Maggie David

April 19th, 2009 by Maggie

Oh my, Charlotte is gone!  Without a word of goodbye, I came home after a day with my daughter Nerys, buying baby “Things” and was putting the milk away I purchased on my way home, and my husband Lyndon came in and gave me a cuddle and said sadly

 “She’s gone”

 “Gone?” I said,

 “Gone, Oh No, when?”

“Don’t know” he said. 

Being a woman I snapped, “What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“Don’t know – came out to get coffee earlier and she was there – came back about an hour later and she was gone”

 

I turned quickly and went over to the left hand side of our huge kitchen window and stared in disbelief – he was right, she was gone! 

 

My heart was heavy and I turned to Lyndon and went back to my cuddle and looked up at him and said “I cannot belief she is gone, I guess our lesson is over”.

Lyndon said quietly “No not yet, look at what she left behind”. 

He led me to the window and we both stared and he said, “What do you see?”

“Nothing, I said, its empty, it huge, but it is empty”

“Really?” he said,

“Yes empty, for the sake of repeating myself Lyndon, It is empty”

 “He laughed and said “No Grasshopper, it is not empty, it is still doing its job, whether Charlotte is there or not, she may or may not come back, she may be on holidays Grasshopper for all we know, but it is not empty, go back and take another look”

 

“Right” I thought,”now I am the apprentice Grasshopper, that’s all I need after a full day’s shopping with a very pregnant daughter” I enjoyed myself very much, but I was tired – “But I love him, I’ll go and see if I can fathom out what he is seeing that I cannot”

 

So I made a Large Mug of Decafe and went and stared where Charlotte lived.

 “Where are you Charlotte, I miss you, you were so clever and never lost faith, you grew big and fat and …and … You have dinner waiting”

 

Then It dawned on me, her one last lesson was staring me in the face, whether she was there or not, dinner kept on arriving – EUREKA!

 “Lyn” I called  “quick come here” Lyn came and I looked at him said

 ‘I have the answer Oh Master”

 “You have”

“Yes” I said, “her dinner keeps on coming whether she is there or not”

He Smiled “Yes he said, Charlottes last lesson to us is on Residual Income”

 

Can you guess what Charlotte was?? 

 

Where we live is ½ way up a mountain on 1-½ acres backing onto the Hawkesbury side of the Blue Mountains and we get a lot of wildlife entering our garden and a lot of insects.  Charlotte was a beautiful, have you guessed it yet?  SPIDER!  A Beautiful, harmless, St. Andrews Cross Spider!  When she first decided to make her home in the left hand corner of our huge kitchen window and enjoy the sweeping views with us, she was only tiny.  We nick named her Charlotte. 

 

Now many people think Spiders should be killed, well, if they are deadly poisonous and come in doors, yes they will meet their maker, but Charlotte was not, and for some reason, she was in full view of us, and we felt she had a lesson for us.  So we watched, and learnt.

 

Now, she was wise and she gave us a gift to pass onto you about Marketing.

 

Presenting - Charlottes Mini Marketing Course!

 

Lesson One: Don’t be afraid - Begin to Build – Charlotte, was only tiny when she arrived and started to build her web.  It was tiny.  We said to her Charlotte you will starve, this is so small you won’t get any dinner.  Ha! She said – just watch, as well as starting small you must have faith, I know I won’t go hungry.

 

Later on, when it was dark, we turned off the kitchen lights and shone a torch on her, and she was moving the web with her legs, first the left side, then the right, then in front of her, and soon she caught a small bug.  Dinner!

 

The Lesson - you must take action, never be afraid, start small, and learn to advertise your niche correctly.  It may take a while, have faith and you will succeed.

 

Lesson Two:  Charlotte’s web stayed small for well over a week, every night she would move the web, with her legs, first the left, then the right, then in front of her, over and over again, then she stayed still and rested a while.  Then she started all over again.  Those strong as steel threads, glinting in the light, making movements and capturing insects that were out doing what insects do.  Dinner was always on hand!

 

The lesson – REPETITION, FOCUS and NON-DEVIATION from your plan.  How many times have you been distracted, from your Goal?  Come on be honest, you are going to market XX, and follow that plan, then because you are on many lists one day you get in your emails a dozen or more all saying that YZXY widget will help you get to $$$land and does everything for you including making your beds and your morning tea!  You, like so many of us in the beginning, then purchased this you beaut YZXY widget, sat and looked at it.  It did nothing to get you to $$$land only made a hole in your pocket and left you scratching your head, wondering where your focus went. (I said in my first blog, I would be blunt!)

 

Lesson Three:  Charlotte decided one day that her little web was getting crowded.  Dinner arrived every night, in fact, more arrived than she could eat and she began to store them, so she expanded her web.  Oh my, she was very busy for a couple of days.  She expanded her web here, there and everywhere.  When she did this, we counted, 30 tiny little bundles on one strand of her web, her store of dinners!  She also had become a lot bigger.  That night, we turned off all the lights waited a few minutes and then shone the torch on her, and there she was, moving her web again, first the left, then the right, then in front of her.   Rest. Then left, then right and then in front of her….

 

The Lesson – once you have learnt how to focus and not deviate from your plan and daily with repetition worked your business, clients will come.  Soon you will have enough clients producing enough income that you will be able to expand your business.  When you do this, you then go back to working every aspect of your expanded business with Repetition, Focus and Non-Deviation.

 

Lesson Four:  Charlotte expanded her web 3 or 4 times until it was HUGE.  I mean huge 4 foot plus each way; some of it was doubled and looked like 2 webs.  She had packages of food on so many strands of the web, it was not funny, and she grew fatter by the day.  During the day, she hardly moved, and took time off to sun herself, snooze and do those things spiders do in playtime.  Her playtimes grew longer as her stores got bigger and bigger.  Her web had so many strands on it, she did not have to do much to get dinners arriving, and they just rolled up night after night.  All she had to do was package them and dispatch them to her storehouse.

 

Lesson:  Stayed Focused, do not deviate, do those repetitive tasks of marketing and you will become well known, your websites will get organic traffic, your Social Media Marketing will start to get legs of its own, in fact it will be like a avalanche – you cannot stop.  Now the wise ones here will say “Bring in on Brother, bring it on!”  However, some of you will still sit there and say, “Don’t believe this can happen!

 

 

Lesson Five:  Take a Long, Long Holiday, and your dinner still keeps on arriving.  Yes, Residual Income.  Charlottes Last Lesson.  Once you build big enough, by staying focused, doing that repetition everyday, and not deviating you can take a long break and that income will keep on coming!  Or you can leave it as a legacy to your family.

 

This formula works for any business, any where on the globe, online or offline.

 

So the mystery of where Charlotte went still has not been solved.  Did a bird take her? Hope not, she had been there for many weeks. Did she find a boyfriend and go for a weekend of passion and then ate him and is on the run?  Or in Spider Terms, did she grow to an old rich lady, died and fell of the web into the garden below and was eaten by one the hundred of lizards that live there? 

 

I don’t know all I can say is that she gave us many lessons in which to grow our business, if we care to follow it.

 

Until Next Time,

 

Love and Light

 

P.S.  Many of you would know Massage and Alternative Therapists, who may want to double, triple or even quadruple their client base and profit margin.  If so, get them to go to www.massagecontrolpanel.com. 

April 15th, 2009 by Maggie

Oh My Stars!  Do I feel good!

Thoroughly spoilt myself today, Full body Massage, Facial, Eyebrows Waxed and Tinted, Eyelashes Tinted, Manicure, Pedicure and Hairdressers.  Floating On Cloud 9!  (Even “my darling” cooked dinner tonight!)

But I digress … … Whilst I was being totally pampered in the Day Spa, I heard my Hairdresser pop in (they are next to one another) confirming the approximate time I would be finished and asked that my beautician be told to give her a buzz whilst I was getting dressed, so she could get my plunger coffee and chocolates ready and waiting for me when I arrived.

Oh my, this is service with a capital “S”

Both owners of the Day Spa and the Hair Dressing Salon have clients driving for kilometers (miles) to be totally spoilt and pampered.  In both of these places the CLIENT IS #1!  Plus.. it does not cost you anymore than anywhere else - all they do is “Do it better!”

What both these Young Business Women do is listen to what their staff and clients tell them they want.  They do not ignore their client’s needs.  They make the client feel special in so many ways.  The “little things” count.  Yes, even in the so called “Tough times” many seem to be experiencing today, they are both booked out!

So what is happening here?  Let’s take a deeper look.  Businesses occasionally experience revolution but consistently experience evolution.  However, most business owners change with the speed and agility of a huge heavily loaded ship and if not careful will hit an iceberg and go down like the Titanic.  They constantly ignore what their clients tell them they want - oh yes, your clients will tell you if you listen, watch and take the time to give “Good Old Fashioned Service” but for too many stupid business owners, it is a major disruption - their businesses would function perfectly if only the clients would do what they want and not the other way around.

In all businesses whether off line or on line the principles of marketing, advertising and sales do not change, but the “truths” do.  No business operates on the same rules as it did say 5 years ago, you have to change with the times and create new rules as they apply TODAY to your business.

Does this apply to Internet Businesses?  YES!

Let’s go back to the beginning.  You are thinking of starting a new website selling “X”.  You have done some research into your competition etc, and think you know everything to start to build a “You Beaut” site that will crush your competition. 

WAIT!  Have you done all your research? 

Before you build and launch and merrily start your Adwords Campaign and Seo, you need to put up an “Ask Questionaire” drive some paid traffic to it and get peoples feedback on what THEY would like to see on your site - i.e. “Giving the People What THEY Want” - run this for about 5 days or so.  Also on this questionaire tell the participants that you will give them a gift (make sure you capture their details ) - say for instance, you were developing an eBook site, you could give them a free copy of an eBook once the site was active.  Remember this feedback is important in the development of a site where the client/customer is #1.

Sometime further down the track when the site has been active for a while you can then “Ask” you list. (You wouldn’t be silly enough not to capture names etc would you?) what they think of your site, set up another “Ask Questionaire” give them a link and go through the process again.  Or have a permanent page on your site for comments and feedback regarding all aspects of the site, etc. 

Never be afraid of feedback, this is how you keep on top of what your clients/customers want. 

Dare to be different - tweaking a business is not that difficult.

So, getting back to my day of total pampering and bliss.  As always when I went to pay for the beauty treatments I was asked to fill out a questionaire on the treatments I had received.  Plus I was given a bottle of mineral water to drink on the way home and asked to re-book “So Maggie when would you like to come and see us again and Oh remember by re-booking today you receive a 10% off your next visit”  - who could resist?

Went next door for my hair appointment and Yes girls before you ask, I did a complete flip, had it re-styled and different color streaks!

My favourite Plunger Coffee and Chocolates were waiting!

Again, when I went to pay “So Maggie I will see you again when (pen poised over the diary) (put in next appointment) “Was everything satisfactory today - was there anything I could have done better? (waited for my reply) then came “Now, how are you going for hair products? You purchased “Upload” last time (looking at my card) how was it in your hair (waited for my reply) do you need any today?”

NO money changed hands until she was satisfied she had asked me all she could about MY NEED for hair products. (UPSELLING - Internet Marketers ALWAYS have an upsell page If you have a Sales Page) Plus writing down on my card anything I purchased. Plus as usual inquiring to make sure my address had not changed as they send out a newsletter.

Do you think I felt special?  Yes of Course!  It is the little things you see.

Can you do this on a website?  - Yes you can! Sit and think about how you can make your clients/customers feel more special - I know they are global, but how about that “Thank You” page - can you make it a little bit more special? If a downloable product can you give an extra surprise bonus with a purchase?  Think outside the square.

My Dad once said to me “Maggie, it is not about the big things, it is about the small things and if you change 100 things 1% (Meaning in a small way) you then have a 100% change.  If you try to change something 100% in one go, you never will achieve it”

Think about that!

Well I am still on Cloud 9, so I will go gather my babies  http://twitpic.com/2saok

Grab a glass of good red and relax in my recliner … … Dang! I was so much on Cloud 9, I forgot to buy that good bottle of red, Oh well, where’s the teapot?

Until Next Time

Love and Light

April 13th, 2009 by Maggie

My blog posts will be many and varied, with a lot of them focussed on “Doing Better” in order to manifest MONEY.

Many of you know that I am right “into” and firmly believe the metaphysical and spiritual laws of the Universe and you wonder how MONEY ties into that (it does beautifully by the way).  Also you might feel at times that my straight talking approach is too much for you and offends your delicate sensibilities, well if it does, you don’t have to read my blog posts!

Ok… … … phew, housekeeping over, now onto what I want to rave about today.

Did you know that there is more mystery and fantasy about the creation of wealth than about creation and the Universe?  More time is spent arguing and “thinking” about how little money one has than on actually studying and seeking out opportunities to create wealth.

SAD!

It is my believe you have a fundamental “birthright” to be as wealthy as anyone else - in fact I would say from the bottom of my heart that you have an OBLIGATION (big word) to achieve and have at your finger tips all the things necessary for you to live life to the fullest in every sense of the word, physically, mentally and spiritually.

So on that note, let’s talk about the guilt so many of you suffer about desiring riches.  The desire to be wealthy really reflects a deep yearning for a better and more abundant life in every way.  It surely would be stupid to deny this desire.

I sat the other day at a dinner party and had a friendly debate with one of the other guests on “In today’s demanding society, an abundant lifestyle would be impossible without money” - I cannot remember how this came about, but we had about an hour of “friendly” banter between us - (something I adore) and agreed on this one very important point.  To fill the role of a parent, a spouse, employee, employer, a Carer of Aged Parents or someone with a Disability and even a good citizen of the planet, volunteering your time or giving to charities etc, would be totally impossible without a good income flow.

Then we got onto the biggie of the night and everyone around the table joined in with this one and I do know how this one came about - one lone little voice said “Oh, I am not educated enough to be rich”.  Hmmmm Well that did it for me - Education has nothing to do with it, nore does, location, nor does bucket loads of talent - so this point was debated in depth for the rest of the evening.  A Great and  wild dinner party - not one for shrinking violets this time!

You have the right to be rich.  All you need is a DESIRE to change your circumstances, a VISION of the life you want (some may have to dig deep on this as we have been taught not to dream) Find your “Niche”, BELIEVE you can do it, FOCUS, seek out help where needed (we all need help) and “Go for it”.

By the way, the food was delicious - it was a Moroccan Feast - Oh My Stars, bang went my caloric intake for the day!  The Wine served by our Host was also as good.  It was all white wines and they complimented the food well.  Starting with a Crisp Dry, but then onto a sweeter wine, and then a Dessert Wine.  Hang On, second thoughts, I think - Bang went my Caloric Intake for a whole month!

Until Next Time,

Love and Light