Friday May 15th-Calling Leads

I am now three weeks into my maternity leave and am starting to get settled into a routine. I must admit yesterday, Beverly decided not to sleep all day and made it so I got very little done. But nevertheless, today has been a little better. I realized that I need to be keeping on top of things on the front end, making sure I am keeping track of my calls and follow ups so that I do not get to the end of the week and realize that I have gotten nothing done. In the last two weeks I have called 40 leads:

• 6- have asked not to be called--they were not interested in a home-based business
• 11- were bad phone numbers (i.e. disconnected)
  
• 11-I have left a voice mail with
• 4- I did not get an answer yet at the phone number
• 8 - I got answers but the right person was not there so I need to call them back

These were leads that I called using the calling edge system. The best part about this system is you can call 10 leads in about 10 minutes, not including the time that you spend actually talking to someone if they are in. It really makes calling leads a lot easier. However, calling leads are still calling leads, so you still have to go through the hassle/game of actually reaching someone on the phone to talk to.

Before the end of the day tomorrow, I want to accomplish the following things:

1. email my downline about the new changes in MPM
2. call the 23 people out of the 40 leads that I have left a voice mail with, or have not gotten the right person on the phone
3. make a video that tells my story to include with my landing page.

Tomorrow morning will be taken up with a visit from a coworker to see the baby and my husband is working, so most of this will need to be done during the time that my 2-yr old is napping or after he has gone to bed. I will update you tomorrow on what has gotten done! I'm off to the grocery store after I feed Beverly!

--SAndy W

Rest, Recovery, Rejuvenation, Reconnection

Last week was spent resting and recovering from the birth of Beverly. She is such a wonderful baby. She only cries when she needs something! It has made my recovery a little easier...although I still do not quite feel "normal" yet. However, as Beverly, Avery, my husband and I get settled into our new routine, I want to make sure that MPM is a part of that routine. So my goal this week is to ease back into it. To reconnect with my team members that I am sponsoring, to reconnect with some contacts that may be interested in joining, and to finish my landing page so that I can really begin to market myself. Yesterday I did call 10 leads using the lead calling system MPM is testing. It is a very nice system in that it enables you to make lots of calls in a short amount of time. I called 10 people in about 10 minutes. It also leaves a voice message and sends an email to your prospects. Very convenient. Of the 10 that I called, there are two that I promised I would follow up with (because the people I spoke with said the right person would be in at that time) and there were 2 voice mails, 2 "no answers" that I will need to call back, 2 that asked to be removed from the list (i.e. do not call) and 2 that were bad numbers. These results were pretty typical related to other experiences working with leads except that I got all that information in 11 minutes, rather than 45 minutes.

I have a follow up call scheduled for 1:30 today (10:30 PST), and another scheduled for "anytime during the day on Friday".

That's all for now except another picture of Beverly...Sandy W

Beverly Gracelyn Warner

Beverly
Gracelyn
Warner

Born April 26 at 7:17 PM

7 lbs 11 oz

21-in long

Still waiting....

for the baby to arrive. Spent a little bit of time catching up on MPM emails and some follow ups to my team. Otherwise the focus of the day has become "prepare for the baby". It is really "anyday" and there are still things to do. I understand I'll never be totally ready with everything the exactly the way that I plan it or want it to happen but I'm trying to take care of the most important things while making sure I get enough rest.

Just wanted to give everyone an brief update...

Sandy W

Just a quick update

Just a quick update...there is still no baby born yet...Still waiting.

But the car seat is ready, the laundry is done (so she has something to wear), my bag is packed, and we're getting closer to being "ready".

The weekend was spent resting (I am definitely fighting fatigue) in between "getting things ready". For MPM, I downloaded a free template (I'll post the link in the "free Tools section" once I test it to make sure its what I am looking for) for a landing page or entrance into my "marketing funnel". I've been thinking about all the things that I want to put on there--a video with me telling "my story.", pictures, and which one of the 101 ebooks I want to give away as a thank you for visiting my site.

I realize that I could spend A LOT of time thinking about all the details and trying to get everything looking just right. But the fact of the matter is, it will be a work in progress. I will need to continually be making changes and so forth so it is important to get something as a starting point. Once I am getting traffic to it, I can tweak it, add bells and whistles, etc based on the results I see from the traffic I get.

I'll keep you posted. It sounds like the baby will be coming either sometime this week on her own, or sometime next week with some help from modern medicine.

Sandy W.

Who is my target market?

Last blog, I discussed what a marketing funnel is. One of the first things to decide when setting up a marketing funnel is...who is my target market? Most of the generic systems that I have been using as resources say to set up your "target market" to be other internet marketers. It does make some sense if you are going to be building an online business to target people who are already familiar with online businesses. If you believe the statistics, 97% of internet marketers fail, so that means that 97% of your target market are looking for help...

When it comes to a target market, a very broad target (like "internet marketers") will make it easier to pull more people into your "funnel". However, as people move into your "funnel" and learn more about you, you will have to build a relationship with more people in order to find those who are interested in you: interested in your help and eventually interested in joining your business.

However, I have played the numbers game. I have called MANY, MANY free business opportunity leads and know that, while the leads are effective, you have to call many many many more of the free leads in order to see results. Leads that I have purchased, while you pay them, are more targeted and usually are actual people interested in a business (rather than a fake phone number or email or someone that wanted a free hat).

So I'm interested in narrowing my target market a little bit to a group of people that I think will be attracted to my personality, and eventually to My Power Mall. Based on my current situation, I think that I relate the best to moms and in particular, new moms. So I am going to work at attracting mothers of young children into my marketing "funnel". These mothers would be people who are interested in making money online, or who already are involved in an online business but are looking for some help.

Speaking of being a new mom...I'm still waiting for the arrival of our little girl. It's six days until my date.....It's been very busy these last few days (which is why I've been blogging less frequently) trying to "get ready". Next week is my last week at my day job, so I spent much of today trying to wrap up loose ends and get everything documented on various projects so that my colleagues can take over in my absence and my clients still get the service they deserve and pay for. Last night my husband got everything out of our attic so we could get out the baby stuff...the swing, the bibs, the clothes...so the rest of the night will be spent sorting and so trying to decide what we need out now, and what we can pack up until we move. Thanks to bzm and my earth angel, I've been able to keep focused on what is important and let go of what is not as important....

Good night!
Sandy W

What is an Online Marketing Funnel?

What is an online Marketing Funnel? If you have been in internet marketing or have been trying to build an online business (or any business really), you may have run into the term. I know that I have seen many different versions and many different opinions about it. In a traditional sense, picture a funnel:
The idea is simply to get as many leads as possible into your "funnel". Then as you build a relationship with those leads and get to know them, you will be able to "sort out" those who are not a good fit for your business opportunity, and those who are a good fit for your opportunity. Typically the number of leads that enter your funnel are a lot less than those who "exit" the funnel by joining your business opportunity.

The idea sounds really simple, but how do you go about setting up your "funnel"? How do you attract people to want to join that funnel once it is set up?

The first advice I have, is to think about what is your selling...If your answer is "my business opportunity" than you will struggle. Your "funnel" will have to be really big (i.e. you will have to bring in a lot of leads) in order to get some to end your business opportunity. The goal is to pick a target market and think about what that market really needs. For example, here are some of the broader "target market" for an online business:

• stay at home moms
• internet marketers
• bargain hunters
• non profit fund raisers
  
• college students, etc

Once you identify your target market, you want to determine what it is that they are interested in. If you immediately try to sell your business opportunity, there is so much competition, you will not see a good return on your efforts. Really what you are selling, is not your opportunity, but you and what you know! Tell your story and attract your target market to you. Once you have attracted your leads to your "funnel", you want to spend time building a relationship with them. This means that you need to share content about how you can help them accomplish their goals.

Once you have built a relationship with your target market, your leads will know you, they will like you and then they will trust you. Otherwise, they will have stopped following your information been eliminated from your funnel. This is the time that you will find many will ask you about your business opportunity and want to find out more about how you are reaching your goals through your business opportunity.

Please follow my blog to follow my journey of setting up a marketing funnel...

Sandy W.

Wednesday April 8

Today was spent nesting--no not because I had the "surge of energy" to clean...but because my family is coming to visit tomorrow afternoon and I wanted to make sure all the dust bunnies were taken care of (so the Easter Bunny would not be jealous).

I did get a chance to listen to the Monday night family call/coaching call and check up on my emails/social networking sites.

That's all for today!

Moving forward one step at a time

I feel like I have so much to do to get ready...I need to have everything ready at my job to drop at a moment's notice and someone be able to pick it up where I dropped it. I still have things to do at home to get ready for an additional family member. There are other things going on and its difficult to determine where to start and what to do.

Starting your MPM business can be just like that. There is so much to learn that you can easily feel overwhelmed. It's easy to think that you do not know where to start or that you still need to learn more before you begin. Those were excuses that used to keep me from accomplishing anything with MPM. It's important that daily action is taken, no matter how small, so that time does not get away from you without getting results too!

So today I called my downline members (left a message) and watched some social networkign instructional videos. I checked the number of hits on my business site and its up to 442. It had been a while since I had checked. I also replied to several emails/twitter messages to aid in buildling meaningful relationships. Small actions daily is much better than no action or inconsistent actions!

Sandy W

April 6th

Today was a day of extremes...it went from really sunny to a huge storm, back to sunny, etc. I think it oscillated back and forth three or four times today.

Last time, I briefly touched on setting up my facebook profile, but I wanted to review a little bit about how I am telling "my story" to position myself as an expert in building an online business.

The main goal is to provide people visiting my site (whether it is my facebook profile, my youtube channel or my space profile) an opportunity to get to know who I am and feel like they can connect wiht me and work with me. I begin with a little bit about me, why I am interested in making money online, and how I can help others to do the same.

It's not about promoting my business opportunity.

Sandy W

PS Quinn-not sure if you follow my blog regularly but can you send me your email address? you did not leave me your contact info in your comment on my last blog.

Goals Part II

Big Z's Mom has an excellent post about how to get your business off to a good start. She also challenged me with my goals posts...that nine months is too long of a time to set your goals without considering short term ones as well. So in order to reach my goal of 10 downline members is 9 months, I need to be getting 1.1 sign ups each month. I know...it's impossible to get 1.1 sign ups...so I am going to set my goal at 2 sign ups each month. To work that goal "backwards" or setting the action plan, I still think that I can reach that goal by making new 5 contacts a week and following up, following up, following up with my existing contacts.

But what do we do when we discover that we are not reaching our goals? It's difficult. I was discouraged tonight because one of my downline members has decided that MPM is not for them and asked me how they cancel their WCM. It's difficult not to think, "what should I have done differently to help them?" "Why would they want to cancel their mall?" "What if I had...".

I'm the first to admit that there probably are things that I could have done better. But it also is up to each member to build their own business for themselves...they cannot have their sponspor build it for them.

I think we need to look at why we had not reached our goals, and based on what we learn, craft new goals and succeed at them. Here are some reasons that we may not accomplish our goals:
1. The goals were not reasonable or attainable in the first place
2. The action plan associated with the goals was not adequate to bring us to those goals
3. The action plan was not followed.

In my case, it is usually the third option to explain my short comings. I was frustrated at the pace of my social networking tuturial that I was trying to follow step by step (I'm one of those people that love to have easy directions laid out for me to follow). It has been two weeks since the last tutorial was released. But I realized that only I am responsible for my business and I needed to press on toward my goals anyway. So I set up my own facebook profile today, to keep things moving in my goal of getting myself viewed as an online expert. I had an existing facebook account, but its is mostly for sharing family pics and so forth. I created an account just for my MPM business and worked on "telling my story" in my profile. I will save the details for tomorrow's blog.

Sandy W

Lawrence's Kaldor's story-Never GIve Up

Here is the story of someone I met on Twitter. He has a website, that he sells a copy of a romantic DVD comedy where the proceeds go to benefit two different charities that help those who have lost a limb.

Twenty Four Years ago I was in a traumatic plane crash – never give up

I lost my left leg, my right eye and my father -- never give up

I was pronounced dead three times during my 1 year hospitalization -- never give up

…I survived!!!

I made a film about my own true sibling rivalry – I was told of the impossibility of making a feature film -- never give up

One week before principal photography my lead actress backed out -- never give up

On a daily basis I was riddled with one production crisis after another -- never give up

“You’ll never get international pop star Cher interested.” – after two years of pursuing her, she gave us her music – never give up

“You’ll never get a corporate sponsor to give you any money” – Subway came in, paid for our re-shoots, gave us a location and took us to festivals – never give up!!!

…We completed the film!!! --- Never give up.

In 2001 after a wonderful festival run we got distribution -- never give up

On September 13, 2001 my financing and distribution was withdrawn because of the bombing on 9/11 – as we had a comedy with the World Trade Center in it – “NO ONE will ever want to laugh at a movie about people in NYC.” -- never give up

…The film sat around for years -- never give up.

In 2006 despite advice of friends and peers I spent my own money to re-shoot, re-edit, re-mix, re-score, add new music, remove the trade center, and update the film – everyone said it was a waste of money -- never give up

In 2008 we completed the film and got distribution at AFM – three weeks later my distribution company, a prosperous and solid company, went out of business due to internal conflicts -- never give up

I decided to self distribute – everyone said that was a bad idea -- never give up

I planned to give the proceeds to charity -- never give up

People are constantly telling me of the uphill battle to raise awareness – people are constantly telling me what cannot be done –

The people on twitter have been wonderful – I want to get the word out – I want people to give to these two worth while charities – and by Easter I’d love to present Cher with an impressive check for CCA and Dan Sorkin with an impressive check for SRU.

And my Saga continues…. And I NEVER… EVER give up!!!

Peace and much love ~Laurence N. Kaldor

PURCHASE The DVD: http://www.redirectingeddie.com/dvd/

OFFICIAL MOVIE WEBSITE: http://www.redirectingeddie.com/

THE TRAILER: http://www.redirectingeddie.com/media/

CCA: http://www.ccakids.org/

SRU: http://www.stumps.org/

DONATIONS: http://www.redirectingeddie.com/dvd/purchase.html#donate

36 Weeks and 4 days

Hello everyone! I'm back. I had to take some time off from blogging to tend to a sick son, then I ended up with the cold, and then my husband got the flu. But now we are all feeling healthy again and trying to get ready for our new arrival...which could be very soon!

I have been listening to the coaching calls that are recorded on a daily basis. I'm especially enjoyed hearing ideas from everyone and hearing people work through their goals. I realized that I needed to take a look at my goals and why I was not reaching them. I think I now have a better idea of what it takes to reach those goals to define an action plan to reach them. I thought it would be appropriate to set some new ones (since a week off and I'm really behind from the ones I set before...).

9 months or 40 weeks. It seems like a long time away at the beginning of nine months...but now that I am nearing the end of nine months I am wondering where the time has gone. It does not seem like I am almost through the nine months.

So I have set my goals to be met within the next 9 months. Conveniently, that's the end of 2009. I want to have at least 10 new people in my downline that are building teams of their own. I plan on making at least 5 new contacts a week and following up with previous contacts on a weekly basis. That means at least 5 % of my contacts need to decided to change their lives and become My Power Mall Members. I also understand that there may be a week or two involved with life changes where I may not be able to get my 5 contacts. But I will make up for it the week before or after.

Glad to be back. I have to go catch up on some emails now and get some rest!

Sandy W

Tuesday March 24

I took yesterday off, needed a chance to relax. My son has brought home a cold from daycare and I'm trying to avoid it!

Today, I focused on catching up on emails and follow ups. Remember, It's about relationships.

There is someone that I met through twitter who sells a video and donates the proceeds to two separate charities that help amputees to get prosthetics when they need them. I am working on helping her and thinking about making it my T-day project for April. I'll continue to update everyone as the details emerge.

My other goal this week is to get caught up on the coaching calls I missed live and try to make a live call this week.

Good night to everyone!

SAndyW

You Tube

You Tube is the next site I wanted to talk about. Before I begin, I did want to explain something. I am working on getting all of my profiles and information set up on each of these sites, and then once each of the five is set up, will change my focus on building relationships. In the past when I have tried "social networking before" in forums and so forth, I have tried to meet people but then have gotten wrapped up in another new site or something and have not followed through with the people that I met. Follow up is still very important since someone may need to see something several times before making a decision. With social networking, you are really the product that someone is going to decide to work with. It may take several times to talk to them, get to know them so that they are convinced that you are really interested in working with them. Not just trying to make a sale.

So now, I wanted to talk a little bit about You Tube. I know that quite a few people have uploaded the MPM marketing videos to youtube, myself included (It's been viewed 92 times). But when you create an account with You Tube, you also are given your own "Channel" that allows another opportunity for someone to learn more about you. (My channel has been viewed 93 times). My YouTube channel is http://www.youtube.com/SandyW12345

Here is some of the information that I tried to include with my YouTube Channel.

• My picture-this is the same picture that I used for Myspace and this blogger website. I am trying to get recognition, so I am using the same picture on all the sites.
• An initial brief paragraph that describes my channel and its purpose.
  
• A link to my myspace profile so that someone interested can learn more about me.
• A brief synopsis of "My Story" and who I am interested in working with or who I would like to meet
• I chose to use the "Together we can change the world song" as my feature video.
• I also changed the "recent activity" section so that it would only show the videos that I uploaded, rather than the videos that I have watched (In case I watch a video that is unrelated to MPM or to buildling my business).

The goal of putting this information onto my Channel is that when people are directed to watch one of my videos, there is a way that they can learn more informaiton about me by looking at the channel information. I want them to feel as comfortable as possible with me so that they will want to work with me to help them build their business.

Sandy W.

Social Networking-My Approach

I know that this topic has come up on some of the coaching calls and so forth and many are interested in tips and ideas on social networking. It's difficult for me to be on all the coaching call live (although I listen to them), so I want to share what I am doing. I have reformatted this blog to help me do that. I added some links to tools that I am using online. These are all free tools and not affiliate links. I will add to them as I go.

Like we learned during the bootcamp, there are many, many ways to build your business and you have to find what works for you. Social Networking is the same way. There are many ways, but you have to find what works for you. I am following a blog by a social networker, Armando Arias that is providing me with advice and tips. But this blogger is participating in a different business opportunity and often promotes his affiliate links, so I will share my experience implementing his training as it applies to My Power Mall.

There are 5 social networking sites that I am going to focus my efforts on. There are so many but there are only so many hours in a day, so I am working with 5 at least right now:

1. My Space
2. You Tube
3. Facebook
4. Twitter
5. Blogging

Today, I spent time putting together My Space Profile: http://www.myspace.com/mpmsandyw

The goal in setting up the profile was to "Tell my story" not to promote my business opportunity. I am interested in attracting others with a mindset that goes along with My Power Mall (i.e. I'm not interested in people who think they are going to make a million dollars in ten minutes by me building my business for them), so I tried to keep that in mind when I was telling my story. I actually also set up a new my space account using my business email and will only use this myspace account for building business relationships and keep my personal page for keeping up to date with my family and friends.

One tip that I do have, is that I saved the information I put into my profile into a WORD document so that I can have it to cut and paste when I move to set up my profiles in other places. Stay tuned to keep up with everything else I will be doing.

Good night, Happy Weekend!

SandyW

Happy Spring!

Spring starts tomorrow. Already here is Raleigh things have started to grow, trees bud...we need to mow the yard already.

I got to listen to 1/2 the GOAL setting coaching call yesterday. I also sent an email to all the people that I met at the Meetup Group. The best part that I feel about this group is these are people that I have the opportunity to meet with on a monthly basis. I do not feel pressured to "make the sale" right away because who knows when I will get them on the phone again. Right now, I'm focused on developing the relationship, learning more about what their needs are, and then how I can help them. My follow up email basically pointed them to the Together We Can Change The World Day site and said that I could help them get their projects posted on the site if they needed it.

Today I called my downline members in our arranged appointment times. One of them was not there, but the other we had a great conversation. It was great that he has spent the time becoming familiar with the back office materials, but even better that he is now ready to get moving. I suggested he download and listen to the goal-setting coaching call from last night.

Hope everyone has a great evening!

SandyW

St. Patricks Day

Take two on the Triangle Nonprofit Meetup Group Meeting...

Tonight was excellent. Of course, I was nervous before I got there. I found it really with no problem and had a great time. I really did not talk about MPM that much. I exchanged information with 6 people and am actually looking forward to following up with them.

There were two nonprofits that are "new" in that they have only been an organization for a year or two. One of them just got their 501c number. One helps connect individuals from the US with opportunities for service in Africa...such as a college student studying computers with an opportunity to use their computer knowledge in Africa. The other works to helps with conflict resolution. Ultimately their goal is to be able to train and employ middle school and high school students to be mentors to their peers regarding conflicts.

That's all for now. I'm worn out after a bad night sleep. I guess I need to get used to waking up every few hours...

Sandy W.

March 16th

St. Patrick's Eve...Remember to wear green tomorrow.

We actually got to go out tonight so I got back in and realized I had missed Jackie's email asking for updates on the call tonight. I will have to let her know I can make it next Monday.

I spent the rest of the evening getting ready for the with the "Triangle Area NonProfit Meetup" tomorrow night. This was the Meetup group that I wanted to go to last month, but had the wrong address (and did not know it). The correct address is listed this time, so hopefully I will make it. At least I already have some proposals/business cards ready!

I got a chance to catch up on a few more of the coaching calls. I listened to Tuesday's Call and most of Wednesday call from last week. My advice to those who are starting out building their business is to be yourself, especially when you are talking to others about MPM. It's important to be real and genuine, and yourself. We're not selling anything. We are simply offering an opportunity to change lives!

Sandy W

Friday Night

This whole week seems to run together. It has been very busy and not as busy as I like related to MPM. My trip in the beginning of my week has left me exhausted the rest of the week.

I got to listen to the Monday Coaching Call and the Monday night chat. It was great to hear others shopping testimonials and T-day projects. It also was great to hear how other people are building their business and inspired me not to give up on the social networking marketing maze. I can get the results I want and help others in the company to do the same.

That's all for now. I'll check in with everyone later. I plan to get caught up on the calls this weekend (both listening to the coaching calls and follow up) and work on my website I am making to try to "brand" myself.

Sandy W.

bzm-I'm right there with your friend that is "due" anyday & I still have 6 more weeks to go...I'm sure all the help you've been giving to help her be comfortale is soo appreciated.

Do something to build your business-everyday

No matter how small.

That was the advice I gave to a downline member that is afraid that he does not have enough time to put into his business to get it started. Doing something everyday can help build momentum and keep you going.

I also made a contact today on twitter and working to develop a relationship there.

91 views on my video; 379 hits on my MPM page...they are continue to slowly go up. I'm waiting for the flood :)

That was the MPM in my day. The rest of the day was other work and spring cleaning...six weeks left to get the house ready for a new addition....

Sandy W

Updates...

I know that I missed Friday and Monday to blog....it's been a busy few days. I ended up going out of town for work Monday and got back today. I was too exhausted to blog last night. But there are some things to update about.

Friday I had a great conversation with a member of my downline. It was a good coaching session related to NPOs.

Saturday was T-day. I did not really get a chance to get involved with an organized project, but I did get a co-worker a few outfits from our local thrift store for her foster son that recently moved in and does not really have any clothes that fit.

Sunday was my husband's birthday...so I took the day "off". It was great to have some time to relax.

I also wanted to share a tool that I have started to use when I send out emails or post a link somewhere to direct people to a website (like listing it in my profile)...It's the website: http://linktrack.info/

It allows you to put any url (such as your business site) and creates a tracking link. So when you post your link for people to click (such as in an email), you actually use the tracking link. Then you can see who clicked on your tracking link and what the source was. For instance, I sent an email out to a safelist of 2000 people using the tracking link. Based on looking at who clicked on that link, 30 people (out of 2000) opened the email and clicked on the link. Not exactly the turn out that I hoped, but it's good to know that. Honestly, I do not open too many of the emails that the safelist sends me. :)

Good night to everyone! It's off to bed!

On object in motion....

...tends to stay in motion. An object at rest tends to stay at rest. Or at least I seem to remember something like that from high school. I have taken a small break from follow up because I did not want to refer someone to my website and have them get a message that it was an "attack site". I am glad that is taken care of. While I enjoyed a small break from "talking with people"...on the phone that is, I have tried to keep myself "in motion." I am trying to take the break to learn about social networking and "the right way" to promote MPM online. Don't worry. I'll be sharing everything I learn along the way.

I have not made any of the coaching calls live but have listened to them all. It has been great hearing Donna's ideas and enthusiasm and hearing the new voices of MPM.

Talk to everyone soon!
SandyW

March 3

Coaching Calls Are Back!

Well, I had great intentions of making it onto the coaching call. I tried to listen in to the morning call, but found out shortly afterward that the schedule had changed to just the evening call. Then I ended up missing the evening call because my grandmother called me to say hello and see if I was snowed in. We got a few inches, although my grandmother lives in Rochester, Ny, so they would not even consider that snow.

It is amazing how easily the time has gone by. It is so easy to fall into the trap of "I can do that tomorrow" and the next thing you know two weeks have gone by. I am still committed to my "next 60 days" but already there are only 46 days left.....I need to get back into a daily routine and eliminate the "I can do that tomorrow" phrase out of my vocabulary.

I did get a chance to post the "Together We Can Change The World" Day Information at my meet up group discussion board.

The other exciting news of the day was one of my downline members actually called me today. His computer is finally fixed and he's ready to go. So he's goign to review the MPM 101 and make a list of questions for me and we're going to talk on Thursday.

--Sandy W

Friday- Has it been two weeks already?

I want to thank bzm for not being so harsh on me for forgetting to call my downline member yesterday. I could hear Ginny's voice echo in my head today...so I did not forget. It actually went pretty well and I encouraged her to join in on the daily coaching calls that are starting again on Monday.

I attempted to make a few follow up calls as well today, but Friday nights just do not seem to be a good night to get a hold of people.

So tomorrow can only be better for follow-up!

Sandy W

Whoops...

I thought about skipping blogging tonight so I would not have to admit that I got wrapped up on a project for my day job tonight and the next thing I knew it was way to late to call anyone, including my downline member. So I sent her a quick email, apologizing, and outlining a plan for building her business. I will have to call her tomorrow. Fortunately, tomorrow is Friday and I will have the weekend to make more calls and progress on promoting my video. My video has not had any new views in a few days, but I've not done anything new to promote it. I do find it interesting that my MPM page continutes to grow (up to 347 hits today), even though I have not done anything new to promote it either. It could also be people that I have previously talked to, checking the page out again for another time.

Quick Post

My downline member asked if we could reschedule our appointment for tomorrow night when I called her, so that changed my day slightly. I spent a little bit of time completing a social networking tutorial and otherwise helped my husband with a non MPM project.

I know this is quick, but its late and past my bedtime....tomorrow will be busy...

Sandy W.

Tuesday-Busy, Busy

Today was an extremely busy day at work. Days like these are very tiring. It seems like the phone never stops ringing.

This evening in between everything else I got a chance to talk with my downline and set up a coaching appointment with one of them tomorrow evening and another on Friday. That was really my MPM "actions" today. Our phone service was out for a while so the follow up phone calls to contacts got rescheduled for tomorrow.

I got a few more hits on my MPM page (333) but my video views is still the same. I did not get a chance to "meet" anyone new today, but had someone introduce themselves to me...so its is another baby step toward meeting my goals.

Sandy W

Day 1 of Week 2 "After Boot Camp"

So today is the start of the 2nd week "after boot camp". I made it to the family chat. I was pleased to hear about VISA coming online soon. But more importantly it was good to be reminded of all the actions that I should be taking to build my business but more importantly to be making a difference.

I've been working some more on getting to "meet" others on youtube and have 82 views on my video and have 372 hits on my MPM page. But I need to remember that the gold is in the follow up and I need to continue follow up with my contacts that I have already made. Otherwise I would have wasted my time the first 60 days.

So tomorrow will be a follow up day. I'm pretty sure it won't happen during my lunch break (we're swamped so it will be a working lunch at work) but tomorrow evening I will see who I can talk to. I'm interested in testing Jewel's magic number "17" to see if you call 17 people you will at least one who is at home.

Another day closer to accomplishing our dreams...

Sandy W

I can't believe its the end of Thursday already...

Where did this week go? I guess time flies when you are having fun.

I ended up getting home from work later than I expected so calling the individual leads that I had planned did not really work as I had planned. I have set aside to contact the remaining leads I have from my back office tomorrow. I am planning on purchasing some more for next week so that I can meet my goals within the next 60-days. Leads are pretty "comfortable" for me.

My video is up one view (74) and my MPM page is up a few more hits as well (314). I commented and sent messages to 5 people today. I did not hear back from any of the 5 I contacted yesterday (and they have not accepted my friend requests). Today I tried to look for videos that had been uploaded today (thinking that they would at least be signing in to check on them) rather than the ones that were a few weeks/months old. I also contacted two non-profits in NC (one for cancer research and one for help for the homeless) and let them know about T-day and how they could get free publicity for their projects on the Together We Can Change the World site.

Well, I'm starting to lose steam and its very late...

until tomorrow

-Sandy W

Keeping up the pace...

Well, maybe I'm not moving quite as fast as during boot camp. But I did call 2 leads I had purchased from my back office today (talked to both of their machines) and followed up with an email after I left the message. I had purchased these leads a LONG time ago, and had paused the order when I got busy with boot camp. Evidently you can only pause an order for so long before it automatically un-pauses itself. It works out well though, since I now am more confident and have time to follow up with them.

I also called one of the members of my downline, but got her machine and will call her back tomorrow.

Finally, I spent a short amount of time on Youtube today. My video is at 73 views. My MPM page, 311, so the numbers are slowly going up. I have been trying to do some research on the "right way" to create leads from the internet. One of the tips that I am trying, especially related to the video promotion is to "meet" others through you tube. In english, this means:

• Watch videos posted by others on youtube
• Make a comment on their video
• Subscribe to their channel
• Request them to add you as a friend
• Send them an email introducing yourself

I am going to make a goal to try to meet 10 new people a day. I did not get there today (It's easy to get distracted) but I think it will help get my video shown and allow me to build relationships with others.

-Sandy W.

Do I get a redo for today?

Well, I was very nervous about my scheduled meet up today with the "Triangle Area Nonprofit Organizers". I had everything ready and printed out to go, including directions on how to get there. My husband had a job interview but was finished in time to stop by my work and switch cars so he could pick up our son from daycare. I left right as my work day was over and rushed off to get to the meeting....but then I could not find the location. I went to the published address...but let's just say that it was not really a "meeting location" and certainly not somewhere where I was comfortable stopping to ask directions when I was by myself.

So I was already a half hour late and had driven up and down the street looking for the Cafe...and just had to give up and come home. I sat in traffic and it took me twice as long to get home.

Come to find out...the published address had "Road" in the street name when it was on a road with the same name but was a "Boulevard"...and in different areas of Durham.

Well, at least I'm ready for the meet-up in March....

Day 1 of "The next 60"

I'm ready for my meeting tomorrow night. I think there will be about 10 people there from various NPOs and other organizations. I know they have a presentation/discussion already planned, so I am coming with 10 copies of the generic proposal and my cards to hand out and exchange information to discuss/follow up with later this week. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

My video is up to 70 views and my MPM page is up to 302...so I'm up a few more from this weekend. I have sent out some emails and made a few follow up calls but still have not done much else to promote the video. I am still interested in writing a press release, but my taxes took longer this weekend than I expected, so I'll have to work on the press release as my time allows.

Hope everyone is enjoying "life after bootcamp"...

Sandy W

Is it the end of bootcamp or the beginning of something else exciting?

Hello to all of the followers of My Power Mall's World Changer Realty Boot Camp!

I cannot believe that it's been 60 days! I cannot wait for the next 60 days!

You see...I really feel like I have learned so much and have learned so many ways to share my business. One of the most important things I learned though, was to take action and "do what it takes" every day to build your business. I still have a ways to go to meet my goal of $2,000 a month, but I now not only learned the skills needed to build my business but I learned that I must put these skills into action. My goal is to continue to try to spend at least 15 hours each week doing just that...for at least the next 60 days...that's about how long I have left until my baby girl will be born into this world. I hope that you all will continue to follow my journey and I want everyone to know I will always be available to help.

More specifically, my goal is to reach over 500 views of my video (I'm still at 60 today) and over 700 views on my MPM page (It went up to 298 today...that's 6 more than yesterday). In addition to learning more about social networking, I am going to mainly focus on working leads, and following up with the over 150+ contacts I have made, including all the businesses. I am going to try to contact at least one business a day as well. I'm looking forward to an extra hour each day for at least the next two weeks to help jump start my business.

I'll keep you all posted on how things are going. It's really not the end, but rather a beginning. I'm no longer doing this "because I have to" but I because I want to in order to reach my goals.

Thanks to everyone for their support!

-Sandy W

Second to Last Day of Boot Camp

Today was a day where I was struggling to be productive. I did get some phone calls in--another 10 in fact--but I did not really get into a conversation with anyone. It's okay...I know that my opportunity to build this business will not end tomorrow....It's really just beginning.

My video is up to 60 views, my MPM page has 292 hits...that's 4 more hits on the MPM page than yesteray....I did learn something cool about youtube today. They have an "insight" feature where you can not only see how many views that you have, but also how they found your video. For instance, one person watched my video by searching "gasoline" in the youtube toolbar. I sent out another 20 emails today, so we will see if the numbers go up for tomorrow.

I know this is short, but I'm determined to get to bed a little bit earlier today. Six hours of sleep is just not enough for me to get through the day with...

Sandy W

Wednesday- Two Days Left

Now that Wednesday is over...there are two days left during bootcamp...I still have a way to go so I won't be "stopping" once my business is built.

I think the biggest challenge once boot camp is over will be to keep myself doing something every day to build my business. If I take a break, I'll lose the momentum that I have built up. I'll also lose the nerve that I have acquired. Although I do admit, I still spend time giving myself a pep talk before I call or talk to anyone. I know that having my "MPM" family with me will help me to keep it up!

I did some more research tonight. I made some more calls--not quite the "14" that I had hoped for, but still progress. One person asked me to remove him from my list. The others were answering machines. It turned out that my downline member did not answer her phone at our appointment time this evening, so I had some time to make a few more calls while trying to research the NPOs for Tuesday nights' meeting.

My video is still sitting at 57 views and my MPM page has one more hit today--it's up to 288. I really have not done anything within the last 24-hours to publicize it, so I'm not surprised that has not gone up. I'd like to try doing some press releases to advertise the video...but that's something that will require me to spend more time than I have right now...so that will be Saturday's task.

--Sandy W

Tuesday February 10

After dinner, when I normally start my follow up calls, my 2-year old son was in our bedroom and called me in. He pointed to the chair by my husband's computer and said "sit". He got up in my lap and said "I want grandpa and nana" and pointed to the computer monitor. It was cute and I couldn't say no. So we "skyped" with his grandparents (using the webcam) and the next thing I knew it was time for evening call without having made a phone call yet for MPM.

My video has been viewed 57 times now but only resulting in two more hits on my MPM page (287). I did not really do "anything" else today to promote. Although I had not really thought about it before (as Jackie described in the call tonight) that my video can be promoting MPM for me when I am tied up with other things and can't.

I think instead of sending out letters this week I will call the business first and then ask them the best way to send them information (email or mail) and then arrange for a time to call them back. This way I keep from getting too many going at once and not have time for the follow up.

I focused this evening on planning a little. I had thought about going to the Raleigh Fundraisers Meetup group this Saturday. Based on the RSVP list, it looks like there is only one person going who has made it clear that he has a fund raising opportunity that will save non-profits. It does not really seem like the audience I am seeking. There is a meeting with the Triangle Nonprofit group on Tuesday night next week that seems to be more of the audience that I am looking for (mostly people involved in non-profits). So I think I will spend my time researching their NPOs and preparing for the Tuesday meeting rather than goign to the one on Saturday and not having time to prep for the Tuesday meeting. So I started researching and introduced myself to several people that are part of the "meet up" community.

Here is to tomorrow and better connections with people than today!

--Sandy W

Update on my video:
Splash Page has been viewed: 204 times
Splash Page was clicked on: 3 times
total video views: 8 times
Total hits on my MPM Website: 285 times

Stay tuned to watch these numbers grow.

Today, I managed to call my downline members. One had a broken computer and was supposed to get it fixed tomorrow. I made an appointment to call him back on Friday evening AND invited him to join on the family chat call tonight. The other had not really done anything since we last talked (which was about a week ago), so I asked her to look at the MPM 101 again and told her I would call her tomorrow night to discuss.

I also changed my video website page (with the embedded "Back to Basics" video from You tube) so that it would play immediately as soon as you logged onto the site (instead of having to start the player). I redirected the traffic exchange to it to see if the video is interesting enough that people will watch the whole thing and go to my website.

Well I did not reach my full number of 14 contacts plus 10 businesses today. But I did manage to call 7 of them in the time that I had. 6 of them were messages. For the other, the person was not home but the person that answered said they would be home within 15 minutes. I made an appointment to call back in an hour. When I called back...it was an answering machine...

It felt good to get back into the swing of things again and to be able to use the time I had set aside for MPM for building my MPM business...even if I did not add anyone to my team today. I know i will soon!

-Sandy W

A restful weekend-ready to start the final week!

It's the end of a restful weekend. I've have figured out that in order to reach my goal of contacting all my contacts at least one this week, I need to call 14 contacts a day and at least 10 businesses a day. That's a lot of follow up for one day, but I am up for the challenge. I have been dealing with increased fatigue as my pregnancy goes along. It seems I can't go-go-go as was accustomed to doing. I am still up for the challenge.

I did want to update everyone on my marketing video. I purchased the "Back to the Basics" video. Since I purchased the video, I have sent it out in an email to all of my contacts. I also downloaded 30 free leads and sent them a link to the video through youtube. I also have made a splash page, with the text of my email that directs readers to the video, which is embeded on my website.
So far, the splash page was shown about 100 times on a traffic exchange. Four of the 100 people clicked on the video page. According to youtube, my video has been watched 7 times (including the times I watched it once it was uploaded). Stay tuned for watching that number increase!

That's all for now...I talk to everyone tomorrow!
-Sandy W

Friday!

I'm glad it's Friday. Today was not much for getting things accomplished but I am looking forward to the weekend and the last week. My goal is to "waste no time". I need to make sure every moment I have available is spent to reaching my goal.

I left messages with both members of my downline tonight. I also called five other contacts and left messages with them.

I hope to call at least twenty people tomorrow and twenty people on Sunday. That should give me a good start to get to everyone by the end of the week.

I also downloaded the video and am waiting to receive it so I can upload it onto several social networks and start promoting it!

-Sandy W.

I have a lot to do....but no energy to get it done today

Today was even more exhausting then yesterday. I had to stop several times on the way home from Richmond just to keep myself from falling asleep. By the time I had returned the car to airport, picked up my car at the office, put AVery to bed and ate dinner, it was 10:00 PM and I am left with no energy and it's really late to be calling anyone on the east coast anyway.

I did not want the day to be a total loss though. I have tried to get caught up on everyone's blogs so i can hear what has been going on and getting ideas for building my business. Right now I feel like my biggest struggle is finding the time to get done everything that I know i need to do. The boot camp has been excellent training and has given me so many ideas on how to build my business and so many different things that I want to try. I know, however, that I need to be more diligent to "do what needs to be done"...I need to make sure I follow up with everyone I have talked to and every business that I make contact with.

I am going to spend the rest of tonight evaluating my plan for the "last week" of boot camp. I want to make sure I am dedicating as much time as possible so I can finish up strong and keep the momentum going.

I think I will purchase a video and try to promote it...now to decide which one...they are all so good!

-Sandy W

Wow...what a day...

It's almost 11 and I'm exhausted. I did not get done with work and dinner and get to hotel until after 9 PM. It's been a very long day of one meeting after another. It also seems really weird to be staying in a hotel when I lived in this town for 7 years and own a house a few miles down the road (it has a tenant in it, so I can't stay there).

I was hoping to get to squeeze in some follow up calls and so forth today. I was too exhausted when I got back. I did stop and have dinner with some former co-workers when I drove for Blacksburg Transit. It was good to catch up and a few of them were interested enough in what I was doing now that they said I could send them some info about My Power Mall. So I've sent them an email and also sent follow up emails to those left on my list.

That was all I had energy for. Hopefully I will be back to Raleigh in time for the 8PM call tomorrow night!

Sandy W

Tuesday...

Welcome to MPM-Barb!

Another member has joined our family, her name is Barb. I met her through a free lead service (yes, the one that I had given up on), but eventually, if you call enough of them, you can get results. She has worked with insurance sales in the past, but most recently has been laid off from Walmart. She was hesistant to start with the World Changer option because she is worried about her fixed income (which is right now just social security). I told her we would start her out as a business starter mall and then upgrade once she had a chance to see everything and be comfortable with the investment and build her team.

That pretty much was my MPM today. It took a while to work through some computer issues, get her signed up and then walk her through the toolbar and how to get to MPM 101.

Tomorrow and Thursday I will be travelling for work. I'll be going to Blacksburg, VA for some business meetings Wednesday and then to Richmond for some more meetings on Thursday. I'm not sure yet if I will be on the road (or in meetings) during the calls, but I will definatley keep up with the blog and make sure I download the podcast. I'll be talking to the people I meet when I get the chance, although right now I'm not in a position to discuss MPM while "on the clock" with my other job. There will still be plenty of opportunities. We used to live in Blacksburg, so maybe I will run into someone I know...

Starting the new week

I thought for sure, after my weekend, I was going to be able to talk about a sign up--a new world changer.

Ironically, this weekend, I was all ready to leave my new script message on everyone's answering machine. I only got to leave 4 messages all weekend. I actually got to talk to people instead (which is much better). It also meant that I did not get through as many calls as I would have liked, but I would rather have a quality conversation with a few people, than leave my new inspiring message with many. There will be time for that :)

Sunday I had a great call with an individual that I had gotten the contact information from a free lead source. I know...the lead source that I had said I wasn't going to waste my time on. But I did want to follow through with the contacts that I had made. Anyway, I had gotten ahold of her, and she was interested in a way to earn income because she was laid off from her job selling insurance earlier this year. Then she had worked at Walmart, but was laid off from there in October. She's interested in helping people and interested in being able to afford the payments on her house without having to use her social security. We were getting to the sign up point, but she wanted to think about the "name" of her mall, and she was hungry (and so were her dogs). It was dinner time (especially for me) so we agreed I would call her back in an hour. Unfortunately, when I called her back, I got her voice mail. I called her back at lunch my time (11AM her time), but still did not get in touch. I wrote her a detailed email about the sign up process. I even accidently signed up myself because I wanted to make sure my directions were correct (sorry Ginny, I cancelled it right away after I realized what I had done).

So tomorrow I will call her again and hopefully be able to get her started. I want to help her reach her goal of buying her house and helping her friends.

-Sandy W

Saturday

I practiced the answering machine message scripts today while I was cleaning up some areas of the house that needed some MAJOR attention. Unfortunately, I did not get to spend as much time as I would have hoped actually making calls. I got started, got through three calls (two of which actually answered...). Then I managed to lose my balance while I was reaching down to get a toy for my son (I forget my balance is a little off as I get bigger). Well, anyway, to make a long story short, my foot's not broken and I think the swelling is down now to where I can wear shoes again...but that ended my calls for today. I did make a video of my script used for when I call business opportunity leads. Please check it out by clicking here or going to my participants page. There will be more videos from when I leave messages with the businesses and personal contacts that I have.

As for the two that answered, one of them said "I have put my search on hold for while," after I told her why I was calling. I said "okay, but do you mind if I ask why?" and she hung up. So I guess she did. The second one was much better. He said he wasn't sure how he was suddenly getting all this information about home based businesses (my lead source is not exclusive) because he doesn't remember requesting it. I asked, "would you be interested in hearing some information that could show you how to earn money simply by buying groceries, gasoline and anything you would need to buy anyway?" He said he thought so, but when I started in on the script, he said it wasn't a good time to talk. I gave him my url (which is www.earnrebatesandmore.com, in case you haven't watch the video yet) over the phone to let him know where he could find out more information and set up a time to talk to him on Tuesday.
So the day was not a total lost....I will have to start earlier tomorrow...

Follow up with Answering Machines

For those of you who missed the evening call (which is mostly everyone), Ginny spent some time helping me with spicing up the messages that I leave on answering machines to see if I get a better response. (By better, I mean any response at all). I am actually looking forward to calling people over the weekend to see if I can get some results. I would like to try to call everyone at least once this weekend (especially those I didn't get to call yet this week). I know that's alot and probably a lofty goal, but I need to keep working to meet my goals. (considering I have 70+ contacts)

I want to practice them some tonight and then I will share them with you in video format tomorrow.

I also made it to a gas station today, but did not really get the opportunity to talk to the owner/manager. The clerk took my card but was anxious about giving me someone else's information on their behalf without talking to them first, so I will have to follow up later.

-Happy Friday to everyone!
-Sandy W

I am realizing that as the week drags on it gets harder for me to find the energy to complete what I need to do each day...It's not just MPM related. Everyone has been so helpful and encouraging..I know it keeps me going.

Well, my plan to get to some gas stations today did not work out. I did have to get gas, but overslept and did not have time on the way to work to do more than top off the tank. We had a new employee starting today, so I had to make sure I was there to unlock the door and get him started. (There are now two people working at my office, including myself).

I really want to try talking to businesses in person, now that I have sent them letters and talked to them on the phone. So tomorrow...I have my business cards ready.

I am still trying to find different ways to develop relationships with people. I know that there is no room for excuses, but it's difficult to get out with a little one, not to mention a really tight budget right now. Mainly I have been using the USPS and phone calls to make contacts, as well as attempting to talk to people that I meet. I am interested in the social networking aspects. Don't worry, I'm not planning on building my business "hiding behind the internet" blasting ads on websites. But I do want to learn how to use social networking sites to help me develop relationships. I think up until now I have made it too complicated. I am also interested in local groups. So I have joined the triangemom2mom.com forum. I have been reading other's blogs and have been making comments on their blogs as way to meet some of the other members of the forum.

I also joined a meet up group tonight at meetup.com and am going to try to make it to their meeting in February. It's a group of people who work for non-profits. I made sure to include the "Together We Can Change The World, Inc" in my profile.

That's about all I can muster for today's blog. Here's to a good night sleep and a refreshed tomorrow!

-Sandy W

Wednesday-

Today was much better. Not in the volume of calls that I was able to complete, but in the quality. I talked to two business owners that seemed much more open to the Business Partnership Program than those that I had spoken to last week. Discussing the other benefits to the program in addition to advertising seemed to help me get a better response than "I'm not looking to expand my advertising". Instead, I got a "I haven't seen your letter, but please email me the information". It's amazing no one pays attention to their regular mail anymore.

I printed out some business cards tonight and am going to try to stop by some gas stations or other businesses tomorrow. I do need to get gas... the light is almost on...

--Sandy W.

My Follow-up/Contact Tracking System

I don't have an autoresponder (I'm trying to keep my out-of-pocket costs to a minimum), and I know that they are worth their weight in gold, but for right now, I had been keeping track of all my contacts in an excel worksheet. I put the date that I met them, the date that I emailed them, and date of any follow up calls (and what the result was).

This weekend, I made sure that they were all added into my email contact list AND I made "mailing lists" and made sure each contact was included in at least one mailing list. For example, all of my business contacts emails went on one list in my yahoo contacts while the ones that I met "on the street" were in another and the leads were in yet another. Those contacts that had asked to be removed from my list were deleted from my yahoo email contacts. (They were still in my excel sheet I just "hid" to row so I would not call them by accident).

I also made a list of of all my contacts that I needed to call/email on a weekly basis to follow up with. I highlighted portions of the list a different color for each day of the week. They are listed in order of most important to least important. Once I call them, I remove the highlight and make sure that the call result's are recorded in my original excel file. If for some reason I did not get to call them that day, I simply change the color of the highlight to the next day and readjust so I can still fit all my calls in for the week. This is the new system I am trying out this week. So far, it's worked okay....although my follow up list is so large it is difficult to squeeze everyone into a week's timeframe. It doesn't help that I'm not getting breaks at my job either to squeeze MPM into.

I did get to make a few calls today (resulting in answering machines) and made sure everyone on the list "to email for the week" had been taken care of. I did have some reply to emails that they were no longer interested and asked to be removed from my list.

I'm hoping tomorrow to see better results with my follow up calls. It's difficult to force myself to make the calls when I only talk to machines or get negative responses. Everyone has been very supportive and helpful, so I know that's why I keep going!

--Sandy W.

Refreshed for a New Week

I spent quite a bit of time this weekend going through my contact list and removing those who had asked to be removed and making an email list for those who are left. I realized it had been a while since I had followed up with some of them...it's easy for a contact or two to get lost in the mess of all the others. I feel like I'm organized now and have split them up so I can call them all within a week and hopefully get them on a weekly schedule. I only got to about 1/2 on the day's list today (it was a busy day) and was not able to call anyone from my breaks at work so that means I was not able to talk to any additional businesses today (because I really didn't get one today...I felt like I was on one conference call to the next. I used up my entire cell phone battery on conference calls...)

I did get a chance to call few and leave some more messages. I have a good tracking system so I think I will be able to make up those that I didn't get today later this week. I have another set of business letters ready to go out...

Talk to everyone tomorrow...

--Sandy W

Another Week!

I'll be honest to say that I'm glad its Friday. I'm exhausted and it's only 10 o'clock.

I also have to admit that I am starting to feel a little more comfortable when I talk with the businesses that I am sending letters to. I called 15 of the 20 I wanted to reach today. I still left quite a few messages, but I did get to talk to a few business owners. Some of them had not received the letter yet. Except for the first call I did (where I politely told them I'd call them back in a few days once they had looked at it), I asked them if they had a few minutes I could explain a little bit about the program so they would know what to look for. I then explained about the advertising opportunity on the local merchant mall for all of the members of the My Power Mall Community. I also stated that there were lots of other benefits of the program that were explained in the letter. Most of the responses I got were that they were not sure they were looking to increase their advertising, but they would take a look at it. I think on Monday (when I follow up the 5 I missed today and the 10 letters that went in the mail today), I will also make sure to emphasize that there are up to $600 in rebates (in gas and groceries), a chance to raise funds for the charity of their choice and a chance to earn money on everything they spend--in addition to advertising.

I got another 10 letters ready to go out with the mail tomorrow. I also am planning on completing a round of follow up calls for all of my individuals that I've contacted so far. By the end of the weekend, I also want to have emailed everyone remaining on my list, just so I am keeping in touch and they are thinking about My Power Mall.

Good night to everyone--I'll talk to you soon...

--Sandy W.

Thursday January 22

I was disappointed when I talked to the first set of businesses, I still mostly got voice mails and answering machines. I guess business people can do the same thing as individuals: screen their calls by caller IDs.

I prepared another 10 letters to go out to 10 more businesses. Tomorrow I will call today's businesses again and call the 2nd set that I sent out--a total of 20. I also want to follow up with the contacts on the top of my list: the few PM dialer leads that are still considering MPM and some others that have had positive responses. I also need to check in with my world changer; he was going to meet with his pastor and try to work with his church. It should be a busy day tomorrow.

I know this is short, but its been a difficult day. I've been under the weather slightly and my husband got two more rejections for jobs that he applied for and thought he had a chance of getting. That means tomorrow will be much better....

-Sandy W

Getting into the routine

I sent out another 10 letters to 10 more businesses today. I will call the 10 businesses I sent letters to on Monday tomorrow. I will also call the 5 non-profit organizations that I emailed today. I started with the local business non profit organizations (like the home builders associations, chamber of commerce, etc).

I did not have much luck on the phone today to follow up with my existing contacts. I had some errands that had to get done, and it ate into my follow up time. I attempted to make some contacts while I was running the errands, but was not successful.

I'm excited about hopefully setting up appointments and so forth tomorrow...

--Sandy W

A Snowy Tuesday

So many people who live in cold places have talked about snow in their blogs, so I thought since this is likely the only day this year Raleigh will see snow, I should talk about it too. We got about 6-inches by the end of the day. I have lived in places that get much more snow than this, so I did not raid the grocery store for bread and milk, but I also did not really get out of the house. My son's daycare was closed and I decided to work my primary job from home today.

Big Z and his Mom so politely pointed out that yesterday, I never really said what my passion was...just that it wasn't calling free business opportunity seeker leads. Honestly my passion is helping people. I'm interested in sponsoring people to help them reach their goals. But I realize that I have to invite people to join My Power Mall in order to sponsor them.

Working with businesses is just one way that I am going to bring people into My Power Mall team. I also would like to work with non-profit organizations. I have already contacted two private schools (which have non-profit status) and of course, the non-profit that I am building my business for. I have also contacted a company whose business is to help non-profits raise money. I plan on (starting tomorrow since I didn't have time today) contacting 5 organizations a day by email and then following up with a phone call. I will likely start with professional organizations (chamber of commerce, etc). I also want to work with organizations that I have a connection with or have been a member of in the past. We just moved to NC a few months ago so my local connections are lacking, but I will contact some of the ones in VA, MD, and PA that I have been connected with in the past...stay tuned for more information.

--Sandy W.

I have a confession to make...

...I have been listening to the morning boot camp calls during my lunch break on the public code. I usually get there late and end up getting several phone calls in the middle...but it helps me to hear what others in the boot camp are doing. There are some who cannot make the evening calls, so I can hear what they are up to on the morning calls.

Anyway, today, Ginny was asking Andrea about what her passions were. She has been working with several schools (private) and was considering what to do with while those that she is working with get their participation in a WCM approved.

It got me thinking about my passions and made me wonder why I was building the business the way I was. I had been struggling to get enough contacts each day, especially in the beginning and had even turned to free leads (not the PM dialer leads but free leads from a free leads source). I had been picking and choosing a few each day to try to contact but was not having much success getting a hold of anyone. On Saturday, for the fun of it, I downloaded a new set of 60 leads (they end up being a few days old) and started calling down the list..calling everyone. Of the ones I got through (before my son woke up from his nap) 25% were bad phone numbers, 50% were answering machines, and the other 25% that actually answered asked to be removed from the list.

Instead of going through that again, I decided to focus this week on accomplishing what I have been planning to do with the business partnership program. I am going to send out letters, contact business and set up appointments. It's been fun to see what various businesses are around that I had no idea that existed. I'm picking ones out of the phone book that had a bigger ad (because I figure they have money for an advertising budget) and a website. I am going to send out 10 letters/day and follow up with them a few days later. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Tomorrow I will discuss some of the other ways I will be building my business daily in order to reach my goals...

-Sandy W.

Another Week!

Even though it's Friday, the week is not over yet...I have more follow ups to do and contacts to make in order to reach my goals. I am excited about what has been accomplished this week and looking forward to what will be accomplished this weekend.

I made a few phone calls today to businesses that I had previously contacted and asked if I could email them information about our Business Partnership Program. I only got machines...I guess at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend (for some people...not me...I have to work Monday) people leave early.

I have a few PM dialer leads to follow up with tomorrow as well as some of my contacts and my new World Changer...stay tuned...I'm looking forward to reporting more sign ups soon!

--Sandy W

Thursday-Where did the week go?

I needed a little bit of a break today to take care of some things not Power Mall Related. However, I did follow up with My World Changer to make sure that he is getting the support that he needs. I also spent some time researching some local (college) student organizations to see if they may be good groups to work with. I never belonged to a "greek" group in college, so I do not have a "legacy" connection to work with, but there were four different student organizations that I thought might be interested in raising money for their associated non-profit using My Power Mall. I could not find their phone number contact information on their website, just their emails, so I was sure to put their organization name and "fund raising" in the subject line so hopefully they will get read.

Tom was talking tonight about how he had found his "calling" working with NPO's and how he looked forward to going out and talking to them each day to build his business (and help them out as well). While I am feeling more confident, I too am looking for that connection...whether it be businesses, individuals, or organizations that I can help and feel good about helping them. I feel like I am lacking that connection with some of the people that I am following up with, making the follow up more difficult. So I'm trying to find something in common with those contacts I have and broaden my reach for contacts that I will make in the future. I joined an online network for buisness owners in the "919" area code. It seems like they have some meet up groups and so forth that will help me broaden those people that I meet and I can make some connections.

Tomorrow I am going to call the funding organization that I called and emailed yesterday to make sure that they have watched the video and see what they think!

--I signed up for the $300 in grocery rebates while Jacki was talking about them...I'm so excited!

--Sandy W

Wednesday January 14th...

Good evening everyone!

I spent most of my day (well besides working my other job and taking my son to the doctor) doing follow ups. I was a little disappointed that I have been unable to reach another PM lead that I had a good conversation with on Sunday. We got the point where she was interested in watching the video and then when I called her back she had not watched it yet. We set up another time (after she was going to watch it) but each time I try to call her its busy or no one answers. I will keep trying though.

Most of my other calls were either people who told me flat out they were interested (one person hung up on me twice) or they were not home and I left message. I feel like I am more confident now when talking to my follow ups so I hope that it is showing to the people that I talk with.

As discussed on the call, I did contact a company that is in the business of helping charity organizations find funding. There are probably 30 similar companies listed in the phonebook so I will be contacting them as I can.

I also had someone sign up for more information on my NPO mall. So that was a very nice surprise. I sent them email (they did not leave their phone number). I am interested to find out how she found the website because it was not a contact that I had made previously.

-Sandy W

Tuesday-January 13th

My husband was out-of-town on an interview (since he has lost his job and is looking for work) today but I was determined that I was going to get some work done for My Power Mall. So inbetween getting myself and my two year old dinner and keeping him entertained...

I did a follow up call to the two of the non-profit private schools that I had emailed. I had to leave a message because it was after hours, but I realize that it may take them hearing my name a few times before they realize that I am not a sales person looking to make a sale and I can really help them. I also called back three of my contacts as well as two of the PM dialer leads that I had gotten on Sunday. One of my contacts told me they had found something else and were no longer looking.

I am very happy to report a new World Changer on my Team as a result of one of the two PM dialer leads (the other I was unable to get ahold of). He lives in Georgia and is interested in building an income for himself and his wife. He was also interested in working with churches to help them. I am very excited to be able to help him accomplish those goals.

It was exciting to hear on the call tonight (once I got on...) that there were others who also had some sign ups recently....

I spent the rest of the evening trying to get caught up on what I could do for my business once it was too late to call my own contacts...I left some messages with some businesses. I sent an email to some businesses requesting permission to send them information about the business partnership program.

Tomorrow I want to follow up on the New Years Letters I sent out.

--Sandy Warner

Monday January 12th

I had plans today to follow up!

..to follow up with some PM dialer leads from yesterday...

..to follow up with some contacts I had made previously...

...to follow up with some NPO's that I had contacted...

I called both of the PM dialer leads from yesterday that had requested I call them back today. One of them was not there...bummer...but I left a message and sent him an email. I will put him on the list to call back tomorrow. The second lead was really interested in building a business and liked the idea of My Power Mall (who wouldn't). I need to call her back after I'm done this blog to see how she liked the presentation.

I have also been practicing talking to people about MPM by calling free leads. The leads are only a day or two old, but it's not exclusive, so they are getting bombarded by a lot of people, especially emails. I have changed the way I email them...first, I call them. Typically (if the phone number is not wrong) I leave a message because very few people seem to answer the phone. Caller ID has ruined that. Once I leave them a message, I send them an email with a subject line of "I just left you a voice message at _____". Then for the body of the email, I use the following text:

Hi. I wanted to follow up a little with you regarding my message today. I have your information because you are interested in a home based business. I am trying to find out a little bit more about what you are looking for to see if it would be a good fit for the company that I work for, called My Power Mall, or if not, if I can help you find something that would be a good fit.

Here is some information that would be helpful for me to know if you would be willing to share it with me...

1. How long have you looking to generate an income from home? What happened that made you start looking?
2. What is your current occupation? Do you enjoy it?
3. How many hours a week are you looking to invest in your home based business?
4. What type of income potential are you looking for?
5. Have you ever tried to have your own business before?
6. If there was one thing that you could change for the better in your life, what would it be?

I understand that you are busy and I do not want to take up too much of your time. If you have a few minutes please give me a call to discuss these items or send me an email as to when the best time is that I can reach you. I would really like to help you find the best home based business for you.

I had at least one positive response from this, so i will let everyone know how they liked the presentation!

--the other follow ups had to get moved to tomorrow....

-Sandy W

Whew! It's Friday!

Friday! Finally!

I am looking forward to the weekend although I am excited about all that happened this week (well, not ALL that happened this week...but at least all that happened with My Power Mall).

1. We got a new website, with new excellent video presentations--that are shorter!
2. World Changer Malls are now available to NPO's free!
3. We discussed how to add the chamber of commerce into our potential contacts...
   
4. We discussed how giving a free world changer mall to a school can really benefit the school...
5. We sent out New Year's letters to those we contacted in December...

Although I did not get as much done today as I would have liked, I was really excited about what I did do. I was looking at private schools in my area and came across one that is a school for children with autism. What a great opportunity for My Power Mall to help with the school fundraising and help the children raise funds for themselves as well. I sent them an email that was listed on their website that was adapted from Andrea's letter. I am actually excited about calling them on Monday to make sure they got the letter and try to set up an appointment where I can go and share MPM with them. I also had a follow up call where someone was actually home. Of course they said they could not talk right then, but they want me to call them back tomorrow afternoon! That's a lot better than a wrong number, an answering machine, or a flat out "take me off your list".

I spent the rest of the evening reviewing the World Changer Team Script and writing some more letters for New Years...just have a few left to go. Was sorry that the evening call was cancelled but I'm looking forward to having a lot of follow ups to report on Monday!

-Sandy W

January 8th!

Today was a really tough day for me, but not because of MPM. I had trouble sleeping for some reason last night and had trouble concentrating on my work all morning. It's still pretty busy and I'm falling behind, so I really needed to make some headway. I got a call from my husband mid afternoon saying that he had been laid off from his job effective immediately, but he was getting paid until the end of the month. So that makes my goal for the end of January that much more important!

I wrote some more letters, made some more calls, sent some emails, got some contacts, did all the usual things today. I think I am really beginning to understand the difference that My Power Mall can make for non-profits. I sent an email to local private school today. They actually had a list on "passive fundraisers" on their website that they participate in. It included several stores in the area that give money back to the school when you shop there. I think adding My Power Mall to the list would really help them out. I'm not sure how many students they have...but even 5 can really help out!

Just wanted to thank everyone for their helpful comments and support on the calls and the blogs. It has been really helpful, especially on days when nothing else seems to go right.

Looking forward to reporting on sign ups soon!

-Sandy W

January 7th

I called several people today to follow up and to get my contacts for the day. There were lots of answering machines and one person that was very clear that she wanted me to take her off my list. I also sent out some follow up emails.

I am going to contact 10 businesses per day each evening and leave a message about the business partnership program. I think this will help me even more to reach my goal.

I also worked on my New Year's Letters. I wanted to get that done yesterday but then got sleepy and had to go to bed. I am trying to make them as personal as possible, so it is taking a little while since I am writing each one out old fashioned style.

I feel like any day now the flood gates are going to open and I will end up with more sign ups than I know what do with...in the mean time, I will just go on planting my seeds and watering them so they will grow.

-Sandy W.

January 6th-New Year, New Power Mall

I am so excited about the new My Power Mall website, video and all the new things that Ginny has launched.

I did okay with my contacts today, although my trip to the pharmacy (and trying to wait with a 2 year for 40 minutes while your prescription is filled) was not the source of my leads. However, I feel excited about what was accomplished today. I followed up with my NPO that I am raising money for and got a response from one of the Avon representatives that I sent an email to yesterday. She is going to check out the video and I am going to follow up with her later this week to see what she thinks.

I am very excited about the opportunities for me to build my businesses using NPOs and businesses as well as individuals...so much potential!

-Well I'm too tired to write anymore today...am still getting back into the swing of work and MPM after a few weeks having time off from one or the other or both!

-Sandy W

A New Year and a Fresh Start

Today the Boot Camp Started up Again...

I am glad. I missed the calls and I missed reading everyone's blogs. My goal for this month is to have 10 people in my downline that are actively building their business as well. Honestly, I think that simply getting 5 good leads/contacts per day and making sure I follow up with those 5 the next day (or in the days following) would allow me to reach that goal. (These are the minimum requirements for the bootcamp).

However, I realize that the quality of my contacts each day may not be as good as they could be. I know...there is no such thing as a bad lead...I just mean that sometimes I think people just give me there information out of pity and they are not really interested in the opportunity. Sometimes the phone number or email address is not correct. This has to do with my struggle with talking to strangers, not with the method of collecting contacts. I spent most of the Christmas break trying to learn everything I could in my back office and in the training materials to make sure that I am taking advantage of all the ways that I can build my business, not just collecting the contacts using one method. I am trying to think of creative ways that I can collect contacts from a more targeted audience...meaning that they are people who I think will definitely read my emails and are definitely interested in what My Power Mall has to offer. That's really what building a business is all about: Building relationships with others who are interested in building their business. The sign-up will just happen if the relationship is in place. I'm going to work on building my confidence with business owners and the business partnership program and then work on getting comfortable with talking to every random person I run into. As time allows, I am also going to run some free ads and so forth, but only after all the other "goals" for the day are accomplished.

So to work my plan "backwards" here is how it works out:
Week 1: January 5-9:
No. of Contacts Each Day: 6 Weekly Total: 30
No. of Follow ups Each Day: 4 Weekly Total: 20
No. of Emails to Generate Contacts: 50 Weekly Total: 250
No. of Sign ups during week-1

Week 2: January 12-16:
No. of Contacts Each Day:5 Weekly Total: 25
No. of Follow ups Each Day: 5 Weekly Total: 25
No. of Emails to Generate Contacts: 50 Weekly Total: 250
No. of Sign ups during week-2

Week 3: January 19-23:
No. of Contacts Each Day:5 Weekly Total: 25
No. of Follow ups Each Day: 5 Weekly Total: 25
No. of Emails to Generate Contacts: 50 Weekly Total: 250
No. of Sign ups during week-3

Week 4: January 26-30:
No. of Contacts Each Day:5 Weekly Total: 25
No. of Follow ups Each Day: 6 Weekly Total: 30
No. of Emails to Generate Contacts: 50 Weekly Total: 250
No. of Sign ups during week-4