you Ralph, and the young listeners to do this with me.

Think about your own two eyes, which are the source of your visual focus. If you put up one finger, like you are making the number one sign, and you put it about six inches from your face at eye level and focus on that finger, just on that one finger.

I want you to notice as you continue to hold that focus, that everything behind and beyond your immediate focus is now distorted, doubled, and fuzzy. However, if you have a primary goal, that one objective and you focus beyond it, let your eyes naturally rest, I’m not focused entirely on the prize at the moment, but look beyond it.

You are more relaxed. Your eyes are now where they are designed to be, on what’s ahead, on the future, on what is coming. Your primary aim is now what’s been doubled. Rather than becoming like an obstacle right in front of you, causing you to lose your sense of what’s beyond you, it’s doubling has made like a gateway, an archway, that you see the future right through.

While it is very important for me to focus, I like to focus beyond my primary aim and goal. In fact, to call it important is somewhat misleading; since I believe it is the natural state, and thus the easy one. Often we think of important things as things that require struggle and travail and challenge.

Whereas, since this is the easy way, it is not so much important to do, as if there is a doing in it, but rather it is a state of being. It is a way to be. Naturally looking forward and seeing your primary aims as the gateway, archway and the path to that clear resolute future before you.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Paulie's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Paulie Sabol has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 08:06 AM | Permalink

RALPH ZURANSKI: Do you follow your hunches and intuition.

TOM BEAL: (Laughter) Yes I do. There is a fun story here. I mentioned I dropped out of college. I partied too much and went there for the wrong reasons. I was 17 years old in college and ended up dropping out.

For the first time my mother and I agreed. She agreed she was kicking me out and I agreed I was leaving. So that was our mutual agreement. I got in my car. It was a 1982 Volkswagen Rabbit with 180,000 miles and I had $60.00 to my name and I was 18 years old.

The intuition or hunch that I had was, I got in my car and really had no where to go. I can’t stay here and I really have nowhere local that I can go.

My intuition and my gut said drive to New York City. Keep in mind that I didn’t know anybody in New York City and I didn’t have any destination but I followed my gut and my intuition.

In this Volkswagen Rabbit I drove the six hour trip. I left my house at 9:00pm EST and arrived in Manhattan not knowing the exact directions but just knowing that’s what my gut was telling me at 3:00 am in the morning.

All the way there I didn’t have a radio and at this time I didn’t have any spiritual background or upbringing in the church or anything like that.

On the 6 hour drive I said “You know what God, it’s me and you. I don’t know why I going to New York City. I don’t know where I’m going to stay when I get there. I don’t know what I’m going to do.

If I’m going to have to live in my car and that’s what you have in the cards for me then that’s what I’ll do. If you want me to live on the street that’s what I’ll do. If I’m supposed to die in New York City that’s what I’ll do.

I’m just going there on intuition, on my gut. That’s where I feel I need to be going.” So I did that. I talked for 6 hours to nobody but to the universe, to God and it was in his hands. At 3:00 am I get to Manhattan.

I’ve been there like once before and didn’t know where I was going. I was going from the high numbers like from the 180’s down to the lower numbers. On the way I saw a Chinese restaurant. I said “Well I’ve nowhere to go so I’ll just pull in and have a little bite to eat.”

I didn’t have much money so at the same time when I walked in I looked at my money and I had $60.00 minus some gas I had to pay. It was a diesel Rabbit by the way. The waitress came and I said “You know what I’m just going to have a bowl of rice.”

She looked at me and said “We have no rice.” Like a movie I looked around and said “This is a Chinese restaurant right? You don’t have any rice. That’s what you do, right?” She said “Yeah we are out of rice. Anything else?”

I said “Well I guess not. Do you have a restroom I can use?” I went into the restroom and washed my hands and splashed water on my face. I went back in my car and went one block and came to a red light.

At 3:00 in the morning my ex-stepfather was walking across that intersection. I couldn’t believe it. I rolled my window down and I’m yelling out “Hey Cliff. Cliff!” and he keeps walking. I yelled his full name out and he turns around and says “What the heck are you doing down here?”

I said “What the heck are you doing walking the streets at 3:00 in the morning?” Now keep in mind I hadn’t seen Cliff in a couple of years and had no clue he was in New York, none the less in New York City. But the circumstances that lead to that was he said “Where are you staying?” I said “You are looking at it.”

“I just left the house, me and my mom got in a fight and I’m here.” He said” You are staying in your car?” He says “No your not you are staying at my house. I’ve got a place right around the corner.” So I stayed with him for three months in Manhattan. That is a long winded answer to “Do I follow my gut and my intuition.”

That’s a story from a few years ago obviously. But I do feel strongly that when you have that burning desire that you know this is what your supposed to do then take that step boldly. And just one step after the next. I do consider it a miracle.

RALPH ZURANSKI: What specific philosophy or philosophies guide your life and decisions?

TOM BEAL: In the marine corp. I learned 14 principles in leadership. Real quickly here they are judgment, justice, decisiveness, integrity, tact, initiative, enthusiasm, bearing, unselfishness, courage, knowledge, loyalty and endurance. That’s a quick run down of those 14 traits but I feel that if I’m doing the best that I know how today and I can do a little bit better tomorrow; that’s all I can ask for.

I try to do everything honestly and ethically I try not to cross any of those lines. In my mind I know what’s right and what’s not and I try to do my best every single day. My goal is to be a little bit better tomorrow than I am today.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Tom's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Tom Beal has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 06:34 AM | Permalink

RALPH ZURANSKI: What are the five steps?

TOM BEAL: That’s a great question. (Laughter) The suspense is coming to fruition. The five steps, and I do a whole presentation, an hour long presentation, but I’ll give you the five steps right off the bat.

The first is vision.
Second is belief.
Third is identify and align.
Fourth is commitment to action.
Five, which I call the secret step, is have fun.

Those five steps helped me to overcome the rough childhood and reach the level of success in wrestling, then go on to the marine corp. and have that success and the bicycling and all that fun stuff. Those are the five universal principles that allowed me to overcome the adversity and reach the top in those fields.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Wow, that’s amazing Tom. I’ve got some good questions for you also.

TOM BEAL: Oh, cool!

RALPH ZURANSKI: What is the worthy ideal you are pursuing with honesty and integrity according to the Napoleon Hill model?

TOM BEAL: The best way for me to answer that is what I stated earlier, to assist people in understanding that it doesn’t matter where they came from or where they are now, they can take steps to reach their destiny.
What do you want out of life in ten words or less?

RALPH ZURANSKI: What is the dream or vision that sets the course of your life?

TOM BEAL: The dream or vision is to really impact children that are going through rough times. It is very clear in my mind the difficulties and experiences I had as a child. At times thinking I was alone and thinking that I had no one to go to.

And as your doing with IN Search of Heroes to give people a hero & give them someone they can look to in times of trouble and difficulty. Whether it’s on-line, whether it’s a toll free number or a “live” operator. Some type of 24 hour support system for most importantly in my mind, children who are going through difficult times.

Because as a child I know in today’s times it’s been always that the decisions they make could impact the rest of their lives. If they are going to make very important decisions it can either lead them toward their dreams or away from their dreams.

RALPH ZURANSKI: How important is it to stay focused on your primary goal?

TOM BEAL: Focus is very important. In all those stories I shared, in bicycling for example, I lived, breathed, walked, talked and everything I did revolved around bicycling. Hence I was able to go from not knowing how to do a single trick like you see on the X Games to becoming a National Champion with 3 years.

It’s that focus that allows you to reach the top in your game. For awhile I wanted to be everything to everybody. Then I started to really understand and appreciate the power of focus.

Like a laser beam, the more you can focus and instead of trying to be everything, be the best that you can in that particular area.

That’s when you will pull yourself much farther and much more quickly instead of being distracted by other things. Focus is very important.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Tom's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Tom Beal has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 08:03 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: That is so true. It is funny how so many people in the world today are not willing to accept people the way that they are and realize that each person is along their own separate path of life that nobody knows what the outcome is or where they will finally end up.

Their basic response is just hate, or avoidance, rather than love. I think most of the heroes that I’ve talked with, have all talked about the idea of loving others no matter what their particular lifestyle is, or no matter what their belief system is, and realizing that all the great spiritual leaders, they all talk about love and accepting people the way that they are, and realizing that it is impossible to change somebody. Everybody has to change themselves.

What is your outcome as far as your life? What would you say in ten words or less is what you want out of life, Paulie?

Paulie Sabol: Before I answer that, I do want to bounce back on one other thing that you said. I really want to reach out and be heard by those one in ten of your youthful heroes, who are themselves are in that questioning phase about their own sexual orientation, and sexual identity.

This point about change that you are making could be misunderstood by some of them. That is you are talking about changing one’s life and changing their habits, and changing their thoughts all into a direction that is aligning themselves in that powerful way with honesty and integrity with regards to their highest values.

I believe, and I certainly would say that I’m not expecting anybody to change, or think it is a good idea to change their sexual orientation or the way in which they are at a core physical nature. All of us can rise up against any physical limitation we have, but your sexual identity isn’t one of those physical limitations, it is one of those celebrations.

With just that point made, I will go ahead and answer your question Ralph.

Ralph Zuranski: The idea is that everybody needs to be accepted where they are at. I think too many people hold a particular perspective that everybody has to conform to what they believe is right, and what their perspective of life is.

I found in my own life that is one of the most devastating things that people can do is to try to force others to believe like they do, and it is basically unfair. No matter where anybody is, no matter what they believe, no matter what their particular sexual persuasion is, you have to realize that they are all human beings, they are all made in the image and likeness of God, and they bear the image of God, and they are all lovable.

We need to love others, not hate them. We need to seek for unity, rather than separation. There is no good thing that can come out of hating others, and disavowing others and suppressing others. The whole goal of the heroes program is realizing that any person, no matter who they are, when they do good for somebody else, can be a hero. It is an ongoing thing.

You can be a hero everyday if you are helping others. I know that you do that Paulie. I know that you strive to help others, and that is one of the reasons why I chose you.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Paulie's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Paulie Sabol has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 08:04 AM | Permalink

RALPH ZURANSKI: Hi, this is Ralph Zuranski. I’m on the phone with Tom Beal. He is one of the leaders of internet marketing and just recently started working with Mike Filsaime in the Butterfly Marketing Program.

I’ve seen Tom at quite a few internet marketing seminars. Being a leader in the industry himself, it’s just really a pleasure to talk with him. How are you doing today Tom?

TOM BEAL: Doing fantastic Ralph. I feel honored to be speaking with you today and looking forward to this conversation.

RALPH ZURANSKI: I know you are a real hero. You were actually a war hero on the front lines. You were a marine weren’t you? Can you tell us a little bit about your life?

TOM BEAL: Sure, sure. Simper fi, that’s the “always faithful” marine slogan. But a little bit about myself Ralph I guess it starts back to being born to teenagers. I was born to a 17 year old mother and a 19 year old father and grew up around some adversities.

There were four divorces and six marriages between my two parents. I went to 9 different schools by 8th grade in two separate states. There’s a whole list of other fun things that occurred, the alcoholism, abuse, neglect and on welfare as a child.

Yet through that I was able to become a national bicycle champion winning nationals in 1989. Now it’s called X Games. So I was doing tricks on bikes.

From there I went to college to wrestle and ended up hanging out with the wrong crowd, dropped out of college and then found myself at Paris Island Marine Corp Boot Camp. From there I figured out that system and ended up graduating the number one honor graduate from boot camp.

Then going on to attain some good achievements in the marine corp. in the four years that I spent there. I was able to earn three merit choice promotions in the four years and also had a stint as an all marine wrestler down in Quantico, Va. After the four years was up I felt I had a little more to accomplish in my life so I left the marine corp.

I ventured into sales and in sales similar to Marine Corp. Boot Camp I kind of figured out about the system and how to win and I ended up earning the number one spot in 5 sales organizations. Then from there went on to publish a book called “The North Carolina Home Book” that was down in Charlotte, North Carolina.

It was a resource for anyone looking to remodel their $1,000,000 plus home in the Charlotte, Greensboro or the Raleigh-Durham area. That was a fun project. I had a fun time doing that.

Then I heard about internet marketing in 2001. The events of September 11,2001 to be precise is what triggered in me that it was time to start fulfilling the answers to the questions people had always asked me. Namely “How do you do it?”

Whether it was the Marine Corp. or whether it was the sales organizations where I rose to the top or publishing the book. It seems that I was able to reach the top in a short time in whatever I chose to get into.

I remember sitting on 77 South when I was hearing on the radio what was occurring that morning of September 11.

It hit me that now is the time to take the years of studying Tony Robbins & Brian Tracy and the whole gambit of personal & professional development experts & my own success & my own stories and start sharing it with people to let them know that it doesn’t matter where they came from or where they are right now.

There are steps they can take to fulfill their dreams and desires. It was there that I started asking myself questions. If you are listening to this call right now I think as Mark Victor Hansen put in his book, “The Aladdin Factor”, is the proper questions you ask yourself, your mind and the universe as a whole will give you the answer.

The more you fine tune your questions the more you’ll fine tune your life. So the question I asked myself was in all those unrelated fields, bike riding, marine corp., wrestling and all the sales fields, “How did I do it? What steps did I apply in each of those unrelated fields that has allowed me to go in with little or knowledge and become number one in a very short time?”

My mind responded with an answer that I didn’t like. It responded with too many different scenarios. What I did in the Marine Corp. was different than when I was riding bikes and it was different from what I did in each of those unrelated sales deals.

So I asked a better question. Once again I jot that note down “Ask yourself better questions”. If I had to narrow it down to five things that I applied in all those unrelated areas, “What would they be?”

Immediately my mind began to respond and from all those years of studying Napoleon Hill, The Seventeen Principles of Success that he shares, Tony Robins, Jim Roans, Brian Tracy and all the things I put into my mind & all the experiences I’ve had.

I was able to create what I call “The Success Magnet System”. It is simply five steps with none more important than the other, which have allowed me to overcome the adversity and reach greatness in those unrelated areas in my life.

That’s my passion, to share with people these five steps, The Success Magnet System to assist them in understanding that they can take their life & accomplish their dreams just by applying these five steps.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Tom's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Tom Beal has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 08:37 AM | Permalink

Click Here to listen to Paulie's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Ralph Zuranski: Hi. This is Ralph Zuranski. I'm on the phone with Paulie Sabol. He’s one of the leaders in Internet Marketing, and has accomplished some pretty amazing things in his lifetime. I was wondering, Paul, if you would just go ahead and share a little bit about your life and what you’ve done, how you’ve been so successful on the Internet.

Paulie Sabol: Thank you for asking Ralph. It is a real pleasure to be amongst those you’ve selected as heroes. I will be 35 years of age this year in 2006 come July. I have been operating an online business since the 2001.

Most of the successes in one way look like they are overnight successes, because I’ve been on the Internet for a relatively short period of time. However, like most Internet successes, they really took a long time to develop. The Internet is actually something I came to very late.

I came out of the direct response, or mail type sales arena, and moved over to the Internet. I found it to be fast, easy and simple. One of the elements throughout our chat that I think we’ll talk about Ralph, when we do talk about online, I know that that is a small portion of the way in which we can encourage the young people to be heroes that they are and can be.

The power of the Internet is that online there are really no barriers. You can be female and you can overcome sexism. You can be a person of color and you can overcome racism. You can be like myself, a young, active, positive, gay male, and you can overcome all of that, because the usual stereotypes, and hatred that you can sometimes find in the off-line world, you can be very insulated from it in the online world.

So everyone, regardless of what disadvantages or discriminations they may face, can have an opportunity to be a hero online.

Ralph Zuranski: That is absolutely true and that is the reason for the heroes program, that anybody, no matter what their persuasion, no matter what their sex, whatever, can be a hero at any time when they help others.

It doesn’t depend on what you believe or who you are, but it is what you do. That is what really counts. I was wondering, what is your worthy ideal that you are pursuing with honesty and integrity?

Paulie Sabol: As you clearly know, Earl Nightingale is a fine success as the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. For me, that ideal is the completion of the civil rights movement, which is why I think that from time to time we will return to the power of the Internet as a communication tool, as a change agent, and as I mentioned before, as a refuge, a sanctuary from disenfranchisement or being discriminated against.

So for me it is that completion of the civil rights movement. The challenge that you add, or the enhancement that you add to Earl Nightingale’s question, who shared with us the strangest secret ever, what we think about most becomes our reality, becomes who we are, is the goal to do so with honesty and integrity.

It is a real challenge to complete or focus on disenfranchised people in the civil rights movement, and today with honesty and integrity. Sometimes I can just get so mad. I can get so upset sometimes.

As an example, I was thinking about this year’s Golden Globe Awards versus the Oscars. At the Golden Globes, Broke Back Mountain was awarded the best dramatic motion picture. Felicity Huffman and Philip Seymour Hoffman were awarded both of the best actor awards; one for Transamerica, about a male to female transgendered post-op transsexual.

Of course, Philip Seymore Hoffman played Capote who was a gay author. Broke Back Mountain, which had the two homosexual cowboys, got the best original song, best director, best screenplay, and best dramatic motion picture.

With the Oscars it was a different story. They managed to award Broke Back Mountain also best directed, but gave the best film award to Crash, which is interesting. That was a movie that wasn’t even nominated in the Golden Globes, but is a movie which is about the prevalence and the insidiousness, and the fact that racism and judgment is just everywhere.

So I thought it was so interesting that the Academy Awards seemed so out of touch, and yet at the same time, pricked with a certain level of guilt that they still had to award a movie about disenfranchisement and racism.

Even someone like myself, Ralph, who puts as my highest goal and value to complete the civil rights movement, I have to put myself in check if I have a stereotypical thought or I think in a way that is not treating each individual based on their own merits, but perhaps based on a collective belief.

They’re just jocks, or they’re the nerds, the kinds of social tasks that maybe many of your young, emerging heroes are seeing themselves in, trying to advance from, or perhaps in some cases, judging and avoiding.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here to listen to Paulie's In Search Of Heroes Interveiw.

Paulie Sabol has tapped into the Dale Carnegie's secret strategy for amassing a huge fortune that was shared with Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale. You can learn why and how to become successful by listening to their heroes interviews.

It is high time we start spreading "Good News" about local heroes through a grassroots program that is self-funding and that teaches young people how to make money on the internet by creating and selling many different types of new and used products on E-bay...their own and others.

Don't miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime. If you are desperate to become incredibly successful on the internet, invest in your own copy of the Butterfly Internet Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 07:51 AM | Permalink

Imagine you too can be an amazingly successful
speaker that makes massive amounts of money...

"James Malinchak and His Dynamic Team Of Incredible, Kick-Ass Professional Speakers, Authors, Coaches and Consultants, Blew Minds, Transformed Realities, Busted Financial Bubbles and Trashed Poverty Consciousness
Because they wanted to...

Teach Attendees How To Become

Wealth-Conscious Business People Who Know How To Fill Their Bank Accounts To Overflowing With Boat Loads Of Cold, Hard Cash"

Finally, there is now a master trainer of speakers, a cash generating genius, who is the savior for struggling speakers, educators and motivators. James Malinchak knows how to help starving and marginally successful speakers to finally receive the huge sums of money they deserve.

James Malinchak transformed attendees' lives in such a profound way that they will be forever, eternally grateful!

Many suddenly realized that what they learned is worth millions of dollars of increased income during their life times.

YES, James, your "Success Speaking Boot Camp" astounded attendees when they learned:
How to change their poverty consciousness to one of prosperity.

What marketing tools to use to explode their earning potential.

How to create online and printed books, audios and videos quickly and easily so they can enjoy the rewards of their newfound fame.

Proven ways to develop intimate life-long relationships with their current and potential clients.
Who to include in their powerful master mind groups.

How to create a master mind group.

When to increase their speaking fees to explode their earning potential.

During this incredible, four-day boot camp, attendees learned how to crush their competition and explode their earning potential. Success is inevitable when they work correctly, smart and with the proper focus.

Wow! What an amazing event. Attendees learned they too can deliver speeches and training programs that captivate, inspire and motivate the individuals in their target market to take the desired action...BUY MY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES...willingly, joyfully and thankfully.

Who would have imagined speaking can be be so financially rewarding, simple, easy, fun and entertaining?

James Malinchak taught attendees many of his hidden secrets so they too can be some of the most sought after motivational speakers and corporate trainers in the world today.

Check out the awesome photo albums of James's Success Speaking Boot Camp.

COMING SOON are heroes interviews with Audrey Hagen, Debbie Allen, James Malinchak Melanie Strick and Tanya Brown.

Click Here to listen to Ruben Gonzalez's In Search Of Heroes interview.

Posted by ralph at 03:41 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.

Not long ago I made a trip over to the local Radio Shack to purchase an electronic plug for my cassette recorder. As I paid for my item the retail clerk asked me for my name, address, telephone number, birth date, and even my email address (something every retailer should be asking for today!). Although I felt a twinge of discomfort giving out my personal information, I went ahead and gave it to him and went on my way.

Driving home I reflected on Radio Shack’s checkout process and was reminded of the power of information gathering at the point of sale. I had just given Radio Shack three ways to contact me, not to mention, information on what I had purchased. In the hands of a skilled marketer, this information is powerful.

Database Marketing

The recent economic slowdown has brought increased competition to small businesses. And with that, retailers across North America have described their sales as "flat." Small businesses should be looking for low cost, high impact marketing activities to drive prospects to their business.

One of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to add profits to the bottom line is the use of database marketing, which uses information collected at the point-of-sale.

Using personal data, purchasing data, and contact information from a customer database, a spa and pool retailer can make offers to customers for complimentary products and services and engage in loyalty marketing activities.

Database marketing has four key elements, (1) gathering customer data, (2) building a customer database, (3) creating targeted offers for specific customer groups, and (4) tracking results to improve responses.

Step 1: Gather customer data. The easiest way to begin this process is to develop a simple form for customers and salespeople to fill out every time a customer purchases a product or service. Include personal information such as names of spouses, children, profession, and birthdays, as well as, product information such as manufacturer, make, and model.

Step 2: Build a database to store your customer information. Start simple using off-the-shelf software such as Microsoft Access. Later on you can begin to modify the database to either include different types of information or to print special reports.

Step 3: Start sending offers and personal messages to your customers. Don’t wait until you have a large mailing list. Begin sending notes to customers right away thanking them for their purchase, to celebrate birthdays, share holiday messages, and inviting them to come in and take advantage of special offers.

There is an old saying that goes, “Business goes where business is invited, and stays where it is appreciated.” A personalized invitation to drop by the store to take advantage of a specific incentive is sometimes all that is needed to keep your customers coming back into the store.

Instituting a program of personal, hand-signed notes that coincide with birthdays or special events addressed to the customer's significant other that offer gift ideas, can have surprising results.

Step 4: Track the results of your database marketing efforts. By knowing who you sent offers to and who responded will help you identify your best customers, allow you to more effectively allocate your marketing dollars, and help you tweak your marketing pieces to get higher response rates.

What Information Do I Collect?

It’s important to determine in advance the type of information to collect. To do this, make a list of common special offers you might be presenting to your customer. For instance, if you sold a product in the health industry and many of your customers have lower back problems you could joint venture with other businesses to develop special promotions on products that help to relieve lower back pain. To capture the fact that your customer experiences lower back pain, simply place a check box on your form that says, “Do you experience lower back pain?”

If your customer has small children, consider presenting follow-up offers for products targeted for small children. Imagine being a consumer and receiving a letter from your business with an enclosed birthday card for little Joey who just turned eight years old and a discount offer for a basketball hoop or other relevant products. You think to yourself, “What a great gift. Joey would love that!” This is the power of database marketing.

Collecting Accurate and Consistent Information

Database marketing all starts at the point of sale. Without accurate, complete, and consistent data this type of pinpoint target marketing can’t be done. To ensure that your information is accurate and consistent, help your customers fill out the data collection form and review each information form for completeness.

You might experience a hesitancy from your customer to give out all their personal information, similar to how I felt at Radio Shack. However, after explaining that the information will only be used to send out special offers during important events, is completely confidential, and will not be shared with anybody else, you’ll find that most of your customers won’t have any problem giving out their personal information.

Cost Effective Loyal Customers

Marketing to your current customers is one of the most effective and cost-efficient strategies you can do to reduce your marketing costs, enhance your customer / retailer relationships, and produce long-term loyal customers who, over a period of months or years, become your biggest source of referrals.

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 07:59 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: That’s a great answer, Donna. The world definitely needs a lot more love. That is for sure. Love for ourselves and love for everybody else.

If you had three wishes for your life in the world that would instantly come true, what would they be?

Donna Fox: I wish for more discipline to be able to really use my powers for good. I wish for more patience to really be able to impact and create those “aha” moments in the people that really need them. I wish for a receptive vessel in humanity because there are so many people who have so much good to do.

I think that sometimes we get closed off from being open to good because of media messages and just all of the trouble out there. So I wish that people were more receptive.

Ralph Zuranski: Donna, I really appreciate your time and I was just curious what do you think about the In Search of Heroes Program and it’s impact on youth and families and parents and kids and businesses?

Donna Fox: I think the In Search of Heroes Program is truly phenomenal. That you are able to see the hero in everyone and allow that heroism to trickle down and seed of heroism gets planted at a very young age.

Whether that seed gets the water and the soil and the nutrients it needs to grow is really up to the lessons that we teach young people as they grow. The seed is there but do we feed it? Do we nurture it?

The In Search of Heroes Program is going to do exactly that by telling every story of every person who is phenomenal, and every person is phenomenal. It builds and it grows.

If there is one person out there who hears this interview and thinks, “Donna is not all that special and look what she did. Now she is pretty successful. I can do that, too.” That is priceless.

Ralph Zuranski: That is very special. I wanted to ask you just one parting question. Do you have a life goal that you want to achieve before you die?

Donna Fox: That is a great question. It’s kind of the funny thing about goals, that once you make them there is another one right around the corner. My life goal is that there is always another goal right around the corner.

I don’t want to ever be done. I don’t want to ever retire. So that’s my goal, to have another goal.

Ralph Zuranski: Again Donna, I am so appreciative of your time and the incredible value of your answers. I’m so excited about being able to interview successful women that I have met at the internet conferences and women who are tremendous role models to the young women coming up.

There are a lot of men on the internet who are successful and it’s been hard finding women who are as successful as the men. It just is so critical to have female role models like yourself. So I really thank you for your time.

Donna Fox: Thank you so much, Ralph. It’s really important that we recognize that society recognizes success in dollar figures and success isn’t always about the money.

As much as we like to think it is, and as inspirational as it is because we imagine that our lives will be different if there is money in them, but really some of the greatest successes are like Mother Theresa. She didn’t have money. Absolutely she is a success story. She is truly a hero in anyone’s book.

I think when more people realize that heroism comes from within and isn’t about your checkbook or your bank account or the car that you drive but about the people you touch, suddenly those female heroes will start popping out of the woodwork.

I hope that for you, and thank you so much for having me be a part of this. It’s been truly my pleasure and a lot of fun, too.

Donna is also one of the coaches and trainers for the amazing
Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 10:06 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.

Recently I heard another marketer say that "attention" is the most valuable commodity you can buy in marketing.

It's true.

If you don't have someone's attention, you'll never be able to deliver your message.

Capturing the attention of your prospect is the first challenge of advertising.

That's Why I Always Get Questions Like These...

...from small business owners.

Do I send them a simply 4' x 6' postcard?

Should I send a letter in an 8.5' x 11' enveloped?

How about sending a letter with a "grabber" attached

to it...like a little magnifying glass or something?

What if I sent my letter in a tube or a FedEx box?
These are all valid questions, but they all go back to main question, which is, "Just how much attention do you want to capture and how much are you willing to pay for it?"

Actually, the question should be, "How much are you able to pay for capturing your prospect's attention?"

If you have a high dollar product that has a big margin or you're selling a continuity product or service, then most likely, the lifetime value of your customer is relatively high, which will allow you to spend more to capture your prospect's attention.

I Was Reminded of This Recently When I Received a Direct Mail Letter from a Local Auto Dealership

Auto dealerships spend a LOT of money on advertising.

In fact, I don't have the statistics to prove it but I would venture to say that the auto industry spends more on advertising than any other industry in the world.

Auto manufacturers and local dealerships alike spend a lot of money on advertising.

I was reminded of this the other day when I received a direct mail package from a local dealership.

It came in a very official looking envelope.

And by the way, the two types of envelopes that get opened the most are....

1. A personal white envelope with no teaser copy.

and....

2. Official looking envelopes.

Well, this mailer came with an official looking envelope, but inside was a flyer / letter / brochure (I'm not sure what to call it) that blew me away.

It was HUGE and it had extremely bright colors and words using massive fonts.

Here's what it looked like:

http://url123.com/mpxza

This photo doesn't really do it justice.

It was very attention getting. You couldn't help but take time to read it. If I had been in the market for an automobile I would have read it over and over again.

And Here's Another Example of a Mailer That Captured My Full Attention...

You marketers out there know that every year the "Caples Award" is given out to the top direct marketing creatives.

So if you were in charge of the Caples Awards, what would you send to your market?

It would have to be very good, considering that you're running the Caples Awards.

Well, being the President of a marketing company, each year I get an invitation to solicit advertising to the Caples Awards competition.

So this year they sent me a letter that did not disappoint.

It DID INDEED get my attention.

Here's a photo of the letter...

http://url123.com/mk9nd

Look at how huge it is.

Look at how large the headline is.

It was truly Caples Award worthy...it really captured my attention.

But Is the Incremental Cost of Sending a Huge Poster / Letter Worth It?

Well, that's a good question. It still goes back to the question of the lifetime value of your customer.

The higher the value of your customer, the more you can spend to get a new customer.

In many cases, you've already paid the heavy cost of postage, so why not put something in there that you know for a fact will get their attention.

With that said, don't forget who you're writing to and what they respond to.

Auto dealerships are known for "in-your-face" marketing and so it's expected.

Your market might be different.

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 07:34 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: Why do you think I recognized you as a hero?

Donna Fox: That’s not an easy question because I truly don’t know why you asked for this interview. I could make lots of guesses. I could make lots of guesses based on things that I would like to be recognized for.

You didn’t know about my adversity when you asked me, so it wasn’t that I had overcome adversity. You knew hardly anything at all about me, actually, when you asked me to be a Hero.

So what I can guess you noticed is that I show up, and simply that I’m there and that I’m making an effort and hitting some balls out of the park every once in a while.

That I show up to the practices and I think that’s what you noticed.

Ralph Zuranski: That’s true, but there was something else that was even more extraordinary that caused me to choose you as one of my Heroes, and it was not only just showing up to the game but showing up to the game with a specific type of attitude.

I don’t think I have ever been to any one of the conferences where I didn’t see you smiling and touching people and passing on good energy to the people that you re in contact with. That was one of the things that I liked about you and that I liked about Paulie, too, is that you are so involved with other people and working to make them feel better about themselves.

So you are going around and helping people to become heroes just in the process by doing what you do. Not only do you show up but you show up with a great attitude and that makes all the difference in the world.

How will being recognized as an internet hero change your life?

Donna Fox: I’ve always wanted a cool title. Now there was a time in my life when I wanted to have business cards printed up that said, “Donna Fox, Intellectual Gumshoe.” I thought that would be a great title.

But now I can have business cards that say, “Donna Fox, Hero” and how cool is that?

Jokes aside, I think that it’s a tremendous honor to be recognized as one of your heroes. But with all do respect, it is life as usual. It’s not about how it affects my life. It’s about how it might affect somebody else’s life, and that’s what makes it a great honor.

Ralph Zuranski: Other than making people really feel great when you meet them and talk to them at the different conferences, are there any other ways that you are making the world a better place?

Donna Fox: I try to make the world a better place just by being the best “me” I can be and really just trying to touch people from the position of light and from a position of good.

Life is way too short and we don’t know when our last day is. We don’t know when we are checking out. It’s too short to be burdened by problems and negativity and stress and angst and all those negative feelings, that while it’s important to recognize and feel them once in awhile, not to dwell on them.

Being nice is the way I make the world a better place.

Ralph Zuranski: There seems to be a lot of major problems occurring in our society and just in our world today. Do you have any good solutions to the problems that are facing society such as spousal and child abuse, poverty, hunger and all the different things that seem to be keeping people down and not getting the opportunities to fulfill the God-given abilities that they have that would make them just amazing people like you talk about?

Donna Fox: Whew! Now I feel the burden of being a hero right there! Wow! There’s a lot of weight to that question.

We all have needs and the needs for food and shelter, clothing, warmth and love is so profound and so strong that we can’t think past it if those aren’t met.

I don’t know the cure for hunger. I don’t know how to clothe or house everyone on the planet. But I do know how to love them. That’s the one thing I can pretty much figure out.

Nothing is going to be wrong with the world where there is more love. And from love other things get figured out. It’s from a position of love that charities are created.

It’s from a position of love that someone finds the hero in themselves and goes on to do extraordinary things. Without that basic emotion being met, all of the evil in the world, all of the pain and the bad stuff, the spousal abuse, the child abuse, it all comes from a place that is other than that.

So much like I say, almost jokingly but actually quite serious, I make the world a better place by being nice, we would all make the world a better place if we would just have a little more love and be a little more nice.

Donna is
also one of
the coaches and trainers for the amazing

Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 10:04 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.

If you've been a subscriber to my Marketing Best Practices Newsletter for a while you'll know that I love advertising

general interest small businesses with well-placed signs.

Well, the other day I was driving out of a Wal Mart parking lot and noticed a big black and white sign advertising a

telephone jack installation business.

It caught my attention because of three things:

1. It was a big sign.

2. It was black and white.

3. It had very few words that were written in huge fonts.

4. It was placed in a very high traffic area.

With these four combinations, it was a very powerful, eye-catching advertisement that immediately caught my attention.

And I'm sure that it caught the attention of every person that passed by it.

Would You Like to See this Winning Sign?

This sign was so well-placed and had such attention-value that I had to take a picture of it.

When you look at it you'll notice one very interesting aspect that I have not mentioned yet. Go take a look at it.

Here it is...

http://url123.com/y6cks

(copy and paste link into browser)

Did you look at it?

Did you notice how eye-catching it was?

Did you notice that the sign was MOBILE?

Did you notice that it was sitting in the back of a truck?

This is such a clever marketing tactic.

This man probably gets over 30,000 to 40,000 people looking at his advertisement on a weekend.

You would have to pay $400 to $500 for an advertisement insertion in the local paper with a 35,000 subscriber

figure.

And only a small percentage of those 35,000 people would every see your ad.

Here's How He Made the Sign....

Now take a close look at this photo. It will show you how he made his "back-of-the-truck" sign.

http://url123.com/yg6pr

(copy and paste link into browser)

Notice how he simply purchased some plywood and pieced it together with 2x4 lumber just like you would a saw horse.

Very simple.

How Can You Use This Powerful Sign Tactic In Your Own Small Business?

You might be saying to yourself...."But I need to own a truck for this marketing tactic to work."

No so.

I've seen smart business owners rent big trailers and park them in their parking lot and place signs on them.

It works.

With a little imagination, you'd be surprised what you can put a sign on (as long as it abides by property covenants.)

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 07:40 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: What are the things that parents can do that will help their children realize that they too can be heroes and make a positive difference in the world today?

Donna Fox: I think that the best thing that a parent can do is to realize that they are communicating even when they are not talking, and it’s not the messages that we give to our children directly but indirectly that make the most impact.

Kids are so smart. Their brains are just big sponges and they are soaking up everything. They are soaking up not only what we say, but how we say it and what we do and they observe us and they model us because they want to be adults.

So the best thing that a parent can do is be the person that they would like their children to grow up to be. You asked me awhile ago about who my models were, who my role models were.

I think my role model is the person that I would like to be if and when my daughter decides that she wants to meet me. For the last 18 years I have been thinking about, “What will she think when she learns that her birth mother is this?” Or that her birth mother does this?

I don’t consider myself a parent because parenting is so much more than giving birth. I am an egg donor, at best. An incubator. But even with that little part that I have I feel responsible for being a role model and that is my driving force.

Every day I think I need to be a person that I want her to grow up to be. I want her to be proud of me. And every parent can do that. They can be the person to make their son or daughter proud. That is the best thing they can do.

Ralph Zuranski: How do people actually become heroes from your perspective?

Donna Fox: Being heroic is really about rising to an opportunity. It’s about being the right person at the right time. So people become heroes because an opportunity presents itself.

Their innate heroism becomes apparent. But really all people are heroes. They are just waiting for that opportunity to show it. Some actively show it. Some recognize their own internal hero. They pursue displaying that because of what heroism is.

It’s really being brave and selfless and teaching and educating and motivating. Some people see that and they strive for it and work for it. But by far most people become a hero because what is already inside of them has the opportunity to shine.

Ralph Zuranski: How does it actually feel to be recognized as a hero? I know a lot of the people that I recognized the hero capabilities within them, that when I said I wanted to interview them as a hero they didn’t say, “I’m not really a hero. I don’t really feel that I deserve to be interviewed as a hero.”

But over the years of the people that I have asked that said, “No,” in the intervening years they come up to me at the conferences and say, “You know, Ralph, I think I’m getting close to my heroes interview.”

It’s funny how somebody having a particular perspective about somebody just like in your life when they saw how special you were but you didn’t see it in yourself, that is amazing how big of a difference it has what perspective other people have about you and how important that is in helping to shape who you are and who you become.

So how does it actually feel to be recognized as a hero?

Donna Fox: That’s a great question Ralph. I remember when you asked me to do a Hero’s interview and I was tremendously flattered and tremendously touched.

I didn’t for a moment think that I didn’t deserve it, though, because who am I to say whether or not I’m a hero. It’s not my role to decide if I’m a hero or not.

You saw something in me and I love you for that. That’s great. Maybe somebody else won’t, but heroism is very personal. You may like Superman or you may like Batman. To many people Batman is nothing because he didn’t have any special powers. But he had great toys, so maybe that makes him a hero to you.

The real-life heroes, not the super heroes, they are the same way. It’s very personal whether or not you decide someone is a hero or like we like to think everyone is a hero.

It feels wonderful that you recognized that in me and it’s very special and I am so appreciative.

Donna is
also one of
the coaches and trainers for the amazing

Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 10:02 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: We just talked about the heroes in your life and I totally agree that everybody has that potential hero within. One of the goals of the program is to help everybody realize that they too can be a hero as far as just helping others. That is probably one of the fastest ways to become a hero.

How important is it to have trusted friends or a mastermind group?

Donna Fox: Napoleon Hill on his deathbed said that the mastermind was the key to success. It was the element, the surprise, the secret of the rich. I couldn’t agree more.

Especially as internet marketers, it is so easy to stay alone in front of our computer. There is so much busy work we could be doing. But ultimately nothing really happens when you stay at home.

You have to get out. You have to meet people, because people are who we learn from. We learn that we aren’t alone in our process. We learn that somebody has been through everything before.

As individual as adversities may seem, and as individual as problems may seem, people go through them. People pave the way for us and we need to be out and around people constantly.

One of the things, as I teach real estate investors, we are told that we need our teams: our accountants, our attorneys and lawyers. I say throw out the idea of needing a team because you already have one: the whole world is your team.

Everyone out there is available to you as a team member. Most people are willing to help you if you are just willing to ask. Absolutely masterminds are the most valuable thing.

When you open up your mastermind from a tiny little group to the idea that the world is your mastermind, then there isn’t anything you can’t get the answer to.

Ralph Zuranski: I really love your concept that everybody is a hero and has that hero potential. Who do you feel in our society today are the real heroes that aren’t getting the credit that they deserve or the rewards that should be given to them and just lavished upon them for the good things they are doing for others.

Donna Fox: We could be here a long time for this list. It would include teachers, parents, teenagers, mothers, single mothers, single fathers, and children. There are amazing heroes who are children out there that don’t get the attention they deserve.

Now because sometimes being a hero is really just about moving forward and doing something for others and even doing something for you in the process, every child that lends a hand to another child and children can be pretty cruel. A child that is kind is a hero.

Nobody rewards them. We don’t reward our police officers and our firemen, the people who are saving our lives, nearly as much as we should be. Or the pilots and the stewardesses that make airplane travel great.

Or the staffs in hotels that keep the bathrooms clean for us. Or the ticket taker in the subway station. Or the people who keep the roads clean. Everyone does something to help us.

We don’t realize how many people touch us all day long. There aren’t nearly enough sung heroes in this world. There are far too many unsung heroes. There are just far too many.

Ralph Zuranski: I do love your perspective on heroes, Donna, and it’s my same perspective, too. I wanted to ask you why are heroes so important in the lives of young people?

Donna Fox: I think heroes are the first time when we as young people learn to think big. When a little boy puts a towel around his neck and pretends to be Superman it’s the first time he is thinking beyond his abilities. He is hoping to be something amazing and incredible.

When we start little with the heroes in our imagination, and now we are talking about heroes in the traditional sense, the people who are truly amazing or super heroes, they teach us to stretch.

When we talk about heroes in our sense of it that everybody is a hero it’s really important for us to be heroes for children because they need to learn how to be adults.

Everyone will teach them, so it’s important we know what they are teaching them.

Donna is also one of the coaches and trainers for the amazing Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 10:27 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.
As many of you know, getting people to believe you is one of the hardest tasks in marketing.

People are getting hit with so many marketing messages today that it's hard to know what to listen to and who to believe.

You probably also know that using testimonials from happy customers is perhaps one of the best ways to get people to believe what you're saying.

We would all agree on that.

But If You've Ever Tried to Get a Testimonial You'll Know that There's Several Problems You Run Into

Problem # 1

People have a natural fear of putting their name on paper and endorsing something. Especially if it's in writing.

Problem # 2

It's hard to get your customers attention and get them to take the time to give you a testimonial.

Problem # 3

Because people don't know how to give a testimonial they're usually so weak that they're simply unusable.

So How Do You Get Solid, Believable, Powerful Testimonials from Your Customers?

I'm glad you asked.

But I'll answer it with a question to you?

How do you get anybody to do what you want them to do?

ANSWER: You offer them a reward.

It's amazing what you can get people to do if you simply reward them.

So the first tactic in getting great testimonials is to reward people to take the time to give them to you.

I've done this in many different ways. Here are a few tactics that have worked for me.

Tactic # 1 - The Survey Method

I go to my database of customers and pick the names of my customers who have recently purchased the most amount of products or services from me.

Actually, frequency is more important than dollar amount.

If someone comes back to you several times, they are probably a fan of your business.

Then...

Send out a survey to those customers and include a section that says, "Could you tell us how our product (or service) has helped you?"

Or you can say, "Please tell us two or three things that you liked about our product (or service).

On the survey attach a $1.00 bill.

(I can hear a lot of you out there saying, "That's illegal. or "That's not ethical." or "That's too expensive.")

Well, paying someone to fill out a survey is neither illegal or unethical.

And as far as being too expensive - - well, I only send the survey to my very best customers.

If you use this tactic with about 300 people you'll get back about 50 or 60 good testimonials.

At least, that's been my experience.

Well worth the investment.

Tactic # 2 - The Email Method

Get the email address of your customer as they purchase your product or service and then send your customers a message offering them additional helpful information in exchange for their comments.

I've done this with my online information products with great success.

You might have even participated in my testimonial program.

Shhh, don't let anyone know this - - but how do you think I got the hundreds of testimonials you see here...

http://www.themarketingbible.com/CustomerReviews.htm

and here...

http://www.instantreferralsystems.com/Comments1.htm

Tactic # 3 - Interviews (The Most Effective Way)

Okay, this is hands down the most effective way to get powerful testimonials (and I've tried just about every way you can imagine).

Ready?

Here it is...

You get SOMEONE ELSE to interview your best customers and clients and you record the interview.

You can do it using video or by simply recording a phone call.

Using this method you can control the interview, and to a certain extent, what is being said.

In fact, I worked with a company a few years back and used this exact strategy.

It was a day trading education company called RS of Houston.

During their workshops I would take each attendee into another room and interview them on camera.

So not only would I get the video but I would get the audio as well.

Would You Like to See One Way We Used My "Testimonial Interviews" With this Company?

Visit the link below to see some of the work I did for this company.

http://url123.com/yzvn4

I stripped the audio from the video footage and took a snapshot of the client from the video and put them together on their website.

Another technique I used with this company was to set up a recorded telephone hotline system and we called it our "Client Feedback Hotline."

The Client Feedback Hotline had a phone number that you could call up at any time and leave your comments.

So we simply offered the clients a special free gift in exchange for them taking some time and calling up the hotline phone number and leaving their comments.

It worked like a charm.

Today, this company has hundreds of testimonials from people who are making a living day trading as a result of their course.

Conclusion

I hope this has stimulated your thinking. One famous marketer said, "If you don't have testimonials, you don't have a product."

I believe that 100%.

In fact, some companies base their entire marketing message on their customer's testimonials.

If you're not a fanatic about getting your customers, clients, and patients testimonials and using them in your marketing material - - you should be.

Here's a testimonial that I just received this morning using my "Marketing Bible Testimonial System."

____________________________________________________

Name: Steve Peterson

Title: Steve Peterson Photography

Email: [deleted]

City: Bellingham, WA

Feedback:

I am a photographer operating as a home business. The digital age has been both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because of its embrace of so many creative possibilities that film couldn't touch.

A curse because of the expense of chasing the newest technology but most important it has allowed inexperienced people to "water down" the profession and make your slice of the pie smaller.

The only way to combat these insurgents is through marketing. After going through many seminars and a multitude of books on marketing I feel that the most relevant and pin point directional input for all businesses is 'The Small Business Marketing Bible'.

David cuts through the chatter and lays it out like it really is. There are literally hundreds of ideas contained in this volume each of which will return you many times over, the cost of the book.

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 07:32 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.

On my MarketingBestPractices.com Forum a fellow from the IT industry asked me about how he could get his name out in the marketplace and attract new clients without breaking the bank.

His request immediately reminded me of an IT services company that was recently successful in doing just that.

Here's How an IT services Firm Enjoyed One of the Most Talked About Product Launches In It's Industry.

Earlier this year, LiveVault, an online data storage and protection company launched two new products.

They wanted to make a big splash in the market, but they didn't have the money to do it.

Well, the only way to make a big splash on a shoestring budget is to do something extraordinary that people (and the media) will talk about.

They came up with the idea to hire someone famous, and make a viral video.

So they created a 6 1/2 minute short film titled, "The Institute for Backup Trauma" and hired John Cleese (of the Monty Python fame).

And Michael Dorn (Worf in Star Trek) even made a cameo appearance in the video.

The viral video takes a wacky approach to showing IT people the problems with tape backup (versus LiveVault's online digital backup services).

Once the video was produced and online they simply sent out an email blast, purchased a few banner ads, and placed two 1/4 page ads in a trade magazine and off it went.

THE RESULTS...

The video has been watched by over 300,000 people so far and the number is growing every day!

And the press can't stop talking about it.

Would you like to see LiveVault's video?

Here it is...

http://www.backuptrauma.com/

My Own Feeble Attempt at Creating Viral Marketing Videos

A few years ago I was watching some of the viral videos that were floating around the web.

People kept sending me the one where the guy is sitting in his cubicle and starts beating up on his computer.

I thought..."Hey, this is an awesome way to get traffic."

So, I went out with a couple of my friends and shot a few of my own viral videos.

They were bad.

They wre so bad that I never released them.

But today, you'll get to see them for the very first time.

Warning: These are really bad!

But if you end up liking them, pass them around to people you know.

David Frey's Viral Video # 1

"Santa Get's Beat Up!"

Note: He really was beating me up...I told him to hold nothing back.

David Frey's Viral Video # 2

"The Big Splash!"

Note: The car that does the splashing is my car!

Other Viral Marketing Success Stories

Two viral marketing success stories that have inspired me to do a better job with this strategy come from the Internet world.

Viral Marketing Success Story # 1

Morgan Westerman developed a little video using public domain information in his spare time. He called it, "The Interview with God."

Since launching his video, it has been viewed by millions of people.

www.TheInterviewWithGod.com

And being the clever fellow Morgan is, he's capitalized on it's success and turned it into a million dollar plus business!

Viral Marketing Success Story # 2

Scott Stratten noticed how successful The Interview with God had become and created a viral marketing video of his own.

He called it, "The Time Movie"

ww.TheTimeMovie.com

Again, Scott used a public domain poem to create his video.

His Time movie has now been viewed over 700,000 times since October 2003 in over 100 countries.

Amazing!

Using Viral Marketing As a Business Strategy

Viral marketing is nothing new.

Half.com had a huge site launch. Everyone knew about it because some smart folks at Half.com convinced the city of Halfway, OR to change its name to "Half.com."

The press ate that story up and talked about it for weeks..

But the World Wide Web has put viral marketing on steroids.

Now with the click of a button, thousands and thousands of people can pass around information.

I believe EVERY business should use some form of viral marketing in its marketing strategy.

When I redesigned my MarketingBestPractices.com website, I worked for months on putting together over 1,000 marketing tips that you can easily browse through.

It's called the "Marketing Ideabase."

Why?

Viral marketing!

(You can see Marketing Ideabase here)

http://www.MarketingBestPractices.com/marketingideas/

To include viral marketing in your your marketing plan you should think about what one thing you can do to make people talk about you.

I call this thing a "Viral Marketing Agent."

How To Create a "Viral Marketing Agent"

Viral Marketing Agents are something that you create that motivates people to pass it on to others.

It could be just about anything, but it needs to have these two characteristics:

Characteristic # 1: It needs to be "Buzz Worthy."

Buzz worthy means that its so unique that it gets talked about.

To get your Viral Marketing Agent to create "buzz" it needs to tap into basic human emotions.

So it needs have one or more of the following characteristics....

1. Funny

2. Weird

3. Gross

4. Shocking

5. Helpful

6. S e x y
or...
7. Inspiring
and...

Characteristic # 2. It needs to have a "Pass Around Mechanism."

Pass Around Mechanism means that it uses a medium that allows it to be passed around easily.

This is why the Internet has exploded viral marketing.

Other viral marketing mechanisms are things like...

1. The press

2. Newsletters

3. Business or referral cards

4. Email

or groups of people such as...

5. Associations

6. Conferences

7. Churches

8. Sporting events

etc.

Viral Marketing Resources

Viral Marketing has become so popular that there has even been an association formed to support the trade.

Viral Advertising Association

http://www.ViralAdvertisingAssociation.com/

For $9.00 you can see 12 of the top viral marketing campaigns on the Internet and their results.

http://wwmarketingsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?CID=2964

This site was the first to introduce me into the formal world of viral marketing videos.

http://www.TheViralFactory.com

Some other viral marketing resources...

http://www.VictoryGaming.com (creates viral games)

http://www.asabailey.com/ (they'll create it)

http://www.boreme.com (Some great videos)

Conclusion

If you need to get people talking about you in a big way and you don't want to spend a lot of money, viral marketing is the perfect strategy.

You should always build something viral into your business, whether you own an online or offline business.

Make sure your Viral Marketing Agent is buzz worthy and has a good pass around mechanism.

And don't be too shy to try. Hey, you saw my videos - - they weren't masterpieces - - but at least I DID something. You can too!

About the Author:

David Frey is the author of the best-selling manual, "The Small Business Marketing Bible" and the Senior Editor of the "Small Business Marketing Best Practices Newsletter." To get your free lifetime subscription visit http://www.MarketingBestPractices.com

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 06:56 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: You are one of the people that I consider one of the heroes that I met on the internet just because you always seem to have such a wonderful smile and you just seem to be a light in the world of so many people at the seminars.

I was curious what is your definition of heroism?

Donna Fox: I think a hero is someone who does something that is amazing. Whether that be the tiniest little thing, if it is amazing to me then they are my hero. I try to see the hero in everyone, like see the Buda in everyone. It’s very similar.

Everybody has something about them that sparkles, something about them that is incredible, and it’s just finding that gem, that little diamond inside everyone. Everybody is a hero.

So that’s my definition of hero: it’s everyone.

Ralph Zuranski: When you were a young person I know that you had some major difficulties that you had to overcome, especially as you shared with us about the baby.

I know in my life I had a lot of problems initially as a young person. I didn’t have many friends and I read a lot of the comic books so I created my own super hero in my own mind that helped me overcome life’s difficulties.

Did you have any type of hero in your youth that you created? Did you have a fictional hero or somebody in your life that really helped you a lot?

Donna Fox: I have always been a huge fan of Wonder Woman. From the time that I was a little girl till now, if you go and look at my computer my desktop on my computer is a picture of Wonder Woman.

I sometimes open my seminars with Wonder Woman as my opening screen, like the title screen. Where my name would be I have Wonder Woman because she’s my alter ego.

Not only is she beautiful and amazingly powerful, but she has that great lasso of truth so she can always get to the bottom of things. She can always find out the ethical, the integrity, the truth in any situation.

Those being my highest values I really honor the honestly of the lasso and kind of wish that I had it all through my life, to be able to have that lasso of truth.

Just the concept of a wonder woman is someone that causes awe, that causes wonder, amazement, and that can be so many things. For me every mother is a Wonder Woman.

I’m not a mom and I don’t deal every day with what it must be like to raise children and to have a household. I am in awe of every mother that manages to manage their business of their home as well as, in most cases in this world, some other type of job or career or business on the side.

They are all wonder women to me. All women are Wonder Woman because they are all amazing.

Ralph Zuranski: That is a funny story. I know that I created my own character to overcome the adversities of life and it seemed that just by living as that character that created more adversities than it solved. But it was quite a learning experience.

Donna, who are the heroes in your life now?

Donna Fox: I truly see heroes everywhere. My finance is my hero. He takes care of me. He keeps my life light. Where I am prone to be a workaholic he brings levity and simple things.

My business partner is my hero. He keeps drive and motivation in me, and inspiration and brilliance. I am constantly amazed at Paulie’s brilliance. So he is one of my heroes.

Ralph, you are one of my heroes for putting this site together. This program is incredible. If there is one little thing that I can say that can help inspire someone to find the hero inside them, then you are amazing. You are the hero.

Everyone around me is my hero. If I can just figure out what lesson they have to teach me. That is the real trick.

We have all been in this situations where we are like, “This person has nothing for me. I’m just going to get out of it.” Try to remember that they have something to teach me or they wouldn’t be in front of me.

Everybody has something to teach me. I just have to figure out what it is.

Donna is also one of the coaches and trainers for the amazing Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 11:26 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.

Yes, I admit it – I hate asking for referrals – don’t you? Be honest. Doesn’t your heart start to pump faster and hands start to sweat even thinking about asking a customer for a referral?

If you’re like me, you hate to impose on others. Asking for names of friends or family members almost makes you feel as though you’re selling a multi-level marketing opportunity.

Not to worry. There are many ways to get a continual stream of qualified referrals without having to go through the painful process of asking for referrals face-to-face.

The secret to getting referrals without asking for them is to develop referral systems that do the asking for you. Here are six innovative systems for getting referrals without asking.

Referral System # 1

Make a list of people / businesses that sell complimentary products and services to your own product or service. If you sell athletic shoes your list might include health clubs, running clubs, basketball teams, or podiatrists. Now create a referral program that pays referral fees for people that are sent to you by your referral partners.

To make this system more effective, give your referral partners customized coupons, tickets, or cards that the referral brings with them to your business so that you can correctly track each referral source.

Referral System # 2

Approach charities in your local area to get a list of donors that already give to the charity. The United Way is a good place to start. Most United Way donors make advanced pledges or set goals to give a specified amount to the United Way.

Now approach the executive sponsor of the United Way donation drive and make a proposal. Propose that for every referral that is sent from their organization to your business, you will take a percentage of your sale and donate it to the United Way (or whatever charity they are affiliated with) in their name.

Referral System # 3

Local churches are always looking for innovative ways to raise money to sustain the programs they offer to their members. Most churches would be enthusiastic about the opportunity to receive a donation from you or your business.

Simply call up the ecclesiastical leader and ask if you can meet with him/her to talk about a potential fundraising activity. Propose that for every referral (church member) they send your way, you will donate a percentage of the sales to the church. In return, the church should agree to promote your business.

This same referral tactic can be done with the booster clubs of local sports teams, Boy Scout troops and other organizations looking to raise money.

Referral System # 4

The fourth referral system is very simple. Give your products or services away (or significant discounts on your products or services) in local raffles. In my hometown of Friendswood, Texas the local Ford dealer gives away a brand new truck in a 4th of July raffle through the local Chamber of Commerce.

The tickets sold in the raffle go towards paying for the cost of the truck and the dealership gets to display the new truck for several months leading up to the raffle in high-profile areas provided by businesses that are members of the Chamber of Commerce.

In fact, we found our financial planner through a raffle offered through the local Boy Scout troop. We “won” a full financial analysis and eventually purchased some of his products as a result of the raffle.

Referral System # 5

Most everyone has a barber or hairstylist they use on a frequent basis, especially if you have children. I don’t know about you, but my barber always engages me in conversation during my haircut. And most barbers and hairstylists are very happy when you give them a $2 - $3 tip. Do you see where I’m going with this?

Why not approach the local barbers and hairstylists and offer them $1 for every referral card they pass out to their customers. You might even motivate them to talk up your business by promising them a percentage of each sale that results from their referral.

Referral System # 6

The last referral system will not only bring you referrals, but will also create a lot of goodwill. I learned this tactic, strangely enough, by Princess Diana and a local real estate agent. When Princess Diana died a close associate of hers was interviewed and revealed that Diana always carried a set of “royal” thank you notes.

Every time she met with someone she would remember their names and as soon as she got in her car she would write a short thank you note to them. The people cherished the thank you notes they received from the Princess. After hearing that, I started to carry around my own box of thank you notes.

But here’s what really will make this referral tactic take off. Not long ago I received an email from a subscriber to my Marketing Best Practices Newsletter that had this phrase under the man’s signature:

By Referral Only

By Referral Only...means: We invest 100% of our time and energy to delivering first-class service to our clients. As a result, our valued clients, suppliers, and friends refer their family, friends and work associates to us for advice on buying or selling real estate. We're interested in building strong life long relationships one person at a time.

You see, its not enough to send a thank you note. People need to know that you want and appreciate their referrals. The phrase, in essence, answers the question, “What can you do for me in return for this nice thank you card?” Immediately, I had this phrase printed on the bottom of my thank you notes and my referrals took off.

Conclusion

Each of these referral tactics that I have shared with you are s-y-s-t-e-m-s. They motivate others to generate referrals for you without you having to play the role of the beggar and asking for referrals face-to-face.

The best thing you can do to excite your referral partners is to get them to experience your product or services themselves. Then they can talk about it with first-hand knowledge. It will not only make them more credible to others but once they've experienced the benefits of what you have to offer, they will be more excited to tell others about it.

In the referral systems that require you to pay referral fees, make sure you pay quickly, honestly, and with gratitude. Always give your referral partner the benefit of the doubt. If you treat them right, you will be the benefactor.

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 07:54 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: Donna, was there anybody that gave you the will power to change your life when you were going through all those traumas? Where did you get your strength to overcome those?

Donna Fox: I really wish that I could say there is this strong mentor in my life at those times, that there was a driving force and somebody to lean on. But I think in hard times, more than any other time, you feel alone.

When I think back on those times the only person I leaned on was me. It was the only person I had the ability to lean on at that time because I felt like the only person in the world.

In hindsight when I was a teenager my mother was there. She would have helped but I didn’t ask for it. I didn’t reach out. When I was going through a divorce, my family could have helped. My friends could have helped. But I didn’t ask for it. I didn’t reach out.

I got a little bit better later on as I was going through financial troubles and feelings of fraud and at those times I shared those feelings with my business partner and my fiancé who mostly couldn’t understand them because they saw the me that I see now.

They saw the me outside of the adversity and I think that is important to remember when you go to people to help they are going to see the positive in you because people do that. They see the positive in you.

At the time when you are really low you may not be ready to hear that. So ultimately during those down times I turned to me and I still think of myself as being the only asset that I have that no one will take away from me.

Really try to focus on improving “me” and building “me” and growing “me.” If I am all I have, then I still have something pretty good.

Ralph Zuranski: I know you have been very successful in the last couple of years after you overcame the credit millionaire, sort of like epiphany, that you were the right person at the right time because you were experiencing exactly what you were writing about.

It seems that a lot of people teach exactly what they need to know at the time that they need it and that’s why they are the best teachers because they are actually going through it at that time.

How important was it at that time, especially the last couple of years, to believe that your financial dreams had eventually become reality?

Donna Fox: The whole time I was really struggling to be an entrepreneur, living off of credit cards, I only looked at the job ads three times. I quickly remembered what I was running away from, the fear of being stuck in a job working a lot of grueling hours for somebody else and making a living instead of making a life.

That kept me focused and it kept me motivated. So yea, I did kind of turn to the dark side and look at the want ads every once in awhile when I though it would be nice to go out for dinner once in awhile for a change.

But ultimately it was that I knew that the best thing for me would be to make it successful, and in 2005, which was really a pivotal year for me, I made a decision not to renew my law license.

I took away my safety net. Instead of swinging from trapezes and knowing there was a net underneath me, I took the net way and I grew tremendously.

Once I was willing to get rid of that safety net and know that I had to catch the other trapeze that was coming, that there was nothing saving me but making it work and being successful.

Ultimately I believe that that moment was my tipping point. At that moment I told the universe that I was serious about it, and it’s made all the difference.

Ralph Zuranski: How important is it to know exactly how much money you want to gain and by what time, to set a specific time and day for the completion of your financial goals?

Donna Fox: Goal setting is an interesting thing. I once read that people who set goals, and they set one-year goals and five-year goals and ten-year goals, they always fall short of the one-year goals.

They are usually about right on with the five-year goals and they blow away their ten-year goals when the tenth year comes around. That being said, the study seemed to show that all the people that make goals are far better off than the people who don’t make goals.

So I think it’s important to have a number in mind, something that you are shooting for. Whether it’s the right one, don’t get bogged down on the right one. Just decide on one so that you have something that you are moving forward to.

You won’t make it in a year because we don’t make our one-year goals but we make our five-year goals and we exceed our ten-year goals as long as we set them.

Donna is also one of the coaches and trainers for the amazing Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 10:26 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: That is kind of an interesting perception. I don’t think I ever got mad at the people who opted out of my list, I was just thankful that somebody opted in.

Do you experience service to others as a source of joy?

Donna Fox: My service to others is education and enlightenment. There is no joy like seeing the “aha” in somebody’s eyes, especially when you are not so much educating but actually trying to transform and have an emotional experience for the light bulb to go on, for the click, for the eureka moment, for the aha, or whatever you want to call it.

But when you see the clarity in the eyes of your audience or your student or your mentor, it is that which is about the most rewarding thing that I can think of. That’s what keeps me going in this business, no question.

Ralph Zuranski: A lot of people go through life and have a lot of trials and tribulations. Some of people never survive an event that occurred in their lives. Their whole life becomes about that one failure or that one injury or that one thing that somebody did to them.

When was the lowest point in your life and how did you change your life to one of victory?

Donna Fox: There have been quite a few low points in my life. I’ll just work reverse chronologically until you decide to stop me because it’s too depressing.

As early as two years ago I had just published a book From Credit Repair to Credit Millionaire and I was broke. I had left my job in 2001 to start a business and I had some savings.

My ultimate goal was to start a business and go back to work but then September 11th happened, the marketplace changed, and when it was time for me to go back to work there were just no jobs available in my field.

So I decided to keep working on my business a little big more and that is actually when I started and got involved in the internet and got involved in speaking and training and found that I loved it.

But at that time, right when I had published that book, I hadn’t had income for two and a half years. Not a dime in income for two and a half years. I was living on credit cards, Ralph.

I was literally living on cash advances on credit cards and shuffling them around, and almost ironically practicing my credit millionaire strategies to keep my head above water while I’m trying to build a business teaching other people how to make millions of dollars by borrowing money.

So there is just this very interesting time in my life where I struggled with feelings that I was a fraud. Who was I to tell people about wealth building when I have $40,000 in credit card debt because I’ve been living off them for years?

Then I realized that is exactly why I am the right person because I’m teaching people about how to use credit. I may have $40,000 in credit card debt but it’s basically business debt because it’s money that I was essentially paying to myself as a salary.

I could have loaned it to my business and then paid myself a salary if I wanted to do it that way.

It’s kind of hard to think about the low points because after you get over them you tend to find the positive in them. Another low point in my life was right after I graduated from law school. I was also getting a divorce.

It was just a terrible time in my life. My husband and I loved each other so much but we just could not be married. It turns out we never really should have been married. We should have just been friends.

Now he is a great friend of mine. We are practically best friends. But at that time it was so low and I felt scared because I had just gotten out of law school, I didn’t have a job so I was job hunting, I was going to be alone, I had tremendous debt over my head from my student loans, and yea, there were days when I hid under the covers.

It was just a tremendous low point, but it passed. If it doesn’t kill you it will make you stronger. It made me stronger.

The last one I want to talk about is not something I have ever said publicly before, ever. So this is a first. It’s a first for In Search of Heroes.

I got pregnant when I was 16 and in high school. I first thought about an abortion but that didn’t feel right. Remember I said I like to check my decisions based on my feelings. Nothing felt good about that.

But I had plans in life and a baby was not part of the plans. So I made the decision to give the baby up for adoption. I’m not going to get through this without crying. I went through an open adoption so I actually interviewed and picked the parents for my daughter.

Probably the lowest point in my life, and the hardest thing I have ever done, was actually handing my daughter over into the arms of her new mom. I just thought the world was going to end. Nothing could be good after doing something like that.

I remember it was really the way to give her the best life I possibly could and also give me a chance, because I was still a baby, too, and I needed to give myself a chance. So yea, it was a tremendously low time.

As this knocked-up teenager I felt like a screw-up. You would not believe, but now because I did an open adoption and actually my daughter turns 18 this year, so there is a chance she might come back into my life.

Because I’ve done an open adoption, every year I get pictures. Every year I saw this wonderful little thing that cost me so much pain, grow into this amazing individual. And I think that is what adversity in life is about.

Real change doesn’t happen until there is adversity and real growth. She could go on to change the world. Maybe it’s not my job to end poverty. Maybe it’s her’s.

If I hadn’t experienced that adversity, that amazing life wouldn’t have happened and I wouldn’t be who I am now. I got so much growth and so much strength from that experience. If I had just kind of skated through my high school years I don’t know if I would be here today.

So gosh, yes, adversity sucks when you are in it. There is nothing worse than when you are at the life lows. But when you can look back and realize how far you have come, and you will come far because you can’t stay low. The human spirit is too strong to stay low.

When you look back and think about the amazing things that have happened you just have to embrace those adversities, you have to embrace the low times in your life.

Donna is also one of the coaches and trainers for the amazing Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 10:26 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.

The other day I was downtown in Houston meeting a friend of mine for lunch. Most of the parking downtown is run by paid parking lots or parking meters.

As I parked my car and started walking toward the restaurant I noticed a bunch of parking violation tickets on the windshields of the cars.

I didn't give it much thought.

But as I kept walking I kept seeing them and I said to myself that there couldn't possibly be this many people getting parking tickets.

As I got a little close to one car that had a parking ticket on it I noticed that it had some writing on it.

So I took it off the car and low and behold, it wasn't a parking ticket after all.

It was...

well...

...have a look for yourself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pretty cool huh.

I loved the idea.

The Law of Reciprocity

This little tactic used what is commonly known as, "The Law of Reciprocity."

The Law of Reciprocity states that when you give something of value away for free the recipient is grateful and feels obligated to give you back something in return.

Not only does this little trick (putting money in parking meters) give people a warm fuzzy, it also gives the car owner the desire to give you back something in return...which is hopefully their business.

Hope you enjoyed this quick little tactic. If you have a retail show or restaurant in a downtown area and your downtown has parking meters, you might want to give this tactic a try.

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 07:30 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: It sounds like you make decisions fairly fast but take a fair amount of time deciding and making sure that you do make a good decision. You never know what the outcome of the decisions is.

I guess that’s the weird thing about decisions. You don’t know which way they are going to turn.

We see so many people that vacillate. They are making decisions, changing their mind, making decisions, changing their mind. How slow do you revise or reverse important decisions that you make?

Donna Fox: Gosh, such a great question! I like to think that I can recognize when I’m being fearful of a decision that I’ve made the wrong decision versus knowing that I’ve made the wrong decision. But who really knows?

I think it’s important to have flexibility. Thankfully, as internet marketers, we have a lot of flexibility built into our lifestyle. We have this phrase in our business where we start to vacillate abut a decision. We simply say, “It’s testable.” That is ultimately what it is about.

Who cares if I have made the right decision? It’s more important that I have made a decision to go forward. And if I want to question the decision, in most cases it’s something that I can test and let the market decide who is right.

Ralph Zuranski: I think everybody in their lives faces doubts and fears. I think that is a common fate of mankind to doubt themselves and also just a fear of just about everything.

It seems that the media, TV, radio, newspapers, everything that you see is based upon the concept that if it bleeds it leads. That’s why I created the heroes program to spread good news at a grassroots level.

How do you overcome your doubts and fears?

Donna Fox: Frankly I overcome them by giving into them. Every once in awhile I just let myself break down. I let myself feel all of the anxiety. I let myself be that scared little girl that is still inside me.

By letting myself feel it, giving a nod to that side of myself, allows me to not repress those feelings every other time. Then every other time I can focus on the good feelings and focus on moving forward despite those fears.

I really think sometimes you just need a good cry. You just need to hide under the covers. I’ve spent days under the covers just because the world seemed too scary and too big. I probably do this every five or six weeks. I will spend a day under the covers because that side of me needs it.

Now you need to nurture all the sides. You need to nurture the positives but you kind of need to nurture the fears, too, because remember, we move toward positive things but we also move away from the fears.

So it’s really important to acknowledge that they are there because we remember what is pushing us.

Ralph Zuranski: Seems that in life, and also in business, that we can’t be successful unless we have other people in our lives. Ultimately success, if you are marketing something, is understanding what your customers want and trying to get inside their head and see what it is that they do want and provide a product or service that provides them the value that is not only the solution to the problem they have but provides them real great value.

I know in the process of working with people either we do or other people do they upset, offend and oppose us. How important do you feel forgiveness is?

Donna Fox: I think forgiveness is really kind of crucial to my business sanity. I have had those moments where just recently somebody is infringing on one of my trademarks. That is huge! I am angry with that person.

But I’ve come to forgive them and it’s relatively recent. It’s still going on and he is still infringing on my trademark even now as we speak. But forgiveness is important for me, not for him. He doesn’t care if I forgive him. He really doesn’t.

It’s kind of the process of letting go of the anger, letting go of the hurt. When I got started I used to get mad at people who opted out of my list! Now I rejoice in it.

Now I look at it as good. I don’t want somebody who doesn’t want me. So it’s just a process that we go through where we get these little small hurts and then we realize that they are just that, small hurts, and we don’t have to be hurt by them.

So we kind of forgive them globally. I have forgiven everyone who ever will in the future opt out of my list. It’s just not a hurt any longer.

I think it helps us grow to be able to forgive but if I was still now, years after starting being an internet marketer, getting upset every time somebody opted out of my list, I wouldn’t move forward.

Forgiveness really helps us learn from an experience and take the next steps forward.

Donna is also one of the coaches and trainers for the amazing Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 10:25 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.
If you were a website owner of a high traffic, high converting website, how would you like to visit your site one day and see this...

http://url123.com/883er

Well, that exactly what I saw last Wednesday.

And within just a few minutes I started getting calls from customers and friends telling me that my site was down.

Needless to say...I freaked!

I looked in my inbox and there was an email from my hosting company. Here's what it said...

Your site was suspended because it was crashing our server. You will need to upgrade to a semi-dedicated or dedicated server with such high usage.

Best Regards,

Steve

Technical Support Manager

http://www.hostingcompany.shtml
hostingcompany.com

Note: I've used a fictitious name (hostingcompany.com) to protect the guilty.

So that was it - - my hosting company shut my site down because it was getting too much traffic.

They didn't even have enough courtesy to pick up the phone and tell me that they were shutting my site down!

That email could have got caught in spam filters and never reached me. Or I could have been out of town and never known about it.

Amazing!

Now Here's What's Even More Amazing...

They had a great opportunity to upgrade me to a more expensive plan.

In fact, their semi-dedicated server option was $50 more a month than I was already paying.

It would have been an easy upsell if they had just called me up and talked me through it.

Instead they decided to shut me down.

Imagine, having a really good client. Now imagine that client becoming very successful, hence, they were prone to buy more product from you.

Now imagine that instead of taking care of that client you just shut off their account.

Does that make sense?

Unfortunately, it happens in the hosting business every day.

The Three Types of Customers

One of the best things you can do for your small business is to divide your customers up into three groups.

Group A - Good Customers (the 20% that bring you 80% of your revenue).

Group B - Okay Customers

Group C - Bad Customers (the customers that cost you more in time, money, and frustration than they're worth)

Then create a service plan for each of them.

Treat the Group A customers with care, concern, and love and a little bit extra.

Treat the Group B customers with good service.

Get rid of the Group C customers (if you can).

There are more sophisticated ways of grouping your customers but I won't talk about them. At the very least, pick out your best customers and treat them very well.

How to Identify Your Best Customers

One way to identify who your best customers are is to do a "recency, frequency, and monetary analysis (RFM Analysis).

To do that you put all your customers in a spreadsheet (or database) with their company name with individual sales transactions and with their associated transaction dates.

Then you simply add up which customers have performed the most high dollar sales transactions with you in the past 6 - 8 months.

These are your best customers.

Now that you know who your best customers are, then create a "special treatment" plan for them that will result in even more customer loyalty and hopefully more referrals.

Conclusion

I finally got my site back online, but it was a nightmare.

I was simply amazed that this hosting company was willing to "financially hurt" a good customer who was a prime prospect for spending even more money with them.

It just reminded me how important it is to be kind to your customers. Especially the ones that give you lots of money.

Click Here

Click Here

Click Here

Click Here

Click Here

On the average, how many times are you contacted by a company before you make a purchase?
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Results

About the Author:

David Frey is the author of the best-selling manual, "The Small Business Marketing Bible" and the Senior Editor of the "Small Business Marketing Best Practices Newsletter." To get your free lifetime subscription visit http://www.MarketingBestPractices.com

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 06:51 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: I know a lot of people are paralyzed by fear and they are afraid to do things or make changes in their life. A lot of times they are actually constrained by the people that are a part of their peer group.

They know if they make any changes that they are going to be rejected and they are going to go ahead and suffer a certain amount of punishment from their family and friends.

Do you think that it takes courage to pursue new ideas?

Donna Fox: There is no question that it takes courage to pursue new ideas. Not one single question in my mind.

But courage isn’t the absence of fear. Courage is preceding forwards in the face of and in spite of fears. It is said that you are most like the five people you hang out with, so if you want to improve yourself hang out with better people.

The natural consequence of that is that it leaves the old five people behind, and it’s kind of sad. If you think about it, to think that I might leave the five people that are closest to me behind as I grow it is very, very sad.

But you can’t bring them with you. They have to come on their own. What I have found as I move through these people as I grow and friends come in and out of my life.

Like my friends from high school. I don’t talk to any of them any more. I still love them all dearly but they aren’t close friends any longer. They have moved out of my life.

People move in and out of your life at all times. But what I have found is that the people who are moving in my life are always really amazing and really interesting and fascinating people.

Some of them can move onto the next level with me, and that is what you really hope for. You hope to find those people who can continue to be the five people in your life that you would most like to be like.

Ralph Zuranski: Are you willing to experience the discomfort in the pursuit of your dreams that occurs when you have to make those changes and leave those people behind?

I know a lot of people they are just trapped in their relationships and they can’t get out. How do you get out of the relationships or how do you deal with that because I know it is sorrowful, not only for you as a person but also the people that you do have to leave behind.

Donna Fox: It’s a great question and I would love to say I had some kind of magical system that I use or way of looking at it. But frankly, Ralph, what I found is mostly I don’t notice.

Just all of a sudden I realize, “Hey, I haven’t spoken to this person in a while” and realize that I’ve moved on or maybe they have moved on. Who knows, maybe we’ve each moved on in different directions.

But when we get caught up in our day to day activities sometimes those big changes we don’t notice. They are big changes for the good or sometimes big changes for the worst.

I know we’ve all had the experience where suddenly we are ten pounds heavier than we used to be and we certainly didn’t see them going on ounce by ounce. So I don’t really notice that loss enough to be able to comment on the occurrence of it.

Ralph Zuranski: One of the big problems that a lot of people have is procrastination. They just procrastinate and procrastinate. We meet a lot of them at these seminars where they buy these big packages for a lot of money and when they get home the just set them on the shelf and never open them ever to do anything.

Do you think that it’s important and valuable to make decisions quickly?

Donna Fox: I think that it is definitely a major success principle to be decisive in nature. Quickly is relative. You might decide what you want from a restaurant menu in 15 seconds and that could be quick.

You might take a minute and that would still be quick to some people. You might decide about moving into a new home and making a decision about a home. That could take months.

So “quickly” is relative. I think what is most important is to decide and if, as you are listening to this, you are having trouble making decisions in your life, start with the small ones. Start making decisions with a menu.

Sit down and say, “I’m only going to look at this menu for 30 seconds” and then make a decision. Just force yourself to make decisions that don’t matter because ultimately most decisions in life really don’t matter. They are small things.

What’s that book, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff? Being decisive does help.

You also asked about procrastination and I have found the key to overcoming procrastination, because you are right, we all do it. We all procrastinate, especially we internet marketers because it’s so easy to start our day and start reading email and the next thing we know we are surfing the web and reading people’s blogs.

All of those things are valuable things to do but they don’t build out business’s bottom line. I took a tip from Brian Tracy. He has a book called Eat That Frog.

What he says is if you have a number of frogs to eat, if you take the biggest, ugliest frog first then all the other frogs seem easier. I like to call that concept “kiss the frog” which is a bit more palatable and sometimes when you kiss the frog you get a prince.

So each day I have my frogs and I line up four or five frogs each day that are the things I will most likely procrastinate on. But I try to make them things that generate revenue for my business, that actually move me forward.

If I take the biggest, ugliest one that I am most likely to procrastinate on and get at that first thing in the morning before I open an email, before I do just about anything other than drink some coffee, suddenly my whole day is better because I have got something done right away.

It’s just that simple restructuring of my day, making it the first thing that I do, that makes all the difference. Again, it’s back to that idea of little tiny improvements, kaizen.

My friend would call it the butterfly effect. How one little thing that you can do right now can make a tremendous difference in the future. It also makes a tremendous difference in procrastination.

Donna is also one of the coaches and trainers for the amazing Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 10:25 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.

Do you have a product or service that people who visit your city would be interested in?

Would you like to get local hotels to refer each and every one of their guests to you?

Now how would you like to get all these referrals for free?

Sounding good to you?

Well, it's not that difficult to do.

(I'll show you an actual example of this being done if you keep on reading...)

How a Little Plastic Card Brings a Local Pizza Shop All the Business that they Can Handle

A couple weeks ago my family and I took a short trip over to San Antonio.

We got in real late at night.

When I checked in the hotel clerk gave me my room card.

I noticed that the room card had an advertisement on one side for a local Domino's pizza business.

Both my wife and I were really hungry so I decided to call up for some pizza.

Instead of having them deliver it to us I told the guy on the phone that I would come pick it up.

Again, I was super hungry.

So while I was picking up our pizza I asked the manager how they managed to get their advertisement on the billboard side of my hotel room key.

He said it was easy.

He simply called up the company that produced the cards and told them that he managed a Dominos pizza joint and he wanted to advertise on hotel room key cards at local hotels in his area.

And within a week or two, the company called him back up with advertising deals with two local hotels.

Eureka!

Here's what the hotel room key card looks like...

http://url123.com/mwp8n

After probing a little more he told me he makes a 20 - 1 investment on this advertising venture.

He gets the majority of his nightly orders from these two hotels. "Awesome!"

"I Asked Him What Company He Called Up that Got Him the Advertising Deals So Fast..."

He said, "Look on the back of your card really closely."

See that URL?

That's the company.

So when I got back home I visited the site.

Would you like to see it?

Here it is... http://www.plicards.com

Visit the link that says, "Free Cards from PLI. Learn More."

That's their free hotel advertising program.

What PLI does is get advertisers and then has someone call the local hotels and ask them if they'd like to get their room keys for free.

The answer is usually, "Sure...how?"

Well, you understand how it goes.

Domino's pays the hotel advertising costs, which essentially pays for the hotel room keys.

It's a win - win - win for everyone.

The hotel gets free room keys.

Dominos gets excellent advertising (Travelers ALWAYS look at their room keys multiple times a day.)

And PLI gets more room key orders.

Think, Think, Think. How You Can Make This Work for Your Business?

Think about this referral system.

Business 1 advertises on Business 2's widget that they give to their customers who are also Business 1's ideal prospect.

Business 2 gets the widget for free in exchange for letting Business 1 advertise on it.

Think about how this can work for your business.

Do know of any complimentary businesses that give (or sell) low cost items or consumables to their customers.

If so, approach them for an advertising sponsorship.

If you just sat down and thought about this referral strategy for a moment I think you'll be amazed at what you can come up with.

I personally can think of a hundred ways I could make this referral strategy work for my business.

You can too if you think hard enough.

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 07:36 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: Do you invest time in daydreaming about what your life will be in the future?

Donna Fox: Not as much as you might think. I am actually really happy with my life. I am really happy with my day-to-day life.

Sure, I have goals that I would like to achieve but I think once you reach a level that you are comfortable with you stop wishing and dreaming.

Now there was a time in my life that I was constantly striving for something else, and it’s not even what I have now. It was just something different from what I had then.

I think once you reach a point where you are not striving any more and you find a place where you fit, then sure, you think about the future and you think about your goals and you hope for them, but you don’t dwell on them or daydream about them in the say way because you don’t need the escapism any more.

Ralph Zuranski: Do you feel it’s important to make positive statements about your future goals and just your future dreams and put them in a positive perspective?

Donna Fox: I do think it’s important to keep your dreams and your goals, specifically statements about them like incantations about them. Tony Robbins said, “Even more powerful than affirmations is incantations.”

If you say something rhythmically and you add body motion so you have the audio, you have a visual maybe in your head, and you add a body motion to it so you have a kinesthetic component as well.

Now if you get them all together it’s total body learning. The only slight tweak, Ralph, is you said positive statements about your future goals. I like to make positive statements about my present conditions, even if it’s not my present reality at the time.

If every cell in my being starts to believe it, then it has to come true.

Ralph Zuranski: I know a lot of people aren’t very in touch with their subconscious mind but the subconscious mind seems to have a tremendous power in our lives to manifest the things that we desire and achieve the goals that we are looking to accomplish.

Do you take time out to feed your subconscious mind?

Donna Fox: This is a great question because I do this all the time. I’ll give you an example. Just last week I was doing an event at a seminar at a hotel and the hotel manager, who was handling our account, we came to heads.

We had a disagreement and I was angry, I was fired up. I’m a little bit Italian so when I get angry I get really angry. So I’m irate and I’m storming around and I snapped on some poor couple who said that the seminar room was cold.

I snapped on them and I thought, “I have to walk away.” I walked away and then I thought I’m just going to take all this anger and put it here in my hand. I held my hand out and kind of cupped it open so that all this anger is sitting right here in my hand.

I felt the anger move from my body and land in my hand and I thought, you know how easy it is when you have something really heavy in your hand and it’s a burden? You just tip your hand a little bit and let it go.

With that I tipped my hand and I threw my anger into the garbage can. That quickly it was gone. It was gone from my body and it was gone from my day.

My conscious mind is saying that is just silly. But my unconscious mind got rid of the anger. So I do stuff like that all the time to keep me going. It’s amazing how quickly you can change your perspective.

It’s not enough to say, “I have to get over it.” You have to actually go through the ritual.

Donna is
also one of
the coaches and trainers for the amazing

Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 07:25 AM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: That is so true to actually get out there where the fruit actually hangs does take some risk. It is a little scary. How valuable is it to have highly charged emotions about the things that you are achieving?

Donna Fox: I think emotions are invaluable. Sometimes they get in the way. Sometimes fear, sometimes anxiety. Those are all negative emotions that get in the way.

Emotions move us more than a to-do list. If there wasn’t emotion behind a to-do list we wouldn’t get anything done. But it’s emotions that drive us towards something.

It’s because we want to attain something. It’s because we want the emotions of pleasure and success and happiness. And emotions drive us away from something.

They drive us away from fear and loneliness and poverty and hunger. Without that emotional response I think we would be much less effective as people. So they are absolutely, super, highly, highly important. And I don’t just say that because I’m an emotional woman.

Ralph Zuranski: Everybody who goes through life suffers misfortunes, setbacks, and they make mistakes. How important is it to take a positive view of the mistakes and misfortunes and problems that we have during our lifetime?

Donna Fox: I can tell you that I have spent a lot of money at the University of Adversity over the years. Those lessons from life’s little lessons, the hard ones that you pay with your pocket book or you pay with your pride are critical, really.

I don’t think that we change as individuals or we progress as businesses without the adversities thrown in. I don’t think we improve without the road blocks.

The trick is to figure out which things are actually adversities that we need to then react to and what are what I call obstacle illusions because they are not real. They are just fears that get in the way.

Once you master the real adversity from the obstacle illusions then you have found your key to grow as a person.

Ralph Zuranski: Just about all the motivators and professional speakers tell you that you should have a positive attitude and that you should have optimism. Do you think that it’s important to have optimism and a positive attitude?

Donna Fox: I think optimism is important. I also think that pessimism and realism are important. Any time you have too much of anything you put life out of balance.

It’s good to have optimism because it’s what gets you through the rough times. It’s good to have pessimism because it keeps you grounded and most of the time it’s good to have realism so you are aware of all of the influences everywhere.

So yes, I think optimism is equally as important as pessimism.

Ralph Zuranski: Everybody has problems in their lives. Sometimes they can be crushing, the sorrow they create of just the overwhelming feeling that people have.

Do you think it’s important to maintain a sense of humor in the face of difficulties?

Donna Fox: I think that sometimes humor is the only thing that we can fall back on in sad times. My father passed away a couple of years ago and I felt driven, something I had to do, was to give some remarks at his funeral.

You probably don’t know this, Ralph, but I have a terrible fear of public speaking. I’m a speaker, but I face that fear because I also love to teach and I love to educate, motivate and inspire people.

At my father’s funeral I decide that I want to motivate and inspire people. He was just a great man in his simple way. Like many fathers he started in the Boy Scouts when my brother was young.

But unlike many fathers he stayed for 40 years and really devoted much of his life to influencing and guiding young boys and men to grow up into really amazing adults.

He gave so much to so many. He was a teacher. I’m a seminar speaker and a trainer and a teacher, and I like to think that I’m following in my dad’s footsteps. He was a teacher, too.

At his funeral I decided that I wanted to deliver a humorous presentation. We actually closed the event with me mustering up the best courage I could with my fear of public speaking and all of the emotion that went into the day and delivered a humorous speech about my father.

People still talk about it today. It’s the humor in times of sadness that provides the optimism, really, to go back to the last question. It provides the optimism.

You kind of face the Murphy’s Law and you face the sad times in life but there is a glimpse of hope and future in humor. Laughter is the best medicine. It sure is.

Donna is also one of the coaches and trainers for the amazing Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 08:24 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.

Last year I was asked to give a seminar to a group of prominent business executives in Nairobi, Kenya.

Seeing as how I'd never been to Kenya, or anywhere close to that part of the world, I agreed to give the seminar.

It was a great experience.

While I Was In Kenya I Was Asked a Great Question

A CEO of a soap manufacturing and distribution company attended my seminar. We landed on the subject of creating a Unique Selling Proposition.

This soap CEO asked me...

"David, we make soap. It's not fancy. They make bars of soap and cut them into small blocks that are sold in retail stores. What can I do to differentiate my product from the other soap that's being sold?"

He pulled out a bar of soap to show me.

Indeed, it was a simple, no frills bar of soap.

He mentioned that his competitors have continually undercut him in price, which frustrated him.

And he didn't know of any way to set his soap apart from the other brands and he asked me what he should do.

Here Was My Advice to the Soap Executive...

Simply package your soap in a bright fluorescent yellow wrapping with a picture of a sun and rays of sunshine on it and call it, "Sunny Fresh."

He was silent for a few moments and then it seemed as though a light bulb went on inside his head.

"Yes, that's it." he said.

Well, I don't know if he ever took my advice or not, but I DO know that packaging can certainly create a perception of difference in the mind of consumers.

A great example of that just popped up the other day.

How a Little-Known Fertilizer Became One of the Fastest Selling Plant Growth Supplements In the World

This week my wife planted three new trees in our backyard. She was looking for some soil fertilizer and was presented with a bunch of options down at the local nursery.

After scanning the shelves, one product jumped out at her like a sore thumb.

The packaging was so compelling that she immediately purchased several bottles of it.

The product is called "Superthrive."

Would you like to see what it looks like?

--> Here's the front of the package

http://url123.com/zhxrm

--> Here's the back of the package

http://url123.com/zhe2p

Here's What Makes This Product Packaging Stand Out

Notice on the front cover how the package uses the following techniques...

1. A very bold headline

"#1 Extra Life"

2. Very powerful words

"World Champion", "Greatest Guarantee", "Proof",

"Vitamins-Hormones", "Science Miracle."

3. Bold colors

Bright yellow, red, and green.

4. A variety of large fonts

5. Photos of healthy plants and trees

And Did You Take a Look at the Back of the Package?

If you examined the back of the Superthrive package you would have noticed that it's as compelling as the front of the package, but in a different way.

There's no bright colors or photos.

It's all text.

But the text is very compelling.

On most bottles of something, the back is filled with cautions, directions, and ingredients.

The back of Superthrive is filled with additional sales copy. Notice how the back says, "EXTRA LIFE for YOUR..." and it lists 10 different things to which Superthrive provides extra life.

Basically the front of this package gives you all the emotional reasons for buying and the back gives you a lot of logical reasons for buying.

It's no wonder that Superthrive has taken the fertilizer world by storm (even though they don't claim to be a fertilizer).

Could Your Packaging Sell Better?

Mine sure can.

A good case in point is my http://www.MarketingBestPractices.com website.

It's ugly.

It doesn't sell as well as it should.

That's why I'm about to roll out a brand new site in about a week from now.

It will look 100% different and will include a lot of my best material - - but it will be packaged in a way that will sell.

So stay tuned.

Take a second look at how you package your products and services. Look at your...

1. Company vehicles

2. Uniforms

3. Website

4. Graphical depictions of your services

5. and especially your packaging if you sell hard

products.

Ask yourself if your packaging is exciting and eye catching. Would it stop the eye if it was sitting on a shelf side-by-side with your competitor's products?

If not, do something about it.

David

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 03:48 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: What place does prayer have in your life? I know a lot of people try to tune into the spiritual or the entity that is God to them. Do you pray and how important is prayer for you?

Donna Fox: I’m not a particularly religious person, Ralph. That being said, I think you could call what I do prayer, by some people’s definitions.

I really make a conscious effort to think every day about the things I am grateful for in my life and the wonderful things that have come into my life. And to be sure that I am open for more wonderful things to come into my life.

If positive thinking and gratitude is prayer then I am all for it. I think it’s highly important to do it every single day.

Ralph Zuranski: In the world today there are a lot of people who give their lives for what they do. Firemen rush into burning houses; police men put their lives on the line. What are the things you would be willing to sacrifice your life for?

Donna Fox: That question really touches me. I think if I were a mother it would be a very easy answer. I would sacrifice my life for my children.

To some extent I feel like I would sacrifice my life for my family members, my fiancé, the people that I love, and my business partner. But who really knows when it comes down to it, and when you are really asked to give your life?

I would love to be able to say, “I would sacrifice my life for free speech” because I think it is so important. I would sacrifice my life for the freedoms that our country provides us. But who really knows.

I should hope that I could live up to that. But I also hope that I never get tested on it.

Ralph Zuranski: That is so true. You never know what you are going to do. You hope that you do the right thing but when that moment shows up it’s hard to say what we would do.

A lot of people have given their lives and sometimes you just wonder, “Gee, would I have the courage and the ability to do so?” I really appreciate your perspective on that.

I was just curious. Are your goals consistent with your beliefs?

Donna Fox: The first answer that comes to mind is, “I don’t know how my goals could be inconsistent with my beliefs.” I don’t know if I would set a goal that was inconsistent with my beliefs.

But as I think a little bit further I realize that I have some goals that I can’t imagine accomplishing. And if I can’t envision it then I do not believe it. So I guess I do have some goals that are inconsistent with my beliefs.

Not from an ethical or moral standpoint but because I’m not big enough for them yet. They are bigger than me right now. They are there. I guess the process of growing as an individual is growing into your big, hairy, audacious goals.

Ralph Zuranski: That is so true what Earl Minegale (? 11: 18) had to say was that people pursue a worthy ideal with excellence and honesty and integrity and that you have to get to the point where you are providing or producing a quality product or service that is so valuable to society and others that you experience the rewards that you have sought out for.

I know that you are experiencing a lot of rewards now and I am confident that you follow that particular pathway. I know the Dale Carnegie secret that was given to Napoleon Hill. A lot of these questions come from the same questions that he asked some of the leaders of his time.

Are your actions consistent with your beliefs?

Donna Fox: Not at all. Every single day I step out on a limb. You have to go out on a limb because that’s where the fruit is. Every single day I do something that scares me.

There are days that I wake up and this whole business of being an entrepreneur is terrifying. At the same time I can’t imagine doing anything else right now.

When I think about going back to a job it crushes my spirit. So no, my actions aren’t consistent with my belief because I act every day in spite of my limiting beliefs.

Donna is also one of the coaches and trainers for the amazing Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 10:24 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.

Last week I wrote about Dr. Neil Baum who sold over 120,000 books with one phone call to Bayer company.

I want to tell you about another great example of this particular strategy.

A fellow named Jason Oman and his partner Mike Litman wrote a book called "Conversations with Millionaires."

You've probably heard of this book.

It became an immediate hit, selling over 145,000 copies in 76 days and then sold hundreds (possibly thousands) more on the backend with a bounceback offers.

Here's a peak at their now-famous book.

http://www.cwmbook.com/

But That's NOT The Most Interesting Part of the Story

If the story ended there, it would be incredible enough. But there is a Part II to the "Conversations with Millionaires" story.

Jason and Mike were approached by one of the largest Network Marketing companies in the nation with an idea to extend their book to that niche.

The company is called Excel Telecommunications and if you pay attention to business talk, you've certainly heard about this company.

It was the fastest growing telecommunications company in history.

So as a spin-off from their first #1 best-selling book they created another book that was specifically written for ONE company and their reps ONLY.

It was created purely FOR them based on what THEY would want most.

The book was fittingly called, "Conversations with Excel Millionaires."

The Excel Company Ended Up Buying 130,000 Copies!

Mike and Jason also sold around 15,000 copies directly to their distributor base.

Not to mention, they sold hundreds of hundreds of tape sets with the same title to their reps as well.

Here's the real shocker.

All of this was done without a single penny spent on marketing or advertising.

All told Jason and Mike made somewhere around a 1/4 million dollars from doing this simple deal.

And all it took them was about 25 days of work, which included creating the book, the cover for the book, the tape set, and the cover graphics for the tape set.

Amazing.

Imagine Taking This Model and Applying It to Your Business...

If you're a service company you should consider taking this clever marketing idea and running with it.

For example, suppose you were an accountant and you wanted to get more business from local independent auto dealerships.

What would stop you from calling up the top 10 independent auto dealers in your city (or in other cities) and interviewing them.

This would do two very important things....

1. It would be a great non-threatening way to introduce

yourself to local auto dealers and get to know them on a one-to-one basis.

and...

2. Compile a book or report (or audio CD) and use it as

a "get in the door tool" that you can give as a gift to other auto dealers in town.

You could call it "Conversations with Superstar Auto Dealers."

Then what I would do is send a simple letter to all the independent auto dealers in town and offer them your information product.

When they request it, instead of sending it to them, hand deliver it to them personally so that you can meet the dealer face-to-face.

I can think of a dozen other promotional program you can use with this simple marketing tactic.

I hope this gets you thinking a bit outside of the box about your marketing.

Have a great week.

David

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 07:45 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: You know Donna, I’ve done a lot of interviews with a lot of the male heroes that I’m met on the internet and it’s funny but it’s rare that men have the ability to communicate as well as women do.

One of the things that I think the women just excel men in is their ability to follow their hunches and intuition. Do you follow your hunches and intuition?

Donna Fox: I was never very good at this until recently. I am actually very kind of left-brain and focused. I like facts and figures and numbers.

As we sit here talking it’s 2006. One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2005 was to listen to my intuition more and really trust my gut when making a decision and check it.

Every major business decision I kind of checked and said, “How does this feel?” In my inexperienced way that’s how I have checked my intuition. “Now how does this feel?”

I must say 2005 was the best year so far and I can only imagine that 2006 is going to get better.

Ralph Zuranski: I think intuition is an area that a lot of people don’t really trust but it’s an incredibly important area because it becomes a part of your body and brain working together and telling you the stuff that you really need to hear.

What type of specific philosophy or philosophies guides your life?

Donna Fox: One of the many philosophies that I live by and continually practice is the Japanese philosophy of kaizen. It’s actually a manufacturing term. It is continuing small little incremental improvements and how when you measure something in your life, just a teeny little bit, eventually all those improvements add up.

So I really spend every day going, “What little thing can I do to improve myself, to improve my relationships, to improve my business today? Just one little thing.” It’s amazing what one little thing will do.

Everybody has time for one little thing. One little bitty improvement every day makes such a tremendous difference in the long run.

Ralph Zuranski: What is your perspective on goodness, ethics, and moral behavior? I know that’s a real important question in the world today where everything seems to be expedient and whatever feels good just do it.

There doesn’t seem to be any absolutes as far as what is good or bad or whatever. It seems that a lot of times the only sin is getting caught at doing something that is wrong. What do you think about that?

Donna Fox: That’s interesting, Ralph. A couple of years ago I took a values quiz and there were 30 or so values on a sheet of paper. We were told to pick out the 15 that were the most important to us.

So we automatically crossed off 30 from the list and then we had to go backwards and we asked ourselves the question, “What one value could you live without if you had to” and cross it off.

You got all the way down and you basically put in reverse orders from your value. It’s like if you had to live without a value, which one is it going to be?

Well, if I had guessed my values I would have said my values were education and family and fun, maybe. But I was so surprised to learn that my values were ethics and integrity.

Those were my top two values, and I had no idea. But those were the ones that I couldn’t get rid of if I had to get rid of everything else.

I had to get rid of my family. Ultimately it came down to who I was, my ethics and my integrity. That’s the primary value that I have and I try to do everything from a position of, “How do I feel about myself after this action?”

I don’t like the idea of somebody else giving me his rules or somebody else telling me what to do. When it comes to morals and ethics I don’t think there are black and whites.

There are always times when things are going to be different for people but if I check with myself and follow a code and make sure that I’m always consistent with myself, then I’m being the best person I can be. The best person I know how to be.

Donna is also one of the coaches and trainers for the amazing Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 11:19 PM | Permalink

Ralph Zuranski: Hi, this is Ralph Zuranski. Today I’m interviewing Donna Fox. She is one of the most successful women on the internet and I’ve seen her at quite a few different conferences. Some of them she has actually coordinated and put on herself.
 
Donna, how are you doing today?
 
Donna Fox: I am fantastic and I am so delighted to be here. It is such an honor to be interviewed by you, Ralph.
 
Ralph Zuranski: Donna, I’ve always been impressed with just how hard you work and the many things that you do. Do you think it would be possible just to share with the listeners a little bit about who you are and what you do?
 
Donna Fox: I would love to. I’ve always found it fascinating to hear the story behind the public story of the mentors and the heroes in my life. So I’m happy to share. Ask away.
 
Ralph Zuranski: Well Donna you know there are a lot of good questions. It’s a real thrill for me to be here asking you these questions. A lot of these questions come from the work of Napoleon Hill who had the opportunity to ask a lot of very rich and famous people how they were able to attain the success that they did in their lifetime.
 
So the first question that I wanted to ask you is what do you want out of life in ten words or less?
 
Donna Fox: My goal in life is really to live every day with child-like abandon. You know how children just see such freshness and newness everywhere they look and in everything that they see? I really try to capture that youthfulness and that innocence every day, just the happiness and the ability to take pleasure in seeing an ant on a blade of grass.
 
Ralph Zuranski: That really is good to be able to have that innocence to be able to see the things that are going on around you and living in the present. What is your dream or the vision that sets the course of your life?
 
Donna Fox: I actually have really very simple dreams. I don’t have a big grandiose dream. I don’t dream of a huge house or really effecting thousands of people’s lives or changing the world or ending poverty. Those things would be nice.
 
My kind of dream life is very simple. It’s waking up, eating healthy foods and having a healthy lifestyle full of activity. It’s yoga in the morning, swimming in the afternoon.
 
It’s living in some place warm. It’s having friends over for dinner. It’s really just very simple and very basic. It’s about enjoying people and relationships and living in the moment.
 
Ralph Zuranski: That is really a wonderful way to live life with exercise, good food, and good friends. How important is it to stay focused on your primary goal?
 
Donna Fox: I think even more important than the primary goal is to stay focused on the reason why. Sometimes our goals change, and even our primary goal changes over time.
 
But usually the reason why you want to achieve the goal doesn’t change. Now whether that be so you can take care of your parents when they need it or your children or you can send your grandkids to college or whatever that goal be for you and it’s different for everyone.
 
The big “why” is the thing that doesn’t change. That is what is really important to keep in your narrow sights.

Donna is also one of the coaches and trainers for the amazing Butterfly Marketing Program.

Posted by ralph at 11:11 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.

Last year I was quietly sitting at my desk doing some work when I received a phone call.

The caller introduced himself as Dr. Neil Baum.

I immediately thought that was quite odd because I don't usually get phone calls from doctors.

Dr. Baum mentioned that he subscribed to my newsletter and that he enjoyed the marketing tactics that he received each week.

Here's a photo of Dr. Neil Baum

http://url123.com/3eb8d

He went on to tell me that he had written a book about how to market a medical clinical practice and that he was working on his updated third edition of the book.

NOTE: This book is the "Bible" for marketing a clinical practice. (I'll reveal why in just a minute)

Here's what Dr. Neil Baum's book looks like.

http://url123.com/3y99w

Dr. Baum mentioned that he had read an article that I did about developing winning yellow page ads and asked if he could use some of my material in his book.

I, of course said, "Sure."

We continued to talk about a bit about how his book came to be and during our conversation he mentioned something that nearly made me drop the phone out of my hand.

How to Sell 120,000 Books With a Single Phone Call

Dr. Baum mentioned that he had sold over 120,000 copies of his book and that he had done it with a single phone call.

I knew enough about the publishing industry to know that, that was a staggering amount of books and with one phone call.....ugh?!

So I leaned forward and asked Dr. Baum how in the world he was able to sell such an amazing amount of books with just a phone call.

He told me how had tried many different methods to distribute his book.

He tried and tried with no luck.

Finally, he thought that perhaps a large manufacturer might be interested in giving away his book as a gift to their customers.

The manufacturers he was referring to was the big pharmaceutical companies.

You see, the pharmaceutical companies have very strict regulations on what they can and cannot give to doctors.

But educational products were no problem.

So Dr. Baum picked up the phone and called the Bayer company and asked if they'd be interested in giving his book to their customers (other doctors) as a gift to show their appreciation for their patronage.

Well, within a week, Bayer had purchased over 120,000 of Dr. Baum's book and sent it to just about every important doctor in the United States.

Today, Dr. Baums, "Marketing Your Clinical Practice" is on the shelf of just about every medical clinic in the U.S.

Amazing.

How Can You Use This Same Marketing Tactic?

Do you have a product or service that you can give away as a gift?

Perhaps, maybe an introductory product or simply an information product such as an audio CD or video.

If so...think of all the other merchants that market to your same target market. Make a list of them.

Then just do as Dr. Baum did, pick up the phone and start calling them.

Make them an irresistible offer.

Allow them to give your product away as a free gift as a way of saying thank you or as a bonus to what they are already selling.

Remember to provide some type of "bounceback" in your gift so that you can capture their name and address or get them to buy additional products or services from you.

This underused marketing tactic can be used in just about any industry you can think of and it's a great way to advertise (or sample) your product or service.

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 08:42 AM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.

The last couple of weeks I've been enjoying the beauties of the wonderful country of Costa Rica.

We had a great time.

It was nice to get away with the family and have some fun together.

Anyway, as we were approaching the airport we looked for a place to park.

There are a lot of airport parking lots near Houston Intercontinental airport.

We finally chose a brand new one that had just opened.

After our trip we returned to the airport parking lot and as we were leaving we got a nice surprise.

Small Things Can Lead to Big Impressions

After I paid the parking attendant, with a big smile, she gave us something that made a very positive impact on us.

She handed four bottles of cold water to us. Two for my wife and I and two for our children.

That was such a kind thing to do.

After dragging our luggage around through the airport and loading it on and off the airport shuttle and then back into our car, we were ready for a nice drink of cold sparkling water.

Although the water didn't cost the airport parking lot company very much, it sure made a big impression on us.

You see, little things like that can make a big impression on prospects and customers.

Here's How I Use this Tactic In My Own Marketing.

Extra little surprises can go a long way.

For example, whenever anyone orders, The Small Business Marketing Bible (http://www.TheMarketingBible.com) I include a special interview that was produced into an audio program, as an unadvertised bonus.

But it's not just any old interview.

This interview is with a fellow named Lee Marc Stein, who happens to be one of the most sought after lead generation experts in the United States.

(NOTE: Mr. Stein is the man behind many of the most successful lead generation programs in direct mail history.)

The audio program is titled, "21 Truths of Lead Generation - 30 years of Lead Generation Wisdom."

Mr. Stein distilled the top 21 secrets that he has learned in his 30+ years of doing lead generation campaigns.

It's an amazing interview.

I Often Get People Thanking Me Profusely For Including that Audio Program With their Marketing Bible. But...

...you won't find that audio program advertised anywhere on the website. It's a surprise gift.

(I guess now that you know about it, it's not "unadvertised" anymore)

It makes people feel good about their purchase.

The interview didn't cost me anything and the audio tape only costs me around $.30, but the perceived value is quite dramatic.

So, like the airport parking company, the value that I receive is far greater than what it costs me to give it away.

Look at your business and ask yourself, "What little extra things can we be doing to create a lasting impression with our customers?"

Give them something that costs very little to you, but that might have a high perceived value to them.

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 07:57 PM | Permalink

Click Here to be amazed by David Frey's In Search Of Heroes interview. It was one of the best ever. His knowledge and thought process is nothing short of astounding, amazing...incredible.

I want to tell you about a little thing that the local airport parking company did that had a big impact on me and my family.

They used a little marketing trick that isn't new (by any means) but so few companies rarely use it.

NOTE: (if you keep reading I'll show you a photo of the actual tool they gave me.)

It hardly takes any effort at all to implement this little marketing trick but the results could mean a 20% to 30% increase in your business.

What am I talking about?

I'm Talking About a Customer Loyalty Program

Usually when I mention a customer loyalty program to a small business they either get frightened or their eyes glaze over because they think it's either too expensive to implement or too complicated.

But after you see this little customer loyalty tool that I received from the airport parking company, you'll see just how easy it is to implement a simple loyalty program.

Every business should have a customer loyalty program.

Why?

Because it costs five times as much money to find a new customer than it does to get a current customer to come back and do business with you.

5 times the amount!

That alone is enough reason to have a customer loyalty program.

So here are...

...Four Types of Successful Customer Loyalty Programs and an Example for Each.

Type # 1: A Membership Program.

Membership programs are one of the best ways to keep customers coming back. Most programs provide special incentives to members as part of their membership.

Today I had lunch with one of my employees at Sams Club (best lunch deal around).

Sams Club is a membership-based retail store.

Another good example of a membership program is where I go running every morning - - the YMCA.

Type # 2: A Rewards Program.

Rewards programs provides gifts and perks that are "earned" according to amount of business your customers do with you.

In the hot tub retail industry many manufacturers have an annual trip that only their most successful dealers get to enjoy.

This year I went to speak at one of these "shin digs" in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and I'll tell you that it IS a party.

The dealers who get to attend have "earned" their way by selling a pre-set amount of hot tubs throughout the year.

Type # 3: Create a Community.

Every human has a deep inner need to belong to a community. "Belonging" gives us security and helps us to understand our place in life.

How do you create a community.

Recently I purchased a pair of running shoes at a local sports store called, "On the Run." http://www.ontheruntx.com/

On the Run creates a community by sponsoring marathon and triathlon training programs and sponsoring local running events.

-> Type # 4: Create Intertwined Business Processes.

This is not so much a traditional customer loyalty program...BUT, it's the absolute best way that I know how to GUARANTEE that your customers will keep coming back.

Basically, this method consists of positioning your business processes so deep into your client's or customer's business processes that it would financial hurt their business if they were to stop doing business with you.

For example, I run all my web businesses using this one tool, which you can see here http://url123.com/g6z9h

If I were to decide to move to another service, it would literally rip the guts out of my business.

I'm "locked in."

That's guaranteed customer loyalty.

But It's Not that Hard to Implement Your Own Customer Loyalty Program. Here's An Idea...

...you can implement in less than one day (and this is what the airport parking company did).

Create a "frequent purchase" card and give it to every person that buys from you.

Take a look at the airport parking company's frequent purchase card:

http://url123.com/9dpaw

Did you look at it?

How long do you think it took them to create this little thing?

Probably less than one day.

But it works!

In fact, here's another one of these cards that I carry in my wallet from a well-known fast food restaurant.

http://url123.com/gh4mr

This strategy works!

Every retail business on the planet earth can and should use this strategy.

David's Training and Educational Programs are Phenomenal

The Make Straight A's in School Program
The Small Business Marketing Bible
The Instant Referral System
The Coaches and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp

Posted by ralph at 07:37 PM | Permalink