That’s what I proudly told my soon-to-be new client as I presented the winning concept.

The client was a regional car dealer who was looking for a fresh new angle to sell more cars. It would be a prestigious and highly profitable account to land, so the competition was fierce to win this business.

As our creative team entered the third day of brainstorming what had become a dismal list of sub-par auto sales concepts, I remembered an old technique I’d learned in my theatre imrov class back in college: Become the Object. So, I decided to be the car.

My co-workers laughed when I told them my idea.

They then proceeded to follow me outside where they utterly roared with delight as I got down on my hands and knees beside the curb and began making engine revs and horn sounds. As I attempted to totally immerse myself into the mindset of an automobile, I decided to lie down in the street and get the full “automobile experience.” That’s when I realized there was water in the gutter from an earlier rainstorm and my pants were now soaking wet!

As I got up to brush the gutter goo off my once-clean khakis, a thought occurred to me…

“Now that I’ve embarrassed myself trying to be the car, why don’t I just get out of the way and let the car tell its own story?” There was something to this germ of an idea, so I decided to run with it and work it out with the team.

Later that same afternoon, we developed an ad campaign under the theme “Auto Biographies” — where each car model told its own story as the commercial’s narrator. Needless to say, the idea was a hit with the client and we landed the business. And it was all because I decided to get out of my comfort zone, try a different approach and, yes, wet my pants!

Most every type of business requires fresh ideas from time to time.

And most anyone who’s been challenged to come up with those ideas probably has a similar story as the one above. But the reality is great ideas don’t always just automatically pop into you head, sometimes you need a little nudge to unclog a creative mental block. In my case I decided to ignore being laughed at and take an unconventional approach to jar my thinking. And it worked!

Here’s A FREE Reference Guide To Help You Next Time You’re Having A Mental Block

Realizing how helpful it would be to have a reference to go to whenever your brain seems to be stuck, I sat down and cataloged my most successful mental block-busting techniques into a comprehensive ebook entitled 21 Sure-Fire Idea Spark Plugs (#19 helped me land the car business). Each Idea Spark-Plug is written to take your thinking in a completely different direction, and help you open up your mind to fresh ideas and new approaches. If you’d like a FREE copy of this valuable reference guide, just click on the cover.

In the meantime, here are three of my favorite Idea Spark Plugs taken straight from the ebook.

Idea Spark Plug #14:

Look For An Alias

Ever wonder what the difference is between a Sun Roof and a Moon Roof? How about a Domestic Engineer vs. a House Cleaner? Or maybe a Couch vs. a Sofa? Answer: Not a darn thing!

Sometimes all it takes is a brand new shiny name to make an item appear to be better than it originally was. Marketers do it all the time when they want to freshen up or add new life to a sluggish brand, or de-emphasize product attributes that could be considered unappealing to the target. Remember when Honey Crisp cereal was called Sugar Crisp? Or when KFC was known as Kentucky Fried Chicken? Name changing is a common way to make your brain re-evaluate an item’s meaning or importance. Different words evoke different interpretations or emotions.

The next time you’re brainstorming ideas, pick out some of the key words then make a separate list. Try coming up with substitute words for each word on the list. This new list of words should jog your brain into re-evaluating your original thinking. It should also give you a different perspective and help you decide whether or not your first idea was your best idea.

Idea Spark Plug #15:

Color Outside The Lines

When you’re working on a rational project, using rational methods to try to rationally come up with a clever idea, this is the best time to start thinking irrationally! Some call it “Thinking outside the box”. Others call it “Coloring outside the lines.” I call it absolutely essential if you ever hope to create an original idea that has yet to see the light of day.

Getting successful results from using this technique is sometimes easier said than done. It’s hard to get out of the routine of looking at the world as rational and orderly. The sun always rises at dawn and sets at dusk. Two plus two always equals four. And if you drop a 10-pound dumbbell on your pinky toe it will ALWAYS hurt (trust me on this one!)

But when you take an irrational approach to concepting, you sometimes discover a better way of solving your problem. For instance, during World War I, the US military took an irrational approach and used Picasso’s Cubist style art to create more efficient camouflage patterns for tanks. It actually made the tanks blend in with the surrounding environment, making them much harder to spot by the enemy. Try using a similar irrational approach next time you need a rational solution.

Idea Spark Plug #21:

Don’t Overlook The Obvious

So this SCUBA diver is swimming along at 20 feet when he notices a guy at the same depth, but wearing no gear. The diver swims on down to 50 feet when he comes across the same guy. Amazed and confused, the diver pulls out his waterproof chalkboard and writes down “How are you able to stay down this deep without any diving equipment?” The guy quickly grabs the board and writes “Because I’m drowning you idiot!”

Sometimes we get so caught up in the details we often overlook the obvious. Like squinting and straining your eyes to read in a dim room when you could simply turn on a light. Or, after your kids have gotten out of their nightly bubble bath, blindly feeling around for toys in the bottom of the tub, instead of just opening up the drain. Often times going the obvious route can be much harder than you’d think. Ever overlooked an idea because it seemed so simple, surely it couldn’t work? Usually, you’re kicking yourself later when someone else has the same idea, then gets successful results.

Many times a big idea can seem so obvious, we’re afraid to consider it as an option. Don’t fall into this trap! Never underestimate the simplicity of a good, solid idea and NEVER be afraid to at least investigate an obvious solution.

In Conclusion:

It’s often said “The obvious answer has been right in front of your nose all along.” But sometimes it takes a little spark to help you cut through the clutter and focus in on the solution. I hope the examples above will help you find your focus. And if you’d like have all 21 Idea Spark Plugs at your fingertips, please feel free to click on the link below to download the complete ebook with my compliments.

21 Sure-Fire Idea Spark Plugs FREE eBook

Here’s to you never losing your creative spark!

Ben Crain as spent more than 20 years running an award-winning marketing firm, handling a wide range of national clients including: Corona Extra, Anheuser-Busch, Campbell’s Soups and Hardee’s Restaurants. Recently Ben launched Hunu Marketing — a Digital Marketing and Consulting Service specializing in Video Production, Whiteboard Animation, Strategic Copywriting, State-of-the-Art Graphics, as well as Software Product Development and Sales.

For more information, or to contact Ben, please visit:
 https://hunumarketing.com/

To see samples of Ben’s work, please visit:
 https://www.bencrain.me

This is a guest post from Ben Crain, if you would like to be considered for a guest post please contact me.

When I was a young lad and found myself getting flustered over some trivial challenge that came my way, my Grandad always used to say, ‘Gary, you can’t whistle with a mouth full of custard’

I used to look at him as if he was a fool but he would just chuckle to himself and that would be the end of it. I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about and at the time, I never asked him.

Fast forward a few years and I started to look for ways to make money online which would enable me to get out of the factory I was working in, a factory which had become my prison because with a young family and with a mortgage and endless bills to pay every month so I had no other option to stay in a job that I hated.

If you have ever investigated the ‘make money online’ market you will know only too well that after only a few hours of research, the only result is that you will be completely overwhelmed by what is on offer.

Affiliate marketing, blogging, Subscription websites, freelancing, the list goes on and on.

To make matters worse, some of the people who are offering advice on how to make money from any of the methods described above are at best somewhat ‘shady’ and at worst, nothing more than common criminals who prey on ordinary people who are desperate to make money. I soon fell into the ‘shiny object’ trap and started buying course after course which promised so much but delivered so little. That warm exciting feeling from reading a carefully crafted sales page was soon replaced with that sinking feeling that I had been duped yet again.

The agonising problem was though, I knew only too well that this process would keep on happening until I had the courage to ‘man up’ and do something about it instead of blaming everyone else but myself for the mess that I was in.

Enter my Grandad, Harry Cash (yes, that is his real name!)

I was telling him about how I was looking for ways to make money online and that I was thinking of starting a subscription website with a bit of blogging and freelance work on the side, as well as starting a business selling products on Amazon.

He just looked at me, and I could tell from his face that he was going to utter those immortal words.

‘Gary, you can’t whistle with a mouth full of custard!’

‘Bloody hell Grandad, don’t start that again, and what are you talking about anyway, and I don’t even like custard!’ was my reply. He burst out laughing yet again and said he was wondering how long it would take me to ask him what he was talking about. He then went on to explain to me the meaning of ‘You can’t whistle with a mouth full of custard!’ and it basically changed my life.

It really did!

He basically said that if you want to whistle, whistle! If you want to eat custard, eat custard! But don’t try to do them both at the same time.

At this point you are probably thinking, what a load of rubbish, especially when it comes to starting an online business. After all, look at successful marketers such as John Thornhill, they have many different streams of income which all bring in a healthy amount of money each month. The thing is though, the vast majority of these successful people started off with one business. They didn’t try to half-heartedly start several different businesses at the same time but instead, they concentrated on one until it became profitable and then, and only then, did they start look at other opportunities.

If you would like to learn more about the extraordinary results which can be achieved by working in this way, have a read of the ‘The One Thing’ by Gary Keller because he describes the process far better than me or my Grandad ever could.

Be careful who you take advice from.

When it comes to deciding which kind of business to start, you probably realise that you should only listen to people who actually know what they are talking about, not in theory, but who have actually successfully achieved the methods which they are teaching. It is not an exaggeration to say that there are people out there offering courses on how to make £10,000 per month who are not even making £100 per month themselves. You should also only listen to people who have actually been doing as they preach for the long term instead of just striking it lucky.

One of these people is John Thornhill.

It would be fair to say that he has forgotten more than most people know about starting an online business and if you would like to know more about what he considers to be one of the best business models out there, take a look at www.automatedsalesformula.info

Don’t get me wrong, in the business model which John teaches, you have to put the work in. Anyone who tries to tell you different is someone that you shouldn’t listen to, but if you do put the work in and follow the steps that John lays out for you, he will actually guarantee that this is a business that will work for you. It doesn’t really get much better than that, does it?

Here the link again, www.automatedsalesformula.info

Listen to what he tells you because it could literally change your life.

And don’t forget, you can’t whistle with a mouth full of custard!

This is a guest post from Gary Tomlinson, if you would like to be considered for a guest post please contact me.

Why Is It So Hard To Make A Living Online?

It should be easy, right?

After all, there are 7.6 billion people in the world, and, according to internet stats.com, as of December 2017, 54.4% of the world’s population has access to the internet. This means that it’s within the realms of possibility that around 4 billion people can get on the net and buy something every day.

And the numbers get even better. The site, Wearesocial.com, has the latest data from 2018 that shows that close to $2 trillion will go through the net this year. The time spent by a user on the internet is 6 hours a day, yet another positive that anyone wanting to make money online loves to hear.

However, despite all of these favourable statistics, it is very difficult to scratch a living out of your internet connection.

One reason it is difficult is that there is an enormous amount of competition out in the ether, 1,630,332,579 according to millforbusiness.com, that’s roughly one website for every three and a half people on the planet!

With so many websites potential customers have a huge range of choice. And then we have the huge, well established, dominant websites like Facebook and Amazon who attract enormous numbers of eyeballs, every second of every day.

However, it’s not all bad news. Of those 1.63 billion websites, only 15% of them are active with the rest being made up of mainly parked domains. Of that 15% of active websites, a large portion of them are sitting on the net looking like a shop that’s been shuttered up, it’s there but no one is inside doing any updates.

So, there is possibly less than 100,000,000 websites that are actually open for business. Admittedly that’s still a lot, and provides you with a lot of competition, no matter what field you decide to go in.

And it almost seems that with every one of those 100,000,000 websites comes the latest thing that will make you an instant millionaire two days ago if you just follow their system, for a small fee of course.

It is through these seemingly insurmountable obstacles that you are trying to navigate a pathway to that internet lifestyle that you’ve heard about and dream about.

So what happens?

We chase every new get rich quick scheme that lands in our inbox with promises of vast riches, we scoop the next one up like the weekly Lotto tickets wishing that this time our number will come in. I know what I’m talking about here because I’ve been there, done that.

And it is the completely wrong thing to do!

Here’s one tip that will save you a whole lot of time and money – find one way to make money and stick with it, and perfect it, and spend all your energy on it, until it starts making you money. Then, and only then, should you look at developing something else.

Okay, problems solved, now you’ve got the secret sauce, so everything’s going to be tickety-boo. If only it was that easy, but noooo.

The idea is simple and correct, but it is putting it into action that is so damned difficult. You have to figuratively pound the pavements before you can choose your road to riches.

I will take a little shortcut here and assume that you have decided that the way you want to make your web fortune is through affiliate marketing. So now you have to decide on which affiliate commission programme you want to join.

Sites like Clickbank, JVzoo, WarriorPlus, Amazon, Commission Junction and a host of other sites offer affiliate programmes so the first step is to choose one of these.

Next, you have to decide what product you are going to promote. This means that it is crucial that you research the product, what are its payouts, how popular it is, is it up to date, is there a market for it, are there any unbiased reviews on it, and so on.

Once you have settled on a product you then have to decide how you are going to make your money.

Will you set up your own site, collect emails and then send people to the affiliate site, will you buy ownership rights to the product and sell it yourself on your site, how about just creating ads and sending the clicks straight to the affiliate site, or maybe you could set up a review site and recommend the product to others (if you do this make sure your review is honest!), or maybe you could set up an online shop with the product and related offers on the same site.

That’s a lot to decide on but still easier than the last cog in your financial wheel.

In real estate, there are three things to look for in a property, location, location, location.

Online the three most important things to making money are traffic, traffic, traffic.

There is no getting away from this. Without traffic, nothing moves so you want as much traffic as you can get. And not just any traffic, but qualified traffic, traffic that is packed full of customers who are looking to buy what you are selling.

And traffic is the area that nearly all wannabe internet lifestylers crash and burn. You need to learn how to attract eyeballs to your deal, you need to learn it quick, and you need to dedicate 90% of your time driving traffic to your deal. There is no escaping this fact.

Although I’ve highlighted some stats that show the competition that you’re up against, at the end of the day all of that is irrelevant if you can drive traffic.

The process outlined here is not for the fainthearted, you need to be dedicated and single-minded in pursuing your internet dream.

However, there are ways to shorten your journey.

What if you could use a system that uses the Amazon affiliate programme to create an income by setting up online stores that promote a whole range of Amazon products?

What if setting up your online store is simply a matter of pushing a few buttons? Or if you want to do it faster you can get an expert to do all the heavy lifting for you. In a very short time you could have 1, 2, 25 or 50 online stores promoting Amazon products in a week.

Then you can get into the most important part of the process, DRIVING TRAFFIC.

Earlier in the article, I talked about how you need to learn the different ways to drive traffic. What if you can get help to learn all the latest marketing strategies to drive traffic to your online store? What if, in addition to done for you inline stores that are ready to rock n roll, you also have access to a comprehensive series of training videos to help you master the different marketing techniques online, both paid and unpaid?

What if you want to get your online business up and running and earning an income in days, not weeks or months?

That’s a lot of ‘What ifs?’ but the great news is that it is possible.

Go here now and see all of your ‘What if?’ questions answered (and more).

All the best in pursuing your online dreams.

P. S. If you are struggling to get your internet dreams realized, go here now and get the dream start you’ve always wanted.

This is a guest post written by Brice Taplin. If you would like to be considered for a guest post contact me.

Scams and Limited Markets – Guest Post – Robin Joyce

What is a scam?
-a dishonest way to make money by deceiving people;
-a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit.
It is a scam if NOBODY makes any money from it (except the fraudster).

What is NOT a scam?
If you do not profit, but other users do, it is not a scam.
You need to have provided the time and skill required to make any product work.

Read reviews before buying
I have saved a lot of money and time by Google searching
‘review + product name’ or ‘review + product creator name’.

You need to read the first 3 pages of results to find independent reviews,
as many are written by affiliates, using text supplied by the creator (and not objective).

Reviews are useful to understand the product:
is it what you need and are you capable of operating it?

Better reviews will explain the upsells (oto) and the value they add.

If you have booked a webinar, check the reviews so that you will know the
product and price.

For you, no purchase means no loss to a scam.

Criteria of a scam.

Legit-Review.com applies the following
6 criteria in reviewing products:
1. Are they providing so many false promises, or not?

2. Real Users’ Experience Rating.

3. Is there any Honest Money Back Guarantee or not?

4. If they have any Scam Approach or not?

5. Our Expert Team rating after using.

6. If there are so many OTOs, UpSells, DownSells ?

1. Are they providing so many false promises, or not?

This is not easy for the buyer to know, unless the promises are too incredible.
Key promises are that ‘a newbie can do this’, ‘you do not need a site, list..’
can secure a sale and have to be true.

One of the key failings of products is their inability to generate traffic without
depending on spamming.

As most newbies lack a list, traffic has to be resolved for the product
to be of any value.

For most products, I will need support.

Often, I send a question to the seller during the launch period.
I am amazed that many questions either are never (!) answered,
or take 3-4 days to receive a reply.
From this, I can judge that support will be substandard.

2. Real Users’ Experience

For a new product, only insiders (including beta testers) will have had a chance to evaluate it.

You need to wait until late in the launch period, with the hope that independent reviews will be published.

If none is found, you have a choice:
buy it with the discount and bonuses,
or buy later when reviews are available.

You might find reviews of the product creator. If the creator has an excellent reputation for value, this is probably going to be a quality product.
If the reputation is negative…..

3. Is there any Honest Money Back Guarantee or not?

This seems straight forward, as you see one at the foot of each sales page.
However, some vendors do not pay out, or use delaying tactics.
My sites were with a reputable host, which abruptly terminated hosting in the
middle of the year. (I am now happily hosted by D9.)

A refund for the refusal to continue hosting? No.

If you pay by credit card, in some countries, you can reclaim from the
card company.
Otherwise, you need to check the rules of the market: JVZoo, Warrior+Plus, etc
and Paypal for resolution.

4. If they have any Scam Approach or not?

Webinars provide opportunities to avoid searching questions, as well as creating
the greed atmosphere with luxury cars, houses, pools, sun tans
(I do not mean to boast = I do mean to boast).

Webinars give you little written information to review afterwards.

In contrast, you can check a sales page and email the vendor.
Which affiliates are promoting it?
If Partnership to Success folks are involved, I am happy.
If not, I am wary.
Checking testimonials is useful (even if it is often boring) to understand
the challenges and how the product (and buyers have met them). If the
testimonials lack product detail, you may need more assurance about the product.

5. Our Expert Team rating after using.

You may have to wait for this until after the launch period, but some independent reviewers move quickly.

6. If there are so many OTOs, UpSells, DownSells?

OTOs, UpSells, DownSells are components of a sales funnel, which is needed to grow a profitable business.
Once the buyer has bought the initial $9.95 product, other more-expensive products are offered.

The issue here is whether, or not, the initial product can fully function
without buying other products.

In an honest sales funnel, the additional products will make the initial product work better, faster or provide additional sales, but the initial product should not need other products to operate as promised.

If this is not the case, the buyer might have to spend $50 or more to buy the combination of products to function.

A lesser issue, but sharp practice, is to offer an upsell at $49; then, if it is refused, the same product combination is offered at $29.

This is cheating any buyer who paid $49. An honest downsell is to reduce the $49 package, by a bonus or two, to offer it at $29.

Reviews often identify this cheating and save you money.

Limited Markets
These are not scams, but offer buyers less than they might expect.

Arbitrage (risk-free profit):
This is buying in one market and selling in another market at the same time.

Apart from having to buy as well as sell (twice the work), a risk-free profit appeals to most of us.

I teach arbitrage and it always disappears quickly.
You have to be fast in and leave before the rest arrive.

There is no mass market for arbitrage.

Also, the software designer/seller has a head start on you for the same business.
We have chosen making money online as it has millions of potential buyers.
The buyers are far less in the following examples:

Domain Names
A number of professional firms operate in this market. Between them, most of the arbitrage opportunities have been recognized and eliminated.

Why do you think that you will repeatedly find what they cannot?

The only people interested in robinjoyce.com are me, those who share my name
(and want a website with our name) and speculators who want to hold us to ransom. Nobody else!

Today, we can use another suffix (mine is .site) to avoid dealing with the speculators.

Also, the speculator has to buy, or control, the domain name. This is an investment in inventory.

Done for You System for Physical Goods- Arbitrage from Selling Books

A new service received a large amount of coverage about 6-9 months ago.

It is a done-for-you system of buying books cheaply from US book stores and selling them to Ebay/Amazon in the US.
You rent the software, anywhere in the world.

It will identify where you can buy low and sell high (arbitrage), you make the buy/sell transaction and they will transport the books for you.

Risk-free profits! Nothing could possibly go wrong, could it?
I left this great opportunity alone, possibly missing out on earning a fortune.

My reasoning:
The software designer/seller has a head start on you for the same business (books).

Everybody was focused on the same books sector
– market saturation
– too many people eating from one plate.

Even if everything is done for you, the risk is yours.

You are dealing with only two buyers:
Ebay and Amazon, who control (and can change) the price.

Complaints reported:

1. Profit margins falling to almost nothing (standard in arbitrage opportunities).

2. Postal delays, books arrive late, and Amazon has cut the price.

3. Long time to find opportunities.

I would add:

if anything went wrong, I am 8-10 time zones away, possibly asleep, and have
few US contacts who can help in such operations.

Finally, from the complainant:
‘I will be requesting a refund but they had some funky 365 day refund policy implying they weren’t going to refund anyone until they had tried the system for 365 days.’

I suggest that you fully understand how such novel systems work before investing
and know who is responsible for what.

Done-for-you does not guarantee that it is risk-free and trouble-free.

If you see Arbitrage and/or Risk-Free Profits in a promotion, be skeptical,
very skeptical!

Review and understand products before you buy them.
You will be glad that you did.

Profitable business as it should be done
Buy from the top IM people. They have earned their reputations from providing value
to thousands of satisfied customers. Following their methods brings you success.
The place to start is on this website. Check the wonderful products NOW!

Also, there is an excellent complementary product, which is the complete works of
a leading UK internet marketer with a global reputation:
Michael Cheney ‘s 7-Figure Franchise is the best compilation of his work and the only external course material John endorses on his excellent Partnership To Success program (on which I am privileged to be a student).
It will make you serious money.
Check it out here: 7-Figure Franchise
Click here:
www.robinjoyce.site/likes/7ff

Sincerely,

Robin Joyce

This is a Guest Post written by Robin Joyce.