It is not a good idea to discuss salary early in an interview. It can be too much information when trying to negotiate a new salary, but how can you dodge the question?

My first rule of thumb is to never lie. It is not very good to talk about the salary, especially during an early interview.

My preference when pressed for an answer is as follows:

1) The compensation you earned in the past is for similar work but the total compensation package is not related to the work and company your going to. Your past salary should not factor into your new job.

2) If pressed to disclose the previous salary, as is mentioned by other respondents, mention with the total value of your compensation package. Also, re-iterate that it is not the same company, and so your previous salary is not terribly pertinent. There are so many factors including work life balance, benefits, holidays, paid overtime, etc,etc, that factor in.

3) Be aware before going into the interview what the standard range is for that job, and know where your performance level would be within that range. Most people are not at the top end of the salary range, so unless you are a total star, don’t expect the absolute max unless you can justify it. Your clout will be confirmed by your reference checks it will be obvious if you are not in the highest percentiles.

4) Even if you were earning a low salary before, possibly even below the industry standards for that job, you should expect to be paid within that range when you go to your next job. You may have one of many reasons for taking an lower salary at your previous job. It does NOT explain your worth to the new employer, bottom line!

5) If you divulge your salary, restate that you expect to be paid the standard industry rate for the posting, and explain what you do understand about the industry at that time. Most employers will respect you for standing your ground on the matter. Just remember negotiating is not a hostile situation, so remember to be firm in your stance but respectful in your demeanor.

Do not lie in your interview. The employer has ways to detect what you really earned, either through asking you to produce a pay stub, or asking if they can confirm it with your previous employer. Remember, the value you bring is the value you bring, and that is the bottom line if the employer wants to hire you.

Often times in salary negotiation the question about your salary history will come up. It is not a good idea to discuss your salary history if you can avoid it, as it can give the employer a hand up in negotiation.

A good rule of thumb is to always be honest. Discussing salary during the early part of the recruiting process is not a good idea.

The best way to deal when pressed for your salary information is as follows:

1) Just let them know that your past salary is not all that related to the work you’re going to do in the new job. The terms and work conditions and responsibilities are different, and therefore your past salary should not factor into your new job compensation.

2) If pressed to disclose the previous salary, as is mentioned by other respondents, mention with the total value of your compensation package. Also, re-iterate that it is not the same company, and so your previous salary is not terribly pertinent. There are so many factors including work life balance, benefits, holidays, paid overtime, etc,etc, that factor in.

3) You have to know where you stand in terms of the market. Know the going salary range for the job you are in and the skill level and experience you have for your region. You should know what level you can ask for and expect to get by doing your research.

4) Even if you were earning a low salary before, possibly even below the industry standards for that job, you should expect to be paid within that range when you go to your next job. You may have one of many reasons for taking an lower salary at your previous job. It does NOT explain your worth to the new employer, bottom line!

5) If you divulge your salary, restate that you expect to be paid the standard industry rate for the posting, and explain what you do understand about the industry at that time. Most employers will respect you for standing your ground on the matter. Just remember that in negotiating you should be firm in your stance but respectful in your demeanor.

Do not lie in your interview. The employer has ways to detect what you really earned, either through asking you to produce a pay stub, or asking if they can confirm it with your previous employer. Remember, the value you bring is the value you bring, and that is the bottom line if the employer wants to hire you.

The basis of a good PPC campaign is choosing the right list of keywords. It’s vital to be sure that you’ve searched and researched high quality keywords and phrases to get the best results. Make a long list, and check out all the avenues open to you. Start with a very popular keyword - for instance, “credit”. Lots of people search for this word every day. However, it’s hard to rank well for this term, since it’s also used by plenty of other advertisers. How can you improve your chances? Broaden your scope to include related terms.

Consider how searchers could be using the keyword in question. Someone searching for the word “credit” may be attempting to find out ways to get a credit report, ways to improve personal credit which lenders will give loans to people with poor credit or ways to consolidate credit card debit. When you’ve gotten a range of concepts that the word could be related to, then try to condense them a bit.

Some longer concepts become a group of terms that are searched for anything closely related to the original keyword “credit” becomes “bad credit loan” or “consolidate credit” there are many options. These words are just slight variations as you like.

Stay with what works, it’s always best to keep things simple. But at the same time, experiment if you are not getting good numbers for your campaign. If you are stuck, try adding specific organization names, there are many companies out there associated with “credit”.

Add an extension, such as .org, .net, or .com to the end of the search term, or consider the extension of a country you’re targeting. It doesn’t even matter if that domain doesn’t exist. Some people still type this kind of search term in. You’ll expose them to your ads, increasing your chances of a well targeted click.

Remember to avoid very general keywords. There’s too much competition for these. Instead, expand on related terms, and rephrase existing keyword phrases. It’s easy to turn “free credit report” around to get “credit report free”. While the concept is the same, this phrase will reach a different set of viewers. Just ask yourself what your target audience is going to search for, and use the answers to that question to choose your keyword groups. Remember that search terms can be in an unusual order.

It’s not all there is to a good PPC campaign, but a good keyword list is the foundation of one that works. Explore all your options and pick the right words, then track their progress to be sure your campaign is a successful one.

A PPC (pay per click) campaign can be an effective way of getting the word out there about your type of enterprise. But be warned, those who don’t look before they leap can end up making costly mistakes. Attention to detail and the formulation of a plan will result in the most effective PPC campaign for you. So you want to know some of the secrets of other great PPC champions? Please read on.

Picking the right keywords is the first step. Saying a common keyword will best serve couldn’t be farther from the ideal truth, but it may get you several clicks. Visitors who are clicking on a general key word are less likely to buy. Using a targeted key word phrase might not get the clicks of a more expensive common keyword, but is the best way to get a wide and suitable audience for the lowest cost.

Experiment with a few, more specific phrases by searching Google or another popular engine to find the one that gives you good results for your product. You can also use some of the available tools for finding good permutations of keywords, and which can offer hundreds of viable phrases for your business. Test these keywords to find the ones that are most effective.

Once you’re certain you’ve got a good keyword list, it’s time to design your ad. After all, even the best keywords can’t save a poor ad. You need a compelling headline to interest a potential customer, and copy that encourages him or her to click and find out more. Make sure your ad is an accurate description of your product or service, to avoid clicks that don’t lead to sales.

Your advertising copy should have a sense of urgency as well as the benefits of the products and services you offer. Letting your customer know that by responding to the ad and making a purchase will get them a special deal always acts as a sweetener. Limited time offers are an excellent choice also.

Try for a high ranking on a search page, but remember that many people click reflexively on the first-ranked ad. That could result in more sales, or more empty clicks, as visitors realize that wasn’t where they meant to go. Being high on the page is good, but if it’s a waste of resources, don’t try to be the highest. Focus on a great ad that’s well targeted to your audience, instead.

Pay attention to the competition, too. Adjust your keywords and ad copy according to what appears to be working for them, although direct copying should be avoided. Check the results of each keyword set and the ads associated with it to find out which ones are working, and which aren’t.

PPC ads are a new and uncertain entity and careful thought needs to be put into any advertising campaign for it to succeed. The best way to do this is to make sure you know what you’re doing. Here’s to reaching your target audience, and lots of sales.

Sometimes working a full time day job is more than a drag; it’s paralyzing. Not for your body, perhaps, but for your creative energy. When you get home from work, you don’t want to do anything but stare into space, or at most, absorb things like TV, movies, or internet. Below are some ways to structure your time so that you’ll never lose touch with your artistic side.

Make the time:

Arrange time to get creative each day. Do it in an unusual spot like the train or the shower or even right before you go to bed.

Also, when you’re about to go to sleep, don’t let your brain go to mush. You’re relaxed, which allows good ideas to start running through your mind. Use this to your advantage.

Take notes:

Sadly, ideas don’t always come when we want them to, they come when you least expect it; when you’re shopping, walking the dog or watering the flowers. So always carry a 3×5 card with you, and a small pencil. Then write down those bolts of genius when they appear, then take those ideas into work with you, and use them!

Get up earlier for creative thinking time:

The mind is supposed to be the most alive when you first wake up. If you wake up a couple of minutes earlier, you’ll get some extra time to let the creative juices going.

Take a moment to ponder:

In your creative times ask yourself this very important question; “What would I do if I knew I had no financial limits, and the campaign couldn’t fail?” Then let your mind go crazy with ideas from there.

Simplify your USP:

In your creative moments be sure to think about your company’s USP, as it’s important that this is crystal clear and concise. Creative ideas are wonderful but if your USP is not clearly stated, the benefits of your product and/or services will never shine through.

Have you ever thought that you eBooks could be used to generate multiple streams of income? Instead of having only one revenue stream coming from them, use a little creativity to really push how much you can get from each eBook.

To be more specific, you could actually sell advertising within the eBook you are creating to make money.

Here is an example. You have created an eBook on how to plan a wedding on a budget. This is a multi-billion dollar industry that you are now tapping into. Do you think that some of the companies that sell products and services within this industry would be interested in having the ability to get in front of people who have just purchased a product that that particular topic?

It may seem like an obvious question to ask, but you all should ask yourself what businesses would be interested in getting in front of the audience I will be attracting? This is one of those creative questions that you should all be asking yourself regularly.

One more time. Thinking about my target audience, what businesses would be interested in having a way to get in front of them?

You mind is going to start to race about all kinds of other businesses. Some may even be your competitors. But there could be some other complimentary businesses that provide services or products to the particular market that you’re marketing to, who would be interested in purchasing ad space within your particular eBook.

It is your decision how you want to layout where the ads would go. You could place them all at the end, beginning or have them scattered throughout the book. It doesn’t matter how you do it, by selling advertising within your eBook it is providing you a method of generating more revenue

Adding value to your current costumers is also another thing you can do with your eBooks. For me I try to constantly work on developing and maintaining good relationships with the people on my email list. I don’t have a big email list, but I have a great one.

Compiling an eBook for my list is one way that I can add value to my customers. It can range from answering some of their more desired questions, summarizing tools I use or giving a step by step procedure.

Finding win-win strategies to add value to you and vise-versa is something I can always looking for so that my relationship with you and my list only gets stronger.

If you are not really sure on what to write eBooks on, just look to your target market for help. If they are asking questions, needing solutions to a situation or you can give step by step directions on how to do something, that is of great value there and will make a great eBook. This is a great way to add value to your current costumers or future customers. Combining that with selling advertising it is a great win-win for you and something you should constantly be thinking about.

Going into any business with that mindset about your customers and throw in a little creativity, all different opportunities for more profit will emerge!

By exploring your creativity ideas will come to you when you need them the most!

One great reason for you to create an eBook is that you can use it to cross-promote it as a free bonus with other people’s products or services.

‘What?’ I know a lot of you may be thinking that right now, but it is exactly what I mean. Look at who is selling competitive products to you and ask them if they would be interested in using your eBook to add value to their package.

People are always interested in looking to add more value to their current products or services. Now you’re giving them a reason and a very easy way to add value to their current products or package.

You may be thinking, well what is in it for you? This will allow you to cross-promote your products or services.

It seems pretty simple. You talk about your own products and services within the pages of the eBook and gain customers right?

One thing you do have to make sure you don’t do is make your whole eBook one big promotion about your service or product. If you do this it is doubtful that your competition will want to bundle it one, and secondly no one will take you seriously.

One of the strategies that I teach people when we go through the mechanics of actually creating your very first eBook, is I talk about how to integrate cross promotion within your eBook so it doesn’t come off like a sales pitch, yet you still get the benefit of informing people of your other products or services. So I want you to constantly think on that road, too.

Giving quality information should be your first and primary focus. By doing that it is a sales tactic on its own. When you give people good content they will learn to like and trust you. By doing that, it doesn’t hurt to also include information and a few links about your products though!

You should really be asking yourself, “How can I cross promote within my eBook so my competitors can give it away as a free bonus to the same particular target market I work within? How can I do this by still providing them quality information but making sure people will learn about me and my products which will generate me leads?”

Cross-promotion is just one strategy on how you can use your eBook. Next time you are creating one, start thinking about other way you can use it.

By exploring your creativity ideas will come to you when you need them the most!

In this article I want to talk about developing relationships with joint venture partners/mentors. It is very important if you are looking to learn from high, world-class mentors, and work with them in joint venture projects. These are some low-cost - actually zero cost - ways to develop relationships with these types of people.

Number one, write this down, circle it, underline it, and highlight it. Participate. Write that word down. Participate when given an opportunity.

When I first started, nobody knew me from a fly on the wall. The first time that I went to the John Childers’ Million Dollar Speaker training, he taught me a very important lesson in business. He said, “It’s not what you know or who you know. It’s who knows you.”

Get yourself known, that is what I’m trying to point out. You really have to take advantage of all the opportunities to ‘participate’ that your mentors and possible future joint venture partners will give you.

This is what I’m talking about. If there are questions in their emails, or they ask for feedback on their projects, give it to them. Give the feedback, ask questions, participate as much as you can. If you participate on a regular basis, the more likely it is that they will get to know you. That is the end result we are looking for.

Here’s another strategy, provide testimonials. A lot of people underestimate this tip, but it can make a big difference. When I say give testimonials, I don’t mean “normal” testimonials either. What I mean is give the best testimonials you have given and send a picture of yourself that they can use.

In fact, send testimonials even when no one has asked for them. Do you know how many times I have done that and then been put up on their websites? This is a strategy that I learned from Alex Mandossian.

When I first got started in this business, every single website I seemed to go to, Alex Mandossian was there giving a testimonial. Do you know how effective that strategy was for him?

Later I found out that he was getting all kinds of leads sent to his website and to his business through the use of putting up testimonials on other people’s websites. You’ve got to learn to give really good testimonials. Even give them when they are not asked for.

An example of a good testimonial is one that is specific and relevant to a measurable benefit.

Recently I had an awesome testimonial left as part of a testimonial contest for a teleseminar of mine. This gentlemen stated his name, where he was calling from and gave one specific benefit he received from listening to the call.

That is how you get your testimonials posted on other people’s websites, and when they post your testimonial with your picture, there’s a good chance they’re going to post your website link as well, and that helps you generate traffic and advertising and all kinds of benefits.

Not only is it benefitting your website in the long run, it is also another way to develop relationships with your mentors/future joint venture partners.

Here’s another strategy: Participate in forums. Many people have their own forum. There’s all kinds of forums out there online in just about every kind of industry.

Whether you’re in that market or whether you’re not, I want you to seek out forums that you can participate in and give lots of content, tips, resources, anything in these forums. Get yourself known.

Another to do is read people’s newsletters and look at them to find any important and personal insights and details.

Here’s some things you should constantly look for. Any birthdays, whether it be the specific person who writes the newsletter or their wife, husband or even their kids. Look for birth dates and then send them cards or a happy birthday E-mail, or perhaps even an audio postcards.

Anniversary dates is another thing you could look for, or when they are doing big product launches. Find out anything you can by reading their newsletters then use that information to build a relationship with them.

Always look to offer help to your mentors or future joint venture partners. You wouldn’t believe the response that you will get when you ask somebody if there’s anything that you can do to help them in their business.

For example, if you know they have a big even for their business, like a seminar or product launch, you could offer to help specifically with that. By doing this they will know that you’ve been paying attention to their business. Also, you’ll surprise them with your offer and you will stand out from the crowd for doing so.

I’ve sent information that I believe would be of value to my mentors as well. My goal is always to build good relationships with them. These strategies are not rocket science and are so easy to do, just no one does them.

Anything I come across and think it would be of value to them, I send it their way. Articles that they could extract from, website links, resources online. Even off-line tools and newspaper clippings work. All I do is shoot them an e-mail saying, “Hey, I think this might be of value to you.”

However, when you send links NEVER include any affiliate links or anything like that. Just sending them information that would be of value to them.

Building a relationship and providing valuable information is what you should focus on - not making a quick buck. If you try this they will see right through you and you will wreck any chance of building a relationship with them.

Those are all strategies that I’ve used and then I leverage those efforts in to all kinds of great relationships with all my mentors, and future joint venture partners. It’s resulted in all kinds of projects with all these people. It’s just amazing what will happen when you focus on building a foundation with all of these individuals.

A great way to get people to want to buy your products or services is to be considered an expert in that industry.

Think about it yourself- would you rather purchase a product on caring for your dog from someone who has written several eBooks on the subject matter, or from someone who just decided to put a book together?

You can establish yourself as an expert in your industry by creating eBook on a particular subject. The reasons how to do this and why this should be done will be discussed in this article.

You will develop a status when you create an eBook.

Once you become known for something, it attracts people like a magnet. A status is important in business because it does just that, people who need that something you’re known for will begin to be attracted to you.

Here’s a quick example. I’m known as My Idea Guy. I’ve branded myself as this and am known to provide solutions for people. The majority of people that I work with are information marketers, speakers and authors.

As a result of that branding, I’ve become known for generating all kinds of ideas for information marketing, for speakers, for authors, and helping them build their businesses.

Now I am known for that one thing, people are now automatically attracted to my products, services, philosophies and ideas. It’s because I’ve established that branding that I attract people looking for those things.

You can do that by creating an eBook on the particular topic of which you are an expert in. Some of you are going to say, Yeah, but Stu, listen. I am listening to you talk about being an expert, and I am not an expert at anything.

That is the great part about this, you don’t have to be an expert. Compiling all the information for your eBook will allow yourself to establish an identity of an expert. You have put in the research to find the solutions people are looking for. In my opinion, if you are able to provide answers to people’s questions that you are of value and can be seen as an expert in that particular topic.

It enables you to quickly become known for that particular subject, and it raises your status to an expertise status, and allows you to really leverage that in your business.

The more you give your costumers high quality content by having more eBooks and services available, the more people will want to purchase from you because you will become more recognized.

eBooks are an excellent gateway to more business.

eBooks should be incorporated into your marketing funnel, I hope this article has helped you see why this is true.

Ideas will come to you when you explore the possibilities of creativity!

Nobody starts on top. You have to find ways to overcome the one obstacle that every entrepreneur has in the beginning.

If you’re looking to market yourself and your business on a tight budget, you’ve got to learn to be creative and you’ve got to learn to start asking creative questions.

Ask yourself:

1) How can I

Start with another creative question like:

2) Who could help me with I love that one. Who could help me with

Here’s another one:

3) Who might exchange for ?

Or this one:

4) How can I do this cheaper? or How could I do this faster? or How could I do this with less effort? or How could I do this without paying? That’s a great creative question.

Try and answer this question:

5) What can I substitute for ‘X’? Could I substitute ‘XYZ’ for ‘ABC’? Just think about whatever you could, or want to change.

This next one is a great one because it puts you in the shoes of other people, someone who is thinks completely different than you.

6) How would solve this problem?

Here are some examples: How would my mother solve this problem? How would my competitor solve this problem? The great thing about this question is it forces you to think from different perspectives.

I can confidently say that these questions, as well as others, have allowed my creativity to grow and have opened all kinds of opportunities up to me. The success of my career can be credited to my creative thinking.

Here is an example of how I used this creative questioning to overcome an obstacle early on in my career.

I decided to become a professional speaker as soon as I was done University. My focus was speaking to college and high school students about the topic of creativity. I focused on creativity because with it I was able to move from a first year failure in University to graduating being named Most Outstanding Male with straight A’s. I changed a lot between how I did things in first year to my last year, and I credit a lot of it to learning something I had become very passionate about, creative thinking.

Being a professional speaker and building a profitable speaking business was two things I didn’t know anything about though.

I went to and joined an organization called CAPS, which is The Canadian Association for Professional Speakers.

At one of my first meetings I attended I approached a gentleman there who was doing very well with his speaking career about what I needed to do to get to his level. He replied by saying. “It’s very simple, Stu. I’ll give you three things to do, once you have those finished, come back and I’ll give you some more.”

“The first thing you need to do is surround yourself with people who are in the same industry as yourself. Join CAPS, it will help your business grow.” I said, “Okay.”

To join CAPS the registration was $200, which was a big chunk of my budget. I remember even asking them if I could pay in smaller payments, which I did. Despite the squeeze, I joined the CAPS organization.

The second thing he said I had to do was, “Get out to the CAPS National Conference.” As much as I wanted to go, it was on the other side of Canada, which meant more costs on top of the relatively expensive conference fee. At this point everything was expensive for me as I had no money. To get there I would have to pay for my flight, accommodations and everything else.

I needed to find a creative solution. Here’s what I did. I asked myself some creative questions. What I started to do was look at what I had that, perhaps, somebody might need and want.

One thing I that I had at that point was time itself. Because I had just started my speaking business I wasn’t speaking very often, so I knew I had some time I could offer.

It was at this moment I asking myself, “How could I use my time to help someone else?” By answering that question I came up with, ‘Help Stu Be Like You,’ a campaign to help me get to the National Conference.

This is how I used that creative idea to my advantage. I went to the largest chapter of CAPS in my province, which consisted of about 75 people and asked for 30 seconds in front of the whole group.

No one had asked for this before. I asked a question that got everyone’s hands in the air. It was, “How many of your, at one point, started off as a speaker with no experience?”

“Awesome,” I said. “Keep your hand up if you have ever attended the CAPS national conference before.” Seventy-five percent of the group kept their hands up.

I continued, “With experiencing the national conference, how many of you with your hands up belief that it would be beneficial for somebody with zero experience to go to?” Everyone who had been kept their hands up.

“Great, I am someone who needs to get out to the CAPS national conference because I have zero speaking experience!”

But then I gave them my situation. I said, “I have a problem though. I don’t have any money. The one thing I do have though is time. That is why I have created a campaign called, ‘Help Stu Be Like You.’ Basically I am willing to make an exchange and I’m hoping you will too.” I passed out 8×6 black and white flyers I had printed off at home on 8-1/2×11 sheets to save costs. I made sure everyone in the audience got one.

I said, “Here’s what I’m willing to do. I’m willing to do all the dirty work that you speakers don’t like doing or don’t have time to do. I will make sales calls for you. I will write sales letters for you. I will lick stamps for you. I will cut your grass. I’ll even wipe your baby’s bottom, if that’s what you want me to do, for a financial contribution of your choice.”

Looking out at everyone I could see some people’s wheels were just turning thinking, “Oh wow. This is amazing. I can get all those little jobs I hate doing for cheap!”

“All of the money I earn through your financial contributions will be used directly towards enabling me to get out to the CAPS national conference. I will do anything you don’t like doing in exchange for a financial contribution.”

I finished explaining my campaign and immediately a gentleman at the back of the room stood up. He said, “Stu, I will pay for your entrance fee to the seminar.” Just like that, half of my costs were taken care of!

Immediately following that, another gentleman stood up and he said, “Stu, and I will pay for the cost to get you out there.” Boom, boom. Eighty-five percent of all of my expenses were taken care of just like that.

That is what being creative can enable you to do.

By asking myself that creative question, I was able to come up with a solution that got me out to the conference and my entrance fee paid for. By the time I got there it had turned into a big story, the national CAPS publication had written a story about me and I had all kinds of people coming up to me asking me questions.

Always remember to explore your creativity and may ideas come to you when you need them the most.

Until next time!