LIVING LARGE

I just read this.......

I subscribe to Dan Kennedy's newsletter www.dankennedy.com. He always has great ideas and comments about marketing. The newsletter is called No B.S. Marketing Newsletter.

This was on the back page in the second to last paragraph. Just think about this for awhile!!

BE SOMEBODY, BE SOMEWHERE, DO SOMETHING!

I just read this.......

Business startups - 5 myths of starting a business


Business startups - 5 myths of starting a businessRecently, I was in a mastermind meeting with a government business development expert who spends lots of time counseling new entrepreneurs who hope to start, or hope to make a success of, a business. He works for a public-private business development group. 3 of us grilled him for over an hour. My question for him was "What keeps you up at night?"Aside from his little boy, he is sometimes kept awake at night by these 5 myths entrepreneurs have about starting a business:

Myth # 1) People thinks it's easy. My friend says within 5 minutes of starting a discussion with a new entrepreneur, he's talking about break-even analysis and other finance-related items and suddenly, things don't seem so easy to his client anymore. After some questions about finance, legal structure, paperwork and other must-do things, if the prospective business person thinks THIS seems hard, then they may want to reconsider. Making payroll, keeping up with taxes and paperwork, marketing, sales, fixing a toilet, managing employees and keeping customers happy - all at the same time, every day....that's what's hard. Talking about break-even analysis is child's play compared to juggling all of that. Don't get me wrong, the rewards are worth it. Just don't expect it to be easy. It's not. NO ONE who owns a business will tell you that it's easy, and I won't be the first to start, noting that I'm writing this at 12:23am.

Myth # 2) People think there are lots of social programs (such as grants) for new business owners, offering startup funds.Obviously, they are thinking of Matthew Lesko, the goofy guy who screams on your tv about "Free government money!!! $5000 to go to school, and $7000 to start your own business" and so on.There are some grants available, most require matching funds, but most of these programs are to help EXISTING businesses with employees grow (hire more people) or improve the jobs of their employees through skills training. You might stumble across one, but please don't assume that you will just fall into a pile of free government money. You won't.

Myth # 3) People don't think they need to seek professional help (legal, financial, marketing, etc).Business mentor Jim Rohn says "Poor people have big TVs. Rich people have big libraries". The point is, not only do you have to educate yourself, but you also have to get professional, skilled help for some things.Don't play a lawyer on TV or on your own business.Don't pretend to be a CPA unless you have experience or training in accounting. Even then, a fresh set of eyes is often worthwhile. Unless you have proven to be an accomplished marketer to the market your new venture is focused on, get some help. If nothing else, speak with someone to help you lay out a plan so that you aren't shooting arrows in the dark. Even the best world-class marketing people are constantly learning from each others' seminars, courses and the new strategies and campaigns of others that have proven to work. You'd be crazy to assume you are done learning, whether it's marketing or some other aspect of your business.

Myth # 4) I really don't need to keep the state and the Feds happy with a bunch of paperwork. Uh, yes, you do. It helps to get professional help with this stuff because, quite frankly, the paperwork can be a nightmare even if you don't mess it up. People who are experts at it can save you a lot of time, and possibly penalties and even more costly errors.

Myth # 5) I need a bunch of money to start a business.If you can't run a business with a little bit of money, making do, solving problems and being innovative, you'll have problems running it with a lot of money at some point down the road. Why? Lots of money hides problems, makes your life so easy that when problems occur, you tend to solve them with money. Later, when the money has been spent, then what do you do?Don't fall victim to the myths. Just get out there and make stuff happen. Sitting around till the timing is perfect is kind of like sitting around and waiting for the perfect time to have kids. Isnt ever going to happen, so start moving on your dream TODAY.Remember, the biggest difference between those who do and those who don't is TAKING ACTION.Mark RiffeyRescue Marketing, Inc.Columbia Falls, MThttp://www.rescuemarketing.com866-997-7634

A Little Video about Wealth

I just read this......Actually, I just watched and listened to this from Rick Raddatz. He is a former Microsoft employee and really has some great ideas. Especially about wealth, business and lifestyle.

His web site is www.instantvideogenerator.com.


This is ONLY 1 minute long.

http://wednesdayminute.com/vol042

Time-Not Enough of it!

I just read this.....This really hit home about time, we never seem to have enough of it. It feels like time is moving faster than ever. 2006 is almost gone!! We are down to the last 90 days. This is from Jay Levinson author of Guerrilla Marketing.

TIME

It is certainly not money as many people have been falselyled to believe. Instead, time is life. Time is opportunity. At birth, everyone is granted a lifetime of time. Circumstances often demand so much of that time that little is left over for each individual. And yet, when time ends,there is no chance to get it back.

Each second of time is precious. The more you are aware of that, the more likely you'll be never to waste your time. Unlike other resources, it is non-renewable, available inlimited quantities, and substitutes are not possible.

A key to maximizing your time in this life, on this planet is planning. Free time all by itself is hardly a blessing unless you know what you'll do with it. And when you do know, you soon comprehend that time is far more valuable than money, so much so that it's a disservice to time -- and to yourself -- to equate it with money.

Time allows you to partake of the lush benefits of the otherbest things in life. Without it, you are deprived of what they bestow upon you. With it, you can revel in theirabundance.

Jay Levinson and Amy Levinson
Father of Guerrilla Marketing

Mark myoung@socaltel.com our website http://stores.channeladvisor.com/socaltel/

MySpace.com "Do's and Don'ts"

I just read this..... from Derek Gehl of the Internet Marketing center. This will give you an idea how to use social networks eg myspace.com.

The "dos" and "don'ts" of participating at social media sites --------------------------------------------------------WARNING: There's ONE IMPORTANT THING you have to remember when using social media sites to get improved search engine placement for your site! And that's the fact that these are SOCIAL sites -- people don't visit them expecting to be hit with a bunch of marketing messages. So if you want to get links at these sites to point to your own site, you have to do it SUBTLY. Think about it... If you were at a party and somebody started handing out business cards and immediately launched into a sales pitch for his product, you'd try to get away, right? Well it's the same thing on a social web site. That kind of behaviour is considered highly unethical and inappropriate by members of these communities. On Digg ( http://www.digg.com ), for example, links will often get voted down as spam if they're submitted by the person who owns the site they point to. And on del.icio.us ( http://del.icio.us ), if all of your favorite links point ONLY to your web site, you'll lose all your credibility, and no other users will add your links to their own list of bookmarks. So make sure that you're participating honestly and being low-key about your business. Be sure you share other relevant and entertaining links with the community, in addition to your own products and articles. Otherwise all your hard work creating content for these sites will have been a waste of time. Here are the main things you should be doing on social media sites:
* Do create a profile with a link back to your web site
* Do tag your articles with relevant keywords * Do participate in the discussions to build your credibility
* Do contribute to the growth and value of these sites by creating and submitting content that is entertaining and solves problems
* Do get a good grasp of what's receiving attention on that specific site before submitting content
* Do invite your friends to go online and vote for your links -- within reason, of course!
* Do give your articles intriguing headlines that will get people to read further
* Do be yourself -- these communities don't reward fakers Here are a few things you shouldn't be doing on social mediasites:
* Don't spam sites with links only to your own articles, or bookmarks pointing only to your site
* Don't go overboard when encouraging friends to vote for your links -- organized "gangs" of voters often get discovered and "booed off" these sites
* Don't submit boring or irrelevant content -- this will only hurt your reputation
* Don't be there just to promote yourself -- nobody wants to be friends with people who are only out for themselves! By following these rules, you'll become part of the online community, and people will begin to value your opinion and see you as a credible source of information. This will allow you to become more powerful in the community, and your links and articles will carry more weight than the anonymous contributions of a new member.

----------------------------------------------------Final thoughts---------------------------
The key to getting the most out of these social web sites is to start small. Check out a few of the different sites. Then choose one or two that you enjoy hanging out at, and get a feel for the communities.

By spending time at these sites, you'll discover what type of information is popular, get tons of ideas for new articles, and find out exactly what's on the minds of regular Internet users. Eventually, start creating some valuable and interesting content of your own, and submit it to these sites... then sit back and see what happens!

By participating honestly and sharing some interesting links, videos, or articles -- as well as providing links to your own web site -- you might find that a lot of other people will start linking to your articles and your business site. The worst that can happen is you'll have some fun, meet some interesting people, and learn a few things.

If you do things right, play by the rules, and create some fun and interesting content, you'll be able to grow the number of relevant links pointing to your site -- and that just might lead to your ultimate goal of improved search engine placement!

So, have YOU ever posted links on social media sites as a way to increase your traffic or get improved search engine ranking? And if so, was the experience a success for you? Tell us about it ? we?d love to hear about YOUR marketing stories!

Search Engine Techniques

I just read this......In keeping with my philosophy of making seemingly complicated items simple, this article really gets to the crux of ranking high on the search engines.

5 Essential SEO Techniques by Tan KC

Search Engine Optimization is becoming a more and more complicated area especially with the recent updates and data refresh done on the search engines' index. However, the basic concept for good ranking does not change. The following illustrates five most important SEO techniques as summarized from the Google Webmaster Guidelines that all webmasters should follow.

The first step into SEO is to create a site that allows the bots from the search engines to crawl. A web page is as good as offline if it does not appear in the search engine's index. It is advised to use clean and static urls for a page rather than lengthy url with complicated parameters.

It is stated clearly in the Google Webmaster Guidelines that they do not index urls with session ids. In addition, they will not index pages that require user authentication as the bots visit pages like a general user. Search engines also cannot guarantee that they will index all the dynamic urls. Therefore, in order to facilitate the search engines in crawling all the pages, static urls are always preferred.

The second technique is to create a site that holds unique and fresh content. Search engines like to index fresh content. A frequently updated site will find the bots returning to visit at a shorter interval. Adding unique content regularly will also help other users to find the site more easily as these pages will add on to the respective domain’s search index in the search engine database.

Third technique is equally important as it ensures that search engines can crawl every page in a site successfully. Having a text link navigation system is highly recommended for SEO purposes as it is almost guaranteed that the bots will visit all the pages via the text links. Avoid using JavaScript and Flash navigation system, as the bots will ignore them. Implement a Google Sitemap is also recommended, as this will help the search engines to find any pages that may be missed during the crawl.

After implementing a search engine friendly navigation system, the Webmaster should focus on the keywords allocation and place the targeted keywords in appropriate places. Of the entire HTML markup, the most important tags to take note are the title and the headers. It is advised to have a different title for every page and to adopt a proper hierarchy of headers so that search engines know what are the content that the pages are focusing.
The final step towards a good search engine ranking is to attract organic links. Organic links are natural links from content related pages. Google only takes into account of these natural links when ranking and indexing pages as stated in their guidelines. Although linking from the unrelated pages does not hurt its rankings, they will not help either.

KC is a SEO consultant with several years of related experiences. His advice has helped several Webmasters to increase their SERP. KC is also the founder of USESEO.COM, a site that offers free SEO techniques.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tan_KC

So you want referrals?

I just read this.....again. If you want more referrals, then develop these habits.

This is from the Strategic Coach Course:

The Four Referrability Habits

1. Show up on time.

2. Do what you say.

3. Finish what you start.

4. Say please and thank you.

WOW! Really hits home! Simple and Easy.

In Rememberance of Corey Rudl

I was just reading this....I received this from Derek Gehl of The Internet Marketing Center.


How to Eat, Sleep, and Breathe like an Internet Marketing Genius:
"What I Learned from My Good Friend and Colleague, Corey Rudl -- Genius Internet Marketer,Inspirational Leader, and Mentor to Thousands."

By Derek Gehl

Since the announcement of Corey's tragic car-racing accident a couple of weeks ago, our office has received over 16,000 e-mails of support and condolence... and easily over 1,000 phone calls.
The entire IMC Team has been working overtime, responding to every e-mail and phone message, one at a time, so we don't miss any of your questions or comments. In fact, I've had to throw some of the gang out of the office late at night and send them home... We've all found it hard to stop reading your e-mails.
"Thanks" doesn't seem an adequate response to the overwhelming support and caring you've shown us. (It's been rather humbling, really...) So I hope you don't mind, but I've decided to write this very special edition of our "Marketing Tips" Newsletter -- and dedicate it to my good friend and mentor...
You see, over the last couple of weeks, a question that keeps appearing in e-mails from everyone is, "How can I be like Corey?"... "How can I think like Corey?" It seems many of you are interested in learning MORE than his secrets to Internet marketing -- you want to learn how to be "like" him.
So I'm going to give you a bit of insight into Corey's philosophies for business, success, and life.
These are a collection of the five most profound lessons I learned from Corey over the last eight years, some of which he loudly expressed to me (Corey talked loud and fast when he got excited)... and some he quietly but effectively shared through living example.

Lesson #1: Failure doesn't "happen"; it's a choice.
In Corey's mind, there were only two ways you could "fail." You could give up and quit. Or you could decide not to learn from your mistakes. Corey believed failure was a choice. So Corey never failed.
He tested new ideas. He learned from what worked, and what didn't. Then he applied those lessons to his next test or idea, and he kept doing this until he got results he was satisfied with.
Sure Corey made mistakes... Yeesh, I still cringe when I think of a $90,000 mistake we made two years ago. And sure, Corey would get really ticked off when stuff went wrong. But Corey was also always the first person to seek out the positive in every bad situation and say, "Well, what did we learn from this?" ... And, more important, "Will we do it again?"
Corey firmly believed every costly lesson was going to result in exponentially greater success in the long term. And he was right.

Lesson #2: Assume nothing, test everything.
Corey had zero respect for people who were content to assume. To him, it was a mark of laziness. So something everyone quickly learned when working with him was to deal in nothing but the facts.
If Corey asked a question, and you didn't know the answer, it was one thousand times better to say, "I'll look into it and get back to you," than "I think this might be the answer," or "I assume this is right."
Theories, assumptions, and guesses were the enemies of success as far as Corey was concerned. He believed you should either go straight to the source for the answers (even if that means paying thousands of dollars in consulting fees) or test it yourself.
And as Corey taught me, sometimes you even need to test the "facts."
For example...
... A marketing strategy that you tested and proved to work as little as a month ago may be a complete dud today. (Retesting is ALWAYS worth the effort.)
... The customer demographics you collected through a survey last year may have drastically changed. (Are they buying your products for DIFFERENT reasons now?)
... And some of the most interesting statistics may be based on flawed data. (Always read the "fine print," and if there isn't any, ask for it!)
Before you make decisions, ask questions. Assume nothing. Test everything.
And don't be afraid of offending someone -- even an "expert" -- by questioning their logic. The true experts will applaud you for this. And your questions will expose the imposters for who they really are -- wannabes.

Lesson #3: Make opportunities to learn, and take notes.
It would be difficult to calculate exactly how much Corey spent on educational materials each year... but I've done the math and know it was roughly in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Corey was constantly reading... On airplanes, on holidays, in between meetings -- he was absolutely relentless. He would read every business book, article, course, and marketing campaign he could get his hands on.
And Corey didn't just read material related to Internet marketing; he made a point of studying OTHER industries, too -- both online AND offline. He was always looking for new strategies and marketing ideas that he could pluck from other industries and apply to his businesses.
It was all this reading that would frequently spark his "genius" ideas...
But I think the key to this secret is that Corey made TONS of notes about everything he read and kept all his thoughts in a couple of "master project documents" that he'd refer back to every month, looking for new ideas (they were literally hundreds of pages long).
That way, even if an idea didn't work today, he had record of it so he could refer back to it sometime in the future.
Corey knew that "genius" doesn't just happen -- you need to look for opportunities to learn, and keep track of your thoughts. Your best ideas will frequently be sparked by new information, or new approaches to old information.

Lesson #4: Seek out great teachers, and be a great listener.
Corey firmly believed that if you want to fast-track your success, it's critical to learn from those who have gone before you... even if you just have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. So Corey made a point of seeking out teachers and mentors, and asking for their advice whenever he had the opportunity -- even if that meant paying hefty consulting fees for their guidance.
As far as Corey was concerned, you should always learn from the best. Find people who are getting the results YOU want to achieve, and ask them to mentor you.
And Corey was never afraid to ask "great people" for advice... He was never concerned about looking dumb. And he never needed to be the smartest guy in the room. Corey was always focused on learning. So he was a student of everything... and almost everyone.
Corey was always asking people around him for feedback... What mistakes was he making? How could he improve as a leader? As a marketer? How could he be a better public speaker?
It takes guts to ask the people around you for feedback. But it takes wisdom to openly listen and learn from it.

Lesson #5: Define your own success and live with passion.
Corey's biggest frustration was that so many of his clients and subscribers just let life "happen" to them. I can't tell you how many times I heard him rant over the years, "They have dreams... but they don't set GOALS! Why don't they set goals and take action???"
One of the most inspirational things about being around Corey was his belief that absolutely anyone can be successful.
You just had to meet Corey once to know he wasn't just spouting the "anybody can start a profitable Internet business" line because it sounded good. His enthusiasm... his actions... every word he spoke demonstrated his core belief that absolutely anyone can be successful.
You can learn anything... be anything... do anything.
If you decide that your age, background, and education limit your potential, they will. But if you decide that you can do anything, you will...

Corey really believed that you just need to set goals that you're excited about, and then take persistent action.

It's absolutely shocking what ONE step a day... just 10 minutes a day... one hour a day... can accomplish over one month... three months... six months. Just imagine where YOU would be in six months if you dedicated even 20 minutes a day to working on your business... learning new strategies... or building a "swipe file" of marketing ideas!

Success isn't determined by genetics.

It's about persistent, consistent action.

And Corey really got that.

Final Thoughts:

Honestly, I could write a book about what it was like teaming up with Corey for the last eight years... and perhaps one day I will. It was one helluva ride...
Today, though, I wanted to give you at least SOME insight into Corey's personal philosophies for business success because I'm hoping they will inspire you to:

Choose success.
Test something new today.
Make opportunities to learn.
Seek out great teachers.
Define your goals, and take action to reach them.

These are the philosophies that Corey inspired the entire IMC Team to run his company with... and these are the philosophies that we are continuing to move forward with.
Corey's legacy wasn't just cutting-edge marketing strategies or industry leading software -- it was the inspiration he shared with thousands of "real people." And that's the legacy I personally plan to continue.

9/11

I was talking to my pastor yesterday and he commented how busy he was with weddings. I asked why this time of the year....His comment was it is 9/11.

Interesting we would have weddings around this date in our history. Is it the adage "Life is too short"? The feeling of a new beginning.....What do you think?

Let's all stop and pray for the victims and their survivors on this day.

16 Rules to Live By From Bob Parsons of GoDaddy.com

I recently came across this post in Bob Parsons Blog. He is the CEO of http://www.godaddy.com/, this is his second $100 million company he has built from scratch.

These are the 16 rules that he works at daily to live by. Rule #3 and #16 are two of my favorites. Let me know by posting with the rule that is your personal favorite.

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone. I believe that not much happens of any significance when we're in our comfort zone. I hear people say, "But I'm concerned about security." My response to that is simple: "Security is for cadavers."

2. Never give up. Almost nothing works the first time it's attempted. Just because what you're doing does not seem to be working, doesn't mean it won't work. It just means that it might not work the way you're doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn't have an opportunity.

3. When you're ready to quit, you're closer than you think. There's an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: "The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."

4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be. Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of "undefined consequences." My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, "Well, Robert, if it doesn't work, they can't eat you."

5. Focus on what you want to have happen. Remember that old saying, "As you think, so shall you be."

6. Take things a day at a time. No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don't look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.

7. Always be moving forward. Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.

8. Be quick to decide. Remember what General George S. Patton said: "A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow."

9. Measure everything of significance. I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.

10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate. If you want to uncover problems you don't know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven't examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.

11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you're doing. When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.

12. Never let anybody push you around. In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you're doing as anyone else, provided that what you're doing is legal.

13. Never expect life to be fair. Life isn't fair. You make your own breaks. You'll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).

14. Solve your own problems. You'll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you'll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: "You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others." There's also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: "A wise man keeps his own counsel."

15. Don't take yourself too seriously. Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.

16. There's always a reason to smile. Find it. After all, you're really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: "We're not here for a long time; we're here for a good time." "The above (or following) article (or rules for survival) is included with the permission of Bob Parsons (http://www.bobparsons.com) and is Copyright © 2004-2006 by Bob Parsons. All rights reserved."