Home Business Diary

By the end of my first six months in business, I was out quite a bit of money, and had only made back about 1/6 of my investment.  I decided I needed to educate myself about marketing and did an internet search. 

Attraction Marketing and Lead Generation to the Rescue:

I came across several possible sources, but the big change came when I purchased Ann Sieg's The Renegade Network Marketer.  Forgive me for mentioning this so often on this blog, but this book changed everything about the way I was doing business!  I'm going to put in several links at this point, because each of these sites were part of my journey and have had a tremendous impact.

Building a Website:

On Ann Sieg's recommendation, I looked into SBI as a way to build my first website.  Wow!  Even though it took me six weeks to read and apply all the information provided by this incredible system, I was able to build a great site.  It was so good, that I bought a second site, which I have only just started but have been able to build in no time at all. 

 The system tracks my pages and gives me traffic stats, updated constantly.  If I have a broken link, I get an email.  Built in to the system is a keyword tool, access to the top sites for my keywords, forums on every topic imaginable, automatic search engine notification when I add or change my content, web mail, an autoresponder, the list goes on and on. 

The second site is called "How To Market Guide" and it's coming along nicely as my readers and clients request the information they need to see posted.

Finding Leads:

With the site up, I joined Ann Sieg's mlm team and am now able to work her leads, as I develop the marketing strategy which is bringing a growing stream of prospects to me directly. 

Network Marketing Training: 

Then came Renegade University with Mike Klingler.  Once again, the information and training I have received is incredible!  I started out in the free Renegade University program and took advantage of the training there.  I very quickly realized I wanted more and upgraded to the Professional level for $39 a month. 

I am given step by step visual instructions on all kinds of low to no-cost marketing strategies.  This blog is one of them.  I took Mike's tutorial on blogs.  At the end of the first hour, my blog was set up and had it's first article posted.  This is because you watch his screen as he builds his blog, and you are in your own screen creating yours at the same time!  To get tips on attraction network marketing, visit his Marketing Merge  Network blog.  

Summing Up the Second Six Months in Business: 

So, in this second half of my first year in business I have gone from buying huge amounts of inventory, and spending $21 a week on training with my mlm which wasn't helping me to make any real progress. 

 I have talked to people who have hired webmasters to build a site for $3000!  SBI and all its bells and whistles is $299 a year.  I spend $39 a month for Renegade U, and $7 a month for this blog.  My inventory for my mlm business runs $31 a month.  All other training - on every business topic you can imagine - comes free and over the internet so I don't have to travel anywhere.

I am one of the trainers for my team, giving a class on the Consultative Approach to working with clients.  I offer personal coaching for network marketers and small business owners at  Renegade University. The professional caliber of the people who are mentoring me is outstanding and I'm really seeing that this thing is going to be all I hoped it would!