"How do I know if my company is a failure?"

"How do I know when to throw in towel?"

"Is it time to abandon ship?"

"Should I declare bankruptcy or just skip town and run to Mexico?"

As a business consultant; first in corporate world and now running my own Internet-based advice company, I have heard above questions numerous times. All small and medium-sized business owners have at some point or another wondered if they took wrong path and should quit while they are still somewhat ahead.

The textbook MBA answer to such questions is very corporate and boring. Advisors will typically tell a business owner to look at total debt load and ROI, whether industry as a whole is in a slump, whether there are too many partner or legal problems, whether future demand will materialize and so on and so forth. While these questions are certainly relevant, most important question that a small or medium-sized business owner should ask him/herself is:

"How else can I make a living and would I like it?"

Yes, advantages of being a corporate employee are great. Easy work, fewer hours, no stress, more security and all for more money than your struggling business (for now) can provide. But do you really want to go back to that?

My grandfather was an architect who built boring glass boxes in overcrowded and polluted cities for obnoxious, cheap and arrogant millionaire and billionaire bosses and clients. My grandfather was also a poet who loved to write short, life-affirming sayings that raised soul and redeemed human spirit.

He was on his way to making large amounts of money building these glass boxes, until one day he could no longer handle it another minute, so he stood up in a meeting while billionaires were bickering, declared that he was quitting, packed up his office and drove home to my grandmother and their two young children.

The conversation at home went something like this:

"What heck were you thinking?"

"I can’t go back Alice, I just can’t. That world is slowly killing my soul by minute. I want to breathe, I want to live, I want to smile and I want to laugh."

"How are we going to afford mortgage and BMWs and vacation home and kids’ college funds and ..."

Situations when you'll find you'll want to promote a non-affiliate businesses' product(s).

So you'll have to set out to ask permission to do so.

And when you request to use other businesses' copyrighted material, such as graphics or content, you want to be certain to receive a reply back as fast as possible, don't you?

Absolutely!

Then there are several things you must be aware of.

What must you be aware of?

You must be aware that there are various reasons why you may receive a slow response. Or never receive a response at all. And here are reasons why:

1. The prospect is very busy and does not have time to respond to you promptly.

2. In connection with #1, prospect is busy, means to reply, delays, and then forgets.

3. The prospect may have to do a little research to find out if you are able to use material since it may not actually belong to company itself.

4. The answer to your request is "no."

After you understand all of those reasons there is one very important factor that could help you receive a quicker response.

And that is making it as easy as possible for your prospect to answer your request.

The less work he has to do, faster reply will come.

Typically speaking, if you request to feature material (of another business) on your website, most intelligent parties will realize it is free advertising for them.

But they still want to be particularly certain that your website is of high caliber.

Since image of your website reflects on their business.

So you MUST give your prospect every reason in world to say "yes" to your request.

And how do you do that?

1. Own a high quality website.

2. Inform him that is it FREE advertising for his business.

3. Include a link to your website in your email. And then call attention to your website address. (Offer an example page [if possible]).

4. Offer a simple way for him to give you an answer.

5. Be VERY aware that your email is equivalent to a resume (curriculum vitae). How email appears is how you appear. If its sloppy, then you're sloppy, and your website is sloppy. It must be professional, have no typos, or grammar errors. Proofread!

It is best to create a template that you can use anytime a situation occurs in which you need to request to use another business' material. And in that template there should be a simple multiple choice section.

If you've done all of work for prospect then you have a much higher chance of getting response. Remember, you're one infringing on his time.

Why should he have to spend extra time out of his day to respond to you? He doesn't need you. You need him.

So give him every reason to respond.

His minutes wasted = unlikely response. His seconds wasted = very likely response.

Minutes and seconds are a large margin apart.

Less work for your prospects equal more responses. More work for your prospects equal less responses.