“Have you heard the phrase fake it until you make it? It’s something which is increasingly common among business owners, especially on the internet or in direct mail. The basic idea is someone sells you a program or course teaching you how they made millions- only they haven’t yet made the millions, they hope to do so by selling thousands of copies of the course they sold you. They were lying about being rich to begin with, but if all goes to plan they’ll get rich in the end. Odd huh? These tactics are on the rise, so we’re going to try and explode some of the myths in this area.

What’s The Point?

What is the point of this kind of business? After all would you take flying lessons from someone who couldn’t fly a plane? In one word, the point is laziness! The “fake it until you make it” guys are typically internet or direct marketers who are possibly new to the whole thing, or just the more experienced kind that are plain lazy. They find a web page or direct mail ad that is very convincing, promising millions of dollars just by following these few simple steps, working just a few hours each day from home. Is there anyone that wouldn’t want that lifestyle?

So they part with their money, and are sent a course explaining how to set up a very similar website, selling an almost identical product. They will make money if they can make some sales from this site, the end result hopefully being that they make enough money to take care of the “make it” part. And then the cycle repeats and repeats, until there are thousands of people selling products, making a few hundred dollars, but claiming to make millions from it on their web pages. A truly strange phenomena, but somewhat of a self fulfilling prophecy.

The Legal Standpoint

Is it legal for advertisers to work on a “fake it until you make it” basis? I don’t know what the FTA would make of it, but I would guess it’s some kind of grey area, as it’s very difficult to prove how much anyone is or isn’t earning from their website. Most often they will provide screenshots of proof of earnings etc on the sites that they sell their courses from. They can look pretty convincing, but these days it’s pretty easy to swipe such images from another site, or just create them yourself with Photoshop or some similar program.

Do Any Of Them Make it?

Very few if any. You can make millions from the internet and other direct marketing methods, but it takes consistent effort and skills that are built up over time. If the “fake it until you make it” guys are too lazy to find their own manner of working and too dishonest to be bothered about telling lies, the chances are most of them are not going to apply the consistent efforts required to learn the ropes or make any money at all. Those new to internet marketing are pretty susceptible to these schemes, and many people do start there before getting their own (better) ideas and becoming successful doing something else.

Is It On The Increase?

Yes, unfortunately so. Modern web technology makes it possible for complete amateurs to create or acquire tremendously impressive websites, sites which can really snare and captivate a viewer. The casual web browser has no way of knowing how old the site is or if the proof of incomes are real or fake or even just stolen from another site. The only remedy is to be extra vigilant.

How To Tell?

It’s very tough to tell if any person is being honest about the claims of their product. Thankfully there are a few tricks we can keep up our sleeve.
Visit whois.net – This site will give you details of any website, the name of the owner, when it was first registered etc etc. Very useful, as it’s unlikely that a website registered 6 weeks ago is making millions for its owner!
Visit Alexa.com – This site keeps traffic stats for virtually every page on the web. A profitable webpage will usually have hundreds or thousands of daily visitors, especially if the site is making the owner millions. It’s very easy to see if this is true by using the graphs here.
Google the site owner’s name. You can find out many useful things with a simple Google search, and if there are bad reports or reports of the site being a scam, you can usually find them with some smart searching.

Look for a guarantee – Many online payment processors, Clickbank.com for example, will have a guarantee, so that if you aren’t happy with your purchase you can get an instant refund.

Hopefully you’ve found this useful – Remember-If you avoid “faking it” you’ll have a better chance of “making it!”"

Dave Origano runs seven successful business, all doing at least 6 figures per year. Learn from this successful serial-entrepreneur how he does it, what marketing secrets he has and what strategies he uses at his website.

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Tags: personal, ethics, code, professional, social

As I was reading the Bible sometime this week my eyes fell on a verse that set my heart pumping hard. My lips went dry as I tried to ruminate over

what I had just read.
The words in Proverbs 18:9 were very clear in my mind:

“”He who is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.”"

(Slack means not willing to work/lazy/not work well/slothful)
These are the very words in the verse that I read. (My aim is not to preach here but to give you insights of how we should conduct ourselves at the workplace to maximize what we have worked for so hard).

The words hit me like a thunderbolt. Why? Well, I have been guilty of being slack in my work sometimes. I know you have too. The writing on the wall is clear: if you are lazy or slothful then there is no difference between you and a person who destroys or wastes.

The more we ‘encourage’ ourselves to be slack and lazy by camouflaging this stark reality in well-meaning words and clichés such as ‘relaxing’, ‘all work with no play makes Jack a dull boy’, and ‘entertainment’ then we’re distancing ourselves from the brass tacks of the game. Therefore, the first high wind that comes will destroy our ship. A ship that has, maybe, taken years of toil and moil to build.

People who are slack will generally find that they have so much time on their hands to do other things but the work they ought to plan for and do. They are time wasters. We must never forget that time is one of the most priceless things that all people possess in equal measure. What sets people apart is how they utilize the time they have.

How do you use your time? How do you use your working time? Do you steal time from your employer? (This gives laziness a ‘legal’ hold on us). Do you always give flimsy reasons for not achieving what is expected of you? If so, outline the reasons and try to find out why you give those reasons. You’ll be surprised at how some of these reasons are puerile.
Our vision is clear in our minds. We want to achieve a higher high and sharpen our unique ‘stocks-in-trade’. But we’ve got to set things in clear perspective before we think of anything else.

We should learn how to manage the time at our disposal and make sure that we measure work output against the backdrop of the time we’ve used to do it. This way we’ll curb time wastage and be on our way to better workplace performance.

As a bottomline, when work is a pleasure, life is a joy! When work is duty, life is slavery.

c. by Richard Mbuthia

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Tags: personal, work, ethic, examples, team

People will be attracted to you, be persuaded by you and willing to help you toward your ends, to do the things that you want them to do.

To be a person of high integrity, go the extra mile, do more than you have promised. If you an appointment, you are early for your appointment. You respect the other person’s time, you do not come late. That communicates your time is more important than theirs.

Which brings me to the other issue, some people might say, “But, if I have high esteem, I’m proud and really like myself, won’t I be arrogant?”

That’s not true, unless you think you are better than somebody else; that is what arrogance means. Arrogance says, “I am better than you.” True high self esteem means that you are excellent and the other person is excellent. You regard them as highly as you regard yourself. It is a win-the win situation.

We have been talking about going the extra mile, doing more than promised, being on time for appointments, respecting the other person’s time, making promises that you keep. If you really want to go the extra mile, what you should really do is under-promise and over-deliver. That is, promise less but give more than the person expects. That will amaze them, they will feel good about you and you will feel good about yourself.

You can feel good about yourself even when other people do not feel good about you, but it certainly helps and makes it easier when other people feel good about you too.

The person of integrity is always honest, which can be a challenge. I remember sometime ago I took my family on vacation to Travis City and on the way back we stopped at a nice restaurant. So we ordered a meal. When it came time to pay the bill, I discovered that I did not have my wallet. I realized I had locked it in the trunk, along with the key to the trunk. In those days there were two keys to the cars, an ignition key and a trunk key.

I explained my problem to the manager and he was understanding and gave me his address and I fully intended to mail him a check the very next day I got home. Well, I was surprised how I hesitated writing that check. I have to admit that I thought to myself, oh geez, he’s miles away, I will never see him again, I could use that extra money.

It took me about an hour of arguing with myself before I finally wrote the check and sent it to him. I soon felt good and felt proud, I know I will never see him again, but I realize that whatever you are doing, someone is watching. Someone is watching, I am not talking about God, although that might be true, but there is someone that we know is always watching everything you do – that person is you.

You have an observing part that evaluates and judges you. And you know, you know deep in your heart when you are doing the right thing. When you do the right thing, how proud you feel of yourself. And you know when you do the wrong thing, you might forget it and think that although you did something that was not quite right, you will get away with it. But I knew that if I did not pay that bill, that knowledge would be down in my brain, lurking, just beneath my conscious mind and I would not be feeling proud and good about myself.

You want to be able to hold your head up high, look people in the eye and you will communicate something to them on an unconscious basis perhaps, but they will know you are a person of integrity and quality. They will respect you, trust you, do business with you and you will accomplish more than you ever dreamed that you could.

Let me sum up. To have ultimate happiness, you must give yourself unconditional high self regard. Accept yourself no matter how many imperfections you have, no matter how many mistakes you make. In order to accept yourself totally, you have to do things that are not always easy, but things of which you can be proud.

Let me end by challenging you to always be a person of high integrity.

This is an important key to being a winner in life and business.

© 2004/2006 Stan Mann

Stan Mann, C.P.C. supports business owners, top executives and commission salespeople to substantially grow their business and have a balanced life. He is a Certified Professional Coach. For additional articles and resources please visit this site.

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If you have read my articles on how to personalise an executive gift you will have seen that there are many ways to achieve the perfect results.

In this article I want to explore further the options you have when choosing an engraved executive gift to give to your valued clients, suppliers or colleagues.

The most obvious way is to add the person’s initials; this makes the gift highly personal, and can show that you really have thought about them and the process.

As an example, imagine someone gave you or one of your friends some elegant cuff links that had been engraved with a company logo, you might imagine that apart from when the are visiting that particular company, they might not choose to wear what it clearly an advertisement on a normal day at the office.

Contrast that with the thought of a beautiful pair of silver plated cufflinks, with each one discreetly engraved with initials and the whole gift giving experience moves to a new level. The lucky recipient views the engraved executive gift as a highly personal gift, and one that will be treasured, and of course always remembered will be who and when gave them such a beautiful gift.

There are many times though when the gift needs more words than just simple initials, perhaps you are commemorating a product launch, an anniversary, or even a promotion or retirement, and as such elegant corporate gifts are perfect for awards or recognition gifts, and it is when the gift is for one of these purposes that it makes sense to try and add a longer message.

Most good online engraved executive gift stores will give you the option to usually select three lines of about 15 letters that can be engraved on the item where space allows, or if it is a smaller item, perhaps just one line.

Some online stores charge just a modest extra amount for engraving, so there is no need to worry about huge charges for making the gift perfect for your purpose, and the best sites will arrange for delivery to be made to you in as little as two or three days, saving you time and money.

Lets imagine that you have a company anniversary, and you want to give your top 25 clients an engraved executive gift as a lasting reminder of such a momentous occasion.

My recommendation is that you come up with a standard message for each one, but take the trouble to add their name to the product as well, making it personal to them, and reminding them at the same time how much you value the relationship.

A typical message might be ” Presented to (insert name) on the occasion of the 25 year anniversary of (insert your company name) on (insert the date)

Now, there are a few simple steps to make sure that when you have say selected an elegant silver plated and engraved item that is suitable for a 25th anniversary, you get as much goodwill as possible.

There is probably no bigger faux pas than having a spelling mistake of a name or company on any personalised gift, so please take your time to proof read the names and spellings, and always ask a colleague to double check what you are about to order.

When you receive the delivery, always check every single one and then if you have used one of the excellent gift sites that give you gift boxes, gift tags and gifts bags, you should hand write a simple but personal message to each person, add their name to the gift card envelope, and then staple or attach the card to the gift bag to make it easy to see who gets each gift.

Remember also that you do not need to select the same engraved executive gift for everyone, you can, if you use a good online engraved executive gift web site, choose a different gift for everyone.

Giving a well thought out personalised gift to a key client, an important supplier or a valued colleague is will make a huge positive impact on your relationship, so take your time and enjoy the process of selecting the perfect personalised gift.

Jo Varley is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ice London, the elegant gift brand that includes luxurious leather, silver plated and Swarovski crystal decorated items, the collection is available through retail stores, corporate gift distributors and online at Ice London.

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Tags:pr, personal, log, gift, company

Ten seconds is all it takes to make a first impression – whether it’s your personal presentation or the first contact a potential client or customer has with your business through the telephone, website or other communication collateral.

When they walk through their door – or you walk through theirs – your image is imprinted in the first moment.

Research has proven that 67% of first impressions are accurate. Your personal image tells the world who you are and where you are going. Your business image says the same. Every email, voicemail, and phone call you make creates first impressions that build your brand.

But it’s not just your logo or your business stationery that needs to look good. How you present yourself in person also says a lot about your brand. For many small business people or business entrepreneurs, you are your business and how your project yourself is vitally important to the success of your business.

How you shake hands, make eye contact, conduct yourself in social situations and the clothes you choose to wear contribute to your personal brand. Your image is like the weather. People notice when it’s extremely good or extremely bad. People shouldn’t judge us by our outward appearances but of course you know they will. First impressions can indicate to a potential client, your sense of style, ambition and self-confidence level.

Another measure of your success in dealing with people is due to personality.

Your voice, way of talking, body language and the way you develop relationships with your clients all count towards giving you a ‘manner’. Your personal manner speaks loudly to other people. You may need to do some self-analysis on your plus and minus personality traits before establishing a self-satisfying public image.

Sometimes things like aggravating speech habits, lack of good manners, sloppy dress or grooming can be your worst enemies.

Punctuality, your tone of voice, these are the things about you that speak loud and clear to others. Make sure that they’re working for you.

I’m sure you’ve seen many examples of people who have had too much to drink at the office party and regretted things done or said. Perhaps not such good personal PR for career progression.

Maybe that date who sounded so promising on the telephone really let you down when you met and saw how badly dressed and untidy they were.

I’m not suggesting you need to have a complete makeover and invest a fortune in new clothes – but it is those little things that people notice.

You’ve no doubt invested a lot of time, effort and money into setting up your own business and learning many new skills – why not invest some time and effort into yourself – you’re worth it!

* Business image – brand all letterhead, newsletters, email messages for a professional

* Personal image – establish a strong visual image – develop your own style and personal brand. Be aware of grooming and professional dress sense.

* Self image – get rid of bad habits, develop self-confidence and charm, walk tall and smile!

Sue Currie, the director of Shine Communications Consultancy and author of Apprentice to Business Ace – your inside-out guide to personal branding, is a business educator and speaker on personal branding through image and media. To learn more about how you can achieve recognition, enhance your image and shine, sign up for free monthly tips here

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Tag: pr, personal, business, gold, reputation