How to Come up With Million Dollar Business or Product Ideas

Ever wonder why some people appear to have the ‘Midas Touch’ when it comes to business?  How is it that these people are able to build wealth from scratch, not just once, but over and over again?

Being able to spot opportunities and come up with ideas based on those opportunities is a very special skill, and it’s the skill that separates the truly successful self-made entrepreneurs from the not-so-successful.  It’s not a talent that some people are just lucky enough to possess, it’s a learned ability. Often this ability is learned subconsciously over time – but it can be developed consciously, in a short period of time and with a little practice!

Opportunities are all around us, but you need a starting point. Start off by getting some direction, some focus. Try going through this list and making notes:

What are your hobbies?
What are your interests?
What are you involved with in your day-to-day life?
What do you enjoy doing?
What would you happily write about?
What part of your job do you like?
Which kind of stores do you like visiting?
What kind of places do you like visiting?
Who are the people you associate with the most?
Do you have any pets?

Come up with one or two topics that really interest you and then try to find out what problems and issues people have in relation to those topics.

“The key to generating a lot of ideas is to form the habit of consciously noticing
problems and identifying needs. Eventually this will become like second nature”

One important thing to note is that a great idea does not need to be complicated. In fact, often the simple ideas are the best ones.  Tweaking an already popular product to solve a problem or an issue that people are having, or building on an already popular service, again to solve a common problem or issue.

What about funding?  You have this great idea, but you don’t have the funds to do anything with it.  Well, here’s the thing… You could go down the route of trying to raise funds and there are platforms like Kickstarter to help you do that, BUT, there are so many high-potential ideas that are actionable immediately, on even the smallest of budgets.  If you can develop the ability to generate these low startup (or even zero startup) ideas, you will be able to put ideas into action without the headache of trying to get funding.

If you want to really develop your skills in this subject, click the link below to access the full training

Learn to Quickly Generate Actionable, Profitable Business Ideas With Ease. Open the Door to Successful Entrepreneurship

How to Cut Through the Brain Fog and Start Succeeding!

Brain fog – what is it? It’s that feeling of not being focused. When the brain is so overwhelmed that it’s totally unproductive.

This is SO common in online marketing and one of the biggest reasons is the sheer volume of information that we try to digest. A lot of it totally contradictory, which doesn’t help!

Even longtime online marketers who know exactly what they’re trying to achieve, still get these ‘fogs’ or ‘blocks’ now and again.

Maybe you’re still trying to decide which route to take. Affiliate marketing, e-commerce or developing your own products. Just making that initial decision can be tough.

You can’t really move forward effectively and start getting results unless you’re 100% focused.

So…here’s my personal cure for brain fog 🙂

First, take a step back. For me, that means taking time away from the computer. Just getting away from the ‘noise’ allows our subconscious brain to kick into gear. That’s when the ‘magic’ often happens. My own best ideas and decisions have always come about when I’m away from my desk. Maybe I’ll be walking, driving, at the gym, or whatever.

Second, you must choose which direction to go in. You can’t go in two or three directions at the same time. Are you going to pursue affiliate marketing, or e-commerce, or something else?

You should like what you do. Rather than choosing an area that you have no interest in, choose something that you know you will enjoy. If you think that you would enjoy affiliate marketing much more than e-commerce, then go with affiliate marketing or vice versa.

Third, go back to basics! This step applies if you have been jumping around from one thing to another without ever really fully understanding anything. If you have access to training that you feel is right for your needs, then start at the beginning of that training. Even if you have already been through it once, do it again because, in any decent training course, there’s always another ‘layer’ of understanding to be gained on the second time around. Don’t skim through or cut corners.

Fourth, take it slow if you have to. Don’t set goals that you can’t achieve. Don’t put yourself under pressure to do things at a pace you can’t keep up with. Don’t put yourself under pressure to earn x by x date in order to pay your rent or pay an important bill! This kind of pressure is usually counter-productive.

Lastly, every time you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, step away for a short while. Get some exercise or do something relaxing (but not watching TV because that doesn’t allow your subconscious to get to work 🙂

Can we Really ‘Think and Grow Rich’?

You’ve almost certainly heard of ‘Think and Grow Rich’ by Napoleon Hill and the concept of ‘the law of attraction’ which states that:

“positive thinking can create life-changing results such as increased happiness, health, and wealth.”

Think and Grow Rich was a hugely successful best seller and there’s no question that Hill made (and lost) a lot of money throughout his life with his various business ventures. However, his wealth did not come about by practising what he preaches. He sold shares that didn’t exist, he bought goods on credit with the intention of reselling them and never paying his creditors, and much more. He was accused many times of running fraudulent schemes and had to go on the run to avoid arrest warrants.

Even his best-selling book (which brought him more wealth than any of his apparently fraudulent business ventures) – Think and Grow Rich, was said to have been not truly his own work. His 4th wife, Rosa Lee, played a big part in both the writing and the editing of that book.

Hill claims that he was frequently visited by spirits and by a ‘Master’ who spoke to him audibly to reveal secret knowledge. What’s more likely is that Hill knew he could cash in by passing on this ‘secret knowledge’ to those willing to pay for it!

If nothing else, he was a very accomplished salesman and the very same could be said about the ‘gurus’ and teachers of ‘the law of attraction’.

However, I’m a great believer in positive thinking and every accomplishment always begins with a thought. There is definitely truth in the saying:

‘If you think you can, you can, and if you think you can’t, you can’t’.

Mindset is very important in relation to success, which is why I invested a lot of time into my own ‘personal development’ and mindset back when I first started out in online business.

…but thoughts alone do not manifest into ‘things’. You can think as much as you like about being wealthy, about having a better lifestyle, about being healthier, slimmer, about gaining recognition, about anything you want, but it won’t happen – unless by some ‘one in a million’ random stroke of luck!

We can’t think ourselves rich and we can’t ‘attract’ what we want in life just by focusing our thoughts. The law of attraction teaches ‘visualisation’, which is a stronger thought, but it’s still only a thought. There’s also the notion that by speaking our goals and desires out loud and repeating them over and over, we increase the chance of them coming true. This stems from the science of sound and vibration and while it’s true that sound can alter things physically – that’s not quite the same as claiming that speaking our desires out loud, will cause them to manifest.

You could say “I will win the lottery” 1000 times today and 1000 times a day for the next year, but your chances of winning the lottery will still be 20 million to 1.

To accomplish something worthwhile takes effort, it takes tenacity, determination and often a willingness to really challenge ourselves and push through the obstacles and the failed attempts. Maybe it can mean changing the habits of a lifetime, which as we all know, is not easy to do. Sometimes we need to develop a ‘do or die’ attitude!

This is why most people dream about what they want, but never actually get it. Many people dream about winning the lottery – but actually, they’re dreaming about the lifestyle they could have if they had significantly more money than they have now.

It’s incredible that even though the chances of winning the lottery are something like 20 million to 1, many people see this as their ONLY hope of achieving their dreams. Therefore, they focus all their thoughts of prosperity on winning the lottery. Because of this, they will probably miss 100 opportunities to realise their dreams in another way!

Don’t dream, DO. Decide what you want – visualise it if it helps – and then take the necessary action to get it. Age doesn’t need to be a barrier either.

Sometimes a student will complain that they’re too old to learn something new, that they didn’t grow up with computers and the Internet. Well, neither did I. When I was in school we had typewriters and something called ‘Secretarial Studies’ for girls. I remember getting a score of minus 11 (yes minus) out of 100 in my final exam for that subject. Apparently, it was not only the lowest score ever, but I was the only student in history to have scored a minus in the exam – or at least that’s what they told me. It’s true that learning a new skill when we are older often takes longer than it would have done had we learned that skill as a younger person – but that doesn’t mean we can’t do it AND get really good at it!

The message is NOT to stop thinking about what you want –  but to think about it (not for too long!), decide how you are going to get it, and then take the necessary action. Because thoughts without action are nothing more than ‘dreams’ or ‘fantasies’, just like winning the lottery 🙂

Why You Don’t Want it to be Easy!

We’ve all the heard the saying ‘keep it simple stupid’, KISS for short. There’s a lot of merit in that saying because the simplest way is often the best way. The more we over-complicate a task, the less likely we are to ever complete or even start it.  But, simple is not the same as easy. We shouldn’t expect easy. We shouldn’t ask for easy, and the short video below shows you exactly why you don’t want it to be easy!

 

Are You Suffering from a Fatal Flaw?

What exactly is a fatal flaw you may be asking!

The best way to explain is by relating it to works of fiction. Novels. Every novel has a hero/heroine and almost without exception, that hero or heroine has a character flaw. The flaw (whatever it is) prevents the character from getting what he wants (succeeding). But by the end of the novel, the hero has recognised his flaw, overcome it and ultimately succeeded.

Whether you realise it or not, this is the backbone of most novels. Whether that be mystery, crime, romance or whatever. Because people like happy endings. They like a good result.

Occasionally though, the flaw is what’s known as a ‘fatal flaw’. A fatal flaw doesn’t have to mean the hero dies – although he may do. It just means the hero never managed to overcome his flaw by the end of the novel and as a result, he failed in his quest… solve the crime, get the girl, kill the monster, whatever! In fiction writing this called a ‘tragedy’ and in fiction, they don’t happen too often.

In real life though, they happen all the time…

What are the potentially fatal flaws that prevent us from succeeding online;

• Fear of Failure
• Lack of Belief in Yourself
• Procrastination
• Cutting Corners
• Easily Distracted
• Shiny Object Syndrome

Fear of failure prevents us from taking action and without action, nothing can happen. This can be cured by…guess what…taking action!

Lack of belief in yourself can be cured by gaining the right knowledge and then acting on that knowledge. Even if you don’t get it right the first time, you will gain confidence.

Procrastination is a tough one and we all suffer from it from time to time. Yes even me 🙂 It’s all down to discipline and setting yourself a regime that you can stick to.

Cutting corners. This is a big one and I see it frequently with some of the students of my courses. It’s natural to be in a hurry to see results, but cutting corners is one sure way NOT to get the results you want.

Easily distracted. So easy these days with social media, YouTube, mobile phones. Switch everything off (if possible) while you are working and definitely close down all social media sites!

Shiny object syndrome is a real success killer. I suffered from it myself for a short while several years back. Decide on the method you want to use as your vehicle to start making money online and stick with it. Forget everything else and focus on ONE thing. If you’ve ended up on a ton of email lists, unsubscribe from them. Clear your inbox, clear your mind and focus!

Okay I know this is a not a complete list, but if you’ve been attempting to make money online for more than a few months and you’ve still not seen any success, grab a pen and be totally truthful with yourself. How many potentially fatal flaws do you have ? 🙂

The Secrets to Success in 60 Minutes a Day

Ever wondered how some people apparently manage to get so much done? There are countless examples of people who have generated small fortunes online while still working a full-time job or having a ton of other time-consuming commitments.

The saying ‘If you want something done, give it to a busy person to do’ is SO true!

If there’s one trait that you will find among ALL of these folks, it’s the ability to be highly productive in the little time they have available.

The problem is that we often get into habits of ‘wasting time’ when we’re online and we don’t even realise we’re doing it.

Personally, I need to be very productive when I’m working because I have a number of income streams to keep on top of. Additionally I have commitments, family and otherwise, so if I’m not really productive, I wouldn’t be able to manage everything and still ‘have a life’.  Nobody should need to work every hour of the day. It’s not natural and it’s not good for the mind and body.

I’ve put together a list of 4 free online tools that I use to manage my time and help me stay focused and productive.  Hope you find them helpful

EVERNOTE

https://evernote.com

Make ‘to do’ lists or notes and access them on all your devices.  This is great not just for business, but for your personal life as well.  You can also share notes and lists with other people.  Lots of features, but user friendly.

LASTPASS

https://lastpass.com/

Never forget or lose a password again.  Don’t you find it frustrating when you need to hunt for your online passwords all the time?  Or worse, you have not used a particular password for a while and you can’t even remember where you stored it?  Maybe you can’t even remember which email address you used, so you can’t even hit the ‘forgotten password’ link! Lastpass takes care of all that for you J

MYHOURS

http://myhours.com/

It’s so easy to waste time and get distracted – we ALL do it to some degree.  My Hours helps to keep you productive by tracking the time that you have worked.  It’s actually designed for tracking teams of employees, but you can use it to track your OWN time worked and it’s free for individual use.

FOCUSBOOSTER

https://www.focusboosterapp.com

Focus Booster is based on the Pomodoro technique, which has been scientifically proven to improve focus and productivity. It’s been proven that we humans have very short attention spans of around 25 minutes at a time. After that it’s difficult to stay focused on a task without being distracted.  The Pomodoro technique works in 25 minutes sessions.  The app is free for 20 sessions a month and if you like it, you can upgrade to 200 sessions a month for $2.99.