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

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

So many marketers have watched their multiple YouTube channels get suspended or removed during the recent YouTube slap – channels that have thousands of subscribers and millions of views and built over the past few years.

No wonder since it belongs to the big G.

If you are fortunate enough to still keep your channel, here are the basic guidelines to remember:

1. Provide value and build your online presence or brand
2. No more automated software
3. No more spammy videos
4. No more friend stealers (eg. TubeBlasterPro)
5. No buying views (a big no-no)
6. Only 1 account with 1 email address

Does it mean you can no longer use YouTube to promote your business? Of course not.

The recent slap is actually helping marketers to clean up and play by the rules. Nobody like spam in any form including videos.

However, there are ways to better promote you and your MLM (or any other business) with YouTube. Here’s an example:

The key is to be content-oriented and give value as you offer your expertise and invitation to contact you. Build your channel with enough value and training-oriented videos and your visitors will appreciate it and the YouTube reviewing team will leave you alone.

Or should I say, “Why would someone sign up with YOU?”

It is an old wisdom that always rings true: People do business with people they know, like, and trust.

Here are 4 quick points you need to demonstrate to your prospects in order to stand out from others who have tried to sell them business opportunities:

• Relatability – They need to like you and feel connected with you
• Trust – Do you sound like a salesperson or coach/consultant?
• Respect/leadership – Do you offer sincere help and know what you’re talking about? Leadership is servanthood at its heart.
• Support/training – Can you provide them with a duplicable system/model they can plug into right off the bat?

Attraction marketing is nothing new. You position and brand yourself by providing value and solutions to the real needs of your target market, rather than promoting.

This is true not only for new school network marketing but also business in general. Contact me to learn how to be perceived as an expert and you will find prospects lining at your door and asking you for advice.

Many network marketing companies come and go in a few short years. How can you be sure that the company you partner with will not let you down?

Here is my 8-point characteristic test that you can use to identify the right MLM companies that you can explore further on.

This will help you avoid choosing the companies that will destroy your hard work and income source in the long run.

1. Sub-industry
2. Track record
3. Management team
4. Products and services
5. Compensation plan
6. Training and mentoring
7. Future expansion
8. Endorsement

I explain all points in detail in my “Network Marketing Simplified” special report.

I understand that you may have a hard time finding just the perfect company that will pass all the characteristic test I shared above. On the other hand, however, you may want to take your time and do your due diligence in finding the company that you’ll be comfortable partnering with. If you do, you will less likely regret it and can go full force without any reservation.

A successful business is always associated with its founders or owners – how well they have prepared for launching and how they grow the business consistently.

The secret?

They continue to learn of, adapt to, and even anticipate new changes. They continually increase their own knowledge and their skills, and develop new ones along the way. They are ultimately lifetime students.

Regardless of the kind of business you do, there are 2 most important skill sets you must have in order to compete and win in the marketplace.

Communication. You can do no business if you don’t know how to properly communicate yourself and your ideas. Learn how to express different thoughts to different groups of people. Learn how to ask the right questions in order to get the right information. Learn how to use different media to broadcast your company, products and services.

Leadership. As smart and talented as you are, you can only do so much by yourself. You will need other people to help you or work with you if you want to take your business to the next level. It takes a mature character to be able to lead effectively. You must learn how to treat your workers and partners well, how to encourage strong work ethics, and how to properly delegate others according to their own expertise.

If you can master these two skills, you will always be able to tackle every challenge that comes your way. The most successful entrepreneurs are not always the ones with graduate degrees and tons of certificates. Go back to history and learn about Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, and Michael Dell. They are business leaders who know how to communicate their ideas and find the right people to run with them.

Yes, you need to know in general about accounting, technology, and other specialized areas. However, you can always find good people to work on them while you focus on growing your business and leading your team.

Next, we’ll talk about goals.