3 Keys

For

Business Success

Perry Jones
 3 Keys for Business Success

5 Principles of Business Success

17 Secrets of Internet Marketing

20 Sources of Passive Income

Copyright 2009 by Perry Jones

Published by

Jones Bureau Publishing Company

 3 Keys for Business Success

5 Principles of Business Success

17 Secrets of Internet Marketing

20 Sources of Passive Income

©2009 by Perry Jones

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be

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 3 Keys for Business Success

5 Principles of Business Success

17 Secrets of Internet Marketing

20 Sources of Passive Income

5 Principles of Business Success
 5 Principles of Business Success

There are only 5 principles you need to learn and

follow in order to be successful in business.

These principles are in no particular order;

rather, all must work together in order for you to
succeed in business. These principles are as
essential for small business as they are for large
business. Fortune 500 companies follow them as
does any successful Mom & Pop store.

Capital

Capital is the money you need to operate your

business. The US Small Business Administration
estimates that 75% of all businesses that fail cite
lack of capital as their primary reason for failure.
Without the cash you need to pay for advertising,
materials, utilities, taxes, insurance, licenses &
permits, wages, etc. you won't be in business.

Estimate the amount of cash you need and keep

an additional 30% in reserve for emergencies
and unforeseen expenses and you should do all
right.

If you need $100,000 to cover your expenses

and open your business, add an additional
$30,000 to cover the things you can't predict.

And I like to add this axiom: "If you can't afford

the marketing, you can't afford the business."
Customers

Nothing happens until you sell something. You

may have a first class product (in your mind) but
if no one else wants it, you will just have a lot of
products taking up space. Research your market,
locate that gap - that essential item that people
want and you can deliver and begin marketing it.

We are all familiar with the many hundreds,

thousands and perhaps millions of websites
offering products and services for sale. The only
websites that make money are the ones that
have a steady stream of customers buying
something.

If you don't have customers, you don't have a

business, it's that simple.

Product

The only reason you are in business is to sell

something. Whether it's a tangible product or an
intangible service, you must have a high quality
product to offer your customers in order to keep
them coming back for more.

Produce and market the highest quality product

or service you can and the market will always
accept you and reward you.

Systems

A business is a system of systems. This requires

organization, planning and creativity. If you start
a small business and you don't have the systems
in place to free yourself from working that
business, your business will enslave you just as
thoroughly as or even more thoroughly than any
job.

One of the reasons many people cite as the

reason they start a business is to enjoy their lives
and have more free time, but one of the biggest
reasons for people giving up their business is that
they find they are working from dawn to midnight
6 or 7 days a week. The time they thought they
would be obtaining is in fact an illusion, a
chimera they cannot hope to find.

There is a book that can help you develop the

systems you need to free yourself from working
in your business every day. This book is "The E-
Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber.

Management

No business will survive without someone having

the skills to operate that business successfully.
Whether the owner has these skills or he/she
hires people who do have these skills, the
requisite skills are necessary for the business to
carry on.

All these principles are necessary for a business

to be successful. Almost no one knows all these
principles alone. Each person must partner or
team up with others who can bring something to
the table. Find others who want what you want
and who can fill in those skills you lack. This may
require just a few people or it may require
hundreds. But whatever it takes is what it takes.
Do it and be successful, do not and fail.
17 Secrets of Internet Marketing
 17 Secrets of Internet Marketing

The first secret to internet marketing is that

there is no secret. As with all other types of
marketing, internet marketing requires work;
hard work and lots of it.

The second secret is this: It ain't free.

Free online advertising just doesn't seem to be as

effective as marketing that you have to put up
your hard earned cash for, (with a couple of
exceptions, see below).

One of the largest challenges to any website is

generating the traffic to that website. I have
compiled a list of methods which will help make
your marketing campaigns more effective.

1. Blogs

Obviously, since this is a blog, I'm going to list

blogs. And blogs are one of the few free ways
that seem to be effective.

2. Classified ads/Ezines & online newsletters

Submit your ad to these resources and write

articles for them. Become an expert in your field.
Or start your own or have one created for you.
3. Newsgroup postings

Join the newsgroups related to your subject and

submit information vital to that subject & include
a link to your website. Just don't post an obvious
ad, you'll get banned. Include real content and
then Maybe include a link to your site.

4. Epinions.com and other expert/advice sites

You are now an expert in your field. Go to these

sites and offer free advice. Suggest people visit
your site for more information.

5. Search engines & directories

Google, Yahoo, etc. Get your website listed on as

many as you can find.

6. Paid search engines & directories

These are usually the same as in 5 above, and

appear on the same page. But the paid ads have
a more conspicuous position.

7. Adwords and paid key word search

Nearly the same as 6 above but whereas in 6 you

paid for an ad, here you're paying for specific
keywords hoping to generate click through traffic.
This includes click-through advertising, paid to
read programs et al.

8. Opt-in/For-pay email

These are good resources but be careful of

scams. You don't want to get caught by one,
neither do you want to be associated with a
scam. Try to stick to those services which offer
double opt-in mailing lists.

9. Online advertising

Basically anything online I may have missed. The

internet is always changing and new ways of
marketing and new ways of doing the same thing
will keep cropping up all the time. You can take
advantage of these new opportunities only if you
are watching out for them.

10. Offline advertising

Business cards, ads in local papers, flyers &

handouts, t-shirts with your website address, etc

11. Inline advertising

A signature block with your website address at

the bottom of every email you send out.

12. PR - Public Relations

This is one of my favorites as it has never failed

me. Send out a press release to every TV station,
radio station, magazine & newspaper in your
area. Someone will call.

13. Chat rooms

Get into those chat rooms that relate to your

subject & chat. Tell people about your website.
But don't go there just to leave a 1 line ad, I hate
that. Talk, have fun & let people know you're
interested in them And that you have a great
website they might be interested in.

14. Co-Sponsorships

Also known as joint ventures. Find someone who

markets a similar but not identical product in
your field. Or, maybe you can find someone that
has a product that your offering will complement.
Offer to split the costs of online or offline
advertising with them and/or to share the profits
from any sales with them. This will open up a
whole new customer base for you.

15. Affiliate programs

Set up your own. Offer resale rights if your

affiliates send you the customer and the proceeds
right away.

16. Online course

Offer an online course that features valuable

content but that also sells your product.

17. Craig's List

Of all the online marketing sites, this isn't one.

But Craig's List is in a class of its own. From a
small descriptive only ad, I have received many,
many inquiries. Just remember to obey the
Craig's List rules.

You'll notice that I didn't mention banner ads.

The reason is that recent surveys show that
banner ads are cost ineffective. However, they
may (or may not) be effective in increasing your
name/brand recognition with the internet public.

I also haven't mentioned the auto-surf or manual

surf sites. I didn't mention them because they
don't work. An auto-surf site runs automatically
on your computer while you're away. If you're
doing it, isn't everyone else? Manual surf sites
are only marginally better. They may or may not
be cost effective.

I have tried all the above at one time or another.

Sometimes one works well, at other times it
won't. The internet is a dynamic place and what
works one day may not work another day and
then may be your best campaign at a later date.
My advice? Try everything, keep trying, don't
give up and sooner or later, your advertising will
generate the results you had hoped for.
20 Sources of Passive Income
 20 Sources of Passive Income

Cash is king!

This aphorism from real estate investing perfectly

describes the little known method the rich
actually use to accumulate millions of dollars.
This report reveals 20 sources of passive income.
Put any or all of these sources into place and sit
back and watch the dollars roll in with no (or very
little) further effort on your part.

If you truly want to get rich and live a life of

luxury, then you must master the ability of
generating cash flow from passive income
sources. Without this ability, your income will be
limited to traditional ways of making money,
such as working. Working will never free you
from having to work. You must do something
different than working in order to obtain the
income you need to live the lifestyle you desire.
Passive income is the key.

Before you begin any investment plan, the first

rule is to consult with a qualified investment
advisor. By talking over your plan and
considering possibilities you may not have
considered, you will protect your capital to the
greatest degree and help protect it from potential
loss while multiplying your return.

This brief will not consider the cost of entry to

any investment nor will we look at rates of
return. These will fluctuate - possibly every year
or even over the course of a year- depending on
the economy, conditions set by the SEC and
other regulatory bodies and the IRS. This article
will consider only the 20 possible sources of
passive income; you will need to conduct further
research to determine if any investment is
appropriate for you.

1. ETF's - Exchange Traded Funds - This is a fund

that tracks the performance of an index such as
the Dow Jones or Standard and Poor 500, a
basket of assets or a commodity. Trading in the
same manner as a stock, its price will vary
according to the day’s trading demands. Benefits
of owning an ETF include the ability to buy short,
buy on margin and to buy as little as one share.
Expense ratios are often lower than mutual
funds. A common ETF is called a spider - SPDR -
and tracks the S&P 500 index. Look for the
symbol SPY to research or to purchase.

2. REIT - Real Estate Investment Trust - One of

my favorite investments because you own a
portion of the real estate (or mortgages) the
trust invests in. These also trade like a stock on
the exchanges. An Equity REIT buys ownership
(equity) in properties while a Mortgage REIT buys
the mortgages on properties. Two key
advantages to owning an REIT are the tax
advantages and the liquidity of the security - you
trade it just like a stock.

3. Canadian Oil and Gas Trust - This is an

organization that invests in oil and/or gas
production and possibly mining in Canada.
Several of these are now trading on the American
(US) exchanges. Purchase is the same as
purchasing a stock in any other company. Tax
advantages are similar to those of an REIT and a
big advantage - the one I like the most - is that
some of these trusts pay ridiculously high
dividends - and they pay monthly! My advice: do
your research, find a Canadian Oil and Gas Trust
you like and then invest as much as you can.

4. MLP - Master Limited Partnership - Want a

limited partnership that you can sell or trade as
easily as a stock? Enter the Master Limited
Partnership. These hybrid organizations feature
the limited liability of a partnership while
enabling you to trade the partnership units -
investment units - just as you would a stock.
What could be better? A MLP offers distributable
cash flow as well as income and these terms
must be mastered and understood before a
reasoned decision can be made regarding the
purchase of an MLP for your investment portfolio.

5. Annuities - Who has not heard of an annuity?

But do you know how they work? Let's keep this
simple: an annuity is nothing more than a
contract you sign with an insurance company
that guarantees to pay you a certain set amount
of income over a period of time. You pay for an
annuity upon signing and then the insurance
company repays you the amount of your
investment plus the "profits" (we'll keep this
simple and not use the technical term) over a
period of several (or many) years. These are
generally considered safe stable investments
appropriate for a conservative portfolio.

6. TIPS - Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities -

Offered by the U.S Treasury, these are securities
that are indexed to the rate of inflation meaning
your dividend will increase as the rate of inflation
increases. A TIPS pays interest every six months
and pays the principal upon maturity. Also a
conservative investment, you may want to
consider these if you are looking to preserve and
protect capital from the ravages of inflation while
providing a consistent and dependable income,
but your money may not grow at the rate you
would prefer - but then we aren't looking at
capital appreciation anyway.

7. Dividend Paying Stocks - Finally we get to

what is perhaps the most familiar method of
passive income. Anyone who knows anything
about Wall Street knows that companies pay
dividends to people who own their stock. Right?
Well, most of the time, if it is a well known and
established company. Many newer and smaller
companies will use their income to grow the
company instead of paying dividends and any
company that incurs financial trouble may stop
paying dividends. So if you are going to buy
stock to acquire the income make sure the
company has a track record of paying dividends.
The best known American companies - commonly
referred to as the "Blue Chips" are also the
companies that traditionally have paid the best
dividends. As with all other investments, research
is necessary to capture the best dividends and
target those companies with the best potential in
future years.

8. Covered Calls - This is a passive investment

instrument that is often considered risky. But it is
not. A covered call is selling the option to buy
stock that you own. You do not sell the stock;
you only sell the option to buy that stock at a
future price and time. The person buying the
covered call buys the option at the price you
agree upon - actually at which the market agrees
upon - and you just set back and forget it. Well,
not quite. The person who has bought the option
has the right to buy your stock at any time
between the time you sold the option and the
expiration of that option. Writing (selling) a
covered call is the only options investment that is
considered safe enough by the IRS to be included
in a 401K or other retirement plans. But you
must do your homework and thoroughly
understand the world of options before using this
method.

9. Real Estate - Everyone knows what real estate

is and everyone knows - or at least is intuitively
aware - that big money can be made from real
estate. Real estate provides tax advantages as
well as the opportunity to highly leverage your
investment - leverage being a factor that is
limited or absent in many other investments.
Many real estate advisors and gurus insist that
the one house at a time or the flipper strategy or
fixer upper or wholesale method or other flavor
of the month is the absolute best way to make
money in real estate. Generally speaking, avoid
all that. Making big money - meaning massive
income - in real estate is possible with highly
leveraged deals which are a certainty only in
commercial property. Multiple family properties,
office buildings, retail facilities and warehouses
would all constitute commercial property. Of
these, the best strategy is to invest in multiple
family properties. The bigger, the better. This
requires knowledge and education more than it
requires capital. Capital can always be acquired
through your network, but knowledge is the one
ingredient that will make this passive investment
method work. And, with a big property, the
income from that one property may be all you
need to secure your retirement - today!

10. Business Ownership - No, this isn't what you

think. Owning a small business for most people is
worse than working 9 to 5. In your own small
business you get caught up in the details, trying
to make the business go, searching for a market,
dealing with customers; it quickly becomes more
than a full-time job. That's OK if that's what you
love to do. But, what we mean here is starting a
business or franchise with the short term goal of
handing it off to someone to run. The faster you
can do this the better. If you can do it from the
very beginning so much the better - the more
time you free for yourself, the more time you will
have to enjoy and/or create more passive income
sources. A book that will help you is The E-Myth
Revisited by Michael Gerber; another is the Four
Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris. Both of these
books will help you structure your business
ownership in a way that frees you of actually
running the business yourself - margaritas on the
beach anybody?

All of these sources require work to set up, but

once established they can be structured to run
hands free. The two books mentioned in item 10
above will help you structure your passive
income sources to be truly hands free income.

11. Private Lending - Private lending has been

around since people have been around.
Essentially private lending is nothing more than
lending out some of your excess cash to a
trustworthy person who needs it. This has not
always been easy or fruitful for the person who
has had money they wanted to invest. As a
result, several online services are now available
that will accept your money and distribute it
under your direction to those you feel are
qualified; search for person to person lending on
the major search engines to identify
organizations you can use. The primary benefit of
private lending is that the interest rates are often
much higher than you would obtain by parking
your money in a CD or bank.

12. Tax Liens and Notes - A primary benefit of

tax liens is the higher interest rate you receive on
your investment plus the fact that your principal
is backed by real estate. Please note that you will
almost never receive the property from investing
in tax deeds, liens or notes; the primary benefit
is the favorable interest rate and the security
resulting from a real estate backed transaction.
Avoid organizations that suggest you will be
receiving the property the tax instrument is
against. Another benefit of this type of passive
income is that you can invest online from almost
any state in the country - be sure to review
Texas tax deeds, interest can be as high as 50%
annually in some cases.

13. Bonds - Ok, you know about bonds - they are

a conservative investment for old people and
people afraid of the stock market right? Wrong. A
bond can provide a secure and stable source of
income for anyone. By definition, a bond is a debt
issued by an authorized organization - often a
corporation, municipality or utility. A bond sells
for the issue price, matures (is paid back to you)
at the principal (face amount or nominal price)
and in between you collect interest that is called
the coupon rate. Bonds are often purchased in
the form of mutual fund bond funds. Some of
these can be very lucrative with a yield exceeding
that of equity funds but these are often hard to
find. But they are there!

14. Mutual Funds (Income Funds) - As we are

only considering sources of passive income, we
are only going to look at income mutual funds.
These may be called "growth and income" funds
or "income" funds or "value" funds. Nearly every
mutual fund family will have their own set of
income or growth and income funds. Morningstar
and other services provide third party ratings
that you can use to identify the safest and
highest paying income funds. Invest wisely and
always consult a qualified investment advisor
before investing. Mutual funds are also required
to send you a prospectus (a formal disclosure of
the funds objectives and operating guidelines) for
your review before you can invest. Review the
prospectus carefully and consult with your
financial advisor for terminology you may not
understand.

15. T-Bills, T-Bonds & T-Notes - Treasury Bills,

Treasury Bonds and Treasury Notes - Considered
being the safest of all investments because they
are issued by the United States Treasury
Department, these vehicles are also among the
lowest yielding. But you sacrifice yield for
security whenever you invest. T-Bills, Bonds and
Notes are most often purchased through your
bank, broker or they may be purchased directly
from the US Treasury Department through their
Treasury Direct online service. Although you will
not receive a high rate of return, the security of
your investment cannot be any higher than it is
with these investments.
16. Unit Investment Trust - A Unit Investment
Trust is one of three different types of investment
companies, the others being a closed end fund
and the familiar mutual fund. UIT's offer
securities in the form of "units" that represent a
unit of their investment portfolio. This portfolio is
often an unmanaged portfolio consisting of stocks
and bonds. Units are usually sold in amounts of
$1,000 and investors or "unit holders" receive
dividends from the units they hold. A unique
feature of a UIT is its termination date. Unlike
most other corporations and investment company
organizations, which exist in perpetuity, a UIT
has a defined termination date which is set upon
inception. When this date arrives the UIT is
terminated and the assets held are sold. The
proceeds from this sale are then distributed to
the unit holders.

17. Preferred Stock - A Preferred Stock is a

security issued by a corporation that usually
features a specific dividend rate. Preferred stock
usually does not have voting rights except
sometimes in extraordinary events. Preferred
stock also receives priority over common stock
holders when dividends are distributed -
preferred stock holders must be paid first. And
preferred stock holders also receive preference if
the company is ever dissolved. Your rate of
return with preferred stock may not be high, but
the security of your investment is higher than
with more risky investments.

18. Corporate Backed Trust Securities - Also

known as Corporate Asset-Backed Securities,
these investments are issued by corporations and
are based on a pool of underlying assets. The
cash flow from these assets provides the dividend
payments made to the holders of the security.
The asset pool can consist of almost any type of
asset which provides a cash flow. Usually sold
initially to a market maker type organization such
as an investment bank, these securities may be
resold to the general public by the broker.
Contact your broker for more information on
these types of investments.

19. Music Publishing - You don't know about

music publishing? The artist may get the glory
(and often the money) but the publisher always
gets the money. If you own the rights to a song
or sheet music you are the publisher and you get
paid whenever that song is played or performed
in public. Although the current rate is only 8
cents (US) per "performance" think of all the
radio stations, bars and clubs in the country
where your song may be being played right now.
Yes, bars and restaurants must pay you
whenever your song is played in their
establishment. You don't have to worry about
going around to each bar, hotel lobby or elevator
or restaurant (More places!) in the country to
collect your eight cents - this is handled by any
one (or some combination) of just three
organizations which pretty much manage all
music throughout the world - ASCAP, BMI and for
the internet SoundExchange. Yes, you do need to
register with these organizations so they know
where to send your checks, but this can be a
very lucrative source of passive income.

20. Copyrights, Patents and Licenses - If you are

an author you get paid every time a book of
yours is sold. Ok, this is obvious, but you can
also republish public domain material under a
new copyright if you change it by at least 20% or
add at least 20% more material to it. The easy
part (some would say not easy) is the writing of
the book itself. The hard part is getting other
people to buy it, that involves marketing which is
beyond the scope of this article, but if you can
get a bestseller on your hands, the royalties
(payments you receive from being the copyright
holder) received can be very high.

A patent is an innovation (process) or invention

(thing). You get paid when the item represented
by the patent is used or sold by some other
organization or the public. The patent protects
your right to exclusive ownership of that process
or invention for a certain amount of time.

A license is also possible to sell to the market.

What if you know a particular process or
procedure that no one else does? Can you sell
this knowledge? Yes, you can. And the way to do
it is to license an organization to use your
knowledge in the form of a process or procedure.
Check out inventright.com for a guide on how to
do this.

Bonus

21. Movie & Other Obscure Investments - We live

in a dynamic world and there will always be
investment vehicles being conceived for a need.
Also, more obscure investments are available but
generally are unknown outside of their particular
industry. Movie investments are one of these.
Movies often need financiers ready to fund the
production of the movie project. When the movie
is released to the public and begins to make
money the financiers receive their capital and
return on investment. This can be a good way to
make a lot of money if you back a blockbuster or
a good way to lose a lot of money - look at how
many movies do poorly. Do not invest in this
vehicle unless you are an industry insider.

Other obscure investments include exploration

financing, water rights, coal leases, limited
partnerships, commercials and commercial
funding (yes, TV commercials and infomercials),
receivables financing, sports team ownership,
etc, etc, etc. If you have an interest in investing
in any of these areas you need to find someone
with excellent knowledge of the field and with a
good track in investing in that industry. Consult
with them intensely allowing them to guide your
investment decisions. Generally, the best policy
is to invest only in those areas where you are
familiar and never, never invest more than you
can afford to lose.

Summary

Passive income investing is the key to securing

income. Income is cash flow. Cash flow is king.
You cannot invest future income or a projected
return or an eventual equity position; you can
only invest the cash you have on hand today.
Likewise, you cannot pay bills or buy groceries or
pay the mortgage or tax man with anything other
than cash or credit. A projected return or equity
position will not pay today’s bills or put food on
the table. Capital appreciation is great - for
tomorrow. I prefer cash in hand today. The more
cash flow you have coming in now, the greater
that tomorrow will be. Guaranteed!