Building Your Equity with Others

Good day and I hope all is well on your side of the screen. It's
been insanely busy for me this past week with lots of new
potential projects. I have been very blessed. Considering the odd
state of the economy, Q1/2010 business is pretty much consistent
with Q1/2009. How has your business been impacted by the economy
and how have you evolved your marketing strategy?

As I have stated in previous newsletters, I don't do any
advertising any more; all of my business is chiefly through
referrals, repeat customers, and Internet-based leads. For years
I wondered how long it would take for my business to become
self-sustaining. That doesn't mean I am finding and winning the
business all by myself; it means new opportunities cross my desk
without me having to look for them. I'm thinking that the magic
number is about 3-4 years.

Within that time I have developed a certain mass of friends,
professional relationships, clients, prospects, vendors and
mentors. Certainly not an easy task, and it's only made possible
because folks genuinely like me and trust me. Earning and
retaining that trust becomes a full-time job. One way I do this
is to offer my assistance anytime someone has a question about
their business. I also use this newsletter, my blog, and my
social networking accounts in an ongoing way to stay in touch
with people and to do some goodness for others.

So what are you doing to develop this equity with others?

I see a lot of people using Linked In, Twitter and Facebook, but
I know of only one person who really works it (Hey Neil!). These
can be great tools -- free advertising -- solid networking tools
-- fantastic sources for prepping for cold calls or identifying
potential prospects and opportunities. If you are not using these
and other types of social networking to your benefit, then I
recommend you check out this cheap series of short reports:

http://www.resellerproducts.com/350socialmediastrategies/

Even though I have been using these tools for a while, I learned
a few things here and there that has modified my social
networking approach and helped to develop some new business
relationships and opportunities.

Speaking of new tools, I've posted a bunch of new product
reviews on my Cool Tool Awards web site. If you have not visited
this site before, I really recommend you do. I've been running it
for over a decade and it contains hundreds of product reviews. I
guarantee you will find some new cool tool that will make one
aspect of your life easier. Here's what's new:

Pitch Magic: A new turnkey service for creating sales letters
quickly and easily.
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/services/pitchmagic.htm

Home Organizer: Two tools in one! One tool keeps your kids, pets
and elderly parents safe. The other tool enables you to brand the
software, give it away as a community outreach tool, and use it
to spread goodwill and develop greater brand awareness for your
company, product or service. They are a client, so contact me if
you want to talk to them.
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/utilities/homeorganizer.htm

Desktop Icon Tray: This is a cool, inexpensive utility to clean
up your desktop in a fun, easy way.
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/utilities/desktopicontoy.htm

Visual Slide Show: If you've visited sites and wondered how they
created those cool little slide shows, then you'll be amazed how
easy it is to develop your own in minutes.
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/visualslideshow.htm

3D Ebook Shot: This tool enables you to develop animated videos
of your ebook cover or software box twirling around and bouncing. This is
a great way to grab your visitors' attention for your product.
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/3debookshot.htm

Fast & Easy Video Squeeze Pages: This is a collection of
ready-to-go, professionally designed templates that makes adding
a video squeeze page to your site fast and friendly.
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/fastandeasyvideosqueezepages.htm

Also, we have some new ebook titles on my EbookoMatic.com web
site:

The God Secret by Charles DeShong & Adina Rasuceanu
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1555

Uncle Greg by Richard Carmichael (Free Ebook!)
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1554

How You Can Buy a Home With Poor or No Credit Using Lease
Options by Donald Tepper
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1552

OK, that's a lot of info for this week, so I'll give you some
time to digest it all and see you again next week.

All my best,

Steven

P.S.: As a marketing experiment, I would appreciate your help in
spreading the word about my newsletter. Click on the link below
to tell at least 5 friends about my newsletter, what you like
about it, what you like about me, and why they should subscribe
to it, too! I will measure the results over the next few weeks to
see how many new subscribers I get and I'll share the results
with you in a forthcoming newsletter about word-of-mouth
marketing.

http://getresponse.com/forward.html?x=a62b&m=FDNe&s=BM46r&y=s&