attention

My Top 10 List Of TED Talks On Creativity

by Paul Joseph July 25, 2011 Featured

Hello again. I’m off on a new tangent this week, it’s been inspired by Yaro’s last post . Actually, I’ve had this niggling feeling I needed to take his advice since receiving the email in my inbox several weeks ago with tips on writing great articles – I just have so much spinning in my head that it often takes a while to action everything that’s fighting for my attention. The Master Plan Yaro’s great idea is to make top 10 lists of things related to my topic. He suggested a top 10 list of my favorite books on creativity. Whilst that’s a brilliant idea, there’s one small problem … for some terrible reason, most likely due to my own scattered brain, I’ve stopped reading books to completion. I get part way through them and charge off on other tangents. This is a considerable problem when it comes to making top 10 lists of my favorite books on creativity. So I did what all good creatives do when faced with an impasse and I improvised . Whilst I spend the next few weeks finishing reading all the books on my top 10 list, I decided to make a top 10 list of something else. The “something else” is largely responsible for why I don’t finish books anymore! Details Of My Ongoing Love Affair I have an ongoing love affair with TED . At the end of the day, when I’m sick of dealing with black text on a white computer screen, I crawl into bed with TED and let the world’s most inspiring, informative, ingenious and innovative people take me on adventures into their worlds. I don’t watch TV these days. I watch TED. Somehow, because I’m learning new things and being inspired by what I see, I can sneak past that feeling of guilt I get from watching mind numbing entertainment because it’s not productive. So my first ever “top 10 list” is my top 10 TED talks on creativity . The Master Plan Explained This is how it’s going to look. I’m going to show in order of 1 to 10, the talks I have found to be most inspiring and also practically useful in regards to creativity. I want to explain to you how each clip made the cut and why it’s ranked as it is. So each week, I’ll cover two or three clips, and try to explain why they’re important and a give summary of the magnificence within them. Some of the talks are directly related to creativity. Others are great examples of someone being creative. And others are expressions of crucial elements of creativity, like Isabel Allende’s talk on passion. There’s one talk in here that isn’t so much about creativity. But I realized it’s possibly the most useful way to overcome one of the biggest stumbling blocks to realizing your potential, and take the risks needed to explore and express your creativity. Even though it’s not necessarily pitched as being about creativity, it could be the most important clip of them all if it moves you to action. Drum Roll… Here’s The Top 10 List Sir Ken Robinson “ Schools Kill Creativity ” Sir Ken Robinson “ Bring On The Revolution ” Tim Brown “ Creativity and Play ” Isabel Allende “ Passion ” Ross Lovegrove “ Organic Designs ” Tim Harford “ Trial, Error and the God Complex ” Matt Cutts “ Try Something New For 30 Days ” Joshua Walters “ Being Just Crazy Enough ” Larry Lessig “ The Law Is Strangling Creativity ” Elizabeth Gilbert “ About Genius ” As you can see, I’ve got a bit of a thing for Sir Ken , I have an ongoing love affair with his work to rival the one I have for TED talks. Sir Ken even tops my TOP 10 book list and hogs the first few places : / I think this is for a number of reasons. Details Of My Other Love Affair Ken’s talks are educational, insightful, beautifully articulated and they make me laugh. This combination is a bit like holding the ace of spades as far as I’m concerned, especially that last element. Another reason they top the list is because Sir Ken’s talks set a great foundation for the rest. Sir Ken deals with the starting point of the problem of dislocated creativity, our schooling. We waste a good twelve years of our lives learning how to do things that don’t energize and inspire us… learning how to stuff our dreams away and stamp out our creativity so we can endure those years of schooling. Really, it’s just like twelve years in training for what to expect for the rest of our lives… Unless we’re blessed to have held onto enough hope and determination to do what we love anyway… or unless by some stroke of luck, the schooling system actually did steer us in the direction of living the life that speaks to our deepest truth . Sadly, Sir Ken says during his second talk, of the many people he meets, very few have been able to find this place within themselves to live from. If you have the time and inclination to watch these first two talks in my top 10, I assure you it will be a great foundation for us to launch into the ones that follow in the list next week. Once again, I’d love to hear any comments you have at the end, and I’m going to leave you with a fabulous Sir Ken quote about creativity. “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” Cheers, Neroli. Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: advice, attention, books, life, mindset, online

0 comments Read the full article →

A Simple Tip To Raise Your Profile And Get You Lots Of Attention

by Paul Joseph July 18, 2011 Featured

Last week, I was asked a series of very interesting and valid questions by one our readers, Malik Mirza . Malik wanted to know about ways to deal with continuity and consistency , marketing and competition in blogging . Because there’s such a wealth of experience among the different writers on this blog, I suggested asking some of the other writers the same questions to get a variety of answers and options for tackling these issues. One thing I know for sure, is that what works for one person, doesn’t always work for another, but there’s always a way to get what you want if you keep looking. In this blog post, I’m going to look at some of the things I’ve learned from my own experience of marketing and attracting attention to my work. Success By Association Marketing is interesting… from my experience so far, one of the most effective kinds of marketing seems to come through association with someone who is high profile in my niche. Even if they aren’t in my niche, but are somewhat related to my work, this still works. Leveraging my profile by association is something I would never have paid any attention to before it consistently proved to be a great generator of interest and attention. When people associate me with someone they already hold in high esteem, then they start to take more notice of me. It consistently shows up that being associated with a “big name” or recognized “authority” generates more interest and attention even though I’m the same person sharing the same information as before. I Always Thought This Was Weird This has been a very weird thing for me to reconcile with. I never used to get photos of myself with well-known people I met, and I didn’t understand why other people did. I used to think, “ Why do people do that? Having a photo of yourself next to someone important doesn’t change who you are – having them next to you in a picture doesn’t make you any more valuable than you already are.” But having seen how effective it is for leveraging my own profile or even just to get people’s attention, I’ve started doing it as well. Why Does It Work? Malik wanted to know why this works, it seems that both of us can be somewhat perplexed by this phenomenon. Reason 1: One of the reasons leveraging profile by association works is that people are so bombarded with so much information fighting for attention, I think they just can’t give an in depth appraisal of everyone’s work. Taking a recognized authority’s reference is just faster & easier. Reason 2 : Another reason is that people do generally want to be seen as part of the “pack”, we’re wired to want to fit in as part of a survival mechanism. So if person “A” is a trusted authority, and person “A” says person “B” is worth listening to, people will agree if it looks like that’s the general consensus. Reason 3: A third reason is related to your values and filters. You have a unique set of values through which you filter the world and these same values direct your actions in life. You’re constantly screening people and events through these filters. Recognized and trusted authorities have already been passed through the filters and you trust them because they align with your own value system and have demonstrated their value. Because the trusted authority has your stamp of approval, people who are associated with them are given a more streamlined passage through your filters. Profile leverage by association gives you a jump-start on everyone else who is vie-ing for attention. It’s important to note, just because you associate with a high profile person, it doesn’t mean you are immediately accepted as someone who has something valuable and valid to share. What You Need To Do To Make It Work It’s completely pointless to run around getting associated with high profile people unless you’re doing something that adds value to them and gives value to others. High profile people have massive demands on their attention and the key is to focus on how you can help them rather than what they can do for you. I’ve found that my writing skills are a highly valuable resource . I can offer them to add value to people I want to be associated with and give value to others as well. Writing for Yaro is a great example of this. I’m also getting to spend a day interviewing one of my favorite businessmen in August. Nobody gets to spend a day with this man for free, he is flat out and in great demand. I offered to take transcripts of the interviews, write up some articles for his PR team to use, and depending on what content we uncover, I may be able to put together a few chapters to go in a book for him. If you want to make use of leveraging your profile by association, the golden rule is look at how you can add value to the person you want to be associated with, and how you can give value to others . Two More Ways To Get Extra Attention There’s a myriad other ways to generate interest and draw attention to what you’re doing. Before I sign off, I’ll mention a couple more things I know have worked. I have two friends, Fran and Gideon who have found YouTube videos to be the holy grail for building business. Another friend, Leonie , was recently featured on the Word Press Freshly Pressed page. Leonie was on day 4 of a 30 day writing challenge when her blog was selected for the Freshly Pressed page. This generated around 3000 page views and nearly 90 comments, very exciting traffic for a newbie blogger! I’d better buzz and get some other work done! Hope this has been useful and I’d love to hear your comments at the end. Cheers, Neroli Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: attention, Featured, online, people, person, work

0 comments Read the full article →

Is Email A Bigger Productivity Killer Than Marijuana? (UK Study Says Yes)

by Paul Joseph July 13, 2011 Featured

Tim sits at his desk. He fidgets. He knows he has to get some work done, but he can’t. He is going to be in big trouble if he doesn’t. Oops, his mind wandered off again, quickly, back to the task at hand. He fidgets again. “Ohhh, this is so hard. I feel uncomfortable” his mind groans. He looks at the clock, how long has it been? Is it time yet? The tension is building, it’s like a kettle boiling over. This is so hard. Tim isn’t a 12 year old school student needing to do an assignment. Tim is in his twenties and has a successful corporate job. But he can’t sit still and concentrate on a single task to save his life. Sound familiar? What We Do Everyday Shapes Our Brain But Tim wasn’t always like this. It wasn’t until technology changed and made things way more accessible, that Tim found his habits changing. Slowly as his habits changed, Tim’s brain and then his behavior began to change. And slowly he became someone who has self-induced attention deficit disorder. The brain is a remarkable organ and as humans we possess the most remarkable brain of all. Our higher functioning brain separates us from the primates, allowing us the use of intricate communication skills such as language, advanced manual dexterity, complex problem solving skills and higher cognitive thought processes such as philosophy. It also allows us to check email every five minutes, quickly update our Facebook status and look at Twitter responses. If I wanted to, I could also send an SMS to someone else while talking to another person on the phone. Just because I can, does it mean I should? It’s True, The Brain Can Change Probably one of the most profound medical discoveries that has really gained a lot of attention recently is that of neuroplasticity . It is a fancy way of saying that the brain is not a fixed and rigid organ but a malleable one, which is molded and influenced by our environment and repetitive tasks. The brain doesn’t discriminate between good and bad things to adapt to. Constantly thinking negative thoughts? That can become ingrained and that brain pattern can become stronger and stronger over time. Only every concentrating on one task for five minutes at a time before you check email, open a new browser or send out a tweet? Do that regularly everyday for a few months and you have rewired your brain and probably not for the better. We live in an age now where there is no shortage of information or things battling for our attention ( a previous article spoke about how advertisers are trying to break through the clutter). There is no problem being connected or online anymore. Most of us are online all day at work. Now our mobiles are online also, and if that’s not powerful enough you have your portable laptops and tablets to take around with you. We are basically online every waking hour. There can be a constant stream of information or form of communication reaching us all the time. But what has this done for our ability to stay focused on one single task, concentrate on it and just get it done ? Probably not a lot of good. The problem is most of us may not realize that these distractions are really hampering our productivity . The Marijuana vs Email Study This study is shocking to say the least. There was a study by a psychiatrist at King’s College in London in 2005 that administered IQ tests to three different groups: the first group just performed the IQ test, the second group was distracted by email and ringing phones, and the third was stoned on marijuana. It was no surprise the first group outperformed the other two by an average of ten points. What was surprising was the email/ringing phone group did worse than the stoners by six points. “Workers distracted by email and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers, new research has claimed.” The disruption of a task at hand can take up to 45 minutes until you ‘get back on track’. It is like there is a certain amount of cognitive momentum that is lost and takes time to regain. Our Attention Is Like A Flashlight We should look at our ability to concentrate on something as a flashlight. It can only shine brightly on one thing at a time. Sure you can spread the light out over many objects, but the strength and quality will be dissipated. Pick your one task and focus on it. How Can I Improve My Ability To Focus? Practice some form of meditation . Meditation can take many forms, but basically it is the ability to concentrate on one thing. Be it the breath, a repetitive mantra or a certain object. Meditation has been shown to be highly beneficial to the brain , especially the frontal lobes which are responsible for concentration. A practice of meditation does not have to be sitting cross-legged on the floor. You can practice meditation with any daily activity by fully engaging and concentrating on the activity. It can be done during washing the dishes. Instead of letting your mind wander aimlessly while dishwashing, bring it back to the present moment. At first it will be very difficult, but over time you will find it easier to do. Conclusion I think the best place to start is to just be mindful of our daily habits and the effect they can have on us. I see the unfortunate results of mindless behavior everyday now in adults with the attention spans of children. For example, a grown adult who cannot carry on a proper conversation with another adult in front of them without having to answer and reply to a text message. Be here now and be mindful of your current moment. Leevi Romanik Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: attention, book, college, environment, london

0 comments Read the full article →

The Day My Life Changed

by Paul Joseph July 4, 2011 Featured

Almost a month ago I woke up to a phone call at 7am. It was my mother’s partner’s son calling me to tell me that my mum had a stroke and was in hospital. She had been watching TV, heard a buzzing noise, had a seizure and started speaking gibberish. Her partner called an ambulance and although she recovered somewhat on the way to the hospital emergency area, she succumbed again and was admitted to the intensive care unit. I arrived at the hospital the morning after the stroke. Thus began our new life. This experience was, and continues to be an emotional roller coaster. It is difficult to see your mother unable to move or talk, essentially trapped in her own body. She’s a strong minded intelligent woman, currently facing her worst nightmare. When she is most alert she can communicate with us via her left toe and arms, and her eyes open, but most of the time she is in a half awake state, constantly poked and prodded by the hospital staff. Her prognosis is somewhat unknown. Time will tell how much better she will get and the main medicine is patience. This is the kind of patience that can last months – even years . I’m currently typing this sitting in the stroke ward next to my mother. She is surrounded by people who are in varying degrees of the same condition and a dedicated staff of nurses and doctors there to help. As her only son I am the closest person in the world to her and I know my presence and voice has the potential to be of the most help. I especially want to be here during the times she is afraid, and to monitor her changes so I can stay abreast of her condition. I Have A Day Job The purpose of this article is not to reflect on how emotional, spiritual or awareness changing an experience like this can be to all involved. That reflection expressed in writing will no doubt come in the future, as the story progresses and I feel it’s the right time to write about it. For the time being I want to offer some explanation for where I have been, given this blog hasn’t seen my writings for nearly four weeks. Considering I have published something of my own on this blog at least once a week since it started I figured you might be wondering what happened to me. I’ve communicated via Twitter and Facebook to update people, but since not everyone follows me at those sites I figured it was time to update the E-J audience. Currently I have a day job . I spend every day, seven days a week, at hospital with my mum. I go home to feed the cat and do the one or two chores I give myself each night (clean dishes, wash clothes, pay bills, process email, etc.). I cook myself some dinner, watch a little TV, check the Internet, then head to bed and do it all over again the next day. I don’t feel upset that my life has become so focused on the hospital and may well be for many months because I can’t imagine anywhere else I want to be. This is a job I have to do and want to do. Being elsewhere feels uncomfortable, though of course I realize balance is necessary, so I don’t spend every hour next to my mum’s bed. I manage to do some exercise at the park near the hospital, head to the city for lunch once a week, see friends occasionally and do some work on the laptop. As horrible at times as this experience has been, it’s also been a real privilege. Though I don’t wish to see my mother suffer, since reality is what it is, I’ve had to take on board this situation and process it from all angles. On some levels it has been amazing and a gift, though it is far from easy. What About Business? At the start of this year I began to make changes to this blog. I’ve written previously about the introduction of the new columnists to E-J, about the switch to a magazine model and increasing the value this site provides through other peoples contributions. A big benefit of this process, and certainly a big motivation behind it, has been to remove the dependency this blog has had on my work to succeed. Little did I realize that just a few months after making these changes would I face a situation that would really test the system. As you can imagine I haven’t had much time to do work, nor did I have a lot of motivation, especially during the first few weeks where everything was constant changes, big decisions and lots of communicating with people about what was going on with my mum. I consider it a real blessing that the entire time I spent next to my mother when all this broke out, my business continued to function pretty much as it had. Here’s what my business currently does without me – The wonderful team of columnists continue to share their entrepreneurs journey with you, with one new article per week-day coming from either Leevi, Neroli, Dr Mani, Dee, Leslie, Nacie, Aziz, Kerry, Mitch, Sunil or Ken . Steph , our editor, works with the columnist team to edit and maintain a publishing schedule. She also liaises with all the writers and handles applications from new budding columnists. Angela , my long serving admin person, handles all the email and customer service for our paying members as she has done for many years. I generally batch process emails once every week or two, handling the 20 to 30 messages that pile up that only I can deal with. In another situation of good timing, development on my new software service recently went into a phase that doesn’t require much from me. We completed the visual designs, which I worked closely on with Mick my designer, but that wrapped up in May. Mick and my development partner Walter have been working hard on the code to put everything together, which has progressed without needing my input. Although I’m not making as much money as I did when all my courses were launched the first time, enough comes in from advertising, affiliate income and new memberships into my Blog Mastermind program to keep us cash flow positive. This all happens either automatically through payment systems and email autoresponders, or with a little help from Angela in the case of setting up sponsor ad campaigns. Thanks to the years spent building up my blog, creating content and recruiting a small but vitally helpful work-from-home team, things run pretty smoothly. It’s also a wonderful feeling knowing that our new projects are still progressing without me, since these are parts of my life I most look forward to on a personal level. There Is One Thing Given that I wasn’t able to find time for anything during the first two weeks in the intensive care unit it was interesting to see exactly what happened without me. Everything in the business continued fine, with only one area that required my help – blog article headline writing . I’m quite picky with blog headlines here on E-J. The columnists write their own headlines, which sometimes we use as-is. More often than not however, I like to go to work to come up with improvements, since the headline is the most important part of an article , determining whether people bother to read it or not. This is a creative task and somewhat subjective when it comes to deciding what will work. You only get once chance with a new article to release it with a good headline, since an article is only new once. It can be a hit and miss process, but since I’ve spent over five years writing headlines and email subject lines (very similar to headlines for blogs), I’ve become intuitive about what works well. Steph, our editor, has stepped up to the plate when it comes to headlines, however her development as a kick-ass copywriter is still progressing. She is having to “unlearn” quite a bit of her academic background in order to develop this skill. Steph and I have been doing headline brainstorming sessions a couple of times per week in order to sort out the headlines. We chat on skype and come up with headline concepts that we slowly work on until we have something we like. Since I’ve been in hospital, Gideon Shalwick has stepped up and helped out at night working with Steph. Headlines and responding to email once a week or every two weeks are the only jobs I’ve needed to do. Even emails don’t really “need” me, since rarely are they actually pressing matters vital to the success of the business. Can Your Business Run Without You? This experience has really challenged me to think what would happen if it was me facing a rehabilitation period of possibly years? What would happen to my business if I couldn’t do ANY work? These are questions you should ask yourself. Beyond your own health, consider what would happen if you had a loved one suddenly need your attention 10 hours per day. What would happen to your business? Would it keep working? Here are some more specific questions you should consider answering if in the event you were no longer able to put in as much work – or any work at all – into your business. What happens if you don’t reply to emails? What happens if you don’t write articles or produce any content? What happens if your contractors or staff don’t have you there to tell them what to do and make decisions? Does your business generate an income without you being there to collect the money, send invoices etc? Who pays your bills? Who has access to your passwords to work on servers when you are not there? How long can you go without doing anything new on your business at all? What about Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools – does your business survive if you don’t maintain these? Can your systems automatically deliver what people buy? What about customer support if things go wrong? Does your business grow when you are not there, or shrink? Have a think about some of these questions and how ready you are for situations that will make you face them. And while you are there, I’d appreciate a prayer or whatever is appropriate from you for my mum, Zahava Starak , during this challenging time. She needs all the help she can get. Yaro Starak Living In Hospital Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: article, attention, code, internet, online, small-business

0 comments Read the full article →

Nook e-book reader overtakes Amazon’s Kindle

by Paul Joseph June 20, 2011 Featured

The war has just started for the tablets and there is stiff competition from all sides. At first, it was the iPad which caught the attention of many, which was followed by Amazon’s Kindle and now Barnes & Noble’s recently launched Nook e-book reader. (Visit Yourstory.in for full news, other content, and much more!)

Tagged as: amazon, attention, content, frontpage, other-content

0 comments Read the full article →

Boy Mogul’s Business is a Model for Success

by Paul Joseph June 3, 2011 Featured

Has your website crashed from too much traffic lately? It has if your name is Hart Main, a 13 year-old boy who recently started Mancans (scented candles for guys) in the family kitchen. Hart claims the idea came to him in the form of a question (“Why don’t they make candles with smells guys would like?”) which he posed when his sister started selling a line of “girly scented” candles. In a matter of months, the answer to that question has become a business gone viral. Although he never imagined it, Hart Main’s manly start-up has become a model for small business success. Here are 5 lessons any budding entrepreneur can learn from a 13 year-old boy with an idea and the desire to make it happen. 1. Find a need and meet it: When he jokingly asked, “Why don’t they make scented candles for guys?” Hart had identified a need. Although you could say that the kid got lucky, the truth is that he made his own luck by having the insight to ask the question in the first place. The world abounds with unfulfilled needs just waiting for the right questions to be asked. Like Hart discovered, some of those needs exist within an already established marketplace, i.e. scented candles. By adopting an inquisitive attitude you stand a good chance of identifying specific needs. The challenge then lies in developing products or services that will meet those needs in the most relevant way possible.

Tagged as: attention, become an entrepreneur, business, entrepreneur, environment, family, market, social, time

0 comments Read the full article →

How To Segment Your Subscribers When You Run A Blog Business

by Paul Joseph May 20, 2011 Featured

I was reading Dee’s recent article in his customer segmentation series where he talked about how to segment your blog readers. One of his main premises was the difference between a person who leaves a comment, or many comments and those who don’t. I agree with Dee that these are possible options for segmenting your blog readership, but I want to expand on his piece and give some examples of my own attempts to segment my readership over the years. Blogging For Profit One of the key distinctions that must be discussed before looking at how to segment your blog readership, is the reason why you are aiming to do this in the first place. In my case, and very likely your case too, we want to segment our readers so we can achieve the following goals – Make money , often from promotional content (affiliate links and your own products) Do so without alienating your audience The challenge is always how to find a way to commercialize a blog without diluting the value of the reason people come to the blog in the first place. Often the commercial intent can be blended with the content, so you can satisfy both needs, however segmentation can take this process even further, ensuring only those who are interested in certain types of content receive it, and those who are not, don’t. To achieve this outcome you need to figure out the following – A means to identify each group by specific criteria relevant to your goals Once identified, a means to segment and continue communication with each group separately I’ve always found it difficult to use only your blog content to accurately segment readers into different groups. Sometimes you just want to make sure as many people read your content as possible with no sales message, where at other times you want to make as many sales as possible , but not turn away readers who don’t want to buy. The people who buy are a tiny percentage of your entire audience, so if you spend all day promoting to everyone, eventually you will lose your audience, unless you can find a way to bring in a continuous stream of new people who replace those you lose. Ideally we want to maximize both audience retention and growth , and maximize profit too. Segmentation Options Dee mentioned how I use text, audio podcasts and video on this blog and this is one way to segment my readership. This is true, but in terms of commercial intent (the goal of making money), I don’t segment my readership using these formats, this is merely an attempt to maximize the amount of people I can reach using different media. That’s the same reason why I have brought on more writers to this blog. With more than ten people now contributing their unique ideas and experiences, Entrepreneurs-Journey.com has grown beyond me to point where I don’t feel like it is just “my” blog anymore. We could segment our audience based on authors, or subject, or media format, or the time of day people read or what country they come from, and it would be great to know all this about my audience, but I’ll be honest with you, I found it way too difficult to figure out all this data and come out with methods to segment each group. It’s just too much and too difficult using the format of a blog. I feel it is always best to give all my content to all my readers. That was until the day I made one change. I added an email newsletter to my blog. Why My Newsletter Forced Me To Think About Segmentation Many, many, many times I’ve been asked on coaching calls – “ Which content should I put in my newsletter and which for my blog? “ The distinction isn’t always clear to people since they are both content delivery mechanisms. When I started my first newsletter I knew one thing: I was creating a newsletter to filter people into a group who were interested in one specific thing, so eventually I could sell them something. Here’s a key difference between a blog and an email newsletter (at least in 99% of the cases). Blogs do not require a person opts-in . There is no action to take to read the content, you simply find it and consume it. An email newsletter or email list asks a person to “opt-in”, by presenting some kind of offer, a reason why and what they will receive in return. You can blog away happily for a long time not worrying too much about the specific nature of your topic, as long as you stick to a specific area, and feel your way to a target market. When you start your newsletter, you have to decide the offer you are making, which very much dictates the type of subscriber your attract. This is in fact, the very first point of segmentation, taking a generic website visitor and turning them into a person who has expressed interest in a certain type of information. That first filter is a powerful segmentation step. It tells you that someone is willing to join your list to get what you offer. When I first brainstormed ideas for my email newsletter I considered two variables – What I thought my audience were interested in . What I felt I could deliver to them based on what I had done and knew about. My decision was to launch a blog traffic tips newsletter , which was added to my blog when I did a redesign to include an opt-in form. My newsletter from that point forward was my first ever attempt at segmentation with commercial intent. I know had a readership and a list of “prospects”, people who had stuck their hand up to show interest in one specific topic. This was very helpful when it came to deciding what content went where as well. From then on I wrote a series of weekly emails specifically related to blog traffic (in fact most of my articles about how to build a great blog went into my email list initially, not my blog), while my blog became a place to talk more about my experiences as an entrepreneur, including how my current businesses were going. How I Segment My Audience Today For me, email has always been a much easier tool to segment, even with just a basic autoresponder. I use the AWeber email autoresponder (read my review here – AWeber Review ), which has some simple to use segmentation tools, including – Multiple Lists The ability to create multiple lists, so you can make different offers to create different segments. For example my list of people who want to make money with blogs is one list and those who want to learn more about membership sites is another. I have others for things like my coaching programs and even for sponsors who want to advertise on my blog . This is an important segmentation tool, because you can use different lists for different levels. I have people on prospect lists (never purchased, but opted-in for free content) and customer lists (made a purchase). I can mail these lists individually, or pick and choose which ones I combine or even exclude. One good way to use this tool is to mail your prospects special offers for your products, but exclude people who already have purchased those products. You can also choose to send affiliate promotions only to certain groups depending on what you are promoting and how valuable that list is to you (for example you may not want to promote affiliate products too heavily to your paying customers to keep them focused on your products). Segmentation Based On Action Another tool within AWeber allows you to segment based on an action, for example someone clicking a link in an email, or if they opened the email or not . There are many ways to use this, but I primarily use it to reduce my unsubscribe rate when it comes to affiliate promotions. Affiliate promotions rarely interest your entire list, but for the segment that does show interest, you want to make sure they are mailed several times. Often I email my entire prospect list an email related to a product, then segment the list into people who opened the email (usually around 10%-20%). I then send the segment the followup emails about that same product, for example when the closing deadline is coming soon. By doing this I don’t send multiple emails about the same launch to people who don’t want it. I’ve also used this function to send a different email with a new subject line to the group who didn’t open the first email to see if I can get their attention. The email subject is such a critical variable when it comes to email marketing, so having this tool is like a “second chance” to mail about the same thing, without annoying the group who opened the first. Segmentation Based on Location One other nifty tool is the ability to mail only certain countries. I’ve emailed my Australian subscribers details about events in Australia, which excluded everyone else for obvious reasons. My Australian portion of my list is only about 10%, so being able to mail this group specifically is helpful, especially without annoying the rest of my peeps. A Good Autoresponder Is A Must As you can know doubt tell, having an email autoresponder that allows you to control these different elements is pretty powerful. Don’t forget you also get statistics about all these actions too, so simply by taking the steps to segment your email lists you can learn a lot about your subscribers. If you don’t already have an account, I strongly recommend you try out AWeber now . I’ve been using them for five years and I couldn’t have done what I do without my email list – www.aweber.com Simple Segmentation The main reason I focus my customer segmentation on email marketing and not my blog is that I find it much simpler that way. My blog isn’t the tool I use to segment people as much as it is the tool I use to capture attention initially. I actually see my blog more like a magazine and database of training content . The writers here at Entrepreneurs-Journey.com give you daily training and insights into our businesses. If you want more from any of us, you can visit the respective site and join the email list if available. That’s the same for Entrepreneurs-Journey and my training. If you want to learn more about making money with blogs, then you opt-in for the Blog Profits Blueprint and are then exposed to further training about that subject as well as related promotions. Segment Your Advertising The one area where the blog itself is great for segmentation is Sponsored advertising . However most bloggers don’t take advantage of it. CarAdvice.com.au (founded by my friend Alborz Fallah ), only makes money from advertising, and a heck of a lot of it (millions a year now). They make so much because they segment the sponsors based on the content and charge a premium price for targeting. In fact their only monetization method is advertising, hence they’ve become very good at it. For example Toyota might choose to place their banners only on the Toyota related content, or even sneakier, only on content about their competitor’s vehicles. By doing this they are ensured of having a very targeted reader for their advertisements. If you have a product related blog, this kind of segmented sponsorship might be a great idea. Segment With Purpose Segmentation is definitely powerful and I hope this article, and Dee’s ongoing series on customer segmentation , give you plenty of ideas for how to segment in your online business. Don’t forget the two most important rules – Segment with a purpose in mind – how can what you are doing help improve relationships with your customers and make you more money Keep it simple – there are countless segmentation options available, but only a few steps are enough to make a difference that matters Good luck! Yaro Starak Segmented Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: advertising, article, attention, book, customer, goals, location, time, unique, young

0 comments Read the full article →

Time Management Secrets Every Entrepreneur Should Know

by Paul Joseph April 27, 2011 Featured

At a recent college reunion, twenty-five years after we first entered medical school, I met many old classmates and re-learned one important lesson. Being Time Efficient Is HIGHLY Profitable! One theme kept popping up over and over again in our conversations. “Our kids rarely get to see their dad, he’s so busy!” “I go to work at 6 a.m. and get back around 7 in the evening!” “My son WON’T be a doctor – because he sees how crazy our schedule is!” And invariably, the next question is: “As a heart surgeon, you must be working very long hours, right?” They were all surprised when I said my average ‘work day’ at the hospital is 2 hours – except when I’m operating, when it is 7 hours (or longer, depending upon how complex the surgery is). How do I manage this? How do I have so much “free time” when everyone else has “No Time”? How am I juggling so many exciting projects in ADDITION to my regular work? It’s really quite simple. Let me explain. Too often, we struggle, rush and get stressed because we don’t know what we want. Oh, you probably do in a very general, broad way. “I want to be rich.” “I want to be fit and healthy.” “I want more family time.” “I want to travel the world.” “I want to help charities.” But that won’t do. You need to first get specific. Very specific. And then, you’ve got to identify the best way to achieve those goals . Now, this may not be a quick fifteen minute exercise. It could take days, even weeks or months before you discover what you really want and come up with a workable plan, before you can set out to get it. It is time well spent (or rather, invested) – because those plans and action steps will guide you towards the highest and best use of your limited time. In essence, the powerful time management secrets boil down to four different things. 1. Prioritize We all have a ‘to do’ list. Some of us have it written down. Others carry it in our head. But for most of us, it is pretty long. And often, we’re stressed about how we can’t get through it…before it grows even longer with new things to do. The trouble is, we don’t accept the reality that our ‘to do’ list is never going to be ‘done’. As best-selling author Richard Carlson says in his book, “Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff” , you’re going to die with your in-tray full. The key is to get used to that idea and decide which of the many things clamoring for your attention are going to get done ! Setting priorities can be a tough task. Without a clear idea of what you want to do, where you want to get, how quickly you want to reach your goals, and what your biggest dreams are, you will find it practically impossible to decide which tasks to work on. But once you’ve attained clarity on your goals, it is much simpler to pick and choose the things to pay attention to. All it takes is the answer to a question: “Is this taking me closer to my goals?” Whenever the answer is ‘No’, you know it is NOT a priority. 2. Focus Setting priorities is the first task. Once you know what matters most, the next critical thing is to focus on getting it done. It is far more common to see ourselves fluttering from one crisis to another, in constant ‘fire-fighting mode’, putting out one conflagration after another – busy until we retire to bed, tired and worn out, only to awaken the next morning to a repeat of the previous day’s sequence. Not surprisingly, whenever we review progress after an interval, we find we’re nowhere closer to our goals than a few months (or years) back! That’s disturbing – and depressing. The solution is to remain focused on what we’re doing , ignoring other distractions and drama, pushing aside the less important jobs until the important ones are finished. Brian Tracy’s excellent short book, “Eat That Frog” , uses a powerful analogy to showcase the benefits of turning your attention towards the single most important task on your list every morning – and not letting go until it is completed. That’s an approach I can vouch for, as I follow it myself. Very rarely do I allow something to distract me from the three important things I set out to finish every day. The benefits that come by way of a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction of moving towards the goals you set for yourself will energize and inspire you to keep going the next day, and then the next – until, before you even realize it, you’ve made substantial progress towards hitting your targets. 3. Be Organized Creativity thrives on chaos. At least, that’s what I tell myself whenever I glance at the cluttered mess that’s my desktop! But while that may well be true, it is hard to argue with the benefits of being organized. Even amidst my clutter, I know exactly where every important piece of information, every tool, every file, every document, and every contact number is located – and have arranged things in a way that I can lay my hands on them with little disturbance or delay. This means that work on a project can proceed smoothly and quickly. In the past, I would waste hours searching for my notes, or hunting for a pencil, or moving around the office to access things I needed. It did take a period of planning and thought to set things up, but at a conservative estimate it has saved me a few hours every week in wasted effort…making it well worth the time invested into the organization. Sadly, being organized is not a one-time effort. You will find yourself needing to stay on top of things, filing and sorting stuff periodically, and steadily revising and improving and tweaking your arrangement to fit your changing needs. But once it becomes a habit, you’ll just keep doing it automatically – and enjoy the advantages of an organized work space. 4. Effectiveness Trumps Efficiency This final point is very important. Too many guides on the subject of time management focus on being efficient. But mere efficiency will not help you get closer to your goals. It matters more that you are effective. What’s the difference? Efficiency is getting things done in a more streamlined manner. Faster. With less effort. In a better way. Surely that’s a good thing? Yes, it is. But let me explain with an example. Let’s say you’re very good at climbing up a tall ladder, and can reach the top of it very quickly and with little effort. Will that skill help you – if the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall?! Even if you’re slower at climbing it, if the ladder is against the right wall, you’ll eventually get to where you want to be. It is more important that you are doing the right things , than doing whatever you are doing more efficiently. That’s where the initial exercise of knowing exactly what you want, and devising a plan to get there, becomes so crucial. Effective action will take you closer to where you want to be. Efficiency in that action will help you get there sooner, easier, and at lesser expense. I understand that this outline seems broad and general. But the principles are powerful and you can adapt them to your own circumstances, however varied they may be. There are specific things to do at each stage and they will depend upon you, your work, your goals and several other factors. Recently, I wrote a short 20-page report titled “No Time? Read This!” which goes a little deeper into the four steps I outlined above. The ebook sold for $27 – but if you would like a copy, you can download it for free from this link for a limited time. If you have any favorite techniques of your own to manage time better or enhance your effectiveness, please share them in the comments below. There are bound to be some amazing ideas that crop up in discussions about this vital subject, and what you share might benefit hundreds of entrepreneurs like you who are struggling to fit everything into their over-crowded 24 hour day! Dr. Mani Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: attention, book, goals, internet, online, work, young

0 comments Read the full article →