Author: Steve Pohlit

Business and Real Estate Investment Coach, Consultant Professional Speaker, Author Building Business Profits Fast Managing Partner Time To Be Great, LLC

My Social Networking and Social Marketing Policy

I have adopted the following based on what has been released by Brian Campbell. Brian encourages others to adopt this posture and you are invited to use it if it fits. You will have EVEN more opportunities if you adopt this policy or one similar for yourself.

I’m sending this message out to all of my Facebook friends. It is my policy regarding how I work and interact on social networks including Facebook.

This is an open invitation for you to experience new growth and tap into the power of the connections that I’ve made on Facebook.

I, Steve Pohlit give you FULL permission to:

1. Post a link to your website on the wall of my Facebook profile.
2. Tag me in a note that’s on a topic you think I may be interested in without mentioning my name in the note itself I appreciate all credible references to me but those are not required.
3. Ask me a general question on my personal profile’s wall.
4. Post a link to any videos, pictures or websites that you think that I might enjoy or that the majority of my friends might enjoy.
5. Say hello, initiate a conversation or let me know more about you.
6. I trust your judgement to post whatever you think is appropriate. If it helps you, please post!

I ask that you post something that you think has value. If you do not add value and include an affiliate link, I may delete it and I am likely to ask that you do not do that again. I will use the same method you used in posting to politely ask you to stop. Some of my frieds are more tolerent of spam. My profile is a public picture of me and my network. I choose to send positive energy personally and through my profile.

If you post something that is valuable, I may take the time to view it and perhaps I’ll share it with others. I might comment on it, or say nothing but simply remember that you’re a value creator and I’ll have a positive impression of you that may lead to a business relationship with me or friendship at some point in the future with me or my friends.

If you have a blog, website, product or service that you’ve created that my network would like to know about, feel free to tell me about it by posting on my wall. Feel free to include a link to the site with a brief description of what benefits someone would achieve by vising the site.

If you tag me in a note that’s related to something you know I’m interested in (social networking, Internet marketing, building business profits, creating wealth, helping people, law of attraction, giving, healthy living, or spirituality) then the people who are connected to me for those purposes will come and read your note and if it provides value, you’ll build a loyal following.

If you tag me in all of your notes just to get free publicity for yourself, you have my blessings. Even if you think you’re a competitor of mine, go ahead and promote yourself. I don’t have any competition anyway because the value I create cannot be diminished by the value you create.

I’m glad to provide a platform for you to reach people with your message through me.

I want you to provide value to the world and I don’t want to hinder your success. I believe that my network of connections on facebook is one of the most talented, creative and caring groups of people with a true commitment to success and by allowing you the freedom to promote the value that you give to the world, you’re helping me fulfill my mission in life by serving my friends.

There’s one other thing I’ll point out about allowing you the freedom to post freely on my wall, tag me in notes, or do other things to get in my mini-feed. This action benefits me too. That’s right! By posting your opportunities on my wall, you’re actually helping people find out about me and helping me deliver my value to more people. So we both win!

When I asked you earlier in this note to adopt a similar strategy, I did so because by allowing people to tag you and post on your wall you will experience more rapid growth.

Facebook is designed to send new people to you if you allow people freedom to connect with you in the ways I’ve explained above. If you try to restrict people, you’re restricitng your own growth.

If you’re reading this SteveReports.com blog post as a note on facebook, I’ve tagged a few people. I’ve tagged my friends and colleagues that I think would benefit from adopting a similar open-door policy. Many of the people I’ve tagged already have this type of policy, although perhaps they aren’t aware of it.

The people who I’ve tagged are my friends, and the message to potential “spammers” mentioned is not in any way addressed to the people tagged above.

The message to potential “spammers” is more of a mindset that I have towards these type of people that I would like you to adopt, and as my friends I know that you have no intentions to spam. I’ve simply shared with you how I feel about what everyone else calls “spammers.”

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Network with me on

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Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

How To Build Business Profits Today With Just This One Action

There are two parts to this article. The first part offers people in business a reminder of what can and must be done right now for your business. The second part offers my point of view on who is responsible for the less than exciting economic news headlines that seem to be part of our daily routine.

The Number One Action Step You Can Take To Grow Your Business In Difficult Economic Times and In Booming Economic Times.

Spend 50% of your time finding out how you can provide more value to your existing customers. As you find out then deliver that value.  Spend 30 % of your time developing new customers.  In summary, spend 80% of your time marketing.  That’s it. If you are not growing your business, you are killing your business.

Who Is Responsible For The Negative Economic Events We Hear About Daily?

Do you remember there are rules and regulations already in place governing the banking system?  Really doing a good job right?

Do you remember Sarbanes-Oxley?  This was and is the law in response to the Enron fiasco and a number of other business situations awhile back.  The idea was to prevent similar disasters from recurring.  People seemed to forget  there has been a professional internal controls standard already in place along with public company rules and regulations  governed by the SEC. So with well founded governing policy already in place we enacted a law that has cost taxpayers billions of dollars and what is the result?

We have huge losses. The financial markets are in turmoil and so what is the conclusion?  Our elected officials say we need more regulation. Where is it in the founding principles of our government does it say “we the people want the government to stick its nose everywhere we live and do business.”

Obviously I am a major advocate of very little federal government regulation and so a fair question is what are the alternatives?

I always look to what works for answers. In the history of our economy there are plenty of examples that provide guidance. When businesses provide value equal to or more than the price charged, people buy what is offered. When a business comes along and offers a competitive alternative that is superior to what is available people vote with their wallets.  If what is offered by a business is not profitable for the business it ultimately fails.  One example of this is the train wreck that occurred in the Internet Industry a number of years ago.  Companies  had a great story and were funded by private investors, but had no substantive product that was in demand by the market place or at least at a price the market was willing to pay. The economics of supply and demand worked perfectly.  Companies failed and private investors got smarter. Where there was abuse, people went to Club Fed.  Basic governance worked.

This portion of this article started with the question of who is responsible for the economic mess we seem to be in right now?  Here is the answer……look in the mirror.  We have allowed our governments to grow out of control and the ripple effect is an economic mess across this country that extends to international markets.

It is my belief I am totally responsible for everything that happens in my life. It took me a long time to understand that. Once I did, I can point to a noticeable improvement.  Extending that to our economy and even beyond our borders, I know that when each person stops looking to others for a solution and delivers the message to people in public office that we have had enough with the regulations that don’t work, we as a country will grow stronger. We have the right to live our intentions in freedom and peace and we are sitting back and allowing others to weaken that right. It is time to say no more.

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Is It A Recession? Is It A Depression? Doesn’t Matter ….Stop Your Bitching and Moaning And Take Purposeful Action

The last thing my readers need is another economic analysis report or some suggestion that I or anyone else out there flapping their jaws really know all the facts about the reason for current climate.  Ladies and gentlemen. reading those headlines and spending time analyzing the crap in the news is a monumental waste of God given talent. Stop your bitching and moaning and take responsibility for what you have control over which is your life. All change starts with one person. Do you want to know who that person is?  Look in the mirror.

If your business is suffering, if you have lost your sources of cash flow, if you are feeling tired, down, stressed or in general not very good, recognize this: it is very true that the way you feel is absolutely a direct result of how you think.  Don’t believe it?  OK by me if you want to be a martyr.  For those of you that want to take responsibility here is a quick 5 Step Plan to move forward fast:

A Five Step Speed Action Course For Achieving Your Goals In Changing Economic Times:

1. Recognize that most people you meet and talk to are going to be bitching and moaning about something or multiple things. Don’t play in that sandbox.  There are a small group of people totally optomistic about the unlimited possibilities. These are the people you want to “hang out” with.  So you don’t know anyone like that?  I’ll tell you one source where I have met some wonderful people. Register for an account at www.Facebook.com  and www.twitter.com   You can begin by adding me (Steve Pohlit) as a friend and if you don’t think I am wonderful, you will soon find a large number of people who are.

2. Understand the dynamics of doing business are always changing. Since 1994 with the introduction of the Internet browser, the rate of advancement continues to accelerate. Do you remember a few years ago where Google Adwords was all the rage for on line marketing? Do you know the impact social networking is having on the Adwords market?  When you look at the financial results of Google the impact may not seem obvious because Google is still the 800 pound gorilla.  But if you become active in the social networking markets like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and nearly daily growing rate of others you will see changing trend lines. I recently activated a site www.youtubemastery.net  that begins to teach people how to use video to market their business and products on line. I can’t imagine recommending that even as recently as three years ago. I know at that point there were some progressive internet marketers using video but to encourage brick and morter businesses to use it would not have been very credible for me at that time. Now it would be irresponsible if I didn’t recommend it and teach it.

3. Nothing is the same forever…nothing.  I am very familiar and experienced with using eBay stores as an adjunct to selling physical products using internet sites and retail stores. Several years ago the eBay model seemed to be an unmovable foundation for the auction business. In the last two weeks I was asked for my expert evaluation of a global trading platform that is very popular in the Europe. The person who contacted me was considering making a commitment of money and time to this business that is scheduled to enter the US.  When I started studying this model I was amazed to discover that most of it was a completely new way of lookng at auctions and while I am not personally a person who has an interest spending time on landing an eBay deal,  I can see myself playing in this new areana.  Now since its origin is Europe, I had some difficulty understanding it. Once I thought I “got it” I developed an explanaton which you can see at www.dublian.com   The point is whether you are a multi-billion dollar business, an entrepreneur, or an employeed person with a company you feel is well established for the long term, don’t fall into the trap of complacency.  I’ll bet 6,500 people employed by Wachovia felt their position was secure until they discovered in the papers that their employer lost over $8 billion and was cutting their job. Nothing is permanent.  My strongest advise with every business is the same: be very aggressive in taking care of current customers and growing market share.  Do you think that advice would change under different economic conditions? It hasn’t and it won’t

4. If you are running a business with employees you should be very consistent on your expectatons for performance. It seems that when revenue and profits are under pressure, management starts taking a close look at employee performance. In some cases they don’t even care they just cut.  Just cutting is rarely justified and is analogeous to removing a body part if you want to lose weight. That approach is just plain stupid. There is no change in the guidance here: The formula is A-P=V  which stands for actual minus plan = variance.  There must be a person accountable for each key variance in your business. That is how their performance is measured. Is it a simple as that. Yes and no which is why companies engage my me and my firm for assistance.

5. If you are repsonsible for a business that is really feeling financial and cash flow stress, every day you wait to call for assistance is a waste of very precious time needed to define and execute a turnaround plan. I have written about this before and will write about it again because it is a fact. Please visit www.turnaround-consulting-firm.com or call me direct right now at 727-587-7871.

The blessing of a changing economy is that is results in an opportunity to re-evaulate how you are running your business and your life.  The people reading this either accept that they are responsible for what happens to them or blames everyone else. For a long time I had the mind-set it wasn’t me. Four years ago I concluded that mind-set was completely incorrect.

Accept The Responsibility and Take Action Starting Now!!

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Is It A Recession? Is It A Depression? Doesn't Matter ….Stop Your Bitching and Moaning And Take Purposeful Action

The last thing my readers need is another economic analysis report or some suggestion that I or anyone else out there flapping their jaws really know all the facts about the reason for current climate.  Ladies and gentlemen. reading those headlines and spending time analyzing the crap in the news is a monumental waste of God given talent. Stop your bitching and moaning and take responsibility for what you have control over which is your life. All change starts with one person. Do you want to know who that person is?  Look in the mirror.

If your business is suffering, if you have lost your sources of cash flow, if you are feeling tired, down, stressed or in general not very good, recognize this: it is very true that the way you feel is absolutely a direct result of how you think.  Don’t believe it?  OK by me if you want to be a martyr.  For those of you that want to take responsibility here is a quick 5 Step Plan to move forward fast:

A Five Step Speed Action Course For Achieving Your Goals In Changing Economic Times:

1. Recognize that most people you meet and talk to are going to be bitching and moaning about something or multiple things. Don’t play in that sandbox.  There are a small group of people totally optomistic about the unlimited possibilities. These are the people you want to “hang out” with.  So you don’t know anyone like that?  I’ll tell you one source where I have met some wonderful people. Register for an account at www.Facebook.com  and www.twitter.com   You can begin by adding me (Steve Pohlit) as a friend and if you don’t think I am wonderful, you will soon find a large number of people who are.

2. Understand the dynamics of doing business are always changing. Since 1994 with the introduction of the Internet browser, the rate of advancement continues to accelerate. Do you remember a few years ago where Google Adwords was all the rage for on line marketing? Do you know the impact social networking is having on the Adwords market?  When you look at the financial results of Google the impact may not seem obvious because Google is still the 800 pound gorilla.  But if you become active in the social networking markets like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and nearly daily growing rate of others you will see changing trend lines. I recently activated a site www.youtubemastery.net  that begins to teach people how to use video to market their business and products on line. I can’t imagine recommending that even as recently as three years ago. I know at that point there were some progressive internet marketers using video but to encourage brick and morter businesses to use it would not have been very credible for me at that time. Now it would be irresponsible if I didn’t recommend it and teach it.

3. Nothing is the same forever…nothing.  I am very familiar and experienced with using eBay stores as an adjunct to selling physical products using internet sites and retail stores. Several years ago the eBay model seemed to be an unmovable foundation for the auction business. In the last two weeks I was asked for my expert evaluation of a global trading platform that is very popular in the Europe. The person who contacted me was considering making a commitment of money and time to this business that is scheduled to enter the US.  When I started studying this model I was amazed to discover that most of it was a completely new way of lookng at auctions and while I am not personally a person who has an interest spending time on landing an eBay deal,  I can see myself playing in this new areana.  Now since its origin is Europe, I had some difficulty understanding it. Once I thought I “got it” I developed an explanaton which you can see at www.dublian.com   The point is whether you are a multi-billion dollar business, an entrepreneur, or an employeed person with a company you feel is well established for the long term, don’t fall into the trap of complacency.  I’ll bet 6,500 people employed by Wachovia felt their position was secure until they discovered in the papers that their employer lost over $8 billion and was cutting their job. Nothing is permanent.  My strongest advise with every business is the same: be very aggressive in taking care of current customers and growing market share.  Do you think that advice would change under different economic conditions? It hasn’t and it won’t

4. If you are running a business with employees you should be very consistent on your expectatons for performance. It seems that when revenue and profits are under pressure, management starts taking a close look at employee performance. In some cases they don’t even care they just cut.  Just cutting is rarely justified and is analogeous to removing a body part if you want to lose weight. That approach is just plain stupid. There is no change in the guidance here: The formula is A-P=V  which stands for actual minus plan = variance.  There must be a person accountable for each key variance in your business. That is how their performance is measured. Is it a simple as that. Yes and no which is why companies engage my me and my firm for assistance.

5. If you are repsonsible for a business that is really feeling financial and cash flow stress, every day you wait to call for assistance is a waste of very precious time needed to define and execute a turnaround plan. I have written about this before and will write about it again because it is a fact. Please visit www.turnaround-consulting-firm.com or call me direct right now at 727-587-7871.

The blessing of a changing economy is that is results in an opportunity to re-evaulate how you are running your business and your life.  The people reading this either accept that they are responsible for what happens to them or blames everyone else. For a long time I had the mind-set it wasn’t me. Four years ago I concluded that mind-set was completely incorrect.

Accept The Responsibility and Take Action Starting Now!!

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Attention All Business Owners: 3 Steps To Activating A Corporation

Do you have a business or maybe you are thinking about having one. It could be a company with employees, an information marketing business, a mlm distributorship or maybe you are an independent contractor. If so,  you should be incorporated. You may have read about the tax deductions available to business owners. If you are not taking advantage of these you may be leaving money on the table. Follow tax laws for the advantage of your business. They were written for that purpose.

I just finished setting up another Subchapter S Corp. and outlined the essential steps in this process. Most people think they need to hire a CPA or business expert to get this done. You do not. Al the information is on line. Simply take action. Note: I am not a tax advisor or attorney. I am an advocate of using readily available information for making your own decisions and taking action. 

Summary of The Three Steps…Details to Follow:

1. Register with the state where you select to be incorporated. This does not need be the state of your business location or residence. My latest registration is in Nevada and I live in Florida.

2. File for an EIN number with the IRS. This is an employee identification number and can be obtained on line almost instantly once you have your corporation registered.

3. If you are filing for Subchapter S status you must fax a completed request form to the IRS with your Corporate identity (name ) and your EIN number. That is why you follow these steps in sequence. The form is easy.

Additional Details of Setting Up A Corporation:

Types of Corporations:

The most common legal entities are a C Corporation and and S Corporation with an LLC growing in popularity. Generally, if you are a entrepreneur or privately held company with one or a few shareholders, an Subchapter S is likely what you will use. Some people prefer an LLC for specific types of businesses. Do your own research then act. You can set up an S Corp or LLC and then convert to  a C Corp. The reverse may difficult.

Where To Incorporate and How To Do It.

The two most popular areas are Delaware and Nevada. I liked Nevada for a number of reasons but a lot of people use the state they are in and a lot of people select Delaware.  Once the state was chosen I selected a registered agent called them and in about 20 minutes they had everything they needed to file with the State of Nevada. 

Two weeks and about $300 later I received my papers and at that point could register the officers with the State. Another $125 unless you are late like me and pay a $75 penalty. (Rates vary by state and so do annual renewals.)

EIN and Subchapter S Status

Once you have registered the officers which can be done on line got to the IRS site and apply for an EIN number. This is done online, you receive your EIN almost instantly and there is no additional charge.

With the EIN number go back to the IRS site and print out form 2553 if you are filing for Subchapter S status and fax it in.   You do not have Sub S status until you receive a letter from the IRS confirm such status.

Other Info

Since I incorporated in the State of Nevada I set up a virtual office in Las Vegas. So my business cards show offices in multiple states which I liked. There are tons of places that do this. I found one that set me up for $50 and charges $30 per month. 

Summary

I just went through this process and it was relatively easy. However I recognize if you have no experience with this it may be confusing. Normally a local CPA firm can help you for a reasonable fee. I recommend anyone in business to be incorporated. It will make your life easier when it comes to keeping your business income and deductions separate from your personal return items.  

Accept The Responsibility and Take Action Starting Now!!

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, happiness and peace.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

5 Steps To Stop Insane Management From Driving Business Into The Ground

As a reminder the popular definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting the different  results”. Most companies continue to do business the same way and blame the economy and high gas prices on their declining business results when they should be looking in the mirror. There seems to be a strong undercurrent of “I am waiting for somebody to do something vs. I am responsible.”

The operative word here is most. There are sectors of the economy that have been hit by current conditions. I will leave that analysis to economist and academics. They have a lot more expertise in such matters and enjoy the intellectual debates of cause and effect. I have a laser beam focus on what individual companies can and should be doing to achieve their potential.

I am excluding from this article any company who is in serious cash flow difficulty. When a business gets to that point, crisis management… turnaround expertise is needed. MY firm International Resources does that work and we are very good at it. I always advise if you are in that situation, call me or a firm like mine right now as time is of the essence. My direct line is 727-587-7871.

What are “The 5 Steps To Stop Insane Management From Driving Business Into The Ground?”

1. Have a very clear profit plan at each line item of business performance. Measure actual performance against plan and have clear accountability for achieving the plan line item by line item. To implement this you must have timely, accurate and relevant information. No excuses…must have.

2. When people who are accountable for line item performance consistently fail to meet the stated goals, replace them. Period!

3. The number one function in a business that will be the subject of most of the excuses is sales. These excuses come from people who do not understand how to market to a consumer who places ever increasing importance on relationships. Why do you think the community building sites like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook are in the top ten most highly visited sites globally? According to Alexa, YouTube is 3 , MySpace is 6 and Facebook is 8 ) Every business must have a relationship driven marketing strategy and then implement it. See Relationship Marketing below.

4. Always be evaluating the market including on line competitors. I wonder if Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL in retrospect would have done anything different when Google first came to market?  No company is immune from being seriously weekend by competition. I look at the drugstore landscape. I live in Florida where competition is very active particularly for pharmacy prescriptions. A new format of drugstores was introduced not that long ago by Walgreens, CVS, and others with positioning of buildings with 24 hour drive through pharmacies on high cost real estate. Two things have happened with those changes. Prices skyrocketed to pay for real estate and relationships with the pharmacy customer has almost become extinct. Within this landscape I am aware of several privately held drugstores doing very well because of their attention to customer relationships.

5. Don’t push a boulder up hill. Some companies were never meant to be. People start companies or buy existing companies because they think it is a good idea. The only opinion that matter is the market. If your business was not all that strong in the past and you are basically doing everything right, the best action to stopping the profit leaks may mean closing the doors. If you are not sure Contact Me.

Reality Business: The following examples are taken from just one day’s experiences – today.

1. I was talking with a former client who is now a good friend, who told me they have exposure on a large receivable as it looks like the customer is going out of business. After asking two questions I understood that procedures installed during the consulting project were ignored. Insane management. This happens all the time where people make exceptions to sound business practices and then wonder what went wrong. Follow well founded established policies and procedures without exception. Does that mean nothing will ever go wrong? No, but the surprises will be fewer and far between.

2. During a meeting with a very successful fund manager I asked him if there was any one or two things that he attributes to his success. We were specifically talking about clients who transfer portfolios of $250,000 and higher to him from other firms. He said: “just two things: first I have a “high touch” approach which cements the relationship. The markets have been unforgiving lately. I increase my meetings with clients when competitors are shying away from making calls to people whose portfolios have been hit. Second I have marketing funnel to my target audience that has consistently worked very well.” I am not writing the details as this is proprietary but I will tell you this – you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out.

3. I was invited to lunch at a very nice restaurant in Tampa. It has a fairly steep price tag for most of the selections. There were many tables available. Like nearly every other restaurant I have ever dined, regardless of price point, when I left they have no idea who I am and have no way of inviting me back. Insane management.

All in one day!!

Relationship Marketing:

I love talking about how easy it is for retail business to install a relationship marketing program. This is actually easy for every company, but most readers can relate to experiences with restaurants, grocery stores, dry cleaners, specialty shops and other retail stores. Just ask yourself when was the last time you received a thank you note, an incentive to come in for a special on a particularly slow day or a brief questionnaire asking you how they can serve you better? It happens. I listened to a story the other night about a business getting a fax every time it rains near the lunch hour from a nearby restaurant saying “It is raining. Our business will be slow today. Come in for a free Taco.”” Of course, nearly everyone will be buying more than one taco. But isn’t that cool and how hard is that to do?

Visit http://www.localretailmarketing.com for an idea on how you can begin strengthening your customer relationships. The information is free. My firm is not if you want us to do it for you. We get it done now which can be very valuable for you.

Accept The Responsibility and Take Action Starting Now!!

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, happiness and peace.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

How To Use Social Media Video (YouTube) To Grow Your Business

Does 200 million page views a month catch your attention? How about knowing 41% of the members between the ages of 34 and 55 and all groups are divided nearly evenly between male and female? If that isn’t enough to get your attention consider these:

1. Members look for content by areas of interest.
2. All content is video and each video can be described using text that is rich with targeted keywords for your product or service.

Just a Couple More Things

1. The information above is about YouTube.. the 6th highest volume site on the Internet. The demographic data is for the US only and yet YouTube is International. The real number are larger but not quantified.
2. There are more than 150 social media sites on line and growing. Each one is attempting to carve out a niche of the huge general market. Of the 150, approximately one third are video sites. Once a person masters YouTube alll the skills are generally transferable to other niche market video sites.

The Action Plan Tracker

I have a business consulting firm. I teach companies how to build revenues and profits using proven principles and processes. Part of the business consulting work plan is to help the client implement an improved and more effective marketing strategy. Social media is now a required component of my updated business marketing strategy model. The numbers of people joining social media sites and becoming very active are very significant and should not be ignored.

There are a huge number of businesses that do not have websites, use blogs, test on line promotion campaigns, execute effective email campaign which are all very proven and effective marketing tools. Social media sites generally completely ignored by most companies. The exceptions are wisely building brand and loyalty.

Very recently I developed the groups YouTube Mastery on Facebook and MySpace as well as the the site www.youtubemastery.net These resources are just being developed and the website is very underdeveloped. However, I have a very clear plan and once I reach that point I take action and sacrifice some perfection. People need to know about these opportunities now and begin using all the Internet tools plus traditional marketing tools in their business now. I currently advise business owners that they need to be devoting nearly 80% of their time on marketing. Part of that 80% includes working with staff and others accountable for marketing. Marketing and developing people are the two most important areas where a business owner needs to spend their time. All other responsibilities should be delegated. What if your are an entrepreneur of one. The point is still the same.

Right Now Action Steps:

1. Join the group YouTube Mastery on Facebook
2. Visit and register at www.youtubemastery.net

These two actions will result in you getting up to speed on using social media and social media video to market your business.

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, happiness and peace.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size.

Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Off the topic of Business Consulting, Making More Money, Internet Marketing, Social Network.

Several weeks ago I was introduced to Reddit

I check it periodically ….. and several days ago  I just read the following really cool headline.

Does anyone else ever find themselves clicking around on the net, only to suddenly sit looking at the screen wondering just what the f— it was you were actually trying to do?

Can you relate to that?  I assure you I have been there – recently and will probably be there again soon.

Be well

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size.

Click Here For The Free Report

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Discover Effective Business Marketing by Following Successful Direct Response Marketers and Internet Marketers

All of my work with helping companies achieve their potential includes enhancing their marketing programs. Everything I use in that part of my consulting and coaching practice is a result of what I learned from: Dan Kennedy, Ken McCarthy, John Reese and more.

Yesterday, John Reese sent an email updating his list about the status of his latest project. Part of that email is repeated below. Be sure to read my comments after John’s remarks for very valuable free resources.

From John Reese……..

If you haven’t yet signed up for Twitter.com you
really need to do it ASAP. As you’ll soon discover,
it’s becoming a very powerful traffic-generation and
relationship-building communications tool.

I believe it’s only a matter of time before every
serious Internet marketer, blogger, affiliate,
and business owner has a Twitter account and
is using it to grow their traffic and grow their
business.

It’s completely FREE to create a Twitter account.
So go right now and create an account and
SECURE YOUR NAME (or company name)
before someone takes it first.

After you create your account (or if you already
have one) be sure to “follow” me by going to
my Twitter page and clicking “follow” under
my photo:

http://twitter.com/johnreese

* I’m announcing some important news in the
next few days… follow me on Twitter to get
the *live* updates.

Yours For Online Profits,

John Reese

—————————–

Valuable information you can use when you set up your Twitter account

1 Follow me at http://twitter.com/stevepohlit

2. Larry Chase published a great list of Twitter tools – I learned about this from a “Tweet” by a person I am following. You won’t believe the tips you get when you start following some of the people on Twitter.

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Business Marketing Opportunities on Facebook vs MySpace

MySpace vs. Facebook Comparison Video

Jeff Hoffman prepared a nice video on the statistical differences between MySpace and Facebook. This video is about 9 minutes long and is worth the time. The comments I posted in response to this material follow:

Jeff does a real nice job of presenting data on the demographic differences between Facebook and MySpace. What is most clear to me is that the demographics of both sites are shifting rapidly. There are people who have been successful building networks on Facebook and who are now working to do the same on MySpace. So I wouldn’t ignore MySpace based on this information.

However, given limited resources, Jeff objectively delivers the message to businesses to spend time marketing on Facebook vs. MySpace. For me there remains a very serious question when considering Facebook vs. all other marketing tools. That is whether Facebook should be used at all. I don’t see compelling evidence of the value for companies spending time developing social networking on Facebook. However, I advise all companies , entrepreneurs, and solopreneurs to be actively developing a presence on at least Facebook. I offer that advice because I believe we are just at the beginning of understanding how to market effectively on social medial sites including Facebook.

Thank you Jeff for this video and I look forward to more content on this topic.

Steve Pohlit, President
IR Consulting, Inc
http://www.IRConsultingInc.com

PS One comment I failed to include is the potentially high ROI for paid advertising on Facebook and MySpace. This should be tested.

———————-

Just Released from my new business consulting site: The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size.

Click Here For The Free Report

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

If You Are Buying A Business, Thinking of Buying A Business, or Think You Might Someday, Read This Free Report

Just Released from my new business consulting site: The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size.

Click Here For The Free Report

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

The Secret of How Staples Business Depot Became The Largest In Canada

Click Here for the details of this story: In summary, at first glance it appears the company’s success is do to ……let the President Steve Matyas tell it: “It sounds like a cliché, but everything we do is about making shopping easy for our customers. We continually ask ourselves and our customers, ‘What can we do to make shopping with us easy?’”

Specifically what are they doing better than their competition and pay very close attention to this as there are very valuable lessons to be learned:

1. Clearly defined niche – small business owner.

2. Establish a process for staying in touch with their customers and then offering the products and services they want and need. Have you heard the message: find an hungry market already spending money on what you are offering then position your offer better than your competitors?

3. Make is easy for your customers to do business with you. In the article you will notice there are different size store models depending on the market. Staples cannot profitably operate the same store format in all markets because of demographic differences.

4. After following the first three steps they are able to reap the rewards of their focus on “making shopping with us easy” and they know how important it is to have the right employees in their stores to execute on this goal. Notice their emphasis on innovative recruiting to attract people they need for their growing business.

This is a great example and lesson of a business understanding and serving their customer.

Sending all my readers the energy of vibrant health, happiness and prosperity.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Gasoline Prices and Marketing Snake Oil

25% of a $4.00 cost per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is due to the devaluation of the US dollar in the past 24 months. Restated: if the US dollar was at the same value in the currency markets as it was this time in 2006, the price of a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline would be $3.00.

Do you remember fuel at $3.00 per gallon? Of course you do. It wasn’t that long ago. Did you adjust your lifestyle? Let’s look at statistics for spending during the Christmas season of 2007 when the price per gallon was just about $3.00. Spending increased year to year by about 3.6% . So even though gas prices were up from December of the previous year people were still spending money.

The Ripple Effect of $4.00 per Gallon Gas Is Uge and Everyone Should Be Really Pissed Because….

Let’s look at the impact: airlines are have to raise prices to cover fuel costs. Of course people have less money to spend on airline tickets because of what it costs to fill their gas tank. So fewer people fly, airlines cut flights and airlines cut jobs. Guess what …take the cruise industry – not as many people fly so they are not taking as many cruises and they are not scheduling time at resorts.

So you say you don’t care that much about the airlines and cruise ships and resorts. OK what about the price of lettuce. In a matter of one month at the place I shop the package of mixed greens I like increased by more than 15%. Why do you think you see an increase in food prices? What delivers food to the stores? Rights..trucks. What fuels trucks? Right gasoline and diesel fuel.

So now we have more people losing their jobs, prices increasing and an increase in the number of people blaming Saudi Arabia and the oil companies for the increases. Ladies and gentlemen our own federal government created this mess. Wait…we create our government. I don’t recommend looking to an outside source to blame. Look in the mirror first then move forward from there.

What is the solution? There doesn’t appear to be one action to restore the confidence in the US Dollar or is there? Could linking the value of the dollar to the price of gold be a solution? It seemed to work before. The weakness of the dollar is a big deal and it seems to be getting very little attention buy our current or pending leaders. They pay attention to what people want to hear and in this country people seem to be looking for increasingly larger government with more programs to “help” the citizenry. I don’t like it and suggest you examine your belief system on these points. I wonder what would happen if everyone who has a blog would start ranting about these issues? Do you think the leadership would pay attention? Of course they would. This all starts within.

Caution: Solutions From Snake Oil Salespeople:

What really takes off in an economic situation like we are dealing with is the classic image of the snake oil salesperson. But rather finding them on the back of a covered wagon, we find them in email messages, job boards, Craigs List, Facebook, MySpace , You Tube and an increasing volume of direct mail offers.

Get rich quick or get out of debt marketing capitalizes on people’s pain of losing jobs and the increasing number of people having difficulty keeping their homes. Objectivity in evaluating these offers can easily be lost and the valuable “rule of thumb…if it looks to good to be true, it probably is” fades into the background.

Now are there credible opportunities out there for making very good money? Absolutely but they involve you doing something to earn it. I recently been advertising for virtual assistants. I know there is very good income to be made with this work. I have this position posted in several prominent locations where I know there are qualified candidates. The response is very slim with one exception: I have a very interested company from an international country wanting to help me and I am seeing if that will work. Why is it that the aggressive labor pool seems to be available internationally but not in my own back yard? I have no idea.

There are jobs in the economy, there are credible business opportunities and if you have any questions about a business you are looking at or a business opportunity you are considering, just shoot me an email at StevePohlit@gmail.com and I will try to help you.

Sending all my readers the energy of vibrant health, happiness and prosperity.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Social Media Marketing – Advice on Using Twitter From John Reese

You probably know John Reese is a very experienced credible and successful Internet marketer. I have benefited a great deal from John’s courses and newsletters. This message from John came to me by email and I am posting it here. Like John I have been skeptical about Social Media marketing including Twitter. One thing about John is that he tests everything and you will see he has been accumulating data on driving traffic to his sites and particularly his blog using Twitter. After you read John’s message come back and take these action steps:

1. set up your account at www.twitter.com
2. look up www.twitter.com/stevepohlit and follow me
3. look up www.twitter.com/johnreese and follow him
4. follow John’s guidance in adding people to follow
5. notice how people post to Twitter and start posting regularly.
(I use Ping.fm to post to Twitter and Facebook. It is supposed to update my accounts at LinkedIn and MySpace but I don’t see that working well. Maybe you will have more luck.)

Two final points from me:

1. this is part of my signature on my outgoing emails:

Network with me on

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/4yyhf2

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevepohlit

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/stevepohlit

Follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/stevepohlit

2. Notice how I discovered valuable content written by an authority on a topic where I have some experience added comments and now publish it on my blog – with no changes to the original message. This is another way of generating valuable content for your blog (hint, hint)

————————————————-

Email from John Reese starts now:

If you haven’t yet created a Twitter account
you’re really missing out.

This service has exploded in growth
in the past few months and I don’t see
it slowing down anytime soon. There
are now MILLIONS of users and it’s
becoming mainstream.

I’ve been running some interesting
tests and I’m already seeing some
great traffic results — far greater than
the traffic from Facebook or any
other “Web 2.0” service.

Facebook and the others certainly
have their place, but Twitter is more
powerful. At first I didn’t really “get it”
but now I do and my traffic stats
don’t lie. IT WORKS.

As a communications tool, Twitter is
probably only 2nd to Email right now.
It’s a great way to network with people
as well as to drive visitors to any of
your sites, blog posts, etc.

BUT DON’T WAIT…

Create a Twitter account NOW and
start ‘following’ people you want.
Others will eventually follow you in
return. Observe how others post
and you’ll quickly learn the culture,
etiquette, and uses for Twitter.

It’s not rocket science. In fact,
it’s a lot of fun.

You really need to start today because
the sooner you start the sooner your
followers list will start growing and more
people will see your posts — which will
then virally grow from there.

*******VERY IMPORTANT********

MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW ME!

(I’m actively posting all the time.)

Create an account then go here:
http://twitter.com/johnreese

Click the “Follow” link that shows
under my photo.

That’s it. Everytime I post you’ll
see it in your main “timeline”
area.

* After you click to “Follow” me
look at the right-hand side of
my profile page. Click the blue
“Followers” link and you can see
all the people currently following
my posts. Follow some of these
other marketers so you can get
involved.

Twitter is extremely VIRAL.
When you make posts (called
“tweets”) they can be exposed
to all the friends (followers)
of others. Then they can choose
to follow you.

I think Twitter is going to really
evolve into a “must use”
marketing tool. It’s a great way
to announce you’ve just made
a new blog post, released a
new product, or anything else
you’re up to.

I’m already seeing 400+ visitors
each time I make a tweet that
I’ve made a new blog post.

So trust me, this is no flash in
the pan. In fact, this may be
one of the most powerful marketing
tools ever — it just depends how
it evolves.

But so far you’d be crazy not to
use it. It’s producing great results.

Take 2 minutes to create an
account — heck you’ll want to
do it now so you can at least
get your name before someone
else takes it. Or your company
or product name, etc.

Just go to http://www.Twitter.com

Then visit my page at:
http://twitter.com/johnreese

———————————————

Info courtesy of Steve Pohlit

Sending all my readers the energy of vibrant health, happiness and prosperity.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool is The Prosperity Tool Chest

Will 21 Truckloads Fit Into A Laptop In 21 Years or Less?

Can you imagine the computing power of equipment that takes 21 tractor trailer trucks to haul?  If you know a little history about the size of the first computer you may appreciate the following story is about 2008 and not 1952. I noticed this in connection with a news release on another topic and found this fascinating.

IBM, Los Alamos smash petaflop barrier, triple supercomputer speed record: A supercomputer named Roadrunner is the world’s first petaflop computer, built to keep tabs on the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile without the need for live tests, IBM and the Los Alamos National Laboratory said. It took 21 tractor-trailer trucks to ship Roadrunner from New York to Los Alamos in New Mexico. It would take 100,000 laptops combined to equal Roadrunner’s speed and if everyone in the world did one calculation per second on a handheld computer it would take 46 years to do all that Roadrunner can handle in a day, IBM said.

Sending all my readers the energy of vibrant health, happiness and prosperity.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool is The Prosperity Tool Chest

Marketing To My Target Audience Using The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur Magazine, Traffic Jam

This morning The Wall Street Journal asked if the recently announced iPhone to be released July 11 would be accepted by business.  The answer influences the volume of iPhone sales and of course Apple’s earnings. This is my response which may give insight as to how business owners should consider many options that are presented:

“One path to answering this question is to consider the different functions within a business. For example, a typical accounts payable function currently is not enhanced by an iPhone. Account payable staff have the resources to do their job. Alternatively a technical field representative who is mobile could very well benefit from continually developing iPhone technology.

I appreciate this question as the use of cell phones and technology devices including the Blackberry and iPhones is a very topical question with business owners who I guide to making more money with their business.

In summary I am not an advocate of a universal policy allowing or prohibiting such devices. My advice is to decide at the functional level.”

Recently Entrepreneur.com Published An Article On Squeezing Out Profits In Tough Times actually titled “Less is More”  This is an area where I have considerable experience and expertise. Today, I submitted my comments which followed the logic of my FREE Report offered at IR Consulting, Inc. and mentioned for the readers of Entrepreneur the availability of this report.

Last night I was reviewing the update to Traffic Jam which is John Reese’s site and it really is marvelous so I encourage you to look at my Blog Rush widget on the right side of this page and click through and sign up for an account for your blog.  Then your blog entries feed Traffic Jam. A word of caution: if your blog is new I would wait until you have a reasonable volume of posts before applying for an account,  as that is one of the criteria for acceptance.  One of the values of Traffic Jam is for you to quickly see blog content published in your area of interest.  When you do I recommend commenting on the blog posts and including your site links which is a great way to get back links to your site.

In summary, published content is one of the actions that add credibility to your business. I am more focused on publishing certain of my content in areas most likely visited by my target audience. The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Entrepreneur Magazine are examples of where I have published content recently.

With the increasing volumes of information being published primarily as a result of more blogs coming on line daily, it is in your best interest to identify where your target customer is most likely to be visiting. Then focus on attracting their attention with content that delivers value and demonstrates you know what you are talking about.

Sending all my readers the energy of vibrant health, happiness and prosperity.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool is The Prosperity Tool Chest

Last Minute Bonus Valued Up To $4,000 Added for Loyal Subcribers of Steve Reports and My Facebook Network Friends

Earlier today I published a Free Report Titled: The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working

This information is based on the exact program I use with companies of all sizes and have experienced extraordinary results. You are able to begin take action immediately with this 10 Step Road Map and start to make a lot more money with your business.

There are a number of very valuable bonuses including a very special one that I add at the last minute in celebration of my daughter’s graduation from Ohio State on June 8, 2008.

Use this information starting today and contact me if I can be of any assistance.

Sending all my readers the energy of vibrant health, happiness and prosperity.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool is The Prosperity Tool Chest

Eben Pagan and Frank Kern Two Hour Conference Call and Why You Should Listen

This call is in connection with a product promotion. I am not an affiliate. I paid attention to this call because I know Frank Kern and  Eben Pagan are both very successful people who both overcame a number of difficult life situations.

I particularly enjoyed listening to Eben described the techniques he used for moving to a mindset of prosperity. In that regard, I have developed a tool for myself to help me consistently stay in an prosperity mindset. I named it The Prosperity Tool Chest and it is free for you to use.

Here is a portion of the email I received from Eben”

“The Frank Kern Interview was SUPER fun. If you want
to listen to the replay, and learn more about how I
built the Guru MasterMind, and what you can expect as
a member, just click here:”

http://www.gurumastermind.com/teleclass/080528_replay_kern.asp

Sending all my readers the energy of vibrant health, happiness and prosperity.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool is The Prosperity Tool Chest

Stephen Pierce Recommends 7 Internet Marketing Tools: Steve Pohlit Comments.. Twitter Fans Take Note

Stephen Pierce’s blog is dTalpha The content is mostly Podcast If you have an iPod or an iPhone subscribe to his dTalpha podcast at iTunes. Twitter fans heads up – Stephen announced a beta site that shows what is hot on twitter. I am not giving the URL’s here on the same day they were released by Stephen. You will need to listen to today’s Make More Money Monday podcast. Have a pen and paper or do what I do and that is I open up a new tab in Firefox for each site he recommends then I go to the site as he gives it. I then can spend more time with it later.

My business is showing people with a business how to make a lot more money. Every week Stephen offers suggestions that will help all size companies. This week is no different. There is a trends site, a stories site and a video advertising site that should be relevant for just about everyone. He also recommended several very cool niche sites for fans of twitter, adsense and selling on eBay.

The following is what I posted in response to today’s podcast:

Stephen, very cool suggestions.

I am a twitter fan (follow me at http://www.twitter.com/stevepohlit) so I am particularly interested in the beta site you mentioned. Also I am definitely checking out the trends site and stories site you suggested. Of course I have notes on all your recommendations and as person who works with people with varying business interests in my efforts as a build business profits consultant, I never know when one of your recommendations that may not be topical for me at the moment is perfect for a client.

This is a reminder that all dtalpha fans are welcome to contact me for a complimentaty consultation on their business. Of course this will need to be scheduled but I can generally get to you within 5 business days of receiving an email (stevepohlit@gmail.com )

One final thing – if you didn’t get Stephen’s Mind Power University package you should revisit that decision right now. I don’t know if there is still a special price or not but there is some powerful material in that package. Thanks Stephen

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool is The Prosperity Tool Chest

Business Blogging – Steve Reports Replies To BusinessWeek

This week BusinessWeek published a business blogging article titled Beyond Blogs. Actually it was a follow on to a business blogging article originally written in 2005 which has received a lot of attention. (Click Here to read the current Business Week article)

As a major advocate of blogs, blog technology and developments since 2005, I was very interested in what the authors had to say. Certainly there was good content in the article. My reply that follows addresses what I believe to be the number one issue on people’s minds that spend time using blogs, blogging and now participating in social networks. At the conclusion I provide the advice I give to clients. Please take a few minutes and comment on this topic.

(this is what I posted on BusinessWeek.)

Increasing numbers of people feel the value in being connected. I think many still struggle with how best to use these networks and technology. While continuing to make connecting and receiving information easier, how should a business or person best navigate this information?

In that respect I don’t think the principles of research and investing time have changed. I advise my clients (and do this myself) to focus on those key areas of business and personal interest and build from there. One very important point: this is a “givers gain” world which is a great development. Like many others I provide guidance and content that was once kept secret and came with a steep price tag.

With increasing volumes of very valuable free contet, what are people happy to pay for? The answer has been and continues to be the same. They pay for value as measured by results. I am delighted to build my practice on a results driven model. I am also very grateful for the developments of social networking, blogs and for authors who write great articles like this one for BusinessWeek.

Steve Pohlit

Steve
http://irconsultinginc.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool is The Prosperity Tool Chest


Be Honest ..What Is Your Instant Reaction To An Ad For A $64,950 Bed?

I instantly wanted to study the placement, the presentation and the copy. So the follow on question is did this presentation sell beds?

The company is not a client so there is no way for me to know for sure. My guess is that it is a very successful campaign even thought the copy is not very good and the graphics are just OK. So what makes me think the ad was very successful?

A two page foldout in a magazine published to appeal to wealthy people with the catch that $64,950 is for one bed is in itself intriguing. I am guessing those who have $100,000 in petty cash become very interested in this bed.

This article is not about a bed. The lesson is to appeal to your target audience. The company handcrafting this bed is not running the ad in ValPak. The placement is in a prestigious publication consistent with the quality and pricing of the product.

Valuable lesson. Pay close attention to ads and junk mail.

Sending all my readers the energy of vibrant health, happiness and prosperity.

Steve
http://irconsultinginc.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Many of Steve’s business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and his prosperity building tool is The Prosperity Tool Chest

Email Steve or call him directly at 727-587-7871

How To Use Multi Media For Lead Generation

It is unusual for me to watch TV. However for those of you that follow me on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace adn LinkedIn you know that I love the Stanley Cup Playoffs. While watching the most recent game I noticed an add during a commercial break that appeared to be an promotion for a home furnishings retailer. I quickly realized the promotion was for lead generation. This ad was designed specifically for viewers to request a resource on how to buy direct from over 700 manufacturers.

The promotion focused on the mark-up that retailers charge and asked “why should you pay their bills?” So this was clearly an emotionally engaging campaign. It was also targeted at anyone remodeling or building new. It also appealed to people intending on replacing home furnishings.

The focus of this ad was to motivate people to call or go to the web site to request their informational booklet. Clearly a squeeze page strategy using electronic media which in this case was TV. This was all very well done except showing home furnishing ads during a hockey game begs the question of whether this was the right program to be presenting the campaign.

While the ad was running I went over to my nearly always on computer and typed in their URL. Again – squeeze page only. The home page was there for one purpose which was to capture contact information. I was intrigued as to what they were really promoting. Is it a buying club with a monthly membership fee or something else?

I was very surprised to discover that I received a pass for an appointment to visit a physical place not more that one mile from my home and they were very specific as to the time. What is more interesting they now know my household (me) since their follow up survey wanted to confirm there was no problem having a baby sitter so I can could make the appointment. (The only baby sitter I need is for me.) They also know I am planning on at least some home furnishing replacements in the next 3-6 months. They asked and I told them.

I am likely to go to this appointment because I am very intrigued by what it is they want me to do. The location is not large enough for a showroom so my number one bet is that is is a buying club promotion. I will disclose the website with a follow up report in a few days.

In summary this is an excellent case study in lead generation. I certainly don’t know but it would not surprise me if Dan Kennedy was hired for this since he is one of the best marketers with TV media, copy and lead generation. Dan is the one who taught me how to pay attention to ads including infomercials. The effective ones on TV are effective sales letter in action. If you are interested in marketing you really should be getting Dan’s monthly newsletter. Click Here if you are interested.

This example is a great lesson in using multi-media for lead generation. TV, Phone, and the Internet are the primary tools being used and there is a mail in option presented but not emphasized. They did a good job and served as an example of why it is important to pay attention to well designed campaigns. And on that note I will ad there is no such thing as junk mail. Every piece is an opportunity to learn something even if it is what not to do.

Sending all my readers the energy of vibrant health, happiness and prosperity.

Steve
http://irconsultinginc.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies and their employees to achieve their highest potential. Many of Steve’s business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and his prosperity building tool is The Prosperity Tool Chest

Email Steve or call him directly at 727-587-7871

PS Don’t pass the valuable information on Blogging for Profits and How To Increase Revenue and Profits by 30% or More In 90 Days or Less.

Marketing A Celebrity

Celebrity is defined by Mirriam-Webster as a famous and celebrated person. When I think of a celebrity, I feel that person is known by many people with diverse interests. Celebrities I am aware of generally fall into a perceived niche. Oprah for example promotes many different themes. She is a talk show host. Tony Robbins is a self development guide.

What happens when a celebrity who is well known in a specific area decides they are going to make a huge difference on a related but very distinct area of interest? For example, you are probably aware of several actresses who have increased the awareness in society of orphaned children by their posture and by personally adopting one or more of these children. Now they become well known for their personal interests and beliefs.

I have studied in general what several famous people have done outside of the area for which they became famous. I asked the question: by being famous did these people automatically gain acceptance in another area of personal interest? The answer is no. Even though celebrities have a following, when they move out of their arena of fame for them to be successful with their message they and their message needs to be marketed.

As I have worked through the development of a marketing strategy with a celebrity, I quickly realized that my primary mission was to present a plan that most people could understand. The focal point was the same one that I use with all my business clients. That focal point is simply “what is the goal?”. For business development projects the goal is usually defined as a targeted increase in revenue and profits in first 90 days and the establishment of new processes and procedures to sustain that growth rate. For my celebrity client we agreed on a twelve month measurement of success which is a bit of stretch.

Once there is “buy in” on the goal statement that includes a defined time frame for achievement the steps to achieve that goal can be identified and sequenced. This is no different than my advice to business owners which is the goal that you want to achieve three months or twelve months from now is achieved by what you do each day and each week. We set the goal, we define the steps, we measure actual vs. plan and act on the variances. That’s it.

When you do this kind of work, you learn a lot about the person and their support structure. This is true for a business and for a celebrity. It is natural to want to share this information with others and particularly those close to you. You cannot. The two attributes that are most important when working with anyone are credibility and trust. Your credibility comes from the value you are adding now and not from anything you have done prior. Trust is gained by respecting those areas of the lives of the people you are working with that need to remain private. If they choose to become more transparent with anything that is their call. So it is with my celebrity client. If ever my role is disclosed, it won’t be coming from me.

Sending all my readers the energy of vibrant health, happiness and prosperity.

Steve
http://irconsultinginc.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies and their employees to achieve their highest potential. Many of Steve’s business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and his prosperity building tool is The Prosperity Tool Chest

Email Steve or call him directly at 727-587-7871

More Website Traffic…Source Great Website Content…This Is Make More Money Monday

If you follow my blog and I can’t imagine anyone who doesn’t 🙂 you know I am a major fan of Stephen Pierce and his DTalpha Blog. You may also know that every Monday Stephen provides extraordinary value with recommendations that will help your business. This Monday is no different. You do not want to miss today’s podcast.

I am not going to disclose the details except to say in the first 5 minutes of his podcast he will disclose three powerful resources for your business and of course they are all free. My comment on this week’s post is in the number 6 position. My comment is repeated here for your convenience and if you hurry you may still be able to get Stephen’s amazing offer to the first 100 who listen.

Mr. Pierce – you absolutely rock. The tools this week are particularly powerful. I have an appreciation for what it takes to publish a 23 minute podcast and you certainly are very generous with your time and expertise even more so with a cold. By the way if you use Thieves at the first sign of weakness, you have a great chance to avoid that condition. See http://www.getoiled.com In fact I am happy to send you some and will ask support when they call how I can get it to you. You have been so generous it is the least I can do.

Love your offer. I have sent you the email Your readers may like a tool I developed for myself at http:/www.prosperitytoolchest.com

Stephen thank you and may you and your family be well and prosperous.

Steve
http://irconsultinginc.com

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies and their employees to achieve their highest potential. Many of Steve’s business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and his prosperity building tool is The Prosperity Tool Chest

6 Steps To Building Community: Steve Pohlit Reports on This Article

(The following excerpt is from an article posted on Imedia.com and my comment was written to offer guidance to those still questioning the value of communities or wondering how to participate. Steve Pohlit)

Jim Lynch Writes For Imedia:

The secret — the message is more important than the mechanics
There are many new and old media tools that you can use to manage your community. No doubt, these tools are important. But remember, it’s the message that attracts, nurtures and grows your membership. It?s the message that will ultimately enable you to realize the business value of a B2C or B2B community. Your message needs to be targeted, relevant, interesting, differentiating and compelling for your audience.

Communities are an exciting new way for businesses to connect with their markets. You can build your own or plug into influential communities of people with a vested interest in your success. Don’t wait to get started. Learn as you go and refine your strategy based on what you learn. This is a great opportunity for marketing professionals to deliver new breakthrough programs.

Steve Reports:

Excellent Jim – you have clearly articulated the essential elements of facilitating a community and building a relationship with the community. I appreciate the examples of Dove and Oracle in your article.

I think for smaller companies and entrepreneurs, they may be wondering how to best develop the value of a community. My current thinking is to research the social networks with relevant members like Facebook, LInkedIn and MySpace and build your network. Also join relevant groups and start your own group. At http://www.actionplantracker.com there is free guide for Facebook and the steps are easily adaptable to other social networks.

Most people do not appreciate the significance of your message but a growing number of business leaders are beginning to include transparency within a relevant community as a priority on their list of business development initiatives.

Again my compliments on an an outstanding article and message.

Be well and wishing you continued success,

Steve
http://www.stevereports.com