If you were in my training, you’d learn how to annuitize your clients.
WAY more on this to come.
Next: EVERY client must be worth X a quarter…using a basic CRM.
WordPress Plugin Request: Better/Smarter Post Scheduler
March 31, 2009 By
One of the things that WP needs is a way to schedule output. I want to blog every day, I might average a post or two a day, but there are days (recent) that I’ve gone through droughts. I often write a lot of timeless posts (My Michael Gerber Hit Piece) that don’t need to come out any particular time. So, we need a plugin. I’ll pay for it’s design if I must, but it needs to do this: -take a post and allow it to be categorized. -look at WP. If there’s no “new” post, that post gets published, in the order it was written, or the order it was put in the database. -if there WAS a post, it runs the next (day/business day) This way when we’ve got massive output, we output, when we don’t we don’t. That’s really all it needs to do, and if you want to quote me, I’ll pay for it. I want that for me, but I’ll release it for everyone…if it gets built.
I want this in the next 96 hours, folks, and I’ll entertain whatever quote and terms possible.
Book Review: How To Launch the **** out of your E-book.
March 25, 2009 By
I recently bought the $97.00 E-book/workbook by @ittybiz and @rockyourday called how to Launch the **** out of your E-book. First–the title. As someone who wrote F#@% Therapy, I’m comPLETEly pro “nearly swearing,” at people, so the ethos was about right. The book is imperfect, but it more than paid for itself, and negative feedback is more valuable than positive feedback, I’m believable when I point out weaknesses.
First–if you’re going to launch an ebook–or anything else–do pay attention to this book. It’s derived from other product launch material, and it’s got a solid, “todo” style approach. It’s action oriented, highly specific and really solid information. If you DO the steps, you’ll certainly recoup the $97 bucks they charge your paypal. The info is out there, but this is a good, trusted filter that is a great stepping off point to successfully sell your ebook. And the killer part is the worksheets, and the step-by-stepness of the thing. It lays out pre-writing research, and making an information product that sells, building a list and other fundamentals that we all need on the internet.
HOWEVER…
and there are a couple of big”howevers…”
There are some weaknesses. My book (pictured right) didn’t exactly lend itself to the prewriting research. I was making a manifesto, something suited for http://changethis.com more than it’s suited for “how to lose weight now,” types of products that comprise 80% of the ebook market. It’s also got a lot of information on how to write an ebook, and this isn’t really what I happened to be looking for. (Also, it seems that @rockyourday still has a dayjob, which is something that grates on me when you’re still tethered to the old world, I hope he quits tomorrow…but I’m biased severely and I DO think he IS a social media expert).
Also, there’s a failure to prioritize. I’m finding that reviews are killer, having inflammatory posts is killer, and Twitter can sell the book itself. The rest of the stuff feels a lot like makework, stuff that’s not really needed, or can be outsourced/delegated effectively. The marketing is where it’s at.
I’ll get myself to 1,000 copies in a couple of weeks…my goal is 10,000 copies in 270 days. But…the ambition of the authors is to be simple, sturdy and profitable. And there’s a roadmap to it, and they lay it out, but it feels like a JOB. I wanna take over the world. I want fans and friends running through walls carrying my banner. I could write a practical guide like I once did for loan officer lead generation, but I was interested in putting the best I had out there. If you’re doing a how to, this is the book. For my own marketing, I wasn’t horrifically far off, and this book ‘filled in the gaps’ (post in forums, daily, twitter the @#%^ out of yourself). It’s just…that I wanted to do more. Think your own thoughts. F#@% all the friction and drama that got us into the busted mess we’re in and work our asses off to make F#@%ing great things.
The one thing that’s right is that they get that marketing is a job. You have to work to make something happen. You have to follow up, you have to work hard, think hard, do cool thing to make stuff happen. You’re not just gonna build it and have ‘em come, you’re gonna have to introduce yourself to people, grind out sales, and ensue that the work is done.
[[Affiliate Disclaimer: No affiliate links here. My integrity is worth more than the $46 bucks or whathaveyou I will eventually get to the point where I'm doing links, but I generally think that people that put a bunch of affiliate links on their blog are thinking too small. My blog is my brand. And I have to be 100% behind something before I endorse it. I think that my growing client base needs to know that I don't have nickels or dimes on the line. There are times, like with Aweber, that I will hustle my affiliate link out there so I can get support and so I can get feature upgrades. I've refered a dozen or so people there, and I don't think I have ever gotten any money (though that isn't their fault, I just never looked at my affiliate balances or whatever).]]
Enter the Executioner.
March 25, 2009 By
Ideas. A lot of people have them, and a lot of AMAZING and VALUABLE ideas are getting spit around the world right now. There are tons of people that have things that could change…everything. Maybe even you. People develop quality processes, systems, kludges that are utterly brilliant.
And then nothing.
Because everything takes work. Bad ideas can make you millions with perfect execution. Brilliant novels and other ideas sit in drawers.
Right now the freelance world seems a little obsessed with the 4hWW ideas in Ferris‘s book. Working half a day or so, having other people execute their bright ideas. Screw that. The world…has got to go flat. We all have to pick up our rifle and fight. No layers of management, no ‘ultradelegated,’ crap.
Sure, Timmy is right: never do work that you don’t love doing. Never be on soul sucking projects. Pick a project that makes you run through walls to go there. And do it.
Gitomer Named to Chris Johnson’s Board of Directors
March 19, 2009 By
Jeffrey Gtiomer, Chief Executive Salesperson responsible for “helping people love to buy,” was named to Chris Johnson’s board of directors today. He will mostly advice through his New York Times best selling sales books, although he may eventually see this post, be amused, and decide to call at 614-432-8758 and offer free advice in exchange for all of the adulation he’s recieved here from one of the fastest growing freelancer sales blogs in existence.
Gitomer writes approximately 4 #1 amazon best selling sales each morning, but his best book–and the one you should all buy right now–is the “Little gold book of YES! attitude.“ If you do what that says, you’ll find the energy in yourself to be enthusiastic about working your ass off. It can be read in an hour, and everyone should buy a copy. If you’re making less money than $500,000 a year then you should read and study this book. It is the ultimate concierge into personal development. You should also read all the books that it references, and then the books that they reference. This, of course, presumes that you’re going to throw your TV away.
“If you executed about 30% of Gitomers’s advice, you’d have no money worries in about 60 days,” says Chris Johnson, “So that’s the standard to uphold.”
Gitomer’s philosophy is simply put to give value first, and without the suffocation of entitlement that happens when you do that. He sets an example by writing “sales caffeine,” a free news zine that has mostly good advice…for sales people that goes out to who-knows-how-many people. He will help remind Chris to give value as much as possible and Chris will do that through freelancer sales videos, free white papers and this blog. The insane consistency that Gitomer has is also something to behold.
Finally, if there is any doubt whatever about Gitomer’s ability to sell, just take a look at his girlfriend: 
Not This Dark, But My Mood Today…
March 19, 2009 By
It’s My Birthday…(and Billy Corgan’s) Here’s How You Can Help.
March 17, 2009 By
I’m overwhelmed with all of the Facebook messages I woke up to. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for saying hi. It was incredible. I’m blessed and lucky to call all of you friends. This is a great day.
So thanks for that.
This is the GREATEST day I’ve ever known.
Now…if you’re like most people, you’re wondering, what can I do to celebrate Chris’s “Jesus Year.” And I’m glad you asked, because I have a short list of birthday wishes:
- Link to me. I need links both here at http://genuinechris.com and also at http://ftherapybook.com Link, baby, link. Thanks in advance.
- Buy 10-12 copies of my Buzz Generating Book book or books. You can do that here:
- Subscribe to all of my lists and stuff.
- Tell me how I can get better (honest feedback rocks)
- Be nice to my wife and kids.
- Make something beautiful, cool, or useful.
This is what I want you to do for me, and I hope that I can hang with it. I’ll leave you with about how I feel. So much to do this year, I’ve got 2500 hours left to kick ass. Time to use them.
From Harry Chapin:
When I started this song I was still thirty-three
The age that Mozart died and sweet Jesus was set free
Keats and Shelley too soon finished, Charley Parker would be
And I fantasized some tragedy’d be soon curtailing meWell just today I had my birthday — I made it thirty-four
Mere mortal, not immortal, not star-crossed anymore
I’ve got this problem with my aging I no longer can ignore
A tame and toothless tabby can’t produce a lion’s roar
Cold Calling For Freelancers Video
March 9, 2009 By
The E-Myth: Regurgitated. (A Michael Gerber Hit Piece)
March 7, 2009 By
The E-Myth, Revisited. Loads of people talk about it. It’s one of the biggest books an entrepreneur “must read.” And I’ve read it. I’ve read it a few times, actually. And the more I think about it, the less sense it makes.
For most people, it’s a bad idea.
The book is fine. There are enough disclaimers. He doesn’t pull a Kiyosaki and lie all the time. But the ‘hustle your ass off so you no longer have to work thing.” well, that’s no good for the economy, no good for business, and a stupid, stupid goal. Most people get the wrong lesson. Cristina Favraeu says that the Journey is the Point. Damn straight. The point is not to outsource your stuff in some 4HWW-esque goal. The point is to do something you’re PASSIONATE about. To put yourself in position where you get to do the things you enjoy most. Not to seek idleness.
Not to detach and wander off. The entrepreneurs that take no vacations for a decade? They’re hustling. Winning. Putting their passion into it. Not trying to work their way out of the business.
I’m for systems. I’m for writing EVERY F#@%ing THING DOWN. I’m for processes and making yourself REALLY GOOD. I’m even for making it so you can replace yourself. But I’m not for WANTING to replace myself. I’m not for starting with a “jobber” ethos.
Here’s why. There is something to working “on” and not “in” your business. But the smug BS that comes with it, the self aggrandizing, and the self righteousness that the Gerberites have is revolting. And I don’t know one that succeeded once they caught that bug. I know it cost me because I began to resent the stuff that’s below my level. I started resenting the necessary paperwork, the necessary customer service and the necessary bolts and nuts to win the war.
Think I’m kidding? Maybe. But here’s the deal. A business that’s started to ‘get out of,’ or ‘get away from,’ is no business at all. It’s not something the owner loves, with all his heart. When there’s no passion, and when everything is delegated…a couple levels down, you can feel it. Call Dell’s customer service. Then watch Michael Dell on Charlie Rose.
You can feel it when the joy dies. You can feel it when someone cares–mind body and soul–and when someone doesn’t. You can feel it when you’re dealing with the owner, and when you’re dealing with a salesperson, and when you’re dealing with a wage earner.
You can’t replace a passionate and vibrant business with wage owners. You need believers. You can hire people, but hire passion, talent, vibrancy. Google doesn’t hire people that don’t believe. Neither does 37s. Neither will Scott Ginsberg, Greg Swann, Jeff Brown, Seth Godin, Tim and Julie Harris. Not hiring someone is far better than hiring someone that has tepid beliefs. Don’t look to work your as off then phone it in.
Vote, Subscribe, More.
March 6, 2009 By
I’m into personal development.
But not for its own sake.
I’m into improvement.
But not into the dogma of our age.
I’ve failed and succeeded spectacularly in my 32 years. And the best I know didn’t come from Fraudster Robert Kiyosaki. That’s why I wrote my book. Now? I’ve made a poll. Some of the most in sync posts are up.
My Favorite: Bre Petis and the Cult of Done
- There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
- Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
- There is no editing stage.
- Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.
- Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
- The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
- Once you’re done you can throw it away.
- Laugh at perfection. It’s boring and keeps you from being done.
- People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
- Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
- Destruction is a variant of done.
- If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
- Done is the engine of more.
I said a lot of these things in F#@% procrastination, F#@% Perfection and F#@% Indecision. But he said it in 13 sentences. So good job, Bre. This is the first thing I’ve read and I might hafta carve out a spot for you on my “Board” of Directors.
Anyway, for more good stuff, go ahead and vote here: http://ftherapybook.com/blog
David Allen Named to Genuine Chris’s Board of Directors.
March 3, 2009 By
[Two weeks ago, I told you that I was going to be doing a Board of Directors post once a week. Here's the first one.]
David Allen Named To Genuine Chris’s Fictitious Board of Directors. GTD’s David Allen, author of Getting Things Done has been added to Chris Johnson’s board of directors. David is the source of inspiration for Chris Johnson as he forms businesses that make money, and gets tasks off of his plate. Through his books, David has provided astounding value to Chris Johnson as he moves into the freelancer sales space.
“Productivity doesn’t happen by itself” David was quotesd as saying. “Form and Function must match for maximum productivity.”
—
GTD was a godsend to me. Last may, I was still a mortgage broker, I was starting my journey as a freelancer, and managing a few projects. I had no clue, and I didn’t know ‘what next,’ about anything. I started reading http://lifehacker.com right as it was turning into what Greg Swann calls a venderslut area. (I don’t fault them for it, it’s an AWESOME site, you just have to wade through a load of crap to get the good stuff). They kept talking about GTD, and so I was naturally intrigued.
I got the book. I started rocking a moleskeine. This was sometime in 2006ish, and it changed my life. I handled more tasks better, I had more enegy, and the overwhelm was no longer there.
Organize.
Process
Review
Do.
I boiled it down to that, enough for massive improements. And David Allen’s enlightened common sense approach helped me with that in a big way. So, like everyone else, he’s on my “board of directors. “ It’s a totem ,a kludge, but I’ll tell you what, my office is organized. More than it would be anyway. And, for those of you that haven’t done this, please read the book today.
More to come, as I have to process stuff.
