Posts Tagged ‘Money Savers’
Do Your Own Talk Show
As SelfEnterpriser.com is about to launch its new talk show, Up In Your Business! Real People: 7 Questions in 7 Minutes, now seems a great time to suggest a similar approach for anyone who has an itch to gab. Here are the basic of using a talk show to increase exposure and (more importantly) relationships: Start your own talk show. Invite people you think you would enjoy having a conversation with to be a guest on your show. These might be folks who you'd like to do business with (great ice-breaker) or perhaps individuals who exemplify whatever it is you blog about (that's what I look for). Post the conversations at your site. Why do a talk show? Having your own show gets you "out there" talking with people in your industry. What a fantastic way to "network". You're offering a relationship of value from the start. Instead of a lame, "Hey, let's connect on Facebook too", you're offering to give extra exposure to those who accept your invitation. Even if you have just a few people visiting your site each day, it's STILL extra exposure for just a few minutes of a person's time. Next, it gives you something to talk about other than yourself as a method for bringing traffic to your website. It's hard to be the hero of your story when you have to tell everyone else how great you are all the time. Let's face it: Sooner or later (hint: sooner), folks get tired of hearing a person tell them how they're the "answer" to they're prayers. It's simply poor form. But, with your own show, you can shout from your virtual rooftop all day long about the wonderful people you're getting to meet each week. Finally, it establishes YOU as the expert of whatever it is you do. The magic of The Business of Being Yourself is that you have the opportunity to provide value for others in your chosen industry WHILE you're actually in the process of learning more about it (which should read, as long as you're in business). Sounds great, Dave, but VIDEO is king. Don't be so sure. I enjoy video. I'm planning to do a LOT of cool stuff with video, both inside of SelfEnterpriser.com and outside. Yet while everyone is focused on video, it makes it easier to be heard (ha! get it?) to run some audio programs. Even more relevant to our topic, video is more expensive, more difficult to provide quality content, and greatly decreases the amount of individuals you can meet with (audio can be done over the phone with folks all over the world). Tools and other helpful thing-ies: Something that amazes me is the amount of tools and services that are available to you and me that allows us to create and exchange value with others for FREE, or close to it. This includes everything you need to run and publish your own talk show. There are plenty of blogs and articles out there regarding equipment, editing, or whatever. Some stuff I've found helpful: Audacity.comn (recording/editing) About.com (explore how others do [...]
First Impressions: Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad’s Conspiracy of the Rich
It's been a long time since I've delved into a Kiyosaki book; tho I still would be quick to recommend Rich Dad / Poor Dad to anyone looking for a philosophical foundation for money. I've not read the entire book (um... that's why I entitled this "First Impressions"). My first impression (see, there's the title in action) is that it should be a pretty good read. While it's clear in calling today's financial disasters the result of conspiring men and women, it doesn't seem to be a book that's overly focused on the "Oh my gosh, how can men be so evil" downer side of things. Sure, mean people suck; but let's focus on what good people with good intentions can do to improve their own circumstances. That's the direction I feel this book is heading. Most people leave school not knowing even the basic differences between a stock and a bond, betweent debt and equity. Few know why preferred stocks are labeled preferred and why mutual funds are mutual... Many people think debt is bad, yet debt can make you rich. Debt can increase your return on investment, but only if you know what you're doing. Only a few know the difference between capital gains and cash flow and which is less risky. Most people blindly accept the idea of going to school to get a good job and never know why employees pay higher tax rates than the entrepreneur who owns the business. Many people are in trouble today because they believed their home was an asset, when it was really a liability. These are basic and simple financial concepts. Yet for some reason, our schools conveniently omit a subject required for a successful life-the subject of money. +++ Okay, so there we have one of the problems. Again, I feel the problems are introduced only as a stage to introduce solutions. He later states: +++ Smart investors understand that owning a business that adjusts to the ups and downs of the economy or investing in cash-flowing assets is much better than owning a diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds- investments that crash when the market crashes. +++ This is how I see the book might appeal to Self-Enterprisers. We want our business to reflect who we are as a person; but we also want to be smart and not end up broke because we're, well... to put it in Kiyosaki's words, *playing by the wrong set of rules*. Do I recommend the book? I'm still undecided. I mean, if you just need to read something, and you've already read and understand the books on my Good-Enuff-To-Get-Going list, sure. Or, if you're finding yourself in paralasis by the bad news that's being presented daily (hint, turn off the news), then perhaps the book could be a booster shot of Vitamin B (B, meaning *Business*, of course). I believe it's a great time to start and build up a business. Perhaps better than any other time in history. To be able to take the things you care about the most and use these to create value for others makes for a great life, in my opinion. And the [...]
Blog Building Tools: PicApp.com and Creative Commons
Earlier, I wrote about LazyFeed.com, a site to keep you informed on just about any subject in real-time. A great tool for bringing ideas to your readers quickly. Oh-so Useful LINK: View article here: http://selfenterpriser.com/?p=559 Today, I suggest you also check out PicApp.com - especially if you're writing about current events such as new-stories or entertainment. PicApp is a site that allows you to access and use select GettyImages (and perhaps others?). It's easy to use: simply do a search for your topic, select the size of image you'd like to use, copy and paste the embed code onto your blogsite's HTML editor. Oh, did I mention it's FREE. Free is good (wait, it's 2010, is free still good? Ok. Just checking). These are photos that news-papers might pay $70 per image, per week (citation requested). That gets really expensive really quickly; as, perhaps, could a lawsuit for using others' photos without permission. Oh-so Useful LINK: http://PicApp.com One other source that I use often at SelfEnterpriser.com is Creative Commons Search. This site allows you to search for content that others have made available for commercial or artistic repurposing. Be sure to give credit where credit is due, as that's part of the deal. Also, I like to leave a "Thank You" in the comments section where the original photo is found (when using Flickr, anyway). In addition to being nice, you may also gain a visitor or three to your website. For a sample of the 'thank you' I post, check out the photo I borrowed for the panel cartoon entitled, Speed Reading. Oh-so Useful LINKS: http://search.creativecommons.org/ Original photo with my 'Thank You' posted in the comment section Speed Reading Panel Cartoon SelfEnterpriser.com is committed to getting ideas from Mind To Market on the cheap. No need to spend like a government bureaucrat - just be yourself, be honest in your dealings, and you'll naturally attract those who want to connect with you. Using such principles, business seems to flow simply and predictably. May your 2010 be your best year yet! "Have A Nice Dave." :) --Dave C.
