Bottom line, I thought about it plenty, just never took action on my thoughts.  Since I’d rather not waste any more of my time and energy on something that’s not moving me forward and I take full responsibility for my actions (or lack of),  I’ve made the decision to do something about it and I’m asking for your help.

Please visit often, leave comments, ask questions, and hold me accountable.

Always Grateful,

Now, on with new business . . .

Nothing frustrates me more then when I have to chase after customer support for answers. It seems that recently more and more of my business transactions have required making contact with customer service and my experiences have been really crappy to say the least. Is it common to receive such poor customer service or is it just that I’ve never had to seek out customer service before?

If you’re going to claim that you’ll answer inquiries and tickets within 24 – 72 hours I think waiting a week is more than enough time before sending a second email and/or support ticket. The really sad part –  I’m still getting no response! And trust me these are not businesses that are new or unknown. These are business run and owned by reputable people that can be seen on social media platforms yet just have non-responsive customer support.

If anyone can shed light on such unprofessional neglectfulness, I would love to understand the thought process behind such thinking.

My good friend, Ken McArthur is standing in a circus tent today
asking 2,000 people to spread a message of hope to teenagers who
don’t think that life is worth living.

I think it’s a great message of hope for anyone and would love to
see all of my readers think about spreading it today.

Here’s Ken’s simple message for for giving hope (and maybe saving
someone’s life!):

G – Greet and meet: talk to others, smile, say hello, ask
someone how they are doing

I – Involve yourself and others: find a cause you can support,
volunteer, pledge resources. Get the people around you
involved, especially if you see someone beginning to
withdraw. Invite them to participate in some activity, to
“get out” of their comfort zone

V – Validate others: tell others that they matter – especially
family members and friends that you tend to see daily but
may take for granted, give genuine complements

E – Empathize: be a listening ear, take time to be fully
present, don’t try to solve – just acknowledge someone’s
feeling/hurt

You can find out more about Ken’s wonderful project with his
Impact Action Team at:

http://speakupsavelives.org/

Spread this message today!

Yes he did promote an upcoming event, but hey, the content he covered and gave away for free on this call was well worth the time. And I’m sure, just a sampling of what you’d get from ANY of his Live events. In a previous post about attending live events, I spoke of my experience at Howie’s Online Profit Workshop. And I’ll still stand by what I said, “If you can get to a Live event, Go! If you can get to a Howie Schwartz Live event, Go faster!

If you’re interested in listening to the webcast replay of this call, visit                                 http://tinyurl.com/6rczhs

If you’re interested in attending Howie’s next Live event, go to: http://www.TrafficTornadoWorkshop.com
I believe you should also be able to listen to the replay here, if he takes it down from the site listed above.

And No this is Not an affiliate plug. This is just my humble opinion and strong suggestion as to where to go and who to follow/listen to when it comes to Making Money in any Niche Market.

Peace and Prosperity!

And just so you know, there is well known web 2.0 marketer who not too long ago released “for sale” a very similar tool. Can’t beat “free” value!

Get it today!

FireFox 3.0

ScribeFire Add-On

Yet, since turning to online marketing, I’ve forced myself to do many of things that are a little uncomfortable for me. Like opening up to complete strangers, posting my picture, recording my voice and soon to be posting live video with myself included (up until now, I’ve only posted a PP presentation with my voice as audio).

With an upgraded computer on hand and the newly released version 3.0 of FireFox, I decided to give it another shot. And wanted to try this ScribeFire add-on I saw on the TechCrunch site. There appears to be quite an extensive amount of add-ons and plug-ins available for FF and I look forward to playing around with it.

I’m actually doing this post with the ScribeFire add-on at this very moment. ScribeFire is a full-featured blog editor that intergrates with your FF browser and lets you easily post to your blog. When I’m done with this post, I’ll just push a little button “publish as a page” and viola! If all works well it should show up as a new post in my blog! How easy is that?

I also believe, but haven’t gotten that far yet, that I should be able to drag and drop formatted text from pages that I’m browsing, take notes, upload images, and post to multiple blogs. Sounds pretty cool if you ask me – and I’m far from being hip and up-to-date with the latest and greatest techy computer stuff. I will keep you updated but for now lets see if this really works. Drummmm roll please . . . I’m pushing the button . . .

I had heard Howie a few months ago on a teleseminar with another well-known Social Marketing Web 2.0 genius,  Jack Humphrey.   I was simply amazed to hear what they had to say, but in retrospect, I was not ready for the content they delivered.  It just sat there in the back of my brain as I continued to focus my efforts in other areas.  The impression lasted however and the names would not be forgotten.  I continued to keep up with Jack through his Friday Traffic Report and heard Howie maybe one other time (not really sure of this as I think I had him mixed up with someone else).  In any case, I liked the quality of content they delivered and put them on my “worth following” list.

Then I heard Joel Comm on Ask.JoelComm.com answer the popular question,  ”What’s the fastest way to make money online?”  You can watch the clip here if you like but the short answer was, “Go to a conference!”  “Go to a conference!”  

According to Joel . . .conferences are a great way to Learn and Network.  At conferences you not only get great content from people of authority, you’re able to meet and network with like minds.  Who knows, you may just find your next JV partner or even mentor.

So when I heard about the Online Profit Workshop and that it was being held in NYC (local for me) I really gave it a second thought and decided to take advantage.  Must say, “NO regrets!”  Probably one of the best things I could have done for myself so far since starting online.  The energy, the content, and the resources were unbelievable.  And the fact that this was a small group setting really worked to my advantage. 

When the workshop was over and done with and I was walking out of the room, all I could think of was, “This man just handed us (on a sliver platter) what he does repeatedly to succeed.  While I’ve only been online now for 7 months, if I apply what I learned from Howie Schwartz at the Online Profit Workshop, I’ll be at least 6 months ahead of the average marketer. Hmmm,  I’d be a fool not to apply what I’ve just learned.”

That’s how intense and beneficial the content he delivered at the workshop was.  He gave us a sense of how his mind works and actually walked us through the exact process he uses to find a niche market and then dominate. 

In closing, if you can get yourself to a live event, step outside your house/office and go!   If you hear Howie Schwartz is in town, get there faster! 

We all know that working online can be difficult in the sense that others really don’t understand what we do and we can start to feel isolated and alone.  At least that’s my experience.  But live events have benefits galore – resources, networking, knowledge, and energy just to name a few. 

Peace and Prosperity!

There were times when I had 2 and 3 calls going on at once switching ears and phones and listening with the computer.  Looking back at my behavior, it was totally insane.  Did I get some good information?  Sure I did.  But was I productive in my online business?  Not really.  

What pulled my head out of the clouds was when I heard not 1, not 2, but 3 very successful gurus say that too much input can actually decrease output.  And everytime I heard about why people fail, it always came back to “moi.”  So with that being said, Let the games begin because I’m back and I’m moving on up!

And just so you know, my information overload detour wasn’t a total lost.  I got to hear Frank Kern, Eben Pagan, Dan Kennedy, David Garfinkel, Rich Schefren, John Carlton, Brad Fallon, Charlie Page, and Alex Mandossian, just to name a few.  

After a while, you’ll start to learn the names and soon be able to match a name with a face and even the area of expertise.  If you’re like me, you’ll start to sign up for information from all over the internet and find yourself overwhelmed with a ton of information.  Some useful and most garbage.  It is through this process, that the “real” gurus will outshine the “posers” and “wanna be” which should then signficantly reduce the number of lists you signed up with to a managable number.

By visiting their websites, reading their content, and listening to them speak (watch for free telesiminars, webinars, etc) you will be better able to determine if what they have to offer fits your needs.  Not all gurus are going to be suitable for what you want to accomplish online and hopefully you will figure this out with out spending a ton of money.  What took me a little while (and some money) to realize is that everyone is selling something and being an affiliate or a JV partner is not beyond the scope of a guru.  In fact, they are often the go to guys/gals because they have “a list” of a decent size and the people on that list already trust and like them so are more prone to take their recommendations and buy from them.

It is those that provide me with quality content and not constantly trying to sell me something that I tend to faithfully follow.  I don’t mind a few sales pitches here and there, but don’t make every email about you and your products.  Oh yeah, another big selling point for me is when your emails get answered by the person themselves.  Support is ok, at least your question is getting answered.  But when you know you’re really talking to the person whose product your interested in, it’s just that much sweeter!

Peace and Prosperity!

I’ve fallen behind on my posts and general marketing because I’ve allowed myself to get distracted by information overload.  I’ve tried multi task thinking I’ll get more accomplished, only to find out at the end of the day I’m rather unproductive. What I’ve realized over the last few weeks is that losing focus and falling prey to everyday distractions is procrastination in disguise and that sticking to a plan always proves to be more productive.  Avoid and Overcome Procrastination

For many people, putting off their work for later is more habit than desire. It can be so hard to get into a groove where starting your tasks in a timely fashion is a priority; especially if the consequences for being late are things that one can easily bear.  Two main reasons we procrastinate . . .

If you are one of these people, yet you desire to shake off your propensity for procrastination, then you have come to the right place. Here are a few tips to help you overcome this dilemma and become a more productive and reliable person. 

1.  Set schedules – It is very important that you have a list of “attainable” goals to accomplish per day. This will help you realistically budget your time and resources. One of the cardinal sins people commit in regards to performing their tasks is to put off their work because they feel like there is so much time left. A journal, organizer, or calendar of events will help you plan and schedule your task so that you can start them promptly and finish them on time.

2.  Save the Vacation for Later – Many people put their work off for later saying, “I’ll just have a little fun then buckle down to work later.” While it may be true that they may have more than enough time to accomplish their tasks, it would be better if they finished their work first and relax afterwards.  

Wouldn’t relaxation be sweeter if it were after a taxing job? If you choose to lay back and relax before doing your tasks, you will be more prone to burnout and will have nothing exciting left to look forward to after accomplishing a task. It is always better to have slack period AFTER a job than before one, especially considering that people are prone to overusing their slack time. This is suicide if you are heading towards a deadline.

3.  Never Underestimate Your Tasks – Sometimes procrastination sets in because people underestimate the resources, difficulty, and time spent for a particular task. They will usually say, “It’s just mowing the lawn, it’s easy; I could do it in a jiffy.” The problem is, no matter how trivial the task, it still takes time and resources to accomplish. If you underestimate a task, you will most likely set too little time to do it and schedule it too close to its deadline.  

4.  Don’t Allow Yourself to Get Comfortable Doing Nothing – It would definitely help if you kept a subconscious alarm whenever you are doing nothing. Get this alarm to remind you of things that may need to be done. This will help you foster the notion that jobs accomplished now means more time for relaxation later. However, even if this is the case, do not forget to put ample time in for rest and to remove all thoughts of troubles before hitting the sack. The trick here, however, is not to overdo you rest. There is a difference between resting and idling. Always set the right amount of time for rest and stick to that schedule.

Peace and Prosperity!