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So cool! And what a relief! I hosted the premier Strategy Calls seminar today with Ben Mack. 

The replay is here: http://www.instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=3493947

Joe Sugarman came on the line, too. Ben Mack coached callers right on the line!

BenMack @EbizMom Angela, I'm grateful u had me on! What a treat JOE SUGARMAN… how did u make that happen?

:)))

I think it turned out pretty good.  Ben put me on the spot at the end of the call, though. Listen how I stumble through summarizing the call! LOL!

Here are some of the comments from the listeners on the call:

Stephanie Nan Bell

Hi Angela — I wanted to congratulate you on your with Ben Mack and the apparent good fortune of Joe Sugarman joining the call as well! That should be excellent publicity for you for future calls! Since much of what I do as a Writer, Speaker and Spirit Coach involves prayer — I thought I'd send you one for your new venture:

Dear God — thank you for the blessing of Angela who is so keen to help others and has the courage to step forward with her idea and put it into action. Thank you for making the way clear for Angela and showing her exactly what needs to be done at each step of the way and the best way to do that. Thank you for those that she is helping with these calls and thank you for the guests who will bless us all with their contribution. Thank you also for your grace dear Lord. And so it is.

AMEN.

Blessings to you Angela! And continued good luck and good fortune!

YvonneLyon @EbizMom Thanks for the great call with @BenMack - it was super-educational!

Franca @EbizMom Congrats on the very good call with @benmack. Pretty informative info discussed for the small business owner. Very clear concepts.

JimZaccaria @EbizMom Thanks for hosting the call Will you be putting that on CD to sell, or use as a Bonus? Simple to do about 16 hours ago from web in reply to EbizMom

  Franca @EbizMom Great surprise added bonus to the call - learn how @benmack makes the JV (Joint Venture) smooth moves on Joe Sugarman. Classic! Wow! 

Here are more Tweets on the subject:

SpiritCoach @BenMack-the way u handled that call today made me a believer - and that was after the Too Much Info over the weekend! : ) about 6 hours ago from web in reply to BenMack

SpiritCoach @BenMack-I'm on webcast. Call just started peeps-BenMack on Branding for Solopreneurs http://ping.fm/gmOan about 18 hours ago from Ping.fm in reply to BenMack

SpiritCoach @BenMack-u r a master of persuasion in how u r handling this call! : ) about 18 hours ago from web in reply to BenMack

BenMack @SpiritCoach Thank you for complimenting me! The call was a blast and a gift it was to have the Living Legend Joe Sugarman call from Hawaii about 17 hours ago from web in reply to SpiritCoach

BenMack @lksugarman Miss Sugarman, are you related to Living Legend Joe Sugarman? Is that Y he came on my call this morning b/c your his daughter? about 17 hours ago from web in reply to lksugarman

lksugarman @BenMack no, no relation. He came on yr call because you're unpredictable, profane, and brilliant. Wish I'd been on that call myself. about 17 hours ago from web in reply to BenMack

Thank you everybody!

Angela Wickenberg

"He's just a natural." How many times have you heard someone say that in order to explain somebody else's greatness? This "explanation" derives from the commonplace belief that certain individuals have an innate gift that the rest of us didn't get and never will.  There's just a slight problem with this belief: it's wrong!

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review by some noted researchers totally debunks the myth of "the natural."* Studies by more than 100 scientists consistently and overwhelmingly proved this astonishing truth: experts are always made, not born.

Moreover, the studies show that the greats in any field do something that the average ones don't: they achieve their greatness through hours, days, and years of always practicing deliberately. Golfing great Ben Hogan once said, "While I am practicing I am also trying to develop my powers of concentration. I never just walk up and hit the ball."**

These researchers say that when most people practice, they just focus on the things they already know how to do. That's why, for example, an average salesperson makes the same easy calls over and over—and still calls it "selling." But a great salesperson, on the other hand, deliberately works at what he or she currently can't do well. And the research shows that this continual, deliberate effort is the distinguishing factor between the good and the great.

So, what does it take to become adept at deliberate practice? We think it's not only having the right tools or techniques, it's also having the right mindset in the first place. You have to have your mind focused in order to apply the techniques you've learned.

If you find that you are:

1. Not practicing your skills regularly (like you tell yourself you are going to do)

2. Not able to perform "live" as you do when you are practicing.

3. Fearful (not your full self while prospecting).

4. Not stretching and constantly improving.

Then it is likely that you are experiencing subconscious blocks.   These subconscious blocks can fight your conscious efforts every step of the way.

This is common, and probably the main reason why most beginning sales professionals and network marketers fail.  However, there are things you can do.

Through extensive experience, we have found that the safest, fastest, and most effective way to overcome these blocks is through hypnosis. Now, we're not talking about that fakery you've seen in B-movies. Clinical hypnosis is a proven technique that has been approved by both the American Medical Association and the British Medical Association since the 1950s.

Hypnosis helps you uninstall those blocks and install a mindset that facilitates—not blocks—your desire to become the performer you know you can be.  When you achieve this type of alignment, you find that deliberate practice becomes just something that you do, and you get better and better every day.

This of course means a direct and tangible benefit to your income, your financial freedom, and your options in life.

Finding a qualified psychologist who understands how to use hypnosis to help you in your sales or network marketing career can be difficult and extremely expensive.  A great option is use a home study audio hypnosis program created by a known commodity.  

We believe the cream of the crop is a program created by Dr. Peter Lambrou, one of the country's best-known sales psychologists (and a former successful salesperson himself).  Dr. Lambrou is also the Chair of Psychology at Scripps Memorial Hospital (a major research facility).

 The program is published by The Hypnosis Network, a company that works only with licensed mental-health professionals like Dr. Lambrou.  And this company is so sure of the effectiveness of its programs that it gives you a one-year money-back guarantee. Check it out at http://www.hypnosisnetwork.com/hypnosis/sales_prospecting.php

* The Making of an Expert, Harvard Business Review, July—August 2007, authors K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Cokely.

**Golf Digest, November 2006.

I believe that creating a brand is the single most important thing we can do to ensure we have people who not only want to joint venture or network with us, but to create a long line of people and businesses wanting our valuable cooperation.

I read a book called Think Two Products Ahead: Secrets the Big Advertising Agencies Don't Want You To Know when it was released early last year and subsequently met Ben at the StomperNet seminar in Orlando, Florida in February. I read the book on the plane over.

The book cover has a good intro on the subject, so why not let it do the job for me:

"Branding is something you probably only think of in terms of household names and huge conglomerates. But branding isn't just for the big boys; smart branding is smart business for almost any company, no matter size. In Think Two Products Ahead, ad agency insider Ben Mack reveals all the branding secrets the pros keep to themselves so you can put branding to work in your business, large or small.

"First, Mack destroys the myth that branding is your logo or your color palette. Then he demonstrates how great branding works, so you won't waste your money on marketing that gets you nowhere. You'll learn practical, commonsense approach to marketing that empowers you to develop your own brand with the same techniques and technologies the big players use - but without breaking the bank. In fact, the less you spend on marketing the more important these tools are to your success.

"… Think Two Products Ahead shows you how to align your business plan with your marketing plan, so you can keep customers indefinitely.

"Using real examples from some of the most legendary (or disasterous) branding campaigns in history, Mack gives you an insider's perspective - and inside advice - on which tactics will float your brand and which will sink it. He sorts bad advice from the good, letting you avoid those missteps that get good companies in bad trouble."

I was very fortunate to get Ben Mack to allow me to interview him on this subject of personal branding.  This interests me as a student of marketing, and even during my studies of business I have written on the subject as it relates to organizational effectivity, but found it illusive. Ben Mack clarifies things like no other.

EVENT:  Ben Mack "YOU = BRAND"
DATE & TIME: Monday, July 7th at 11:00am Eastern
FORMAT: Simulcast! (Attend via Phone or Webcast — it's your choice)
TO ATTEND THIS EVENT, CLICK THIS LINK NOW…
http://TinyWebLink-001.com/?pid=4099089

"You don’t have a choice whether you want a brand…only whether you’re going to manage this relationship"

This simulcast will answer the following questions :

• "What is a Brand?"

• The two things you need to be if you want to sustainably grow your customer base.

• The greatest mistake you can make if you can't afford advertising
  

• How to think about your communications, and how to make each communication more effective.

• What binds your communication efforts together

• How to prioritize your messaging efforts through your media budget

• When marketing begins

• What is it that can give you and your business mythic proportions.
  

• The one thing that is more important than "truth" 
  

• Why people are willing to give you their attention and money.
  

•  The one thing that gives you the credibility  to be a hero

• How you can motivate many to take action.

• Identifies who are the most influential with the greatest number of buyers

  EVENT:  Ben Mack
  DATE & TIME: Monday, July 7th at 11:00am Eastern
  FORMAT: Simulcast! (Attend via Phone or Webcast — it's your choice)
  TO ATTEND THIS EVENT, CLICK THIS LINK NOW…
  http://TinyWebLink-001.com/?pid=4099089

  See you there!

  Angela Wickenberg

  P.S. If you want to learn how to get the most bang for your ad bucks, then don't miss this call!

  http://TinyWebLink-001.com/?pid=4099089

Apropos Facebook for business and how to make money from your content and network on Facebook, I found this article on Early To Rise:

7 Sizzling Business "Discoveries" From Stanford's Facebook Project (and How They Can Help Any Entrepreneur Make a Million Bucks)

By Charlie Byrne

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg turned 24. 

And my guess is, he's pretty pleased with himself so far. 

A college dropout, but from Harvard. A self-starter who launched a business from his dorm room. And, oh yeah, the world's youngest self-made billionaire, according to Forbes magazine. 

Make that a "theoretical" billionaire, since nobody is really sure exactly how much his hugely popular social networking website - Facebook.com - is actually worth. It's not publicly traded (although Microsoft recently laid out $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake). It's not clear where it's headed. (Mark himself isn't sure.) To some people, it's not clear what purpose it's supposed to serve either.

But at least two things are sure.

First, people love it. Nearly 70 million visited the site last month alone. And second, it's looking like one of the greatest entrepreneurial innovations since, well, since someone launched the first business that offered sliced bread.

One area that's receiving plenty of attention is Facebook "apps" (applications). From useful tools such as stock market tickers and productivity management helpers… to complete time wasters such as "Give the Imaginary Puppy a Bone" and "Who's the Coolest Person You Know"… there's a Facebook app for just about everyone and everything.

After (if) you've chosen to add one of them to your Facebook homepage, it appears in your browser whenever you sign into Facebook. Most of these mini software programs are developed by third-party entrepreneurs and monetized (not always successfully) through a classic advertising model: Get eyeballs and sell ad space or place affiliate ads.

Facebook apps are so big right now that B.J. Fogg, a professor at Stanford University, launched a semester-long project just to develop more of them for Facebook users. 

At the end of the project, Professor Fogg and his students published a report to name the entrepreneurial "discoveries" they had made. But were they really breaking new ground… or just reinventing the wheel?

I decided to take a look. 

Combing back through the longstanding principles you've come to know and love by reading ETR and Michael Masterson's new blockbuster book, Ready, Fire, Aim, I found at least seven "power principles" with fascinating parallels to the Stanford project.

ETR Longstanding Principle #1: Introducing Products in a "Mature" Market

Consumers aren't looking for brand-new products. They are looking for clever new adaptations of products they already know and love. When it comes to new, the human brain can take only a little bit of it. Eighty percent of the old and 20 percent of the new is a good ratio. Your goal is not to develop brand-new ideas, but to notice trends that are beginning and develop products that anticipate that trend by a little - just enough to catch your customers' attention.

Stanford Students' Discovery: "It's Never Too Late to Create a Winning App." When Stanford launched its project, over 6,000 Facebook apps already existed. Just 10 weeks later, the students had six apps in the top 100. None of them were radically innovative.

ETR Longstanding Principle #2: The Power of Simplicity

You can sell your product very well by talking about its many benefits, but the most successful advertisements are those that highlight a single benefit above all the rest. When this benefit can be presented as uniquely characteristic of your product, you have an advertising proposition that can last and last and last. Consider any great marketing campaign - Burger King, Charmin, Marlboro. Examine any best-selling, non-fiction book - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, What Color Is Your Parachute?,  Chicken Soup for the So ul, etc. What do they all have in common? Simple themes. Ideas so simple they can be expressed - and understood - in a few short words.

Stanford Students' Discovery: "Simplicity & Clarity Are Key to Success." Too many and too clever features must be avoided. Make the app easy to understand and easy to use.

ETR Longstanding Principle #3: Ready Fire Aim

Prudent entrepreneurs do not want to risk all their time and money on a single product. For the best chance of having a successful business, they need to be flexible about what they are going to sell. If their first product idea doesn't sell well, they have to be able to generate a second one. Innovation matters. And so does speed. Combined, they give your business extraordinary growing power.

Stanford Students' Discovery: "Speed & Flexibility in Launch & Iterations." Many fast and imperfect trials beat deep thinking. Flexibility beats quality. Getting too attached to one app idea can be fatal.

ETR Longstanding Principle #4: Teamwork Accelerates Success

Don't even try to be a solo creator. You will get much better results much faster by working with a creative team. Sometimes you might get ideas while showering or exercising or sitting on an airplane. But don't act on those ideas. Write them down and bring them up when you're brainstorming with a group.

Stanford Students' Discovery: "Community Cooperation Leads to Success." Students helped each other a lot, sharing app development tools, tips, and insights.

ETR Longstanding Principle #5: Check Your Ego at the Door

How do you know your product idea is good? Because you think it is? Business is not and must never be about what the business owner thinks is good or right. Business is about providing value to the customer. And that value can be determined only by the customer. Don't let your ego convince you that you can teach the marketplace what it should and should not buy, or you and your ego will soon find yourselves in the poorhouse.

Stanford Students' Discovery: "Individual Opinions About Apps Are Worthless." Don't be swayed by one person's opinion. Just get the app out there and see what happens.

ETR Longstanding Principle #6: Don't Be a Pioneer in a Market

When it comes to answering most of the fundamental questions about selling your product, the best answer will always be this: Imitate the industry norm. If you are always trying to come up with product ideas that are completely new and different, you will likely have a very poor success record. Let others live (and die) on the "bleeding edge."

Stanford Students' Discovery: "Copying Success Is a Cheap/Fast Way to Succeed." Novelty isn't the best approach to apps. If you're desperate for a win, just copy something that's working. Flipside: If your app is doing well, expect imitators.

ETR Longstanding Principle #7: Accelerated Failure

Success isn't usually about genius. It is more often about trial and error. Money loves speed, so spend your time trying new permutations of existing successes rather than endlessly hoping to find the "next big thing." Don't be satisfied when things are "running smoothly." An entrepreneurial business should never be running smoothly. Accelerate failure. Cut your losers and run with your winners.

Stanford Students' Discovery: "Success Comes From the Chaos/Control Cycle." Successful innovation is a process.

So there you have it…

Now I didn't have access to the details of everything Stanford attempted. They probably made a ton of easily avoided mistakes. And it sounds like they had some very nice successes as well.

Over the course of their project, they generated somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 million in revenue from their Facebook apps… not to mention at least three new companies that were formed during the experiment, two others that were acquired by outside interests, and reports of lucrative job offers for all those who completed the program.

But I'm willing to bet they could have had a LOT greater success, a LOT sooner, if they'd spent some time reading Early to Rise and Ready, Fire, Aim first.

That's where you have an advantage. You see, every day you get (for free!) what took about 75 smart Stanford students months and months to learn. (And think of all that tuition you saved too!)

So congratulations to the smart and energetic Stanford students who learned these lessons the hard way - valuable business principles that most people never discover. You're getting them the easy way… but now it's up to you to go out and use them.

Of course, you've got to be careful out there. Just because lots of people are talking and writing about Facebook doesn't necessarily make it a lasting business model. There have been plenty of "next big things" on the Internet that have turned out to be quite the opposite.

But you've got the knowledge to find out quickly, without spending a fortune, if a business idea is going to work. So who knows? Use ETR's ideas to develop an "app"… and maybe YOU will be next to make a million bucks on Facebook!

Strategy Calls! - The Strategic Alliance of Online Businesses - is a new group on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54338290656&ref=mf 

formed for the purpose of being a forum of opportunity for online businesses to network with each other, and to offer tele-seminars, courses and conferences that may be of interest to the online business owner.

In online marketing, this is known as the JV or joint venture.

As was recently pointed out in the astute online marketer, Rich Schefren's recent article on the subject,
http://www.strategicprofits.com/blog/1-plus-1-equals-3/, many marketers have treated the JV as an email campaign, but a joint venture relationship, or a strategic alliance, is what you make it to be.

Traditionally, the ability of a firm to price higher than competitors is called differentiation. A product or a service which offers something unique,or is or greater value than the competition, could then merit a sustainable higher price.

But a firm may also choose to offer a differentiated product or service at a similar price to competitors in order to increase market share and volume.

It is, of course, of no value in achieving competitive advantage unless it is of value to the user, so that the user has preference for those products or services over those of competitors. Focused differentiation through strategic alliances lead to a perceived added value to a particular product or segment, which may also warrant a price premium.

The aim with strategic alliances is to achieve higher market share, and therefore higher volume, than competitors by offering better products or services at the same price; or enhanced margins by pricing slightly higher.

It is much more difficult for a competitor to imitate a basis of differentiation linked to a mix of activities or features rather than just a product or a service, if the mix is a good one, then this is highly likely to benefit many of the businesses online.

Strategy Calls! - The Strategic Alliance of Online Businesses - encourages businesses of all kinds to join this group to

*network
*find possible partners to form strategic alliances or enhanced joint ventures with
*receive information on the subject
*listen to experts being interview from the comfort of your home or office
*receive information on upcoming networking conferences and seminars.

The Strategy Calls!  website, to be located at http://StrategyCalling.com,  is under construction and a schedule of calls is forthcoming and will be available very soon.

Strategy Calls! Please join us!

Angela Wickenberg
Founder

When people speak about driving traffic through social networks, the first site that comes to mind is usually Digg. Digg’s popularity is obvious: as the numbers increase above the “digg it” button, the likelihood for increased traffic goes up as well. There is a plefora of information on the Internet on how an extremely popular link on Digg can bring you traffic and links.

A lot of people want to get their page on the Digg main page, but in terms of popularity of other online social mediums, it stops there. There are other means of getting good — perhaps better, when considering that it’s targeted — traffic, such as StumbleUpon.

StumbleUpon is highly personalized traffic based on your interests that is served to you when you are actively looking for new sites to discover. The service requires a download of a very easily-integrated toolbar that sits right under the Address bar on your browser. To begin using the service, you click on the “Stumble!” button on your toolbar, and you can rate a site with a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down sign. As sites are continually rated with a “thumbs up,” the page is served to more and more SU users.

The toolbar, which was recently updated with more eye-grabbing icons due to StumbleUpon’s continuous desire to improve the user experience, is shown below:

StumbleUpon also allows you to “discover” new sites. In your regular browsing experience, you might find a site that you think would interest other people. The “thumbs up” icon works for all sites, and that is how new sites get into the database of StumbleUpon pages that are served to the end user during their stumbling session. When you “thumbs up” your site and it hasn’t yet been submitted, you’ll see this window:

The URL is inherited by default, but you can personalize your initial submission with a title and the brief description of the page. You can then categorize this into any one of the categories listed and you can tag it with whatever appropriate tags would benefit your visitors. Once the site is in the system, people will begin stumbling and learning more about the site you submitted.

How can you leverage your StumbleUpon influence to get your submissions noticed?

• Personalize your page. Upload an avatar, tell people who you are (fill out the “General” section), and share with the community what you like (the “Interests” section). If people are browsing the user community, they’ll get a truer sense of who you are.
• Join the communities relating to your interests and your business. To make sure that you are served pages that truly interest you, you’ll want to join targeted communities so that the traffic is desirable. You’ll also be able to contribute similar pages to the StumbleUpon engine so that they are added. If your page relates to these groups, they will be served to the group members. You can join up to 63 groups in the following main categories, which should cover just about everything:

• Befriend people who have similar interests. Adding friends whose pages interest you means that they will likely appreciate the pages that you’re submitting as well. It grows into a mutual relationship. People who like the pages you submit will befriend you and you will be serving them content based on the relationship. With the StumbleUpon network, you can have up to 200 friends.
• Stumble often. Just submitting and stumbling upon a single page doesn’t bode well for your reputation, and keen users will take notice of this. Stumble frequently. If people like the pages you’ve stumbled upon or submitted, you’ll likely also be rated highly in the community.
• Label and tag your submitted pages appropriately. When you tag your new submissions, be relevant. Pertinent tags will bring you the most targeted traffic from the users who specifically have expressed an interest in the topic you are serving content for. If you cover all the keywords (and tags) that you could possibly think of that don’t relate to your site, your popularity (if any) will be short lived when the thumbs-down button is pressed. Bear in mind that once the page is submitted, tags can be added and removed by the community members (which is a definite indication that they’re visiting the site!)

Why should you look at into directing StumbleUpon traffic to your site? Beyond the obvious benefits of extremely targeted traffic, the traffic doesn’t come all at once compared to a site like Digg. There’s the inherent benefit of having that “15 minutes of fame” on Digg until it crashes your server. StumbleUpon traffic is generally much more gradual. In one particular example, Neil Patel explains that StumbleUpon drove 17,209 visitors to his site in 25 days. Traffic coming directly from Digg is much less memorable, and most Digg users don’t venture farther than the front page.

An alternative is to consider sponsoring your site on StumbleUpon. Compared to the most obvious rival, Google Adwords, StumbleUpon traffic is sought and is the only page being served to the user at the time. It’s also incredibly cheap at $0.05 per visitor (with a maximum of 2,000 visitors per day). The results have been pretty amazing and provides “qualified traffic instantly” compared to Adwords, as indicated by a recent user’s experience.

So if you’re not interested in advertising, go social. The StumbleUpon community is a great way to find some pretty neat pages that you’d have never previously heard of.