What will happen to your business when you die?

October 30, 2011 by JD · 1 Comment
Filed under: Business, Dilbeck Marketing, Musings 

Do you have an exit plan for your business? Are you working to build equity or profit?

I’ve been thinking about these issues and wonder about how others see it.

This morning, I was reading some of the recent posts on Seth Godin’s blog. I’ve been busy with planning and studying and I have not been reading it every day, as I usually do. Recently, he wrote Questions for a new entrepreneur and it fit in with what I was already thinking about, and that sparked the idea to write my own post and ask a question of you.

For myself, I’m building a business doing something I believe in — promoting top quality businesses and the people who own them, and encouraging people to support their local economies — and I think I’ll work on this the rest of my life.

Yet, if someone offered to buy it (once I get it all set up), I would decline. It’s not for sale.

So, what happens when I die? Does the business die, too? Or, do I find someone who can continue on with it? That’s a lot more difficult question for a business that deals with intangibles than it is for a brick and mortar retail business, for example.

Do I incorporate the business so that I can separate ownership and management? Could that provide for both profits to the owners and a reasonable succession plan for keeping the business going after I’m gone?

Who can I find who shares the same passions and would be willing to learn how to run the business and manage it?

I came close to dying last year. I feel like I’m living on borrowed time and I have been given a second opportunity to do what I feel is important.

I’m feeling better, today, than I have in years, and that makes this a great time to consider this issue. Death is close enough to be an advisor, but distant enough not to be a threat.

If I had died last year, the answer was simple: cancel the accounts and let the business die with me.

But, I feel like my new direction is more important, so it doesn’t feel like letting it die with me is the best answer — assuming I can build what I see in my imagination.

I don’t have any answers, but I continue to ask the question: What will happen to the business I am building when I reach a point where I can no longer do the work?

In my case, I’m looking more for a succession plan than an exit plan.

What will happen with your business when you reach the same point? Do you have a plan? Does anyone else know what that plan is and how to carry it out?

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-10-23

October 23, 2011 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Twitter 
  • I just got back from driving to Blairsville, GA and — even in the rain — the trees are beautiful. This may be the peak week. #
  • New discussion on http://t.co/ZqVhm72j – First snow of the year in Jackson County, NC – http://t.co/jaxBgwaP #

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Sitesell $50,000 Challenge – week two

October 18, 2011 by JD · 1 Comment
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Events, Site Build It 

It’s been over a week since Sitesell, Inc. issued their $50,000 challenge.

The $50,000 Match It! Challenge

Briefly stated, this is the challenge (but see the full challenge and first comment for all the details):

If you can find documented proof that another product, or collection of information and tools (see tools.sitesell.com), delivers everything that SBI! does (or more), at the price of SBI! (or less) AND that product documents success to the depth that SBI! does (see proof.sitesell.com), we will pay you $50,000. See the announcement post here for entry details…

As of a few minutes ago, no challenger has come forth with a better system than SBI.

Click the following link to read the full details of the Sitesell $50,000 challenge.

SBI is not just a webhosting company, although they do that as well as any other hosting service I’ve ever used, and better than most.

SBI is a process that includes all the tools necessary to build a niche-oriented information-rich content site that earns money through a variety of monetization methods.

SBI sites are not cookie-cutter or fill-in-the-blanks sites.

Far from it. We work hard to identify a niche for which we have a passion and then write as much original, quality information as we can about that topic.

People write about things they love, such as cat art, front porches, gardening, cosmetics and skin care, and many thousands of other topics. Some people promote their own offline business and sell products or services, and these include renting villas, vacation sites, dentists, real estate agents, book editors, and more.

SBI sites are owned and developed by individuals who bring their own BAM (brains, attitude, and motivation) and who are willing to spend months and years to build a real business of their own.

SBI is not a scam, a get rich quick scheme, nor a multilevel marketing business. Sitesell is in the business of helping as many people as possible to build their own online businesses and to find the success we want. Perhaps you have heard some of these charges or other urban myths about Sitesell and SBI. They are not true.

Some of us would enjoy getting rich and others are happy with earning a few hundred dollars extra every month, and there are people with other goals in between.

Not everyone succeeds.

There is nothing, anywhere that I know of that guarantees that everyone succeeds. Some people work harder than others. Some have more time than others due to jobs or raising families, or caring for parents. Some have more motivation than others. Some have more skill at identifying a good niche and writing great pages about the topic.

However, I believe that SBI offers the best system for learning how to build an online business and prosper from it than anything else that is available. So does Ken Evoy. That’s why he’s offering $50,000 to anyone who can find a better system that meets the challenge. So far, nobody has taken him up on the challenge.

One of the outstanding benefits of subscribing to SBI is getting access to their proprietary Action Guide, which consists of step-by-step instructions on how to choose your niche, use the tools included with SBI, and build a website that attracts lots of readers. The Action Guide is constantly being re-written and updated to keep up with all the improvements to SBI (at no additional cost) and the changing Internet environment.

And, the folks at Sitesell know that different people learn better with different presentations, so the Action Guide is available in written form and as videos.

All of the SBI tools are integrated into a large database so that they work together. This saves time and money, because everything is bundled for only $299 per year, and some of those tools are worth more than that, individually.

Couple that with unlimited pages, unlimited bandwidth, free support, and a members-only forum where you can help and be helped by thousands of others who are using the same tools and systems you are — at no additional cost!

Unlike managing a website or a blog of your own, all the updates and maintenance releases are done by the highly-trained and very skilled technical staff at Sitesell. They are the technogeeks and propeller-heads who keep things running smoothly so you don’t have to waste your time and energy learning to manage all the technical details that keep you distracted from your work.

SBI costs only a dollar a day (not quite) if you pay monthly at just under $30 per month. If you choose to pay annually, however, the cost is only $299 and that’s like buying 10 months and getting two for free.

You may have heard people disparage SBI or call it a scam. Those people are wrong. I’ve been using SBI since shortly after it was introduced and I’m closing my other sites — which never performed as well nor earned as well — so that I can concentrate on my SBI sites in the future.

I tried, sincerely, for over 5 years to find a better system than SBI for building my sites. I used open-source PHP scripts like PHP-Nuke, Mambo, and a couple of others content management systems for building communities. I wasted a lot of time and effort with them. I built several forums using a variety of methods and tools — they failed. I’ve blogged on most blogging platforms and have several WordPress-powered blogs on my own domains (like this one) — and they never provided much revenue. I’d close them, but I like blogging. I’ve used databases to build websites, including one programmable database that I used for over 10 years before moving away from it last year — even though I spent years customizing and tweaking the code so that it would work exactly as I wanted.

I’m a technogeek and I’m fluent in a number of programming languages, including PHP and Perl. I have a working knowledge of javascript.

I know how to use all these things and I’ve tested them and they don’t work for me, even though I’ve done better than most people who use them.

My SBI sites take the least work and earn the most of all the systems I’ve tried.

So, since I can’t find anything better, it makes perfect sense to me to concentrate all my effort in the future on the best system I have found, and that’s SBI.

If I had a better system or knew of one, I’d enter the Sitesell $50,000 Challenge, myself. Not only would I enter the challenge, I’d be using and testing that system, myself.

Believe me, or not. Your choice.

I’m putting my money, effort, and time where my mouth is. I’m fully embracing SBI.

If you come back here a year from now, this blog may be gone and the domain name redirected to one of my SBI sites. There is about a 90% chance that I will do that, even though it is an established blog that quite a few people visit.

Why?

One simple reason: I earn more from my SBI sites.

Other supporting reasons: It’s easier, and takes less time and effort.

If you know another system that can beat SBI, there are less than 3 weeks before the Sitesell $50,000 Challenge expires.

Act on your dream!

JD

PS. I am very proud to have been chosen as the Sitesell Featured Fan this week. I’ve been a very happy customer and affiliate with Sitesell for over a decade and intend to work closely with them for many years more.

This is a real honor for me and I am touched deeply by it. I’m just one of over 42,000 people who have liked Sitesell’s Facebook page and more are joining us every day. You can go there and read what they say about Sitesell and SBI. You can’t fake the reactions and enthusiasm of thousands of people who subscribe to, and use, SBI.

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Problems or Solutions? What is your focus?

October 17, 2011 by JD · 2 Comments
Filed under: Books, Simple Truth 

During one part of my life, my focus was on problems and everywhere I looked I saw problems piled upon more problems. It was a depressing way to live.

Then, I realized I needed to change how I was living. I decided to change my focus.

Yes, it was a decision.

In addition to eliminating negative thinking and, instead, thinking positive thoughts, I started hanging around other people who thought positively, and actively searched for things to enjoy in my life.

I decided to focus on solutions, too, instead of the problems.

Now, I’m no genius problem solver and I doubt that I’ll ever be famous for it, but I find that my life is better, happier, and easier since I decided to focus on a positive outlook and to concentrate on finding solutions rather than just seeing problems.

Here’s a short video on that subject, based on Michael McMillan’s Pink Bat book…

By the way, if you’ve never seen the video of the study mentioned in this movie, here it is on YouTube…

The Selective Attention Test

(Of course, you’re more likely to see the gorilla, since you already know about it. I was so busy counting the number of passes by the players in the white shirts that I did NOT see the gorilla and had to replay the video to be sure that it was really there!)

So, now that you’ve learned a bit about selective attention and how we filter everything around us to match our pre-conceived beliefs and notions, can you think of a way you can change your focus to live a happier and more productive life?

I hope so!

It worked for me.

Act on your dream!

JD

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-10-16

October 16, 2011 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Twitter 

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-10-02

October 2, 2011 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Twitter 
  • Sitting next to a fire with good friends and enjoying looking at all the stars and the Milky Way. #ReasonsRuralRocks #
  • New event on MurphyConnections.com – Gingerbread Christmas Arts and Crafts Show, Brasstown, NC http://t.co/nlbQ3crN #
  • MurphyConnections.com: Stacy S. Howard – New portrait design consultant at Images By Courtnie http://t.co/HDgQfDAI #
  • Murphy Gold News: Sep 27, Stacy S. Howard – New portrait design consultant at Images By Courtnie Photo… http://t.co/gR0tBe8Y #MurphyNC #
  • Only two more days until Fall Festival at John C. Campbell Folk School, in Brasstown, NC. I'm looking forward to seeing old friends. #
  • Good morning, y'all. Fall Festival – today and tomorrow – at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. It's gonna be great! #

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