This is a great resource for Social Media Marketers out there to further explore the “reach” that their fan pages have.

Here is a Screenshot of a Fan Page with this feature turned on…

Feel free to comment below if you have any feedback for updates on this feature and creative ways to use it to become a more effective Social Media Marketer!

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3. 10 Easy Steps to Get 5,000 Friends on Facebook in 90 Days!

We have some big plans in 2010 and if you are ready to experience a year filled with joy and abundance, then we encourage you to stay in touch with us and figure out a way that we can all joint venture on something together because we believe that our true success is going to come from helping as many people as possible change their lives for the better!

Speaking of lives being changed, I was 21 years old when I had an amazing life changing experience. I was entrepreneurial minded, but still lost and confused and very mixed with the direction that I wanted to take my life. One Sunday night I found myself in a church service at Santa Cruz Bible Church and I turned my life over to the lord that night and I have been forever impacted by that decision.

I went from being lost and confused to feeling like my life had purpose and meaning to it. I felt like I had become a new person! Now I am filled with passion to empower as many people as possible to experience more abundance in all areas of their life, and that is where I truly get my drive from :)

My definition of Success is the optimal balance of Faith, Family, Friends, Fitness and Finances. My goal for 2010 is to work hard towards the achievement of that optimal balance. I encourage each of you to set some amazing goals and work hard towards achieving them as well!

I felt like sharing this wonderful video that was put together by a couple of young children at our new church, Westgate Chapel, in Chantilly, Virginia. I love seeing creativity in kids, and I also love seeing people embrace technology to get their message out. Westgate Chapel is not a large church by any means, but they spread their love to the masses none the less.

Please watch this video and take a moment to rate it 5 stars if you like it and comment on the video to show them some love. You can also pass this video on to your friends and family by Email, Facebook, or Twitter.

Enjoy :)

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAUSQ2fqWAw

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2. Facebook Usage Statistics 2009
3. 10 Essential Tips to Becoming a Millionaire

This may or may not apply directly to you and your business, but the information is still extremely valuable.  Pass this along to anyone that you know that runs a family-owned business that might benefit from this…

Kenny Childs is an attorney with Kyler, Kohler, Ostermiller & Sorensen, LLP (“KKO Lawyers”), who regularly helps his clients with estate planning issues.  He has written this article to share some advice with us on how to handle and “pass-on” the family business.

Is fairness between your children important to you and your family?  How do you divide your estate between your children who have worked and been involved in the family business all their lives and those children who haven’t?  Should the children in the business buy the business on sweetheart terms and still share equally in the estate?  This is a major issue for those families operating their own businesses.  The biggest mistake you can make is failing to address this issue in your estate plan.  Failing to make these sorts of decisions before you pass away can cause years of contention and pain for your surviving family members.

Generally speaking, we believe that if you have children involved in the family business and both you and the children want to keep the business after you pass on, it is critical that the children who are in the business buy or inherit all of the business interests and if possible, the business real estate.  Otherwise, the family is left in a state where they have serious conflicts of interest.  We have seen relationships between family members destroyed because a parent thought it wise to leave a child not involved in the business his or her “share” of the business so he or she could receive an income stream and not feel left out.

The problem with this is that most family owned businesses do not pay significant dividends; the child not working in the business owns a valuable asset but it is useless to him or her unless the business is sold.  On the other hand, if there is a significant dividend or distribution out to the child not working in the business, the children in the business feel as if the non-working child receives significant dollars while doing nothing.  Also, children in the business will also have different investment and cash flow goals for the business than the outside child.  This does not mean that all of the children cannot inherit equal values; it just means that the children outside of the business should inherit other assets, not the business.

In dealing with dividing the business real estate, we usually recommend that the children in the business either buy or inherit the property.  When this isn’t possible, consider putting in place a lease that can only be terminated by the company and that sets a fair market value for rents based on an appraisal done every few years or a lease involving automatic increases.   The children in the business can also be given an option to purchase the real estate within a certain time period for its fair market value.  This allows them to buy some time after the parents have passed on to prepare to purchase the real estate from the estate.

In order to accomplish the goal of having a clean break between the children involved in the business with those that aren’t, there needs to be liquidity within the estate in order to “pay off” the children that won’t be involved in the business. Other assets that may pass to children not involved in the family business include the personal residence, retirement plans, savings or investment accounts, rental or other investment property and life insurance proceeds.  If your estate is lacking in other assets to pass to children not involved in the family business, then life insurance is almost always the best route to take to give liquidity to the estate.

As we have discussed in previous newsletters, in order to avoid estate taxes on life insurance, we use an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust that effectively gets the life insurance out of the estate before you pass away in order to avoid the insurance proceeds from being added to the value of your estate.  Beware however, that this strategy is not one to implement on your death bed as you would obviously be uninsurable at such a time and if you do pass away within three (3) years after an existing policy is assigned to an Irrevocable Trust, the full value of the policy is subject to estate taxes.

Another way to give liquidity to your estate is to begin investing now outside of the business.  So many times our clients are focused exclusively on re-investing inside the business, which is obviously very important, however this creates all of the wealth to be passed on limited to the business itself, which fails to provide liquidity for those children outside the business.  Consider not paying off all of the business debts immediately and consider making investments apart from the business.  A 401(k) or other retirement plan may be a good start.  Obviously there is a delicate balance to be struck here and decisions regarding where and when to make such investments should not be taken lightly.

The biggest mistake you could make is failing to implement a plan long before you pass away.  The older you get the more limited your options become in implementing different strategies to both minimize estate taxes and to ensure fairness in dividing the family business between your children.  Furthermore, providing all of the children a plan in advance gives the children time to come to terms with the division of the estate and do their own planning for the future based on the division.  Allow a way for your family to avoid the grief and pain caused by failing to properly plan for a division of the family business long before you pass away.

If you feel this is an issue your family needs to address, please call the offices of KKO Lawyers to make an appointment with Kenny Childs and tailor an Estate Plan to your situation.  If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to comment :)

Related posts:

1. 5 Strategies for Preserving your Wealth Based on Current Tax Laws
2. Review of Spin Selling by Neil Rackham – A great book for real estate investors and sales professionals…
3. 7 Tax Strategies Every Real Estate Agent Should Know!

While building your fan page is definitely an important step and a great long term play, there are tremendous benefits in reaching the max of 5,000 friends on your personal Facebook profile, and if those friends happen to be the target audience of your products or service, then this can give you a tremendous advantage in the marketplace to promote your business.

Having 5,000 friends on your personal Facebook profile is going to dramatically assist you in Promoting your Pages, Groups & Events as well as Branding & Credibility.  In this article I am going to teach you 10 simple steps to increase your Facebook friends list to 5,000 in as little as 90 days.

I hope you take this seriously and make it happen!  Enjoy :)

1. Request 30 New Friends Per Day
2. Have People Suggest Friends For You
3. Provide Massive Value
4. Create A Social Media Signature
5. Add More Content To Your Info Page
6. Create A Great Profile Picture
7. Import Your Entire Email List
8. Create Viral Facebook Videos
9. Start Targeted Facebook Groups
10. Comment, Comment, Comment

1. REQUEST 30 NEW FRIENDS PER DAY:

The most obvious way to increase your Facebook friends list is to send friend requests to other Facebook users.  While this might seem like an extremely obvious concept at first glance, I can assure you that there are some important steps you must follow in order to grow fast and effectively without being a spammer or getting your account suspended.

I have 2 simple rules when it comes to requesting friends

1. Only send friend requests to my target audience of like-minded entrepreneurs.
2. Avoid getting suspended from sending too many friend requests per day.

Facebook does not publish the exact number of daily friend requests that they consider spam, but I have found the sweet spot to be right around 30 friend requests per day.  I know that some of you are going to test the limits and request 40-50 per day or more and many of you may never even have a problem with that, but I stay safe with 30 requests because I do not want to spend a couple of months building something just to have it taken away.

There is a common misunderstanding about sending friend requests and receiving friend requests.  I am suggesting that you send around 30 friend requests per day, but you can have unlimited people request to be your friend per day.

Let’s assume that you request 30 new friends per day every day for the next 90 days.  That would be 2,700 friend requests, and let’s assume that for whatever reason only about 50% accept your friend request in return.  This will generate you roughly 1500 new targeted friends and you would be over a quarter of the way to your goal already.

The easiest way to find these new friends is by searching for Facebook groups related to your target audience and browsing through members and adding them one at a time.  For example, if you are looking to network with Realtors, you would find a group for agents and go through the list until you have added 30 members for the day.  Then the next day you would repeat the process until you have added everyone in that group.  Then you simply find another group and start over again.

It is OK if you miss a day or two here and there but if you want 5,000 friends in 90 days you have to learn how to make this a habit!

2. HAVE PEOPLE SUGGEST FRIENDS FOR YOU:

Since you are limited to how many friend requests you can send out per day, the key is to get other people to request your friendship.  One of the easiest ways to do this is to have your friends suggest their friends to you.  They can do this by visiting your personal profile and clicking the link on the bottom left hand side of your profile where it says “Suggest Friends For…”.

Your friends can select all of their friends by clicking on them, and then click "Send Suggestions"

Hopefully they refer ALL of their friends so that your friends list grows quickly!  I helped one of my clients get to 3,000 friends in one week just through this strategy alone!  Here are a couple of tips to assist you in finding someone who will suggest friends for you.

• Offer to exchange services or provide something of value for them
• Suggest your friends to them in exchange for them suggesting their friends to you
• You can “help” them by sharing these tips in exchange for them promoting your profile :)

Come up with unlimited creative ideas to make it a win-win situation…

3. PROVIDE MASSIVE VALUE:

One of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make on Facebook is that they request friends and then spam them with their latest and greatest opportunities right off the bat.  My suggestion is that you create as much value as possible for your friends before talking to them about your business.  When you share quality content it will motivate your friends to comment on your posts and updates and perhaps even pass them on to their friends.  The more that you can create this viral activity, the more exposure that you will gain and the more friends that will request you.

The first step in providing massive value is to find some awesome content that you can share with your target audience.  I would recommend bookmarking a list of blogs that offer relevant content and sharing their articles with your users.  For example, you are on my blog now, which means that you are finding this content useful.  The next step would be to share this article on your Facebook profile to provide value for your following.

There are generally two easy ways to share articles on Social Networks.  First off you should start by looking for a Facebook icon on the page.  If the blog has one, then you can simply click on it and it will automatically share the article to your website.  This same process can work for Twitter and any other social networks that they feature.

At the end of my articles, readers can click these links to share my post on their favorite social network

If they do not have an easy shortcut link to share the article then you will need to copy the URL of the page and visit your Facebook profile and share it as a link.  You will be given the opportunity to edit the title, description & picture then leave a personal note about the article and share it!  Here are a few pictures to explain the process:

If you are learning a lot from the posts on my blog, then instead of “paying me back” you can “pay it forward” by sharing my articles with your Facebook friends.  This is the ultimate win-win situation because I am taking the time to create the quality content for you to share, and you are helping to promote my articles, and at the same time you are providing value for your audience and increasing your friend base at the same time!

For a full listing of all my articles, visit: http://chrisrecord.com/topics/recent/

4. CREATE A SOCIAL MEDIA SIGNATURE:

Most of you have an email signature that you already use, but do you have a Social Media Signature?  It is the same as your normal email signature but it includes links to your social networks where people can follow you.  A typical social media signature will usually include links to at least the following social networks:

TWITTER – FACEBOOK – LINKEDIN – YOUTUBE

The easiest way to implement this is to just add your social media profiles below your existing signature.  You can start with a line that says “Follow me on my social networks…” and then include your top profiles.  I highly recommend finding the “shortest” link to your profiles that you can find.  For example, if you are linking to Facebook you should set up your Custom Facebook Username and link directly to it.

Here is an example of my Social Media Signature (with my email and phone number changed)

–
Chris Record, CEO
Record Investments, Inc.
888-555-1212 Cell
example@email.com
http://www.chrisrecord.com

Follow me on my social networks…

TWITTER –> http://twitter.com/chrisrecord
FACEBOOK –> http://facebook.com/recordbreaker
YOUTUBE –> http://youtube.com/facebook4business
LINKEDIN –> http://linkedin.com/in/cashflowchampion

* Tip: You always want to include the http:// before every link so that it will become an active link that your readers can click on.

Another powerful use of a social media signature is making a habit of adding a link to your Facebook emails.  This is a very clean and professional way to always be promoting  your networks without it coming across as spam.  Another cool benefit of this feature is that you can always mix up the link that you are promoting, and even target the link based on the email you are sending.

For example, when I send an email on Facebook I will often ask myself if there is a relevant article on my blog that I can promote while I am at it.  The key to growing your networks quickly is to always be promoting them in a way that doesn’t take too much time and effort.

Here are some screenshots to explain this process:

5. ADD MORE CONTENT TO YOUR INFO PAGE:

The more content that you have on your “info” tab of your profile, the easier that people will be able to find you when they do keyword searches on Facebook.  This same rule also applies to how many status updates that you have, because those are now searchable on Facebook as well.

Some people feel that this step is a waste of time, or they lack the creativity to come up with answers to these questions, but if your goal is to grow your friends list to 5,000 people in 90 days, then I feel this is an important factor in making that happen.  Your answers should have two primary purposes:

1. BRANDING – This is a chance to brand yourself.  When other Facebook users consider adding you as a friend they might want to see what your interests are before making a decision.
2. KEYWORDS – The content that you choose to feature on your info page is also searchable text so think of books and interests that your target market also like.

In a nutshell, it is always important to take the time once to fill in this content, and then forever receive the benefits of it…

6. CREATE A GREAT PROFILE PICTURE:

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression”

Most Facebook users do not understand the true value of a great profile picture.  Think about it for a second.  Face-Book.  It is ALL about your face, and you only get one chance to make a great first impression!  When other Facebook users are browsing through friends of friends they will first look at your picture before anything else.  You want to make it stand out from the rest with something original if possible, and make sure that it is very professional with good lighting and of course a great smile!

Here is a screenshot of the current picture that I am using on my Facebook Fan Page.  You might need to start out with a simple cell phone picture for now, but it should be your immediate goal to get a better picture as soon as possible.  It’s as simple as dressing nice and asking a friend to take a few pictures of you for your profile.  If you don’t mind investing a few bucks, then have a professional take some pictures.  You can get 4-5 quality pictures and then mix it up every once in a while with a different version.

Sometimes we wake up and get dressed and we just feel really confident about ourselves for that day, and I will be that there are many other times that we don’t feel confident about our looks at all.  The next time that you have a day where you feel great, you should remind yourself to grab a camera and have someone take a few pictures of you.  I know it doesn’t seem important, but it really is!  You ARE the brand that people are looking at, and the way that you carry yourself and display yourself is what people will first take in.  If they feel comfortable with you, then they will be much more likely to do business with you.

Please make a commitment to upload a quality Facebook profile picture that clearly shows your face in a happy mood in a well-lit environment.  Feel free to use something temporarily for now until you find the right picture.

7. IMPORT YOUR ENTIRE EMAIL LIST:

When you first set up your Facebook account you are prompted to invite friends from your email account to look at your pictures.  Many people skip this option because they don’t understand it, and when they first join Facebook they are usually pretty cautious about who they want to become their friend.  Believe me, I felt the exact same way when I first set up my profile.

Assuming that you now have your profile set up professionally and you are looking to grow your friends list to 5,000 people, it would be very wise to revisit this option and invite everyone from your email account(s).  To do this you simply click on the “Invite Friends” link located under the Friends tab on the top navigation bar on Facebook.

Here is a direct link (http://www.facebook.com/invite.php).

The process is extremely user friendly.  If your email provider is Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail then you simply click on the logo and follow the instructions.  If you use a different email provider then you will need to click on the link that says “Import Email Addresses” and then click on the link that says “How to create a contact file”.  This process may seem a little difficult for non-techies, so if you have any questions, just leave them in the comments below and I will do my best to help you through the process.

* Tip: This email importing tool is a great way to import a database of emails that you may have a collection of.  I am not recommending that you spam people to invite total strangers, but I am suggesting that there is some flexibility here for the creative marketer that has a quality email list.  Also take note if you are importing more than a few hundred emails at a time, that Facebook may stall out and it will force you to retry the process again.  The key is to break your database down into groups of about 300 at a time, and also try not to invite more than about 1,000 people per day, this way it doesn’t come across as spam.

8. CREATE VIRAL FACEBOOK VIDEOS:

Did you know that Facebook is now the #3 video site behind YouTube and Hulu?

The reason for this dramatic growth is because Facebook Videos can go viral very quickly.  You have the ability to upload the video to your personal profile or fan page, and then tag any relevant friends that may be in the video or that want to see your latest videos.

* Tip: If you just randomly tag people in a totally irrelevant manner, they may get ticked off and remove you from their friends list, or write you a nasty email, so be sure to be as relevant as possible in everything that you do.

So think of some awesome videos that your target audience would love and create them, edit them, and upload them to Facebook!  Now you can easily share them on your profile, and share them on the profiles of your friends that want to see them.  If your video has enough quality to it hopefully your friends will want to post it on their profiles as well and it will start spreading rapidly across Facebook.

The perfect example of a viral video done well on Facebook is the Grasshopper Campaign (Public YouTube Version).  They created a motivational video for entrepreneurs and it had hundreds of thousands of views on Facebook as it was passed along.  They simply put a plug for their website at the end in a non-sales type way that made it very easy for people to want to pass it around.  I am sure that it drove a ton of traffic and business for Grasshopper, not to mention the awesome branding they received as well.

Every time that your video is spread virally, people will see a link to your profile as the user who uploaded the video.  This will cause people to check out your profile and request you as a friend.  Get creative and come up with some cool ideas for Facebook videos and encourage your friends to share them!  Also, you can use this same process with YouTube videos that you create as well.  The only downside is that you lose the ability to tag your friends in the videos, but you can still share them on your friends walls and via private messages.

9. START TARGETED FACEBOOK GROUPS:

Now that your personal profile has a professional touch and your friends list is growing like crazy, it is time to start creating targeted Facebook groups and fan pages.  For example, let’s say that you are a Real Estate Agent.  You may want to create a group for real estate agents in your metropolitan area, or perhaps even more targeted just for your city.  Then you can invite other real estate agents to join the group where you can all discuss changes to local laws, and related real estate matters.

But the hidden benefit of being an admin of a group or page is that you have the ability to message the entire group.  So as your group grows, it will quickly become more than just your existing friends who supported you at first.  You can now add a line to the bottom of all of your updates to the group that says “Add me as a personal friend on Facebook” and supply them with a direct link to your profile.

While you might not think this will do much for you at first, believe me that as some of your groups grow into the thousands you will start receiving dozens of friend requests with every single message.  And how difficult is it to add that simple line to the bottom of a message that you were planning on sending anyways?

There are obviously a ton of additional benefits of Facebook pages and groups for your business, but for now I just wanted to point out the valuable benefit of encouraging hundreds of thousands of people to add you as a friend with a simple email signature :)

* Tip: For some of your creative readers out there, why not joint venture or partner with somebody in a related industry to you that already has a group or page with several thousand members?  If they add you as an admin, you will be able to send out an email with your signature to thousands of people instantly without even having to create or promote a group yourself.  Get creative and this can be a goldmine for increasing your friend base!

Here are some example Facebook groups and pages that you can join and study from:

• Real Estate Investing
• 100,000 Real Estate Investors
• Lawyers are Liars
• Chris Record Fan Page
• Puppy Lovers
• Social Media Marketing 101
• Tony Horton P90X Trainer

10. COMMENT, COMMENT, COMMENT:

If you have attended any of my live Social Media Marketing trainings, then you already know that I hate wasting time on Facebook.  While this is an amazing resource for professionals it can also suck you in big time!  That is why I take so much time to write articles like this to really teach people how to actually use Facebook for business and not just for pleasure!

However, if you can spare just a few minutes each time you log on to quickly comment on recent posts from other people it can actually go a long ways towards giving yourself exposure and encouraging other users to add you as a friend.  Basically, every time that I log in, I quickly check the “news feed” on my home tab to see what my friends have recently posted.

When you only have a few hundred friends this is pretty easy to stay on top of, but when you have 5,000 friends it gets a little out of control!  Just do your best to quickly skim through and find quality posts that you find valuable.  You should respond with a very thoughtful comment and do it quickly so that you don’t waste too much time on this step.  The more that you get yourself out there, the easier it will be for people to find you.

For example, if your target market was people who were interested in social media, and you provided training for social media marketing, then you may want to scan through updates to see where you might be able to offer people advice or troubleshoot their questions.  You will quickly brand yourself as a social media coach and people will recognize and respect you for it.  The same thought process can work no matter what industry you are targeting.

BONUS TIP!!!

Make sure you set your profile up so that EVERYONE on Facebook can view it!  There is a section on Facebook that allows you to adjust your Privacy Settings and if you want more exposure, make sure that you are not limiting the number of people that can view your profile!  Other Facebook users are much more likely to add you as a friend if they can see more information about your first, rather than leaving it up to their imagination :)

These screenshots will help you through this process:

If you have learned a lot from this article and you feel that it is exactly what you needed to grow your friends base quickly, then please comment below and let me know your feedback!  If you have ANY QUESTIONS at all about any of the points that I made in this article, please ask and I will take the time to answer.  I truly appreciate you taking the time to read this post and I encourage you to SHARE it on Facebook to help me spread the word!  This is extremely valuable content that I am giving away for FREE, so pass it out quickly before your friends pay for it somewhere else :)

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Have you ever had a desire to create wealth yourself, but found it incredibly hard, and then watched others seem to do it with no apparent effort?  Do you think that it is just luck?  Coincidence?  Or do you think there are some essential common traits of millionaires that the average person can learn and apply to create wealth themselves?

As a child I had the opportunity to experience growing up with my mom living on welfare, food stamps, section 8 housing, etc.  At one point I decided that working a traditional job was not going to create enough wealth to support myself, my mom, and my future family, so I started my journey towards becoming an entrepreneur.

Over the past 10 years I have had the privilege of becoming friends with several multi-millionaires, and I have studied them passionately to learn as much as I could.  I started applying some of these millionaire success traits to my own life and amazingly I started seeing similar results and now I have a passion to share what I have learned with the world.

Today I want to highlight 10 key factors in becoming a millionaire to help guide you down that path.  Before you read these I want you to understand a few things.  First of all, money is not going to be the solution to all of your problems.  However I also believe that it can be the solution to many of them.  Regardless of your perspective on money, I want to assure you that it is the journey towards becoming a millionaire that will be more rewarding than the achievement of it.  I have been taught this first hand from several of my millionaire friends, so enjoy these tips and do your best to start applying them to your own life as soon as you can :)

1. Focus on the Why before you learn the How.

So many people underestimate the power of a worthwhile dream.  It is almost as if it has become “un-cool” to dream these days and that it is all about “goal setting” and “being realistic”.

When I hang around my millionaire friends they are always telling me stories about how they were just getting started and they didn’t know how they were going to succeed but that they had a BIG DREAM that they wanted to so badly they were going to do anything to achieve it!

The first tip (and most important in my opinion) towards becoming a millionaire is to develop a big dream that motivates the heck out of you.  There is no doubt that there will be obstacles and struggles along your journey, and it’s the power of the dream that will get you through them.  I also recommend writing down your dream and being as clear as possible.  Studies show that if you write down your dreams and goals that you are much more likely to achieve them.

Another key step is to create a “Positive Affirmation” about your dream.  Consider writing it from the perspective that you have already achieved the items from your dream list.  Here is an example of how to write a positive affirmation:

“The year is 2012 and I am sitting in my 10,000 sq foot Mediterranean style home on the beach in Southern California.  I am excited that I am in the best shape of my life at just 10% body fat and I am fortunate to have such loyal and amazing friends that I get to spend everyday with.  I love being a full time dad/mom and having the opportunity to be so influential in my children’s lives, and my wife/husband is the most beautiful person in the world that I love more and more with every day that passes.  My business is now fully automated and is creating me a solid 7-figure income and I love being able to tithe 10% of that income to my local church to help pay it forward and provide great value for so many families that deserve it…”

Carry your positive affirmation with you every day and read it as often as you can.  Memorize it and when you say it out loud you should work on visualizing it clearly in you minds eye.  One day it will come true…

2. Drive the Right Vehicle.

The definition of the word “vehicle” is; “a conveyance that transports people or objects“.  What you choose to do for a living is a “vehicle” to take you where you want to go financially.  Does your current financial vehicle have the ability to create over a million dollars per year for you?  Most jobs have “ceilings” that limit your earning potential and potential to create wealth.

So the second step in becoming a millionaire is to find the right financial vehicle to take you there.  It might start out as a small home-based business on the side of a full time job, but with enough focused effort, that can one day eventually create enough income to replace your full time job and then you will truly have a vehicle that can create millions of dollars per year for you.

Another common mistake many people make is stopping on a step on the ladder of success instead of continuing to climb to the top.

For example, my good friend found a company 8 years ago to work with to use as his financial vehicle to create wealth.  Since then he has had opportunity after opportunity cross his path to advance up the ladder and he has turned them all down to continue with his current company.

I understand his thought process of staying focused and not getting distracted with other opportunities, but at the same time when I looked at many of my millionaire friends I found that they would use one financial vehicle to get them up another step on the ladder, and then another financial vehicle to get them higher, until eventually finding the ultimate vehicle to take them to the top.

I have always believed in staying focused, while having an open mind to new opportunities that cross my path, but gaining the wisdom to discern whether or not these opportunities are worthy of pursuing.  The key is to find a financial vehicle to get started with, and then take massive action towards climbing the ladder of success!

3. Develop a Passion for Personal Development.

It’s no coincidence that this step was a common trait in ALL of my millionaire friends.  When I visit their houses I am not surprised to see large libraries of personal development books, auto-biographies, motivational movies, pictures with famous speakers and authors and more.

I recently went on a trip to Bora Bora with several friends, and one of them had a net worth of several hundred million dollars and every day he would find down time to get some sun and read his latest personal development book.  In fact, almost every time I see him he has a new book that he is carrying in his arm.  Is it a coincidence that multi-millionaires spend so much time developing themselves personally?

I learned a long time ago to turn my car into a “university on wheels“.  Rather than listening to talk radio, or playing music and commercials, I started popping in training cd’s to teach me a wide variety of subjects.  If you are serious about creating wealth in the next few years, then I strongly recommend turning off the radio and turning off the television and replacing those habits with reading books and listening to audios to teach you new skills that you don’t already know.

I have heard that the average person reads one book per year, but that the average millionaire reads one book per month.  I think that is an underestimate because the average millionaire that I personally know seems to read about one book per week!  Remember, it is the journey of “becoming” a millionaire that you will gain the most from, so start that journey today by making a commitment to spend more time every day personally developing yourself.

4. Find a Mentor to Guide You.

One of my favorite quotes is from Mike Murdock who said; “Wisdom comes from two places, mistakes and mentors“.  I think we can all agree with this one.  The “school of hard knocks” has a pretty steep tuition and most of us have probably already paid it.  The problem is that many of us still haven’t graduated!

My fourth tip today is vital because there are so many people out there that are stuck on the ladder to success and can’t figure out what the problem is.  Think of a mentor as someone who is further up the ladder than you are.  They can offer insight and perspective that you are unable to see from the step that you are on.  They can assist you in overcoming obstacles that they too had to overcome to get where they are.

Finding a mentor can be a difficult process, but well worth the effort.  My suggestion is to make a list of potential mentors that really stand out to you as the type of people that you can learn a lot from and that are where you want to be, or at least further down that road.  Then your goal is to figure out how to acquire their time and mentorship.  Here are a few ideas:

First of all you could offer to pay them.  There are plenty of people out there that would gladly consider setting time aside as long as they were being compensated.  They might already have a price in mind, or you could offer what you think would be worth it.  Your next option could be to offer to serve them and their business for free, similar to an “intern”.  I chose to do this at one point in my life and I worked for free for a mega millionaire and as a result doors started opening up for me left and right.  It was well worth my time and effort in the long run.

Heck, you might just be more direct and tell them “I would love the opportunity for you to mentor me and I am willing to offer whatever I can in return to compensate your time, just let me know how”.  Successful people are usually very busy, but they also tend to have a “pay it forward” attitude so you never know when you might just get what you ask for ;)

5. Find Multiple Ways to Make Money Doing What You Are Already Doing.

This is one of my all time favorite tips.  It just made perfect sense to me right off the bat.  You see, we all have the same 24 hours in a day but successful people have found ways to leverage that time to create more hours every day!  It seems to be a secret for the wealthy in our country that is so obvious, yet very few people actually do it.

For example, in step #3 I mentioned listening to personal development cd’s in your car.  This is a perfect example because many people are already commuting back and forth to work every day and they usually hate it.  That time can be spent gaining wisdom in the field of wealth creation and studying powerful topics like entrepreneurship, investing, raising capital, creating joint ventures, maintaining a positive attitude and so much more.

The average book on tape I listen to is around 5-6 hours long.  If someone commutes around an hour per day then they can literally listen to a new book every single week! Imagine how quickly that person can gain new skills and a new thought process to help eliminate their job and replace it with a new financial vehicle to create them wealth and help them become a millionaire.

Recently I had a conversation with a real estate investor friend of mine who has bought and sold over 100 properties.  I shared this principle with him and we came up with a great game plan to help him double or triple his current income without putting in much additional effort.  You see, he is already out looking at properties, dealing with related professionals, going to auctions and buying properties, etc.  I suggested that he have his assistant video record as much of this process as possible as if it were a reality television show and post the videos to YouTube.

Without doing much extra work he would have enough content to create at least one new 5 minute video each day.  Those short highlight videos could encourage viewers to visit his website where they can watch the full extended versions of his videos for a small subscription fee.  Over time he would build up a residual income and a database of fans that he can continue to market to and provide value for.  This is just one example of many ways to create more income doing what you are already doing.

The movie theater model is another great example of this concept.  They make money when they sell you tickets to watch movies, but the real money comes when you are in the theater ordering popcorn, sodas and candy.  Then you sit for 15 minutes before the movie watching advertisements and previews.  They have figured out multiple profit centers doing what they were already doing.

What are some ideas that you have to create extra revenue doing what you are already doing?

Next time you go golfing can you also review the course at the same time?  What if you took a picture of the clubhouse outside and inside, and then a view of each hole from the tee box with the phone from your camera.

How much extra time would that take?  5 minutes total?  Then you can simply upload the pictures and write a 3 minute review of the course on your free blog.  Not only does this start to have the potential benefits of a tax deduction because you are there for business, but you can also make money with Google Adsense on your blog and golf related affiliate programs and offers as well.

There are hundreds of ideas and I just wanted to get your mind spinning, but this is an essential step that I see my millionaire friends focusing on and I thought it was definitely worth sharing with all of you.  Remember, the key is not to spend all day “multi-tasking” but rather to find more ways to leverage, delegate, and outsource to create more income doing what you are already doing!

6. Never Say “I Can’t”, Instead Learn to Say “How Can I”.

Often times we know exactly what we need to do to become successful but for various reasons our minds tell us that it can’t be done because of our limited resources.  For example, let’s say that you have found the financial vehicle that you know will get you the result you want but there is an initial investment to get started.  You take a look at your current situation and you convince yourself that you can’t do it because you don’t have the money.

I am not going to try to convince you right now that you really do have the money, but I am going to encourage you to say “how can I get the money” instead of jumping to the conclusion that you can’t.  The way that our subconscious mind works is that whatever you declare to be true about your situation, your mind will start looking for ways to validate that belief.  So if you state that “you can’t” then your mind will work hard to prove that you really can’t. 

But if you open you mind up and say “how can I” then your subconscious mind will go to bat for you, 24 hours per day, looking for ways to make it work.

Several years ago I came across the opportunity to start up a business but it was going to take around $20,000 to get it up and running.  In my account at the time I was actually negative by $200!  I had already tapped friends and family and my credit was completely shot.  Despite all of these circumstances, I prayed about it and had an open mind and asked “how can I” and within 2 weeks I was able to find the money to get started!

Was it a miracle?  Perhaps, but at the same time I truly believe that it was because I had never really opened my mind to the idea that it was possible to raise that much money that fast.  Since then I have gone on to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes within just a few days, and I look back and think of how silly it was for me to think that $20k was that difficult.

That my friends is the power of your belief and the words that you choose will have a powerful impact on your actions and results.

7. Don’t Focus on How Much Something Will Cost You, Rather How Much It Will Make You.

Back in 2001 I had the chance to spend a few hours with a mega millionaire at his house in San Diego, California.  He told me some stories and gave me new perspectives on how he thinks about money.

He said; “Chris, I never look at how much something costs, but rather how much it will make me“.  He gave me my first real life lesson in ROI and how to think like a millionaire.

For example early in his business when he was still broke there were opportunities to invest in training and seminars to help him become more successful.  He would often spend money that he didn’t really have to attend these workshops but he would take the information learned and apply it to his business to increase his overall revenues.  He would make the same types of investments into advertising and marketing with dollars that he really didn’t have, and the result was the same.

A few years ago I sat down with a close friend and shared a joint venture marketing campaign that would require just $1,000 from each of us to get started.  His response was “Chris, I don’t want to put out any money up front, I just want to make money first and then I will consider reinvesting it”.  He was simply looking at the cost rather than factoring the ROI.  I ended up choosing another partner and together we flipped $2,000 into well over $20,000 inside of just a couple of months.  What’s funny is that I didn’t have the money at the time but I was looking at the ROI and it felt like a no-brainer to me so I knew I had to make it happen.

This is a small scale example of why we should always look at ROI first rather than the perspective of how much something costs.  Millionaires focus on how much they are going to make…

8. Learn to Work Smart Instead of Just Working Hard.

Have you heard of the acronym for the word S.Y.S.T.E.M?  It stands for Save, Yourself, Stress, Time, Energy & Money.  There is a huge difference between working hard and working smart.  If wealth creation were just a matter of working hard, then construction workers would be some of the wealthiest people in the world!

The best example of this principle that I can share with you is the “Parable of the Pipeline“.  In this story there are two men contracted to bring water from a spring into the local town.  They both carry buckets back and forth each day in exchange for money.  But one of them works nights and weekends to build a pipeline and after a few years it is complete and then he begins to enjoy passive income even while he sleeps.

The video below is a cartoon version of this parable and well worth watching when you have time.  It will give you a clear visual image of the difference between working hard and working smart.

Some people get this tip confused and stop working hard as soon as they learn it.  That is definitely the wrong message!  The key here is to continue working hard, but look for ways to become more efficient by working smart.  For example, let’s say that you are in an industry that requires generating leads to buy your products and services.  There are hundreds of lead generation strategies to do this, but the key is to create some sort of automated process that generates leads for your even while you sleep.

Google Pay Per Click is a great example of this.  After a little experimentation, you can define exactly what your conversion rates are and how much money you can spend per click in order to turn a profit.  Your viewers can be directed to a landing page where they can learn about your products and services and have the opportunity to purchase them on the spot.  Then you can use an email marketing service with a series of follow up emails to promote the rest of your product offerings and to provide value for your customers.  All automated!

It takes education, time, experimentation, mentorship and more to make this happen, but once it’s figured out you can have a business on auto pilot that is scalable.  If you figure out how to leverage $1,000/mo to earn $2,000/mo then you can scale it up to $10,000/mo to earn $20,000/mo.

Imagine if you could scale it up to $100,000/mo to earn $200,000/mo or beyond!

If you are the pipeline builder as shown in the video above, then you could literally take that idea from town to town and contract others to set up the entire pipeline for you and enjoy a lifetime of residual income for you and your family.  A common characteristic between millionaires is that they create systems to automate their businesses to make money when they are not even there…

9. If You Are Not Part of the Solution, You Are Part of the Problem.

Most millionaires that I know are very passionate about helping to create a positive change in our world.  There is a clear problem out there, especially here in the United States with our current economy, and if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.

This tip is about developing a greater purpose for why it is that you do what you do.  You dream will be the inspiration for you to do the work necessary to achieve success, but a worthwhile cause will be the factor that will give you a greater sense of purpose in everything that you do.  There are so many ways for us to get involved and take action these days that there is no excuse for us not to.

I have noticed that millionaires find a way to incorporate the causes that they support into their business and make them part of their brand.  Consider what you can do to help raise money for charities, or what types of events that your business can sponsor.  Consider getting involved with politics or working towards a grass roots movement to educate the public on key issues that are important to you.

Consider “going green” with your business and looking at ways to become part of the solution rather than being part of the problem.  Not only will get the respect of many, but your followers will become extremely loyal because you and your business stand for something that they believe in.

There is a quote that I really enjoy from Albert Einstein that says; “Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.” There is something to be said about the power of a cause that you believe in.

Ask yourself this question; “Are you part of the solution or part of the problem?”

10. What Are You Willing to Sacrifice in Order to Live Your Dreams.

Did you know that 90% of 65 year olds end up either dependent on friends, family and the government, or still working just to get by?  Only 1% of Americans ever make enough money to be considered wealthy in our country.  The message that I get from these statistics is to do the opposite of what 99% of people do, and starting looking for the clues that the 1% wealthy leave for us.

A common characteristic is that they discipline their time well and they are willing to make short term sacrifices to enjoy long term wealth and happiness.  In order to create wealth we need to start looking at what things we are all willing to temporarily give up, in order to have them in abundance later.

Did you know that the average American is now watching more than 151 hours of television every single month.  The average child watches more than 8,000 murders on television before they finish elementary school!  The average American adult sleeps 7-8 hours per day on average, and when you add up sleeping, eating, and watching television most people are giving up well over half of their day on just those activities!  Throw in a normal 8 hour job and commute and the whole day is gone!

Millionaires are not afraid to make sacrifices on things that would seem hard for the average person.

Back in 1999 I sold my television and I haven’t bought another one since!  If I feel the need to watch something, I will either watch it on the internet or rent a movie from the store so that I can control the content that is being presented to me and do it on my time.  Not having a TV has improved the quality of my life tremendously.  For many of you this might be a hard step but you could at least start by simply cutting off the cable.

One of my millionaire friends said that he created a collage of pictures of his dreams and taped that collage to the front of his TV.  His reasoning was that in order to watch television he would have to physically peel away his dream to do it!  That is what you call accountability.

What sacrifices are you willing to make in order to create the lifestyle that you deserve? What are you willing to temporarily give up?  Are you willing to sleep just 6 hours per day?  Are you willing to shut off your TV?  Are you willing to stop listening to the radio in your car when you drive?  Are you willing to give up a season or two of sports temporarily?

How badly do you want to achieve your dreams and goals?

The key is to create as much free time as you possibly can and dedicate that time towards achieving the optimal balance that you desire in your life.  Once you can get things balanced, you can start to add more TV time and radio time, etc.  That is, if you still want it :)

I believe that “True Success is the Optimal Balance of Faith, Family, Friends, Fitness and Finances”.  Today we talked about 10 tips to creating more wealth in your life.  These same 10 tips also apply to the other categories of your life as well.  I hope that this article has made an impression on you and that you have learned something new to help you become more successful.  Most of all, I hope that you Take Massive Action on these tips to make it happen!

Please leave your comments below for any additional tips that you would like to add, or any feedback that you can offer on any of the tips above.  Thanks!

Related posts:

1. 8 Solid Direct Sales Tips
2. P90X Review Including Before and After Pictures, Tips, Resources & more…
3. 5 Strategies for Preserving your Wealth Based on Current Tax Laws

If you would like to see more of my Social Media Marketing Videos then be sure to SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube Channel!

These two videos are approximately 15 minutes long total, but well worth it.  Enjoy :)

PART 1:

PART 2:

Related posts:

1. Facebook + Twitter + YouTube + Wordpress = Social Media Success!
2. 7 Free Videos on YouTube that Teach Professionals How to Use Facebook for Business
3. 10 Easy Steps to Get 5,000 Friends on Facebook in 90 Days!

11/5/09 – House lawmakers passed the bill today in a 403-12 vote, and now the bill goes to President Obama who is expected to sign. (click here to read more…)

Here is what USA Today had to say about today’s announcements:

“Senators agreed to extend the existing tax credit for first-time homebuyers while offering a reduced credit of up to $6,500 to repeat buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years, said Regan Lachapelle, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The tax credits would be available to homebuyers who sign sales agreements by the end of April. They would have until the end of June to close on their new homes, according to a summary of the legislation being circulated among lawmakers.”

Based on today’s compromise it looks like the income limit would also be raised to $125,000 a year for individuals and $225,000 for married couples, up from the current income limits of $75,000 and $150,000, respectively.  This means that more people will be in a position to capitalize on this incentive, which hopefully will fuel more home sales.

Many sophisticated real estate investors are excited about this potential extension because they are able to work with people facing foreclosure to create a win-win-win scenario where they can help purchase their home without them getting a foreclosure attached to their credit.  Investors can then fix up the home and sell it at a discount to first time home buyers who can leverage this extended tax credit.  Everybody wins and neighborhoods are being improved at the same time.

Are you glad that Senate leaders compromised to extend this tax-credit or do you think that it will hurt new and existing home sales?  I would love to hear your feedback in the comments below!

Related posts:

1. 2010 – The Rise of the Sophisticated Real Estate Investor
2. Review of Spin Selling by Neil Rackham – A great book for real estate investors and sales professionals…
3. 8 Solid Direct Sales Tips

I was first turned on to P90X about 9 months ago when I started seeing a few of my Facebook friends sharing some before and after pictures on their profiles.  What really sold me on the system was when I saw one of my best friend post pictures just 45 days through the program and I was completely shocked at how much he transformed that quickly!

I ordered up the system and some basic supplements and workout gear and got started with the program.  Within 2 weeks I started seeing some physical results that motivated me more than I have been in a long time.  For example, when I started I could only do one full pull up from a dead hang, and if I just ate a meal, I couldn’t even pull myself all the way up!  Within 2 weeks I was able to do sets of about 6-8 pullups 3x in a row!  Just this one result in itself gave me huge respect for P90X because I could truly “feel” the difference and experience a stronger body that quick.

P90X Resources

When I first started using P-90x I wasn’t sure exactly how the program worked, so one of the first things that I did was set up a P90X Facebook Group where any fans of the program could post pictures or status updates to assist myself and anyone else with their first 90 days.  This turned out to be a great resource because it allowed newbies like myself to post questions in the discussions area and get feedback from seasoned users of the program.

Here are examples of a few of the topics that people were discussing in the forums:

Recovery Drink – What is a good alternative drink?

P90X Equipment – Anyone know where to get the best deals?

P90X and running?

Body Type & P90X

I love P90X but I think the price is overwhelming

What would be a good alternative to YogaX?

What Chin Up Bar should I buy?

Rookie questions…

Resistance Bands vs Dumbbells

Ab Ripper X Questions!!!

Here is the recommended equipment to use with P90X

P90X Daily Tracker Group

P90X “Classic” Workout Routine

Recovery Drink – what’s with the sugar?

If you are considering using P90X as your workout system then definitely join that Facebook group and network with others to make sure you have the best success.  Here are some photos and success stories to help you see the benefits that can be obtained by using this program.

P90X Nutrition Guide

Most people think that it’s just about working out, but the reality is that the most important part of a successful workout program is the nutrition program.  Here are a few resources to browse through to help you understand the logic behind the P90X diet and why it makes sense.

• P90X Nutrition Guide – Portion Assistant (Click to Download Excel file).
• Phase I – Fat Shredder (Click to download Word file)
• Phase II – Energy Booster (Click to download Word file)
• Phase III – Endurance Maximizer (Click to download Word file)
• P90X Daily Journal (Click to download PDF file)

P90X Equipment

When I first got started, I didn’t go too crazy with buying equipment, but I at least wanted to have the essentials.  Here is what I would recommend to at least start with for now:

• Power Block Dumbbells
• Resistance Bands
  
• Pull Up / Chin Up Bar
• Yoga Mat & Blocks

Additional equipment can include a heart rate monitor, body fat tester, push up stands, etc.  You will need to decide what you want to purchase based on your budget.  See if there is a Play it Again Sports store near you, or some type of second hand store for these items.  Try searching Craigslist as well.  If not just purchase them online or at a retail store.

P90X Photos & Success Stories

Left Side – Here is a picture of my good friend Steve in California at Day 1 just starting P90X. He weighed 255 pounds, and was so embarrassed he almost didn’t want to show this photo to anybody.

Right Side – Here is Steve at Day 45 in his P90X routine! He started seeing dramatic results so quickly and this is what motivated me to really take a look at P90X.  It’s one thing to see random pictures of success stories on the internet and television but when you see it in real life with a close friend, it can turn a skeptic into a believer :)

I started becoming friends with several average and ordinary people on Facebook that were using P90X and was blown away by the results they were getting.  Here are just a few before and after pictures from some of my Facebook friends:

Day 1: Weighed over 240 lbs, size 36 pants. Day 150: Weigh 183, size 28 pants...

About Tony Horton

Here are some links to learn more about Tony Horton, the creator of P90X:

• Tony Horton’s Personal Blog
• Tony Horton’s Facebook Fan Page
• Tony Horton’s Personal Facebook Profile
• Tony Horton on Twitter

Fore more information about ordering P90X, feel free to visit their main corporate page, or find a Beach Body Coach on Facebook or Google that can help you get started.

Related posts:

1. Review of Spin Selling by Neil Rackham – A great book for real estate investors and sales professionals…
2. 10 Easy Steps to Get 5,000 Friends on Facebook in 90 Days!
3. Facebook + Twitter + YouTube + Wordpress = Social Media Success!

You see, there are generally 2 groups of people when it comes to Twitter.  One group follows as many people as possible hoping that most will follow them back in return and this technique really does add Twitter followers in the masses.  The other group only follows a small select group of friends so that they can actually follow what they all tweet and not miss anything, but have to work much harder to get people to follow them.  Until now there hasn’t been much middle ground.  All that changed today.

When Twitter came out with lists I was pumped up because I am part of that first group of Twitter users that follows well over 10,000 people.  With this new feature I was able to create a “friends” list with only 50 people on it and now I can read every one of their tweets and not miss anything!  How cool :)  But it got much cooler when I realized that I could also create several friends lists to manage all of the “new” people that I follow from this point forward for marketing purposes.

For example, if I specifically target tweets that mention real estate investing and follow those people, I can add them all to a real estate investing friends list on Twitter.  This has several benefits.  First of all it allows me to frequent their tweets and reply back to them or retweet great things that they write.  This improves our communication and let’s met market to them much more effectively.  The second benefit is that it shows me results of who actually decided to follow me back when I followed them.  Let me explain in more detail exactly what I mean.

One strategy to get massive Twitter followers is to follow like-minded people on Twitter with hopes that they will follow you back in return.  Not all of them will, but if you do this correctly for every 1,000 that you follow somewhere between 200-400 will actually follow you back!  This is a great way to get targeted followers, but I wish it were just that easy.

Twitter has a few rules in place to stop people from following too many people at a time.  Basically you can’t follow much more than 1,000 people per day, and they also impose a 1.1 ratio once you get past 2,000 followers.  What is the 1.1 ratio? It simply means that you can only follow 1.1x that amount of people that are following you.  For example, if you have 4528 followers, you would only be able to follow 4980 people at that time.  That is exactly 1.1 times 4528.

Of course there is a pretty simple way to get around this limit :)  Every few days you can use an automated tool that will “unfollow” everyone that chose not to follow you back.  The free tool that I use is called Huitter.  They have a mutuality tool that does this automatically for you with the click of a mouse.  Pretty cool.  So I simply follow as many like minded Twitter users as I can, and then every few days I will unfollow everyone who didn’t reciprocate the favor.  For every 1,000 follows I end up with around 200-400 followers in return.  Therefore my follower base grows by a few hundred each day, and by thousands each month!  Pretty awesome right?

Now with Twitter lists I can manage all of these groups much more effectively and I plan on using this tool in even more powerful ways as I have had time to play with it some more.

So here are 3 questions I would like for you to answer in the comments below:

• Are Twitter Lists currently turned on for your Twitter account?
• What creative ideas have you come up with to use Twitter Lists?
• Have you had any success with any other tools to massively increase your Twitter followers?

Related posts:

1. @jokoanwar – A Powerful Lesson in Viral Marketing on Twitter
2. Facebook + Twitter + YouTube + Wordpress = Social Media Success!
3. Viral Video Marketing. The World is Watching.

“Hey Chris, what do you use to scan business cards into your computer? Where do they sell them?”

In a previous post I wrote about the many benefits of using Digital Business Cards on your iPhone or PDA.  In that article I talk about the idea of keeping a database of every single person that you ever give a business card to.

But what about everyone that gives you “their” business card?

I believe that you want to go into every contacting scenario with that in mind.  You want to get their business card or contact info so that you are in control of the follow up, and you also want to give them your digital business card so that their is a high chance that they will respond back to you.  The problem with most entrepreneurs is that they get dozens of business cards every day, but they end up in the oddest places around their house in the most unorganized fashion.  Believe me, this was how I did it for years myself!

Then, I  created a system for all of my business cards where I would scan them into a nice and organized database, which I could easily access at any given moment.  This system has worked wonders for me.  Here is exactly what I did:

I purchased the CardScan Executive Card Scanner on Amazon and it arrived at my house a few days later.  I installed the CD, hooked it up and started scanning my business cards.  At first I was scanning them one at a time, but then I quickly learned about the “batch scan” feature which allowed me to scan in entire categories at a time in just minutes.  This truly is a fast machine!

Now some of you might already be incredibly organized with your business cards, but mine were all just shoved in a shoebox!  So I simply put them out on the kitchen table and quickly organized them by category before beginning.  I did this very quickly because I didn’t want to spend all day on it and I figured I could always just updated them in the system later.

The first problem that I encountered was that some of my cards were so old that the system wasn’t getting all of their contact information right.  So when I was done scanning I did a “once-over” update on the whole database where I at least made sure that the email was correct because that was the main thing I was interested in.  This part of the process actually took longer than just scanning the cards!  But when it was all done I was happy because we had a movie playing in the background that I was kind of watching, and I was able to get about 500 business cards done during the time it took to watch one movie!

The next thing that I did was sign up for CardScan @ Your Service.  Note that this website is located at cardscan.net and not cardscan.com.  This feature is awesome because it allows you to keep your business cards up to date.

You can set up the preferences so that it will send out occasional emails to your database to ask them if their information is up to date.  Every time that it sends them an email, it also includes a picture of their scanned business card reminding them that at some point they gave it to you.  I am sure that some of you have received these emails, but they are very simply to use and update.

Setting up a system is one thing, and following through with it is another.  I set up a small container next to my CardScan and next to my Mac and that is where I store business cards at the end of the day.  If I have time then I quickly scan them in, and if I don’t then I will get to them later.  As soon as they are scanned in then I put a rubber band around the stack and throw it in a shoebox.  Pretty dang simple!  Now that the scanned card and contact info is in my computer, there is very little chance that I will be needing that card again.

BONUS TIPS:

• Before you scan a card, consider writing a quick note on the FRONT of it reminding that person where you met.  This will serve two purposes.  It will help you remember them months or years from now, and it will also be the picture that they will see when they are asked to update their info via email.  This is a quick little tip that makes a big difference.  For example I might write: “Met at Starbucks – Discussed Foreclosures” or something along those lines.  Get to the point in as few words as possible.
• You can export the entire list of emails from the business card database for multiple purposes.  For example, you can import the list, and then copy and paste the emails into the Facebook Invite Tool and they will all be sent a request to become your friend on Facebook.  Normally you are only allowed to send out 30 or so friend requests per day, but with this tool they will let you send out several hundred at a time.  The ones that are already on Facebook will get a simple friend request, and the ones that are not will get an invitation to join Facebook.  I have found this is a pretty good way to connect with this database.
• Consider creating a “Nice to meet you” template email follow up that you can copy/paste/send to everyone after you scan in their cards.  It can be very simple and can have all of your social media profiles for them to check out as well as your blog or website.  Little added touches like this usually make the difference in business. Just make sure you send them one at a time or put all the addresses in the BCC field.  The last thing you want to do is send out a bulk email with everyone’s email addresses visible!

So hopefully this blog post has inspired you to get more focused on creating a system to organize your business cards.  Most of you will be collecting cards for life, so you might as well get the system in place now.  Imagine that you will one day become an author and write your first book.  Everyone that you have ever met is a great candidate to buy your book right?  If you can get your database built right from the beginning, you could potentially email that book link to tens of thousands of people and possibly become an Amazon.com best seller for the day, which could catapult your career!  Just a thought :)

QUESTION: What system have you currently been using for organizing your business cards?  Or has it just been one huge mess up until now?  Please share your comments with the rest of us below!

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