Archive for the ‘General’ Category

I get really tired of reading articles and watching videos telling people to “take baby steps” in order to succeed.

Really? Baby steps?

Baby steps are exactly that. When babies learn to walk, they hold on to the edge of the chair, hold your hand… and even with help, it still takes them 20 times longer to cross the room than anyone else. And they fall down alot. Even cry, and give up sometimes.

Is that how you want to run your business?

It’s not enough to just take action… although that’s a start. You need to have a plan, sit down and focus, and WORK HARD.

Now, don’t get me wrong.

I LOVE action plans. What I don’t like is having 90 page “step-by-step” guides that take longer to read than to apply, and then tell me I’m done until tomorrow.

If you are really going to succeed, you need to make the commitment to take what you are doing seriously. You need to be willing to sacrifice your free time – miss your favorite show, pass on a party… if necessary, give up a luxury or two… and you need to follow through on your plan of attack.

Don’t have one? No problem.

Keep an eye on this blog over the next couple of weeks and I’ll give you exactly what you need.

Albert Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

And after my last post on this subject along with attorney Mike Young’s post, I’m astonished to see Ian del Carmen continuing to place YOUR business at risk!

(Go ahead and read the last post - make sure to read the comments. I’ll wait. )

All done? Great.

Now, let’s take a look at those pesky legalities associated with this kind of  franchise scam:

• The “biz flop” is being sold in “territories” (in the United States among other places). However, potential “partners” are NOT furnished with Uniform Franchise Offering Circulars (UFOCs) as required by federal and some state laws.
• There does not appear to be any attempt to qualify to do business in each state where franchises are being sold.
• Utilizing the term “partner” in the sales pitch suggests that equity may be sold as part of the deal. If so, there appears to be no effort to comply with U.S. federal and state securities laws.

How Does This Put YOU At Risk?

In the words of legendary marketer Tony Blake:

“In the United States using the words Franchise and “territory” are extremely legally problematic… they are seen one in the same… in order to sell a franchise or territories you need to register your opportunity with each independent state, post a sizeable bond and make available approved prospectus’s… plus that this opportunity is well over $499 you will also have to register it in 43 states as a business offer and post another large bond…

In other words, what you are selling in the US is highly illegal and actionable not only by the FTC but by each states individual Attorney General’s…”

Don’t Let YOUR Business Explode
Into A “Fireball”!

If you’ve been duped into buying an illegal franchise or “partnership” with “territories” in the United States, here’s what to do:

1. Demand a full refund.

2. Contact the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

3. Contact your state’s Attorney General’s office.

If you reside outside the United States, consult with your attorney about similar laws in your own country and TAKE ACTION to make sure sites like this are penalized.

I just received an email from a friend who deleted their Facebook account because they were unhappy with the way Facebook may use their personal information.

I completely disagree with this course of action – especially in business.

Instead, simply ASSUME that any information you put online (and not just on Facebook, but ANYWHERE) will find it’s way into hands you never intended.

Use common sense.

If you wouldn’t want your mother, your boss, a prospective employer, a client or your spouse to see it, don’t post it. (ie. embarrassing pictures, vulgar language, personal relationship information, etc.)

If you wouldn’t hand the information over to a stranger, don’t post it. (ie. phone number, address, social insurance number, banking info, passwords, etc.)

The annoying apps and invitations can easily be “hidden” from your feed.

If you are using Facebook primarily for personal use, then restrict access to those who are in your personal circle. Don’t accept friend requests unless you actually know the person.

If you are using Facebook for business, then simply be diligent about pruning your friend requests, “liking” pages and use the network to enhance your communications with people. Keep only public information on Facebook, never private.

ASSUME your information will be made public and act accordingly.

I am often confounded by people who become outraged when they learn the internet isn’t “secure”. And generally the reaction to this outrage is extreme – like deleting a valuable resource like your Facebook account. Cutting off your nose to spite your face isn’t usually the most prudent solution… instead, simply opt for caution in all of your online dealings.

What do YOU think?

Users are being tricked into opening rigged PDFs and then infected with a Windows worm variant.

Several security companies today warned of a major malware campaign that tries to dupe users into opening rigged PDFs that exploit an unpatched design flaw in the PDF format.

Users who open the attack PDFs are infected with a variant of a Windows worm known as “Auraax” or “Emold”.

The malicious messages masquerade as mail from company system administrators and come with the subject heading of “setting for your mailbox are changed” according to CA Inc.’s security group. A PDF attachment purportedly contains instructions on how to reset e-mail settings.

“SMTP and POP3 servers for … mailbox are changed. Please carefully read the attached instructions before updating settings.”, the message states.

In reality, the PDFs contain embedded malware and use the  /Launch function to execute this malware on Windows PCs running the newest versions of Adobe Acrobat or the free Adobe Reader, as well as other PDF viewers, such as Foxit Reader.

The /Launch feature is not a security vulnerability (per se), but actually a by-design function of the PDF specification.

Adobe has previously declined to answer questions on whether in-the-wild use of /Launch in rigged PDFs would prompt the company to update Reader and Acrobat, although it has said a change to the functionality might “conceivably [be made] available during one of the regularly scheduled quarterly product updates.”

One possible solution would be to disable the function; currently, it’s turned on by default.

Hackers are using a tactic of modifying the warning that Reader and Acrobat display. Adobe Reader, for example, displays a message telling users to open only those files they know are safe. In the same Windows dialog box, Reader displays the name of the file about to be launched.

Hackers have modified the warning to simply read, “Click the ‘open’ button to view this document.”

The malware launched from the rigged PDFs seems to be a version of the Auraax or Emold worms. The worm drops a rootkit onto the compromised PC and tries to copy itself to all removable drives, including flash drives, to spread using the “Autorun” infection tactic made popular by 2008′s Conficker worm.

Malicious messages with attached PDF documents can pose as ones from “customersupport@domain name.com”,  “support@domain name.com” and “admin@domain name.com” where domain name is typically the name of the recipient’s company.

Adobe’s current advice remains that users configure Reader and Acrobat to stymie such attacks, she added. Adobe’s Web site has instructions about how to do that.

IBM’s security team also recommended that users disable the Windows Autorun feature for all flash drives, and it pointed users to a Microsoft support document for instructions and updates.

Think Facebook is just for goofing around? With these 7 applications, you can accomplish loads of business-related things – without ever logging out of your favourite social site!

Okay… so the average Facebook user is doing nothing productive with their day. More than likely burning hours on end harvesting farms or agonizing over the finer points of a “25 Things You Didn’t Know About Me” note. (guilty!)

But it turns out (HOLY COW!!) that this uber-popular social networking site is good for more than just fooling around!!! In fact, many Facebook applications can be so surprisingly productive and useful that you might not ever have to leave your beloved site during your whole day!

Dare I suggest you might be able to get real, honest-to-God work done using Facebook? SuperPoke your boss and make sure he knows! Here are some of my favourite Facebook apps for the truly obsessive entrepreneur.

Zoho Online Office

Zoho Online Office is about as close as you can get to doing actual, honest-to-God work using Facebook.

Zoho has ported a hefty chunk of its popular Web-based Zoho Online Office application suite to work within the Facebook site.

When you sign up, your Facebook account can be linked with an existing Zoho log-in (or you can set one up on the fly), and you’ll find all your saved and shared documents available for browsing–and for sharing with other Facebook+Zoho users. Unlike the other apps on this list, editing documents ultimately opens a new window on the Zoho site, rather than being hosted within the Facebook app directly; but rest assured, you can hustle back to your safe zone once your work is done.

Meetups

What’s going on out there in the real world? So-called “Meetups” are becoming an increasingly popular way for like-minded citizens to get together and expound on their love for beer, board games, Obama, or just about anything else.

Mind you, attending a Meetup does require leaving your house, so if that’s too much trouble, you can get a lot of enjoyment out of just browsing the application to see exactly how far out some of these Meetups can get. Turns out people will meet in real life to talk about anything.

Simplaris Blogcast

Simplaris Blogcast pulls in the most recent headlines from your blog for you, automatically.

What a pain it is to spend all that time writing a blog post…and then have to manually add it as a link in your feed using Facebook‘s “Post Link” feature. Make it simple–or rather, automated–by using Simplaris Blogcast.

With this app, you simply paste in the URL for your blog’s XML or RSS feed, and just like an RSS reader, Simplaris Blogcast pulls in the most recent headlines and a digest (you decide how long) once a day (or immediately, depending on what blogging software you use). And for the truly lazy, it doesn’t even have to be your own blog: Simplaris Blogcast works with any feed you give it; but, alas, you can only bring in one feed at a time.

Picnik

Picnik puts a full-featured photo editor at your disposal so you can turn a lifeless shot into something far more interesting.

Everyone dumps their photo library into Facebook, but then what happens?  Basically nothing. Picnik puts a full-featured photo editor at your disposal so you can turn a lifeless shot into something far more interesting.

All the usual tools are here–a red-eye zapper, color tweaker, exposure adjuster, edge sharpener, and of course resize, crop, and rotate capabilities–then add stickers and speech bubbles if you want to get playful. It’s all designed to let you tweak pics without ever leaving your Facebook profile. A premium version ($25/year) adds extra goodies. “Photo editing awesomeness”–as the app’s tagline goes–just about sums it up.

Calendar

Keeping your schedule together is a critical part of the life any entrepreneur, and the bluntly named Calendar is the best one available for Facebook. Just click the self-explanatory calendar boxes for the upcoming days, and type in what you have to do. The system defaults to “all day” events, but click again and you can set start and end times and invite other people to group meetings (though you’ll need a 30boxes.com account to do the latter).

Super handy, and a digested version can be dropped onto your profile page.

My del.icio.us

What to do about all the bookmarks you’ve archived on del.icio.us? Bring ‘em into Facebook in a box of their own. There are several del.icio.us-oriented apps available, but the one we’ve found that works best is My del.icio.us, which lets you import up to 25 of your most recent del.icio.us bookmarks, complete with notes and/or tags.

You can also limit it to show only the links with a tag you specify. The box automatically updates every half hour to 45 minutes, pulling your latest picks in for all to see.

YouTube+

YouTube+ shrinks down not just YouTube, but Revver and Metacafe too, bringing you just about all of the features of these sites right inside Facebook‘s environment.

Search for clips, watch and rate videos. You can do it all without having to leave your FB session. Whenever you mark a video as one of your favorites, a link to it is automatically added to your profile feed.

Now, naturally these are only a few of the business-related apps that can help you enhance your business online… I myself use several that integrate with other social networks, blogs and websites. But these are a small selection that can get you started in becoming more productive while on your favourite social network.

Do YOU have a favourite Facebook app that should be included? Let me know by commenting below!

YES, this is a no-holds-barred, REAL review of the Automated Sales Formula.

I received an email from Keith’s promotion manager asking me to sign up as an affiliate and promote this product.

As you know, I don’t promote anything that I haven’t personally reviewed. Keith was kind enough to allow me access so that I could give you my honest and informed opinion.

So lets get to it…

First: The intial video sales page for the Automated Sales Formula is very long.  And you can’t skip it or fast-forward. Personally, I prefer the ability to do either, as I usually do my due diligence before buying a product at this price point.

HOWEVER… If you want to know exactly what you’re buying and every detail about the product from Keith, then take the time to sit and watch the video. There is a lot of information to digest.

I am not a big fan of income claims. Almost right away there is a huge income claim of $20 million dollars of generated revenue. (This includes revenue generated by affiliates and customers which is fully disclosed in the video, and Keith indicates that he has the documentation to back it up, but the “shock and awe” of that amount of money tends to put me on guard.)

I’m also not a big fan of adding prices to bonus items showing a huge difference between the value of the total offer and the total cost of the product. I’m sure you know what I am talking about. For example, the product offered for sale is $500 and the added bonuses are given a total value of $38,000. While the claim may indeed be true and the products offered as bonuses may have at one time been offered for these prices, chances are that these bonus items are no longer being sold at that price point, or even being offered at all due to outdated information.

That being said, I have had the opportunity to review the entire Automated Sales Formula package. And the bonus items DO add quite a lot of value. Do I think it’s $38,000 worth of value? No, not really. But I would have to say that some of the information in just a few of the bonus items are definitely worth the price of the entire package – especially for those just starting out.

One other thing that bothered me was the extremely short refund policy. If you wish to claim a refund for the product, you must do so within 72 hours of purchase. Now, if this were the type of product that you could grasp in an hour or two, then the 3 day return policy wouldn’t be a problem. But just to write this review, I had to dedicate a significant amount of valuable time to be thorough – and I am STILL not through everything…

SO… if you are not absolutely sure you want this product, don’t bother buying it. Keith spent considerable time in his video explaining in great detail what you will find inside the member area. There are no surprises there, just a vast amount of valuable, useful information.

If you watch the video and can see the value this product holds, then I recommend that you buy it. But only if you are willing to follow directions and do the work. Yes, this product has a significant amount of automation, but it isn’t hands-free. There are also a lot of tactics and strategies provided within the bonus material that isn’t part of the Automated Sales Formula – and I recommend taking the time to go through all of it and make notes… and APPLY what you learn!

I have outlined several of the negatives that I am sure others have discussed, because I am of the mind that you need to be fully aware of what you are buying. But also know that I have become an affiliate and endorse the product – something I don’t do lightly.

Here is my affiliate link – Automated Sales Formula – go and check out the video.

If you purchase it, please come back and let me know how you’ve applied what you’ve learned!