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There are quite a few lawn care business guides available online that are designed to assist beginners in the process of setting up and running their own lawn care companies. Brett Pieratt’s guide ‘How to Double your Lawn Business in the Next 30 Days’ is an exception in that it offers informative reading for both established lawn care professionals as well as beginners. This article is a review of the guide and the package that it comes with.

Rather than going into equipment and business licensing like most guides ‘How to Double your Lawn Business in the Next 30 Days’ focuses mainly on the marketing side of the business, which afterall is one of the most important factors contributing towards success in any business. I found some of the marketing ideas suggested in the guide to be unconventional but Pieratt reports a great deal of success from them.

Pieratt starts off by covering ways that business owners can differentiate themselves from the competition and how they should view competition as being a sign of a healthy market rather than a threat.

He then goes on to explain the three most important skills that he sees as being critical to the success of a lawn service business. I was surprised to find out that lawn mowing and maintenance skills are not necessarily that important as they can easily be learnt in a short period of time. The most important skill is how you communicate and deal with people and this is essential in any service business.

Pieratt covers a lot of lead generation techniques and he is very strong in both online and offline marketing. His guide includes ways of using the Internet to generate leads without even owning a website. Many of his ideas do require a website though and he explains how to quickly and cheaply get a website set up and attract customers through it. His knowledge of Google and search engine marketing is impressive and he has a way of explaining things so that even the ‘technically challenged’ can understand.

He is also a firm believer in continuing to sell to your customers after you have taken the trouble to acquire them. The guide includes a number or ways that you can up-sell your clients with additional, extremely profitable services.

The guide is a little short at only 47 pages but it is packed with useful content and is set out as a kind of action plan with daily steps that readers can take to slowly move towards success. It currently comes with some free products related to sales and personal development.

For only $27 I highly recommend ‘How to Double your Lawn Business in the Next 30 Days’ to anyone wanting to get into the lawn care industry or improve their existing business.

If you are just starting your internet marketing career, you might be wondering “What is a capture page?” Simply put, a capture page is what entices customers to join your email list or buy your product. The sole purpose is to capture customer interest, get them to subscribe, and sell them products. It is not the place to talk about yourself or your business, unless that is what hooks your customers. It’s the first page a customer sees when they click on ad, so creating a great capture page is crucial. A good capture page has a great headline, a body full of interesting content, reasons why a customer would buy your product/subscribe to your email list, and a compelling call to action.

The most successful capture pages describe a customer’s problem and then offer a solution to that problem. You will need to create a headline that generates interest. Your headline should be bold, but not so overbearing that it makes customers leave your site right away. “How-to” headlines seem to work well. Ideally, your headline will cover both the problem and solution in one sentence. Your headline should intrigue potential customers enough that they continue reading.

The body is your chance to connect with your customers and convince them to keep reading. If you have a personal story related to your product, service, or email list, share it here. Many people use videos or photos to make their story seem more compelling. You can also use eye-catching fonts and interesting colors to make customers continue reading. The body should also explain what someone can gain from your product or list. For example, say you’re trying to sell an e-book about making money online. You should mention how your internet marketing career began, how you became successful, what is included in the e-book, and what customers will gain from reading it. If you have done your work well, potential customers should be more or less hooked by the time they finish reading.

After the body, you should include a capture form that provides a place for customers to input their name, email address, phone number, or address depending on your goals. All that remains is to follow up with a call to action. You want to convince people that not only is buying your product or signing up for your list the best thing to do, but that it would be a huge mistake not to do it! Of course, creating a great capture page takes practice, but following the steps above will give you a great head start.

I picked up A Certain Justic, by P.D. James more or less by accident. I wish I hadn’t.

The story is set in London, and the plot is relatively simple: a highly successful female barrister learns that her daughter is engaged to a defendant she (the barrister) managed to get acquitted of a murder he committed. She is busy trying to put a stop to that when someone puts a stop to her. She is found the next morning in her chambers with a fatal wound in her heart and blood dripping copiously from her head. Inspector Dalgliesh (Dog-leash?) is called in to solve the mystery.

The Vancouver Sun reports that the story is “Absorbing…P.D. James is at the very top of her form and fame.” Says so right on the cover of the book. If the Sun statement is true, P.D. James is an author I will allow other people to enjoy, and to be fair, some people obviously do enjoy her writing, since the book is a bestseller. I just cannot figure out why.

A Certain Justice is divided into roughly three parts. The first part is the setting. Venetia Aldridge is busy getting her client out of deserved murder rap, and you see pieces of her life behind the scenes. She has a daughter who is sure of one thing-that her cold, distant mother thinks very little of her, does not like her, and probably does not even love her. She has a some time lover who is apparently devoid of passion. She has ineffectual colleagues. Everybody in the story has half a life and half a reason to murder Venetia Aldridge. The team of inspectors seems remarkably distracted by trivial interests or perceived social slights.

She is murdered, and no one-not her colleagues, lover or family, and not the reader-cares. Enter Dog Leash and his subordinates. The author tries to drum up some human interest in the subordinates, but fails miserably in this reader’s opinion. Similarly Dog Leash, apparently a poet of some virtue, who makes flowery observations of the scenery but lives a drab, withdrawn and conventional life. The investigation oozes glacially towards a climactic finish.

In the final third of the story, some of the characters begin to show some color, but curiously it is only the pathetic daughter and the reprieved erstwhile murderer who do it. It all leads at last to a surprisingly gory finale.

In a world filled with good books, I found myself regretting the time I spent on this one. There are a few passages that were interesting (although hardly memorable), and the final third of the story did move briskly. I developed some sympathy for a few of the secondary characters, but I consistently found the motivation for some fairly extreme actions to be unconvincing. Most of the action in the story was not necessary to the plot, and the final solution to the murder was almost devoid of drama.

P.D. James is apparently a grandmother, and her focus on the thoughts and fears of the elderly throughout the book was at least an unusual feature of the story, although I wouldn’t say she does it very sympathetically. In any event, it was not enough for me.

Insights into the Operations and Funding of Nonprofit Organizations

Marshall McNott in his new book “Nonprofit Nonsense and Common Sense” has provided a valuable service to the Leadership Staff and Board of Directors of Nonprofit organizations, to the supporters of these programs, and to Foundations considering applications for grants.

McNott has chosen to use composite examples and sometimes fictional illustrations to provide suggestions for successful guidelines and principles. He begins by providing donors with “enlightenment questions” to ask. I appreciated Marshall’s candid approach in guiding the reader through the many sides of fundraising, motivation, ethics of stewardship and absolute integrity in every area of operation.

A long career in Management in working with nonprofit organizations, as well as a wide variety of related roles: board member, consultant, and “servant” Marshall McNott knows every facet of nonprofit organizations and faith based ministries. He gives insights from a staff perspective, from the Board room, and as an outside looking in, offering constructive, practical advice for getting to the bottom of critical and significant issues being faced by nonprofit organizations today.

I found the chapter dealing with the Board of Directors, and their commitment to the CEO of the organization was significant. A number of suggested direct and pertinent questions provide the opportunity for accountability and the “iron to sharpening iron” concept.

“Nonprofit Nonsense & Common Sense” is an important and timely book. Everyone involved in a
nonprofit organization or ministry whether serving as a volunteer, a board member, as an executive, a staff member, or donor, will find insights and answers regarding their role in serving others.

As Reviewed for Midwest Book Review

Did you ever end up buying something that you did not know you wanted, and yet it felt the most natural thing in the world? Can you remember what the sales person said to you? Did it feel like they really understood you? Would you like to be able to get that same reaction from your customers? Read this article to learn how to woo your future customers the same way.

My regular readers, by now will have realised that the art of all successful selling, is to ask the questions. All good sales questions have the following characteristics;

* Ask;

o The Right Person

o AT the Right Time

o The Right Questions

* Listen, then have;

o The Right Answers

o IN the Right Way

o With The Right Evidence

* At all times have a great Attitude

Whether you like it or not, you are always selling, selling benefits for someone, including yourself. When you go to the bank for a loan, you are selling yourself and your business idea. When you ask someone on a date, you are selling them on spending time with you. When you play a sport with someone, you are selling them on the fact you are an enjoyable person to spend time with.

I am however going to assume for this article that you have an offering that you wish people to buy, and I will cover 4 times that you have an opportunity to sell your concept, by asking the right questions.
Questions to ask at a seminar or networking event

The one-many networking concept, means that you get a chance to speak, while many people listen to you. You are speaking to many people, while they get an understanding of what you can do for them. Everyone always wants to know what you can do for them.

You stand up and before you deliver your irresistible sales presentation, that will have buyers flocking to your door, you must start off by asking them a few questions.

I am going to use as an example, one of my clients, who help their customers dramatically decrease their expenses, by having the experts analyse their spend patterns, and negotiate fantastic deals on their behalf.

In order to maximise your audience’s understanding of your proposition, you must involve them in the learning process. The questions they would ask at an event may be as follows;

* Would everybody please stand up for a moment?

* Would everybody, who is 100% certain that they are fully in control of their costs and expenses, and are not paying a cent over the odds, please sit down.

* OK, would everyone, who is happy to continue paying over the odds, please sit down.

* OK, you can all sit down again, but I would really like to know why you have not done something about this before. In fact why don’t I see which of the three most common reasons, for not doing this, matches your circumstances.

o You never thought about it before

o You don’t have the time to do it, because you are swamped

o You need to bring in someone who knows what they are doing and has done it before.

Now can you imagine, in a room of 20 Financial Directors, how many of them, would not want to know more about these guys, and if they could get substantial savings, as a result of their services.
Questions to ask on the phone

Most people on the phone get hung up on their result. In fact some gurus even teach you how to feel good when you get rejected. The main reason that you get rejected, is not because the customer does not want what you have, it is because they don’t want to be sold to yet again!

So have a conversation with them. Your end goal should be to find out if there is a match between you and the stranger on the other end of the phone, and to find out what they want to do about it. To get to this ask the following types of questions;

* Are you able to speak for a minute?

* Would you please be able to help me out with something?

* I was trying to understand if you were 100% certain that you were getting the very best value for money from all your suppliers.

* Would be interested in knowing how much we saved for XYZ Company?

* Now I am not sure if we could do the same for you unless we took some time to explore this together, how would you suggest we proceed from here?

Questions to ask in a prospect meeting

Very similar to those above, your questions should be aimed at getting the prospect to tell you in their words, what their problems are, and how they believe you can help them, with your offering.

* At minimum, you should ask the following questions;

* Thanks for taking the time to see me, how long do we have?

* Great, now that I am here, what precisely was it that made you want to see me?

* Could explain to me in detail; how that is impacting what you do in your business?

* If that were solved, what would you be able to do then?

* How would you put a value on getting that?

* When would you like to start getting this value?

* What has stopped you up to now, from getting this value?

Conclusion

Just try these questions out, modified of course to your own business. They may seem a little strange at first, but then again, so did walking when you were 12 months old! Take a note of the results, I would love to know how much more business you win.

If small business owners could read no other book, I would love to have them study Jay Conrad Levinson’s Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits From your Small Business. Originally published in the early 1980s, Guerrilla Marketing is a must-read for entrepreneurs searching for inexpensive yet effective marketing strategies. Revised again (and again, depending on which volume you select), the book offers not only simple suggestions for making the most of the smallest things but also fantastic marketing advice on everything from developing a plan to waiting patiently for your strategy to succeed.

Levinson’s usual mantra states that customer service is king. However, the 1993 version of Guerrilla Marketing focuses on bringing more customers in, rather than maintaining the current customer base. He provides numerous weapons for widening the customer base, giving ample detail on how each one should be worked. The 1993 volume obviously neglects the Internet (and a view of the 1998 rewrite online similarly neglects the subject), but otherwise the real-word tips are hands-on helpful.

Levinson splits the book into five sections. The first one focuses on ‘the guerrilla marketing approach’. This helpful, encouraging set of chapters describe marketing secrets, marketing plans, and my all-time favorite chapter, ‘Secrets of Saving Marketing Money’. Section two focuses on mini-media marketing, reviewing everything from personal letters to telephone marketing to classified ads. I found the last especially helpful, as trying to place an ad in a major metro paper such as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution can be daunting at best. He then moves on to section three, maxi-media marketing, and reviews newspapers, magazines, radio, and direct mail. A chapter on television advertising focuses on maximizing profits for the small business owner (with suggestions such as ‘film several commercials at the same time to cut costs’), and describes how cable and localized advertising makes the price tag for television more affordable for small business owners. The fourth section describes non-media marketing; free seminars and demonstrations, trade shows, public relations, and miscellaneous marketing tools (such as newsletters). Finally, he closes the book with a section on launching your guerrilla marketing attack.

The tips and suggestions within these pages have been implemented by successful small business owners for nearly twenty years. Implementing both humor and realistic examples, Jay Conrad Levinson has written a must-read for the small business owner involved in marketing (that should be all of them).

Levinson has written a variety of other guerrilla marketing books. For more information, see his website at .

I know a lot of people who are still stuck trying to figure out what to do online. They don’t have a website, a product or any idea at all.

Others have managed to put up a website, joined an affiliate program but are clueless about how to drive visitors to their pages.

This is what stops people from really making money, and it may be stopping you too.

Now here’s the good news: there is a 38-page ebook that shows you how and where to get started and describes strategies for selling any type of product using free methods which will never become obsolete.

And it ends up with an amazing idea for making you money from the book itself.

Launched in October 2005, Harvey Segal’s “The Ultimate SuperTip” can be classified as an old-timer internet marketing ebook. Many would even say it must contain out-dated information because of the rapid changing nature of the Internet. They could not be more wrong.

Here are just some of the topics he covers:

* how to presell products by giving away free information

* how to drive traffic to your websites with article marketing

* how to create PDF ebooks and reports

* how to use autoresponders and follow up campaigns

* how to create niche sites

* how to build more traffic with viral marketing

Not the least out-dated, don’t you agree?

So how much does it cost to learn all these techniques, tips and tricks?

Good question. You and I know by experience that there is people charging a heck of a lot of money for this kind of information. And many times they do not exactly deliver what they promise…

So how much does it cost? Nothing.

Yes, it costs nothing, zilch, nada. Not even an email address. You pay nothing to have this wildly informative ebook that can revolutionize the way you run your online business.

In this age of proliferating products and high competition, the need for creating brand loyalty has become vital. Authors, Richard D. Czerniawski and
Michael W. Maloney, through the pages of this book, underscore the need for strong power positioning of the brands to effectively carve a clear identity for the products. In an organized manner, the book explores the critical areas of brand positioning, brand character, and the need for analyzing the market and customer preference. The book provides a fund of information on all these vital areas of marketing and advertising. At every step, the book outlines what you are set to learn, then you are tested on the knowledge gathered and finally real-life examples are provided so as to ensure that the lessons learned are reinforced sufficiently.

Making light of the conventional methods, normally handed out to marketing professionals, the authors make a strong case on the strategic and crucial importance of evolving brand loyalty. The book explores at length and provides valuable guidance on the intricate aspects of product positioning, brand image, brand loyalty and powerful advertising. With its innovative and captivating cover, matched equally by the contents, the book is sure to find favor with professionals in the fields of advertising, marketing, sales and business. Even academics and consumers can draw immense benefit from reading the book.

I picked up two of Anthony Morrison’s books at a yard sale. I paid 50 cents for the two bucks plus 2 DVD one of which had never been opened. The books were brand new and evidently had never been read. I read the two books at one setting expecting the same old Internet guru humbug. I was surprised. The books were well written, full of good information for an old Internet marketer like me and certainly for a new marketer. Now you can see what the gurus have not been telling you.

The first book was The Hidden Millionaire which tells of Anthony’s hard times just like other gurus, how he was stuck in college with no one to help pay for it when his family’s finances went bust in the dot com bust. He, like other gurus, started an online business while still in college selling auto parts just like Corey Rudy did. (Corey sadly died in an accident on a Southern California race track right after his marriage.) After going without sleep day in and day out to run the business and to keep the family solvent, Anthony Morrison’s retired father took over most of the details so that Anthony could study.

But The Hidden Millionaire is more than just a autobiography. It is a guide to anyone who is a natural or self-guided entrepreneur. The mindset of the entrepreneur is personal confidence, motivation, strategies and resourcefulness. An entrepreneur invests in himself and spreads his wings in to corners that others hardly notice.

That book is worth reading because between the personal notes is plenty of wisdom for anyone in business or thinking about going into Business.

However, the meat of the Internet Marketing Business is in Advertising Profits from Home

Advertising Profits from Home

To my surprise Advertising Profits from Home was not the same old guru harangue. For one thing it gave a better approach to the new marketer focusing on earning money by providing leads rather than selling products. That way more clicks are obtained on affiliate links because usually something free is offered and the click brings the lead and affiliate income.

Section I of the book is in a way a summary of The Hidden Millionaire explaining how people fail or never truly succeed. Section II explains that affiliate marketing is not selling and how it works. Section III talks about advertising and how to use it effectively in driving people to your blog or website. This section includes the normal PPC and Article Marketing but much more. The last section, Section IV explains how to use websites, blogs, review sites and how Direct Linking works.

Although this is a short book, only about 182 pages, it is much more detailed in many respects, especially in Internet tools (sites), social networking, and about everything else. I’m a member of an Internet Community where I have all the usual tools needed for Internet marketing but this book is the best single source I have ever read. It is something that
Corey Rudl would be publishing if he were still with us. However, Corey would have used up a lot more print to do it.

This guy can write!

Fly Old Glory!

‘Guerrilla Marketing’ by Jay Conrad Levinson

An updated and expanded version of the original 1983 publishing. In this edition, Levinson gives his readers an in-depth look at the possibilities of marketing and promotion in the twenty-first century.

This book is filled with leading-edge strategies for marketing on the internet, putting new technologies to work, targeting prospects, cultivating repeat and referral business, and managing in the age of telecommuting and freelance employees.

It is arguably an essential read for small business owners as it looks at how to utilise a shoestring budget to compete effectively with large competitors by using unorthodox marketing strategies and promotional techniques often overlooked or dismissed by big companies.

I’m really enjoying this book but I can’t help thinking that Levinson has attempted to write a 100 page book in 368 pages. The content appears quite diluted with Levinson talking around each subject before actually saying anything useful. Despite this, if you can sift through the ‘filler’ with which the book has been generously padded, you will find this an informative and interesting read.

‘Anyone can do it’ by Duncan Bannatyne

Yes! I too am a fan of the BBC’s Dragon’s Den so I decided to buy my favourite dragon’s autobiography.

Now, for me, autobiographies can be a bit hit and miss. In order to remain interested in an autobiography it has to inspire me. It has to fill me with enthusiasm and give me something that I can use to fulfil my own aspirations and ambitions. Suffice to say, this did exactly that!

The book takes you on a tour of Duncan’s life, allowing you to gain an insight into his ideas and thought process as he makes his journey from ice cream man to health club tycoon. And the book isn’t just concerned with the business side of his life; it touches on everything from seeing off extortion attempts to throwing his Navy commanding officer overboard. He truly has lived an eventful life.

Whilst I disagree with Duncan’s claim that ‘anyone can do it’, I think the book serves as inspiration for anyone who already holds the mentality and personal attributes to ‘do it’. A great book and a great entrepreneur, essential reading for those aspiring for success in business.