How to Really Win Fans and Influence People
In this article I would like to show you how a "real influencer business" is built, versus what you might mistake for success.
Remember, It’s Not Yours
The mistake people are making, and have made since the early days is building their main community on an asset that belongs to someone else.
Earn More Money as a Content Creator, Without YouTube Ads
Many people dream of the day when they can be a full-time content creator. Some people seemingly achieve that dream ... on the surface.
Productise for Business, Profit and Productivity
Consulting and coaching businesses are great because you get a deep connection with your customers, their problems and goals, plus you can start quickly (and start making money faster) than many other business models. There are some downsides though. That deep connection means there are always lots of “exceptions to rules”, people flake on paying, …
How to Grow Your Long-Term Authority
Why do some people manage to stick around forever, while other people and brands seem to be here one day and gone the next? What is it about some people that makes you warm to them, while others give off a dodgy vibe that repels even the most tactile extroverts?
The “Simple” Secret Behind Copyblogger’s 8 Figure Business
What is the secret behind Copyblogger’s 9 straight years of growth? How has it been achieved without any outside investment, without sales people, and with close to zero advertising? Join Chris Garrett and Tony Clark as they talk about: The simple secret to success (and why it is not easy) What you need before you create your product …
How to Go from Author to Successful Online Business
Since I let slip that I was a wannabe fiction writer, a few people have asked me questions about the modern author/publishing business: “Can you make a full time living as a writer, without being freelance?” “What should a modern indie author do to maximise their business?” “For successful self-publishers, what would we do differently?” I’ve answered …
29 Blogging Business Survival Tips
What does it take to be successful in blogging as or for a business? My friend Al from Coolest Gadgets contacted me for some quotes to use in a presentation he has coming up, and as usual, I gave him way more material than he could use. Rather than let it go to waste, I …
Is it Just Business? How to be Professionally Human
Have you ever worked with someone who uses the phrase “It’s just business“? Or played a game with someone who, after cheating, back-stabbing, lying or just being a jerk, said “It’s only a game“? How did that make you feel? Did you respect the person more, or less? Did you trust them more afterwards? When …
Your Best Foundation for a Sustainable Business
What would you do if your business burned to the ground? If you had to literally start over, would you be able to cope? What would your approach be? I have been falling behind with my workload lately. You just have to look at my posting frequency to see that I have been dropping as …
How to Get Paid for Free
One of the key ideas behind being an Authority Blogger, or “Content Marketing”, is that you put out lots of educational material that ordinarily people would be willing to pay for. How do you turn that free stuff into profit? The thing is, while we KNOW this works, a lot of people get stuck on …
4 Pieces of Advice to Help Your Small Business
You might have noticed a bit of a gap in posting here. Well, I have still been writing, just over at the BMO Bank’s Small Business site: I am writing about how online tools and techniques can grow your business. Check out my most recent articles and let me know what you think! 4 Key …
5 Essential Elements You Need to be a Complete Success in Business
I am sure you know someone who chases the latest shiny flavour of the month tactic and fails every time. I’m also sure you know some people who work really hard toward their goals, but never seem to get anywhere. Today I want to help you avoid these problems so you can grow the business …
Authority Rules for Making Non-Sleazy Sales
Do you find you give and give, but people do not seem to be buying? Or maybe people do buy, but not in the numbers you would like? I get that, and I hear it a lot. You might have heard me joke that for a while there I was stuck in a loop of …
Do You Have Silver Bullet Poisoning?
Have you ever listened to a keynote speech and got all pumped and motivated, then found out what the speaker has suggested just didn’t give you the results you hoped for? Or maybe you bought a best-seller and found it page-turning fascinating, but no clearer on what you were meant to do next? Silver Bullet …
Selling Information Products: The Four Big Myths of Information Product Creation
Creating and selling information products is all the rage right now, with forums filling with conversations about launches and techniques. I can understand the enthusiasm, and I would suggest a lot of the excitement is coming from Jeff Walker’s latest “Product Launch Formula” buzz. Sadly I think a lot of the people who are getting …
Kitchen Tables and Stupid Questions
“The only stupid question is the one you fail to ask”. That has always been my philosophy. Of course at school that philosophy contributed to my regular beatings. Any pupil who took too much of an interest in class was considered fair game for a head-flushing. In adult life though we should be above such …
From Analysis Paralysis to Rapid Product Creator
During an interview with Sonia Simone for their Teaching Sells course members, I realised I had created more products in the last eleven months than I have the previous five years. That’s eight products delivered and two more in the works, either solo or as part of a joint venture. This was while moving my …
Interview with Jake Nickell of Threadless
Jake Nickell is the founder of Threadless, the super cool t-shirt store/design community. When I reviewed the Threadless book I only touched on what the company is about. So here is more of an insight into the workings of a 10 year old successful internet startup. Q: What do you think has made the biggest …
Is This Why Your Sales Suck?
Are you wondering how you can get more people to visit your site or buy what you are selling? People often ask me why some people can get a lot of traffic or business while others struggle along with what seems like the scraps from the table. Why can “over night success” stories break through …
Eat Your Own Dogfood
One of the disgusting but useful phrases in the programming and developer community is “Eat your own dogfood”. I am sure there are people out there who really do have to eat their own dogfood in a literal sense, but the meaning behind the phrase in our context is that you have to experience your …
What the Soylent Green Secret Means for Your Business
“It’s the year 2022… People are still the same. They’ll do anything to get what they need. And they need SOYLENT GREEN.” I was only small when I first saw the film Soylent Green. Perhaps that is why it had such an impact on me. It’s an old film, it came out the year before …
Leveraging Authority for Creative Control, Freedom and Rewards
Ask a business owner what they want, why they are in business. You will certainly hear the following amongst the answers: Rewards (financial or otherwise) Freedom Control What you will find though, and I include myself in this, is business owners actually working COUNTER to those aspirations. Rewards, freedom and control come from being at …
How to Kill Your Brand in One Easy Step
Most times when a company kills their brand it is through a steady decline. The kind of loyalty to unloyalty that Scott talks about in his excellent post over there. There are also those occasions where the brand goes from king of the world to “wouldn’t touch that in a hazmat suit” bad overnight, such …
Claiming Your Independence – 5 Years of Business Lessons
Five years ago I cut loose from my day job and launched myself into the adventure that is working for oneself. That was the start of my journey towards claiming my independence day, and I think there are lessons for you if you want to do something similar to what I have done. I’m proud …
5 Reasons You Should Invest Your Time in Networking
Networking has delivered more return on investment than any other tool in my business. Both financially and in non-monetary terms, my network has delivered so much value that I can not imagine what my situation would be like without it. If there is one thing that I could suggest that would be guaranteed to boost …
The #1 Habit of Effective Online Business Owners
What would you say is the main habit that is common to all successful online business owners? Is there one thing that if you just applied it would make a massive difference to your own progress? As an inquisitive student of internet marketing I talk to a lot of people involved in the online business …
What do you want to know?
I was interviewed late last night for an American radio show where I was asked where I get my product ideas from. My answer was that I am not any kind of bright spark when it comes to this stuff, so I do the easiest thing, which is to ask. I ask my community what …
Defeating Business Performance Anxiety
Melani wrote a great post called “Happily Delusional or a Few Things to Make You Feel Better about Your Marketing Stats“. In it she talks about how people feel about their business numbers and it has some strong messages for any business. A lot of my friends, clients and contacts look at their results and …
Shocking Statistic
During a webinar the other day, I asked the following question. Have a guess what the result turned out to be. I wonder if you will be as shocked as I was … Have you ever had a successful launch? There were only two possible answers, yes or no. We had a discussion about “success” …
How to Release Your Web Marketing Potential
There are two challenges that 90% of my consulting clients face and I am going to give you the answer to both in this article. After you read this you will be able take a look at your blog or your business and know what you need to do in order to make your 2010 more successful than your 2009.
A big claim? Maybe, but I see it work over and over when I coach my clients so I am confident if you …
Why Internet Marketing is Like Driving Supercars
There are often unexpected perks to being a blogger and this Sunday was one of the best I have experienced. On top of having a great day out, I realized something about internet marketing that can benefit you in your business.
What put this goofy expression on my face? Read on ...
6th Gear Driving Experiences had invited a bunch of online geeks, Al Carlton, Dave Naylor, Kieron Donoghue, Patrick …
Good and Bad Guys in the Affiliate World
Bloggers are for the most part very protective of their reputations. When topics like affiliate marketing come up in conversation, some people get nervous. I have been challenged a few times by folks who were worried about my recent appearance at A4UExpo – had I been lost to the “dark side”? Controversially, I don’t think …
Why Authority Bloggers Are Best Placed to Weather Economic Storms
Authority Bloggers are best placed to ride out economic turbulence. Can I stand by this statement as the economy turns and churns?
What Are Your Constraints?
A few years ago a book changed my thinking about business in a way only one other author has managed to do. The first of these will be familiar to a lot of you, especially my clients, it is the E-Myth series. I'm not alone in having a light bulb moment with those books. The book I am talking about here though blew me away because it made me realize what was wrong with the systems I was fighting …
Attracting Customers Without Selling
I just realized that even though I have made my living from customers buying my services for a while, I have never actually had to sell. This seems to me quite an achievement.
What got me thinking about this was I was just interviewed for an article for WordTracker by Rachelle Money. She asked how I got into this blogging lark, and during me waffling on I told her about how customers would come …
When to Answer Critics
Writers get a lot of criticism so tend to have to grow a thick skin, especially when working online. The internet tends to bring the inner critic out of people. This week while I have been out of the loop due to a family emergency it seems from heads-up emails I have received that I …
How Can Bloggers Sell Services?
You might already have seen these videos from Michael Stelzner, maybe on another blog or you might have seen me tweet (about four times, heh) how good they are. If not, go take a look now.
Why am I pushing you to go look at videos on White Papers?
Very simple reason really. It's because this approach to attracting business is exactly in line with what I have been telling people with Authority …
What is Your Legacy?
The last few posts have a bit of a theme. I have been thinking about the Cluetrain Manifesto and the books impact on our current Social Media thinking. I asked if the authors authority had diminished, due to so many people having not heard of the book. Most people agree that this legacy will live …
How to Get Maximum Bang for your Blog
In the last post we saw that Business Blogs can provide many benefits. How do you gain those benefits without turning your role into full time blogger? It’s a common question. Clients often object to me that they just don’t have time to blog so much and they worry that if you don’t put in …