Secrets of Success - 10 Strategies To Become Successful This Year

by Markus Allen
 
I've invested most of my adult life failing at business. But at the same time, I've carefully monitored the success strategies for small businesses. The most successful businesspeople I've watched share most of the following strategies:
 
Turn off the spin
That includes everything from the television news to your local newspaper. The media is nothing more than our government-sponsored propaganda machine -- paid to keep you in the dark about the really important stuff. They hypnotize us (literally and figuratively) with terror, fear, and distractions (like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears) to keep us off the more important topics like how the US-led military has killed more than one million innocent Iraqis.
 
Mingle with successes
They say you earn the average income of your 5 closest friends. Are you hanging out with highly successful people?
 
Hocus Pocus Focus
There really are magical qualities of staying focused. It's much more profitable than procrastinating and putting things off. When you commit to getting things done, success comes to you much faster. One of my absolute favorite books is called, "Getting Things Done" -- it literally turned me from a distracted mess into a focused machine in less than 72 hours.
 
Just say no
Speaking of distractions, think about all of the time you waste talking on the phone, answering emails, and chit chatting. The most successful people refuse to answer their own phones... they check their email just once or twice per day, and chit chat only when all of their work is complete.
 
Say goodbye to unnecessary expenses
Think about all of the things you pay for on a monthly basis, and see if you can eliminate them.
 
For example, do you really need an expensive cell phone? I got rid of mine years ago -- saving me almost $40 a month (and most important, saving me from wasting time chit chatting).
 
Speaking of the phone, I use Skype to make most of my long distance calls... this voice-over-IP phone technology is amazing... the calls are free when I talk to other Skype users (and just a few pennies per minute otherwise). Skype is a lot more affordable than paying for expensive long distance service.
 
How about your office space? Can you work from home instead? I made the switch in 2000 and it was the best move ever. I've reduced my overhead to just a few hundred dollars a month (and that includes hosting my website). I hardly use my car (just under 5,000 miles this year), and I don't fret about the high cost of gas (because I hardly travel anymore).
 
Increase your heart rate
When I'm feeling sluggish and need a quick jolt of energy, I skip the caffeine and start a light exercise routine. I jump rope, stretch, and do bicycle kicks daily. I also bring my infant son for a 85-minute powerwalk just after dropping my other son off at the bus stop. You'd be amazed how much energy you get just after your exercise routine.
 
Embrace Group Brainstorming
Commit yourself to find other passionate businesspeople to swap marketing ideas with.
 
If you're concerned about sharing your ideas with others in a mastermind group, don't fret -- you're going to get a lot more in return working as a group than going about it all by yourself.
 
Outsource the ugly stuff
Sites like ScriptLance.com and eLance.com give you an almost-instant pool of people to delegate the work you hate to do -- usually for much less than doing it all yourself.
 
Skip the gurus
One of the absolute biggest mistakes I've made over the years was to listen to the advice of self-proclaimed gurus and experts.
 
When I was young and naive, I'd idolize those promising the fast path to instant internet riches. I read their home study courses word for word. And I joined every mailing list.
 
But guess what... either I did something wrong or they gave us most of us bad advice because I never made it big like they promised. Not even close. (And I'm a "doer"... so I can't be blamed with the lack of effort.)
 
Today, I'm pretty sure they too lied to us, because there are lots of people who have ordered these programs and have yet to produce their very first affiliate commission check or sell their very first product or service.
 
While there might be exceptions to the rule, I find that most gurus are really great at hyping us with livin' the good life, but fail miserably at delivering the "what to do" and "how to do it."
 
Mentor with secret successes
Unlike gurus, those who are really successful seem to hide under the radar and keep to themselves.
 
And sometimes, out of nowhere, these quiet successes rise to the surface and desperately want to reveal how they really became successful.
 
They're beyond successful. They have virtually everything you'd want to buy. But there's one thing missing... they would like to leave behind the legacy as a recording.
 
I interview these virtually anonymous people, record our conversations, and offer the audios and transcripts on my private, member's only website.
 
Unlike the gurus, these success aren't going to promise to make you rich. Instead, they just get tremendous satisfaction out of helping you make your first sale... showing you how to avoid the mistakes and helping you get to the next level of growing your business.
 
My final tip is more of a warning:
 
Watch out for the price of success
My advice is to invest the same amount of time choosing your friends as you do choosing your business plan, because success does come with a price.
 
Some of your friends and family will turn on you. They'll expect you to loan them money and bail them out through tough financial binds -- somehow thinking they've earned the right for you to be their sugar daddy.
 
Your success is guaranteed to threaten their egos as you easily afford groceries while they struggle to pay for gas.
 
The people who treat you differently because of the size of your bank account are probably not the people who deserve your friendship.
 
And your "friend problems" are going to get a lot worse when you're doing well over the internet... because in the back of their mind, they're upset that you're "making all of that money for so little work."
 
About the author:
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