In 2012 Forecast Your Future With a Purpose

Ask almost any online marketer what they wish they could change about their journey and it would probably be something along the lines of better planning. When you’re first starting out, it’s hard to consider your future.

After all, you’re not even sure if you HAVE a future in this industry. You’re still struggling to make your first dollar online. But you do need to have a plan for your business growth, regardless of whether you’re new to Internet marketing, or a seasoned participant.

Where do you see your brand going in the next 2-5 years? Do you even have a brand? Some people start off flitting from one course to the next, without ever considering whether they’re learning something in line with what they hope their future includes.

What if you hate AdSense site creation, but you plunked down $47 for a course that teaches it because it’s been said to help people make an extra $500 a month? That’s a waste for those who have very little intention of growing their business with that business model in the coming years.

You should sit down and plot out a path for your business growth for 2012. Have one year filled with focus and accomplishments. Know where you’re going so you can plan how to get there.

It’s important that you fill your journey with things you like to do. It won’t last long if you dread having to sit down and work on tasks that bore or frustrate you all of the time. This is one of the pleasures of working for yourself – you get to be the boss and give yourself the job titles you want, and delegate the ones that disgust you to someone else.

Fewer people will be scurrying around trying to make ends meet. An emphasis is going to be put on focus and planning, so as a leader, in any niche, you should be teaching this as well – leading by example.

Start with branding. How do want to be known long-term? You can brand under your exact name, or by a pen name – or even a company moniker you create that has that special recognition factor built in.

Once you know how you want that to unfold, work on identifying your key competitors. What are they better than you at? What do you beat them at when it comes to marketing? Being able to recognize your own faults helps you get ahead in the end if you’re willing to implement changes along the way.

Implement changes by looking for cutting edge tactics that are sustainable for the long haul. You want to steer clear of flash in the pan strategies. The year of 2012 is going to see an influx of small business entrepreneurs taking their ideas online. It’s vital that you have the motivation and enthusiasm to win over your target market.

If you are ready for a quantum leap forward in your business, you can do so, today. I have posted ten ways to launch yourself forward towards your goals, whether they’re personal, professional, or both. Go through these posts, take notes and flag a few of the suggestions that grab you right away. Test them out, see how they work for you, and do it again.

Whatever you want in your life, you can achieve it. And I hope this blog post series will help you get there.

Allow No Excuses is your last step.

In the immortal words of one of the greatest philosophers of our generation:

Do or do not: There is no try.
–Yoda

Yeah, that little green guy had it right: When it comes down to it, your excuses don’t matter.

• Your customers don’t care that you were going to release your next product but you couldn’t because you got strep.
• Your body doesn’t care that you were going to eat right and go to the gym, but it was your birthday.
• Your future editor doesn’t care that you were going to finish that last chapter, but your couch was just too comfortable.

You do it, or you don’t. There are no points for trying. Once you accept that, you can move out of victim mentality and realize it really is all up to you.

The other thing you can be sure of is that 99.9 percent of people don’t really care if you succeed or not. Whether you finish your novel, run the triathlon, start your business – they’re going on about their life, without much regard to you and your goals.

What it really comes down to is that it’s all about you, and it’s all up to you. That’s a little scary, but it’s also very empowering. That means once you make up your mind, no one can hold you back. In fact, if you look at the top excuses for not executing on ideas, as presented by the Behance Team on American Express’s www.theopenforum.com, you’ll see that most are completely within your control.

1. I don’t have enough time. We all have the same amount of time. In fact, someone who is busier than you are is doing what you want to do, right now.

2. I’m afraid of the competition. Fear is an emotion. You could just as easily decide to be inspired by the competition.

3. It’s not the right moment to do it. It’s never the right moment, because there is no right moment – there is only now.

Excuses are nothing more than a matter of opinion. Change your mind; change your life.

Ruthlessly Remove Distractions

The dog needs a walk. Your leg hurts. The dishes/grocery/laundry needs to be put away. You really should change your email signature. Is it time for a new header on your site? Maybe another color background for your Twitter profile page…

If you let the voices in your head – what esteemed writing teacher Natalie Goldberg calls your monkey mind – take over, you will have a very clean kitchen floor, but not much else to show for your work day. Distractions are everywhere, and you must guard against their infiltrating presence as firmly as you would guard against a thief in your home.

From email to laundry to researching your dog’s itchy ear on petcare.com, the tasks that pull us away from our goals aren’t inherently bad – and that’s the problem. They seem like good, productive activities, something any fine upstanding home- or pet-owner would do. But there’s only one problem: They aren’t moving you closer to your goal. Instead, they’re taking you farther away.

If you want to make big progress, you have to cut the distractions – no matter how worthwhile they seem. Here’s how to keep your eyes on your prize and your seat in your desk chair (or wherever it belongs):

1. Make a list – and stick to it. The to-do list is like marching orders from your general. Make it and stick to it. You can rearrange the spice cabinet or de-tick Fluffy after you’ve finished your daily goals.

2. Do the tough stuff first. Get the hardest (and usually most value-packed) tasks out of the way early in the day. That way you won’t be distracted by the minutiae of daily life that seem to breed and multiply with each passing hour.

3. Give yourself regular breaks. Sometimes, some of that “life” stuff has to be taken care of. Give yourself regular mini-breaks of 10 minutes a few times a day to take care of calls to the vet, kitchen floors, etc. But set a timer and drop what you’re doing when your 10 minutes are up.

4. Keep a list of short tasks. One of the reasons we get pulled off track is that we come to a standstill. We’ve completed a big task and have yet to start the next round, or we’re waiting to hear back from someone before we can proceed. These natural lulls are common places for our monkey mind to sneak in. Instead of allowing your imagination free rein, have a ready list of activities related to your goal that take less than 15 minutes. Pull out the list and knock something off instead of getting pulled away.

Be ruthless about banning any distractions from your life. Each minute you reclaim is like a huge stepping stone towards your goals.

If you’re finding yourself mired in muck, longing to jump forward to success, it could be a matter of not having strong enough motivation, or not reminding yourself of why you want to achieve your goals. As a result, you can start slacking, skipping your workout, sleeping in instead of writing your daily five pages on your novel, or just existing when you could be excelling.

In the inspirational movie, “Invincible,” walk-on Philadelphia Eagles player Vince Papale keeps a heart-cutting note from his ex-wife in his locker. He regularly takes it out and reviews it – not to beat himself up, but to remind himself in a very visceral, emotional way why he must succeed.

While I don’t necessarily recommend that you encourage your friends and family members to write you letters, telling you what a loser you are, there is something to be said for negative motivation.

Equally inspiring, however (and somewhat easier on the ego) is positive motivation. Knowing you want to send your kids to private school, look great at your high school reunion, or send your parents on an all-expenses-paid, first-class trip around the world can all keep you focused and moving forward.

Here are some ways to keep your goals in front of you:
• Create a vision board. Cut photos, words, and other images from magazines and glue them, collage-style, on a piece of poster board. Hang it somewhere you can see frequently. (Hint: You can do the same thing digitally by creating an electronic vision board and using it for your desktop wallpaper.)
• Write it big. Write your goal on a large piece of paper, or on the whiteboard in your office. Keep it in front of yourself constantly.
• Write it everywhere. Put post-it notes on your car’s dashboard, on your bathroom mirror, on your checkbook, in your day planner or calendar. The constant visual reminder will keep you focused.
• Go audio. Record your goals on a digital voice recorder and play it back, or read it out loud each morning and evening.
• Make it vivid.  Like Papale’s note, make your reminders emotion-laden. Picture your kids in their school uniforms. See your parents on their trip. Feel how your body will be lighter and more healthy. Post a photo of the Eiffel Tower on your bulletin board. The more completely you can view your future, the easier it will be to latch onto it and use it as a guiding light.

One of the keys here is experimentation. If you’ve always tried positive motivation, maybe it’s time to change things up and brandish the stick instead of the carrot. You may even want to review your “patterns of success” (see step 7) for keys to your personal motivation recipe.

Our lives are full of scheduled check-ups. You see the dentist every six months. You get a mammogram every year past 40. You get your car tuned up every 3000 miles or so. And you should review your day every 24 hours.

Why so frequently? After all, you could do this once a week or month, or even once a quarter. Well, you should review your progress at different time frames, but there are several reasons to review your activity daily:

1. Because you’re looking for a big breakthrough. And if you wait too long between assessments, you can find you’ve let weeks or even months go by when you could have been making consistent, positive movement towards your goals.
2. Because it’s easier to correct a minor slip-up. An inch off-target now becomes a mile or more when extrapolated over time. Make the fix now and you won’t have to deal with the big problems later.
3. Because it’s less intimidating. Sitting down for an hour or two to review a month’s worth of activity can be downright off-putting, but taking five minutes at the end of the day can become a relaxing bedtime ritual.
4. Because your actions are fresh in your mind. You’ll forget lots of details if you wait too long to go over your schedule and activities. It’s hard enough at the end of the day; don’t wait a week or more.

Here’s what you should ask yourself at the end of the day:
• What did I do today that I was proud of?
• What one item on my to-do list made the most difference in the achievement of my goal?
• What one item on my to-do list is left over, but I should have done it?
• What took longer than I anticipated?
• What took less time than I anticipated?
• What did I enjoy doing the most?

You can easily go through these questions in five to ten minutes. You might even consider writing the answers down; it will take a bit longer, but having a longitudinal view of your answers can be invaluable to figuring out where you’re wasting time, what your highest-value activities are, and what you can change.

You might find that just by paying attention to what’s going on in your life, and where you’re spending your time, you will naturally make adjustments that put your schedule more in line with your goals.

Even if you’re not quite where you want to be, you still have a history of success. You’ve graduated high school, done well on a test, lost weight, had a great friendship, or otherwise set and achieved some sort of goal. By analyzing your past successes, you can find a lot of clues about how you best work and what you can do to set yourself up for future success.

I recommend mining your own past for success stories because not everyone works in the same manner. You may read a book about adopting a low-carb diet and loses 20 lbs. In two weeks. Wonderful! But right next to it on the bookstore shelf is a high-carb, low-fat diet that promises the same thing. And right next to that is the Zone diet, which is next to the Raw Foods Diet, which is next to… well, you get the picture.

Not everyone’s body is the same. Not everyone’s brain is the same. Nor is your motivation, history, goals, or personality. That’s why looking at your own history will be a huge clue as to how you can replicate your own patterns of success.

Here’s what to ask yourself:
• When did I set this goal? Did I consciously set it, or was it an unconscious goal?
• How analytical was I in charting out my path?
• What kinds of obstacles and challenges arose, and how did I handle them?
• Who helped me along the way? What specifically did they do to assist me? (Concrete skills, advice, sounding board, cheerleading…?)
• Was I accountable to someone along the way? Who and how?
• Did I track my progress? How?
• If I were going to give someone else advice about how I achieved Goal X, what would I say?
• If I were to go after this goal again, the one thing that I would do differently to speed up my progress would be…?

Repeat this series of questions with several different goals – and maybe even some goals you didn’t achieve – to look for patterns. You may discover you work best with an accountability partner, and when you tracked your progress in a visual manner. These are your patterns you can easily adapt and replicate for just about any goal you’re striving for.

We can overlook our own stories when trying to learn how to succeed. That’s a mistake. Often, the best indicators of future success are right under our own noses – and in our own histories.

The most successful people in life all had one thing in common: They had someone to help them navigate their path. A mentor, a coach, a personal trainer, a teacher: Someone walked beside and ahead of them, helping them make their way.

If you were attempting an African safari, your most important decision would be who would lead you on your trek. Hopefully, you wouldn’t go online and do a search for “Cheap African safaris.” You also probably wouldn’t choose the guide with the best profile picture, the most Facebook friends, or the biggest safari hat.

How would you select your guide? Through reviews, referrals from friends, and possibly some interviews.

How you select your business mentor should be no less thorough. Don’t select someone just because they’re the “guru du jour,” or the dude that seems to be everywhere or has great on-screen presence. Sure, it’s great to be hot, but there are other considerations to make sure you’re selecting the right guide for you. Here are some things to think about:

• Where is my business now, and what do I need to get to the next level?
• What specifically am I hoping this coach or mentor can help me achieve?
• How do I work best – with weekly check-ins, daily updates, monthly in-person calls?
• Do I need someone to give me “tough love” or be a sympathetic guiding presence?

Different coaches and mentors have different styles. Some are non-nonsense taskmasters; others have a more gentle approach. Some are great cheerleaders, while others are better technicians. Some are great connectors; others are in-the-trenches comrades. No style is right or wrong; there’s only “right” or “wrong” for you. If you need someone to help you figure out how to set up a website and online shopping cart, a cheerleader isn’t going to do you much good.

By the same token, if you need someone to inspire you and introduce you to potential JV partners, a well-connected “you can do it!” type may be perfect. No matter how nice, talented, or charismatic your coach is, a mismatch will cause you nothing but frustration.

To really move forward towards your goal, a mentor can be a perfect springboard, helping you move past obstacles and other blocks. But not all coaches are created equal: Find the one that matches your needs.

In 2012,  Be Long on Value and Short on Greed

You’re desperate for money. You’ll do anything to make $1,087 by next Monday to get your mortgage paid.   We all understand that.   But keep your ethics intact and realize that short of offering services to other successful marketers, you’re not going to become successful by being greedy.  Whether you are an author who wants (needs) to sell more books, or a local plumber who needs to find more home owners with leaking pipes, learning to give first will be a good start on removing quick cash thinking.

Quick cash thinking is a thing of the past.   Well, it should be.   Many are still clinging to it, but most successful marketers (if you are selling anything, you are a marketer) are fairly honest about how this is something you build up over time by giving value and putting greed on the backburner.

Quit thinking keywords and start thinking, “How may I serve?”   If you follow this formula, the money will automatically come your way because people will inherently trust what you are doing.

Over delivering is a tactic in itself – just not one that creates as much quick money as walking up and pick pocketing someone who’s not paying attention to their wallet (which is what scam artists do online).

How can you create big value in your niche? Start by giving away something to your opt in prospects that really represents the kind of value you want to be known for. No quit, sloppily slapped together reports that aren’t organized or that resemble nothing more than a sales letter.

Make sure your email autoresponder system is queued up with dozens upon dozens of heartfelt communications with your list. Don’t make it cold and pushy. Offer tips in each email you send out. It doesn’t have to be earth shattering, but it should be honest and helpful.

Blog like it’s a friendly, two-way conversation with your prospective buyers. Don’t speak TO them – have a discussion with them. Value their insight as much as you’d like them to value yours.

Visit forums and your competitors’ blogs to see what your target audience is discussing outside of your presence. Bring those topics back to your domain for a dissection by you and input from your readers.

Sometimes, put something together free for your audience “just because.” If everything you put out has a price tag on it, then it speaks volumes about your purpose. No one is saying you should work for free, but most leaders are proving their worth – and you don’t want to build a reputation as someone who squeezes every last penny out of your audience.

Greed is going to be so transparent in 2012 when it comes to online marketing – and a lot of that will have to do with how search engines rank sites because on quality content and sharing among your target audience.

Our next step – Step 4, is Leave No Room for Doubt.

You say, “Let’s go to the drugstore. I need a new pair of reading glasses.” Your friend says, “Are you sure? We could probably get the same thing cheaper at the mall.”

You say, “I hired a new accountant.” He says, “Are you really ready to invest in that?”

You say, “I’m joining 24-Hour Fitness.” He says, “Bally’s is running a special this week.”

And if you were to take his advice and go to the mall, fire your accountant, or head over to Bally’s, he’d have problems with that, too. That’s because his input isn’t a matter of helpful suggestions; it’s only designed to make you question your own choices.

If you had a friend who constantly questioned every move you made like this, you’d probably knock him in the teeth.

If this behavior is so unacceptable in our friendships, why do we do it to ourselves? We choose – and then we immediately revisit that decision over and over again. Here’s the problem: Sometimes there are no “right” decisions. There are only choices we make and live with.

That’s why to take yourself to the next level, you need to let go of doubt. Accept that you’re working with imperfect knowledge and that you’re a smart cookie and that you will indeed make some mistakes along the way. But tell yourself that whatever happens, you can handle it.

If you pay $5 too much for reading glasses, you can live with that.
If you hire an accountant and discover you’re really not ready, you can let him go.
If you join the “wrong” gym, you can always switch.

Often we think that we are at the whim of circumstance and we can’t control the outcome. Not so! If you chose to buy a Toyota instead of a Honda, YOU get to decide whether that was a successful outcome. Does it get you from Point A to Point B? Does it get the required gas mileage? Is it a safe ride? (By the way, these are probably all items you considered before you made your purchase!)  If the answer is “Yes,” then congratulations!  You made a successful purchase!

The situation with your business may be a little different. The “success” criteria are not as clear-cut, but your influence on the outcome is no less significant. You can hustle, work extra hours if need be, commit to working things out, or even end up selling the business and thanking the benevolent heavens for giving you the opportunity to learn some lessons along the way.

Commit to doing whatever it takes to ensure your choice was a good one. And don’t doubt your own ability to make it so.

Life is all about choice. Will we wear the blue tie or the red tie, or no tie at all? Will we have GrapeNuts or All-Bran for breakfast? Will we take the car or walk?

Yes, these are seemingly simple decisions that you may think don’t belong in a report on how to change your life. But when it comes down to it, the decision to quit your job, start a business, lose 100 lbs., move to Idaho and build a log cabin, are no different physiologically speaking than the decision to go to McDonalds instead of TGIFridays. What is different is the amount of strife and angst we place upon ourselves.

And one major source of that angst is when we choose to assume the outcome of our decisions will be bad instead of good, and revisiting our decisions over and over again in the hopes that things will become more clear the second (or third, or fiftieth) time around.

You’ve done this before: You make an informed decision. You look at all sides of the matter. Maybe you even make a “Franklin List” where you list all the pros and cons. You consult a friend or an expert or two. Then you decide.

And you immediately second-guess yourself. You assume you made the wrong decision. You wonder, “What if…?” You may even try to change the original decision, whether it is returning a new car, second-guessing your business decisions, or just wondering if dinner would have been better at Fridays.

Then you put yourself right back to square one – agonizing over that decision again. Not only are you right where you’ve started, you’ve also managed to kick yourself in the self-confidence and waste some time, too. And it’s not like you’ve gotten some great information that would’ve affected your decision; you’re right where you were, with the same information you had before, struggling with the same decision you’ve already made once.

Here’s what to do instead: Go through the same careful process of decision-making, then let it go. Tell yourself you’re stuck with it. Assume you made the right decision instead of the wrong one. Move forward, move upward, move onward.

Sure, you can revisit the past, wondering if your decisions could have been better or the outcome could have been different. It’s up to you. But no going backward. It only wastes time.

It’s been repeated so often that it’s basically internet law at this point: Your income will average that of the five people you hang around most.

Whether it’s literally true or just sort of true, it doesn’t really matter – the point is, if you want to be successful, you have to surround yourself with successful people.

• If you want to run a triathlon, hang out with Ironman-types.
• If you want to be a published author, go where the published authors are.
• If you want to start a successful internet business, commune with online entrepreneurs.

There are many reasons to hob-nob with people who have achieved the goals you aspire to:

1. They show it can be done. Often we think that success happens to “other” people, not people we actually know. When we get to meet actual achievers, though, we see that they’re really not much different than we are. They put their pants on one leg at a time, they have dogs who chew the furniture, and they have kid/car/in-law troubles just like the rest of us. By demystifying those who live and breathe where you want to reside, you gain a realization that you can do it, too.

2. They know what it takes. We tend to believe the “overnight success” stories. But talk to the Ironman athlete, the best-selling author, the online businessperson, and they’ll tell you that it took a lot of hard work to get where they are. The bad news: It takes extraordinary effort to achieve extraordinary results. The good news: Once you stop believing that luck determines your success, you’ll see that if you’re willing to put in the time and the sweat, you can have whatever you want.

3. They share their secrets. It may be nothing more than where to buy the best wetsuits, or how to cut a minute off your transition time from swim to biking stage, but these little secrets add up – and they’re exactly the kind of help that you won’t read in books or magazine articles.

4. They want you to succeed, too. Most successful people know that there is more than enough to go around, and they’re happy to see you get your share, too. Being surrounded with people who have an abundance mindset will help you think of all you can have in this life, not all that you can’t.

5. They show the gaps in your knowledge, skills, and behavior. If you see that all the self-made millionaires you know invest in real estate and act as their own agent, you might decide it’s time to brush up on your broker’s license courses. If the people who have lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off all bring their lunch to work and work out at least an hour a day, you may commit to finding more time to hit the gym. Model yourself after those you admire and you’ll find yourself becoming more like them, success and all.

I’m not saying you have to say goodbye to the boys from the old neighborhood, but if you want to soar with eagles, you may have to limit your time with the turkeys.

We can only achieve as high as we *think * we can.

Try this little exercise: Stand up and extend your arms out on both sides of your body. Close your eyes and, turning at the waist, see how far you can twist to one side without causing yourself bodily harm. Open your eyes and make a mental note of where you are pointing behind you. Now, close your eyes and imagine yourself going a little farther. Ready, twist! Open your eyes and see if you surpassed your previous point. If you’re like most people, you did.

Why didn’t you go further the first time? For the simple reason that you didn’t think you could. Once you imagined yourself going further, you did. It’s not very complicated!

If your mental beliefs impose limits on your physical stretching, it make sense that they’ll limit your mental and spiritual achievement, too. So you need to ask yourself what limits you’re putting on your:
• …dreams. Are you dreaming big enough?
• …income potential. Are you unnecessarily limiting your income or salary?
• …relationships. Do you doubt what you can achieve in your friendships and family life?
• …physical health. Are you accepting less than the best because you think you’re too old or too out of shape?

The first step to changing your boundaries is to “up” your deserve level. Here are three things that block you from accepting that you deserve the best:

• Envy. Envy is the result of a scarcity mindset. You think that if someone else gets something – a great job, a new car, a book deal – that you can’t have it, too. That is not the way the universe works. Just because someone else gets something doesn’t mean no one else can ever have that. Hey, even Brad Pitt has been engaged more than once! Realize that whatever anyone else in this world has – from a great body to a great family to a great career – you can have it, too. Use their example to inspire rather than depress you.
• Fear. Fear is one of the greatest demotivators. It’s hard to feel limitless and powerful when you’re shaking in your shoes! It’s natural to feel scared of breaking outside your normal boundaries, but remind yourself that all growth takes place outside your comfort zone. To grow, you must push your own limits, by definition. Get comfortable with discomfort – see it as a sign of growth, much like aching muscles indicate you worked out hard and are getting stronger.
• Laziness. We get used to where we are and decide it’s good enough because we don’t really want to have to work harder. Time for a harsh truth: If you want an extraordinary life, you’re going to have to go to some out-of-the-ordinary measures. That means whipping yourself, bribing yourself, coaching yourself, whatever it takes to motivate yourself to move beyond “average.”

Moving upward and onward starts with believing you deserve to have more and be more. It’s essential to own your dreams – and dream big.

In my coaching business and working with clients one on one, I see a common theme where fear and self judgment are blocks to moving forward. Whether you are promoting a website, working on your social media or working towards publishing your first book, having a Success Mindset is critical to reaching your goals.

That’s why I decided to write 10 Steps to Creating a Mental Breakthough…
Are you ready to move forward – not just a step or two, but a whole level?
Are you ready to leap into a new existence of achievement and power?
Are you ready to leave your old life behind and move right into the life you deserve?

Of course you are – or so you say. But if you were so ready, wouldn’t you be there already?

Maybe. And maybe not.

Maybe as much as you long for this dream world, you are also a little scared, a little nervous, a little hesitant. Maybe as much as you say you’re ready, you’re blocking your own way.

The good news is, if you’re your own worst enemy, then the only thing standing between you and the life you’ve always imagined is… you! And once you recognize the issues that are holding you back, you can address them, one at a time.

That’s what I hope to help you do in this short report. I’ll discuss some of the main ways you can achieve lasting change and progress towards your dreams. It won’t be easy, but it’ll be life-changing – if you are willing to do the work.

We’ll get started in my next post which will be Step 1 – “Up” Your Deserve Level.

]]> http://www.susangilbert.com/are-you-ready-to-move-forward/feed/ 0 http://www.susangilbert.com/using-your-ipad-for-business-productivity/ http://www.susangilbert.com/using-your-ipad-for-business-productivity/#comments Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:36:32 +0000 Susan http://www.susangilbert.com/?p=677

Over three million iPad owners already know the truth – that the iPad can be an invaluable tool for personal, school and business use.

Yep – they are sexy and hip.  But the beauty of the iPad isn’t only it’s entertainment value. It’s a “magical’ device that was designed for content consumption. The only place I check mail now is on my iPad because the workflow is 100% simpler then directly in Gmail. It’s faster, it’s easier and it’s better looking too. I can go through 100 messages on my iPad in 5 minutes, whereas it would take me 30 minutes in Gmail.

We do a lot of the market leadership, staying up to date kind of work with Google Reader – subscribing to the relevant feeds in our market, popping over to Twitter to share, writing a quick blog post.  I’m  putting together a Report that will be available shortly that will show you some of the ways you as a business owner can get the most out of your iPad.

In the video below, Ed Dale shares his “intake” workflow – that is, how he takes in the most important information in his niches and gets it out to his marketplace.

He uses the iPad (if you know Ed, that’s no surprise to you).

But even if you don’t (have one or want one) I’d like you to take the 16 minutes to watch this video – because all tools aside, it’s a real-deal peek into what it takes to BE a market leader.

How to take it all in and how to put it all back out there for your crowd and have them coming back for more.

Read between the lines, past the tech (the tech is incredibly sexy though!).

I love gmail.

I love google docs.

I hate google’s  ‘do it my way or the highway’ rules.  So I can fight them, or join them, and I joined them a long time ago.  My business is wrapped up in google products.

So what happens if that glitches?

And it did recently and you can read here is Mashable’s recent post:

Google Glitch Disables 150,000 Gmail Accounts

This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned backing up your social media properties and it probably won’t be the last.  If you are using gmail, take a few minutes today and Backup your emails.

Better to be safe than sorry.

This web site that contains amazing knowledge data base – so much so it’s made Google obsolete!

Take the 13 minutes to watch the video – lots of cool things you can do with this site whether it be for science, finance, medicine, etc.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html

This is an amazing free website! It instantly calculates so many things; math, science, chemistry, physics, financial data, weather, nutrition, health, history, people, etc.

Watch the video to see some of the cool information it is capable of showing you.

Here is the link to the actual site after you view the introduction: http://www.wolframalpha.com/

The bar has been raised for search engines!

Inbound Marketing is defined as marketing focused on “getting found” by customers.

Think relationship marketing and Seth Godin’s idea of permission marketing. David Meerman Scott recommends that marketers “publish their way in” (via blogs etc.) in contrast to outbound marketing where they used to have to “buy their way in” (via paid advertisements).

Inbound Marketing encompasses the use of blogs, social networking, article marketing – all things online exposure; and, is also often referred to as Pull marketing because you are pulling people into your sphere of influence by being findable and available for communication.

In traditional marketing (outbound marketing) companies focus on finding customers. Think the term intrusion marketing and Godin’s term interruption marketing.

Outbound marketing is also referred to as Push Marketing where the advertising or promotion is Pushed into the media.

Three successful uses of using this marketing approach are:

(1) Content – Your blogs, articles, videos, etc.

(2) Search Engine Optimization – SEO makes it easier for potential customers to find your content. It is the practice of building your site and inbound links to your site to maximize your ranking in search engines, where most of your customers begin their buying process.

(3) Social Media – using networks to develop authentic relationships that draw qualified customers to your site.

The world of marketing has changed and if we are going to be effective in this new online world, we need to have the awareness of what it takes to do so!

I’ve just started testing a free service called CoTweet.

It’s a tool for managing Twitter conversations like no other.

I’m really impressed and changing my entire Twitter strategy based on what they let me do.

They’re free right now, but they promise when they start charging for the service it will be reasonable.

Amazing stuff:

http://www.CoTweet.com

Zen Habits is one of my favorite blogs to follow, and I love their subtitle:  Simple Productivity.

Their recent post titled “8 Way Doing Less Can Transform Your Work & Life” mirrors my philosophy of ‘focusing on what matters to get the results you desire”.

More is not always better.

One New Year’s resolution that you keep is better than a long list that is forgotten before February rolls around.

Number 2 of the 8 ways listed says:

More ability to focus, to find Flow, to work in the moment. When you are doing too much, you are constantly switching from one task to another, constantly interrupted, constantly distracted. Do less, clear away distractions, single-task.

What one thing is most important to your success?

Focus on the one thing today and be brilliant!

One of my colleagues recently asked, “What would you say your #1 reason for success is?”

Why do people succeed?

Is it because they’re smart? Or are they just lucky?

Neither.

Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow …

Look at the bottom of the video for what my answer to the question asked was…..

My answer: Persistence and Focus

If you think social media is a fad, you’ve got to watch this video. Social media is a biggest shift since the industrial revolution.

Statistics prove that social media is bigger than you may think. The “Social Media Revolution” video, released on YouTube by Socialnomics less than 1 month ago, has already been seen over 130,000 times. This creative video (below) includes a wide variety of statistics, set to music, that taken together are quite powerful. If you haven’t seen the video yet, it’s definitely worth a look for small business owners, authors, speakers – anyone who is involved is marketing. And if you work for a company and are still trying to convince your boss or partner of the value of social media marketing, you might want to gather them together to watch too.

Here’s an inspirational story about a childrens book author, Elizabeth Parkinson.

Liz achieved a #2, #4 and #10 ranking for her book video with over 11,800,000 competing page for her keyword phrase, “Personal Development Books For Children.”

You can meet Liz here:

You’ll also see several other strategies at work that ANY author, speaker, expert, entrepreneur or business owner should use when distributing videos online.

You’ll need to read the post and watch the video for the answers!

Then leave a comment here telling me what you think the strategies were…..

Since I work with many authors on their websites and book promotions, I often find them asking advice about what they can do to better promote the sale of their books.  As an author, I understand how disappointing it is when your book doesn’t sell the way you thought it would.  I often compare being an author with the actors in Hollywood.  In order to ‘make it’, they need one part talent, one part persistence and one part luck – not all in equal amounts. ….We’ve all heard about the ‘overnight’ success stories – when in fact, the actor has been persistent with their craft for years and years before they had their break thru to fame and fortune.

There ARE things that you can do to earn some money with online methods that can drive traffic to your websites and ultimately increase your book and products sales NOW.  The method I am about to discuss would also be perfect for small business owners to help educate their potential customers about who they are and what they have to offer, leading to much larger ticket items once people know and trust them.

I have noticed a growing trend towards the purchase of short reports online – 1 to 15 page ebooks that provide a short blast of information on a subject – and they are selling for $7-10.  Make sure that these reports contain a small bio on who you are, and how they can reach you (website, telephone number, mailing address, email address, etc).

Stumped about what to write about?   Join forums in your area of interest and find out what people are talking about. If there is a topic that generates a lot of interest and maybe some signs of misunderstanding, you may have found your first report topic.

Article directories are also a great place to look at their most viewed articles, as the readers of these articles are your potential customers.

Yahoo Buzz is also a great website is great to find out what people are talking about.

By packaging these small reports and selling them online at a lower price than typical ebooks, your clients learn more about what you have to offer while you are earning some income over and beyond traditional book sales.  It’s also a great way to start building your tribe!

Seth Godin has a great way of distilling information for clear understanding while being innovative with his concepts.

I came across this post on his blog where he addresses where individuals can misunderstand how having a web presence can make money and it’s not by just putting up a website.  He says:

Make money: not by building an internet company, but by using the net as a tool to create value and get paid. Use the internet as a tool, not as an end.

And he continues by saying the essence of having an internet presence is to use it to connect with other people who want what you have to offer.

Connect the disconnected to each other and you create value.

* Connect advertisers to people who want to be advertised to.
* Connect job hunters with jobs.
* Connect information seekers with information.
* Connect teams to each other.
* Connect those seeking similar.
* Connect to partners and those that can leverage your work.
* Connect people who are proximate geographically.
* Connect organizations spending money with ways to save money.
* Connect like-minded people into a movement.
* Connect people buying with people who are selling.

You can read the entire article here, and I’d love to have you come back and offer your comments here on what you learned from this article or ask any questions that come up for you after reading it.  I’d love to hear from you!

Read Seth’s full post here: How to make money using the Internet