Free-Reprint Article Written by: Robert Middleton See Terms of Reprint Below.
***************************************************************** * * This email is being delivered directly to members of the group: * * [email protected] * ***************************************************************** We have moved our TERMS OF REPRINT to the end of the article. Be certain to read our TERMS OF REPRINT and honor our TERMS OF REPRINT when you use this article. Thank you. This article has been distributed by: http://Article-Distribution.com Helpful Link: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act - Overview http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/dmca1.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------- Article Title: ============== Risking By Not Risking Article Description: ==================== I've often been asked, "What is the biggest mistake you've made in your business?" And the first one that comes to mind was not creating and selling products much sooner. I was in business for years and years before I created my first product. Up to that point I only offered consulting and workshops. And why didn't I create and sell products sooner? Simple. I was afraid of doing it wrong. I didn't want to risk making a mistake. Additional Article Information: =============================== 684 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line Distribution Date and Time: 2007-06-05 11:56:00 Written By: Robert Middleton Copyright: 2007 Contact Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For more free-reprint articles by Robert Middleton, please visit: http://www.thePhantomWriters.com/recent/author/robert-middleton.html ============================================= Special Notice For Publishers and Webmasters: ============================================= If you use this article on your website or in your ezine, We Want To Know About It. Use the following URL to let us know where you have used this article, and we will include a link to your website on thePhantomWriters.com: http://thephantomwriters.com/notify.php?id=4949&p=load HTML Copy-and-Paste and TEXT Copy-and-Paste Versions Of Article Are Available at: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/db/m/risking-by-not-risking.shtml#get_code --------------------------------------------------------------------- Risking By Not Risking Copyright (c) 2007 Robert Middleton Action Plan Marketing http://www.ActionPlan.com I've often been asked, "What is the biggest mistake you've made in your business?" And the first one that comes to mind was not creating and selling products much sooner. I was in business for years and years before I created my first product. Up to that point I only offered consulting and workshops. And why didn't I create and sell products sooner? Simple. I was afraid of doing it wrong. I didn't want to risk making a mistake. I finally took the leap in 1996 and taped a live workshop and sold the tape set. And when I look back at how well I've done with information products, it seems the risk was mostly in my own mind. Nothing went wrong. People loved the tape sets and I made great money. And then this first product became the foundation for more products to follow. Now more than 50% my income comes from products. I'm not saying that it's dumb to avoid all kinds of risk. Some risks are truly RISKY. You could lose everything. These kinds of risks need to be considered very seriously. So lets not even worry about big risks for now, lets look at the risks that aren't really risky at all but that we avoid anyway. I'll divide them into two categories: Risking to learn something new You really wouldn't think it was risky to learn something new, but you'd be wrong. You see, anything that is outside of our comfort zone is perceived as risky. Even if the upside it huge, it's easier to stick with the status quo. I've recommend books to people and you think I'd asked them to jump off a cliff! "Oh, that's not a topic I'm familiar with. What if I don't like it? No, I don't think I'll read it." (This is why conservative books are read by conservatives and liberal books by liberals.) Are there some things that you could really benefit from learning but you've put them off because they will take you out of your comfort zone? Take a sec and write them down and we'll come back to them later. Risking to try something new And if learning something new is perceived as risky, then actually doing something new is... well... better thought about later! We'll think about doing that marketing plan, that web site, that eZine, that presentation later on when conditions are better. But like me, finally creating information products to sell, the risk was entirely imaginary. In fact, I was taking a much bigger risk with my business by not creating information products sooner. I was earning less income, missing opportunities, stagnating. Ultimately we'll only take a risk when we realize that the cost of not acting is greater than the cost of acting. Unfortunately we often have these realizations a little too late. What are those things you're putting off? Again, take a second to write a few of them down. Now you have a short list of things you're not learning but could probably benefit from learning and another list of things you're not doing but would likely profit from if you got around to doing them. What I recommend is that you subject each item on your list to the following questions: 1. Is this something that would truly benefit me if I learned it or put it into action? 2. What are some of the possible benefits I might gain if I learned or did this thing? 3. What could I potentially loose if I didn't learn this thing or do this thing? 4. What's the worst that could happen if I took a risk and learned this thing or did this thing? When you ask these four questions of every item on your list, you'll have reframed your risk. What used to look risky might not look so risky anymore. In fact, it might actually start looking like a great idea to learn or do this thing. Starting questioning those things you perceive as risky. Don't just look at the upside of avoiding them, look at the upside of doing them. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert Middleton, the owner of Action Plan Marketing, has been helping Independent Professionals be better marketers since 1984. On his web site http://www.ActionPlan.com find valuable resources, products and programs for attracting more clients. Get a free copy of his Marketing Plan Sart-Up Kit. --- END ARTICLE --- Get HTML or TEXT Copy-and-Paste Versions Of This Article at: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/db/m/risking-by-not-risking.shtml#get_code ..................................... TERMS OF REPRINT - Publication Rules (Last Updated: May 11, 2006) Our TERMS OF REPRINT are fully enforcable under the terms of: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:H.R.2281.ENR: ..................................... *** Digital Reprint Rights *** * If you publish this article in a website/forum/blog, You Must Set All URL's or Mailto Addresses in the body of the article AND in the Author's Resource Box as Hyperlinks (clickable links). * Links must remain in the form that we published them. Clean links should point to the Author's links without redirects having been inserted into the copy. * You are not allowed to Change or Delete any Words or Links in the Article or Resource Box. Paragraph breaks must be retained with articles. You can change where the paragraph breaks fall, but you cannot eliminate all paragraph breaks as some have chosen to do. * Email Distribution of this article Must be done through Opt-in Email Only. No Unsolicited Commercial Email. * You Are Allowed to format the layout of the article for proper display of the article in your website or in your ezine, so long as you can maintain the author's interests within the article. * You may not use sentences from this article as an input for any software that steals sentences from others in order to build an article with software. The copyright on this article applies to the "WHOLE" article. *** Author Notification *** We ask that you notify the author of publication of his or her work. Robert Middleton can be reached at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** Print Publication Reprint Rights *** If you desire to publish this article in a PRINT publication, you must contact the author directly for Print Permission at: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ..................................... If you need help converting this text article for proper hyperlinked placement in your webpage, please use this free tool: http://thephantomwriters.com/link-builder.pl ===================================================================== ABOUT THIS ARTICLE SUBMISSION http://thePhantomWriters.com is a paid article distribution service. thePhantomWriters.com and Article-Distribution.com are owned and operated by Bill Platt of Stillwater, Oklahoma USA. The content of this article is solely the property and opinion of its author, Robert Middleton http://www.ActionPlan.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ---------------------------------------------------------------------
