A sibling of his previous Magnetic Sponsoring book defining the fundamentals of online attraction marketing, Mike Dillard’s Building on a Budget uncovers several of the secrets behind the low to no-cost online marketing methods described in the course text.

Mike Dillard’s “Building on a Budget” Course Overview:

Consisting of six concise, easy to read and follow chapters, the last five chapters in “Building on a Budget” comprise the actual meat of the content.

Through those chapters, Mike Dillard goes beyond the simple “what to do” explanation found in many similar books by providing the basic “how-to” steps that helps propel your online marketing efforts forward.  These key chapters overview online marketing via:

1. Use of CraigsList with specifics on:
   1. Setting up your advertisement
   2. Writing the ad (a few copy-writing hints thrown in as well)
   3. A method to enhance traffic generation
2. Getting Free Traffic from Videos by:
   1. Getting set-up for videos
   2. Defining your target audience
   3. Send the proper message of attraction
   4. Including a call to action
3. Using Press Releases Optimize Search Engine Results by establishing:
   1. The proper title for the release
   2. Formulate a compelling summary
   3. Prepare an informative yet enticing body to the release article
   4. End with a call to action
4. Using Blogs as a Traffic Magnet describes:
   1. What is a blog and why you MUST have one
   2. Selecting the right topic
   3. Choosing the right blogging platform
   4. Launching your blog
   5. Posting content to your blog
   6. Driving traffic to the blog
5. Incorporating Funded Proposals to Convert Traffic to Leads and Sales
   1. Details of a funded proposal system
   2. Specific overview of MagneticSponsoringOnline.com

Beyond “Building on a Budget”: Magnetic Sponsoring Online System

One of the other “perks” included helping enhance the information provided in Mike Dillard’s “Building on a Budget”, Magnetic Sponsoring or any associated Mike Dillard course is the insight, training and tracking you can access via the Magnetic Sponsoring Online system website.

Even though Magnetic Sponsoring Online is available as an affiliate program, the training information and funded proposal system meshes perfectly with any of the products further enhancing the “usability factor” for the information found in Building on a Budget or the other courses.

The following screen-capture image of the Magnetic Sponsoring Online Back Office website shows the different resources available to any registered user:

Each of the tabs listed at the top of the site facilitates access the detailed training resources and features designed to optimize both your education and use of the Magnetic Sponsoring Online as a complete funded proposal system.

In my opinion, Mike Dillard’s “Building on a Budget” course book provides more than the $25.00 (e-book version) cost in education alone. Beyond the educational benefit, it is essentially required for anyone interested in using the Magnetic Sponsoring funded proposal system to generate leads opening the door to build future business relationships.

Watch your status updates, tweets and RSS readers for future review and guided tour posts about other Magnetic Sponsoring-related courses as well as the back office environment.

I truly believe all home business owners should listen closely to Susan Boyle’s dream and hidden message of strength and triumph in the face of the naysayers and cynics …

After watching a video of Susan Boyle’s appearance on the British reality TV show, Britain’s Got Talent, I was completely blown away with the awesome power of the moment.  If you have not yet heard of Susan or watched the performance, take a moment and do so now …..

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Unbelievable, amazing, inspiring … so many emotions arose the moment she started to sing and literally rocked the theater (and since then the World!).

Look, her performance was nothing short of stunning, moving the whole audience but that is only the “tip” of the proverbial iceberg.

As she first walks out on the stage, a plain, 47 year old spinster from the north of Britain who declares she wants to launch her professional singing career and equal the achievements of Elaine Paige, “The First Lady of British Musical Theatre”.

The camera shot instantly pans the Judges Panel (Amanda Holden, Piers Morgan, Simon Cowell) then the audience with views of rolling eyes and facial expressions oozing cynicism.

The music cues … a few intro bars play and the first line flows sweetly and powerfully from Susan’s lips … “I dreamed a dream in time gone by“

Again the camera pans and more facial expressions … eyes popping wide open, mouths dropping, a building crescendo of applause culminating in a series standing ovations …

She totally blew the theater away … totally blew the country away … and has now (given the power of You Tube and video sharing) blown the world away …..

But what if she gave into the vibes of the audience before she began …

What if she gave into the cynics and “naysayers” … where would she be today?

Fortunately for Susan, she doesn’t have to worry about the “what ifs” at this point, her dream is emerging from the fog and her quest is being realized ….

Each of us in direct sales, network marketing or MLM is often faced with a host of cynics and naysayers.  Many of us typically yields to the criticism and sarcasm, lose sight of the dream and the quest dies ….

My question then to all of home business owners: did you hear Susan Boyle’s hidden message of the dream and answer to her naysayers?

So the next time you run into the cynics, naysayers and such when pursuing your dreams and driving on through quest, think of Susan standing on that stage and answer back with your own song of strength and triumph ….

I know I have and when thinking back over the day’s events, I often feel confused about where all the time was spent.

As it turns out, this is not an uncommon occurrence for many business owners, especially those of us who are involved in the home business setting.

Several days ago, I received an email from Steve Little informing me of recent updates to his Perfect Biz Finder video blog. After visiting the blog,  I noticed a post on how to overcome the four top success saboteurs.

During the video, Steve identified four common practices or conditions that many of us incorporate into our daily routine that are not as productive as they should be. Many of us feel that at least one of these practices is actually a very good thing though he argues it deprives us of productivity.

Included in this list of productivity killers is:

1. Multitasking – working on multiple projects or tasks simultaneously;
2. Distractions and Interruptions – co-workers stopping to chat, kids coming by to show their new creation, EMAIL, TWITTER;
3. Friction (or frictional resistance as I like to think of it) – poorly operating equipment or cluttered workspace (not that I know of anyplace like that); and
4. Mind Chatter – those flash thoughts that often lead to day-dreams and tangents.

Panning back over the list a three of these practices/conditions (distractions, friction and mind chatter) make perfect sense but does multitasking?

At first glance, it would seem being able to juggle multiple tasks and projects would enable accomplishing significantly more outcome than limiting and focusing our efforts on one task or project.

Reflecting over several recent projects and comparing those already completed to those still ongoing, it becomes painfully obvious … focusing and completing projects yield far greater results (therefore much greater productivity).

Why … well beyond the obvious (there is an end result) the product of those efforts are already contributing to the desired outcome for those tasks and out ultimate goal for being in business.

When discussing the distractions and interruptions, the obvious intrusions (people stopping by to chat, telephone calls, deliveries etc.) were mentioned but a couple most of us might not think of: email and Twitter were also included.

According to Little, any of these distractions typically involve between 30 and 40 minutes of lost (or at least misdirected) time per event.

I don’t know about you, but mind chatter is a rather frequent occurrence within the grey-matter between my ears (ok, ok along with email, Twitter and multi-tasking!).  This can definitely be a detraction from productivity if it leads you off to day-dream land!

But let’s not leave a list of problems since if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem ….

Here are the suggestions (with some additional thoughts of mine) Steve Little provided during the video:

1. Develop an approach providing a clear focus regarding the key tasks at hand meant to propel you toward your goal.  This is a time period to focus on the task at hand and not get distracted (though I do jot down a line on a notepad about interesting ideas to flush out later). Little also advises not using task lists as the main time focusing tool (since they are open-ended and essentially non-committing).  His suggestion is to use a calendar and block out at least two hours per task.  If a given task won’t take two hours, couple with other similar tasks (might be things like interacting on social networking sites).  I also believe in blocking enough time to complete the task if possible (often meaning more than two hours).  Another thing I like to plan into each period is an extra 20 to 30 minutes of wind-down time and give a chance to flush out any thoughts recorded on the notepad during content preparation.
2. Relax for 15 to 30 minutes after each block of time is completed by taking a real break from your workspace (so it does not mean check email or Twitter!).  You’ll end up being refreshed and ready for the next project task.
3. Establish routines and be responsible with your time.  Always remember that you are your most important asset and squandering time on ineffective activities lowers your value.
4. Rest, renew and recover. Take two days each week away from the business focusing on the truly important aspects of life: our freedom from the 9-5 – 7 day work week grind and spend time with those most important to us (family and friends).