Three easy strategies that my friend Travis Winn uses to achieve success and prosperity!

This is an excerpt from an article Travis Winn sent me 


Mind Trick #1- Visualize What You Want

You've heard of visualization before, but how often do you practice it? The famous actor Jim Carey carried around a check he made out to himself for MILLIONS of dollars and looked at it daily until he actually made millions. Coincidence? I think not. 

But knowing about this trick is not enough. Take a few minutes daily to close your eyes, imagine the things you want as being yours, then FEEL the feeling of having them. 


It worked for people like Jim Carey, Oprah, and many others, so why not you too?

Mind Trick #2- Play Pretend

Many people find it difficult to visualize the things they want to achieve. The good news is that it's not the actual visualization that gets results, but the FEELING that you get when you visualize having what you really want. 

When I first began my entrepreneurial journey, I would drive around neighborhoods with the types of houses I wanted to live in. I would go to car dealerships and test drive (or even just SIT in) my dream car.... etc, etc. This can be a big motivation to help you see your goals to the end. 

Mind Trick #3- Associate with Positive People 

Association can be your BIGGEST help or your WORST enemy. Who do you spend your time with? People who support you, motivate you, and offer words of encouragement? Or do you invest a lot of your time with people who do nothing but DRAG you down? 

Creating success and prosperity requires a lot of energy, and negative people do nothing but DRAIN you of this vital force. People often overlook the fact that we have a CHOICE about who we share our goals, dreams and desires with. Make the right choice and you'll enjoy a smoother ride to success.

Every business needs a driving force...

Here at BSI,   we often receive questions about personal branding and how to ‘position’ yourself in your industry...

The reality is that in every industry there are “Key People of Influence”. You probably already know who they are in your field:

- Their names come up in conversation … for all the right reasons

- They attract a lot of opportunities … the right sort

- They earn a lot more money than most people … and it isn’t a struggle

There's an event coming up in Sydney on the 30th of June that reveals a remarkably simple, yet highly effective methodology for becoming one of those 'Key People of Influence'.  

Have a look at the event page 

If you're looking for a 'business in a box' or a quick fix, this isn't for you.  There's no hype, and it's not a sell-fest.  It's a highly regarded business strategy day that features 5 of Australia’s top entrepreneurs and industry leaders and is getting great reviews from people I know and respect.

If you have a product, service or idea that more people should know about, I highly recommend going along and seeing what all the fuss is about.  

The link below unlocks a 40% discount on tickets...

Visit the website  |  Watch the Video  |  Book yourtickets!  | Get the book FREE 

We all know that building a business you’re proud of won’t happen by itself. It takes preparation and design to get it right. Invest a day to work ON your business and set yourself up as THE key player in your industry.

Is the Australian Economy in Good Shape or Bad Shape?

15 Reasons why some Australians might be gloomy:

1  Investors who lost a significant share of the investments and superannuation  

2. Retirees are so scared of the markets that they are chasing term deposits, which do not generate enough return to ensure their nest eggs will grow sufficiently.

3. Business confidence is way below trend. Manufacturing is at a three-year low and shrinking.

4. Business loan interest rates are at high levels and loan availability is extremely low.

5.  Europe scares us..

6.  Talk of a China hard landing comes through regularly.

7.  The carbon tax is looming and rising power bills will surge further.

8   The high dollar hurts exporters, tourism operators and local import competitors, however enables consumers to buy cheaper goods

9.  Retailers are battling the internet; and they have to charge the GST, unlike foreign rivals.

10 House prices have been falling for many homeowners.

11. Petrol prices are historically high.

12. National growth numbers were unbelievably good, but NSW grew at 0.7 per cent and Victoria at 2.6 per cent.

13 Consumer confidence remains negative.

14. Leadership in Canberra could be better.

15. The media are scaremongers

10 reasons why we can be positive about our economy

1.     Inflation of 1.6 per cent.

2.     Over the three months to May, employment rose by 60,400 and the unemployment rate was 5.1 per cent.

3.     he economy grew at a historically strong 4.3 per cent.

4.     Car sales are up 22.4 per cent on a year ago.

5.     The weekly Roy Morgan consumer confidence rose by 1.8 points to 110.8 points. Consumer confidence rose for four out of the previous five weeks.

6.     Total lending finance rose by 6.3 per cent in April after rising by 6.1 per cent in March.

7.     New homes sales lifted by 6.9 per cent in April but this was a partial rebound from March when sales slumped 9.4 per cent.

8.     The RBA has come to its senses and is cutting interest rates.

9.     New business investment rose 6.1 per cent in the March quarter, ahead of forecasts of 3 per cent.

10.  The number of tourists arriving in March rose by 1.9 per cent to record highs. This fell by 0.5 per cent in April.

So, what do you think?

Are we in good shape or bad shape?

Feel free to comment below!

Lead Generation via email marketing is a Vital Part of Growing your Business

I have found that direct mail and emarketing campaigns are a fantastic way for us to generate leads for our business.

Email Marketing is trackable, inexpensive, and easily measurable. 

Emarketing enables you to have  a predictable number of leads coming into your pipeline on a regular basis at an affordable cost.

Below are the seven strategies that are necessary to ensure a successful direct marketing campaign.

Step 1: Build Your Database (Subscribers) , add value to them and educate them on what your value proposition is. .

The better you know your subscribers and the better they know you,  the more effective your direct mail campaign will be.

A generic database will generate an open rate of between 10% - 20%, and an open rate of between 2 % is good.

If you can segment your database, and market relevant items that are of interest to the relevant segment, the above open rates and click through rates will escalate dramatically.

The more you are able to segment your database, the better!

 The majority of the time, it is much more effective to send out several hundred pieces to your specific niche market such as recent retirees, truck drivers, coaches, accountants, doctors, rather than blanket neighborhoods at random.  

You can get lists of your prospective customers from list brokers who sell contact information for different groups of people.  To get a good idea if your email campaign is working or not you should be sending out a minimum of 3000 emails at a time.

Step 2: You must have a follow up sequence in place for your mailings.

The majority of people who send information about a subject or an event, send out one email  and then stop.

 

To maximise the chance for your success,  you must have sequential mailings, I recommend a minimum of three mailings for each campaign. 

To increase the effectiveness of each email, reference the previous email you have sent instead of sending the same email. 

 Ideally,  you must use multiple steps and multiple media.  As long as each mailing sequence you do is profitable you should continue emailing until the last step is no longer profitable.

Step 3: Build a collection of “R&D files.”

If you see or receive any marketing materials including mail that is eye catching or is just great marketing, keep it for ideas on your next mailer that you send out.  

If you are having a hard time coming up with what to mail look through your “R&D file” and adapt your marketing based on your favorite ideas and pieces that you have collected over time.

Step 4: Track your leads and how much they cost.

By tracking your leads and costs per lead you can improve on your response rate and increase your effectiveness. 

What you can measure you can manage!

Some of the easiest ways to do this include using different names on letters, different telephone numbers, or asking the customer how you heard about your business. 

Send different emails to different parts of your database to track your marketing to see what is working the best.  

Send out two or more different mailings to prospective customers with different messages and designs to see which ones achieve a better response rate. 

We call this “split testing”

You should be split testing regularly so that you can sharpen your ax and have the most effective marketing.  For those just starting out you can keep track of the prospects that respond in an Excel spreadsheet but it would be wise to switch to a CRM tool  as soon as possible.

Step 5: Headlines are everything in direct mail marketing.

People are swamped with advertisements from TV, radio, online, and direct mail so you must make your headline stand out and be relevant to your target customer. 

 Most people are not paying attention to every advertisement so you really have to shake them to their core with something that is relevant and attention grabbing.  

Part of the reason why tabloid magazines are succesful is because of the exciting and gripping headlines the writers use.  

When you are choosing your headline, write down as many as you can think of.  Some copywriters write as many as 100 before choosing the one that best fits for the message they are trying to convey.

 The headline is the most important part of any sales pitch because if you can’t grab attention with the headline then there is no way your prospect will care to read the rest of your message.

Step 6: To truly be successful with direct mail and leverage your time effectively you must create an automated system for your direct mail campaigns.

With an automated system you know how many emails you send out, how many responses you are getting, and how many leads it takes to convert into a customer.  Based on that information you can tweak your marketing by sending out more or less mail depending on your response rate. 

Step 7: To dramatically increase your response rates with direct mail, follow up the people who click through to the various opportunities with a telephone call

There is nothing like personalised service! The objective is to develope a relationship with your customer!

Happy Marketing!

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Source: liquidityfinance.com.au via Ivan on Pinterest

Australian Property Investor :: Stamp duty concession returns in Queensland

Australian Property Investor :: Stamp duty concession returns in Queensland

Interesting Conversation - Is there a God

TAKE TIME TO READ. It's worth reading it. Trust me :)

Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son ?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, you believe in GOD ?

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD good ?

Student : Sure.

Professor: Is GOD all powerful ?

Student : Yes.

Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?

(Student was silent.)

Professor: You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Is satan good ?

Student : No.

Professor: Where does satan come from ?

Student : From … GOD …

Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Professor: So who created evil ?

(Student did not answer.)

Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, who created them ?

(Student had no answer.)

Professor: Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?

Student : No, sir.

Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?

Student : No , sir.

Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student : Yes.

Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.
Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Professor: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student : No, sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.

Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)

Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor. Are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class was in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?

(The class broke out into laughter. )

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & GOD is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving.

P.S.

I believe you have enjoyed the conversation. And if so, you’ll probably want your friends / colleagues to enjoy the same, won’t you?

Forward this to increase their knowledge … or FAITH.

By the way, that student was EINSTEIN.

All My Loving - Still a Classic!!

Macartny still Rocks!!

5 Reasons why Cloud Computing offers better Security

We have just done a deal with our IT Provider to provide total Cloud solution and total support for a fixed $ amount per person.... No additional costs, no IT hassles.... what a pleasure ...

if you want to know more - email me

from http://www.inc.com/daniel-saks/small-businesses-safer-in-cloud.html 

The cloud can offer far better security than you can provide on your own. Here are five reasons why: 

1. Cloud security is stronger. 

The current cloud ecosystem is built on a global network of world-class data centers operated by big names like Amazon, Rackspace, and Google. These providers host applications for the companies that develop them, and security is the backbone of their state-of-the-art infrastructures. 

From security guards and video surveillance, to access controls and perimeter fencing, big data centers have exceedingly strong physical security. At some small business like yours, data breaches can happen because people simply walk off with a server or laptop that stores sensitive information onsite. You can bet your biometric security devices that thefts like these are rare at modern data centers.

2. Cloud security is smarter. 

Almost every type of hacking threat--from viruses to phishing scams and beyond--is on the rise. In just one month last year, Kaspersky Lab detected more than 640 million hacking events on devices running its products. Numbers like those could make any business long for the good old days of telegraphs and typewriters. 

Anti-virus software and firewalls provide basic protection, but data centers that host cloud-based software utilize cutting-edge encryption and security tools. These include advanced intrusion and zero-day threat detection, which means security teams can fend off hackers before they attack. Yes, they really are that good.  

3. The cloud makes security compliance easier. 

Besides “taxes,” few words inspire more dread than “compliance.” And for good reason: Depending on your industry type and standards, security compliance is expensive, time consuming, and involves a mountain of paperwork. 

Take an e-commerce business. Companies that handle credit card information must follow PCI data security standards, a set of 12 requirements--and 220 sub requirements--developed by credit card companies. Given that, it's no surprise that the vast majority of small online merchants work with a third-party, cloud-based payment processor, like PayPal. These large providers have the resources to ensure PCI compliance, and make life much, much easier for their customers. 

4. The cloud makes security more cost effective.  

If you decide to take a do-it-yourself approach to security, you not only have to buy the right equipment and software to secure your on-premise deployments, you also have to worry about maintaining it and keeping it up to date as threats evolve--or hire staff to do this for you. None of this is cheap. 

When you use cloud-based software, on the other hand, all you need to purchase is a subscription to your software of choice. Security is covered by the cost of your subscription, which means you, and your wallet, can breathe a sigh of relief. 

5. The cloud lets you focus on your business, not security. 

I know a small, successful law firm that has an on-premise document storage server in one of its office closets. The backup server is located in the same closet; actually, it's stacked on top of the primary server. 

From that, you can probably tell that the firm has no IT staff and the partners don't know much about data security. Their documents would be safer if they used a cloud-based solution hosted in a data center, where one fire or electrical surge couldn't knock out both document servers in an instant. This would also stop the partners from spending time setting up or managing hardware or software. And that's the real beauty of the cloud: You can focus on your business without having to worry about technology that may fall far outside of your area of expertise. 

Interest rates 3.5% - what can you do to take advantage?

Reserve Bank lowers interest rates by 0.25% to 3.50%.
Following the recent falls in our share market as a result of continued worries in the Eurozone coupled with weaker than expected employment figures in the United States, and a slowing growth in China, the Reserve Bank of Australia has decided to reduce interest rates by 0.25%.
This decision will give mortgage holders some relief, after many have seen their investment portfolio falling by over 5% in recent days.
 The next question now is how much of this will the banks pass on.

 When was the last time you have review your mortgage? Are you paying too much?



To find out more how we can help you save money click here, or call Danny Luu or Sandra Crossland at Liquidity Finance on 02 9290 2777.