Did you know that Facebook has more users all over the world than any other social network? it is true, and the most successful businesses know it. This does not mean that you are going to create a business page and magically you will get hundreds, thousands, or even millions of “likes” instantly and you are going to be able to sell and advertise your product/goods/services and make millions overnight. No, social networking is a time consuming, but beneficial process for the sake of your business.

Now before we begin, let me give you a quick idea of what you should and should not be using social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Linkedin to do. Believe it or not, your primary objective on a social networking site is NOT to sell your products. Seriously. People are not dumb, and they do not want to be spammed with a lot of products constantly. It is the quickest way to get your page ignored, unliked, and leave you with a handful of your closest friends who simply liked the page because they know you. Instead, you social networking page is meant to be a tool for you to go and talk with people, build professional relationships, and talk about current trends. This does not mean that you are going to create a page and talk about things that have absolutely nothing to do with your product or service. That wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense either.

So what should you talk about? Well that will depend on what you are doing, but to give you an example, I sell a book of inspirational quotes, the Facebook page, I actually post a few inspirational quotes a day and my followers like the daily quotes. They share it with their friends, and their friends will join the page. I never actually try and sell them the book. It is their for their convenience and to buy. I am currently in the process of rewriting the book and selling it through Kindle, the fastest growing digital book seller online. Not everyone is writing a book, and that is fine. If you own a cleaning business, you can post daily tips to clean your home or whatever specific niche you work in. As a personal trainer, I post fitness tips, workout ideas, and nutrition advice, and in turn, I get personal training clients who pay me to train them. Why? Because they view me as the professional. Does this mean that I never post about my services? No, I will periodically let them know I am available for specific services, but the purpose of the social network is to network, establish yourself as the professional in your field, and then build leads.

For those that are just getting started, I should point out that building followers on your social networking sites takes some time. It is a DAILY task to post and get people to see your business or service. The easiest way to start is by getting your friends to follow or like your page, however, do not expect a lot of sales conversions from this, however, it can get the ball rolling. Another, and probably a more beneficial option, is to communicate and interact with other pages. This does NOT mean go to a page and say “follow my page”, not unless you have already established yourself on that page and are relatively known. Instead, join in on conversations. Offer your professional opinion, and interact with others. This is the key to building a strong social network with quality leads that view you as knowledgeable and professional. YOU will be seen as the expert. This is crucial.

Next, you want to post daily and several times a day. Don’t post the same thing constantly, but rather fresh and new content. Many larger businesses have a whole department dedicated to social networking. Unfortunately, if you are anything like me, you do not have an entire staff to dedicate and pay to do your social networking for you. At least not yet anyways. I use a program called HootSuite that automatically posts updates on my pages for me. I spend about an hour updating my statuses for the next week. I schedule when they will post, what page they will post on, etc. Then I just let the program run and do its thing. I can focus my time on other things, like running the businesses, while my social networking pages continue to post fresh content and build more leads. This is an amazing time saver.

Shy away from offensive posts. Unless your business or service is dedicated to offering offensive materials, posting something that could be personal or offensive should be avoided as much as possible. This includes posting about politics and religion. Unless your page is about either of the two, they should remain separate from your business. You are entitled to your personal viewpoints, but some of your potential customers could be alienated and may simply remove themselves and costing you a potential customer simply because you posted your opinion about the President or even religion. Just avoid it.

Keep it professional. There will be people that simply…well…piss you off. Allowing them to get the best of you can seriously jeopardize how people perceive you, whether you are right or not. Keep your cool, keep it professional, and keep any personal and even business drama off your page.

All in all, Social Networking is a vital part of your business. It will not come easily and requires some work, but the rewards will be worth the effort. Just be sure to remember that your social profiles are meant to build relationships and leads. Sales will come with trust. Build their trust, become the expert, and you will sell.

Anywho, time for a little update on myself. So my resolutions and goals are still in full swing. Just recently I started teaching a group fitness class which will essentially allow me to lose what remaining body fat that I have been holding on to very quickly. The class is a ton of fun to run and watching all my participants sweaty and burning calories gives me a huge feeling of pride.

A couple of my projects that I have been working on are near completion and ready to be released publicly. I will be sure to announce what those projects are as soon as they are completely ready.

I will try and post an update as often as possible, however, I have been extremely busy with my projects and of course, my training of clients for the New Year.

I have read that the humming in Costa Rica could be due to fireworks. Still not sure about this, but stranger things have happened naturally I suppose. Another that is not confirmed is that of tectonic plate movements. Pretty epic if that is what it is.

Here are the videos below. Leave your thoughts and comments below. What do you think?

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

1) Get down to 205lbs – Being a former chubby guy, I was over 300lbs. Now I am in shape, but not quite where I want to be yet. I issued a 90 Day Fat to Fit Challenge on my fitness site at www.3CoreX.com and I am also partaking in the challenge. Thus far…I am down a total of 13lbs. Being a fitness professional helps.

2) Finalize 2 of my projects I have been working on for the past few months. The projects will be my million dollar projects that will earn me over a million dollars in the next 5 years. That is the plan, and I am sticking to it.

3) This one just came today. It is not much of a resolution as it is a goal. A very big goal that will require a ton of hard work and will tie into #1. I am going to participate in the Tough Mudder competition in September 2012. If you havent heard of this, just check out their site www.toughmudder.com. Even better, here are some photo shots of some of their past courses.

It looks very hot

Tell me this does not look intense!

Tough Mudder is supposed to be one of the hardest obstacle courses. It is 10-12 miles of running, swimming, obstacles, fire, electricity, ice, and probably a lot of things that will make me cry, hurt, sweat, and bleed. My training for this has already begun. Can I make it til September? We shall see.

4) I also want to focus more on my online marketing and advertising. It is my goal to make a 6 figure income from advertising online within the next 2 years or less.

5) Meditate more. It really is that important. To clear my mind and put my focus in something else besides work. My mind needs it, and I am positive it will be a benefit to my success for 2012.

I am sure that there are a few more resolutions that I cannot even think of right now, but these are my top 5. I am sure that I will continuously add more goals as the year progresses. I suppose that is the point of growth.

The concept of the program is simple. You refer people to sign up for trial offers to Fortune 500 companies and in return you get paid a commission. For the starter program, it is $20 per trial offer. The person signing up does not need to actually buy anything and you will still get paid.

According to the information, due to the technological advances and the introduction of the DVR and MP3 players being so common, radio and commercial advertisements are on the decline. People are able to fast forward through commercials and radio is very rare anymore. So companies are paying other companies to have people sign up for trials. In return, the company pays you a fee (and I am sure they get a percentage) for the referral. Basically, it is a lead generating tactic for larger companies. In any business, a lead is a valuable tool. In the concept of this program, people sign up for trial offers for things that they would actually be interested in, which makes the lead far more valuable to the company.

My interested was peaked at least enough to try it out for myself and see what I could do, if anything, to make money with the program. What I found is that like most programs, it is a numbers game, however, there really isn’t much of a risk. To sign up, you basically have to do exactly what you will be having everyone else do before you can actually qualify to make any money. I signed up for a couple trial offers…and actually ended up keeping one of the offers while cancelling the other. I was not required to keep any of them. I could have cancelled both trial offers and continued to make the same. Ok, so I am a little more interested. So I throw a couple links on a few public sites and immediately get people signing up.

The nice thing, is that the program is damn automatic. It lets you know when a new lead signs up, it emails them the information. You have the OPTION to call and help that lead sign up and lead them through the process. There are some rules that you must adhere to, such as you cannot coach which trials to sign up for, which makes sense, but for the most part it is fairly easy. Another great feature I like is that you can put your phone number at the top of your landing page, so your visitors actually talk to YOU. You help each and every person get signed up if you so wish to do so.

Within the first week, I made some commissions on referrals doing very minimal work and no follow-ups. All in all, the program works. I am now working on marketing and advertising the program at a much greater level, so we will see just how much more I can generate with some more marketing. I will be using this program as one of several at home business opportunities that I utilize.

If you want to sign up and check it out, you can just click here at Instant Money Network.

UPDATE 1/11/12: I have included a how to video to explain how the program works and how you can earn money just by doing it and signing up for free. If you have any questions, you can contact me personally and I will help you get set up and making money.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

So I have decided that I am going to discuss a variety of topics, using this site as a main hub to discuss really everything that I have been doing. My life really is quite adventurous. I will probably focus on discussing the online marketing opportunities that I have been doing for the past couple years. With the economy in as horrible of a state as it is in, people need to learn and figure out how to make a living on their own. Jobs are not hiring as often, many people that I know are seeking work. Meanwhile, I work part time and make money from home. It might be beneficial to actually sit down and teach others to do what I have been doing for the past several years.

Did you know that I wrote and have been selling an ebook since 2009? Yep, I have been making a consistent residual income selling a book for $17 with some upgrades to a bundle package for $47. I am currently in the process of rewriting my book and updating the website to generate a more steady income that will allow me to make hundreds of dollars a month for doing really nothing but hosting the website. For three years, I have made hundreds of dollars off this book with minimal advertising and literally a set it and forget it mentality. Imagine if I applied a little more work! 2012 is going to be a great year.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

It is Christmas Day and I have decided it is time to start focusing on some things that I have had planned for quite some time. With the New Year approaching, I wanted to get a head start on 2012 by beginning some of my planned projects. One of them is posting more blogs and videos. Running my own business and having as many interests as I do has helped me become knowledgeable in many areas. I will primarily be discussing health and fitness and business practices, but will also post more about personal opinions, news, and such. 2012 is going to be, I feel, an amazing year for me. I have been working extremely hard on finalizing and achieving my goals. Lately, many things have come through that I will be sharing with everyone in time.

In the meantime, enjoy your holidays!

So what has been going on with me lately? Well let’s see. I am still a Vegetarian. Been going strong for quite some time now.

I will occasionally eat fish, but for the most part I have been doing well. Been working out and exercising a lot harder than I have been as well. Trying to finally get to my damn goal weight I have been working on for the past year. Only 30lbs to go. I also launched a website called Buddha Sayings. It is a website that promotes a daily quote in Buddhism. It has been a lot of fun doing the site, and even more rewarding as I watch the number of visitors increase on a daily basis. Being able to spread some positivity, wisdom, and inspiration feels good. I also created a Facebook Page for the site as well, The page now has just a little over 1400 likes, and it continues to grow on a daily basis. I created the website for the sole purpose that I loved reading quotes daily form various other sites. I decided to create my own and share the same quotes that I had been reading, in hopes that others would find the same inspiration and wisdom I did. So far, it seems that the site is gaining popularity very fast. What started out as a personal website for myself, ended up being a pretty cool way to share with others.

In other news, I have a new little companion to keep me company. A few weeks ago, I came became the owner of a sweet little Pitbull that I named King. He is an extremely affectionate puppy, but still a puppy nonetheless. Getting into trouble when nobody is looking is his specialty, although he seems to be getting much better as of lately. The little awesome puppers lays in my bed every night, making sure that some part of his body is touching me in some way. For a 3 month old puppy…he will hog a queen size bed with ease. King is a ton of fun though. I am looking forward to seeing how he turns out as he gets older.

I have been giving considerable thought to moving. I am not a big fan of the town I am currently residing. It is unfortunately not the most beneficial for growth and development personally or professionally. I am also finding less and less reasons as to why I should even stay. So after some thought, I am planning on moving towards the city. Probably Kansas City for now, and then maybe back to New York. Most likely I will spend some time doing the things that I enjoy, like traveling. I am working on getting my new camera so I can start doing photography again too. I miss taking photos with a professional grade camera. It seems like every time I get close to having extra money for the things I want, something comes up and I am helping someone else out financially or I am paying something off myself that needs to be taken care of. It will happen, and soon, because I am going nuts without my camera.

As you can see, I have been pretty non-stop. The summer hours at the fitness club are dwindling due to the slower summer months, so I am able to focus my attention on other areas of interest and business. For instance, helping build the family business has been a focus lately. I have invested in some advertising and marketing to help the business grow. I am also working on rebuilding my own personal fitness website. Yes, for those that remember the website, it is being redone and refinished.  Overall, it has been a pretty hectic couple months.