Getting Ready For Affiliate Marketing – The Basics

Attitude Is Key to Succeeding

Before you can be a success in building a business you need to know how to learn to learn. If you cannot do that, then it is difficult to earn as you learn. You definitely need a good attitude to learn to learn and to earn as you learn. No two ways about it.

Think about attitudes! We see them every day with everyone we deal with and speak to either in person or on the phone. You know that if you speak to an upbeat, positive person you come away from the experience feeling pretty great yourself. Talk to the Grinch That Stole Christmas and 9 times out of 10 you will come away feeling grumpy and stressed. That "attitude" we got handed dealing with that person just put us in a position to find out how we handle stress. Would that be with grace and good humor, or give back what you get?

This may come as a bit of a surprise, but it makes sense, attitude also directly affects the way stress handles YOU. Optimists cope way more effectively with stress. They achieve more when they take action and do it extremely effectively. And guess what? That in turn multiplies their results.

It's a bit like the old saying "Like attracts like!" Ok, you're not dating here, but you do want to attract positive people with positive attitudes. Why? If you are positive and you have positive people working your business, you are far more likely to achieve short and long-term success.

It's not hard to spot positive people, because they view situations differently than negative people do. Just to give you an example of what that means, think about these statements – see if you can pick out the positive person vs. the negative person.

• Statement number one would be: In times of uncertainty I expect the best.
• Statement number two would be: In times of uncertainty, I expect the worst.
• Statement number three would be: I don't expect things to go my way.
• Statement number four would be: I don't always expect things to go my way, but if they don't, I try to learn something from that situation.

You get the idea of people’s attitude just by what people say to you, you can figure out if they are positive or negative. Their choice of words is a big tip off as well. Using the words I won't indicates a choice. Using the words I can't – that says they feel they are powerless or inadequate.

If you are new to the direct sales business you will learn from the beginning how to build a business with a positive attitude and taking action. These two basics are your foundation. Think about how powerful you really are, how you will be the best there is in your business, how you will find like-minded people and achieve the results you want. It's just that easy! Your mind is a very powerful thing, and YOU are the Leader. And, as the Leader, you take action to build your business daily.

Not sure what motivates you? Ask yourself some questions about why you want your business to succeed. Make a list of 10 reasons and post them where you see them every day. Review them once a month just to see if they need modifying, take old reasons off and add new ones. Seeing your reasons for success daily will motivate you like nothing else will.

 

Setting Goals in Manageable Bits

Sometimes when you sit down to take stock of what your business goals are you can get totally overwhelmed at how much there is to do. You are building a business and it is a big responsibility. You may have goals you want to reach, but when you go to chase after them, it is difficult getting going because it is just too BIG.

What's the secret to getting there from here? Properly setting goals in manageable bits probably is the key. Those manageable bits will get you to the big goal when you are done. And will also provide you with an enormous sense of personal and professional achievement. Here is something else to think about – those small goals achieved let us get more done with FOCUS!

Your goals will fall into three areas: short term, long term and medium term. Typically the short-term goals are achieved within 6 months or maximum 1 year, the medium-term goals perhaps 2 - 5 years, and the long-term goals would be anytime after 5 years. The dailies can be simple, like call two new prospects today. The medium monthly kind of goal could be sign up 5 new team members.

With your goals in mind, you will get started in a positive frame of mind, and write them down. There is nothing like seeing them in writing to mobilize you. You will quantify your goals – meaning measure them by setting dates, times and details. Why? This is so you can measure your achievements.

Goals also need priorities, the most important to the least. Priorities let you get a handle on things needing to be done without feeling too overwhelmed. One thing to also remember is to keep your goals realistic and make your short-term goals something you can achieve. Then you start building in increments – short-term goals build to medium-term goals which in turn build into long-term goals.

Much like a map – and it IS a map, a map of your business.

The Road to Success

Along the road to your business success you will find points on the map where it is a good idea to try and set goals you can control. And, above all else, make sure you DO your goals YOUR way. Don't let someone else set your goals for you.

Your road map to achievement means you need to set goals based on your needs and skills. Be smart and set your destination goals just a touch further than you think feels safe, not right out of reach. Set them just far enough to make you stretch to reach these goals. Bravo, you're learning how to read that map and get to your destination.

Some of the other things you can do to set goals include: take some downtime – about 10 – 15 minutes either first thing in the morning or just before you go to bed and jot down the TO DO list for the next day. Write it in your daily planner, just so you have it with you at all times. Can you slot tasks into hours around pre-set appointments? List what is most important first.

If you're an early bird or a night owl, figure out when you are the most productive and with it. Deal with demanding business tasks during these hours. Done a really tough task? Then make sure what follows that is easy so you can take a mini-mental break. And speaking of breaks, you need to also indicate time for friends and family. You need balance in your life to be productive.

Time Management Is Essential

Time management is a skill you will need to learn to run your business, and a skill that means you will need to work smarter, nor harder. There is a difference between having the busy-ness thing going on and not getting much accomplished and being busy in a productive manner.

That means FOCUS on something you have read about already. You'll find this interesting. It's the 80/20 rule that states 80% of unfocussed effort generates 20% worth of results. That's not good! But look at it another way, 20 percent of your staff will cause 80 percent of your problems, but another 20 percent of your staff will provide 80 percent of your production. It works both ways. Think of it this way: what would happen if you changed your focus?

Put off things you need to do? Procrastination can undo even the most seemingly dedicated business people. You need to make time for success and that means not putting off things until tomorrow that you can accomplish today.

Need to get in the right mood, wait for the right time? Goals that need to be achieved to grow your business in a successful way wait for no man and once you have them, you must strive to reach them. Goals give focus, and what gives more pleasure than reaching your goals? Maybe it's the way you work that needs to be looked at. Are your goals not clear, and you are underestimating task difficulties? Do you underestimate the time needed to carry out your tasks and have unclear standards for task completion? Are you deep in your heart afraid of success or failure or a perfectionist? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then you need FOCUS. That doesn't mean tunnel vision. It means honing in on what your work patterns are and then learning to adjust your habits to get that focus you need. It's a simple equation: where you focus your attention is where you put your energy. And consider this attention to something at hand is a matter of choice – YOUR choice! You need to choose what you want your attention to be focused on.

Find out how well you are doing by creating a focus test. Easy test, just look back at your last week and ask yourself what you did to achieve your goals, what you were focusing on. Be honest with the answer, and if the answer does happen to be you didn't achieve your goals because you didn't have it together, then shake your head, dust yourself off, learn from the experience and move on.

Setting up an Office – Tips

You might not think you really need tips to set up an office at home, because you may have had one with another job – so you would know what you need to get going. Part of that is true in that you would know what you need to get going. The trouble with building a home-based business is building busyness and not a business.

If you fill your time with things that keep you busy, but you are not productive, then you are not accomplishing your business goals. You must learn to be productive.

Here's how to be more productive building a business with your home office.

The first thing is set up a separate office, away from the rest of the household's daily happenings. Make it a true office, just like the ones downtown in the other place you maybe worked for. This is specifically for business – period.

And since it's for your business, then be professional, even at home and keep distractions to a minimum. Be realistic about your work schedule, and stick to it.

The other thing you really need to have – it's actually a "must have" item – is a business plan. Planning a business and having a business plan are two different things. The business plan portion is the part that lets you lay out your goals in detail, how you are going to do things, and all the intricacies of your business. Simply put, if someone asks you about your business, if you have a business plan, you can answer any question they ask you. Not to mention the fact that if you happen to need to borrow money from a lending institution, you will need to have a business plan to show them what you are planning to do.

Personal Mission Statements

Another thing you will need is a personal mission statement. Why? Because if you don't know what your mission is, how do you expect potential prospects and customers to know? Some of the things you need to include in your personal mission statement are why does your business exist, does it provide a service or product people want or need?

Who will your customers be? And why will they be better off with your product or service? If you can't answer these questions, then you need to take a long look at your reasons for getting into affiliate marketing. For instance, if you became an affiliate of a company to use their products for yourself, then you are a part-time some timer. If you joined because you want additional income on top of your job then you are a part-timer. If you joined because THIS is going to be your career then that's another ball of wax.

Interestingly enough the percentages of people in each of the above categories will likely astonish you. Part-time some timers come in at 80%, some-time full timers are 18% and those who are serious about a career path rank at a mere 2%. You definitely need to know you goals to work your business in the most profitable manner.

Let's assume you joined affiliate marketing as a career path move. First figure out roughly how many potential customers your business will have. What will make someone a potential customer for YOUR product? Where do they buy their product now? All this information is a part of your business plan. You get the idea, lay things out in as much detail as you can. Your business will depend on it.