As an entrepreneur, you and I know that the most precious resource we have is time. Everyone has the same amount of hours everyday with tons of things to do.

Yes, you can hire assistants and outsource tasks. However, there is one thing that you cannot have someone else do: Learning.

I shared in one of my blog posts – The Master Key To Growing Your Business Consistently – that successful entrepreneurs are ultimately lifetime students. They continually increase their skills and knowledge, and even branch out to new ones along the way.

As a marketer, I regularly follow the latest trends and strategies so I can apply them to my business. If you are a solo internet marketer, I understand when you feel overwhelmed, or even overloaded, with all the good information out there. It seems like they never stop coming out with new materials that you just can’t ignore if you don’t want to be left behind.

I am now a full time marketer with a team of assistants and an arsenal of automation tools helping me with my marketing campaigns. There are some areas that I myself still do but now I can set aside more time for learning.

Then I come to another problem. I like ebooks, reports and PDFs since I can set the pace and read them quickly. However, more and more courses are now in the form of videos. Well, videos are great because I can watch exactly what is being taught, step by step. But some videos can take from 10 minutes up to 3 hours! I sometimes still feel like my precious time is being stolen from me when I sit down to watch them.

But cheer up, my friend!

A few months ago, I found a solution. It is a software that will speed up the video playback without sounding high pitched like a chipmunk. The software is called MySpeed from Enounce.

MySpeed will play any online videos, including YouTube, with half the speed (for taking notes) and all the way to 5 times the speed (for saving time). This is one of my most important software I have in my computer.

Most instructors on the videos that I watch speak slower than normal because they are recording the screen at the same time. This is when I can cut my learning time using MySpeed.

If you set it to 1.5 times, a 60-minute video will take 40 minutes, and a 120-minute video will take only 80 minutes. Now if you set it to 2 times, 1 hour will only take half, and a 2-hour video can be learned in 1 hour only!

I highly recommend Enounce MySpeed. If you are interested in getting one for yourself, use this coupon code: REAPERSNET20 to get a 20% discount. You most likely will not find any valid coupon when you do a Google search.

I hope I’ve helped you save time today and for the future. Please comment, subscribe to my RSS feed, or share this post within your social circles.

Appreciate you,

Steven Winata

Traffic Geyser is no doubt one of the most used content distribution tools for online marketers. It has attracted such veteran marketers as Frank Kern, Bill Glazer, and Tony Robbins.

If you have been marketing on the internet for a while, you know that traffic is the lifeblood of your business. No traffic, no sales, no business.

The way to get traffic is have content all over the web linking back to your site. Those links serve two purposes: bringing real people back to the website and building its popularity which will increase its position on the search engines.

Many know Traffic Geyser as only the video marketing tool created by Mike Koenigs. But Traffic Geyser has grown and added an article distribution feature as well as mobile text messaging and postcard mailing. Their training videos cover many internet marketing tips and strategies.

I personally like Traffic Geyser for its friendly interface and submission speed. It was responsible for bringing one of my YouTube videos to the #1 position for the keyword phrase “the easiest home based business” out of over 8.8 million pages.

Traffic Geyser was closed to new members a while ago but has just now been re-opened. The best thing about this opportunity is that new members can test drive Traffic Geyser for only $1.

That’s right. A dollar will give you 21 days to try Traffic Geyser and see how this tool can help you get more traffic with less efforts.

On top of the trial, you will get these 4 FREE videos (click the picture below to learn more):

The majority of my current team members are newcomers in the network marketing industry, which provides me with challenges as well as advantages.

The main advantage is that they are widely receptive with the training. But the main challenge is to first train them on how to have the right mindset.

I remember my first three years in this industry. Excited with the opportunity. Exhausted my warm market list as fast as humanly possible. Running back and forth to the hotel meetings. Giving away DVD’s. All those must-do actions that are ‘required’ if I would want to have success.

Though I didn’t see quite the results I expected, I had worked hard while juggling with other responsibilities that I couldn’t neglect.

Now, among the first things I ask my new team members is this question: Do you see the opportunity as a business or a hobby?

A hobby is something you like to do when you have spare time or when you are in the mood. A business, on the other hand, is something you must do regardless if you have time or you feel like doing it. Which one is yours?

Both hobby and business need money to be spent on materials, tools, and education. However, there is one major difference. You gain satisfaction and fulfillment from your hobby by SPENDING money on it without expecting any monetary return while you do so from your business by INVESTING money on it and expecting to make monetary profits. Which one is yours?

For your business to be successful, you need a plan, commitment, discipline, and consistency. I don’t think your hobby requires as much.

If you can establish your position by honestly answering the title question before you even begin working on your business, you will save yourself from wasting precious time and resources.

I’d appreciate your comment. If you think this article is useful, please share it with your friends and team members. Follow my posts by subscribing to my blog feed, mailing list, or social circles.

To Your Massive Success,

Steven Winata

What are the buzz words in the business arena these days?

Yep! “Social Media” it is!

I happen to be a founding member of a new business networking group here in San Francisco Bay Area. And the #1 topic on the survey that these business owners want to know more is…

“How To Use Social Media To Bring In More Sales”

And they are local and traditional businesses but they are catching up.

As you may already know, I am a hardcore networker and I use social media a lot as one of my main tools to attract leads and sponsor more reps. But as you can guess, I see a huge opportunity in helping these business owners get on the social media train.

Even my casual talk with them about Facebook and Twitter made their eyes wide open and almost instantly put me as THE social media expert. I am pretty sure you know about attraction marketing, right?

Once I was the “expert” they LISTENED.

In fact, I was offered to be the speaker for our next meeting, speaking about the very topic.

Now, let me tell you a little secret.

The night before the previous meeting, I kind of quickly went through this new course called Let’s Get Social by Kate Buck Jr. about selling social media management services to local business owners.

Armed with these powerful knowledge in addition to what I already know works, I felt so much confident in talking to them. And that’s the key – Confidence – and people can see whether you have it… or not!

So if you want to know how this girl made thousands from her iPhone, check it out and listen to her story.

You may be involved mainly in network marketing but there’s nothing wrong in making another stream of income by helping local business owners in your area with their social media marketing (…and you may eventually build trust and, who knows, sponsor some of them into your business).

If you’re currently working as an MLM marketer and are frustrated with the number of rejections and declines from customers you’ve approached in the past, perhaps it’s time to focus on a different method of marketing products online.

In reality, many marketers have experienced the exact same thing you’re going through because the traditional way of selling a product online just doesn’t work as well anymore.

This method involved approaching a potential customer who you don’t know and vice versa.  You start marketing your product, sharing information while appealing to him to buy your product or to join your MLM marketing business.  You do this by offering a business opportunity to him, something that you don’t encounter everyday.

But because the customer has no idea who you are and has heard of all kinds of scams and set ups when it comes to MLM marketing, they turn down your offer and move on with life.

Because of the high percentage of failure and rejection with this kind of MLM marketing method, many people have turned to what is known as attraction marketing.

Attraction marketing basically means attracting customers to you instead of running after them in order to make a sale.

You create a brand name for your product, spread your name as the seller of the product, and eventually get customers to come to you to inquire about it.  This involves creating leads that will spark interest in your customers and get them to come to you.  Many marketers who adopted attraction marketing are able to work better, more effectively, and of course without having to do so much just to be able to make a sale.

Just imagine the life of a celebrity when understanding this type of marketing method.  A celebrity doesn’t have to approach a stranger just to get them to enjoy his movies or his music.  In fact, because of his exposure to the public, his appearance in movies, and the fact that his music is being played on the radio and on television, people know who he is and what he does.  Fans would run after him instead of the other way around to get his autograph, buy his movies, music, and merchandise, and attend his shows and concerts.

This is the kind of marketing that you should use to be able to generate thousands of dollars in income without having to deal with too much rejection.  By using an automated lead generation system, you can create your own leads and use them to direct customers to your website, your product, and most of all to yourself.

Get your free access to the best automated MLM lead generation system in the industry today.

To Your Massive Success,

Steven Winata

When you’re driving and you see the traffic light turns red, what do you do? You go into the DMV handbook and find out what red light means, right? Too late!

We live our daily life driven by something on the inside of us, something deeper than just our thoughts. It’s called our belief system.

Your beliefs produce your thoughts which then produce your actions. Your consistent actions produce your habits.

Your habits determine your success or failure.

You may have watched in the news that some people can commit certain acts or behave in a certain way which to us seem outrageous. However, you’re only seeing the fruits. And the fruits get their ideas all the way from the root, the belief system.

Our Creator made us good in His eyes. He designed us with such a complex system of spirit, free will, intelligence, emotions, and physical body. We were created with the capacity to live good and godly principles so everyone could have a good life.

How?

By planting the right principles into our belief system which is part of our spirit. Yet, what is good can be misused and abused, for example, in this case, what you often read and watch in the news.

You may have failed in many areas or met dead-ends in many things that you try to accomplish. And you wonder why. You try so hard to change what you do. You try to think in a different way and end up with the same actions.

Is it hopeless?

Were you made this way and there is no chance you can achieve what you dream of? Absolutely not!

The key is, you guess it, changing your belief system, uprooting the old one and planting a new one. The problem is, you can’t just tell the old system to go away. I wish it would be that easy.

There’s only 2 ways to replace your belief system.

Intensely emotional experience: This method acts much like a shock therapy. It can work well with positive experiences. Too bad the opposite is also true. Children, whose belief system is still in formation, can grow healthy and mature, or wounded and scarred, depending on the strongest experiences they have and remember for the rest of their life.

Constant reminder or repetition: This method acts slowly but surely. Try exposing yourself for a while to musical lyrics which talk about disrespect or murdering people for no reason, and watch in awe how your behavior follows what you have repeatedly heard or seen. On the other hand, remind yourself all the time of your dreams, your goals, and most importantly, the principles by which you want to live, let it be planted deep inside and watch how your life prospers.

In closing, you only have one shot in this life. Make it count, and live it with the right principles. And there’s no better source from which you can learn than the Word of your Creator. He knows what’s right for you because He made you.

So, even when you’re talking with your friends while driving and the light turns red, you don’t have to tell your foot to step on the brake, it should already be planted in you, I hope.

I’d appreciate if you take time to comment and share your testimonials. Like this post? Please subscribe to my blog, re-tweet, or share on Facebook.

Roses! Chocolate! Cards!

These are the stuff we can give to our spouse, lover, kids, friends, even stranger, to show our token of love and affection. Thank God that we still have the ability to love despite the ever increasing hatred, resentment, and selfishness in the world we live in.

Yet, more than just stuff, we need to walk in love every single day. We’re busy, we’re overwhelmed, we’re burnt out, yet when we regularly give love, we will receive love. And that really helps in defusing any tension we are going through.

The best place to start is our own family.

In our busyness (or business), we tend to go overdrive and make sure our daily to-do list is being completed. We strive to achieve bigger and better results yet sometimes at the expense of the most important thing and the very reason we do our best to succeed in business in the first place: our loved ones.

So, start today!

Here are some simple suggestions:

1. Set aside a special, uninterrupted time for you and your spouse or partner every other week, or even weekly. Have a good dinner or watch a movie at the theater.
2. Take your family and drive to an outdoor setting with lots of green and water. Beach, mountain, lakeside or countryside are good places to go. Don’t travel too far. Find a place one or two hours drive from your home.
3. Play sports, board games or family oriented video games with your kids. You don’t realize how they will appreciate even two or three rounds spent just with them. No phone calls.
4. Find some projects around the house where everybody has their own part to complete. Have a reward for everyone at the end of the day.
5. Have a memorable conversation with one family member at a time. Take one of your kids today, go to Starbucks, and just talk.
6. Mail a card to your spouse’s work place to surprise him or her. Or, better yet, make a simple video card (like the one below) and email it to them or tag it to their Facebook profile.

What are some of the things you do in your own family? Leave a comment (or two). I’d love hear it.

Enjoy your day!

P.S. To make your own video greeting card, try Animoto.com. Use this special Animoto referral code: ikpbztys when asked.

If you have been in the network marketing industry for a while, you would likely have heard of the industry legend and top trainer, Mike Dillard.

Back in 2006, he exposed the rest of the MLM world to one of the closely guarded secrets that elite top earners have used to make 6 and 7 figure income and build a giant organization, through his eye-opening course called Magnetic Sponsoring.

In the course, Dillard talked about the concept of attraction marketing. The reason why only 3% in the industry ever achieve and enjoy the financial freedom every network marketer dreams of is because they know how to position themselves as leaders and attract followers, even fans, who will look up to them.

Dillard called them the “Alpha networkers.”

The Alphas are considered the everyday people you will meet in many places, who exhibit the quality and expertise many people look for. They include your professor, pastor, and popular pals. The celebrities and rock stars are supposed to be on the list as well… perhaps.

Now, here’s my thought.

Although Dillard is right to a certain point in terms of increasing your knowledge base in order to attract others, the critical element of character building and seasoning is still missing in this and many of the similar personal development courses. And this element can only be achieved by practicing the right principles and wisdom, making the right choices as many times as possible, and overcoming any obstacles in life.

Knowledge alone will bring people to unstable places and inflated intellectualness. The real Alpha comes out as a result of victorious battles against personal issues, challenges, and shortcomings. It takes courage and a never give up attitude to confront yourself and prove that the principles you have learned are true. Out of those personal experiences, you can then turn and help others overcome their similar issues.

Although, as someone said, people are like sheep, they are, however, not stupid. They can see if you are a real Alpha who radiate confidence and maturity, or you only look like an Alpha when you don’t really have anything you can share but information.

The Internet is a great tool to leverage your time and efforts in helping and training your MLM organization. But remember it will not substitute for the seasons where the Alpha has already consistently practiced what he or she preaches.

Do all of us a favor. Be real, be reliable, be trustworthy, and watch how, through your leadership, our industry will become a magnet to those who have not had their eyes open to see the brilliance of network marketing.

Are you an alpha?

When it comes to building credibility and personal branding through online social media, you have to consider the immediate as well as long term effect of putting yourself out there for public viewing.

Why?

You’re one post away from making or breaking your marketing efforts. Every tweet, status update, picture or video will either enhance or lower your brand. Thus, you should be mindful in posting what you want others to see.

If you have been an online marketer for a while, I’m sure you’d agree that you should automate and outsource many of your marketing campaigns as needed. You can hire writers, spin articles, use autoposters, or even pay someone to do your PPC campaigns.

However, in my opinion, social media need to be personally taken charge due to its viral nature. Even when you use software or feeders to post updates, you have to make sure they will only post content that you would have approved if you would post it yourself.

I see some of my Facebook friends who have status updates every hour that contain quotes from well-known authors or speakers. I don’t see the point of doing that other than to always be on the front of the news or live feed of their friends. Even with that, I have no problem with it as they post positive and inspirational remarks.

The sad thing is when I saw a few updates that said something racy and inappropriate when credibility and personal branding are at stake. I am sure that marketer friend of mine would not want to post those updates if she would do it manually.

I use several RSS feeds for Twitter myself and I carefully choose the bloggers and news sites that I know will only post useful quality content since otherwise they will risk their reputation. One of them is Seth Godin. Even then, I choose not to ping every tweet to my Facebook and other social media as to not overload my friends and followers with redundant updates.

Friends request is another effort that I choose to take on myself. It gives me the opportunity to make real connections and build a base of loyal followers. I used to outsource this but then, what’s the point of social networking?

Let me know what you think whether you should or should not automate your online social networking.

There were a series of videos made for T-Mobile promotion on Youtube just a few months ago. They were groundbreaking and hilarious which most likely qualified them as viral marketing tools. I personally enjoyed them.

Today I just found another company that used a similar approach in which they lined up their representatives to do a group dance. As a result, they stole the attention of the passers by and helped create curiosity among the crowd.