I want to share with you a cool form I created for myself and have only shared with a few people. I think it’ll have a profound effect on your bottom line, your happiness and your esteem. Seriously! Each Sunday evening I have started using this form planning for the next upcoming week.
(Note: You are welcome to reproduce as many copies as you want but you cannot sell it and you must not modify it.)
Okay now you’ve got it let me go over the different parts of this form with you.
Part I: Weekly Awesomeness Awareness
It’s always easier for us to beat ourselves up and think what went wrong in our business and personal lives. This isn’t the spot for that. Take time to reflect on what went well! The power of gratitude has been proven to elevate our happiness and that’s what gets us into a positive state of mind.
Think about everything that went right this week. What are you making progress on? What’s actually working? Because it’s too easy to fall into a negative, self-defeating spiral when you find something wrong and then more and more things start sticking out about your life and business. Nobody has a perfect business or life – but by bringing positive focus to what’s going well you’re setting up a great week.
Part II: Make More, Have More Fun and Give More Back Section
If you’ve seen any of the Maverick Manifesto video – you know these intersecting 3 circles are the things that really drive me. I think it’s a balanced approach to entrepreneurship and unless we are planning and committing to creating this in our business lives it won’t happen.
I need to tip my hat to Cameron Herold who has been coaching me a bit. Cameron is the former COO of 1-800-Got Junk and helped build that to a $100M organization. One of the simple concepts he keeps stressing to me is creating a “Top 3″ list of most important must-accomplish tasks for the week. If nothing else, you must get these done. It’s a pretty simple concept but powerful. So I took that concept and instead of just being financial related let’s turn the focus on all 3 areas.
So take time before the week starts to think about your 3 most important, proactive moneymaking tasks and also about how you are going to create fun in your life and what you’re going to do to give.
Try this out and let me know what you think by leaving a comment.
Some big announcements to share on our upcoming Underground® 5 seminar next month…
Announcement #1: Your Early-Bird deadline is being extended!
Yep, I typically NEVER extend deadlines but I’ll explain in #2 why it’s happening. So the good news is that it means you’ve now got until midnight, January 20, 2009 to save a full $1000.00 before the price increase. But more importantly the biggest bonus of all will vanish if you miss this deadline…when you sign up before the early-bird deadline you’ll receive a special red VIP ticket and confidential password. You must have both in order to gain admittance into a private, closed-door dinner and Casino Royale night.
And when you sign-up before January 20, 2009 you’ll also get a seat to the just-added MEGA bonus…Social Media Pre-day
(don’t worry if you’ve already signed up – you’re automatically in.) Keep reading for details on this bonus…
Announcement #2: MEGA Bonus Social Media Pre-Day
The day before the main Underground® event (February 19th) you’ll have a seat for the absolute latest intel and information on using Social marketing to grow your business. The amazing thing about using social marketing is you can literally be a “nobody” one day and with zero outlay grow an incredibly rabid base of followers and friends who are glued to whatever you put out there. All it costs is a little bit
of your time and to understand HOW it works!
Quite frankly the writing is on the wall and if you want to be ahead of the curve you must make sure you attend this special pre-day. And instead of paying $995.00 like other pre-days we’ve offered you’ll get the entire day FREE if you register for the Underground® 5 before Jan 20th, 2009.
You’ll discover the absolute, up-to-the-minute real deal about using Twitter, Facebook, Social bookmarking (like DIGG, Stumble On, etc), Viral videos, Blogging and more! Social marketing is the hottest topic right now and you’ll get the straight scoop from real world people using it each
and every day to grow their business.
Announcement #3: $1B Keynote Speaker #2 – Tony Hsieh CEO of Zappos.com
We just added Tony Hsieh, CEO of the $1 Billion (Yes B with a ‘B’) e-commerce company, Zappos.com. Tony was a huge hit last year and it worked out that his schedule has a last-minute hole we took advantage of.
You’ll be able to get up close and personal with the CEO of one of the leading eCommerce sites in the world. Last year. Tony was incredible accessible and totally approachable. (In fact, being ‘humble’ is one of Zappos core values and he totally lives it!)
And that’s just one of the reasons why there are NO seminars like the Underground® event. The Underground® has quickly become THE most exclusive learning, networking and ‘deal making’ event put on each year. Previous high-profile attendees were Dan Kennedy, Jonathan Mizel, Jim Edwards, Marlon Sanders, “The Rich Jerk”, Jeff Johnson, Jeff Walker, Stephen Pierce, Bill Glazer, Perry Marshall, Rosalind Gardner, Joel Comm, Willie Crawford, Mike Filsaime, Russell Brunson, Michel Fortin, Michael Holland, Phil Wiley, Kevin Wilke, Andrew Fox, and many others who came to learn and not to B.S. in the hallways.
No doubt about it, the real players show up here…and there’s good reason for it…
It’s because the Underground’s premise is absolutely unique of bringing in real-world Internet successes who are definitely NOT the same “Usual Suspects” you see speaking anywhere else…just real-world “DO-ERS”!
You’ve got a few extra days now to register (through Jan. 20th) but I wouldn’t wait because there are just 89 seats
remaining and going fast! Hopefully – I’ll see you there!
Register now to get the best discounts, VIP access and now the FREE Social Media Pre-day
There’s an old story about a boy who wants a pony really badly for his birthday. When he wakes up to find a huge pile of crap at his house. He jumps around clapping and excited! Someone asks him, “Why are you so happy? You’ve got a mess of manure here?”
And to that the boy responds, “With that much shit – there’s got to be a pony in there somewhere!”
It’s a *very* long story – but the short version is really buggy code to start with and one tech problem grew into another, etc. etc. Of course, after the initial frustration of the moment was gone – I took a step backwards and remained (mostly) calm. (Maybe surprisingly calm to a lot of people more directly involved.) I realized in the grand scheme of things a launch screwing up wasn’t that big a deal. I also used some of the principles my friend, John Harricharan, teaches in his PowerPause to create what I really wanted. (Plus at the same time feel grateful for what I already had in my life.)
Anyway – what I do want to point out is the good news. It’s an interesting notion that there’s good news somewhere in the pile of bad news. I’ve always believed things happen for a reason. And if the site wasn’t so screwed on Thursday I wouldn’t have shut it down and wouldn’t have searched for a new solution. I got a recommendation from Matt Bacak for an amazing guy named Mike Cline. If you ever need some serious tech work – not minor stuff – but serious stuff contact Mike. (Don’t even know if he’s taking new clients or wants more work since he doesn’t know I’m mentioning him here.)
Anyway in 24 hours we (he) rebuilt everything and we went live at 3pm yesterday. It’s hard to describe how impressive this is – I don’t know if I even grasp it. The bottom line is things are 5x better than what I originally intended and it’s a direct result of the first screw-up. If that didn’t happen we wouldn’t have used Mike or re-built the entire system.
Now there’s more good news (and it’s actually for you!)…
Because of the snafus and since we’re opening the doors on the weekend – I’ve decided to extend all the FAST-ACTION bonuses *way* beyond what we originally intended. (Fact is, they would have got snapped up in a few minutes during the intended Thursday release but now we’re going to open the doors wide to make sure you get it!)
You’re getting a special, $15k closed-door presentation entitled “Instant Leverage Points in Your Business That Bring You Surges of Cash”. It’s a presentation I did last January to 26 top-gun entrepreneurs and business leaders, who paid about $15k in membership fees and trip fees to come together in Baja, Mexico.
Plus, I’ve bundled up this DVD, the MindMap I handed out, my newest book called “34 Rules for Maverick Entrepreneurs”, a 2 CD-Audio program and more – the only thing you pay for is s/h.
As you know, I don’t speak that often so this is an unusual week. Monday, I’ll be at the ETR Bootcamp in Florida and then speaking on Thursday in Chevy Chase, MD at a local networking and business group for entrepreneurs called “The Entrepreneurs Group”.
* Forbes Adventurer Interview *
Also, something cool I didn’t post it up yet was an interview I did with Jim Clash from Forbes Adventurer. Jim talks to people who ‘push their lives to the limit’ so was excited to be interviewed. We talked about me being passenger #144 on Virgin Galactic.
Jim’s got a pretty interesting list of adventures to his own credit including driving an Indy car 200mph+ around the oval (it’s a lot harder than a straight line). He has a book called “To the Limits” on adventure and business that’s a little harder to find – but it still on Amazon.
Well today was *supposed* to be unvieling of the ‘Maverick Business Insider‘ newsletter and intro package. I guess someone forgot to clear it with the Internets. I’m not a techie but it had to do with our database and integration with fulfillment and operations. So instead of getting a whole bunch of annoyed customers in and not being able to fulfill in a timely manner – we pulled the site & put it on ‘hold’.
I figured we’d have it up earlier – but we made a decision to wait until tomorrow to open it back up.
I put up a video on the main site explaining it a bit more and giving some good news. Hopefully a silver lining in this for you. (Hint: It has to do with the ‘First-Mover’ Bonuses!)
* Contest Winners *
From our video comments contest – you guys made it really hard to pick the best ones. Some incredible, insightful comments. So I bumped it up to 8 winners instead of 5…
Drum roll…please….
Here’s who will be getting their own copy of the new Maverick Business Insider package with everyone else who grabs it (when we get the doors open). It looks like this -
Here are the lucky 8. Congratulations To:
· Bob Beckman:
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:12 pm
· Suzanne:
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:56 pm
· Jini Patel Thompson:
November 4th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
· Jeremy Reeves:
November 5th, 2008 at 10:19 am
· Matthew Detrick:
November 5th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
· Rob:
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:15 pm
· Robertas Says:
November 4th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
· Chris Brisson Says:
November 5th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
We’ll have customer support contact you to get your address to send you the entire Maverick Business Insider package.
I’ve been telling my friends that Twitter is one of the silliest things in the world – but now I might have to eat my words…
You see, I was thinking about Twitter for my own personal use – i.e. wanted to know exactly what my friends were doing at all times. Who cares? Well – it seems like a lot of people do. In fact, I just started updating my Twitter profile – you can follow me at www.twitter.com/yaniksilver(So in case you wonder what’s going on in my world aside from when I update this blog – you can follow along! Plus, I’ve got a new Amazon Kindle ebook reader that I’m going to give away to someone who follows me. Not sure how yet – but we’ll figure out something fun together. So click here to follow me.)
The reason I’m going to be using it is applying to what I’ve discussed before in a recent Secret Society newsletter – and that is applying personality to your web presence. Twitter is perfect for this. Just a quick recap in case you haven’t seen twitter – it’s a “microblogging” platform. You’ve got 140 characters that you can update via web or text messaging and let your ‘followers’ know what you are doing at this moment.
For companies who want to put out more personality – this is great. Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos.com, who spoke at Underground® 4 is using Twitter in a big way. He’s got over 9,026 followers (that’s huge). Funny enough, I was buying new flip flops and on the thank you page at Zappos – they had an invitation to follow Tony via Twitter. Check out Tony’s twitter profile at www.twitter.com/zappos
Notice the kinds of ‘tweets’ he puts out. Not too much to do with business but a whole lot to do with the personality of Zappos. It’s about solidifying the fact they truly live their values. Tony is such a big fan he’s even put up a page on Zappos dedicated to Twitter and getting started with it - http://twitter.zappos.com/start
If you go back and look at the history of Tony’s tweets – they are a tiny amount that are promotional in nature.
I think this is taking blogging to the next level. I love my blog for the interactivity and the ability to transmit my personality across to readers – creating that bond. With Twitter – you can do this 140 characters at a time. Try it and don’t forget to follow me for a chance to win that Amazon Kindle.
What do you think?
*
I have to give credit to John Reese to opening my eyes to the potential here on Twitter. Now as ‘big, bad marketers’ we are always looking at new ways to getting our message across – but Twitter is interesting because only your ‘followers’ will get your messages. So you cannot blatantly bombard your twitter contacts with pitches because they’ll stop following you (just like opting out). If you don’t have anything interesting to say or do (hmmm….like a HALO skydive!) then they’ll drop you. John covers Twitter and a slew of other new ways to get traffic to your site in his new Traffic Secrets 2.0 resource. It goes on sale today at noon.
There are just 3 seats left for Underground® 4 so it’s a pretty safe bet it’s going to be sold-out tomorrow or the next day! I hope to see a lot of InternetLifestyle.com blog readers there because we’ve a lot of fun, surprises and perks lined up for you. Not only have we added even more content and speakers (including some I haven’t even put up on the site) but I’m out to make sure it’s the best event yet…
I just confirmed our celebrity guest from the hit TV show “24″. It’ll be Carlos Bernard AKA “Agent Tony Almeida”. If you watch the show at all – Carlos is a pretty big character and has a major role when season 7 finally starts shooting again. Attendees will get to meet Carlos and get a one-on-one pic with him.
And even more fun – we’re having a LIVE concert with Mini KISS. They are a band of little people KISS impersonators. Go get ready to rock n roll all day and party every night! Check them out:
It’s going to bad-ass…and I’ll fill you in on all the details after the event. Speaking of KISS – I’m going to meet the behind their incredible success the week after Underground®. At the Glazer-Kennedy Super Summit in Nashville I’ll be sharing the platform with none other than Gene Simmons. If you haven’t read Gene’s book “Sex, Money, Kiss” go get it. It’s a great example of someone who has constructed his life to fit his own rules.
If you want in before we close the doors -check out the site immediately!
As a successful entrepreneur, sometimes it’s too easy to get tied up on your computer doing stupid, mundane tasks that could be handled better (sometimes a lot better!). I love shortcuts and ultra useful resources. That’s why, I’m going to share my favorite 9 productivity tools with you that I guarantee will add several extra hours to your life each week and help you feel more in control…
#1: Mailwasher– It’s no secret email and spam is out of control. This is one of my favorite tools because I can peek at the email headers and check what I want to keep and what I want to delete before I download it and hits my computer. You can also select to ‘bounce’ spam so that spammers think they got a non-working email. It lets you check pretty much any type of email account you have (POP3, AOL, Hotmail, etc). I love it! It’s one of my favorite tools and it’s one of the easiest pieces of software. It takes about 3 minutes to go through hundreds of emails and check which ones I want and which ones I want to delete. Also, if I just want to pick out one or two emails to respond to real fast – I can just do a ‘quick reply’ straight from mail washer which launches my default email client. (Note: this does not replace your email client.)
Here’s a screenshot of it on my computer (click to enlarge):
#2: Roboform – I just started using this about 6 months ago and have no idea why it took so long. It’s frickin awesome! You never realize how much time you waste filling out forms, looking for credit cards, passwords, etc. Roboform stores all of this for you like a secure little passport that travels with you on the Web. Plus, you can stop using the exact same password like your doggie’s name because Roboform will create super strength passwords like “Xjx81x87Hq” and then store them for you. It keeps multiple identities separate so for my multiple companies it takes one click to decide which credit card to use, address to ship to, etc. Sweet.
#3: Box.net – It seems like files are getting bigger and bigger and email seems to be unreliable for bigger files. I always get concerned when I send anything over about 2mb to a contact. With Box.net you can upload your bigger files to share or store. Plus, there is an option to share/collaborate with your team. I got the premium version (I think you get 15mb of storage for free).
#4: Jing/Camtasia – Beyond all the uses of Camtasia as one of my favorite (and super quick) product development ways or promotional videos – there are tons of productivity uses. First off, Camtasia/Jing are both ‘Macro’ recorders so whatever is on my screen gets recorded and I can also record my voice and create mark-ups on the screen, etc. It’s super powerful. Camtasia is the full version from TechSmith and is obviously more feature rich – but I’ve been impressed with the Jing project as a real simple tool for training or getting your point across. Many times if I’m working with a web designer – I can load up Jing and in 5 minutes explain exactly what I want changed without the meaning getting lost in a written email. When training your team on any computer-related tasks you can record what you do in Camtasia and then there is no miscommunication. Or better still, if someone new comes on board they are trained the exact same way. Here’s a sample so you can see how powerful this software is.
#5: Simulscribe – I first found out about this from one of my MasterMind members and it’s made my life a lot easier. Simulscribe will transcribe your voicemails for you and either email or text them to you. I use it for our company’s voicemail and then that transcription gets sent to our help desk so our customer support team can respond faster. Good stuff.
#6: NoteTab Light – this one might not be for everyone and I pretty much only use one tiny feature but it’s well worth it (especially since it’s free!). I compose a lot of emails to my subscribers and since I communicate via text I want to create hard returns on the emails so the formatting doesn’t get all screwy when the email goes out. NoteTab Light will let you set up how many character spaces you want all your text and then you hit “Ctrl” + “J” to make it all line-up. Plus, there are a few other shortcuts in there. I think this is an HTML editor tool but like I said I only use one tiny function.
7. Mind Jet – My absolute favorite way of getting things done is Mindmapping. I’ve used the MindJet software for quite some time to be able to get my ideas out in one spot quickly, easily and in a more organized fashion.
Here’s a quick example:
You want to start with a central theme or idea in the middle of your page. (I’ve put my example in a piece of software I use – but many times my mind maps are drawn by hand and with just pen & paper.) Then you want to create branches radiated out from the center which encompass different points related to your main topic. Then under the main points radiating out you can even further sub-branches, etc.
I love mind mapping for all kinds of uses because it really fits the way we think on a subject. You’ve most likely been taught to make a linear outline when taking notes or trying to organize your ideas. It can be really frustrating because our brains don’t always output information in a perfectly ordered and structured way. Many times one thing will trigger an idea for something else and then something else again. That’s why Mind Maps are the perfect way to dump everything out of your head and put onto paper or a the computer screen.
Two other pieces of software you might try. The first is from the “father of Mindmapping” Tony Buzan, himself. It’s called I Mind Map. Has some good features and I like the organic looks of the mindmaps plus it defaults to different colors per branch. Imind-map.com. Another one is mindmeister.com – I have not played with this that much but it seems very cool because you can collaborate online with others on a single mindmap.
#8: Mozy – I don’t know if this quite fits productivity but it does become one if the inevitable happens. Just recently I spilled half a bottle of water on my laptop. That’s when I yelled something that in a cartoon would look like this – “@#!%@!”
I quickly removed the battery but it was too late. I thought I had fried my computer. The good thing is I had this little piece of software installed that automatically backed up all the important stuff without me thinking about it and put in a remote location. I logged into my Mozy account from Missy’s computer and got a set of DVDs overnighted that had all my data on them. Boom! Back in business. Luckily, my computer did eventually dry out after my buddy dissembled the whole thing –but having Mozy really would have been a life saver. We all have good intentions of backing up our stuff – but unless you’re pretty disciplined it won’t happen.
#9: Log me in – this is another cool resource I found about from one of MasterMind members. As long as you have an active online connection on your home computer you can access it from anywhere. It’s pretty slick. It’s just like sitting at your own desk and you can see your desktop like normal. You can access files, updates files (and they are updated on your home computer), remote print, etc. There’s a free version and a paid version with more features. Cool software and works really well.
There you go – give a few of these a try and reclaim some of your time. And even better, let’s make this even more useful – I’d like to hear from you. What tools/resources do you use that make your life more productive as an entrepreneur? Leave a comment. Plus, if you found this helpful – give it a DIGG (by clicking below) so even more entrpreneurs can benefit from this list.
Last night was the lunar eclipse – so it made great sense to launch the “Moonlighting on the Internet” book. (I wish I could take credit for timing it that perfectly but it was pretty much a happy accident.)
Some of you might have made it to last night’s 2+ hour call on the 5 proven ways to make an extra paycheck on the internet! We covered the proven ways to pull in a few extra bucks (or a whole lot more) to pay for a mortgage, car payment, the kids college fund or even a great vacation…all on autopilot.
I know…I know…I know…you’ve heard it before – but here’s a quick email I got this morning:
“…I was on that call with you and your co-authors last night, and I have to tell you that it was the most useful, informative and inspiring 2 hours that I have spent in quite a while. The call was loaded with quality information and was organized exceptionally well. I enjoyed the way all the info was presented in a way that blueprinted how to actually employ the strategies that everyone talked about. Everybody presented in a down to earth manner that was easy to follow for someone like me who is looking to get started in the internet world. Kudos man.”
If you missed any part of the 2+ hour call (which was ALL content with absolutely zero pitch) or would just like to hear it again – it’s right here:
On the call I mentioned the very special “lunar eclipse” bonus deal for people who bought 5 copies of the “Moonlighting on the Internet” book.
1) Special Report – “How to Get Unlimited Testimonials and Massive Proof”
2) Special Report – “How to Sell at Prices Double or Triple Your Competitors (and still provide an incredible value)”
3) Special Report – “Instant Idea Generator & Organizer”
These reports are taken from my Secret Society newsletter ($87.63/issue) and I don’t make any past issues available so this not only represents a rare opportunity but also a true value of $262.89
AND I’ll also throw in an extra bonus – “My Ultimate Internet Lifestyle Webinar”
How I plan my year, balance my life, have more fun and enjoy the freedom of the Internet Lifestyle. After all, what’s the point of doing really well online with your online business if you don’t enjoy it? I’m talking about one word….freedom!
Personally, my own Internet Lifestyle means experiencing life to the fullest and living adventures! Plus, it means having the time available to hang out with your family. This is the only webinar where I “show and tell” you exactly how I get the massive results I do without any staff (aside from 2 virtual assistants and one ‘tech’ guy on retainer but no real employees except my wife, Missy.)
I am not even sure how to put a value on something like this but I’ll be embarrassed if you don’t agree it is one kick-butt bonus!
Okay, here’s the deal – you get all three special reports and the extra bonus “Ultimate Internet Lifestyle” webinar as my gift (call it an ethical bribe) when you buy 5 copies of my Moonlighting on the Internet book from Amazon.com or BN.com
Simply email your receipt to
bonus@Moonlightingontheinternet.com
And you’ll get an email back with instructions to download your bonuses right away.
Your mission if you choose to accept it is to infiltrate a *all-new* gathering of Rogue Underground Internet “Players” to discover their unique (and never before publicized) moneymaking secrets…
You’ve probably never heard about these ‘Under-The-Radar’ successes banking mega bucks online! (And they would have been happy to keep it that way too – until I figured out a shocking and unexpected way to hold them hostage and let you “SPY” on their businesses!) This is definitely NOT the same “Usual Suspects” you see speaking everywhere else…
I’ve assembled an ALL-NEW group of real-world successes, collectively bringing in millions online each year. Check out the true identities and stories behind these new rogue agents:
Agent ‘Get Smart’… ($20M virtual info empire)
Agent ‘Doctor Zhiva-dough’…($15M health site)
Agent ‘Bad Mama Jama CPA MoFo’…
Agent ‘Fine Wine Millions’…
Agent ‘Podcasting Princess’…
Agent ‘Tycoon Tyke’…
Agent ‘Mr. X #1 and Mr. X #2′…($4M with their simple membership site) Note: They have agreed to show up under the strict condition we will NOT videotape their session.
Plus this year we’ve added 2 featured keynote speakers including the CEO of Zappos.com, an $800 Million business!
Truthfully, it was a gargantuan task to locate, uncover, convince and coax these “mystery” men and women to come forward and pull back the curtain. What’s more, I’m taking another extraordinary step to make sure our guest presenters really lay their cards on the table (you’ve got to see what I have in store for them – even better than truth serum).
Special extra bonus for Early Birds – there’s exclusive discounts and special bonuses not available to others (including a private VIP networking dinner with the rogue Underground agents and an *actual* SPY mission.)
‘I truly think this time will go down as the ‘golden age’ of entrepreneurship.
It’s never been easier or cheaper to simply go at it part-time. It just takes a semi-decent idea, a few bucks and an Internet connection to try your hand at making money online.
I may be biased but I think that this is the best business in the world. I just don’t know any other business with such incredible profit potential and such low time and money requirements…and most importantly, one which can be done part-time. I stared with my online business with an idea at 3 o’clock in the morning and an $1,800 investment (I overpaid). Today it brings in millions. I don’t really know too many other businesses you could start on a shoestring with such profit potential.
Fact is, it’s way easier today…
Yes, there’s more competition but there’s also more opportunity. People have become way more comfortable buying and interacting online. It’s no big deal to pop-in your MasterCard and order whatever you want now without wondering if your credit card number will get stolen. Plus, you’ve got tons of simple off-the-shelf tools, people willing to help you (if you avoid the B.S. artists) and models to follow.
With 2008 just around the corner – what are you going to get out and get done? It doesn’t have to be something you make millions off – you can start small and simply “Moonlight Online” like I started. Why not make a couple hundred dollars extra each month and let your online venture pay for your mortgage, car payment or even your passion or hobby.
I truly think everyone has at least one moneymaking online idea in their head.
For me, most of my ideas come in the way of selling information and so many people are totally overlooking the expertise they could be profiting from. Here’s a perfect example when I went to one of my best friend’s John’s wedding a few months ago in Chicago. On the flight over I was sitting next to a stewardess and we started talking a little bit. In the course of 15 minutes she rattled off 5 different ventures that could easily be making her more money than her airline job without flying all over the place.
I was attending the wedding solo because Zoe was only 2 weeks old. Of all topics we started talking about breastfeeding. Ok so I’m definitely not an expert in this topic – but I nodded and asked her questions because Missy was having a bit of a hard time with it. This lady told me all her friends called her for nursing advice and that she had some amazing techniques for producing milk, nursing without pain, etc.
In my mind the light bulb goes off that this is a perfect information product. When a prospect is in pain – you can easily sell them your solution. It would take her no time to record a few conversations with friends and write up a tiny report on what she knows. She could have been selling it online in a few weeks but I know that would never happen. She could even throw up a video on YouTube (PG-rated) and get some great SEO placement pretty quickly to drive traffic. I mentioned all these things to her but she just shrugged it off. Whatever. Maybe the notion of selling online seems to hard to people but there’s not that much to it. When you break it all down there are 3 parts.
Part One – Your Site that sells
Part Two – Having a “product” people want (not need)
Part Three – Getting traffic to your site
(And I guess to get a little more advanced – Part Four – follow-up on customers and opt-ins)
You can get lost in trying a gazillion online strategies that may or may not work – but when you think of the barebones basics – this is all you need.
I mentioned my friend John’s wedding – you can actually see a video of him and his new wife, Lillian. If you watch the video it’s pretty damn funny because Lillian is from Chicago and my friend John is a die-hard Redskins fan. (I was in his wedding and you might hear me laughing in the background.) John and I have been friends for 10+ years and he still doesn’t quite know what I do – but he does want to start his own sideline online business. John parlayed his passion for sports (especially football) and created a pretty cool new site called “SportsFananza”. Check it out.
Here’s how John describes it: SportsFananza is an online networking site for the sports fan’s voice. It is time for us sports fans to have an outlet to voice opinions and ideas to the general manager or owner of our favorite team (or the team you hate) or other fans. You can also share your game day experience with everyone.
John’s making some progress and gained some momentum. I told him originally it might be too hard to get only video content so he added a “Tailgate” section where members can text in their thoughts or do it online. He submitted it to Killerstartups.com and got a lot of people voting it up – I think he’s on page #3 for most-votes for the year. (Actually go ahead and vote it up or even better submit a video or become a member of his site if you’re into sports!)
Will John’s site get bought out by Google for $1.65B like YouTube? I don’t think so! But it’s a good niche with rabid fans and if he can get enough traction it could get picked up for a nice ROI. Who knows? I give him a lot of credit for getting out there and doing something instead of just throwing out ideas like my stewardess seat-mate.
That’s the great thing about the Internet today – for less than a nice steak dinner and a night on the town you could throw up your online venture and see what happens. I mean why not? What’s the worst that happens – you lose a few extra hours of watching “American Idol”? Or maybe you miss a few hours of sleep. Who frickin’ cares? You could be building an asset, or “online oil well” as I call them, that pays you forever. Or it might totally suck and you move on and say “NEXT”! But at least you gave it a go!
Now if you need help getting started – this might be for you…
I just got copies of my first “real” book “Moonlighting on the Internet” published by Entrepreneur Press. I’m really excited to get it out there and help even more people start their online adventure. It was supposed to be available in January (and our site for the book isn’t even ready yet – oops!) but it looks like BN.cm and Amazon.com both are showing inventory in stock. I have no idea if that’s a fluke or if it’s correct. [Update: It is available now]
The book is a nice step-by-step guide on 5 realistic ways to make an extra $500 – $5000+ per month online. I cover information marketing and then I’ve got 4 other big-time experts to share their insights with Sydney Johnston on eBay, Darren Rowse on Blogging, Andy Jenkins on Yahoo! Stores (eCommerce) and Rosalind Gardner on Affiliate marketing. And there are tons of real-world stories of regular people making an extra paycheck online each month. Good stuff and you can’t go wrong for $20 bucks.
Update: Here’s a cool little video from Robert Plank – just one of the 40+ real-world success stories in the book:
Remember it’s that time of the year for holiday gifts too! So if you’re looking for a nice heartfelt holiday gift for the freeloading relative you have to support – get them a copy of my book so they can start pulling their own weight finally.
