A young couple in the throws of love are lying on a leafy forest floor, gazing upward. “I love the way you laugh,” says the man. “It’s getting harder to laugh nowadays,” says the woman.

Thus begins a very short video on a new angle of birth control that you might not have considered. See our new video, “I’m tired of the Pill.”

Ever feel discouraged at what seems like dismal results of your hard work?

Some 13,000 people at a regional convention in Chicago this past weekend of the financial services company Primerica were treated to a big dose of encouragement.

It seemed more like a rock concert, with music, lights and rousing talks as dozens of some of Primerica’s most successful salespersons trotted up to receive awards.

Primerica, which one consumer advocacy website judges as a “solid, reliable company that stands behind their agents and its products,” is run by people who sell life insurance, mutual funds and other products over kitchen tables and in living rooms.

I was invited to attend the convention by my brother, who has been involved in the company for several months.  There were two main themes behind these short talks by members — work hard, and don’t get discouraged when you don’t see results.

It’s advice that could be taken by any salesperson or non-profit worker who is often discouraged by a lack of results.

“Recruit, recruit, recruit,” said an old pro from Tennessee, who was introduced as having about half the room as recruits in the group’s hierarchical structure. “Here’s my second secret,” he said. “Open your mouth.”

“Every day is a gift of God,” he said several times. The testimonies were sprinkled with references to God that seemed sincere — a refreshing surprise about a topic that isn’t touched on enough in corporate America.

So, persevere with unrelenting dedication - good advice for anyone who wants to do well what they are called to do.

At a time when most men are thinking about retirement, Ken Freeman has a lot on his plate. This computer programmer has directed his skills to help pregnant women in crisis situations, and his work has expanded to making more than a dozen websites. The websites provide online training to pregnancy centers and help women who are seeking, or who want to recover from abortions. He even has an online church.

Internet marketer Ken Freeman	FindAPregnancyCenter.com

His main website, LastHarvest.org, says that it is “saving lives one heartbeat at a time.” “At age 62, I’ve got a short window of time for me to connect with crisis pregnancy centers,” says an energetic Freeman, who works in Dallas.

One website of his, Findapregnancycenter.com, receives 35,000 to 40,000 unique visits a month from women looking for abortion information, he says.

The Illinois list on this website has more than 100 centers, with phone numbers. The service would do well to add links to the centers’ websites. In any case, the monthly cost of $10 is certainly within the budgets of pregnancy centers.

Freeman is sowing many seeds, such as his “Monday Minute,” an audio interview (which runs more than a minute) at Monday-minute.com. “Monday minute is a weekly webcast designed for the busy pregnancy center,” Freeman says. The show features interviews of leaders and experts in the pro-life pregnancy center movement, and its viewership has grown to more than 4,000 visitors in April.

The most recent Minute showcases the work of Marilyn Morris, founder and director of Dallas-based Aim for Success, the nation’s largest provider of abstinence education programs. (Soon to be scheduled is an interview with me on internet marketing, so check back at Monday-minute.com.)

For what’s coming up next in Freeman’s ministry, go to LastHarvest.org.

Listen up

“I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly.”
- Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592)

When it comes to inviting youth to become tomorrow’s Catholic priests, brothers and sisters, things have moved to the internet.

Eighty percent of new recruits, or vocations now come from the internet, a vocations director of a major men’s religious order told me at the annual Here I Am Lord Youth conference this past weekend in St. Charles, IL. Hundreds of youth converged at St. Patrick’s Catholic parish in this western Chicago suburb to hear top Catholic speakers and musicians help youth find their calling in life, whether it be marriage, the single life, or a religious calling.

Getting their feet wet

Among priests and sisters staffing the booths, some were very experienced in using websites, enewsletters and online advertising, while others were just getting their feet wet, perhaps feeling a little behind in things. “I know I have to learn about these things,” one priest told me. He knew how to use a word processing program, but that was about it. I was happy to explain to him about enewsletters, and how the popular social media site, Facebook works. Once you sign up with Facebook as a member, which is free, you can invite others whom you meet to become your friend. When they agree to accept your invitation, they can see your profile and what your other friends have written on your “wall.” A religious brother told me, “When I get an email from someone on Facebook asking me to be their friend, I naturally assume that it is because they are interested in a vocation. So I say yes.”

Car sales ride on the internet

These new ways of promotion hold true in the business world as well. I spoke with the general manager of a large Toyota dealership in the Chicago area recently. “Fifty-five percent of our sales are done completely over the internet,” he told me. He had a staff working the internet as well as walking the lot. “When they come in,” he said of the internet sales, “all they do is the paperwork.” Whether it be recruiting Catholic vocations or making auto sales, promotion is all about relationships. It is something that is not easy, but it takes knowledge, experience and persistence.

Listen up

“Young people, in particular, have grasped the enormous capacity of the new media to foster connectedness, communication and understanding between individuals and communities…” - Pope Benedict XVI, apostolic letter on the internet Jan. 29, 2009

by Kevin Banet
Web promotion expert

Since Feb. 12 was the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, I’d like you to imagine a scene in Kentucky in the early 1800’s.

“Can you open the door, please?” a man’s voice implores.

“Who is it?” replies a woman.

“Abe, from the general store. I have to give you something.”

After the woman lets the tall young man in, he explains to her that when she bought tea from the store, he used the wrong weight on the scales and owes her the tea that she paid for.

“I’m here to return what was due you, ma’m,” says the humble voice.

“Why, Abe, you walked two miles to bring me this — you didn’t have to do that. At least not in the dark, with all the critters out tonight,” the woman exclaims, full of surprise.

There are many stories like this one, and there was certainly a lot of talk around the cracker barrel at the country store about Honest Abe. Today, the trust built up between a business and a customer is less likely to occur over chewing a pinch of tobacco while buying feed corn. We work ten miles away from our home, and we don’t even know our neighbors. And because of the ease of communication from the internet, we find people with personal or professional interests, and customers, thousands of miles away from where we live.

Thus, trust is built up through relationships developed over the internet. You meet people through Facebook and get to know them because you have common interests, or you feel confident in buying a book from an Ebay store when their customer rating is 99% positive.

You might like an article on personal coaching that you found on an article website such as www.EzineArticles.com, and decide to buy a book mentioned there. Or when you see a priest or minister explain an aspect of the Christian faith, you might go to their website and begin an email friendship.

Thus, electronic familiarity enhances trust.

Besides that, there’s an old business saying that any ad that uses Abraham Lincoln’s picture is bound to succeed. So contact me today about your internet needs at the address below.