Direct Marketing Internet Business - The Future Of Great Wealth

There are approximately 6.4 Billion people on earth. Even in Asia where more than half of the worlds population resides; at least 1 in every 3 homes have a personal computer installed. Not to mention the Internet. This marks the beginning of the direct marketing Internet business era.

Very conveniently I glanced at my dictionary and found juicy bit for you. Direct marketing means, "the business of selling products or services directly to customers who order by mail or by telephone". Internet business means, "an entity that profits from a transaction of goods over the Internet". Hope it not too complicated for you.

Contrary to what many people or top Internet marketers tell you, the market for certain niches is never saturated. Everyday there are new problems that arises and needs to be solved. Here is where you come in to fill that gap and make a profit by running a direct marketing Internet business.

For instance, you want to start a business but really do not have a knack for talking to people or even have technical knowledge about HTML. Do you think that will make you a failure? No. Far from that. In short, your direct marketing Internet business already took that task for you.

The key component you need to discover is the secret to be good in direct marketing. The Internet just allows you to position yourself to earn even while you sleep. It also acts as a medium for communicating with your customers.

Marketing and selling are really two different things. Try not to be confused with this. Instead know that marketing has 3 main processes that you need to know:

1) Market Research

2) Strategies and Planning

3) Execution and Measurement

The 3 steps as highlighted above is just a very short summary of a good direct marketing Internet business process. Your responsibility is to be diligent and have the patience to experience the processes in your life positively.

Sure, we all have had bad days and sometimes we tend to get impatient when our efforts are not bringing in any sales. You say, "what the heck! I've done my marketing and the Internet is supposed to reel in the profits!". Cool it. Like I mentioned earlier you need to experience the process not the result.

Results are static. If you want to really position yourself to reap the future of great wealth with your direct marketing Internet business be prepared to become a student for life. Find a system or learn by investing in good direct marketing Internet business courses. If successful marketers invest in themselves; then so should you.

Kelley Direct Degree Supplies Grad with the Skills to Stay Afloat after Hurricane Sandy

As the supply planning manager for several production lines in Windsor Locks, Conn., that run 24/7, John Boullie puts his Kelley Direct degree to work on a daily basis.

However, it wasn’t until Hurricane Sandy struck that he came to truly appreciate the skills he gained in the school’s Global Supply Chain Management program.

“We had to shut operations down entirely when the governor of Connecticut closed the highways,” says Boullie. “When we reopened a day and a half later, we had to manually coordinate our just in time raw material deliveries with each supplier and look at how the unplanned shutdown would affect our promised ship dates to customers.”

Complicating matters even further was the extensive destruction found in the ports of New York and New Jersey.

“The ports were closed for more than a week with no power and a great backlog of traffic,” he says.

Keeping his plants running and shipments moving in the midst of such chaos was no easy task. To stay on track, Boullie relied on his Kelley Direct education.

“The process mapping skills I learned in Prof. Lummus’ class allowed me and my team to outline and focus on the pieces of the chain that were the most critical and needed the most attention,” Boullie says.  “I even pulled out some of the Excel files we worked on to help me maximize our production output and get the most shipments out in the smallest amount of time!”

Things are getting back to normal now, but Boullie continues to be thankful for his Kelley degree.

“Getting a Global Supply Chain Management degree from Kelley Direct was a great decision for me,” he says. “I’ve applied many of the more unique tools and concepts I learned at Kelley to my work here.”

Kelley Direct students help launch a start up to cap off their studies

By Kelley Direct Programs

Most graduate students have to write a thesis to complete their degrees. A recent group of Kelley Direct students helped launch a company.

As their capstone experience, a group of six students embarked on a two-phase consulting project for Covinia—a technology start up focused on enterprise social business software.

First, they developed a Private Placement Memorandum (PPM), including a detailed market and competition analysis, a risk analysis, and financial projections.

Next, they initiated the first round of funding, contacting venture capitalists, angel investors, and others who would be interested in financing Covinia.

And they did it all virtually.

“Our team was not only spread from coast to coast across the U.S., but we had a team member serving in Kabul, Afghanistan, as well,” said Ron Gicka, project manager. “But we turned the spread-out nature of our team into a strength. When necessary, someone could be working on the project almost 24 hours a day!”

Shari Abbott, president of Covinia, was very happy with the results.

“I was very pleased with the caliber of the students on our team. I like to think they were excited that they were not only learning, but doing something real,” she says. “The work they’ve done for us will actually help the company get up and running. That’s pretty cool.”

That, says Phil Powell, faculty chair for the Kelley Direct MBA and MS Programs, is the whole point.

“Capstone projects like this allow students to roll up their sleeves and get working, using all the skills they’ve learned at the MBA level to solve a problem,” he says. “ It solidifies the development of their management acumen . . . the only way to learn this stuff is by doing it.”

Gicka agrees. “This project has been an excellent way to end my time at Kelley Direct. The project was real, the customer was real, and most importantly, the deadline was real—this wasn’t a case from the Harvard Business Review,” he says. “I don’t think I have ever been more proud of earning an A in a class as I was in this one.”

Kelley Direct Online MBA Students Explore Emerging Markets in South Africa

Phil Powell, Faculty Chair of Kelley Direct

Africa offers opportunity, and that is why I am here with Dean Ash Soni, Professor Jamie Prenkert, and Kelley Direct’s executive director Terrill Cosgray, and 17 online MBA students from our program.  I teach MBA students to look not just at, but beyond the horizon, and in twenty years, Sub-Saharan Africa will be booming like China and India. 

For two days, we have had great sessions led by faculty from GIBS (University of Pretoria’s award winning business school – www.gibs.ac.za) briefing us on the peculiarities of business in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Ethnic diversity, political risk, and selling to markets “at the bottom of the pyramid” are topics of special emphasis in these emerging markets. 

Tomorrow we head to Alexandra Township to help family enterprises identify small improvements they can make in their business models.  The township is a poor community scarred by the racial discrimination of Apartheid, but it is full of new public investment and private entrepreneurship.  The consulting experience will make real the challenges and opportunities of small business in South Africa and hone the executive mindset of our online MBA students.

This trip marks a renewed emphasis of Kelley Direct on executive leadership education and management literacy within emerging markets.  Such an opportunity would not typically be associated with an online MBA program, but thirteen years of online MBA teaching experience place Kelley Direct as a global market leader in curricular innovation.  As Kelley Direct’s new faculty chair, I am proud to help lead this charge.     

- Phil Powell, Faculty Chair of Kelley Direct

Amazing 2011-12 Online MBA Graduate Salary Data

By Darren Klein, Kelley Direct Staff

Every year we collect data from our graduating students.  We want to understand the impact that earning the Kelley MBA online through Kelley Direct Programs is having on their careers.  We also want to understand the return our students are getting on their investment.  For the class of 2011-12, the outcomes continue to be outstanding.  Specifically:

• The average salary three months after graduation was $104,160.  This is a 36% increase over the average salary of the graduates when they started the program.
• Over 66% of our graduates received a promotion during their time in the program.
• Based on this data, the average amount of time for our graduates to receive a full pay back on their investment in their online MBA is 2 years.

For 2012 graduate Katie Davis, the impact of her Kelley education has been immediate.  Since starting the program, she has been promoted 4 times at Ingersoll-Rand.  "The coursework with Kelley really has enabled me to grow, and it's enabled me to accept new challenges."

     

New Spring MBA Application Deadlines

By Darren Klein, Kelley Direct Staff

As summer turns to fall, it is not too early to start thinking about starting your application to Kelley Direct.  For international students, the application deadline is January 7, 2013.  For domestic students, the application deadline is February 1, 2013.

If you are interested in scholarships we encourage you to apply early. Scholarship decisions are made at the same time as admission so the earlier you apply, the more likely it is that scholarship funds will be available.

Finally, we invite you to our upcoming events, both in-person and online.

September

• 19:  Chicago Cocktail Reception  RSVP 
• 25:  Online Virtual Open House  RSVP
• 26:  Online Admissions Q&A   RSVP

October

• 1:  Philadelphia Cocktail Reception & Dinner  RSVP
• 2:  New York Cocktail Reception (Financial District)  RSVP
• 3:  New York Cocktail Reception (Midtown)  RSVP
• 4:  Alexandria, VA Cocktail Reception & Dinner  RSVP
• 9:  Cincinnati Cocktail Reception  RSVP
• 17:  Online Virtual Open House  RSVP
• 19-20:  Bloomington Experience Kelley Weekend  RSVP
• 24:  Online Sample Class  RSVP

November

• 7:  Louisville Cocktail Reception  RSVP
• 8:  Lexington Cocktail Reception  RSVP
• 14:  Online Virtual Open House  RSVP
• 28:  Online Financing Your Kelley Degree  RSVP

December

• 5:  Online Admissions Q&A  RSVP
• 11:  Online Virtual Open House  RSVP
• 12:  Online Student Q&A  RSVP

We look forward to meeting you soon!

A Visit to Washington, D.C.

By Karen Villatoro, Second-Year MBA student

I consider myself really fortunate to be part of the group of KD students attending a Business and Public Policy course at the Washington Campus in D.C.

Whether we are well aware of this or not, there are key policy issues being developed in Washington on a daily basis, and these policies are likely to have a considerable impact on the businesses we own or work for, so it’s of paramount importance that we gain a better understanding of how our government works and how we can participate in the policy making process.

The course Business and Public Policy: How Washington works and what issues really matter, accomplishes just that objective: it’s teaching us how the government works, why we should care about it, and how we can take action to be effective participants in the process.

Our teachers this week have been an impressive array of Washington characters. We have heard from lobbyists, former congressmen, former White House officers, senior vice presidents from well-respected think tanks, and current staff directors working on committees from the House of Representatives, just to name a few.

All of these people are true Washington insiders who provide a unique perspective on how things are done in our nation’s capital. You may agree or disagree with their particular point of view; but without a doubt it is extremely valuable to hear their insights, and we have heard some really candid feedback, so you can form your own opinion.

I came in with some preconceived notions that have been blown away during these few days. I used to think a lobbyist was a synonym for an individual who was up to no good; this couldn’t be farther from reality! I have heard that the act of lobbying is actually protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution, where it allows for “… the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.”

I also used to think the Executive Branch was the most powerful branch of government, but I have come to realize most of the power actually resides with Congress. From appropriation of funds to the ability to declare war, there are so many things the Executive Branch couldn’t possibly do unless Congress takes specific actions. Similarly, I have learned that most of the work Congress does takes place at the Committee level, so you really need to know who is the Chairman and who are the members of the key Committees that are more likely to have jurisdiction over your industry, and thus have a large probability of impacting your business operations.

We even had the opportunity to see the government in action, by attending a Senate session in the Capitol. We had gallery passes that allowed us to watch the action in the Senate Chamber. There were just a few Senators on the floor, given that most of their work takes place outside of the chamber, but their staff is always monitoring the action on the floor so Senators can go to the chamber when there’s a call to cast votes on the issues being discussed. 

And what stay in Washington would be complete without a visit to the Washington Monument and all the memorials in West Potomac Park? At each one of these sites there are always people trying to take in all the history and significance behind these memorials, and reflecting on the thoughts and actions of great leaders who have helped build this nation.