I am starting a new tradition for the day after Thanksgiving

November 25, 2011 by JD · 2 Comments
Filed under: Advertising, Holidays, Marketing, Musings 

Today, I am starting a new tradition.

And, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a strange tradition for someone who loves selling and marketing.

While everyone else, apparently, goes into a month-long extravaganza of profligate spending, I choose to not buy and I will reduce my marketing so that I don’t add to the cacophony of advertising pitches that threaten to drown all of us this time of the year.

I am tired of the crass commercialism and greed of the so-called Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping hysteria. I choose not to participate.

For most of the last decade, I earned 100% of my income from affiliate marketing and plan to earn a major percentage in the coming years, but I have decided not to promote Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.

Many of the merchants with whom I am affiliated sent me email this week announcing — breathlessly — their after Thanksgiving shopping sales.

I have chosen not to promote them. I will not promote them in the future. For the most part, I am declaring the few short days between Thanksgiving and Christmas to be commercial-free.

Instead, I intend to focus even more on being thankful for all the blessings I enjoy and for the wonderful people who are my family and friends.

(In fact, about the only things I’ll be promoting are the upcoming events at Sitesell over the next few weeks. Their timing just happens to be now; they are not tied to this season of advertising excess. Sometime in the next few days, Sitesell’s Facebook page will reach a milestone of 50,000 fans — or people who like them, if you prefer. There will be a celebration with prizes and I’m looking forward to this. I have predicted that they will reach 50K fans on December 2, 2011, a few minutes after 2:00pm (ET). The other thing I’ll enjoy is helping to beta test their new sitebuilding tool known as BB2, that should be introduced in mid-December. I’ll be discussing this on my 21st Century Affiliate Marketing blog.)

Years ago, I gave up giving Christmas gifts. I got tired of all the crass consumerism, commercialism, and greed, and decided not to participate.

It’s not because I’m cheap. I enjoy giving gifts, but not when it becomes something that is required. I would much rather give a gift because I see something that I know someone will enjoy and then give it to them for no special occasion. I give gifts because I want to, not because they are expected.

I have extended my personal gift-giving ban to include birthdays, too.

Today, I am carrying my little personal anti-consumerism boycott and protest another step forward.

Today, instead of rushing to the stores to buy more stuff, I will go through the castle and find everything that doesn’t fit and get rid of it.

I don’t remember much from last year, but I do remember deciding that everything had to have a place, or get tossed.

I have lived in a house with someone who reached a point where it was almost impossible to throw things away and I never want to live where stuff is piled up, ever again.

About the only things I’ve bought this year that don’t have a home are all these books. So, now, I have a pile of books in my to-be-read pile (12) and in my reading-them-now pile (5). I’ll be buying more.

(Ironically, they are all related to marketing, advertising, and selling.)

Before the sun sets, they will have a home in a cabinet, and whatever was there, will be gone. Everything else that doesn’t have a place of its own — and that does not include being piled on the couch or floor — will be gone, too.

I don’t have a name for my little protest and I don’t suggest that anyone else should agree with me. I am not trying to start a movement.

Do whatever floats your boat. It’s your choice.

If you want to buy all you can afford (and more) over the next few weeks, go for it.

It’s not for me.

Am I being hypocritical? I don’t know.

Am I being an old curmudgeon? Probably.

Am I tired of all the endless advertising hoopla? Definitely.

All the best,

JD

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Books – the best investment I ever made in myself and my future

November 11, 2011 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: A Year From Now, Act On Your Dream, Advertising, Books, Marketing, Musings, Self-Improvement, Success and Failure 

If I keep buying books at the rate I have for the last month, I’m going to have to build a new wing on the castle to hold my library. Maybe I’ll give the library at the Biltmore House a run for it’s money. (grin)

When I was a computer consultant, I bought, studied, and re-read over 1,000 books and I don’t know how many magazines and white papers. That was before the Internet and it was the only way to keep up with all the changes and developments.

My wishlist for marketing, advertising, motivational, self-improvement, and “building a business” books is growing every day.

I’m mixing it up as I go. I’m trying to re-read a classic book, a theoretical book, and a practical book (and maybe more) all at the same time. (Well not exactly at the same time, but concurrently.)

I find it funny when people review books on Amazon and talk about a book being old, out of date, and no longer relevant. In most cases, I don’t see that, at all.

Sometimes I think someone gets only what they expect out of a book, and when your expectations are higher, some — not all — books reveal more to you, and the more you know, the more that is revealed.

I also believe that cynical, skeptical people never see the gold that is within their reach. It’s right there in front of their eyes, yet they don’t recognize it.

I’m currently re-reading a couple of great books, “The Success System That Never Fails,” by W. Clement Stone and “Scientific Advertising,” by Claude C. Hopkins. Both were written quite a while ago, and I find both of them to be informative, timely, and very useful. I’ve read both of them before, but it’s been over a decade since the last time.

I always keep a copy of Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich and his huge “Law of Success” books within arm’s reach. Both are bookmarked, dog-eared, underlined, highlighted, and full of my own scribbles. I refer to them all the time.

I recommend Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone’s Success through a Positive Mental Attitude. It has made a positive contribution to the lives of thousands of men and women, including me.

I have several ebooks that Ken Evoy wrote, or co-authored, on my desktop and I refer to them all the time. I read everything he writes and learn something almost every time.

I think some people want to find one book, with all the answers, that lays out a simple, easy-to-follow path to success that works for everyone.

To the best of my knowledge, having read a couple of thousand (or more) books, I don’t believe that book exists. I have found, though, that almost every book I read has a part of the puzzle and a few golden nuggets of brilliance.

As with finding real gold in mountains of dirt and rock, you have to do a lot of digging and following the shiny veins that lead to other veins of value.

A skeptic will never believe that it is possible to find the gold. A gullible person will mistake fool’s gold for the real thing. A prospector will find the most likely place to search for gold and then follow where the clues lead him.

I don’t know about you, but, over time, I tend to remember general concepts and forget details. I have to constantly refresh my thoughts and memories in order to stay on track and continue to be motivated at a high level.

Zig Ziglar once said, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”

So, I read motivational books, watch videos, listen to audio, and remind myself that my current situation is not a trap that will hold me forever. It’s up to me to decide where I want to go and how I’m going to get there — and who I’m going to help along the way.

One year ago, I felt horrible. For the last two years, I’ve barely been able to think. I couldn’t work. I could write, and I spent a lot of time on Facebook, writing when I felt like it. I had a couple of surgeries last year and about six months of chemotherapy, and there were days I could not get out of bed.

But, I intended to kick cancer’s butt, and it looks like we did it.

I still don’t remember a lot of what happened last year, but my memory is getting better. I read some of the things I wrote during the last two years and don’t remember writing them. It’s as if I’m reading something written by someone who sounds a lot like me, and it says I wrote it, and I agree with what it said, but I have no memory of doing it.

I’ve made a lot of progress in the last year. I’m alive, I’m getting healthier and stronger, and I’m able to remember what I learn and re-learn.

I’m still on disability and food stamps, but I intend to be off of both of them before I turn 60 on July 1, 2012. That is my number 1 major goal that I’m working towards.

To get there, I’m reading, learning, re-learning, and developing plans for my business and how I can help my clients and readers.

I’ve been evaluating myself and where I want to go. Will I achieve all my goals? I don’t know. I can’t tell the future. I’m sure there will be mis-steps and I’m sure I’ll turn down some wrong paths, but I’ll get back on track and do my best to reach each goal and then set out towards the next one.

Jim Rohn told of the time when he decided he didn’t want to lie to a girl scout, because he didn’t have enough cash to buy any cookies. That was when he started to invest in himself and to develop the skills and the attitude that led to his success.

I found a video where he tells that story:

Learn more from Jim Rohn: The Challenge to Succeed 4-CD Set by Jim Rohn

I listen to quite a few motivational people, some of whom earned fortunes “selling from the stage” by speaking at seminars and events and then motivating people to rush to the back of the room and buy their informational products that helped others lead better lives, as a result of what they learned and how they changed their attitudes and thinking.

People like Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, Dr. Maxwell Maltz and Dan Kennedy, and others spent untold hours developing the information they presented.

I come from a working class family. My grandfather on one side drove a trolley and worked in several factories. My grandfather on the other side was a tenant farmer.

My parents worked hard and provided for our family.

I remember one day when I was paving a road in Atlanta in the hot July sun and decided that there had to be more to my future and a better way to live.

That’s the day that I decided to do something about it.

I’d done well in high school, but learned that I did not like Ga. Tech, and quit after a couple of years. Then I worked hard for my living. I never seemed to get anywhere, until the day I decided to change my approach to living.

I was talking to a family friend a few weeks later and he introduced me to Napoleon Hill and gave me his copy of Think and Grow Rich.

It was only a few years later that I started my computer consulting business. Everyone told me it would be impossible. I didn’t have a college degree. I had no family connections. I had no money.

What I had was access to a public library. And, so, I started reading and learning, and planning.

(I think it is interesting that Andrew Carnegie charged Napoleon Hill to investigate the richest people of his time and then to report back on a system that would help others succeed. Mr. Hill spent about 20 years on that project and it resulted in the books I mentioned, and others. It was also Andrew Carnegie who donated the money to start the library where I went to learn how to accomplish what I wanted to do. At the time, that library was very valuable to me, because I had no money to buy the books I wanted to read and no friends who had them. So, I borrowed them from the library, and as I scraped up enough money to afford them, I bought them, and others.)

I was never motivated to earn a fortune, but I enjoyed earning enough to live life on my own terms. I’ve done that for the last 30+ years, mostly. There have been hills and valleys and bumps in the road. There have been obstacles to overcome. It was not a smooth path, but it was the path I chose, doing the things I felt were most important for me and my family.

Now, I’ve hit a new low. It’s the first time I’ve ever been dependent upon someone else to support me since I became an adult. I am happy that disability and food stamps got me past this disease that nearly killed me, but I don’t want to dwell upon it and I will stand on my own two feet and meet each of my goals.

If I have to read a thousand books, visit innumerable websites, learn from hundreds of experts, and invest thousands of dollars — that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

I intend to build a marketing system that works for my clients and I’m going to teach others how to do it, too.

You may be one of those people.

But, I’m not going to give it away.

If you’re a person who wants everything for free and you want it handed to you on a silver platter — you’re in the wrong place.

I intend to help people who are serious about business, and people who already own a brick and mortar business in the real world are the people I want to work with.

They don’t have the time to study and learn how to build a real marketing system, but I do. So, that’s what I’m working on.

In some ways, I’m following in the steps of Ziglar, Rohn, Kennedy, and others. I’m buying their books and studying them.

I subscribe to the Kennedy-Glazer Insider’s Circle and I’m working on reading all the books that Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer have written.

And, I’m using the knowledge I’ve developed from decades of consulting and marketing my services as a foundation upon which I’ll build my business.

I have no plans to speak at seminars or sell from the stage, but I do intend to sell. I believe that selling is an honorable profession and I enjoy marketing and selling.

So, now I’ve found a way to get paid for doing something I love.

Once again, I’ve blurred the line between work and play and I am looking forward to the next few years with great anticipation.

I honestly don’t know how people can function in our quickly-changing, ever-more-technical world, if they aren’t constantly reading, learning, and re-learning, and adapting the successes of the past in order to find the successes of the future.

Technology has changed a lot. People have changed some, too, but not as much as some people think.

I like money in the bank. It doesn’t drive me the way it does some people, but I like having it available. It increases the options of what I can do.

But, more than money, I intend to be a better, more knowledgeable, more skillful, and more motivated person a year from now.

And even more so a year after that.

As soon as I post this to my blog, I have books and newsletters to study and a big mind map to update as I continue to develop my plans.

The best thing I ever did was to invest in myself. The written word, in books, newsletters, magazines, websites, white papers, reports, and other forms have been doorways to a better life. I am currently reading a half-dozen books and have 11 in the pile next to me that I’ve never read — yet. But, I will. That ought to keep me busy until January.

If you’ve waded through this and you’re still with me, I truly hope you find a way to earn a living from doing something you passionately enjoy. It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever felt. Not the best, but close to it. (Being loved by someone that I love is a much better feeling, in case you’re wondering.)

At this point, I may be talking only to myself, but if you’re still here, thank you for reading.

Now, I’m going to proof-read this, make any necessary corrections, post it, and then turn my full attention to reading the current Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle newsletter. I can’t wait to see what golden nugget of knowledge I’ll find in it.

If you’re not happy with your life, the power to change it lies within yourself. I’m not promising that it will be easy, but I know it’s possible. I’ve seen too many other people do it.

I’ve done it, myself.

Act on your dream!

JD

PS. If you are an information junkie and are always buying “get rich quick” books and discs, but you never learn from them, stay away from the Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle.

Yes, I’m a member and an affiliate for this and it’s a real gold mine of information for people who are willing to take things slowly, to learn, to study, and then to IMPLEMENT what they learn. If you have the discernment and self-discipline to buy something, learn from it, and put it to work, you will learn a lot by becoming a member. If I had to, I’d give up eating for a few days to keep this subscription active.

If you are the type of spend-thrift who just buys and buys and buys, yet never learns and does, you can spend a lot of money here. These folks are master marketers and you can learn as much from how they market to you as you can from their books, tapes, seminars, and newsletters which explain how they market to you and show how you can do that to find new customers and prospects for your business.

And, yes, I get paid a commission for everything you buy through my link.

So, you would think that I’d want everyone who sees this to join and buy a bunch of stuff, but I don’t.

You read that right. That is NOT what I want.

I’ve seen too many people who waste the opportunities that they find. They buy, buy, buy, but never really commit to selling. They don’t develop the mindset, the systems, the promotions, the offers, and the products that help you build your own business. Somehow, they think that just buying the book or disc will magically impart the wisdom of the ages upon them.

It won’t. Never has. Never will.

So, I don’t want to lead these kinds of people into this marketing system.

Why, because I know you’ll buy. You may buy a lot.

But, when you do nothing with it, you’re going to be angry with me for recommending it and you’re going to be angry with Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer for spending decades learning what works, and then spending more decades recording it in a number of forms and selling it. And, I assure you, they know how to sell, and sell, and sell.

I don’t want the negative vibes and bad energy that so many unhappy people can create. I don’t need that in my life.

So, if I just described you, please don’t buy anything I recommend, and I’d rather you quit reading what I write.

I want to give my best advice and recommendations to people who are open to making their lives better and who are willing to invest time, energy, creativity, and money into improving themselves and learning new skills, and then polishing those skills by implementing and improving what you have learned.

If you are one of those kinds of people, you have come to the right place.

If you’re not, please leave. Go play with the other people who daydream but don’t invest and build.

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Get a Free Marketing Site at Squidoo

June 26, 2007 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Blogging, Marketing, RSS Feeds, Squidoo 

The more I participate at Squidoo.com by building lenses and adding those lenses to groups, the more I see pages on Squidoo referenced in my traffic stats on various sites I have.

What?

I mean that Squidoo is sending an ever-increasing stream of traffic to my sites, blogs, and forums.

Thinking about that, I took a little time this morning to create a new Get A Free Marketing Site lens on Squidoo.

Then, I found several related groups and submitted my new lens to them.

This morning, my lens is ranked at over 180,000. I’m guessing it will jump to about 30,000 or less in the next 24 hours. Then, who knows where it will end up.

To make it a bit more interesting, I added a Plexo module where you can vote for your favorite marketing book on the lens, and I added an RSS feed for marketing articles from 21st Century Articles, my article directory specializing in business, communications, technology, and self-improvement articles.

If you don’t see your favorite marketing book on the list, please feel free to add it.

I have been getting tens of thousands of page views to my Get A Free Marketing Site suite of marketing tools at LinkScout, and I know it has been worth the time and effort – and money – I’ve invested in it.

Therefore, I feel confident in recommending it to you, too.

Act on your dream!

JD

PS. I also recommend that you start building as many Squidoo lenses as you need to promote your business, talk about your hobby, or write about anything in which you are interested. It’s free, and you may well get paid by Squidoo. I earn a small check from them every month, and that’s a lot better than buying advertising, in my opinion.

If you have a blog on just about any topic, you should create a related lens at Squidoo, and don’t forget to use the RSS module to syndicate your blog feed.

It brings me more visitors, and I’m sure it will work for you, too.

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Kimberly Dawn Wells has been very busy lately!

September 19, 2006 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: CafePress, Marketing, Squidoo 

A week ago, I didn’t know who Kimberly Dawn Wells was, and now I’m running across her lenses and groups everywhere I look!

That’s a good thing.

About Kimberly Dawn Wells

Kimberly is very active on Squidoo, CafePress, MySpace, and probably other places, but I’ve been concentrating on those three for the last couple of days. She has an outstanding lens about herself on Squidoo and an equally impressive page about herself on MySpace.

Activities on Squidoo

Kimberly is a Citizen Squid at Squidoo and has been creating groups on Squidoo to make it easier for lensmasters to group a bunch of lenses together on a common topic. While this is a pre-release feature at the moment, it looks like it won’t be too much longer before it becomes at least a beta release.

I’ve added a couple of my lenses to the Country Music Fan and Totally Awesome Tees groups, and I’ll be participating in more groups as they become available. I think this is going to be a very important addition to Squidoo.

She offers helpful advice

Kimberly is very helpful and offers her advice on a number of topics.

For example, she offers some very helpful tips on her MySpace Made Easy lens to help us improve our experiences at MySpace.

Activities on MySpace

Kimberly has several groups at MySpace, including Success with Squidoo and Success with CafePress. Groups on MySpace include the ability to discuss topics of interest on forums associated with the group and the optional ability to post bulletins which seem to be used to post news or ads.

I’m new to MySpace, so my limited knowledge of the community may not allow me to fully appreciate the nuances of membership and participation there. I’m open to being educated on the subject.

I created two groups at MySpace for Murphy NC Business and Site Build It Webmasters, which was an outgrowth of my Site Build It lens at Squidoo.

Free to participate

You can participate free at Squidoo and MySpace and I think both are great places to create content and tell about your activities and interests.

On MySpace, this is done through conversations on the forums, posting of bulletins, blogging, and leaving comments on your friends’ pages.

On Squidoo, you participate by creating lenses (one page keyword focused pages with out-pointing links) and joining the groups as they become available.

Both of these sites work well with other communities where I participate, including Ryze.com, MySpace.com, and others.

I look forward to meeting you on one or more of these communities.

Feel free to tell me what you think. Correct me where I’m wrong and educate me where I’m ignorant.

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Chris Anderson – Long Tail Marketing for Small Business

September 9, 2006 by JD · 1 Comment
Filed under: Marketing, Products at Amazon, Small Business 

Ken Evoy, President of Sitesell, Inc., recently interviewed Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, at Long Tail Marketing For Small Business.

Chris Anderson is the executive editor of WIRED magazine and has a good overview of technology and marketing, as evidenced by the buzz that is building surrounding his book.

In the industrial selling model, corporations decided what was going to be sold and there was a limited number of items offered for a limited time. All companies that are involved in mass production and mass distribution are working within this model.

In the developing digital selling model, products don’t go out of production and you don’t have to sell thousands or millions of items to generate a profit. You can sell fewer items over a longer time interval. This is a simplistic explanation, and Ken goes into more depth at Long Tail Marketing For Small Business.

Additionally, there is an audio interview that you should listen to if you have any interest in small businesses and marketing to niche audiences, and I think that pertains to almost all small businesses.

Listen to the interview. If what you hear excites you about the possibilities of selling into infinite niches, buy the book and read it.

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Make Your Content PREsell! Just Released

November 7, 2004 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Marketing, Musings, Site Build It 

Over the years, drawing from a wide range of sources, I’ve learned some of the art of building a website that actually earns a profit instead of dying with no traffic.

It hasn’t been easy to find the information and separate the worthwhile from the worthless. Sometimes they’re hard to tell apart before you put them to the test and see for yourself what the results are.

One thing I’ve learned is to listen to Ken Evoy. As time goes by, I listen less to others and more to him.

Why? Because I’m earning money following his advice and often losing money following the advice of others. Plus, I just like reading what he writes. I like his style and the fact that he is devoted to not only building his own company, but also to helping as many others as he can to build their own successful online businesses.

You’ve heard me rave about Make Your Site Sell! and Site Build It!. I’m a very happy customer after buying both of these products and others he offers. When I find something that works, I want to learn as much about it as I can so I can put it to work for me as much as possible.

Ken has just released a new ebook — Make Your Content PREsell! If it had been available, and if I’d know what I do now, I’d have jumped at the chance to purchase this book.

In a little over 130 pages, Ken condenses what he’s learned about designing and building a website that earns money.

It doesn’t have nearly the amount of content as Make Your Site Sell!, but it sells for one-third the price. It isn’t an in-depth guide like MYSS, but more like a “here’s how you do it” kind of friend-leading-a-friend guide for someone who wants to get started or for someone who has tried and not succeeded.

It will help you get started on the right foot rather than floundering or wasting time and money going down the wrong path.

Ken reiterates that it’s quality content that attracts free visitors through the search engines and that content presells by establishing your credibility as a person who knows what you write about. It’s that credibility that presells your visitors and helps convert them into happy customers — over time.

I just finished reading the book. It has excellent insight into what it takes to make a profitable website. He gives numerous, easy to understand examples that make the whole process clearer.

This is NOT a get-rich-quick book.

Ken explains the concepts and tasks that are necessary to build a site, and these things take time and effort. This ebook will shortcut the time it takes to reach profitability, if you read it, learn from it, and put it to work.

The best news? It’s only $10 USD. Not $100. Not $30. Only $10.

Buy it for yourself and tell your friends and family about this great deal.

If you want to build an online business and you’re not willing to spend $10 to learn from someone who has already learned the hard way, you might as well reconsider your dedication to online marketing, and do something else.

As with all his products, it comes with a money-back guarantee if you don’t like it. Where’s the risk?

While it’s too late to change some of my big sites, what I learned in this book will definitely shape my approach to building new sites.

This book teaches the concepts and approaches to marketing and communicating, not the technical things like HTML, FTP, CSS, and the like. There are other books that cover those things, or you could use Site Build It! to create your site and not have to worry about them.

I personally recommend Make Your Content PREsell!.

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