This week I asked our panel of experts…

“Other than web hosting & your autoresponder & shopping cart, what are a few things that you pay for monthly or annually that you're glad you do?”

I think you'll find the responses interesting.

Dennis Becker of Earn1KaDay says:

Although I don't use it all that often anymore since Google Hangouts came around, I pay for GoToWebinar, and when I do use it, it's a great thing to have.

I also pay for several PLR sites, including CoachGlue of course.

Since annual payments count, there are also a few things like GoToMyPC, Carbonite, and Survey Monkey.

Lynette Chandler of Tech Based Marketing says:

1. Outright. They just changed their name to GoDaddy Online Bookkeeping so I guess I should start using that name. I have an aversion to doing books and for a really long time, I paid good money to have it done manually but Outright does all this automatically for me at a much lower price. The other neat thing, it tells me how much quarterly taxes to pay.

It does take a little bit of setup, but the setup is less if you did it at the beginning of your financial year or as close as possible, not at the end.

I started somewhere in March so it wasn't too bad. For the first few months you have to tell it what to categorize but as the months go along it does a pretty good job of auto categorizing. I've tried many tools that claim to do this and they do, but this is by far the most accurate I've tried and I'm sticking to them.

You still have to go in every month to eyeball things and take care of a few transactions that it cannot understand. Some are recurring payments but it usually is just a handful. Much better than hundreds of lines every month. I also love that it emails me a weekly profit report.

2. Marketing Graphics Toolkit.

Because I lack design skills but love great design, I go there weekly to seek awesome graphics for everything I need. Max does such a great job. There's always new content, sometimes every week and it's very affordable. The extended developer licensing is also pretty sweet.

Shannon Cherry of Learn How I Get *Paid* to Attend Events says:

You know, there's not a lot that I pay monthly for, not even my shopping cart, which I paid a one time purchase or my autoresponder. However, there are a few monthly payments I cannot live without:

1) Dropbox. I store everything I have on it so it's available no matter what device I am using.

2) Good outsourcing.

3) Good PLR. I'm lucky as I have found a couple of good PLR sources (Thanks, Nicole) that are so good I get a monthly subscription. Although I don't use every single piece, I get an idea of what the hot trends are and to expand my own knowledge, if needed.

On another note, what I'd love to pay monthly for is a good coach/mentor. Haven't found the right one yet who can take me on, but I know that person will come when the time is right.

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

Here's what comes to mind for me right now with approximate prices…

Time Trade. ($49.00 per year) This has saved me a lot in Virtual Assistant expenses since my clients can book themselves into my schedule now.

Box Shot King. ($69.00 per year) I love having the ability to create a beautiful ecover graphic from any computer or even my iPad Mini.

Coach Glue. ($15.00 per month) I'm a Monthly Instant Expert Templates member and love it!

Sell PLR Plugins. ($17.00 per month) I signed up for the Monthly Membership there as soon a they came out. I love those plugins. They make great bonus gifts for my products.

Adobe Connect Pro ($55.00 per month) Sometimes I feel like I live in my web conference room. I use it for coaching as well as webinars.

I wouldn't give up any of these things!

Debbie Drum and Amy Harrop of Recycled Riches say:

Here’s what we spend money on:

Great & Smart Writers – We are constantly creating content so we need a really great writer for

1) Blog posts for new content on our blogs – We’ve gotten to the point where we ask our writers to research content that would be good for our blogs (on the topic of our niche, which is Book Publishing) – and they write the blog post for us too! We constantly need smart people who are capable of doing the research and the writing the makes sense for our business.

2) Book Publishing – Gone are the days where we write a single word in the books that we publish. When I first started (Deb) I would use a combination of PLR plus my own writing to publish books. YOu can’t use PLR anymore in Kindle Books, so everything has to be unique. We provide the writers with the article topics and they just write away…

3) Article Rewriters – Oftentimes we find great content, but we need to spin it to make it unique. No, we don’t use article spinners (huge waste of time) – we use a real person who knows what they are doing when it comes to rewriting things to make them unique and original

Another area where we spend money is:

Graphic Designer – I like to create banners because they are really simple. I also like to use web based photo editors for my facebook and google plus posts – but designing every cover and every graphic for a membership site just became too overwhelming. What happened was I was so busy pounding through my to do list that creating a cover great enough for kindle and other publishing platforms slowed me down because you really have to change gears to put on your creative cap – and that’s not always easy to do. I found someone who would create these quick graphics for us where creativity to them is like writing this blog post to me – EASY PEASY

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Wow. This took more effort than I thought to track all of these down. Here's my list. I will update if I missed anything.

Project Management.

If you work with service providers, this tool can be very helpful to manage your team.

• Basecamp– Allows me to track projects and who is working on each one.

Computer Backups.

You NEED offsite computer backups if you’re running a business. Backing up to CDs or DVDs or an external drive is not enough.

• Mozy– Keeps my computer (and therefore, my income) safe. (Try it free.)

File Sharing.

• Easy Safe File Sharing– Allows me to work with writers and editors and keeps all my files safe and secure. (You can start with this one for free, too.)

Webinars. 

• GotoWebinar  (click here to try it free)– I also use this, although not as much as I really should. It’s a great tool, though, if you want to record webinars – as that’s what it’s designed to do best. Here’s a cool blog post about making your webinars ROCK: Key Tips for Profitable Webinars.

Social Sharing for Additional Exposure & Traffic Generation.

• Social Buzz–  I upgraded to the BASIC ($99/year) option so I can share less and still get lots of exposure. (The lazy option.)

Learning Resources.

• Monthly Mentoring Club – I pay for Terry Dean's Monthly Newsletter.
• Earn 1k a Day – I was paying for Dennis' Earn 1k a Day forum, but upgraded to a lifetime membership after the first month. If I hadn't, though, I would still gladly be paying.

How to Avoid Frustration.

As far as tips go for managing your subscriptions, these are mine.

1. I prefer to pay with paypal when given the option. It's much easier to cancel if the person does not deliver or if I decide that I no longer need the service.  If the service ONLY offers credit card payments and not paypal, I usually pass. It's sometimes too hard to cancel otherwise.

2. I normally will try a subscription on a trial or monthly basis before I decide to upgrade to annual or lifetime options. That saves me from making a costly investment into something that I might not use.

3. If there is an affiliate program for a subscription that I LOVE LOVE LOVE and it's recurring, I will share that program. It helps to reverse the cost. Of course, I test programs that are recurring before I'd ever recommend them. And, only a few make it past my “this totally rocks” filter. (You'll see those above.)

4. I reassess my expenses on a regular basis. In fact, I found and cancelled two programs while writing this blog post.

If you're not using a membership, figure out why.

Is it you? Is it them? Or is it just not the best fit?

If it's you…

Set a calendar reminder to go get the content if it's something downloadable. Go download it (or have a VA do it for you and put it into dropbox for you). Systematize your learning.

If it's a program that you're not using because you haven't learned how to use it yet, then learn it. Schedule time to just dig in and learn how to use the darned thing.

If it's them…

Is the material being presented in a way that you just won't consume? Know yourself well enough to know what you will and will not actually use. If they only offer files in mp4s, but you want mp3s for listening to in your car, then ask them if they will offer it in both formats. If they say ‘no”, then cancel.

If it's not a good fit…

Cancel. You can always go back later – although it may be a higher price, it's better than wasting money on a program that you're not using.

My homework for you. 

Take inventory of your monthly and annual programs. Go through them and schedule time to USE those investments.

What about You?

What programs do you pay for on an monthly or annual basis that you love? Let me know!

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

If you’ve missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

This week I asked our panel of experts about a topic we hear discussed in the internet marketing world a lot…

One of the most difficult decisions in running an online business is choosing a shopping cart / payment processing system.

So, which one do you use to power your business?

Do you like it? Why or why not?

The funny thing is that I just returned from a weekend event hosted by JVZoo and no one mentioned them. I'll see if I can track down a few more responses to see if we get some feedback on their system, to be fair, as well.

Note:  There are no right or wrong answers here. Just perception and personal experience.

I hope that this week’s expert responses will be helpful in making this decision for your own business.

Dennis Becker of Earn1KaDay says:

I've used lots of shopping carts over the years, from a plain old PayPal button to Clickbank, PayDotCom, RAP (Rapid Action Profits), WSO Pro, a dime sale script that I installed on my own server, and Amember, and I wasn't totally happy with any of them.

I was always looking for a cart that would make affiliates love me, and one time when I promoted for Jason Fladlien, who used Infusionsoft, I did OK for the promotion but what intrigued me was a few weeks later I got paid for something I never heard of.

Holy moley! What's that all about? So I investigated and found out about cross platform tracking and “lifetime cookies” and said to myself “I got to have me some of that for my affiliates”.

In looking at it closer though, I noticed the price (ouch) and noticed that Jason didn't accept PayPal for some technical reason, so I looked further for something similar but better, and found Nanacast.

NanaCast

I use Nanacast now for virtually everything, and though it was not quite so intuitive to set up my first product there in the beginning, now I've got it down to a matter of a few minutes to add a new product, link in the upsells, attach the proper email list, link to the downloadable files (which are automatically secured), and create the buy button to put on my sales page.

I can and also do CPA type offers where I pay affiliates for sending people to download a free report or opt in to a list. I've used the split testing feature (not so great, but it's there) as well.

My affiliates seem to be very happy, especially when they get paid for products they've chosen for some reason not to promote.

I do also use DAP (Digital Access Pass) for a membership site because of the way it allows me to drip feed content, but I don't use the shopping cart or affiliate tracking features of it.

Learn and Earn from Dennis at 

Earn1KaDay 

Alice Seba of The 30 Day List Challenge says:

Over the years, I have tried a lot of different systems. Many people take so much time to decide on a shopping cart, but hold themselves back from getting started. The only way I was able to find out what I liked best was by trying a variety of options, so for anyone looking, I recommend just digging in and figuring it out as you go.

After all this time, I have settled in with Amember as my absolute favorite.

Amember

I like Amember for a few reasons:

* No monthly payment:

While I see the attraction in a 3rd party system that automatically does the software upgrades for you, I don't think the price of many of monthly payment shopping carts is really justified. Sure, profits can pay for this monthly fee, but if I can keep more of that profit back in my pocket, that's good for me.

* All-inclusive:

Amember includes my shopping cart, membership system, affiliate program and mailing lists…all in one place. I have always preferred all-inclusive systems because it allows me to segment lists and ensure better targeting with my market. It also avoids a lot of duplication if you happen to have your bits in pieces all over the place.

* Customization and control:

I love that I can control how Amember looks and functions. I've had a number of customizations developed that have allowed me to improve my email marketing, product delivery and more.

I know Amember isn't for everybody though. It is a little more complex than other systems and some people complain about the “extra steps” they have to do to set up a product. I have no problem with the extra steps because, ultimately, they are the things that allow me to have control over the way Amember functions.

Check out Alice's The 30 Day List Challenge 

Terry Dean of My Marketing Coach says:

I've tested and/or have direct experience with a lot of shopping cart systems including 1SC, Clickbank, Paypal, Amember, RAP, Infusionsoft, and others.

1ShoppingCart.

1ShoppingCart

The one I personally use is Netofficetoolbox.com which is a private label of 1shoppingcart. The reason I like it best is it integrates everything into one system including processing both credit cards and Paypal, your affiliate program, upsells, and more.

Since they've been around for years, they have had ups and downs. There were periods where their autoresponders couldn't get delivered and other points where they didn't integrate well with recurring billing on membership software like Amember. For me at least these problems have been solved and have been running well for the past 12 months+.

I use both my own merchant account and Paypal for processing orders through them.

So, that's what I use to run my primary business.

Clickbank.

Clickbank

I also use Clickbank for digital products I release in other markets other than my main one. I've found if you're in niches you can often recruit additional affiliates just by getting into their system and getting a few affiliates selling for you.

This also means I have a secondary system in place in my business in case there were ever problems with one of my accounts. I have money coming in 3 different ways (merchant account, Paypal, and Clickbank) in addition to the affiliate programs I promote.

Be sure to learn more from Terry here:

My Marketing Coach

Lou Bortone of Video in a Day says:

I have a love/hate relationship with my shopping cart. I love that it's so powerful, but I hate that it's so complicated. Because with great power, sometimes comes great complexity. Can you guess which service I use?

Infusionsoft

 It's Infusionsoft, and I realize it's much more than just a shopping cart. I only wish that I was able to use it to it's fullest potential, but that's my own dang fault! Kidding aside, Infusionsoft does what I need it to do, and more. The best part is that the Infusionsoft folks have a great conference every year!

Lou is the man when it comes to video. 

Learn more at: Video in a Day 

Shannon Cherry of Learn How I Get *Paid* to Attend Events says:

Like many people, I've looked for the perfect shopping cart for me. It had to be both easy for the customer, easy for me, and have an affiliate program built in. Oh, and when I say easy for me, I meant it means to be intuitive to set up and run. If I have to think about it too much, it probably isn't worth my time.

Lately, I am in love – and I mean serious love, with a new membership/shopping cart solution which I have been beta testing for some time and has now been released to the public. It's a premium wordpress plugin called InstaMember and its creator has thought of just about everything. You can use it for single (one-off ) purchases, fixed term memberships, or traditional memberships. It has it's own email software and helpdesk built in, but you can also easily connect it with your own if you already have. (For me, I use Aweber and it works seamlessly.)

I also like that there is no recurring fee with this affordable plug-in. So far, this has been the best solution to date for me.

Note from Nik: InstaMember doesn't appear to currently be for sale to the masses yet. I'll update this when it is.

Shannon gets paid to attend Conferences and Fun Events Learn How She does it Here 

Just added:

Debbie Drum of Turn ONE PIECE OF CONTENT into 21 Sources of Income says:

We’ve been using JVZOO for processing our payments for a while now. The founders / developers are internet marketers themselves so they understand the needs and wants of people who sell products online.

Other payment processors have so much red tape and long approval times and with JVZoo, it’s so easy. You could sell a product on jvzoo the same day you put it up!

JVZoo 

My top 3 favorite things about JVZoo are:

1) Integrates Directly with Go To Webinar:  When people buy a product i can automatically register them into a webinar if that’s part of the product they buy. One less step for buyers!

2) Funnel Setup: If your product has multiple levels, then JVZoo makes it really easy for you to set that up.  if you are selling a product, you should always have the future in mind so take advantage of the funnels inside of JVZoo – have an upsell and even a downsell for your customers to purchase on the backend.  It’s so easy to setup!

3) The people: E. Brian Rose – one of the founders is a cool guy and a great internet marketer!  Chad Casselman, the programmer was my very first IM friend! Woot!  Bryan Zimmerman is always so helpful on the Facebook page! And Rich Wilens is my buddy and sugardaddy (inside joke – lol)!

I highly recommend using JVZoo to process payments for your next product!

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Well, I asked the question, so you know that I have opinions, too.

Having been an Affiliate Manager for several years, I’ve worked behind the scenes with most of the carts mentioned above and even a few that weren’t mentioned, too.

Plus, with my own infoproducts, I’ve used … eek! SEVEN different carts.

Which seven? Well, one of them is out of business and two others I do NOT like so they shall remain nameless. But, I will share the ones that pass muster.

There’s a lot to take into consideration when choosing a cart, but it really comes down to just three main factors –

1. Your Needs – Now and in the future as you grow
2. Your Customers’ Experience – Will the ordering process be positive for them?
3. Your Affiliates – Will They Be Treated as you Wish?

Whew, right?

Let’s start at the bottom, since that’s the easiest, in my opinion.

1. What’s best for your affiliates?

I will tell you this. I earn the MOST money (as an affiliate) when I promote people who are using either Amember, Infusionsoft, or Nanacast. Hands down. Just from a tracking standpoint.

Amember

NanaCast

Infusionsoft

Disclaimer #1: That is making one big assumption and that’s that the person that I’m promoting has multiple products for sale – and they are actually telling their customers about them so that you can get repeat sales. But, I know that the sales track and I get repeat sales – both of which are hugely important in getting and retaining loyal affiliates.

Disclaimer #2: I do not choose what to promote based upon the cart, but if two products are equal in all ways, I will at that point, recommend the one that’s running on either Amember or Nanacast first.

Most of the other carts do not track referrals as well.

What about Clickbank? Is that attractive to affiliates?

Clickbank

Clickbank can either be really good in this area or really bad. Depending on the niche you’re in, it may be more difficult to get loyal affiliates, since affiliate theft is so easy. What this means is that I can, as an affiliate, promote a product on Clickbank. Some people who go to purchase (upon my recommendation) will replace my affiliate ID with theirs to get a discount. While this is frowned upon in most circles, Clickbank does nothing to monitor this. This can make it more difficult to get good affiliates to promote you – if you’re on Clickbank, simply because marketers who know what they're doing will avoid Clickbank for that reason.

On the other hand, Clickbank has one very distinct advantage. They DO pay on time, every time. Unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more common for people to just think they can NOT pay their affiliates (which is theft) – and get away with it. It’s very frustrating as an affiliate when you have to ask where your commissions are – and it just should not have to happen. Plus, affiliates talk with each other. I’ve been in a number of conversations in the past few years about who not to promote – because they don’t pay their affiliates. However, when you promote someone on Clickbank – you know you’ll get paid – because Clickbank is in control.

2. Customer Experience.

This is another tricky one. If you sell multiple products (and you darned well should) – it’s very helpful to have a “members area” where the customer’s purchases can be accessed for years to come.  It’s also handy if your customers don’t have to enter ALL of their information every time they order and can just log in to quickly order from you. Again, Amember wins here, in my opinion.

If you’ve only got one product at this point, then Clickbank has a nice smooth and easy ordering process. Plus, they automatically process credit cards, which frees you up to not have to have a separate merchant account, which is nice, too.

In fact, most of the carts have a nice ordering process. The only thing that stands out is if you’ll have repeat customers – in which case, having a members area is very nice for them to continually order and access their purchases at any time.

3. Your Needs as a Merchant.

Finally, the third big consideration is what you need as the product seller. Here’s where it is SO important to know yourself, your resources, and your business.

If you’re just getting started, are completely non-techie and/or you are unsure about your niche – then I’d recommend Clickbank or JVZoo. You can always leave that product there as you grow and also set up a separate cart down the road once you get rockin’. From a merchant perspective, there are a few weaknesses with Clickbank that are easily overcome with Easy Click Mate – a program that I use on three of my sites. It enables you to run several products from one Clickbank account.

If you’ve got a solid business (and are totally non-techie) and want something a bit meatier that you have more control on, 1ShoppingCart is solid. It’s super easy and can be set up and running very quickly. Plus, as Terry mentioned – the upsell capability is huge. The downside is price, of course, paying monthly for your cart as opposed to paying once. And, affiliate tracking is less than desirably, in my humble opinion.

Of course, there are as many options and scenarios as there are people, but that’s just a quick suggestion for you.

There are a few carts that have not been mentioned that are also viable options. E-Junkies is fine for beginners, but is not the best for attracting affiliates. It’s a very cumbersome process for affiliates to get links, and you can’t get them for the affiliates as there’s no clear pattern to how they are created.

If you're a more advanced marketer and are reaching the limits of one of the “beginner” carts, then take a look at the others recommended here or just ask me for a recommendation for what exactly you need.

So what do I use?

Enough chatter, right? What do I actually use in my business – RIGHT NOW?

On EasyPLR.com, I use 1ShoppingCart. It’s fine, and I like the upsell feature.

Powered by 1ShoppingCart

On  YummyPLR.com, I use Clickbank along with Easy Click Mate.

Powered by Clickbank & Easy Click Mate

For the rest of my projects I use Amember.

Powered by Amember

Time for Feedback!

So, what about you? Are you stuck on this decision? Or do you have a cart you recommend? Please join in the discussion!

If you’re at the point right now where you need to change carts for some reason – let me know. I’ll recommend a cart for you based upon your needs.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

Resources RECOMMENDED in this Article:

• Amember – All in One Membership Site Software
• Clickbank – Hands off. For non-techies. Includes a marketplace to recruit affiliates for you. (Use Easy Click Mate to make it more powerful.)
• 1ShoppingCart – Powerful cart.
• NanaCast – Another powerful options with a lot of features.
• JVZoo – Fast and easy. Great integration.

I found a great Google Hangout recording that Dennis Becker did a few weeks ago all about the topic of Mindset.

I thought it would be good to share for a few reasons.

1. I really like Dennis and want to show him the love.
2. My good friend Connie Green is in this one, too.
3. The Hangout contains good info that is important to be reminded of.

Here it is. Enjoy!

The panel consists of Dennis Becker, Barb Ling, Connie Ragen Green, John Paduchak, and Justin Popovic.

In this recording you'll see an example of the cool people who hang in Dennis’ group over at Earn1KaDay.

The warmth and fun in this video also explains why I’ll be going to Vegas next month for Dennis' event. (Click on that link to join me.)

Recommended:

This weekend, Dennis released a new book about
how to make money QUICK (like in under a week) online.

Check that out here: Week One Profits

Warmly,
Nicole

This week I asked our panel of experts…

We all reach plateaus.

What do you do to burst through yours?

I hope you find this information helpful and inspiring, especially if you're stuck in a rut right now in your business.

Karon Thackston of Step-by-Step Copywriting Course says:

When I hit a plateau in my business, I reorganize.

For instance, I hit one not too long ago and needed a way to break through to the next level. So I began looking around my business to see how to accomplish this quickly.

One of my previous products (“Writing With Keywords“) was due for an update. I'd just done an interview with Google's Matt Cutts about how much keyword optimization has changed since Panda and Penguin so I organized that interview with a bunch of examples and other new material and took “Writing With Keywords” from an ebook to a mini-video series. Within a matter of about 2 weeks I had a totally revamped product to sell which has brought thousands of dollars (and growing) into my biz f-a-s-t!

Another thing I do to overcome financial plateaus is re-evaluate my affiliate offerings. I keep a running list of affiliate products I sell. Sometimes, for whatever reason, a handful of them can fall to the sidelines. Reviewing the list is a good reminder to promote the ones that I might have gotten slack about.

If we're talking about emotional plateaus, what works best to get me over the hump is time off. Even if I'm not in a position to take an entire week off completely, sleeping late in the mornings or taking a long weekend can give me the break I need to rejuvenate and come back fresh.

Want to Learn Copywriting from Karon?

Check out more from her here:
Step-by-Step Copywriting Course

Dennis Becker of Earn1KaDay says:

When I've hit plateaus in the past, I've found it was due mental conditioning.

For example, inside my 5 Bucks a Day book, I talked about setting a daily income goal in the beginning when I was tweaking my 5 Bucks a Day strategy.

I've always posted my daily goals on a post it note which is stuck to my printer, which is beside my monitor, always in range of my peripheral vision.

When I reached my first daily income goal, I raised the number quite significantly in fact, and started working towards my next goal.

When I reached that number, I forgot to change the post it note, and I was stuck for weeks, until I realized that my subconscious was satisfied because it had reached the goal that I had set.

Once I changed the post it note again to a higher number, things started to improve again.

The mind works in mysterious ways, but who am I to argue?

I always like to talk about the fact that I settled on the name of Earn 1K a Day for my site, because it's all about the glass ceiling concept, and I was inspired by what had happened to me, but also because of the Roger Bannister story.

Roger was the man who first ran a mile in less than 4 minutes, and back in his time scientists swore that it was physically impossible for a human to run that fast. Roger didn't listen, did it one day, and not long after that, other runners achieved the same result of a sub-4 minute mile.

Plateaus are meant to be stepping stones, ceilings are meant to be broken through, and goals are checkpoints so that our mind keeps us on track.

Want Dennis to Help YOU to Set a Daily Goal?

Join his community here-> Earn1KaDay

Tiffany Dow of The Guide to Shiny Object Syndrome says:

When it comes to business plateaus, I love it when I hit these because it means I’m about to break through to a new level of either financial success or personal satisfaction.

I usually realize I’m in one of these when I start feeling boredom. When I recognize it, I start looking at my business and I’ll see that everything’s at a plateau – comments, income, satisfaction, etc.

I like to sit down and map out my business on paper with a pen – just crude drawings. It might have PLR Store, minisite eBooks, Kindle, Squidoo, Affiliate sites, etc. on it.

I quickly look to see which ones are thriving and which might be dipping in traffic or sales or just leveled out. I also gauge my interest in each one at that moment (because I’m fickle and sometimes I show more love to some parts of my business than others).

Once I zero in on whatever it is I want to work on to break through it, I look at coming up with a new way to recharge the income or enthusiasm or attention on that business model.

For example, I recently realized I had stagnated with my PLR store – so I categorized all my packs according to topics so I could see how much I had in stock for each one. Then I decided to start a series of 72-hour sales where I create 10 new pages and sell them for $7 (customer gets discount) and then add on some existing packs that I had categorized as freebies (customer gets something for nothing).

The sales are going amazing, I’ve broken through a stagnant phase and everyone’s happy! I also wanted to do more with Kindle, but I wanted to incorporate something with my daughter, so we’re building a series of kids’ books and I’m very excited about it.

Plateaus are always about analyzing where you’ve grown complacent and then energizing yourself to do something new or different.

“Love this post? Pin it!”

Think Tiff is Terrif?

Check out more from her here:
The Guide to Shiny Object Syndrome

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

I can't say that I've been at a business plateau in recent years, I've had too many challenges to deal with and have spent a lot of time just trying to dig my way out of a valley. I did recognize towards the end of last year that I felt like I'd hit a ‘people plateau'. It'd been awhile since I had met someone ‘new' in my business.

With nearly ten years of podcasting under my belt, I'm used to meeting new people all the time. I believe I'd begun taking it for granted there'd be someone new around every corner. Alas, I turned a corner and ran into the same faces and voices.

It's a big world but we tend to live in small neighborhoods, even here on the world wide web.

I determined to break out of the rut and pursue new neighborhoods, new people and new experiences. One of the ways I've done it is by being more involved in content curation. I made an effort to find new people, subscribe to their blogs and podcasts and engage them in their circles. It's been powerful.

Another thing I've done is to get out from behind the desk. I'm traveling more this year than ever before and trying to say yes to as many opportunities to meet new people as I can. I should finish the year with lots of new friendships that open exciting new doors.

Whatever plateau you might be dealing with, I bet it could be busted by reaching out to new neighborhoods and forging new relationships.

Note from Nik: I'm thrilled that Kelly will be joining me at Dennis' live event in Vegas in a few weeks.

Join us? Details are here: Earn 1 K a Day Seminar.

Think  Kelly is Cool?

Check out more from her here:
Solo Smarts Podcast

Alice Seba of Step-by-Step PLR Guides says:

When I think of plateaus in business, I think of two things:

• Getting to a place where you’re not sure what to do next
• Reaching an income plateau where you can’t seem to get to the next level

Both of those can be very frustrating, but that’s when it’s time to sit back and get away from the computer for a bit. This is usually where I grab a paper and pencil and write down everything I have going on. My plateaus often result from being overwhelmed by everything that’s going on and sometimes I just need to take stock of everything to see a clearer path. This is the time to evaluate what’s working, what isn’t and what could be better. I often use a mind map app on iPhone for this process as well. I personally don’t find reading mind maps helpful, but I do find the process of creating one makes it easier for me to compartmentalize the different parts of my business so everything is clear in mind.

After writing everything all down, it’s time to come up with a few action plans that include:

• A list of activities or projects that aren’t fruitful and should be discontinued.
  This isn’t always easy, but if we want to keep moving forward, we have to be able to let go of things that just aren’t helping us grow.

• A list of things that need to be done to improve my business.
  I particularly look for ways to connect things together, so I can sell more of our products and services to our customers, no matter how they found us.

• A list of necessary tasks that are dragging me down.
  These are tasks that will be outsourced to a VA or other qualified professional. I often find a plateau comes from my taking on more things in the business that I just don’t enjoy doing or I simply don’t excel in.

I know a lot of people beat themselves up over plateaus. They just sit in front of the computer and wonder what to do next or they just keep doing what they’ve always done, hoping to make a breakthrough. For me, I find if I’m in any type of rut that is the most critical time to give myself a break and do more thinking for a while. Then I can start working again when things are clear in mind.

Awed by Alice?

She's got shortcuts that you can use in your business here:
Step-by-Step How To Guides

David Perdew of NAMS says:

Got the MullyGrubs?

Here in Alabama, we have our own language that creatively stretches words and meanings that are not really found elsewhere – to my knowledge anyway. And I’ve lived all over the world.

One of my closest older friends (he was 76 when he died a few years ago) was a born-and-raised Alabama hellion. He had a fiery temper and a heart of gold. Never was he depressed.

So, when I noticed he wasn’t all that perky one day, I said, “Tommy, what’s wrong with you?”

“Got the MullyGrubs,” he said.

“Huh? What’s the MullyGrubs?”

“Ain’t nothing right. Ain’t nothing wrong,” Tommy said. “I just got the MullyGrubs!”

I completely understood that. It was his word for when we’ve hit that spot that just seems like we’re stuck in goo. It might be emotional or business or social or even spiritual goo, but it sure has us stuck.

Stuck, and we’re not sure why?

At least, that’s the way has been for me.

It’s a really uncomfortable place for me. And it shows up as inertia. Something just isn’t moving in the right direction. And as my spiritual hero, Albert Einstein, said,

“Nothing happens until something moves.”

So, to get unstuck, or climb off that plateau, I’ve got to move.

If it’s a spiritual plateau, I start investigating new writers and new ideas – expanding my mind.

If it’s a relationship plateau, I plan a getaway – some way to spend some intense time with my honey talking, planning, resolving. (I personally like long, captive car trips.)

If it’s a business plateau, I look for three things that need to change and find the right people to help me change them ASAP. This year, I focused on:

• Tripling my income
• Building real assets
• And exploding my list

My list size has remained the same (give or take 20 percent) over the last two years. It’s an awesome small community that is very responsive and loyal, but I had been completely and totally focused on delivering commissions to my affiliates and not growing the list except by adding buyers to our membership sites. (Not complaining, a list of 40 percent buyers is pretty great.)

But this year, I’m focusing on additional list building opportunities – not just affiliates. (Love affiliates, but I don’t want to wear them out…)

I was obviously stuck. So, I started the MyNAMS 30-Day List Building Challenge with just a few days of planning and diving right in.

I set bold goals and published them.

I opened my business to about 320 people showing them exactly what I was doing. I worked like a demon doing 3 webinars a day creating lessons, tools, content and challenges to the folks.

And, of course, I’m creating an awesome crew of JV partners through our 30 expert interviews for the launch (at a much higher price) during the post July 4^th weekend.

Movement! We have movement. My list is growing. Income is increasing. And I’m building more assets.

And guess what? I don’t have time for the MullyGrubs.

There’s too much work to do climbing this mountain at the end of the plateau. I’ll see you up there.

Digging My Friend, David?

Check out his free training here:
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Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Great minds think alike.

Here are a few things that I do regularly to avoid plateaus and to overcome them.

First, I take a look and see where my income is actually coming from.

Then I look to see where my time and resources are being spent.

The quickest way for me to get over a plateau is if I can spot a place where there's little money coming in with lots of resources going out (time, money, and/or energy).  I usually let those projects go. (Although sometimes I get stuck because my heart is still in a project or it needs work before I can sell it off… in which case, sometimes I really need a boost to release it.)

Another strategy that works really well for me is that I grab pen and paper and go sit outside and plan what I want the next year to five years to look like. I basically brainstorm with future Nicole and see which path that I can take to make me happiest, and most profitable at the same time.

I also have my “big hairy” goals on a post-it, like Dennis suggested. The number originally scared the pants off of me, but now I'm thinking of increasing it again as I know that I can blast past it.  Having earned more in a month than a lot of people earn in a year has really shown me that I wasn't thinking big enough at the time that I wrote down that number. So, I'm on to bigger and hairier things.

This basically comes back again to my “R.E.A.D.” system.

1. Ruminate.

2. Eliminate.

3. Automate.

4. Delegate.

But it all starts with the Ruminate part – which is the planning stage. Without having a clear picture of where you stand and where you want to be, you can work your little butt off, outsource your heart out, and still be sitting on that same plateau in five or ten years, wondering why everyone else has blown by you. And, we certainly don't want that!

Your turn.

What are your tips? What are your struggles? Talk to me.

Best wishes, as always.
Nicole

PS. Remember, ya'll. If you want me to get awesome people to answer these questions, you've got to be leaving comments, sharing and checking out their sites.

Here they are one more time:

• Karon
• Dennis
• Tiffany
• Kelly
• Alice
• David

This week, Dennis Becker invited me to do a hangout with a few of his friends to talk about using PLR in your business.

The guests included people who USE PLR and a few who SELL PLR, too.

You can watch the entire hangout here.

The panel consists of –

• Connie Green
• Dennis Becker
• Justin Popovic
• Garry Sayer
• John Paduchak
• and Me!

This recording is an example of the cool people who hang in Dennis' group over at Earn1KaDay and part of the reason why I'll be going to Vegas next month for his event.

Want to grab some great PLR?

Check out www.EasyPLR.com and www.CoachGlue.com (the “Instant Expert” section comes with PLR rights)  – those are mine.

I hope you enjoy it.

Warmly,
Nicole