Do you like the look and feel of our newly designed online Magazine? Click here to read…

 I would greatly appreciate your feedback on our March 24th issue - you can post your comments on our blog. Thanks.

 The new topics we’ve chosen for this issue onward are very close to entrepreneurs at every stage of their business. The start up phase for aspiring entrepreneurs, marketing and selling for all entrepreneurs, business building for anyone who would like to take their business to the next level, and last but not the least, Inspirational and motivational articles and interviews to re-ignite your passion and enthusiasm.

Hope you enjoy,

Abe Cherian
Editor-In-Chief, Weeklytips.com 
CEO, Multiple Stream Media, LLC

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Which statement sums up how you define your customers?

1) I have a very specific customer in mind — very specific and very narrow. I only want to sell to this specific customer; I’m not interested in attracting anyone else.

Or

2) If they have a pulse, they’re a potential customer.

Okay, in case you were wondering, number 1 is good and number 2 isn’t.

Yet, I can’t tell you how many business owners I run into who are closer to number 2 than number 1.

I know, it’s difficult to think you might be turning away potential business. But trust me, your life will be much easier once you’ve carefully defined your potential customer (also known as your target market). And to further convince you, here are 3 reasons.

1. You’ll be able to find your target market more easily. If you know exactly who you’re looking for, you’ll have a much easier time tracking down where they’re hanging out (i.e. publications they read, Web sites they visit, radio stations they listen to). Then you’ll know exactly where you should be spending your advertising dollars and/or which editors you should be courting for potential PR stories. Best yet, you’ll probably be spending less money/time and yielding far better results.

2. You’ll be able to persuade your target market more easily. If you know exactly who you’re talking to, and what their challenges and problems are, you’ll be able to craft far more targeted marketing materials. You can use language and images they respond to (which will make them feel like you understand them) plus you’ll be able provide a specific solution to their challenges.

You can’t do this if you’re trying to please “everyone.” “Everyone” is a tricky fellow. He’s tough to pin down. After all, “everyone” buys a product for different reasons. Take cell phones, for instance.

Senior citizens, teenagers and parents buy cell phones, but they buy them for different reasons. Teenagers buy them so they can chat with their friends all the time. Parents buy them for their teens in order to keep track of them (the teens, not the cell phones). My 90-year-old grandfather bought one for emergency use only. Each one of those reasons is a different benefit. The ad that appeals to parents knowing where their teenagers are is certainly NOT going to work for teenagers, and neither of those ads will be terribly persuasive to my grandfather.

So if you’re trying to sell to “everyone” just imagine how complicated it’s going to be to try and cover all those different reasons in a single marketing piece. Not really possible, is it?

3. You’ll have an easier time with your business. If you’re busy running around providing different products or services to different customers, chances are you’re not as efficient as you could be. This is especially true for business owners who are service providers. If you’re constantly learning new skills for each client who walks in the door, how efficient will you be? Wouldn’t it be better to stick with what you’re good at and just sell that?

Creativity Exercise — Discover your target market.

Here’s an exercise you can try if you’re still unsure of your target market or if you want to make sure you aren’t missing any potential customers.

Get a sheet of paper. Write down all the features of your product. Features are descriptions of your product. Take cell phones, for example. Features of cell phones are they’re small and wireless.

Now change those features to benefits. For a cell phone, you can carry it anywhere and use it anywhere (anywhere there’s a signal, that is).

Now make a list of who needs those benefits. Think broadly here. Maybe parents or people in certain industries or people with certain jobs. Try to come up with at least 50 markets. Be silly. That’s when you’re most likely to hear your muse (or genius) speaking to you.

Another technique is to ask your subconscious for help. Do a meditation where you ask your subconscious to show you someone from your target market. Ask questions and see what the answers are.

Once you come up with your list, then it’s time to critique and judge. Try and narrow it to no more than five target markets. One or two are better yet. The more target markets, the harder it gets. You can always start with one, and once you’ve made yourself known in that market, you can move to a second and a third and so on.

———————————————-

Michele Pariza Wacek is the author of “Got Ideas? Unleash Your Creativity and Make More Money.” She offers two free e-zines that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.TheArtistSoul.com.

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As an Entrepreneur working to bring in new  clients to your business - your first order  and priority of the day should be this…

Working on “Direct Cash Generating  Activities”

Like, advertising & promotion, up- selling and cross selling, taking care of  your existing clients….etc

80% of your time should be spend on  activities and decisions that will bring in a  healthy ‘Cash-Flow’ to your business - because without cash-flow, there is no money  to expand or grow your business further.

One of the most effective ‘Cash-flow  generating’ activity would be your  Advertising & Promotions.

Did you Advertise today?

If not, check Rent-A-List’s New Year’s  promotion - packed with value and savings…  Don’t miss out.

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Abe Cherian
CEO, Multiple Stream Media, LLC

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by Abe Cherian.

One of the beauties of engaging in a home business is tax deductions. Tax deductions are not what they once were. To be eligible for business related deductions today, you must use that part of your home claimed exclusively and regularly as either the principal location of your business, or place reserved to meet students or customers. For example, if you use your den or a spare bedroom as the principal place of business, working 8:00 to 5:00 every day, but permit your children to watch TV in that room during evening hours, the IRS dictates that you cannot claim a deduction for that room as your office or place of business.

There are, however, a couple of exceptions to the exclusive use rule. One is the storage on inventory in your home, where your home is the location of your trade or business, and your trade or business is the selling of products at retail or wholesale. According to the IRS, such storage space must be used on a regular basis, and be separately identifiable space.

One more interesting exception applies to daycare services that are provided for children, the elderly, or physically or mentally handicapped. This exception applies only if the owner of the facility complies with the state laws for licensing. To be eligible for business deductions, your business must be an activity undertaken with the intent of making profit. It’s presumed you meet this requirement if your business makes a profit in any two years of a five year period.

Once your business makes it this far, you can deduct business expenses such as supplies, subscriptions to professional journals, and an allowance for the business use of your car or truck. You can also claim deductions for home related business expenses such as utilities, Internet connection, and in some cases, even a new roof for your home.

The IRS is going to treat the part of your home you use for business as though it were a separate piece of property. This means that you’ll have to keep good records and take care not to mix business and personal matters. No specific method of record keeping is required, but your records must clearly justify the deductions you claim.

You can begin by calculating what percentage of the house is used for business, either by number of rooms or by area in square footage. For example, you use one of the five rooms for your business, the business portion is 20 percent. If you run your business out of a room that’s 10 by 12 feet, and the total area of your home is 1,200 square feet, the business space factor is 10 percent. But, if your business is a home day care center, it will then become one of the exempted activities in which the exclusive use rule doesn’t apply. Check with your tax preparer and the IRS for an exact determination.

If you rent, you can deduct the part of your rent which contributes to the business share of your house or apartment. Homeowners can take a deduction based on the depreciation of the business portion of their house. There is a limit to the amount you can deduct. This is the amount equal to the gross income generated by the business, minus those home expenses you could deduct even if you weren’t operating a business from your home. For example, real estate taxes and mortgage interest are deductible regardless of any business activity in your home, so you must subtract from your business gross income the percentage that’s allocable to the business portion of your home. This figure will give the maximum amount for home related business deductions.

The IRS emphasizes those claiming home business deductions does not automatically trigger an audit on your tax return. Even so, it is always wise to work meticulously within the proper guidelines, and of course, keep detailed records if you claim business related expenses when you are working out of your home. If your business earnings aren’t subject to withholding tax, and your estimated federal taxes are $100 or more, you’ll probably be filing a Declaration of Estimated Tax, Form 1040 ES. To complete this form, you will have to estimate your income for the coming year and also figure out the income tax and self employed tax you will owe.

The self employment taxes pay for Social Security coverage. If you have a salaried job covered by Social Security, the self employment tax applies only to that amount of your home business income, that when added to your salary, reaches the current ceiling. When you file your Form 1040-ES, which is due mid April, you must make the first of four equal installment payments on your estimated tax bill.

Another good way to trim taxes is by setting up an Individual Retirement Account. You can shelter some of your home business income from taxes by investing it for your retirement. You should always discuss this aspect of your operation with your tax preparer or a person qualified in the field of small business tax requirements.

Abe Cheria
CEO, Multiple Stream Media, LLC

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If you were to ask any Internet business owner about how well organized their operations are, they’ll more than likely say, ?Possibly not.?

In fact, many organizations throw up an expensive website using all the latest bells and whistles, only to find it a generally unsatisfying experience. Apart from the technical versus sales and marketing issues of the website itself, many organizations, both in terms of appropriate behaviors, as well as of effective organizational designs has been sadly neglected by many established site owners.

You may have a business site with dedicated Web staff, yet it is poorly integrated within your parent organization and tasked with non-defined roles.

A simple question needs to be asked, ?Do you have a networking group directed by a chief Web officer and composed of dedicated staff for each business function?? If not, then depending upon your organizations’ size and abilities, you’ll need to implement such a group or outsource those functions.

Typically, many conventional site owners have acquired organizational habits that are not well aligned to the needs of ecommerce. It should be noted there are various undesirable traits or behaviors found in many organizations that must be guarded against.

You might find that increasing complexity in your company has resulted in inflexibility and slow decision making processes. There is also a tendency towards internal conflict and stratification, as well as a leadership that would tend to emphasize capital investment as a solution to all problems.

The movement towards networking with a specific group, which characterizes a typical consumer goods business, will carry with it limited coordination among your departments and divisions resulting in a weakened sense of market trends and increased dissatisfaction.

These features are in direct conflict with what you should know about the cultural characteristics of pure successful ecommerce businesses. An Internet business is predominantly a flat organization with quick decision making, where risk taking is encouraged and failure is merely an education.

Employees may tend to work long hours at the office by choice and are very self disciplined. Typically, such companies use guiding principles rather than procedures and tend to lead by example. When these two types of cultural environments are brought together, unexpected and perhaps dysfunctional behaviors must be expected to emerge.

Given the cultural and organizational differences between new and old ecommerce businesses, the way in which you, as an established site owner should set up and manage Internet operations, is therefore extremely important.

One factor to consider, is that small Internet businesses are more flexible organizationally. You should consider that ecommerce has provided greater electronic quality for smaller businesses in relation to their larger competitors.

You will need an increased willingness to seek appropriate alliances and partnerships, plus consider organizational designs, company spin-offs, etc., that will provide convergence to the integrated business model required to overcome these mismatches in culture and outlook.

The many advantages derived from the Internet must be exploited both within and between existing sectors of your offline business. With the ways in which networked organizations are evolving, it should be realized that only those retaining an Internet culture, in a parallel or networking group style of operation, closely identifies with the ecommerce aspects of a business’overall objectives will become more successful.
Abe Cherian is an online marketing pioneer, founder and CEO of Multiple Stream Media, LLC. The MSMedia Network helps Webmasters and Affiliates Worldwide to Instantly earn ad-revenue from their existing traffic the easy way. Get more information and start earning today: http://www.multiplestreammktg.com

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Great success, more clients.. and  bigger paydays…It’s not a dream when  you….

…when you….”Advertise!”

“Advertising is the foot on the  accelerator, the hand on the throttle, the spur on the flank that keeps our  economy surging forward.”

- Robert W. Sarnoff, The International Dictionary of Thoughts, 1969

And it keeps your  business surging forward too!

With Rent-A-List’s New Year’s Special promotion, you’ll SAVE thousands of dollars on your online promotions RIGHT NOW!

- Huge discounts
- Multiple ad packages
- Targeted promotions ]
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Make it a good one!

Sincerely, 

Abe Cherian 
CEO, Multiple Stream Media, LLC. 
(845) 247 2565 - (845) 247 2567

P.S. ~FIRSTNAME~, on our New Years Party  pictures you’ll see my staff having fun and celebrating the New Year.

See Pictures  => http://imttrack.com/t/c/msmedia/ral_sp/

BUT, behind those GOOGLE-EYED getup (2008 Eye Wear), there lies a very serious, accomplished in their own right, and most of all CARING professionals in this industry.

Are YOU going to take advantage of  they have to offer your business?

=> http://imttrack.com/t/c/msmedia/ral_sp/

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