I live in a part of USA where there is a large military presence. Near one base in particular were located numerous fast food restaurants. I mean, talk about a gold mine! Young soldiers, mostly guys with huge appetites, plus families with small kids and it just seemed like an ideal combination. But soldiers got sent to war and many of families went “home” where there was moral support during a stressful time and customer base was gone just like that. Many of formerly prosperous fast food places went out of business. Don’t put all of your eggs into one basket.

Remember dot com era? People invested in dot com companies, got amazingly high paying jobs at dot com companies, and bought great big beautiful houses and cars with money they made from those dot com companies. When everything collapsed, those people found themselves making and selling coffee at Starbucks, living back at home with mom and dad, and trying to finish making payments on those cars that now are a chore to keep running. Don’t put all of your eggs into one basket.

As I wander around internet, I have run into more and more people who had been making decent money with one affiliate or marketing program or another, both online and offline. Then for whatever reason program changed it’s compensation schedule and these people are left hanging out to dry. If this was all they had going for them, they were hurt big time. Only those who had other sources of income were able to make adjustments and keep going. Don’t put all of your eggs into one basket.

Many people spend an inordinate amount of time, effort, energy and money optimizing their website(s) for Google. They listen to this or that guru, buy this or that software, and do whatever it takes to get their site to number one on first page for whatever search terms they are trying to target. As long as their methods are ethical, there is nothing wrong with doing this because they are earning an honest living with their marketing efforts. It only becomes a problem when Google changes rules. And sooner or later, Google WILL change rules. The internet is a very dynamic place and nothing stays same for very long. See http://www.123iwork4me.com/article196.html and http://www.123iwork4me.com/article29.html. If people to whom this happens have all of their eggs in that one Google-basket, they will have just had rug pulled out from under their feet and will have gone from top dog to junk-yard dog in no time at all. If they have multiple sites using different marketing techniques promoting different programs and opportunities, they will be able to re-group and re-coup, recover and survive. You know what’s coming next. Don’t put all of your eggs into one basket.

With initial revenues from pre-seminar sales designed to offset book production costs we were able to write, market and publish book with no out of pocket money. By utilizing databases of all four authors, press releases, pre-event radio interviews and presentations at Chambers and local organizations, word of mouth promotions, and other low-cost/no-cost forms of promotions, we sold over 350 copies sight unseen. (Cost of book is $19.95)

We had well over 200 people attend seminar as some of pre-event purchases were from folks who were out of area.

A key to our success was having a functional website were book was (and is) available. www.101waystogetyourfootinthedoor.com We utilized online credit card purchasing options for buyers. In that 80% of our sales were done with Internet and credit cards, we would have been remiss to not use this as a method to sell.

As we were pre-selling it was important to let people know that cost of a seat into seminar was book. Also, if they didn’t make it to seminar we would mail them book for $4 more or they could pick it up. The $4 covered mailing costs. If we didn’t do this we would have cut way into our profit margin.

We made a strong point of letting people know they were buying book, not seat into seminar. However, only way into seminar was to buy book.

To gain even more value from event and increase day of event revenues each author sold other products Back of Room (BOR). One author sold a sales training program. The signups that day realized several thousand in additional revenue for her.

The two other authors sold specialty items and set up appointments for those who were interested in such things in their sales campaigns.

I sold my Street Smarts Marketing and Promotions™ program as an E-book. This helped me to generate several thousand in additional revenue. Knowing audience members were already interested in my material, I put together a special day of event package with three of my e-products bundled together. Everyone received one of my order forms upon registering.

At end of my session I did a short sales presentation. All folks had to do was fill out order form. With each sale, all I had to do was process their credit cards and email them PDF document. No mailing costs or printing costs. Nearly a 100% profit margin.

Many self published authors shy away from doing presentations claiming to be an author and not a speaker. Fact is, if you get in front of a target audience who is interested in your topic and you present your ideas well amount of books you can sell is incredible.

The book complimented by a well delivered presentation allow you to get in front of meeting planners who may be in a position to utilize your services and your book at a later date. You may also have representatives from companies who want to buy large quantities of your book.

Since release of book I have had some companies buy “101 Ways to Get You’re your Foot in Door” in large quantities. Because Maxwell Publishing is my company and book was published through Maxwell, I have flexibility to do special runs. With a minimum purchase a client can add their logo to front cover of book and a personalized letter from whomever they choose included in book. This is a great marketing tool for them with long-term benefits to their employees or customers.

Granted, myself and one of other authors are professional speakers so presenting at an event such as I outlined is a part of our marketing model. However, two of authors are not professional speakers per say. Yet, in their everyday business they do present frequently. However, with this event, it was a different type of presentation for them. They will be first to admit that additional exposure and sales were worth doing this type of presentation.

Regardless of your topic model we implemented can be used by virtually anyone. For example, if you have a book on nutrition, find a health food store who wants more foot traffic and visibility. They may be a perfect fit as a sponsor. Not only can they help you to offset costs they can help to promote event. At seminar you can promote their products with coupons, mentions and information provided. It’s a win/win.

If you have a book on real estate sales there’s bound to be a mortgage company who may be interested in sponsoring you. Perhaps they would be willing to buy a book for every real estate agent who does business with them. Or, they could give a book to each of their mortgage brokers.

If you have a book on childhood development, what about a baby clothing store? Perhaps store would cross promote and give a book to each customer who buys a minimum amount of product in their store. This adds value from them to their customers and creates a win/win for you and store.

In today’s world of writing, marketing and publishing a book, possibilities are only limited by imagination.