Here are 5 steps to get you out of your rut and off your butt:

1. Get up early- This is the one that I’ve started today. It’s my goal to be waking up by 4:30 or 5:00am by the end of 30 days. I love to read and plan my to-do list for the day and this is the best time to do it, while the house is quiet and the dog is still asleep.
2. Write everything down in one input device- I use a Molskine notebook. Probably one of the most expensive blank notebooks out there, but it’s much more indestructible and reliable than a cell phone. Anything that you think of or need to remember during the day, goes into the notebook or other input device.
3. Get an In Box- Use this box to dump all of the things that you’ve accumulated during the day, not just paper items. Anything such as your phone, a CD you want to hear, mail that needs sorting, and anything else goes in here.
4. Process the In Box- You can do this the following morning when you wake up early, or you can do this before you go to bed, but the box needs to be empty once a day.
5. Do it-  Make sure that you’re handling each item in your In Box only once. Do something with each item. Either file it for later or take action on it right away and do it. Do one thing at a time. Multi-tasking is the devil when it comes to time-suck-age.

Since we are ending out yet another perfectly good year, I thought it would be a good time to talk about a few things that you can do to add a little more money to your bank account.

I know not everyone out there has the luxury of completely automatic sources of never-ending income. In fact, almost no one does. To get to that level requires an unholy amount of perseverance and determination, against incredible odds.

I also know that you have that same dream, to one day be able to live from your passive income, free from a boss and to operate solely on the money coming in from your business and your investments.

However, sometimes life gets in the way eh? Sometimes there can be unfortunate situations that can really throw a proverbial wrench in your money-making plans to take over the world.

So, I figured that I would share a list of 10 quick-cash techniques that you can use to start generating income the same week that you use them. They are not for everyone. You will have to swallow a lot of personal pride to do some of them, but they work.

None of these ideas will make you rich, but they will put food on the table and presents under the tree.

They also just might help you make that extra cash you need to bootstrap your business all the way to the finish line.

I am not sharing these with you as a means to an end. We still need you to build your mini empire and stick with your dream of building your business, but I also know that life has a funny way of throwing up road blocks just at the time you think you are making progress.

May these ideas help you break down some of those road blocks.

Here we go…

10 Underdog Millionaire Quick Cash Techniques that You Can Start With Little or No Money:

1. Write “how to” articles for pay. This is something that I have done and continue to do. They bring in a great source of extra income. Yes, they do not pay very much and you may feel as if your writing talents are being abused, but if you need cash, they pay. Just do a Google search and you will find many sites.

2. Paint address numbers on the curbs of people’s homes. Two days before you want to make some money in a neighborhood, canvass the area with a well written sales letter. Tell the customer that you are in the neighborhood in two days and if they want you to paint their address on the curb, enclose a check to you, taped to their front door. No face to face selling required. All you have to do is walk around with your number stencils and spray paint, and look for the homes with envelopes on the door.

3. Sell stuff on Craigslist. I mean, sell EVERYTHING. Take a few hours one night and go through your home. Make a huge pile of stuff that you don’t use or don’t want. Take a photo of each item and list it fo free on Craigslist. You can make a few hundred bucks or MUCH MORE in a week or two if you go crazy and sell everything that isn’t moving or breathing.

4. Go to Fiverr. Click on www.fiverr.comand become a provider of services. This place basically matches people up with talented individuals willing to do just about anything for five bucks. If you can create a business card really quick, make a phone call, knit a baby booty, or sing someone a birthday song, there is a market for almost any of it. Just make sure that you find something that is worth your time for just a few dollars in return. (Side note: this is a GREAT place to outsource some of your business tasks for CHEAP!)

5. Get customers for FREE. Sometimes you might be in a situation where you have a product to sell, but you don’t have the money to advertise and bring the customers to your door. Well, I wrote a book that covers just that. If you are looking for 101 different ways that you can attract customers for free, then click the link.

6. Wash windows. Commercial businesses need their windows washed on a regular basis, all year long. Just think of how much glass is out there and how people love to push their buggery faces against it. With just a few bucks in supplies, all you do is walk down “Main St.” and ask each business owner if they would like to have their windows washed. Give them a professional invoice with your contact info on it, and try to set up a weekly or bi-weekly cleaning schedule. You get cash the day you start the business.

7. Become a personal assistant to people that you know. If you know a bust person that has an income, ask them if you could take a few of their burdens off their shoulders. Deliver the dry cleaning. Drop off the mail. Research a project for them. Pick up their kids at day care. Create a list of things that you wouldn’t mind doing and rates for each thing. Assist multiple people and you can keep yourself quite busy by just providing a few services for each. You will eventually get more clients through referral.

8. Make a product to pitch at a local flea market. If you have a business idea that you can make at home, create a bunch of them and rent a cheap table at a local flea market. Develop a USP and a quick elevator pitch. Repeat it every time someone comes to your booth and refine your technique accordingly.

9. Become an event planner. If you like to organize parties, weddings, and other events- then this is for you. Require a deposit up-front. Subcontract all the work and all you need is a phone, some great contacts and a really good knack for organization.

10. Get paid to haul trash. People need garbage removed from their homes all the time, especially landlords (believe me, I know. I once had a hoarder living in one of my rental homes and had to remove 85 garbage bags of clothes). Borrow or rent a truck. Get paid a deposit in advance. Estimate how much the job will cost and find out how much you will have to pay to take it to the local dump (if anything). It’s a dirty job, but it’s pretty recession proof. You might even find a few free treasures in the process.

Well, there you have it. I hope that I’ve helped a little this holiday season. I know that things with your business will be slowing down now and may not ramp up until well into the new year, so sometimes it’s nice to have a few quick cash ideas in your back pocket.

How about you?

Go to the comment section of the blog and leave a cash-making tip for your fellow Underdog Millionaires.

In your service,

Joshua Black

www.attract-customers.com

www.ultimateUSPcreator.com

www.sales-letter-system.com

www.information-product-report.com

www.how-to-business-network.com

www.product-pricing-strategy.com

Hey there… I’m just sitting here in the sun on my honeymoon #1 (I figured we should take two, since you only do this once, right?) and since I missed ya’ll a little bit (not that much, but a little) I figured I get a post out.

I just read a news piece about this guy called “The Situation” from the TV show “Jersey Shore.” Don’t know if you get it outside of the States, but this jackass is a real marketing and customer-attracting machine.

He got his 15 minutes of fame from hanging out on the beach in a rented house and partying all the time, while camera crews watched him make a fool out of himself. I’ll have to admit that the show is a guilty pleasure of mine, but we won’t get into that.

Since he’s captured recent fan-dom, The Situation recently created an iPhone app and who knows what else. The clip that I read showed him stepping into his new Bentley, which is the kind of six-figure car that is usually reserved for the people that don’t drive it themselves.

So what?

What am I mentioning tabloid poo-poo when there is real business to be done here?

It’s all in the headline… lean and mean.

See, I bet this guy will have his car repossessed within the next year or so once his 15 minutes are over. YOU, my friend, are different. You’re an Underdog Millionaire.

…and Underdog Millionaires don’t just sit around throwing flaming hundred dollar bills out the window at every little thing that comes our way… HECK NO!

We earned every penny of our money and in times like these, you’ve got to think lean and mean with every business decision that you make.

There are 15 million unemployed people in the U.S. right now, alone... and those are just the ones that they’re still counting. Perhaps you are amongst their ranks.

With customers having less disposable cash in their pockets more than ever before, you have to take very calculated risks with each business decision that you make. You can rich, but to get rich you have to KEEP more than you spend.

For example, I know that many of you can purchase your small business information elsewhere, so I work REALLY HARD to make sure that my books contain information that you can’t get anywhere else, and contain information that you can really use.

So, let’s take a few lessons from Uncle Josh.

Here are a handful of tips that I like to use BEFORE jumping head-first into a new business decision (and I love to take risks, but even I know better when it comes to the current economic situation):

1. If you can say “NO” and walk away from any deal, then you will pay less and have the upper hand in the situation. Never walk into a deal where your mouth is watering and you are jumping up and down to hand out your money.

2. Time limits don’t apply. If a person is trying to tell you that you can’t get that same price after a certain time period, try offering them the money the next day, AFTER you’ve gained a cool head. I bet they don’t turn you down.

3. If the seller is trying to rush you, run the other way. The deal is too good to be true.

4. Never hire someone for something that you can outsource with a subcontractor. Employees are a total pain in the arse and a drain on your sanity.

5. Give it the old rule of “24″. Basically, that means sleep on it. There is nothing that you have to buy right NOW that will make your business that much better. If you feel like you have to buy it right now, then the seller has the upper hand.

6. Don’t poop on your own couch- or in nicer terms that my mom would approve of (since she’s reading this), it means NEVER burn bridges with people whom you do business with.

7. Buy used. Most fancy-schmancy things can be purchased for pennies on the dollar when you buy them after that “new car” smell has worn off. No one will know the difference, and the money you save in the long run can put you in a higher tax bracket.

8. Diversification does not mean buying different versions of the same thing. It makes me throw up when people try to give out the worn-out advice from investing that says you should “diversify” with small cap, large cap, and medium cap stocks, bond funds etc. It’s all the same thing. TRUE diversification means that you have money coming on from totally different sources, such as your business, investments, real estate, side businesses etc.

Ok, that’ll just about do for today.

What’s your number 9? What little mean and lean tidbit would you like to share with the rest of the Underdog Millionaire family?

In your service (and on the beach),

Joshua Black

Click the image to get the FREE Underdog Millionaire wealth Pack!

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

http://www.attract-customers.com

http://www.product-pricing-strategy.com
http://www.how-to-business-network.com
http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com
http://www.UnderdogMillionaire.com/blog
http://www.sales-letter-system.com
http://www.closing-the-sale.com
http://www.information-product-report.com
http://www.UltimateUSPcreator.com
http://www.underdog-success-formula.com

_________________________________________

Got a really powerful story about niche marketing for you Underdogs out there.

I just got off the phone with a good friend of mind last night, and we had a long conversation about developing new markets and how awesome it can be to be the one that is the 800 pound gorilla in the room.

You see, my friend works for a building supply manufacturer as a sales rep/marketing coach. The company that he works with is so powerful in his industry that it’s almost like working for the mob, except that they earned every penny they’re making in a legit way.

One of the quotes of the night that really stuck with me, was that he said “selling is like checkers, but developing a market is chess.”

Think about that for just a second…

With checkers, there is more of a prescribed set of moves. You’ve got the pattern down… my opponent does this and I do that. It’s just like selling, much more predictable and just a few correct answers for each part of the problem.

Developing an entire niche market, on the other hand, is chess. It’s art. It’s the way you get completely slaughtered if you are not thinking 5 steps ahead of the other guy, or trying to make an educated guess as to what your customer will want.

So, here’s the story:

My friend’s company (we’re gonna call it XCo.), whom shall remain nameless, is like the 10,000 pound gorilla in his industry, because they plan their business like a chess game, and operate it like a piece of art.

They are in an industry where the average product pricing strategyis to chop each other at the knees by trying to be the lowest provider of building materials.

Now, XCo. knows better. They develop markets. They know that if they form relationships with their customers instead of just pitching a commodity, they’re going to have something much more powerful than a few good months of selling.

So, what do they do? They become PARTNERS with their customers.

They give their customers all the tools they need in order to sell the product correctly.

XCo. provides the training for the installation of the product, to the business owners that are not skilled in that area. 

Last (this is where the 800 pound gorilla runs through the wall like the Kool-Aid man), they tell the business owners that use the competitor’s product that they are going to get there with or without them, because of the way they can offer incentives to every OTHER business around the competition, dominating their market and making their customers rich in the process (due to the high mark-up and low production costs of the product).

“We are going to get there with or without you”

My friend actually said that to a customer the other day… it’s like something straight out of the Sopranos.

So what? You’re probably asking. 

What does a multi-billion dollar company have anything to do with the little, tiny operation I’m running at my kitchen table in my underwear?

It’s got a lot more to do with you than you’d think. In fact, if you aren’t treating your business like a chess game, then there’s a good chance that you are going to be eaten by that 800 pound gorilla climbing up the side of the building after you.

How to Develop YOUR Niche Market Like a Chess Game: 

Know where you want to go BEFORE you start moving.

Predict the moves that your competition is going to make.

Predict the moves that your customer is going to make.

Make calculated moves with everything you do.

KNOW and operate your business with the big picture in mind, not just the quick sale.

As soon as you see an opportunity, you take it NOW. You never wait and see.

It doesn’t really matter if you’re selling knitted sock monkeys on eBay, you’re installing garage doors, or you’ve got a billion dollar building supply company. The business principles are the same.

800 Pound Gorilla Principles:

1. You create RELATIONSHIPS with your customers instead of competing on price.

2. You develop a NICHE MARKETthat services a very specific starving crowd.

3. You DOMINATE that tiny niche market with the best product you can create.

4. You keep offering new products to your niche customers as long as they live.

5. You never let your guard down, so you don’t lose the empire that you’ve created.

6. You position yourself so firmly in your market that in order to remove you it will be like taking a bag of M & Ms away from a fat kid.

…but, I don’t have much competition. I just make sock monkeys. Why in the hell should I care about dominating anything? Who would want to run me out of business? That seems kind of mean.

It doesn’t matter if you’re selling to a niche of 20 people. You’re doing this to provide yourself (and your family) with a better life, right?

If you don’t serve your niche with the superhuman service and rock-star quality, someone else will, right?

…so why not YOU!

Have a great week.

Let me know how I can help your business grow… it just might be time for a little consultation.

In your service,

Joshua Black

P.S. I’m getting married on Saturday, so my post later on this week (probably thursday) is going to be it for a little while, so me and the old lady can enjoy our new lives togther on our honeymoon.

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

http://www.attract-customers.com 

http://www.product-pricing-strategy.com

http://www.how-to-business-network.com

http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com

http://www.UnderdogMillionaire.com/blog

http://www.sales-letter-system.com

http://www.closing-the-sale.com

http://www.information-product-report.com

http://www.UltimateUSPcreator.com

http://www.underdog-success-formula.com

_________________________________________

Warning: today’s post is going to be full of bad fish humor and many fishing puns,  so watch out and try not to get hooked!

There’s a crazy photo of a giant goldfish flying all over the Internet this week. Apparently this guy just happened to hook this beast in France. Although the photo seems a little suspect, it is possible that the fish is actually real.

So, this little fishy got me thinking…

One of the best ways to get more customers is to attract a really big one right out of the water. I’m sure you’ve heard of the 80/20 principle, eh? You know, the one where 80% of your business comes from 20% of your efforts.

Well my friend, you need to catch yourself a “big fish” as well.

It takes almost as much marketing energy to ”reel in” a large customer as it does your average Joe customer. You need to go through the same steps, bait the line, slowly reel her in, and eventually scoop her up with a big net.

The big difference between that little guppy and the giant marlin is that your big fish has a HUGE “school” of influence. When you land a large customer, or make a new contact with a person of big influence, you a multiplying your voice.

Not only does your business message get echoed from your own platform, but your new-found big-finned friend, is going to tell everyone he knows how great your product/service/solution is (provided that you do an awesome job, of course).

Now, it’s not as easy as just throwing some bait out there and hoping your big fish will bite. These guys will need a little more than that. You will have to TARGET your big fish, using the best techniques and gear that you can find.

You’ve got to find that treasured fishing spot.

You’re going to have to do a little research to make sure that you know where your big fish hangs out, what kind of bait attracts her, and even better, what kinds of things are going to keep her coming back to do more business with you.

You are going to need to give this person (I mean fish) special attention. Whether you give him your cell phone number, or you create special pricing, or perhaps a scaled incentive program, this fish MUST be made to feel as though he is at the front of the school.

Once you’ve got your big fish on the line, you need to exploit that situation to the best of your abilities. Keep in frequent contact with this person. You may even benefit from giving your services away for free, in return for a personal recommendation from him.

These kinds of personal, here-are-the-golden-keys-to-the-castle recommendations can completely shift the sales volume of your business.

So what’s my point?

Sometimes you’re doing the same thing over and over, and not surprisingly, you get the same results and the same customers. If you can get a little uncomfortable for a minute and swim on over to the deep end of the pond, you might just be able to hook yourself a giant influence-er that could change your business for the better.

If you want to change your business even MORE and learn how to attract customers in 101 different, FREE ways, then click on the link to read more. The Underdog Marketing 101 book is about to be released. During the release there are a ton of goodies that will be available for a short period of time.

There will also be a very generous affiliate program for those of you that own a blog and are looking to generate some extra cash on autopilot.

Keep your sunglasses on and watch the water… it’s coming REALLY soon!

In your service,

Joshua Black

http://www.attract-customers.com

P.S. I want to know a way that you have landed a big fish for your business. What are some of the tricks that you’ve used to bait the line and reel her in. Wait, before you make a comment, there is one rule… you have to use a terrible fishing analogy or pun to get your message across. Let’s have some fun with it.

Click the image to get the FREE Underdog Millionaire wealth Pack!

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

http://www.attract-customers.com

http://www.product-pricing-strategy.com
http://www.how-to-business-network.com
http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com
http://www.UnderdogMillionaire.com/blog
http://www.sales-letter-system.com
http://www.closing-the-sale.com
http://www.information-product-report.com
http://www.UltimateUSPcreator.com
http://www.underdog-success-formula.com

_________________________________________

There is so much hype on the Internet and everywhere else that there might be a money-making opportunity. When you are trying to pursue a REAL business goal, sometimes it feels like you are are wasting your time, doesn’t it?

I mean, when you hear about all of the gurus and overnight success stories of people that make $10,000 just for breathing loud, or the lady that mailed just one letter and came up with a huge bag of money.

Of course we want to believe that instant riches are possible. After all, that’s the goal, isn’t it? Well, my point of today’s post is to dispel that myth about the overnight success stories and to bring us over to the question of why we are REALLY following our business passions.

First, I want to tell you a little story- When I was younger I was very interested in body-building. Now, by interested I mean that I read magazines with these hulking beasts on the cover, lifted weights a lot, ate a lot of magic milk shakes, and saw no results.

It wasn’t until much later I found out that those kind of physiques were not possible without the use of anabolic steroids. No matter how many gallons of muscle powder and how many weights I lifted, it was not physically possible for me to look like that unless I did a bunch of drugs.

Well, this is the fine-line between the overnight success B.S. and the real truth about making money in small business.

The truth is the part THEY aren’t telling you.

Sure, there are people that make $10,000/day operating small businesses from home. Some day I hope to be one of them too. However, the part they don’t tell you about in their sales page is that in order to get to the overnight success, they had to gain the knowledge to perfect their method for the past 23 years!

No one wants to hear the part about the business owner that had to sleep in his car just to keep his dream alive. We just want to hear about the people that make $500 for shaking someone’s hand.

No one wants to hear about the small business owner that had to work a 40 hour job and then deliver pizza at night for 10 years,  just to launch her product on the shopping channel.  We just want to hear about the blockbuster sales she made after having just one day on television.

That is what I am getting at…

NEVER believe anything you read that sounds too good to be true, even if I wrote it. There is probably a much more boring sob story behind the real success, but it’s a much better story, because it shows perseverance.

Now we come to the answer to the question in the headline above… so what is the one, sure-fire thing you can do to get rich?

You have to believe in your product, eat-sleep-breathe your product, be so insanely-passionate about your product that you don’t see failure as one of the choices.

The people that don’t make it to their goals decided to check the box that says “fail.”

The people that DO make it never even had that box on their application. That’s the difference.

It’s not about how quick you can make a buck or how many people you can fleece into buying your product. It’s about believing in something so passionately that you can’t get enough of it and you KNOW that it will work no matter what.

 Now, I created a really inexpensive guide to help you along your journey to achieving your goals, but before you go click on this link you have to know that this is NOT for everyone.

If you are a skeptical person that will just see this as another bunch of “woo woo” ideas, where you sit in a chair and wish your way to success, then you will do yourself a complete disservice if you pick up a copy.

However, if you are the kind of person that knows you will do whatever it takes in order to make your entrepreneurial dreams come true, then click here to grab yourself a copy of the Underdog Success Formula now.

This is the exact method that I use myself, and if you believe in what you are doing, it could work for you.

Let’s hear from you now. Give the rest of the Underdogs a nice, juicy story about how you had to go through a really tough time in order to gain a success with your business. It can be about anything at all… let ‘er rip!

Until tomorrow,

Joshua Black

www.underdog-success-formula.com

Click the image to get the FREE  Underdog Millionaire wealth Pack! 

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved. 

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah: 

http://www.product-pricing-strategy.com
http://www.how-to-business-network.com
http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com
http://www.UnderdogMillionaire.com/blog
http://www.sales-letter-system.com
http://www.closing-the-sale.com
http://www.information-product-report.com
http://www.UltimateUSPcreator.com
http://www.underdog-success-formula.com 

_________________________________________

Today’s post is going to be the last of the birthday blog posts. I thought I would share a few blogs with you that I think are really going the extra mile.

These guys (and gals) don’t just re-hash the current flavor-of-the-month content that can be seen on many of the blogs out there. Instead, they are hard-hitting, unique business owners that have really developed a niche name for themselves.

Many of these blogs are geared towards small business owners, but not all. I think that if you are going to be a competitive entrepreneur, you really need to look at a variety of sources for inspiration.

Now, I am not going to over-load you with the over 50 different blogs that I try to follow on a regular basis, but I do have a special handful for you that really do something above and beyond.

So, without further adieu, here they are:

Heavy Hitters That Blog About Blogging:

If you have been in the blogging world for any length of time, then you already know about these guys, but if you are just getting started, this is the kind of blogging that you can aspire to.

Problogger- This is a site started by Darren Rowse. He has been blogging for years and has grown his empire to over a million dollars a year, just from blogging, advertising, and selling products.

Entrepreneur’s Journey- This site is run by another Aussie, Yaro Starak. He is a real underdog story, who is now one of the biggest independent bloggers out there, providing TONS of free content and audio interviews from rags-to-riches stories of Internet entrepreneurs all over the world.

Specialists:

This is a group of bloggers that have picked a successful niche and have gained a really solid following, due to the content they provide, the atmosphere they create, and the personality that really comes through in their blogs.

Ittybiz- This is the marketing blog of Naomi Dunford.  She has created a cult-like following all based around her razor-sharp personality and her sailor’s mouth. This is not re-hashed marketing advice. Almost every blog post that she writes should be printed out and saved as reference material. Plus, she’s freakin’ hilarious.

The World’s Strongest Librarian- This blog is home to one of the most eclectic guys on the blogging scene. It’s run by Josh Hanagarne, a strong-man/librarian that is also battling with a cure for Tourettes Syndrome. His posts range from spectacular book reviews, to random thoughts, from weight lifting advice, to sage wisdom. Always worth a look on a daily basis.

Men With Pens- This is a site for writers. Not only does this group own their own web design and consulting company, but the frequent posts here offer some really good advice for fine-tuning your writing and improving your value to your market.

ProCopy Tips- This is a copywriting blog that, in my humble opinion is a place that is a hidden gem, discovered by only a few.  It’s run by a life-long direct-response copywriter named Dean Rieck.  He gives away some great basic copywriting advice and even posts frequently on Copyblogger.

The Simple Dollar- This is a personal finance/money blog by Trent Hamm. He has a cult-like following as well. He covers everything from investing, to debt removal, to bankruptcy and has authored a few books. Great site if you like money at all.

My Friends and Underdogs:

This is a group of up-and-coming bloggers that is really trying to make a difference in their respective markets. They haven’t hit the big time just yet, but I know they will, just based on the content and services they provide. These guys are definitely people to keep and eye on.

Tommy DePietro- This guy is serious business. He runs a MLM marketing advice blog, has a ton of videos and is very passionate about his work. Tommy is really going somewhere.  He has been a frequent commenter on the Underdog Millionaire since the beginning.

Alex Whalley- Alex is a really honest guy with a big heart. His blog focuses on keywords, SEO, and niche marketing. His posts are very thorough and he has come a LONG way in a short time.

The Big Red Tomato Company- This is a small business blog run by Matthew Needham.  He’s got some great ideas about consulting, small business marketing, and creating information products. Matthew is a real stand-up guy and we occasionally bounce ideas off each other since we are in the same niche.

Josh Garcia- This guy is another one that has slowly grown alongside the Underdog Millionaire. Josh is all about generating leads and giving great marketing advice. Definitely worth a look. You will see his blog comments all over the Internet.

I think that should just about do it. Hope you enjoyed the list. Of course I’m sure I missed a few great blogs out there. Give me the name of someone that you really think is doing an amazing job of creating content?

Help your fellow Underdogs out and let’s get this post Tweeted all over the Net!

Until tomorrow,

Joshua Black

Click the image to get the FREE  Underdog Millionaire wealth Pack! 

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved. 

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah: 

http://www.product-pricing-strategy.com
http://www.how-to-business-network.com
http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com
http://www.UnderdogMillionaire.com/blog
http://www.sales-letter-system.com
http://www.closing-the-sale.com
http://www.information-product-report.com
http://www.UltimateUSPcreator.com
http://www.underdog-success-formula.com 

_________________________________________

Sometimes you can have a big pile of money just sitting under your nose, but it takes someone else to help you find it.

Using an outside consultant is a great way
to have a non-biased person take a look deep
inside the inner-workings of your business
and find thousands of dollars (or more) in
hidden assets that you can use right NOW.

As a small business owner, you are so
involved with every little piece of your business
that sometimes you have a hard time seeing the
forest for the trees and noticing those little
things that you can do to bring in more business.

Here are just a small handful of things that
a small business consultant can help you with:

1. Ways to get more money out of existing clients

2. How to bring in new clients for free

3. Guerilla tactics for getting your business name
out there, in front of the people that need to see it.

4. New ways to “re-package” products and services
that are currently not selling the way they should,
turning them into a profit powerhouse.

5. Copywriting help

6. Someone just to confide in. Someone that has
been through some of the stress, trials, and
tribulations that you are going through.

…and even more.

When you make the conscious decision to take your
business to the next level through a consultant,
you are choosing to get an edge up on your industry.

As a small business owner, there is no way that
you can be an expert in every aspect of your
business, even though you might like to be.

You probably have just a few things that you
are a total expert at, and the rest might require
a little help from the outside.

This is how consulting can help.

With a small business consultant, you can benefit
from all of the tools and money-making strategies,
without having to employ full-time help.

With a consultant you are basically getting free
advice due to the return on investment for the
money you could make with the results of the
consultation.

Think about it.

It’s like lifting up your mattress and finding a
suitcase full of cash that you didn’t know was
under there.

It may have been with you the entire time, but
without having someone else show you where it was
you could be sleeping on top of it for years
without knowing about it.

If you are ready to put on your Super Entrepreneur
cape and spandex and really take your business
to a place where no small business owner has gone
before, it’s about time you looked into getting
a small business consultant.

For more information about the consulting services
that I offer click here:

http://www.underdogmillionaire.com/blog/services

A few days ago I put out the offer to a lucky
handful of small business owners from many different
industries, to get a free one-hour business makeover.

These lucky few have been chosen and in the next
few weeks you will get to see samples of the results
from those consults on the blog.

Stay tuned. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the results.

They may even help your small business get an edge.

But WAIT! Before you go… Have you ever used a consultant for your small business? Are you a consultant and you wish to share with the other Underdog Millionaires? Let’s start the discussion in the comments below- How have you been helped (even hurt), or helped others through small business consulting?

Until Later,

Joshua Black
http://www.underdogmillionaire.com/blog/services

Click the image to get the FREE  Underdog Millionaire wealth Pack!

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

_________________________________________

Today’s Tip Sheet is all about a handful of tools that I think will be helpful for you in a variety of business situations.

Consider this the Swiss Army Knife of  lists.

As an entrepreneur, you are pulled in many
different directions in a given day. You
are constantly bombarded with decisions that
have to be made and many times you need to
make them with more information than just
a quick “gut check” can provide.

There are tons of experts out there that
say you need to ultimately follow your gut
with business decisions, but there are many
occasions where you need more information.

Here is a list of tools that you can use
to help you solve problems, grab some
creativity, and get help when you need it:

1. Idea mapping- This is a POWERFUL tool
that you can use when you are trying to remember
concepts, map out a new business idea or product,
and even take notes on an ENTIRE BOOK, right on
one page.

My absolute favorite book on idea mapping/brain
mapping is “Idea Mapping” by Jamie Nast. Her
methods generally require you to write everything
down on paper, but if you want mapping software,
there is a ton of freeware out there with a simple
Google search.

2. A 7-sentence marketing plan- originally coined
by Guerilla Marketing expert Jay Conrad Levinson,
this is a one-page document that outlines the
complete marketing plan for your entire business.

You can go back to this each time you need to make
a marketing decision, or you are looking some guidance
on the proper direction to take. I get into this
in much more depth in my new soon-to-be-released
Underdog Marketing 101 book.

Just answer these 7 questions:
1. Explain the purpose of your marketing.
2. Spell out how you will achieve your purpose
by describing the benefits you provide to clients.
3. Specify  your target market.
4. Describe your niche in that market.
5. Outline the marketing weapons you will use.
6. Focus on the identity of your business.
7. Establish your marketing budget.

3. Learn to close your eyes for 2 minutes-
When you are faced with a difficult decision
or you need to develop and answer to a problem
this simple technique of looking inward on the
problem and being free of outside distraction
can sometimes bring you to some amazing results.

Just close your eyes for 2 minutes and think
about nothing by the decision at hand. There are
no more rules than that.

4. Get an elevator pitch for your business-
Let’s face it, you never know who you are
going to run into, and when you might run
into them.

You can stumble across some amazing business
opportunities on a daily basis without even
planning on it. An elevator pitch is a
description of your business in about 30 seconds
or the time it takes to ride an elevator.

An elevator pitch is a rendition of your
Unique Selling Proposition. One good way
to figure out your own is to phrase is this
way: “Do you know how…? Well, what we do is…”

Just fill in the blanks, showing how you solve
a niche problem with your business.
5. Join or create a network- last but not least,
no business owner can do this alone. You have
to have some help.

Joining a network puts the problem-solving and
brain power together for many small business
owners in one place, and you can get free advice,
free leads, free product ideas, all worth their
weight in gold.

If you want to find out how to become a networking
superstar read about it more at:

http://www.how-to-business-network.com

Until Tomorrow,

Joshua Black
http://www.how-to-business-network.com

P.S. Let’s make a NUMBER 6! What is one entrepreneurial tool that you would like to share with everyone else on the Underdog Millionaire? Enter it in the comment section.

Click the image to get the FREE  Underdog Millionaire wealth Pack!

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

_________________________________________

You may have hit a rut in the past, while trying to develop your business idea.

Maybe you had no idea what you were supposed
to do next in order to get your business off
the ground, or perhaps you have a great idea,
but you just weren’t sure how to start.

I know that I have been stuck in some
really frustrating situations in the past.

When I was just starting in information
marketing I developed a product over a period of
a year and spent a ton of money on advertising,
only to find out that the customers I was targeting
had no interest in my product whatsoever.

The one human trait that is inside every single
one of us is the lack of motivation.

We have to trick ourselves sometimes in order
to get off our rear ends and moving in the
right direction.

If you don’t get good enough at tricking
yourself, your project can get put on hold
for months, even years… or a lifetime.

I know how hard it can be to get motivated,
and I am an ultra-self-motivated person, but
it’s still really easy to NOT do anything
some days.

In order to combat that, I’ve developed a
little list of things that can help any small
business owner keep moving and stay motivated
even when the project that you are working
on is about as fun as a rock licking contest.
So without further adieu, here goes:

1. Create the world’s smallest to-do list. Now,
I don’t know about you, but I LOVE keeping lists.
I have them everywhere. However, sometimes I tend
to put too many to-do items on them. A great way
to combat that is to pick 2 things that will help
your small business that day and don’t go to bed
until those 2 things are done.

2. Give yourself stupid-easy goals. The one reason
that we lack motivation many times is that we
tend to want to complete the entire project in one
sitting or we don’t want to do it at all. Give
yourself really easy goals and when you accomplish
them quickly it makes you want to do more, and you will.

Think of things like “contact one customer,” or “write
one paragraph of a sales letter.” Things like that.

3. Fail fast. Get your product out to market ASAP.
Open your store. Get your idea in front of a customer.
If you keep analyzing and redoing things, making
sure they are perfect, you will never get your
small business off the ground. Get your idea in
“good enough” shape and get it out there to let your
customers decide whether or not it’s a winner.

4. Never make the same mistake twice. I used to
make the same mistakes over and over until I
started to analyze each mistake after it happened.

Make a quick list on some scrap paper, of the
things that went wrong and WHY they went wrong. This
simple act of writing things down will engrave
the event in your subconscious and prevent you
from repeating it.

5. Always think about the next step. For a small part
of every day, you need to dedicate some time for
free thinking and brainstorming. As a small business
owner, you need to make sure that you are thinking
of ways that you can bring in multiple streams of
income and building your business on a solid
foundation.

6. NEVER multi-task. I am still working on this one
really hard. We live in a world that is traveling
at warp speed around us. We think that we need to
do ten things at once in order to get ahead.

The problem is that each time you add something to
your current list of things, you are diluting the
work you are putting into the project by the amount
of things on your plate.

If you have 4 things you are doing at once, each
item is only operating at 25% of the capacity that
it could be. This is the OPPOSITE of fast and efficient.
Pick one thing, finish it, move on to the next.

7. If it’s not fun, stop. Finally, here is the key
to motivation and happiness in small business. If
you don’t like what you are doing, then find something
that you do like.

Of course your business is not going to be bunnies,
sunshine, and flowers all the time, but if you dread
your business and you hate what you are doing, your
customers are going to hate it too, and pretty soon
there will be no business to worry about.

Whew. I think that’s enough for today.

Let me know what you think. What’s your number 8?

Until Tomorrow,

Joshua Black

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

http://www.product-pricing-strategy.com
http://www.how-to-business-network.com
http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com
http://www.UnderdogMillionaire.com/blog
http://www.sales-letter-system.com
http://www.closing-the-sale.com
http://www.information-product-report.com
http://www.UltimateUSPcreator.com
http://www.underdog-success-formula.com

_________________________________________