Business Success | Doing It Right & Doing It Wrong

When I started my first ever business at the age of 8 years old, I accidentally did something totally wrong and something totally right.

It was my idea to rent out, or even sell, the many many paperback story books I had already accumulated from older relatives, second hand shops and jumble sales.

I started well, planning out how to keep track of who had borrowed which book (modelled on the already successful methods employed by my local library – why re-invent the wheel?) and I’d gathered all the necessary equipment, including a John Bull’s Printing Kit to date stamp the books, albeit a touch on the slow side, due to having to manually change the numbers each day!

We even had premises, the under the stairs cupboard was requisitioned, in spite of my fear of the feather duster, but this was not my main concern because I had already decided I wasn’t going to man the shop, my trusty assistant Heather was!

O yes! One of my more clever moves was that I recruited my 6-year old sister, Heather (now an international opera singer and still dining out on the story!) on a payment-by-results basis and the plan was that I was going to go out around the local playgrounds marketing my new book-lending business, while Heather waited patiently under the stairs, reading the merchandise in order to better demonstrate the pleasure to be gained from any loan or purchase.

One of my LEAST clever moves was not doing any market research, particularly NOT finding out whether there was a ravening hungry horde of kids looking for my solution to their problem or challenge….

Because there wasn’t.

I was the only asthmatic, fairy tale crazy, reading-mad child locally – the rest were very busy having fun outdoors and they wanted to read LESS not more!

O dear.  Duh!

I sorry to say that this was only the first of many, many businesses that I started on a whim, on the back of a good idea, that I got going BEFORE I tested the market or found out if there was a demand.

At the Money Gym, we firmly believe that setting up a part time business (NOT a part time job, note!) can be one of the easiest, quickest first steps you can take in increasing your income.

But we want you to do it right, so that you can answer the most important five questions any business owner must know off by heart.

Do you remember those questions from yesterday’s video?

Well the good news is that today’s video will reveal a secret weapon in the armoury of any aspiring business owner or consultant….

Would you like to find out what that secret weapon is?

Well either hit this link and put your name and email in (even if you have done it before, it will take you to the right page)

http://www.themoneygym.com/silverelite

OR

Visit the Money Gym video page if you have bookmarked it before!

And don’t forget to tell us what you think of Money Gym “Video 5 – Footsteps In the Fog” by commenting at the bottom of the page.

Warm regards

Nicola, Judith, Steve & The Money Gym Team

p.s. Every comment could be a link back to your website, remember, and that’s a GOOD THING!

Watch the videos, comment and get your link by putting your name and email in here http://www.themoneygym.com/silverelite

Your Compass In The Fog Of Overwhelm

Nicola here from The Money Gym,writing to you on 1st January 2010 with my third very important message….

Think about this for a second………..

In the olden days, humans were able to find their way around the globe, in any kind of weather, even if the fog was so bad they were unable to see a few feet in front of themselves….

How did they do that?

http://www.TheMoneyGym.com/silverelite

They were able to find their way forward because they had some deceptively simple tools…

Tools that were simple to use but were so sophisticated that they delivered exceptional results every time…results you could depend on…

Those tools were….

The Stars and a Compass.

Yep, that’s pretty much all they used to sail ships across the vast oceans, to go somewhere so far away it literally took months, if not years to get there and then to come safely home again.

Would it surprise you to discover that there are some deceptively simple tools you can use too, to navigate your way through all the financial confusion you might be experiencing right now?

Well, no!  I’m not going to tell you about those tools, I’m going to show you….how to create and use them yourself.

http://www.TheMoneyGym.com/silverelite
Warm regards

Nicola, Judith & The Money Gym Team

P.S.      Watch our brand new video to discover some of the simple but effective tools we use to navigate our way around our financial world!

http://www.TheMoneyGym.com/silverelite

Have You Taken Up Residence On Your Couch For December?

Sitting on my couch, among my new set of cushions, reflecting on 2009 and thinking ahead to 2010, I’m struck by how certain times of year lend themselves particularly to this kind of introspective thinking.

Easter, with the promise of spring and new life, September with the start of the new school year (and even us grownups still remember that feeling!) and of course Christmas with the impending New Year.

Funny old days, in early December, are they not?   It’s very, very dark, at both ends of the day, and recently it’s felt like it’s never going to stop raining.  One can hardly remember the sun or the sunny days of Summer and it seems an awfully long way off to next summer, that’s for sure!  The couch seems the best place to be, with Strictly or X-Factor on the TV and the heating on full.

The New Year is coming quicker than lightning but all we want to do is wind down to Christmas!

On the one hand some of the country go into a spending spree and Christmas decorating spasm, and on the other hand, some people are quietly emailing tales of woe, stories of quiet desperation and harsh self-criticism about another year gone by – wasted!  Months of procrastination, prevarication leading to …………….absolutely no results.

Do you secretly feel really cross because your 2009 has not progressed you to where you want to be, financially?  Perhaps you have been one of the pension holders or property investors affected by the credit crunch in some way or other and you rather hopefully had all your eggs in one basket?

Read more..

A Week In The Life Of Another Wealth Coach: Like Sex and Magic

So you’d like an insight into a week in the life of another wealth coach??

This week certainly hasn’t been typical for me by any stretch of the imagination. However I fear it may be sign of things to come.

My father died recently. Although he hasn’t been a well man for many years, his death was very sudden and unexpected. It leaves me as carer for my sister Lynn. Now Lynn is exactly the reason why I began my journey with the Money Gym many years ago. I knew that one day I would need to care for an adult with learning difficulties and my expectations of “support from the system” suggested I should start to make my own provisions for being financially free and able to choose how I spent my time. Unfortunately the need has arisen a few years earlier than any of us anticipated so this week has been spent chasing solicitors, bank managers, filling in probate forms and inheritance tax declarations… tomorrow I’m getting advice on the legal and tax implications of being an executor of a Trust Fund…

What do I learn from this experience that I want to share with you?

Well, death is one of those things which although inevitable is usually unpredictable. My Dad has left his estate in a really very good state for someone to pick up on the important bits – and yet four weeks later I still find myself chasing information on tax paid, little sums of money in odd accounts and trying to identify the number of children born to my Dad’s deceased brothers and sisters.

Given that you never know the hour and that it’s almost certainly going to be when anyone least expects it,
- take time to get your affairs in order while you’re still fit and well,
- write a will and keep it updated
- have a conversation with your executors showing them where all the important documents are located…

My Dad filed all the routine stuff in files, wallets or filing cabinets. The really important stuff he kept in shoe boxes: it took us a little longer to locate these so I guess he figured that a burglar or casual thief would give up before they got this far!

Make me realise that I need to organise my affairs slightly more intuitively and, most importantly, leave something very nice and wicked, chocolates and/or alcohol, in a file to thank my executors for volunteering to do this on my behalf!

Read more..

Your Automated Marketing Machine – Free Report

If you are a solo professional, entrepreneur, freelancer or even an SME with several employees, the most important thing you need to succeed, in the crucial first few years of your business, is new business.  And lots of it.

What you need to keep going in your business – and to be able to build a business to love – is lots of new business coming from your ideal customer or client.  An “Automated Marketing Machine” to generate new prospects, convert those prospects into customers, converting those customers into sales for your business.

Let me ask you something….

Do you feel overwhelmed and scared when you think about marketing your business yourself?  Are you stressed out because you need more sales, but your budget prohibits a big, fancy marketing campaign?

Would you love to hire an expert but don’t know where to go, who to trust or how to afford it?  Do you wonder how your competitors afford to do the advertising they do?

Perhaps you’ve heard that 50% of advertising doesn’t work but most people don’t know which half?  Have you heard that you only get a 1% response to direct mail at best?

Tell me this …..

Would you love to find about an affordable, automated marketing machine, a proven system to send your marketing stratospheric and make your sales and profits explode?

Well, now you can!

Download this free report on how to set up an automated marketing machine for your business today >>>

Just look for the “Business Success 21st Century Style” report and download it today.  Get your Automated Marketing Machine working for your business today.

And if you need help with setting that up, after you have read the report, talk to us at http://bit.ly/internetmentoring

The Key Secret Of Business Success | A Business Mentor

It took me a monstrous 28 years to realise that I needed a business mentor, or I would probably never achieve any business success at all.  I’d been entrepreneurial since a child, but I was growing up in a family with no money and no business people in it, much less successful business people. My early business ventures were, although I didn’t know it, pretty much doomed to failure!

From flat finding to waistcoat production, from renting my paperback books at the age of 8 to being a freelance fashion designer suppling designer shops like Hunter in Brighton, or Duffer Of St George in London at the age of 26.

From helping my husband start his own dance music compilations record label, Esoteric Records, to working with many start up entrepreneurs as their PA, I always knew I wanted to build a successful, profitable business, for me, but in spite of reading many many books and attending many government sponsored courses, success STILL eluded me.

Things improved a bit at the age of 38 when I saw the light, took responsibility for my own success and results and started my wealth creation journey and my quest for financial freedom.

I have told the story many times of how I met my first wealth creation mentor, Gill Fielding, and if you haven’t read it you can enjoy that story here >>> .  However, Gill had loads of  experience of creating wealth through property investing, and investing in the stockmarket, and we all know that she is an utterly brilliant speaker, but having come from the corporate world herself, she didn’t know how to start and grow a small, startup business from scratch, on a shoestring.   We started The Wealth Company together, and after 6 months amicably agreed to go our seperate ways, Gill wanting to reach more people to “light the spark of financial possibility” as she called it, and me wanting to work more one-to-one.  Gill bought me out and in the process, giving me the first inkling that a business idea, put into action, might have an asset value and be actually be worth something.  None of my other start up business ever had been.

When I bought my run-down hotel The Acacia, no money down, gutted it and started to market it online, I quizzed my accountant Mark Nicolson from Spofforths in Worthing and my bank manager Mike Murray from Nat West, about what made the businesses they saw every day successful, and what seperated those that succeeded from those that failed, and I got some very interesting answers.

Read more..

Questions, Questions, So Many Questions!

Nicola here……..I just wanted to let you know about two REALLY important things.  First of all………….

** Money Gym Boardroom – 30% Discount Deadline Extended For 3 More Days **

AND……….Secondly………….

** Money Gym Boardroom – 30% Discount Secured For You No Matter When You Plan To Start **

Our first Boardroom meeting is next Saturday, 6th November and Judith and I are really excited to meet the business people we will be working with.

But as the deadline for expressing your interest and securing your place approaches (originally midnight tonight) we have been inundated with more questions and there are a few in particular that are coming up time and time again.

Q. Am I – or my business – good enough to be in the Boardroom?

A.  This one really surprised us – some of you out there are not sure if you, or your business, are ready for The Boardroom.  But the answer to that question is….mostly……absolutely yes.   We have asked a few people who cannot afford  the investment yet to give themselves a year to work their way up. And several clients have de-selected the mselves now but nailed their colours to the mast and said “I WILL be with you – later”.  But only one who contacted us wasn’t ready and that’s one of our friends who hasn’t even yet joined Silver!   Bless.   We LOVE people with big ambitions.

Q.  So, what do I have to do to qualify then?

A.  It’s quite a simple formula.   You have to be someone who demonstrates ambition, stickability, determination and follow through.  But, more importantly you have to have three goals – one for your wealth creation plans, one for your business and one for you personally, any one of which has the ability to make you an extra £10,000 in the first 90 days of the Boardroom.

Q.  Why are we making that “£10k in 90 Days” our first challenge to Boardroom members?

A.  Because we are offering you a 100% guarantee that we will refund your f ees if you don’t make at least your £9750 fees (includes launch discount) back in 12 months.   But we won’t let you continue to come to our dinners, meetings and days out if you are unable to demonstrate the ability to take some fast-start action on your part.  Judith is going to be breathing down your neck every Monday, wanting to know what you are going to do this week and every Friday, wanting to know what you have done.  If those results don’t equal £10,000 in 90 days, then we are unlikely to invite you to be our guest at a second day out in February at our expense. Does that sound fair?   We think it does.

Read more..

In Business? What Makes YOU Special?

Judith Morgan here and I’ve got a little story for you.

“I want to step up and play a bigger game”.   That’s what one of our Money Gym clients said to me today and that makes him just perfect for our Boardroom.   He’s not free to start until after Christmas and that’s cool too.

He was canny enough to ask me could he bag the 30% launch discount now but not start till later.   Since we teach financial nous, I’m glad he asked.   (There are only 4 days left to do that btw)

And I have been able to negotiate on his behalf that provided he pays deposit of £2437.50 now to secure his seat by the 31st October deadline, he can choose when he wants to start and his seat will be held for him.

Peachy!

My notes sat somewhere on my desk for the rest of the day and I kept coming back to this client in my mind.

What sets him apart?

I said, as I nearly always do, “how can we help?”

And he said he wanted “business support”.   This was useful because it meant our ideal client had worked out what was in it for him and that we are running  a special promo on price.   And I know he has ambition, and goals.

Is the cost of the Boardroom an issue for you?   Were it not for that, would you be taking your seat at The Boardroom table in the 007 room in London’s West End?   Would you be dining with Nicola and me and your Board the night before?  Would you be stepping up to the challenge of making an additional £10,000 in your first 90 days in the programme?   That’s £10k over and above your normal revenues.

Read more..

The Boardroom | Is It Right For Your Business?

In the run up to the launch of our Money Gym Boardroom, we knew we would be getting quite a few questions.  In order to facilitate that, we have set up an anonymous survey page, so that you can ask your questions freely, without needing to give us your name or email.  You can ask YOUR burning question about The Boardroom here:  http://bit.ly/MGBRoneq and we will answer them all on the blog over the next few days.  Here are a few of the questions we have received so far – is yours covered?

November & December are the busiest times for my business.  If I join now to secure the 30% discount, can I skip the first meeting and start my membership at the next Boardroom meeting in the New Year?

Yes, of course, that’s not a problem at all. Just go to http://www.themoneygym.com/boardroom and choose your payment option.

Can I come to the boardroom with more than one business?

Hmm.   Depends.   Who are you and are you working alone?   If you are, and you are working on multiple projects, sorry but here’s the real cold hard truth that we have observed from working with many, many Money Gym clients over the years.

By working on multiple projects, on your own, without business partners, you are pretty much guaranteeing that your projects will take a lot longer to reach success, if they manage it at all. Mike Filsaime demonstrated this very ably at the World Internet Summit 2006 (at which Nicola is speaking this November).

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£10k In 90 Days | Day 5 | Solo Samba’ing

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:03 — 4.8MB)

The Money Gym has just launched The Boardroom, an easy, quick, flexible way for your business to access a crack business team comprising 18 of your very own non-executive directors, plus Judith Morgan and Nicola Cairncross.  As part of the launch of The Boardroom, The Money Gym is offering a 33% discount on the 1st year membership (offer closes midnight 31st October) and Nicola & Judith are hosting a daily BlogTalkRadio show, where they help each business caller work out how to create an extra £10k in just 90 days from their existing business.

Today’s caller on The Money Gym “£10k In 90 Days” Challenge on our BlogTalkRadio show was Karen Jones, an award winning Dance Instructor and Choreographer, who has developed a unique style of teaching latin american dance, for fitness.  Check out her website at Live2Dance.co.uk.

Karen has developed fun, unique routines for people wishing to get fit by dancing, ensuring that you can dance alone, rather than with a partner.  Think latin american line dancing!  She not only runs successful dance classes locally, but regularly gets corporate business nationwide, where companies wish to put on fun fitness events for employees.  Corportate business can be worth around £600 for six one-hour sessions.

Karen’s plan is to license exclusive areas to dance instructors so that they can build businesses, with Karen’s help and support. She had sold two licenses so far, at £279 for the license for the area (is that per year Karen or a one off fee?) and then you can buy the Business Support Package for a further £279, and then you pay between £35-50 per month, for access to a membership site that offers further support.

Luckily for Karen, Judith has a wealth of experience, being a partner in www.TheCleaningBiz.com, a successful cleaning company that Judith perfected in Fulham, then licensed on to over 20 different areas so far, supporting each licensee to build their business locally.

Read more..

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