At DKTaxServices :  US, Argentina, UK, Canada, India, Jamaica and Egypt.    Somehow I have this picture of some guys in Jamaica, sitting at a beachfront bar, sipping a cool drink and saying “Hey mon, you have to see what I found” as they peruse DKTaxServices US tax news.  

At the TaxLoopholes First Class Lounge Forum, largely because it’s a subscription based model, there isn’t that much moderation needed.  We don’t get hit with the spammers.  I did have a problem with trackbacks on the blog for really inappropriate sites.  A couple of TL watchers caught it right away and sent emails and Private Messages so we could block the IP addresses that were sending them.  So far, anyway, we haven’t had any more trouble.

Jorge and I are the moderators on this B-I blog.  He set it up so that all new commentators have to be approved.  Their first post is held until a human being (Jorge or I) read the post and decide if it’s appropriate.  I supposed now that I’ve published our secret someone might send a very innocent post the first time through, then hit us with spam.  But, we’re both paying close attention, with our trigger finger on the delete button, so I think we’d catch it quickly.

I was just cruising around blogs (I frequently search “blogs” for key words to get ideas of things to blog about or post on the forum, or just to see what others are talking about).  There are real gems in some of the off the beaten track blogs.  By the way, I always read food blogs in cities I’m visiting and for where I live. We’ve found some great restaurants that way.  Anyway, I have seen a lot of the quieter blogs have trouble with trackbacks.  Similar to what happened to me the first time through with TL, sites will link to the content filled blog and take you off to porn, viagra or other such sites that I wouldn’t want to be linked to.  

If you have a blog or a forum, make sure you keep a constant eye on trackbacks and comments.  You could end up with some unwelcome visitors.

We might have launched too early.  The sign up process is through a secure server, but the little lock symbol that we’re used to seeing only appears when you actually sign up.  Until then, it doesn’t look like it’s secure. I’ve gotten a couple of email complaints about that.  And I’ve always heard that for every one complaint you hear, there are a dozen that you don’t.  So, that is definitely an issue.

Then I just discovered that the field for expiration date wasn’t showing up correction for Internet Explorer, version 6 I’m going to guess, because that’s been our nemesis.

We’ll get it fixed and I’ll do another round of emails to push people to the site.  

The offer is too good not to be picked up.  Sign up, follow the program and if you don’t increase your business by 20% I refund.  I don’t think it’s the offer.  I think it’s problems with the site that have caused the low conversion.  

Frustrating.  

His knowledge and experience has been as an affiliate of other sites.  In other words, he sets up websites that buy traffic and then direct it to other sites that pay him a fee when his referred traffic buys.  That’s one of his income streams.

Our topic the other day was how often business owners don’t understand the principals of Internet Marketing for their own business.  In fact, why not set up and run your own affiliate marketing program?  Buy traffic, test it through your own landing pages and see what converts.  

That was my initial thought when I started the B-I project.  And, it has been slowly building, but not as quickly as I wanted.  I don’t know how much has been impacted by the economy and how much is because we haven’t hit the right market and key words yet.  

Over all, though, the secret is to test, refine, test and refine.  It isn’t magic.  It doesn’t happen overnight.  But boy, when it hits, it can explode your business.

One of the things people love or hate is MLMs or IBOs or Direct Selling or whatever it’s called.  There is almost a kneejerk reaction to them.  But, break it down- what is an MLM really?

At its purest sense, an MLM is a way of marketing by making use of the client base you have, or the friends and family you have or people you bring into your life. You sell to them, and others.  I don’t think anyone has a problem with selling something.  Buy low, sell high.  We all know that deal.

But the problem is that most MLMs sell a product that you have to create an interest for.  I have to first explain to you all the benefits of this juice or this cream or this energy bar.  THEN after I’ve sold you on why you need to have it, I have to hope no one else undercuts me on price or comes up with a better delivery system and then hope you not only buy, but continue buying.

In my opinion, that’s where most MLMs fail.  If you’re selling a product that isn’t in common usage or fills a need or want that is already in the customer’s mind, then you have to overcome a very big first time objection - Why do I want this?

Now add into it a complicated delivery system where a lot of people get their share and you have high selling costs that just get passed on to the consumer.

So you end up selling a product after FINALLY creating your market, that gets undercut by Costco.  

How do you make it up?  By recruiting others into the program!  And that’s where MLMs get a bad rap.  

I bet almost everyone you has a story of being invited to one thing (you think) and then finding out it’s sales meeting.  Or being told glorious promises and then not having them come true.  Or finding out the people that you work with are less than ethical.  (By the way, any of those things can happen just generally in life or business as well.  It’s just the MLM now has the added mystique of being something that most people agree on. They are bad.)

I purposely put an MLM thread on my FCL forum at www.TaxLoopholes.com.  I wanted people to post about their MLMs.  Most forums don’t want them and I think that’s a mistake.  People want to talk about what they’re doing.  The thing is you have to contain them.

And I did it for one more reason.  You see for all that it sounds above like I hate MLMs, I actually love them.  Again and again, I’ve seen people who started on an MLM and it’s hard in the beginning.  They get told it will never work and they try so hard to make maybe $1K their first year.  2nd year isn’t much better.  Third year starts to show some promise.  And then if they’ve been following the program and doing exactly what they’re supposed, at the 4th or 5th year, something magical happens.

They hit critical mass.  Suddenly income jumps from $50K per year (and feeling like a 2nd full time job) to $20K or more per month and you don’t even have to get out of bed.  I have seen it with Amyway, Usana, Nuskin - you name it.  It’s not the program so much as it is the diligence of just doing it, each and every day, and NOT QUITTING.

It does matter though which program you choose.  You have to be prepared to support it for years when you aren’t making any money.  Do you believe in it the product enough to keep going when everybody says you’re nuts and you can’t prove they’re wrong?  (at least not quite yet)

So, I started the MLM forum to see if any spoke to me.  Is there a program that has a product that doesn’t need to be sold to the customer (something they already need and want) and that has a delivery system that is easier and cheaper than what they’re already using?  That’s the program I want.

So - tell me your story.  Would you consider an MLM?  Why or why not?  

Meanwhile, I am really limping along without any of my calendar info, email addresses and partially finished projects.  

On the White House trip, I’ve gotten some great suggestions and I’m trying to implement as I can fit them in.  Here’s my “to do” list:

-  Get a Twitter account and do a “twitter” monolog of the trip.

-  Do a press release around the trip.  

-  Get new business cards.  I thought it would be better to take cards for my brand new company “Diane Kennedy’s Tax Services” rather than “Tax Loopholes.”  Somehow I think guys in office might be a little afraid of that one.

-  Try to do some sleuthing.  Who else is going to be there?  What will their agendas be?  I’m going to google blogs to see if anyone else is talking about the round table.  I keep going back to the invitation and the statement that there would be faith-based and community leaders.  I have no idea who that could be.  Some names I came up with when Googling “faith-based” and “financial education”  (1)Crown Financial Ministries, a group in Gainesville, Ga. (2) Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Ill. (3) Dave Ramsey, radio host - with “Financial Peace” program.   

-  Get centered on what my goals and outcomes would be.  My son is helping Sharon Lechter (co-author of Rich Dad series) with her new venture, Youthpreneur.  Financial education for youth is very important, but I kind of feel like she’ll have that covered and knows she can always ask me for support and contribution.  I got a suggestion to look into the huge unbanked population within Hispanic and African-Americans.  That is definitely an issue that calls to me.  Since my son is Latino, I have more ties to the Latino community in Phoenix and I’m very sympathic with how hard just plain day to day life can be when there is mistrust and misunderstanding of how the system works.  

-  Not sure if it fits, but I still believe that the answer to money problems is first figuring out why you have the problem (and no money could very well be it) and then start a business. 

Plus, I’ve got to get my hair and nails done and buy a new suit.  So, lots still to do…

I’m still in awe of the huge honor.  Yes, it has totally gone to my head.  I’ve taken to saying things like, “Oh, that’s right I can’t take you to your skating lesson, I have to go to the White House.”  Also, “I’m doing this because my country needs me.”  I don’t think anyone else at home thinks it is as funny as I do.   

First step:  Find those hidden business assets.  In my head, I keep picturing professionals,like myself, who have “businesses” that others might call highly successful,but the fact is that you’re nothing more than a highly paid factoryworker.  If you don’t work, you don’t get paid.

That was the realization I had back in 2000 when I began breaking down what it was I did to create more highly leveraged ways of doing it. That lead to the website www.TaxLoopholes.comand a business that has been steadily growing.  It took me 7 years to get TaxLoopholes to a million dollarsper year.  This time I want to do it in 2 years or less.

So, what business assets do you have that you’re not using at full potential?

I think there are three parts to it.  Picture three circles that overlap in the middle.  It’s the center spot that we are trying to hit.

The first circle is:  Your hidden business assets:  your skills, ability, knowledge, systems, experience, and the like. It’s your entrepreneurial piece that is real.

The second circle is:  What’s Most Important to you.  Where is your passion?  What is your dream?  NOTE:  Dreams are necessary, but not the only thing.  For example, I might have a driving passion to sing…but trust me, I’m not going to make any money at it.  I can’t sing. 

The third circle is: What customers/clientswant and/or need. 

Put it another way:  Circle #1:  Entrepreneurial

                                    Circle#2:  Emotional

                                    Circle#3:  Economic

Find the place that the three intersect and you have your e-Center™, the epicenter of your new business venture where you can create more highly leverage income and multiple streams of passive income.