It’s tax time again and  if you’re a new Internet Marketer or
Home-Based Business person, there are some things you can begin to do
that will make next year’s reporting easier.

For the new entrepreneur, tax deductions and tax filing is a completely different world from their previous “job income” reporting.

The new Entrepreneurs must handle all the year’s income gathering themselves.
Plus, it is all up to the Entrepreneur to keep track of every expense they incur, so that possible deductions can be utilized.

I have a simple P&L ( Profit and Loss) PDF document that might help.
It’s a free download, so grab it and use it in your business.

Now let’s talk about a few deductions that you’ll need to keep
a very good record of for next year.
ALWAYS seek an accountant’s advice when looking for business deductions!

Some home-based business deductions I know of are:

• domain registration yearly fees
• hosting fees
• autoresponder fees
• a portion of your IP service fees (if included in your household use)
• business license fees
• corporation fees
• training and education fees (relative to your business)
• business phone, fax, and long-distance fees (related to your business use)
• home office deductions ( and possibly a portion of the utilities)
• advertising expenses
• business cards
• lead generation costs
• business equipment (computer, desk, office furniture and supplies)
• credit card interest on business expenses/purchases
• memberships and organizational fees (related to your business)
• travel (and 50% of business-related dining and entertainment)

There are more tax deductions for new Entrepreneurs and Home-Based Business Persons  than I mentioned  based upon the type of business
you have going, so it is a great idea to seek a reliable Certified Public Accountant for advice in the area of Internet and Home-based business deductions.

When tax time rolls around again next year, you’ll have less stress,
more  tax deductions going in your favor, and will have all the records to show how your business is operating.

There is a new  FREE-to-use keyword tool ( well, it’s new to me) from Microsoft Labs.

My friend PV Reymond showed me this today.

What it does is show you the commercial intent (customer purchasing intent) of the keyword you place into the tool.

The tool shows two levels of commercial intent—informational and transactional.

It can detect the customer’s intent to either locate information based on their keyword queries or  to purchase products based on that keyword search.

For example, if a customer searches for “marketing training”, it is likely that they want to purchase a training course; therefore, the online commercial intent is strong, with a confidence level larger than 0.5.

This tool can be used to find keywords that have good commercial intent but have low ad coverage.

From a Search Engine Marketing standpoint, it is useful to find these keywords as they have low bid density (low price), but high commercial value.

Look at it for yourself and see if this new keyword tool from Microsoft will be useful in determining the commercial intent of your keywords.

Here is the link to the tool:

http://adlab.microsoft.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/Default.aspx

For new Internet Entrepreneurs Internet Marketing Ethics is
somewhat of an oxymoron.

One of my students referred to the WWW–not as the World Wide Web–
but as the “Wild Wild Web“.
I had to agree to a point.

New marketers coming on the scene to attempt to generate
income are besieged by a confusing array of “truths”.

One expert says this is the truth, and the next expert has his own
idea of the truth which may differ somewhat from other experts.
Here’s the kicker—everybody’s an expert now days.
Doesn’t matter if they’ve been doing this for 10+ years,
or if they just came on the scene last month.

But that is not the real problem.
The real problem is how these truths are delivered to
the masses— those who are desperately seeking truth, any truth
that will solve the issues that they are facing.
The delivery of those truths are sometimes flawed, just going into
the “grey area” of ethics.

The new Internet Marketer comes aboard and adopts
what he/she thinks is the “proper strategy”, based upon how
that “truth” was shared with them and goes about operating a business.
This person, in turn, only spreads the growth of that grey area
on to others.

Stop for a moment and consider the fact that we all need income.
All of us.
How we arrive at that income could be by any means necessary.
Ethical or not—and we have all seen both sides of that coin right
here on the ‘Net.

How could you, today, evaluate your business operations
to note what is truly ethical, and what is touching that grey area?

It’s just a thought.

Do what is right.
Be honest and ethical.
Love your subscribers and they will learn to love you.
Help people–this isn’t totally about you–it’s about helping
others get what they need or want.
If  you’re doing something that doesn’t feel right, it’s probably not the
right thing to do.
Answer support emails.
Give refunds when asked.

Critique what you’ve learned in the past about business,
and how you’ve operated yours.
All of us could improve the way we treat others and how we run our
businesses.

Email marketing has changed over the years and this change opens
a big door to improving how you treat your list of subscribers.

I was reading Ron Barrett’s blog today, where he talked about
the email marketing situation as we see it today.
That got me to thinking, looking at the emails I get in my inbox,
and deciding to write this post.

It seems today that the modus operandi is to get the prospect
to sign up, hit him/her with a couple of one-time offers
right at the confirmation, then immediately start the selling process—
sometimes more than one mail per day.

I disagree with that tactic.

Your subscribers are people– just like you–with the same needs,
wants, interests, fears, concerns, worries.
They have bills, babies to feed, credit cards to pay off,
high rent and mortgages—just like you.
So do not  think its ethical and “OK” for you to climb to glorious
heights of financial success by going to the bank riding on their backs.

Just stop and think for a moment of how YOU would like to be treated
(I know you’re not being treated well  by your list owner, either)
What kind of emails do YOU like to see when you open your inbox?
What kind of mail makes you feel good?
What kind of mail helps you be motivated?
What kind of mail teaches you things that are helpful?

Well, Sparky, your subscribers like the same types of mails you do.

So don’t send them the ones like you get in your inbox.

We are now in an epoch of time where  person-to-person relationships
and building  those types of relationships will be the major success point
in any business venture.

That being true, then now is the time to improve the ways your utilize your
email/ezine strategies.

Some ideas:

Make them comfortable with being here.
take some time for the new subscriber to get comfortable with you…
after all, you’re a stranger to them at this point.  Get them comfortable with you.
They are looking to “find a match” and so are YOU.
So, help them make that match…and that match will be you.

Allow them to trust you.
Set up the mails in your follow up function of your autoresponder
to give time to build a trusting relationship.  10-12 mails should accomplish this, depending on how “warm” you are towards your subscribers.

Let them find out who you are.
In those first few emails, give your subscribers an idea of what you’re all about—
send them to your videos, podcasts, let them read a few of your articles
on your blog, articles you’ve distributed on the ‘Net.
Ask them to Google your name.
That let’s them know who you are, what you’re all about.

Be a friend.
After the relationship is established, they will be more open to making
a purchase decision about something you suggest.
Friends buy from friends first.
If you needed a new computer and your friend owned a computer store—
where would YOU buy your next computer?
See what I mean?

Survey your list.
this accomplishes 2 things:
it lets them know that you are interested in their opinions and feedback,
it lets you know exactly what’s on their minds.
Open a free account at RunPolls.com and create a survey or two.
Ask them what they need, what they are interested in,
what they want.
From their responses, either create the items, or go out and get some
affiliate links to things that will make them happy as per the survey.
You’ll make sales with that idea every time.

Ask for feedback.
Ask them directly to respond to you with questions, concerns, issues,
or any type of constructive feedback.
Set up a new email address if you have to, just to monitor their
queries.

Answer any query or feedback.
Don’t be like everyone else.
Answer your mails.  THAT alone will make you stand out.
Few do this today…so YOU should do it, and make a mark
for yourself.

Your subscribers are humans, treat them with dignity and respect.
Money will flow to you—without fail.

Now that you’re involved neck-deep in working on the Internet,  you probably have already seen what you’re up against.

There are over 200,000 sites out there, and all of them are immersed in making money in one form or another.

So, how to you possibly blend in–better yet–now do you make yourself stand out?

Good question…but if you think about it, not a tough one.

Just off the top of my old, hard head, here are 3 ways to outperform

your competitors—and stand out from them in the process:

1.  Don’t be such a copy-cat.

Sure, that wonderful opportunity you’re involved with has all the marketing materials you’ll ever need to make millions online.  Well, that’s what they say, anyway.  However, YOU are probably one of tens, hundreds of thousands using the same, identical material.  What on Earth would make anything you say any different from all the others saying the same thing?

Nothing.

We are in a new epoch with this Internet thing.  This new epoch calls for your being unique—different from the rest.  Be a little different, if only just a little, and you will separate yourself somewhat by doing just that.

Use different headlines, use different body copy in your promos.  You are intelligent…surely you can come up with your own personal views or opinion of the promo material.  Do it and stand out.  You will get noticed above the copy-cats.

By the way, use your own personal autoresponder to build your list—NOT the one that comes with that opportunity.  This will allow you to build your list separate from that opportunity.  You then can create your own messages–not some “canned” messages–and this will set you apart.  Plus, should you locate another opportunity, or decide to leave the one you’re in–you still have your personal list built with your own autorepsonder and will not have to start over with a whole new list.  Build it once, keep building it, and you’ll survive and prosper.

2.  Analyze what others in your business segment are doing—and do it a little differently.

Do a Google Search for your specific niche.  In the Google search box, type in “(your niche) +blogs”.  You’ll see how others are using their blogs in business.  Read their posts—what are they saying?, how are they saying it?  Do they over use banners?, do they over use other things?  how navigable is their site?  Are they “copy-cats”?

You can also Google search your niche  “+ articles”  to see what others in your field are writing and  analyze it the same way.

Using Google search for ” + ezines”, “+ videos”, and so on will give you an overall view of who is doing what, and also show you who your strongest competitor is.  It will also prove to you who is weak in the niche.

Sign up for your competitors newsletters, then analyze what you get in your inbox.  Can you write better emails to your subscribers?  Can you be more “relationship-oriented”?  Of course you can.  That one strategy will dynamically improve your overall business…just by being personal and building that great relationship.

3.  Work your business with dynamic intent, determination, and commitment.

Most people come online and start off with great intentions.  They get sidetracked, get frustrated, then at best only work it part-time thereafter–without the original “enthusiasm” that they began with.

Work it daily—market it everyday in every possible way.  Write a blog post every day, an article, do some research, watch a tutorial, visit a forum or two, post a few good comments as you go.  By doing something every day, you will out-distance many of your rivals.  I assure you, most of them are struggling to even do something on a part-time basis.

Don’t get discouraged and never, ever give up.  There is always someone or something that will provide the right idea, motivation, or feedback that will keep you on course.  If you give up….what will you be going back to?

You certainly do not want to take steps backward in anything—life, business, or finances.

Staying just one step ahead of your competitors will keep you in the running, and ahead of all those “also-ran’s “.

Have you heard about the new Wordpress Plugins that Ken Reno and Richard Wing have just released?

It’s called Commissions Automator, and it makes posts to your Wordpress blog, and your Twitter account, that contain YOUR affiliate ID, so you earn instant commissions, directly to your PayPal account.

The shocker is that instead of $67, they are letting BETA users get access right now for less than $5! I know, right?

Read More: Commissions Automator

The mind of the home-based or Internet businessperson is an awesome thing.
It works wonders—if it is just allowed to do so.

Therefore, we have to begin to “allow” it to do it’s job–the job it was originally intended to do…
and that is to think, to decide, to force logical and correct action.

But, as it is, our whole lives up to this point have been controlled/program so that we would be sweet little “react to situations/react to control stimuli” robots.

That gave us a ton of psychological “dents” that we have to overcome,
disallow their existence within our psyche.

In the past, I have had ALL of these “dents”.
I worked like a Spartan to get rid of them, and did–finally.

Take a peek at these and see if they are familiar within your own personal business thinking:

Believing in such a thing as “business luck.”

I learned a long time ago that hard work, logical strategies,working with feedback, and good planning created what others
call “luck”.  I think it was Ben Franklin who said,
“the harder I work, the luckier I become”.
Seems true to me.

Believing the past dictates the future.
That may hold water in some “non-self employed” circles, but certainly not in the home-based and Internet business
world.  In this realm, the past is the past.  We CREATE our future…just because we can.
When we start and begin to run our own business venture, we create a whole new Universe in which we think, live and act.  The Universe everyone else lives in is no longer the one we go home to.

Believing  your personal or business worth is a summary of what other people think of you.
Wrong.
I have a saying:  “if you’re not sleeping with me, contributing to the financials of my household, or one of my subscribers/students/customers…then I couldn’t care less what you think of me, or your opinions of me.”
I’m simple like that.
What people think of me outside those I just mentioned is a non-existent thing to me.
Maybe you should try that.  You won’t have a problem with rejection.

Not having a constant attitude of confidence, empathy, commitment, and resilience.
Those MUST be a constant in your attitudinal thinking, actions, and communication.
Take out any one of those from the big picture—and you will have a tough time with success.

Thinking more of making sales than of helping provide solutions.
Sure, you have to make a good living, but you don’t have to go to the bank on the backs of your subscribers and customers—all because you just want to make sales.
Find a need/problem.  Then find or create a solution to it.  Let them know you have the solution.
Offer the solution.  You don’t need to build a particle accelerator(flashy, hype-filled pages) or come off as a miracle worker to get any of that done.
Look for needs/problems…offer solutions…and you can’t help but make money at it.

Getting bent out of shape over some mistake you’ve made.
We’re humans, we do things like foul up every so often.
I do it, you’ll do it, everybody does.
Laugh about it, learn from it.  Then don’t do that same thing again.

If any of those look familiar,  or look like something that’s been rattling around in your mind, now at least you have identified them.
Once identified, they are simple enough to get rid of with a little re-thinking on your own.

I know how it goes–I hear it from my new students all the time.

Here’s a hypothetical view of what’s going on as new marketers try to get going:

Crank out the computer.
Check the emails.  Answer all your friend’s emails.  Then someone sees you’re online and wants to chat with you.  So, you chat for an hour. In the meantime, a dozen people sent you text messages you just have to answer.

Check your inbox again.  Now you begin to read all the promotional emails you see.  After all, you need to make a million dollars by the end of the month, right?
While reading these emails, you get so excited you wet your knickers.  Why? Because now you see yet a new opportunity that will make you rich by doing nothing.  You MUST get into this, so you check your bank and credit card balance quickly so you can get in on it.  After all, they’re “only letting a handful in on this $million secret program”.
This one won’t be like the last one you joined…this one will work!

Next, you join it, pay up, and get into their promotional/”training” materials.  You read the “here’s all you gotta do to get rich with this program” stuff and begin to follow their lead.  You begin to believe the mathematical probabilities without ever pulling out a calculator to verify their math ( chances are, even  Einstein couldn’t figure it out.)

You start marketing, using their prescribed training and marketing ideas.

3 weeks later,  you quit that program because it didn’t work, you repeat this whole process, but with a different program.

OR

same as the above but substituting in  the place of an opportunity– an expensive e-book, piece of software, or paid membership that was touted to create money miracles for you.

It shouldn’t have to be like that for you.

Here’s a different approach:

Crank out the computer.

Check your emails.  Ignore the ones from your friends…they can wait until you’ve finished working.
If they aren’t paying your bills, ignore their mails–business comes first.
Ignore the text messages.  They’ll be there when you get to them.
Turn off the TV, and get rid of anything that would distract you for a couple of hours or so.

Look at your inbox.  You will be able to tell from the mail headlines whether or not they are worth opening.
Delete everything with identical headlines.  They’re promo “buy me/join me” things…you don’t want that right now.
Look for mails that have pertinent info in them.  Read them quickly, determine if they are at all useful.

Now go to work.

If you’re in an opportunity, look for other, more beneficial ways to work it and market it.
The stuff they set you up with is useless…it was designed by their copywriters and the attorneys.
This stuff is not necessarily to get you successful, but to hook prospects without being legally damaging to the company.
Look at it.  Could you say it better?  Look at how they tell you to market.  Can you go into other, better ways in your marketing?  Remember, there may be tens of thousands of people in the same program you’re in…and they are ALL
using the same material.  Be different.  It certainly can’t hurt.

As for the expensive e-book, software, or membership…did you really commit to trying what was involved?  Did you ask for support and help?  Did you get support?

Spend a few minutes doing some research on one item you want to learn about.
Save the good links to the research on a notepad for future reference.
Try to do this every time you can.  Research is a great learning tool.  It will serve you well to go ahead and get accustomed to doing it now.  You will not regret it.
Keep notes of everything you learn.  Learn one little thing at a time. Then practice it.
Eventually, it will become second nature.

Set daily accomplishment goals.  This can be “learn this one thing”, “write an article”, “perform some marketing tasks”, or whatever you need it to be.
Make them do-able…anybody can set lofty goals, then complain when they aren’t reached.
Do-able is the key.  It’s all a process of accomplishing a long string of small things as you go.
From what is in your daily goals—WORK your business.

Before quitting for the day, make a “to-do” list for the next day.  With that, at least you’ll have an idea of what you intend to accomplish in that next work session.

On the last day of the week, sit down in a quiet place with a beverage and work out a detailed plan for every day’s activities for the next week.

The diary of an Internet Marketing Newbie should read like a well thought-out, step-by-step Battle Strategy.

It cannot be carried out with random-ness.

Starting up your own home-based or Internet business can be a little frustrating at times.
Most of those frustrations are birthed from trying something and it didn’t seem to work.
So, the Newbie looks at it as “I am a failure”.

Here’s a newsflash for you:
If you aren’t goofing up a little somewhere along the way, then you’re probably not working your business hard enough.

Honestly, those of us who have been  doing this Internet thing  a while ( and honest enough to admit it) will tell you that little failures along the way are normal.
Often laughable.
Just give it a good giggle,  then keep going.

So go ahead, admit it now…”I’m gonna goof up a few times, but it’s all good”.

See? That was easy wasn’t it?

The key is to acknowledge and understand the fact that this is business.
ANY Entrepreneur will tell you that things are not constantly “peachy”.
Even Buffet, Trump and Gates will admit to that.

The kicker is that you can use these little foul-ups to your overall and future advantage.

Think of it this way:  when is the best time to have failures, when you are just starting up, or after you’ve been at it for a long period of time…and then make mistakes?
And, mistakes are FAR less costly if you go ahead and make them now, than to  make them later when they are incredibly expensive to fix.

Here are some of my thoughts on going forward, knowing that little “boo-boos” are going to happen:

1.  Be Bold.  Be Fearless. Nobody’s gonna spank you, nobody’s gonna make you sit in the corner.
You are not a failure unless you think you are.  And don’t think you are a dunce just because somebody pokes at you when you goof up.  Honestly, if we put on dunce caps when we foul up, then 99% of the avatars and profile pictures you see online should have little dunce caps included with them…because we all crank out a foul-up every so often of some sort.  Don’t be “skeerd“…it ain’t no big thing.
2.  Failures are little “teaching-learning” opportunities.  See them for what they really are.
Just little adjustments in the course toward success.  Adjustments. Back when I was a helicopter pilot in my younger days, I learned that aircraft pilots are a little  off-course a lot of the time.
Pilots are constantly making little adjustments to their flight paths. Not mistakes…adjustments.
It’s simple like that.
Get it?
3.  Determine exactly what went wrong.  Can’t figure it out?  Ask someone for feedback.
I can guarantee you that thousands of others out there made the exact boo-boo that you just made.
Feedback from someone with experience will identify both the cause and give you some adjustment ideas.
Don’t be afraid to ask.  There are thousands of wonderful, helpful, caring people out there who would be happy
to give you some feedback.
4.  Make a quick rebound.  Don’t waste time.  Go back at it and work at it from a different angle (after identifying the cause and solution).
5.  NEVER let it bug you. It’s really a normal thing that happens to everyone—new business people and experienced alike.
Laugh about it.  Poke a little fun at yourself.  I’ve been doing this online thing for 16 years and I have a good giggle at myself on occasion.

So, lighten up, Pilgrim.
This Internet Business thing can be fun.

When it comes down to the real challenge of whether or not you can make it as an Internet Marketer in your own home-based business, there are 2 essential “confidence” components:

What you tell yourself….and what you truly, really believe.

If you were to think of it like a simple math problem:
What you tell yourself about your day-to-day success
+
What you honestly, deep-down believe you can achieve
=
What the real outcome will be eventually.

The idea is to keep things on a positive note—not Pollyann-ish, but positive in a “this is reality” setting.

I’ve worked with some of my students in this area and we have found that implementing some confidence structure helps to overcome the “doubt syndrome”.

By reciting or thinking some pointed thoughts, things change from expectation to reality.
Examples of the 3 Thought Shifts we use are:
1.  No one has the power to rescue me from this financial/economical situation–but me!
If things are to be better for me, then it is ME who will make it happen.
2.  I have a choice in making the future for myself, rather than allow someone or something to do it for me.
It is wrong for me to just stand by and accept other people decisions that influence my situation.  I must make my own path.
3.  I am responsible and mentally/intellectually take up the responsibility for all the areas I need to pursue to make this happen.

A few days of that thinking usually gets the mind accepting the reins, and to begin making proper and accurate decisions.
As that occurs, confidence in what you’re doing improves dramatically.

Should negative or doubtful thought begin to surface, take immediate and assertive action by repeating the 3 thought-shifts.

There you go….you just learned to overcome one of the biggest hurdles of starting your own business.

Cool Beans?