My sister sent me this list.  She was worried about gift cards at the holidays…

BUT it got me thinking… Look at all these people out of work.

Not just retail employees but also the managers and people who run the stores, run the districts, buy the products, create the artwork and sales materials, etc.

1. Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
2. Ann Taylor 117 stores nationwide closing
3. Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine’s to close 150 stores nationwide
4. Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
5. Cache will close all stores
6. Talbots closing down specialty stores
7. J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots) Pacific Sunwear (also owned
by Talbots)
8. GAP closing 85 stores
9. Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January
10.Wickes Furniture closing down
11. Levitz closing down remaining stores
12. Bombay closing remaining stores
13. Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
14. Whitehall closing all stores
15. Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
16. Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
17. Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
18. Macys to close 9 stores after January
19. Linens and Things closing all stores
20. Movie Galley Closing all stores
21. Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
22. Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
23. JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
24. Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
25. Wilson Leather closing down all stores
26. Sharper Image closing down all stores
27. K B Toys closing 356 stores
28. Lowes to close down some stores
29. Dillard’s to close some stores

I just heard today that Bitten is also closing all stores.

How could you reach out to these people? Could you advertise for them?  Could you go to facebook or other social networking sites and look for disenfranchised employees?

How can you use the economic downturn to help you grow your business AND help these people who need to replace their income?

- Ben Fitts

Popularity: 7% [?]

There’s another cool software tool for Twitter you guys should check out.

Tweet My Blog allows you to automatically post a twitter every time you update your blog.  So every time you update your blog it will automatically send a tweet to Twitter which notifies your followers that you updated your blog.  The tweet even includes a link back to the blog post so people can read it.

Tweet My Blog also has a sidebar widget you can use to show your latest tweets on your blog.  This is another way to expose your readers to Twitter and vice versa.  With the popularity of Twitter anything you do to communicate more with your followers is a good thing.  It’s one of the ways you can build relationships online.

So definitely check out Tweet My Blog. I think you’ll like it.

- Ben Fitts

http://www.twitter.com/benfitts

Popularity: 7% [?]

Two weeks ago I wrote about a new marketing tool I discovered courtesy of my friend John Milton Fogg.

The marketing tool is a lead capture page which promotes a free audio CD from Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki.  The cd talks about the importance of owning your own business and how network marketing is a very affordable way to get started and learn business.

I haven’t pushed a lot of traffic to it, but what I have done is pretty promising so far.  I have sent 46 hits to the site and 3 of them converted. They “purchased” the free cd.  I say purchased because they do have to pay for shipping and handling.  So this means roughly 1 in 15 hits are converting into a prospect.

That’s pretty darn promising and I am going to send some more traffic to the site to see what happens.

Meanwhile they are holding a Webinar for affiliates on how to use the Free Robert Kiyosaki CD.  The webinar is Sunday November 23rd.  If you’re curious about how to use this marketing tool then click the link above to register for the free webinar.

I think you’ll be pleased!

- Ben Fitts

Popularity: 7% [?]

Hi everyone,

My friend Dvorah from Electronic Marketing Magic shared this link with me.  She found this site called Tweet Later.

Tweet Later is cool because it allows you to send a private message back to anyone who follows you on twitter.  This is one way you can add in a little self promotion and advertising.  I reply back with a link for people to check out my web site.  It also allows you to send out a public reply welcoming your new followers once per day.  This helps them get a little exposure too. Finally it allows you to auto-follow your new twitter followers.

It looks like the service is free, so that’s pretty awesome.

Check out Tweet Later.  It’s very COOL.

- Ben Fitts

http://www.twitter.com/benfitts

Popularity: 7% [?]

DO you have vehicle signs or vinyl lettering or vehicle wraps on your car?

I’ve been considering putting these on my car.  I had a sign on the back window of my car before but it probably wasn’t the best sign, the best message, etc.

I did find these cool business card caddies.  You stick it to the side of your card where your vehicle wrap/text is.  It displays your business card and allows people to take a card.

Often times when people see your sign on your vehicle they don’t have a way to write your information down.  This way they can take a card with them.

One of my downline started using these card caddies and already has gotten a good response.  I just ordered 4 for myself.  2 for each of my cars.

http://www.cardcaddie.com

This is not an affiliate link.  I just think it’s really cool and you guys could all benefit from it.

- Ben Fitts

Popularity: 7% [?]

I just saw this in Perry Marshall’s newsletter.  I thought it would be something that you guys could benefit from.  Regardless of whether or not you are writing headlines for the web or classified ads or whatever. This is some great stuff to think of.

Just yesterday of my team asked me about a card campaign they were going to send out and it lacked a little bit of the WIIFM factor.  She probably could have benefited from this great info.

Here it is…

Today, a taste of Tom Hoobyar’s Word Magic for Copywriters course.
This comes from a section of the special bonus report titled
“7 Sales Killers & 10 Sales Winners”:

TEN WORDS MOST OFTEN USED IN SUCCESSFUL HEADLINES

Most Master-level copywriting courses include dozens and sometimes
hundreds of headlines. They are valuable as templates, and classic
ad headlines can be tailored to new product or service offerings and
never get tired.

The following words have already made millions of dollars in successful
sales for close to a century. This list is useful if you’re writing your own
headline, and want it to be a winner.

Remember, everyone is listening to their favorite mental “radio station”

W.I.I.F.M., which stands for “What’s in it for me?”

1) You - The most important person in the world

2) Your - The most important possessor in the world

3) How - Monkey curiosity bump, scratched here

4) New - Oh? Really? Am I one of the first to know?

5) Who - This one frequently begins, “Who else wants to …” and
continues with “become rich without working?” “have a million dollar
smile for a fraction of the cost?”

6) Money - no one ever has enough, even billionaires, so this is a
strong hook.

7) Now - time is related to money in most people’s minds. So,
better pay attention to whatever is being announced “Now.”

People - Hey! That’s me! I’m people; maybe this is addressed to me.

9) Want - We all want more. And different. And new.

10) Why - Monkey curiosity again. The answer to this question is
always “because.”

To see the rest, just click here:

http://www.perrymarshall.com/magic/

Perry Marshall

P.S.: You can hear the MP3 of my whole conversation with
Tom at http://www.perrymarshall.com/magic/download.htm

Popularity: 7% [?]

I attended Breakthroughs to Success with Jeffery Combs a little while ago.

One of the things they talked about… and this is kinda esoteric stuff.

They were breaking boards.  Like Karate kind of stuff.  BUT the people breaking boards were people with no karate background and yet they were breaking two boards.

One thing they said was that the board doesn’t care if it breaks or not.

Your MLM business is the same way.  The universal laws don’t care if you build your MLM business fast or slow. You are the only one who cares.  Your mind is what is holding you back.

If you think you have to build a network marketing business slowly then you will build a business slowly.

If you think most people will say no to you, then most will.

If you think most people won’t have the money to get started, most won’t have the money to get started.

If you want to go fast then you need to change your mindset.  It’s what we call a paradigm shift.  An example of a paradigm is if you wear yellow sunglasses all the time, everything looks yellow.  If you look at a white t-shirt it looks yellow.  All colors are distorted by your yellow sunglasses.  Then if you take the yellow sunglasses off, suddenly everything changes.  You see new colors that you never saw before because you’re no longer wearing those sunglasses.

There is no reason why you have to build your business slowly.  You simply change your mindset and take action.  That’s all there is to it.

I started with new goal statements.

“I am growing fast”

“I am attracting the right people into my business and they are finding me”

“We are the fastest growing team in SOC”

This is how I began. I began by programming my mind.  I then combined this with massive action.  AND that’s why my business is growing fast.

I know it might be difficult for you to understand. You might feel like you don’t “deserve” this. BUT you do. You deserve it as much as anyone else. So make it happen. That’s why I call it esoteric. Some of you reading this just won’t be able to grasp what I’m saying.

The same universal laws that make you go slow can work in your favor and make you go fast.  This is what the Slight Edge is all about.

Do you want to grow fast?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this… Leave me a comment and let me know.

- Ben Fitts

Popularity: 7% [?]

Last week I wrote about BNI and wondered if BNI was a good place to meet mavens and connectors. (click here for original post.)

I was reading Dr. Ivan Misner’s book The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies…

And right in the introduction he quotes some of the same research used in Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.

Ever hear of the 6 degress of seperation?

The reality is there is no such thing.  This was research done in the 70’s and 80’s where people who had no direct connection were asked to get in touch with a specific person in New York City.  This is where the 6 degrees of seperation comes from, because in the test results the average person took 6 connections to connect with the specific person in New York City.

The reality of the test was that in the best test only 29% of people were able to connect with the specific person.  That means 71% of them failed.

Back to my original point.  Dr Ivan Misner in his book is talking about ways you can improve your networking skills.  He talks about ways that you can become one of the 29% who has enough connections and clout that you can “connect” with anyone.  This is a key to becoming a successful network marketer and these are the kind of people I personally am looking for in my business.  I guess that’s one reason why so many successful network marketers I know are members of BNI.  BNI is a social networking group for business professionals.

BNI is founded by Dr. Ivan Misner the man whose book tells us how to become “mavens” and “connectors” like Malcolm Gladwell speaks about.

Having said all that… and knowing that BNI is a great place to network… I’m going to my first BNI meeting tomorrow!

I’ll keep you posted of my results.

- Ben Fitts

Popularity: 7% [?]

Here is an idea for the new Robert Kiyosaki free cd. (author of Rich Dad Poor Dad)

Since Robert Kiyosaki is so well known and has a publishing company with lots of books.  How about making some business cards with your URL to give away your free audio cd.  Then go to the local bookstore and go to the business section and start putting your business cards in the books.

Rich Dad Poor Dad

Cashflow Quadrant

Own Your Own Corporation

The Business School for People Who Like Helping People

Etc.

Don’t you think you’d get a few leads?

What about going to the local Robert Kiyosaki events.  Right now they are going around the country holding stock investment seminars.  RK has some new software I think he’s trying to sell so they are hosting free seminars.  What if you went to the local seminar and passed out business cards offering your free Robert Kiyosaki cd?

What other ideas can you come up with for marketing with the Free RichDad cd?

- Ben

Popularity: 7% [?]

This is personal stuff not MLM stuff. So if you don’t want to know more about me, don’t read this!

We just got a new kitten!  My wife Jennifer fell in love with hairless cats.  Then we became friends with a great local breeder.  We had two cats, Gunther and Tallulah.  Gunther passed away in May and we’ve been hesitant to bring a new cat home…

Yesterday we were visiting our breeder and fell in love with a new kitten.  She’s 5 months old.  Her name is Glinda.  Our breeder (Classical Cats Cattery) names all her cats after Opera’s.  So Glinda is named for the “good witch” from the musical Wicked.

Here are a couple of videos of Glinda playing.

Video #1

Video #2

We’re pretty happy to have found a new member of our family.

- Ben Fitts

Popularity: 5% [?]