To get the report, go to Social Media Daily. The best part, it’s free!

Michelle’s credibility in driving traffic is legit, too. Her site ranks 107,161 in traffic volume based on Alexa’s stats, which means she’s in the top ranks in the world.

So go get your free copy of Michelle’s “Social Media Daily” report and start driving traffic to your site today.

Go read it here and print it out for future reference. It’s that good!

Go sign up for it now and make those AdWord campaigns more profitable!

I would encourage you to read the post and take a few minutes afterward assessing your current activities and how you may apply the concept of leverage to them to create exponentially greater gains. You can read it here: Leverage: Maximize Your Income In Minimum Time

When he said there is one lead generation strategy or tactic that he values infinitely above the rest, I had to pay attention. Here’s his quick overview of it:

I’ve heard Jeff Walker present before and his methods are very effective as you heard Rich say in the video. Pay attention to Jeff and what he says as you launch new ventures and products. The right strategy is what separates the YouTubes from the rest of the wannabes.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

At first I was skeptical because I didn’t have a clue as to what a bone digging anthropologist could bring to the table, but boy was I mistaken.  Anthropology is the study of cultures and what brings meaning to their lives.  By bringing anthropologists to the team, a new ventures chance of success goes up significantly.  This is due to their ability to dig into a culture (aka prospective market) and find out what they need and how they think about what they need so that the engineers can tailor the product exactly to those needs and the entrepreneur can create sales messages based on how that culture thinks in their own language.

The anthropologists perspective brings the sound minded market research to the table the myopic engineers and over zealous entrepreneurs desperately need.  There are countless cases in academia and the real world where products were created, skewed research was done that aligned with everyone’s hopes and dreams and the venture was launched with massive failure because the market really wasn’t willing to give over their cold hard cash for it after all.

Needless to say I’m excited to be part of this cooperative and help bring the entrepreneurial perspective (strategic planning, scalability and sales) to the table to help launch products that are truly worthwhile.

Watch the commercial below:

In it you will see the following done amazingly well:
1. Powerful compelling USP that is short, clear and to the point (Our service is so good you can give your SS# out to the world and your identity is still protected meaning you will never have to worry about identity theft again)
2. Amazing guarantee that none of their competitors lead with.  This will generate more business than any other promotion that they could ever think of.

Absolutely brilliant!

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I think that whenever you are looking at starting a new venture you MUST figure out how to make it fit into one of these models, otherwise your chances for success and growth are marginal.

The first model is that of Category Creators. It’s pretty self explanatory from the name, but these are companies that create an industry that never existed before. The most famous examples cited in the book are Microsoft, eBay and Yahoo. Their products never existed before and met a huge need in the market. Also, they became the defacto standard because they achieved such fast adoption and growth. Finally, the timing of their launch was perfect with market conditions and consumer demand so that they didn’t offer their product before people were ready for it.

Many entrepreneurs feel they have to occupy this space and create and next brilliant invention to solve everyone’s problems. This is mostly because it is the ’sexiest’ model to follow after and creates the most buzz so much of the time. The problem though is that it also carries the highest potential for failure mostly due to the timing factor and meeting the market’s needs right when they are ready for them to be met.

The Niche Perfector model is defined by taking a boring or mundane business and mashing it together with another boring or mundane business with the result being something unique and different than everything else being offered in the market. The most famous example of this is Starbucks who took a very boring model of coffee shops and blended it with the cafe/bistro model known throughout France and Italy.

Another great example of this model can be seen from Cirque du Soliel. They took the very ordinary model of a three ring circus made famous by Ringling Brothers and combined it with the model of broadway and theatre shows. The result is simply spectacular! The shows are entertaining for nearly every adult category, provide a high end experience and took the pricing from $12 for a three ring circus to $90 for the hour and a half show.

The common traits of the Niche Perfectors are that they end up creating a unique experience for their customers which is unlike any other company in their related industry, thus taking them to the position of essentially having no competition. Also, they demand higher prices in nearly every circumstance because the clients value the unique experience and there aren’t alternatives, so price erosion isn’t a factor.

This model is my favorite because it can be done in nearly every existing industry and business type and isn’t nearly as risky as the Category Creator model. Also, it doesn’t require the ‘inventor’ gene that I seem to be lacking so I don’t have to create things out of thin air to have a viable business model.

Finally, the last model to follow after is the Category Killer. This is defined as the consolidator of a mature industry that competes on low price, one stop shopping and variety of products. This model is identified by the Big Box companies such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Costco and Home Depot. This model is not evil like so many in the media want to make them to be and are just the next logical step to move to in mature industries.

The only problem I see with creating a business in this model is that it takes significant capital to create the economies of scale to get up and running. Also, the logistics systems to manage inventory that need to be created from the get go are absolutely massive.

The two business models not worth pursuing that the majority of business owners and startup entrepreneurs fall into are ‘Me Too’ and a ‘Job.’ The Me Too model is based on copying another business that already exists and just competing by taking away market share by effective lead generation and fighting with lower price. It’s a bloody model to get into and really isn’t scalable. Also, there are usually enough of any given business type out there and the world doesn’t just need another Me Too out there struggling to stay alive. The most common Me Too businesses are restaurants, salons and car lots. There are too many of each already and most struggle to survive right from the get-go.

The Job model is typically where professionals live, but can also be other service businesses, too. I call it a job because if the business owner ever leaves, the income stops, so there is no leverage or scalability in the model. It is also the spot where ‘golden handcuffs’ show up because one can end up in this model and make a good income, but not have the true freedom of being an entrepreneur and leaving the business and still have revenue coming in. This model is typically filled by attorneys, accountants, financial planners, insurance agents, mortgage brokers, realtors, and contractors.

Most people who end up in the Job model are characterized by the need to ‘be their own boss’ and end up just owning a job.

The thing that get’s me so excited about a movement like this one that Ben Stein is spearheading is  that it gives us a model that we can use to disrupt the other broken systems in our world such as education, business, government, the church and so on.  Being a forerunner in movements like this will obviously make Stein a huge target for many to fire away at, but that’s part of the cost of leading to create effective change.  I applaud him for taking the risk and putting himself out there. 

On an entrepreneurial level, this method of educating and showing both sides of an argument to let people make their own conclusion is a brilliant sales model.  Chet Holmes has perfected this method in what he calls a ‘Core Story’ that educates the prospect on all sides of the product or service and let’s them determine whether it is in their best interest to buy it or not.  Once the prospect is fully educated, it speeds up their buying decision by eliminating the unknowns and creates more trust as well since you are not hiding anything from them.  It works in any field, too, from carpet cleaning to handgun training to financial services and so on.

Obvisouly this is not as easy to put together as a simple little flyer or brochure, but it becomes the driving force behind lead generation and lead conversion and gives you a very compelling advantage over any and all competition you may be up against in the mind of your prospects.  Chet even has a consulting firm that I can connect you with that will put the whole thing together for you if you see the value and don’t have the staff or time to do it yourself.