workwithandrewcraze.com

my business?

I was having a conversation with a fellow employee about my online business.

They said, “sounds good, so you sign your mom up for this”? As if to question my belief in my own business.

After pausing for a second to think, I replied, “no”. No, they acted surprised.

I went on to explain my mom could care less about making money online.

I only want to work with people who are serious. Clearly, as supportive as my mom is, I do not want her in my business.

Her interest level is 0 in the internet. In fact, she doesn’t even use the internet.

The obvious point I am trying to make is I only want to work with people who are interested and serious about making money online.

You should spend your time with the people that it is clear they are serious.

Here’s to our success.

These are some ways off the top of my head to not make money.

Do not build relationships with people.
Do not invest in yourself.
Do not provide valuable content.
Do not advertise.
Do not help anyone.
Do not have a strong work ethic.
Do not join a mastermind group.
Do not seek training.
Do not work with people that have the success you desire.
Do not have confidence.
Do not have an unstoppable will to succeed.
Do not read Think and Grow Rich.
Do not have a daily action plan.
Do not follow your system’s plan to the “t”

and the list goes on.

Take the “not” out and you have a formula for success.

P.S. I wrote this from a negative perspective for the “Negative Nancy’s” out there. If you have a positive outlook, you more than likely are already implementing these things into your business. Keep it up, the realization of your dreams are right around the corner.

And I will be glad to give it you when you send me a check for $100 $1000. Ok I am just kidding, and no it is not really a secret, but a lot of people think there is. So, why not pretend I have the answer.

The “secret” is this. You have to …drumroll please… build relationships. That is it. You have to. So where does one go to implement this mystical secret. Social media sites of course.

I want to invite you to my team challenge. It is a 31 day facebook challenge. We are making at least 10 new contacts a day, making 2 value status updates, a facebook note is optional but encouraged, and 6 facebook chats or phone calls.

This will create a habit that will make you unstoppable in your business. It will create a buzz around you like you would not believe, and will leave you with more people to talk to then you know what to do with.

We started a few days ago, but no fear, we have people starting daily. Some will be starting over, and some will finish and start all over (me). Don’t think you can do 31 straight days? We have that covered to. You can take a day off each week.

Still don’t think you have what it takes? That’s is ok to. Keep starting over, because it is a habit that is guaranteed to build your business!! Give it a shot and see the results for yourself.

For information on how to join our skype group 31 day challenge contact me at: skype- dacrazesta email- dacrazesta@hotmail.com phone- 615-480-3472

P.S. Don’t know what to post? We have training for that as well.

Here is a list of 5 habits to create while you are building your business. There is nothing magical about the number 5. Feel free to do more, but I just thought it had a good ring to it.

Add 5 facebook friends a day. This is an easy thing to do. 5 new friends a day gives you a list of over 1000 in a year. Always send a personal message with your request to start the relationship building process.

Watch 5 training videos a week. I suggest keeping these as short and sweet as possible. Find a good mentor you like. Learn from them, but remember this. The more you are watching videos, the less time you are spending growing your business. Don’t waste time watching things you aren’t going to implement. If you are focusing on video marketing, get some training on that subject and implement it.

Update your blog 3-5 times a week. Make sure it is of good value or has a great lesson from a story. If you do not have a blog, I highly recommend you put that number one on your things to do list. There is a lot of great videos that show you step by step how to create one. I suggest one that shows you how to get a domain name from godaddy and hosts it through hostgator with wordpress.org

Make 5 comments a day on other blogs. Be active and early. Comment on high traffic blogs in your niche. Get their early so your comment shows up at the top. Make sure your comment is of value and or is intriguing. Use this as a way to drive traffic to your blog by leaving your website when you fill out the information to make a comment.

Create 5 videos/ads/articles a week. Again, nothing magical about the number 5. However, whatever you enjoy doing most between writing articles, posting videos, or placing ads, make sure you are being active and consistent in the process.

A huge key to success is creating consistent valuable content. These are just a few ideas to add to your daily and weekly routine.

Share some comments on some of your healthy habits!!

I just wanted to highlight what I think are a few mistakes that I made when I was getting started. In hopes that you avoid them.

1. I didn’t find the book “First Year In Network Marketing” by Mark Yarnell (love that guy) and his wife soon enough. It would be interesting to see the statistics of the readers of that book that actually read it in their first year. Oh the irony. The last I saw you get a copy for $9.00, and it is worth that price in what you will save in headache medicine.

2. I waited to start building my list. Whether you are active in a business or not, I can not tell you how important this is. If I could only give one piece of advice to someone who does not have a business or who has just started one, it is this. Always, be building a list. Making new contacts, and saving their information.

The best place to do this is on facebook. Be active, join groups, make comments, and add friends. Had I added only 1 person to my list a day in the 2 years I took off (thats over 800 contacts), I would be FAR ahead of where I was when I started back.

3. I tried to become perfect before I practiced. If you spend hours trying to think about you will say, how you will handle objections, and the list goes on, you will never make it on the playing field. I finally just jumped in and got on the phone with some leads. Do not make it complicated for yourself. You are an inviter. The less you say, the less mistakes you will make. When you simply invite, you get them in front of a presentation, and that is where your prospect gets the information.

4. I tried to market only online. I simply did not want to bother my warm market. I realized I was making a big mistake for two reasons. First, it takes months for someone like me to even begin to figure out the online dynamics. When it comes to technology, I simply am behind the curve. I am making vast improvements, but regardless it is a skill that takes time to develop.

Second, your warm market trusts you. Even if they do not want to buy products or participate in your business venture. They will listen to what you have to say. It is great communication skill building, and you will be amazed at what people will do for you that trust you.

5. I did not discover this free lead generation system until a few weeks ago.

but work with an up and comer. I am going to list a few reasons why do to exactly what I just said.

The reasons are really simple. First the obvious. A guru has been there and done that. They know the ins and outs of the business, and ARE making money online. Lots of money, and if not then they are not a guru. Now days they seem to be a dime a dozen, but if you are looking for a real one to learn from they do exist.

Not only are they out there, but they are giving away tons of great value. Stand clear of the ones selling you a product every time you get on their site. By all means though, if you feel that you just have to get that product to be successful, then purchase it.

However, I believe at this point, that all of the content that you need to be successful is available for free. You just have to search for it. I can not even tell you the amount of hours I have spent since December watching FREE videos and webinars. If I watched everything in my inbox, and on the blogs that I follow, I would not leave my computer screen for the next 6 months. Find a few that you like and trust, and soak all of that useful information in.

So, I think we can all agree that gurus are great to learn from. Their knowledge of making money through marketing  is extensive. The fact is though, they are lacking in one area. It is no fault of their own, but from a product of their great success.

They simply do not have time to give you the one on one training that is so important. Sure, they can give you a great training on a webinar, but what about when you go to implement it. Surely, a question comes up and where do you turn now.

This is where the up and comer comes in. They have a wide knowledge base as well. They have already been through the steps that you are trying to take. They will have direct access to the guru (if they truly are up and coming) that can be a huge advantage. Most importantly, they will have more time to give you the one on one attention that is so vitally important to succeed.

I am in constant contact with my “up and comer”. We share ideas, and he answers tons of questions that I have daily. If it were not for him, I would spend most of time being unproductive. Just spinning my wheels trying to figure out how to implement the simplest of things. Together though, we come up with a plan of action, and do it the best we can. Constantly reviewing our actions to make them better and more productive.

So find someone that is doing things right. One that you can learn from. Someone that is on the path you want to follow. Make sure they are willing to work with you. That they are excited to have you as a student and partner. If you do not feel like your success is a priority to them, find someone else to work with. This is an incredible industry,  filled with great people who will do anything to help you succeed (for free).

Once you do find someone willing to work with you. Do them a favor. Do not complain, make excuses, or be disrespectful of their time. If you ask for their help, do the things they recommend to do. If show them you truly are committed to succeeding, you have a friend, mentor, and business partner for life!

This is the lead generation system my mentor introduced to me. So glad he did!

(If you have not checked out this totally awesome free lead generation system, this post can wait. Do it now at http://ac.leadcreationnetwork.com )

I stopped by the gas station on my way home from work (sorry for the offensive language). I went in, passed an elderly man. He made eye contact, nodded his head, and the following conversation took place (This is the best I can recall).

EM: Just get off work?

AC: Yes sir, it was slow tonight.

EM: It’s slow everywhere, but it will pick back up when people start getting those tax checks.

AC: Sure will, I can’t wait to get mine.

EM: I’m on social security so i wont be getting one.

AC: Ya, that social security is tough these days. sure isnt the same as it used to be.

EM: No, it’s not.

AC: I hate to see all these people that worked their whole lives to barely get by.

EM: I worked hard all my life (saddened almost desperate voice)

AC: ‘Im sorry to hear that, my father just was laid off after 35 years, he is in a similar boat. He needed a couple of more years to have a decent retirement.

EM: Ya, it’s tough. You hear a lot about that these days.

AC: Well good talkin to you sir, you have a nice night.

It was a quick conversation, but somehow it hit me really hard. It saddened me. Especially when I heard the almost resentful tone when he talked about working his whole life. I wish there was someway I could go back in time, and give him a better way. Something besides working 40 hours and overtime, just to  pay into social security. It simply is just to late for the man. Even if he plugged into a better system  today, the truth is his health would probably not sustain for him to enjoy it at this stage in his life.

It just made me realize how fortunate I am for a couple of  things. Good health being one, and the realization that I must take my future into my own hands. That I must take the steps for my own financial success. Depend on nobody, but help everyone.  Spread the word that there is a much better way.  Personally, I would rather fail a 1000 times, then to spend the next 30 years in a 9-5 to retire and be worse off than I was when I worked.

I just finished watching an interesting show tonight all about Facebook Obsessions. I of course found it interesting as I was literally on Facebook when the show came on. Now, I must admit, I have a very addictive personality.

It is not always a bad thing, but it can be if I let it get the best of me. The good thing is I am aware of it, and I have learned that if I become “addicted” or spend my time focused on something positive, I can accomplish a lot.

My time spent on Facebook has changed dramatically lately. My Facebook obsession that once was hours of status updates, Mafia Wars, and Bejeweled Blitz has now been replaced.

Now, it is spent reading useful content, building relationships, and giving valuable content. You see, as in a lot of things in life they are neither good or bad, but we decide how they positively or negatively impact our lives  based on how we use them.

With that said, have your “Facebook obsession”. Just obsess over the things that are going to make you have success in your business. That of course being the two most important things you can do, build relationships and share awesome, valuable content.

This is why I made a decision tonight before I went to bed to make some more contacts on Facebook. To be more productive with my time spent on Facebook going forward. There can be so many distractions, but if you stay focused on your goals, there is not a more productive site to be on. However, get distracted, lazy, or inconsistent and it will reflect greatly in your results.  By no means am I the Facebook warrior I want to be, but with my new Facebook obsession, I will be.

I will make your first contact of the day easy for you to help you get started. Add me!!

http://ac.leadcreationnetwork.com

I was on a very tight budget when I started my business. It was my goal to get started for a little as possible. I feel like I have been very efficient. I spent $8.00 on my domain with godaddy, and another $8.00 for hosting on hostgator.

By the way, out of all the recommendations for starting a blog, I have yet to hear any other sites mentioned. This comes from many different people who I am inspired by in this industry. Until further notice, these are the only two companies I would use for a blog.

All of my other tools that I have used have been FREE!! The first one is obvious, Facebook, of course. I will be implementing some similar techniques on linkedin as well, and possibly a couple other social networks.

If you do not have skype yet, get it. If nothing else, you can use it to communicate in our mastermind group. The value I have obtained on skype calls the last month is astonishing. My screenname  is dacrazesta. If you are not already a contact, add me. I will give you direct access to an awesome group of people, that do nothing but discuss ideas, and have a blast doing it.

Jing is a cool tool as well. It is a free screen capture program that allows you to do videos. They cap at 5 minutes, but until you put yourself in a position where you need more than 5 minute videos, I would use it. Mikogo is another program where you can share your screen for presentations. I can go in more depth later, but for now just download the tools to have at your disposal.

I am sure I am missing a couple (if so I will edit them in later), but the one free tool that has to be mentioned is a free lead generation system. It can be found at http://ac.leadcreationnetwork.com

When I first started I knew I needed a funded proposal for my business. You can imagine how stoked I was when I found out that I could use this system as my funded proposal, and it was FREE. Not only for me, but for my leads and team as well.

Whether you are a rookie or a seasoned veteran, I highly suggest you take a close look at this lead generation system. My team is seeing something that I have never personally experienced on a networking team before. It is a term you hear in this industry daily, but almost never see. DUPLICATION. The two reasons for it are self explanatory. The system is Free and Simple (and our team is awesome).

already way behind. You see, things are happening so fast in my life that I simply have not been able to keep up. I wanted to start my blog about a month ago, but I am technically challenged, and had to get some help (Thank you Nate Forrest).

So, in the meantime I began studying, learning, and implementing some strategies on internet marketing. Now, instead of blogging from the very beginning of my journey into internet marketing, I will have to back track a tad. Even though it is a tiny amount, I am already beginning to experience some success.

I will save some time, and let you read my story in the about tab. For now, I want to give you the best thing I have learned so far. It is actually two things, but it is done in one process. Drumroll please…..While everything else is going on, while you are still learning the techy stuff, and while you are on information overload.

DO this. Build relationships by giving away valuable content. No excuses! It does not matter if it is your content or not. Give it to people if you found value from it. Add friends and converse with them on facebook chat or any other social networking site. It is going to wonders for your business building.

I wish I could make this up, but as I was writing the last paragraph, someone I have never spoken with before sent me a message on facebook messenger. Relationship building is the easiest thing to do, if you will take the time to be friendly with people.  I did her a favor, I liked her group.

Now, there is 64 new people that I have something in common to build a relationship with. How simple. As a side note, guess who will be doing me a favor in the future and liking my page. That is right, the same person I just helped out. Also, it took less than 30 seconds of my day!

Now, I could make a lot of excuses to not post this. In fact, I did delay putting it up for a couple of days because I realized that I did not have everything I wanted set up to maximize traffic for my blog. However, I refused to let a little inexperience stop me.  I know this isn’t perfect, or the most value packed post. However, taking the first step is often the hardest part. This is the tip of the iceberg. I look forward to a year from now when I look back at this post, and laugh and say, “wow I have come a long way”. If you are waiting to get started, take action. Ignorance on fire is better than knowledge on ice.