I was sitting with one of my students in the office during a VIP private coaching session and the subject came up about branding.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…I know we all need to brand ourselves and for us top guns that fits, but I’m not so sure the newbies to the industry should do that. They have no backing and customer knowing they have Remax, or Keller Williams, MonaVie or whatever big name behind them can really make or break a deal.”

I always liked to plan the things I do, but when it comes to planning the business, it really used to kick my butt…

I’m not sure how you go about planning your business.

I love thinking about it and coming up with ideas, but to put it into a one concise blueprint was a whole different thing that always somehow slipped and rarely ever got done as my mom would say: “The way God commands it” – in translation: properly.

This past year, I really got to realize and see how effective it can be to have a clear path of where I’m going.

me and my brother’s dog at my parents’ house

Christmas Joke

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December.

Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa’s reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.

We should have known… ONLY women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.

In the previous post we discussed what spam is and what it looks like. Today, let’s discuss some of the strategies you can use to market without spamming.

In order to be able to implement this strategy I’m going to share with you, it’s imperative to understand few elements. (I know I keep repeating these, but I am doing it with an intention it will become a second nature to you to feel and think this way about social media.)

• Social media is not a place to sell
• Create relationships first and then sell
• Offer freely things of value, without expecting or asking for anything in return
• Truly care about people you meet there

Wikipedia defines spam as:

E-mail spam, known as unsolicited bulk Email (UBE), junk mail, or unsolicited commercial email (UCE), is the practice of sending unwanted e-mail messages, frequently with commercial content, in large quantities to an indiscriminate set of recipients.

I often wonder: do people who spam really know that they are spamming? Do they like to be the “trash” of the internet or are they really struggling with marketing strategies and simply do not know how to market in any better way – in which case I really feel for them.

So I decided to stop wondering and do some research in the marketplace.

It’s amazing how many “full-time job” people get involved with multi-level marketing, especially lately with the economy and such. But what I really find mind-boggling is just how much of those same people, 97% to be exact, end up failing.

Are you or someone you know one of those people?

Keep in mind, in this case I am talking about the legit MLM companies where others do make money – just not you. (In 02/2009 I wrote a post Is MLM a Pyramid Scam? Explaining the difference).

So if the company is legit and bunch of other people are making money in a seeming overly simple set up, why can’t you and those 97% do it too?

…Even if marketing online is not your main calling.

Blogging can be very profitable career to have, but not everybody who’s looking for leads on the internet is interesting in becoming a full time blogger.

So for those who’s passion is not in blogging, but they do understand the power of it and want to use them to generate leads and perhaps even some extra cash, here are few ideas for monetizing.

These are the 3 most common ways to monetize your site:

• Google Adsense ads – even though Adsense can be quite profitable, lot of marketers look down on it. If you’re not carful when choosing your Adsense settings you can find yourself with the website that looks too busy, cheap, and unclassy. So try them out and see what best fits your site and your personality.

There are millions of articles, posts, and videos on the internet on what is the best way to use Facebook – and mind you few are exceptionally good.

However, very few really drive home some fundamental basics that keep the entire social media marketing strategies in a firm place.

So here are few very first, beginning steps every person wanting to use Facebook or any other Social Media platform should be aware of.

• Create complete profiles. Creating a profile seems to be a bit of an issue for a lot of people. Most are not aware that Facebook profiles are matched with other profiles very much like dating profiles. So make sure all your “interests”, “hobbies”, “favorite movies”, “favorite music” and such tabs are fully filled out. When you get matched with people of common interests, it’s lot easier to create relationships then with people who have nothing in common with you.