In this section we are going to be discussing making money and about some of the mistakes people make. We'll talk about what's realistic, what's really going on out there in the business world, and how to increase your income. There is no get-rich-quick scheme out there. There is no magic bullet, no magic pill that you're going to be able to take like in that movie “Limitless”—although some would say our brain formula Clarizene by Cloixonné is pretty close.

There are plenty of guys out there offering self-help, life coaching, or business development who say, “I'm going to show you how to go from zero to seven figures.” Most people aren't even paying attention to what that means. That's from zero to a million dollars. You may have seen these guys on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, or YouTube saying they're going to show you how to go from zero to a million dollars literally starting from nothing.

It is the most unrealistic whacked-out fraud I've ever heard of. What they're really doing is they're selling you some out-of-the-box kit on how to make money. What they're not showing you is something realistic. And most of it is not tangible stuff. It's just vapor.

In your job and in your personal life, what can you do at this very moment to make more money? Because that's what most people are talking about, right? Most people aren't looking to get a new job right away, and they're not looking to dive into uncharted waters. People are working day in and day out, and they're looking for ways to increase their net worth. That's the realistic thing about what we talk about here at Blue Vase and Cloixonné, and the things that we're discussing throughout this book. We're talking about increasing your net worth and actually making more money.

You are not going to make a million dollars tomorrow, not next week, and not next month. Not going to happen. If that's what you're looking for, put this book down and read another book, because that's not what I'm going to tell you. It's not realistic.

I saw this guy on Instagram today who says, “I'm looking for motivated people. Only motivated people that are looking to make six figures. Is there anybody right now that would like to make an additional six figures?” Of course. Everybody would! It was the most ridiculous call to action I have ever seen. You know what it was? It was just another one of these network marketing companies with a generic pitch selling people an unrealistic dream.

I was general counsel of a network marketing company years ago, long before we launched Cloixonné. I saw real money being made by real people. Real money, millions of dollars, exchanged hands in this network marketing company, and it's happening now at a much faster scale and bigger level with Cloixonné. But there is no secret on how to make money in network marketing. It doesn't just happen overnight. The people in these network marketing companies who tell you it can happen quickly are the exact people we kick out or preclude from joining Cloixonné. There are some great companies and opportunities in this world. The long-term companies that will sustain growth are the ones who are realistic and honest about the opportunity. Before I launched Cloixonné, I had dozens and dozens of people I didn't even know reach out to me from the network marketing world. They all pitched me on “systems” that work and recruiting methods or compensation plans that would “skyrocket” our growth. When you look deep into their souls, these guys were just looking for a way to get in at the beginning and ideally make some money, then get out. I had one guy actually say to me that we could make “good money for a few years.” A few years? They couldn't care less about me, my customers, my products, or my employees. This is a key point I want to drive home. You must care about yourself, your customers, your products, and your company for the long term. Nothing good comes of short-term money. Get rich slowly, not quickly. Put in the work, believe in the system, and be consistent, and you will be successful in anything that you do.

Network marketing companies or these affiliate marketing companies will prey on your excitement by telling you there's quick money to be had. But the people finding real success at direct sales companies and network marketing have been in their roles for a long time. These guys and gals are building something that is sustainable and realistic. They're building on it day in and day out. That's what's really happening.

Imagine you find this joker online who's going to show you how to go from zero to seven figures and you're all excited about it. He says to you, “You have to essentially dive in 100 percent.” You have to give 105 percent effort, which isn't even a real number. Give a 105 percent 100 percent of the time. It's not realistic.

Human beings can't sustain that. We can't sustain 105 percent, but what we can sustain, what is possible, are baby steps. The premise behind my last book, 5% More, is that anybody can do anything 5 percent more or 5 percent better. It's a scientific fact. To acquire long-term sustainable money, one of the fundamental things that absolutely works is doing a little bit more each and every day.

Let's say you're doing nothing right now. You're at the bottom of the bottom, not doing anything. The first step is do something, get started. Let's say you're a mid-level manager, let's say you're a vice president, let's say you're just another number at a company. If you truly want to make more money, have long-term sustainable success, and increase your net worth, you need to do a little bit more than everybody else.

Another key point is that you need to do 5 percent more without thinking you are going to get compensated for it. Now that blows people's minds. They say, hold on a second, I'm a twelve-dollar-an-hour guy (or nine or fifteen dollars, however much), and you're telling me that you want me to do more? Yeah, that's what I'm telling you. You want me to do more and possibly not get paid for it. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? It's not crazy. It works. We're talking about increasing your net worth, we're talking about really making money.

The title of this chapter is “Making Money Doing Nothing.” I recently ran into some young people who look at celebrities and someone like Floyd Mayweather, who flaunts his affluence. He flaunts that he made $120 million dollars in one of his last fights. He is the highest-paid professional athlete in the history of sports. Or young people see billionaires out there, such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Mark Zuckerberg. They see how much money these people are making, and they say, “They're making money doing nothing.” Right now, they probably are making money doing nothing, but they didn't “do nothing” to get there.

I make money in my sleep, but it took me a long time to get there. By creating businesses, and intellectual property that is sold all over the world, sales are being made, business is being conducted even when I sleep. But you have to build your foundation like I discussed earlier in the book. You have to put the work in before money can be made in a way that appears to be without effort.

Look at people in the Hollywood music industry. Adam Levine, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Usher, and other famous musicians with hit songs are making tons of money. They're living the life that you and I would dream about, but they didn't get there just by doing nothing. Take a look at Nick Cannon. He was a host on “America's Got Talent.” He's a DJ, a standup comedian, a musician, and a spokesman for RadioShack. That guy is probably the hardest-working guy in Hollywood. In fact, a couple of years ago he was hospitalized when his kidneys were going to shut down because he probably wasn't drinking enough water while he was running around. That guy is working his ass off.

Love him or hate him, or any other celebrity out there. They're working very hard. They're not just doing nothing.

How does this apply to you? How can you truly make more money? There are a lot of different things you can do, but it all goes back to what I said earlier and it's real simple. (And again, this stuff works.) Are you going to see money today? Tomorrow? Maybe, you actually might, depending on how you apply what you are learning in this book. I've done the research and I've interviewed people. I've interviewed professional athletes and businesspeople. I've read studies about success, personal development, personal growth, and about wealth. All it really takes is just a little bit more effort, a little bit more than where you are right now. When you get past that first step, we can talk about 5 percent compounded. Five percent compounded means doing more than what you did the day before and it's compounding. It's growing like interest.

Too often people wait for something to happen because they feel as though they are entitled to success. What do they do all day? Nothing, and no money is ever made doing nothing. Go back and read this section again. I know some of you may feel as though this is some sort of incoherent rant about other marketers that aren't me. I want you to really think about what I'm saying.

TRY THIS: IT WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND

If you're a salesperson, let's say you set a goal of a hundred phone calls a day. You meet that every single day, and every week your paycheck pretty much stays the same. You're comfortable with that; you're doing okay. You pay your bills, but you're still living week to week. Next week, make 105 phone calls per day. See what happens. It's that simple, but it works. This applies to every aspect of your life. Whatever you're doing, whatever your goal is, do 5 percent more next week. Now you may be saying, he is just trying to sell me 5% More. I'm not, in fact the 5% number is a bit arbitrary. Just do a little more each day and the making money starts to happen.

LET'S TALK A LITTLE MARKETING

What is the best way to market anything? Well, if you ask one hundred people this question you may get one hundred different responses. Some will talk about social media, some will talk about building brand awareness, some will talk about customer acquisition, some will talk about human psychology and what makes people buy, and so on. I have spent over $100 million marketing and advertising products across multiple industries, from the liquor business to the book business, to NASCAR, to retail, and of course direct marketing. I have managed campaigns that I own and I've also managed campaigns for others that have generated over $1 billion collectively in revenue. Direct marketing in my humble opinion, is the only way to market anything. Direct marketing is a type of marketing where you directly market to the consumer in an effort to get them to act on something. Usually, it is to buy a product or a service. The last line is the key to growth and success in marketing. For any dollar you spend, you must be able to attribute some sales to that very dollar. Do not ever spend a dollar in marketing without knowing what your return on investment will be. It doesn't have to be a one-to-one or two-to-one ratio. It could be less than one-to-one. But, you must make something for every dollar spent. How can you spot direct marketing these days? Simple, any advertisement with a web address, telephone number, text prompt, short code, or QR code within the advertisement is a direct marketing campaign. Even the large major brands that have money to spend on building their brand awareness without making a dollar on that very advertising are now putting these things into their advertisements. I could and very well may write an entire book on marketing, but this is a valuable lesson. I have “brand experts” always trying to get my business, even for this very book. My first question is, if I spend X amount of dollars with you, how much revenue am I going to bring in. Ninety-nine percent of these so-called experts, can't and won't commit to a number. Spending money on an ad, an e-mail campaign, a direct mail campaign, or a television campaign is easy. Generating revenue from that very ad is the key to marketing success.

LET'S TALK LOCAL

Here is a quick example that happens all over the country with small local businesses. Let's say you own a coffee shop that serves breakfast, bagels, donuts and (obviously) coffee. Now let's say one of the local publications, one that is distributed in the town you are in and maybe a couple other surrounding towns, asks you to take out an ad that will run a couple of weekends. Let's say that ad is only $200. Many small businesses make the mistake of sending in maybe a picture of the owners in front of the business with their hours of operation listed and maybe their website. Sometimes they may have a nice picture of the inside of the establishment with the same information on it. Most of the time the business will rely on the publication to create the ad for them. The publication just wants your money. They aren't marketers. If you are in business, then you have to be a marketer. The smart thing to do for this ad would be to create a coupon that potential customers would bring into the business. Something aggressive, like HALF OFF breakfast and a FREE cup of coffee with about a monthlong expiration date. What this will do is generate revenue and attract new customers. I know you may be saying to yourself right now, this is basic stuff. Well, it is and it's expandable to virtually all types of businesses. That coupon is a call to action that will most certainly get people through the door.

Now, if not one person comes through the door, there is a problem. It is either the ad, or the placement of the ad in the publication, or the distribution, or all three. By putting a coupon in, you can track how well the ad performs, and you can go back to the publication and ask them again to run for FREE. Most publications will. Why? Well, they want your continued business, and they don't want you telling others that their publication doesn't work for local businesses which essentially pay for their publication. If you just put an ad with your pretty face on it, you will never know if that $200 was worth spending.

There are all sorts of creative things you can do with your marketing that will engage your customers and generate revenue. You know your business better than anyone. You may not be a professional marketer, but you can think of things that will help make you money. This basic example rings true and works in the current digital age we live in and with any business. Following are three marketing tips:

1. If you are in business, you have to be a marketer.
2. Marketing dollars must bring in revenue.
3. Create a call to action to get the customer to buy.

STORIES SELL, NOT PRODUCTS

What really sells something, whether it be a service or a physical product is the story. Right away, some of you would say, “Well that's not true. The product sells itself most of the time.” Not true. If you want to create a company and sell a ton of product you need more than just a product. You need a story. There are thousands of products out in the marketplace that never see the light of day because they don't know how to tell stories. There are a million other books out there that are probably better than mine, but I know how to tell a story and be entertaining. We will talk entertaining later.

When you are building your business, which for many of you is your brand. Meaning YOU. In other words your brand is the business. You are selling the story of YOU. Look at Instagram and Facebook and Snapchat and Twitter. What you click and scroll through are “story lines” The huge stars out there are selling you on their story. Kim Kardashian is selling the story of her day-to-day life. Her reality show is selling her product, which is ultimately her telling you the story of her life. Look at some of the great ad campaigns out there now. They are either entertaining you, telling you a story, or doing both. The product is almost secondary.

LET'S BUY A LITTLE INSURANCE

GEICO, for example, is an insurance company that most of you know. I'm not saying GEICO is the best or even that it has the most revenue, but it's their marketing I am talking about. Now, in most states the insurance industry is regulated and a company like GEICO has to offer the same type of policies with the same pricing structure as all the other companies. It has changed over the years but that's still valid for the most part. So, in order for a company to compete, they need a way to market. You know who GEICO is because of their entertaining story about the cute little gecko and his life. They created a story around a gecko and it's entertaining, and now you have their insurance. Why? Is GEICO really better than all the rest? Or is it pretty equal? Sure there probably are some differences, but for the most part it's pretty similar to other insurance companies offering the same coverage.

What about Progressive? You know Flo? I bet you do. We know her so much that people dress up as her during Halloween and you know exactly who they are dressed up as…Flo. How about another insurance company? How about Farmers? You know them too. They focus more on the storytelling than the entertainment. They tell you crazy stories of claims that they covered and they make those stories entertaining. The product, which is insurance on your home or car, is almost secondary; what's important is how they sell the story and entertain you. Create a fun and entertaining story and you'll have a winner.

JOINT PAIN

Joint pain is a problem for people all over the world. There are all sorts of solutions both pharmaceutical and natural. My company focuses on the natural ways to help people with many ailments including joint pain. When you go to GNC there are over forty joint health solutions. Some labels are very basic, while others are fancy. Some have more retail space than others. Some are better than others. When you scour the Internet you find the same thing. But, the most successful ones tell a story. They tell a compelling story that people are actually entertained by, meaning they are interested in the message and maybe it resonates with them. Back in 2009, when I decided to host my own infomercials we knew of a guy name Jim Shriner. He is a dynamic character, as genuine as you can get, and he has a great story. A story about how pain affected him and his family, including his wife. I also knew that he had been taking a product for a while that helped him. I asked him if he was willing to tell his story to me in an effort to help others and build a business. At the time I did not have much experience in front of the camera. I did not have a studio, nor the resources to rent a studio in Hollywood. But I knew Jim had a story that was entertaining and would sell.

I found a company in Gloucester, Massachusetts, that claimed to have a studio. We went there to check it out. “Studio” was a very generous way to describe this place. It was literally in the basement of a house built in the eighteenth century. There was no proper lighting, there was no proper backdrop, I didn't have wardrobe or makeup. But we had cameras and a place to film, a basement in a sleepy fishing town. Well, we shot that infomercial and it's still on air to date, and we have sold over $100 million worth of that product. It built my company and has helped hundreds of thousands of people. Now here is the secret. The product does in fact have what we call in marketing a “unique selling proposition.” The ingredients we use are not very common, although not super rare. But it was the story that sold the product, not the product selling itself. Here is another secret. The production value is horrible. I'm orange, he's pale, you can see the black backdrop when you are not supposed to, we have what are called “jump cuts,” which means we make a hard cut that looks weird. All of this happened because we didn't really know what we were doing and we were broke. But the production value doesn't matter. It's the story. So when you are creating your story, don't get bogged down in the production quality, although in this day and age with what our phones and apps can do, you can create kick-ass content that looks like it was shot in Hollywood. Remember the story first.

PEOPLE, PRODUCT, PROCESS

I'm a fan of the show The Profit on CNBC featuring investor and business person Marcus Lemonis. He has said over and over again that what makes businesses successful are three core principles: the people, the product, and the process. If you see the dedication to my book you will see that I agree 100 percent about the people. Without good people your business will not thrive and grow. You need good people. Earlier I mentioned trusting the process throughout. Without a process or a system you will be lost. But here I want to touch on the product. You can have a great story that creates sales and generates customers, BUT if you don't have a great product supported by a great process as well you will be out of business. Very early on I touched on the importance of a great product. Whatever it is you are selling must be great. You can have the best story in the world, but if you can't deliver the goods from the story that you told, you will not make it. Now does this mean your product has to be perfect before you enter the market? In most businesses it does not have to be perfect. But you need to do your best to get close to perfect before you launch. If you think your product is great, adds value, and works, but could be improved upon later, that's okay. You can still sell it. People aren't looking for perfection, they are looking for something that helps them solve a problem or makes their lives better. Chase perfection, but don't worry about getting there, because you most likely will never achieve perfection.

THE CUSTOMER

There are great resources out there that can help you with your front-end process. In today's world that usually means your website. Russell Brunson created what he calls “Click Funnels,” which are out-of-the-box websites that he admittedly ripped off from others. He's not necessarily using the content, but many times some of the content and the look and feel of a website for a particular industry. I don't know Russell, but I watched a bunch of his videos and he seems like a good guy and a very solid marketer. Remember what I said earlier, success can be duplicated. That's really all he is doing, and it's really all I have done. There are tons of other resources that can help you build cool websites with all the bells and whistles even if you lack coding skills. It's pretty wild what you can get now. But the front-end process is easy. Selling to someone is easy. Maintaining them as a customer and providing great customer service are other key elements to success in business. I started out in the direct response business working in a call center in a tiny cube in the customer service department. I watched firsthand what NOT to do. You must be able to support the process by providing great customer service. Here are a few tips:

1. If you sold to someone early in the morning, you should be able to provide customer service at the same time or close to it.
2. Respond as quickly as you can to all customer inquiries.
3. Get ahead of a challenge, which means that if there is a problem with a customer order or product, let the customer know.
4. Maintain a rapport with the customer on an individual level.
5. Don't always try to sell them something. Offer them free valuable things and they will be appreciative.
6. Treat the customer how you or your mom would want to be treated.
7. Take customer service calls or inquires and do it yourself. What you will learn will help improve your level of service. Remember Rich the accountant?

If you follow these basic rules, then the next chapter will be easy for you to understand and implement in your business life.