Inbound Marketing

To understand inbound marketing, you have to understand what outbound marketing is.  Back in the day, email blasts, tv commercials, billboard ads, posters and pamphlets you see in the mail were effective and the norm, this is outbound marketing.

Today, our consumers do a great job of not looking at and filtering out spam messages and outbound marketing material.  In essence, outbound marketing has now become SPAM.  Not SPAM the unhealthy luncheon meat, quite popular amongst the Pinoys, Hawaiians & Chamorros.  But SPAM the unwanted junk email that people don't want to see and receive.

In today's world, the consumer rules.  They are the ones looking for the products and services you offer via online.  Easier said than done.  Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) is hard work.  Yes, you'll need websites, blogs, twitters, facebook, ect, ect.  It is the world of Social Media.  There are a lot of trial and error that needs to be done.  How do you do this?  There are books that can help teach S.E.O., but you still need some trial and error to get to the top of the list on Google and get Google Juice.

Books I recommend to help is What Would Google Do by Jeff Jarvis and Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan & Dharmesh Shah.  This is a good start for us.  I wish you all success!

If you're successful in inbound marketing as well, can you share some of the stuff that you do with us?

Having a purposeful life will give you more success

Naturally, we all look for purpose in our lives.  In the USA alone, most people regardless of what they do for a living and how much they earn, the #1 thing people are looking for in the workplace is the feeling of purpose.  It was said that people hate just sitting in the desk and filing papers all day. People are naturally looking for some type of purpose in their lives.  Typically a noble cause.  Something bigger than themselves.

I mean, there is spiritual purpose which is very important and there is secular purpose.  I'm talking about Secular Purpose for all of you religious readers.  Your spiritual purpose comes from another blog called The Bible.  Go read that daily!

Anyhow, when looking for a Job and Business, look for something that is purposeful and meaningful. Something you can get passionate about.  Because passion is the driving force in your personal success.  Income will come regardless, just focus on what your purpose is and what you are passionate about and you will go far!

So, what is your purpose?  Mine?  Just watch the video above.  That's my purpose.

Will more jobs come back?

If you're waiting around thinking more jobs will back, you may be just wishful thinking.  Then again, jobs are being offered every,  McDonald's is still hiring.

See from the books I've read from Robert Kiyosaki and especially Paul Zane Pilzer, the economy right now is restructuring itself.  The unemployment we see today is called structural unemployment.  The unemployed especially with outdated professions, will seek newer and better ways to make money.  Perhaps even create new businesses and industries.

They are both saying that Jobs will become the thing of the past and that Entrepreneurship is the way of today and in the future. The days of the W2s are over and it's a 1099 world now!  What we have been taught in the past is outdated and it is those with enough foresight will learn the new ways especially to survive in our rough economic environment.

More and more people today are even creating home-based-business through network marketing.  Network marketing with financial planning services, Tupperware, Kitchen Stuff, I even heard of one with Electricity.  Some of them have day jobs to support their basic needs as they get started in their new business venture.  You will have to do some research before choosing a network marketing company that you like sharing and get passionate about.  I did this as well!  I chose a nutrition company by the named of Mannatech.  They have great products:  Check,  they had a great business compensation plan:  Check, and the culture of the Company is unique in a very good way:  double Check!

Look, we now know for sure that Job Security is No Security especially for those who were downsized.  There were some people who worked for companies for 20-30yrs and got the boot.  It is wake up time as Robert Kiyosaki says.  It's time to become financially competent and business savvy.  Financial freedom is the name of the game.  Are you in?

Osama Binladin is easier to find than some of your prospects.

Let's talk about work for a little bit.

There are pretty much three types of people in sales and marketing, which one are you?

Farmers:  the farmers plants the seeds, cultivates and waters it, pretty much takes care of it, yadda, yadda, yadda... In Business, this person is a relationship person.  Farmers sends people to websites, visits a friend they've been prospecting for a long time, they send people articles and brochures....   The problem is, success takes too long.  I know, because I do this.

Building relationships are great but in prospecting, this is a frustrating because it takes too long. Why do people get into sales anyway?  Most would answer, because I am a people person.  Well, I was in for a surprise myself.  In sales, Osama Binladin is easier to find than some of my prospects.  Right?  Diba???

Look! Sales is the highest paid profession on planet earth.  That is why we are in sales.  We do this as a career.  Some of us love the products we sell and are passionate about, and some sales persons, it doesn't matter the product (whether its good or not) they can sell anything.  Okay! Great!  That's not me.  I have great products and I still struggle sometimes.  I mean, how do these professional sales people do it?  Hey, they can and good for them.

Share croppers:  someone who rents a portion to the tenant farmers land and shares the profits.  In Business, you have your group of people doing the prospecting for you, whether it's your boss or employees.  In network marketing, you rely mostly on your downline to do this...  This is an inherent problem.  Some of the people you work with are farmers too.  I've done this as well. Still works, but takes a long time.

Hunters:  This is someone who goes out, hunts and comes back with dinner. In business, these people have a prospecting conciousness.  90% of sales and marketing especially networking marketing is prospecting.  For example, they purposely ask for the middle seat in the plane and comes back with two business cards.  I personally, don't give out my business card, I actually say I forgot it, may I have yours.  In Sales, all we do is talk.  Make Chikka Chikka...  Diba? I go to social events and public places just to prospect.  I have a great product and people needs to know about it.

Regardless if you're a farmer, share cropper or hunter, you still have to go through the numbers.  It is a numbers game folks.  I personally know this.  I know how hard this is and how incredibly frustrating it can be.  But if you have the audacity, bravado and the ability to take risks, you will then be successful.  This is the advice of the successful people I have listen and learned from.  This is what they preach.  So I know they can't be wrong and I am excited to share this bit of information with you Hunter!!!

These ideas came from Michael J. Durkin.

Success by Sharing, Translation: Success by Chismis

In Sho Biz, they know, regardless of how much they spend on conventional advertising, the show or movie's success lives or dies by word of mouth. If people like it, they will recommend it to their friends. If they don't like it, they will recommend not watching. In some cases however, very rare, if the movie sucks, I know someone who'll recommend you watching the movie just to confirm that it did indeed suck. His initials are S.N. Yeah, he's a friend of mine.

So, Success by Sharing, Chismis or Gossip! Regardless of what product or service you provide, our goal is to get our customers as happy and satisfied as possible so they will recommend what every product or service we sell to their friends and family or who ever they come to meet along the way. You call this your personal walking ambassadors (this is explained in the book The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann which is a great read I might add).

Let's face it, all of us are all sales people somehow. We all got something to sell right? What ever it is, i.e. homes, properties, products, advise, books, song lyrics, cloths, ideas, ect. That is what business is and businesses earn by providing good products and services to we the people (it's People Power). We can find much success by personal recommendations from ourselves to our friends, and our friends recommendation to their friends (business friends, or just friends in general, our barkada) Success just by sharing...

Cashflow Quadrant

This is by far one of the most important things any Filipino needs to learn in their lifetime or anyone for that matter.  The Casflow Quadrant.

The Cashflow Quadrant was introduced by Robert Kiyosaki best known for his book Rich Dad Poor Dad.  He also wrote the book Cashflow Quadrant that explains it more in detail.  The Cashflow Quadrant is fairly simple.  If you imagine a plus (+) sign, the upper left Quadrant is an E, the bottom left  is an S, the upper right Quadrant is a B, then an I.

He explains that there are four kinds of people who make up the world of business: E for Employees, S for Self-Employed, B for Big Business like Microsoft, Intel, or Apple, and I for Investors like Warren Buffet.  This is what makes the Cashflow Quadrant.

On the left side of the Quadrant that make up Employees and Self Employed, 90% of the world's population is either an employee or self-employed individuals but only contain 10% of the wealth.  How unfair is that.

On the right side of the Quadrants that make up Big Business and Investors, 10% of the world's population is either one of them and contain 90% of the world's wealth.

It seems that is more intelligent to be a B or an I person rather an E or an S.  However, it takes a lot of money to invest which is why many cannot invest.  And with a B, it takes Millions of Dollars to develop a B Quadrant Business and it has a 90% failure rate within the first 5 years and 90% failure rate within 5 years after that.  So it is so risky.

So how can the average individual ever create a B Quadrant Business and perhaps have enough money to become an I as well?  Economists, Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump and many others are strongly promoting Network Marketing to be an effective way for many Employees or self-employed to merge into the B Quadrant.

But there are many good and bad network marketing companies out there so  you do have to do your due diligence when choosing the right network marketing company for you.  Aside from that, network marketing like any other business takes effort to build and grow.  So it's not really a get rich quick scheme, though some network marketing companies market themselves as so.  Also do research on the products or service that they provide, because good products will make  your network marketing business thrive or die...

Wellness Revolution

In today's world, more and more people are looking for ways to look younger, reverse the effects of aging and to simply perform better as we all age. Us Pinoys are no different.  We are all in this Wellness Revolution as economist and Wellness Guru Paul Zane Pilzer wrote in his book, The Wellness Revolution.

On a business standpoint, this is a great opportunity to capture and caplitalize on.  Let's face it, building a business is  no easy task.  It takes risk, audacity and bravado!!! These are the worlds of Robert Koyosaki, one of my favorite mentors.  But if you're up for this challenge, then being part of the wellness industry is a great start.  Paul Zane Pilzer calls it the Perfect Storm of Opportunity because the markets, driven especially by the baby boomers will drive this industry to high levels.  He calls this industry the next trillion dollar industry because the aging of the baby boomers.  Baby Boomers born between 1946 – 1964 are looking for better ways to reverse the effects of aging, restore a youthful vitality, increase memory capacity and more.  They are looking for more natural and non-toxic ways to do this.  Hence the Wellness Revolution.  Focusing on prevention and simply feeling great!  They all have the money and the power to drive this business.  Hey, the Gen Xer's and the Gen Y's are in this also.  Look, today everyone wants to feel great, look great and live well.

There will be a Millionaire explostion.  One of the books Paul Zane Pilzer writes  is the Next Trillion.  He states that the next trillion dollar industry is the Wellness Industry.   Today, Wellness Companies are creating the products Baby Boomers, Gen Xer's and Gen Y's are looking for (this includes many Filipinos around the world).  These products are everywhere.  But buyer beware, from the many products out there, which one should you choose?  This pertains to health products typically dietary supplements. ( The Wellness Industry also include Gyms, Spa's, Massage, all the way down to skin care, weight managment and dietary supplement products.)

The intelligent consumer of the Wellness Industry will look for the best products they could find.  So companies that will survive in the Next Trillion will have scientifically tested wellness products, proprietary which they own (no use to sell products that everyone else has), and they must have unique products.  So out of the current 4000 some odd wellness companies participating, by the time The Wellness Industry hits $1 Trillion, there will be about 2000 companies left.  However, only about a handful of companies (about 20) will take up 80% of the market share.  These companies are the ones with the best products out there.  These are the companies you want to work with, that is in fact if you do want to be part of the Wellness Industry.

Paul Zane Pilzer forecasts that there will be 10 Million New Millionaires that will be created between 2006-2016. (yeah yeah, the whole world is in recession, but most wealth is created during the time of recession) Many of these new millionaires participated in the Wellness Industry, and many of the are network marketers.  Network Marketing is strongly promoted by Robert Kiyosaki , Paul Zane Pilzer and many others.  This industry gives the average individual to start up a business at low cost and gives them a chance to build a long lasting business.  Network Marketing is the most effective way of introducing new products and services to the massess.  It is also an effective way to earn extra income while the new entreprenuer works his day job and networks his/her way to success.

Now I know you probably have been approached with many Network Marketing companies with many fad products.  Yes, there are many!  But you as the intelligent person, must do your deligient research before choosing a company that you can believe in and get passionate about.  (No use selling a product you don't believe in and beware of someone promoting you a network marketing company that strictly focuses on business and money making.  Money will come so long as the products are great.  Not just good, but GREAT!)

So, Filipinos in general have that entrepreneur spirit in them.  I feel many Filipinos will be successful in The Wellness Industry.  We naturally love to help people and that is what networking is all about. On top of that, we all love our lechon, krispy pata, adobo, chicharon bulaklak... you name it!  Let's face it folks, Filipinos need Wellness Products more than any other race.  Diba!?!