Outline: Thesis Training Videos For WordPress.

I started watching some of the videos I made for my thesis clients.  Man, what gibberish I made.  Indefensible stuff.  I had to scrap it all…because I honestly wanted to do a good job.  I was meandering, and that came from a lack of pre-planning.  I do a lot of tech coahing and that stuff can be done 1-on-1….because it’s being done specifically towards someone.  This sorta thing has to have some polish on it, and my first efforts were merely a learning experience.  Chalk it up to part of my 10,000 hours that Malcom Gladwell says we gotta put forth.

A training video can’t be haphazzard.  It has to be carefully wrought, specific, and it has to have some VALUE.  Nobody wants to hear a stammering ninny.   So I’ve gotta start again.  Which is fine.

The upside is with a decent outline–which I now have–I can run through this stuff really quickly with a lot of polish.  I get rid of my hems and haws on the timeline in ScreenFlow (an awesome tool), and I can get this done in a few days.

Here’s what I know.  Most of it is geared for the basic-to-intermediate crowd…and it starts after the fold to keep my pages lookin’ pretty.

[Read more...]

I will Out Sell Your Marketing.

Someone asked me to sign an NDA.  Thought I was crazy for sharing my ideas (http://guerrilla.me).   Thought I was on crack for not ‘keeping it under my hat.’

Thing is: I could tell you EXACTLY what I’m gonna do.

HOW I’m gonna do it.

And still be fine.  Still win the war.  Because most people (you) aren’t gonna take any action.  And most of my ideas are not revolutionary.  An account creation and social media training site.  Big Whoop.  Oh, it’s a kickass idea.  One form propagates to 30 sites.

But doing it–getting it done, finishing it, making it happen is what matters.  So I can share it here, and not feel threatened.

Grinding out the damn work.  Nobody wants to.

So with that said, I’m going to make a MINT off of Brian Clark and Chris Person..

All while I send them $40,000 and more.   (Think about this: have you ever deployed a product that can cause people to have goals of sending you $40,000 and get rich doing it?)

And I’m going to tell YOU how–the cliffs notes–that I’m gonna do it. Because you won’t.  Nobody will outhustle me.  Nobody on the corner has swagga like me.

They made the Thesis framework.  It powers my blogs.  And my clients blogs.  And it’s a worldbeating gamechanger.  I reviewed it here. I wasn’t generous enough with it…because I was pissy about only being able to order one deployment license at a time.  There are annoyances that are working themselves out.  I’m pissed because EVERYONE bought it.

Here’s how that thing is gonna make me a mint:

I’ve gotten a good start on collecting overlays for Thesis.  Thesis is made to be tweaked and customized.  It’s made to do different and cool things…and it does a decent job.  Kasey Kelly was instrumental in getting me started on this stuff.  I’ll have 20ish looks, deliberately putting buttons elsewhere and resizing them.

The second thing: by collecting this work I commoditize the design process.  By having 10 aboslutely and freakishly good overlays (I’m at 4), I can sell those themes, do a better job for less money than anyone.

The third thing:  $750?  For a kick ass website?  AND training in the basics (SEO, Running WordPress)  AND customization?  AND your plugins installed?  HOLYCRAP.  AND an affiliate program (20%)…?

The forth thing:  More stuff to sell.  “Insanely Great” products that deliver training and value, and help people sell their own stuff.  Social media account creation, ping services, blog writing.  If I get my 700-1000 clients (225 work days * 4 a day), I can help them all.

There are details to work out: which CRM, what other stuff, but this is an awesome way to live.  My guerrilla.me product will be every bit as strong as this product and they will sell each other forever.

I can spend $2,000 bucks on initial thesis designs, and then $100-150 to designers…for one off customizations that utterly kick ass.

I can make $460…net…20 times a week.  And more.  ($750 – 40 for thesis = 710 -25 for merch. services = 685 services – 125 for design = 560 – 100 for affiliates (average) = 460)  * 20 = 9,200.

Direct sales can drive this.  Each client should also retun another $800 gross/500 net/ year.

I believe that thesis is gonna keep getting better at the same rate, and so I’ll hitch my star to theirs for this gig.  I can get this stuff done rapidly, and knock this out of the park.

The difference between me is that I’m a sales guy.  A hustler.  I’m wired that way.  I don’t tire of selling people.  I’m more @garyvee.  I love it.  I want to help people plugin to the matrx and help them sell.

I just told you what I will do, and it doesn’t matter.  You’re free to fight me or join me.   Point is, execution matters.  I will outsell your marketing.

Getting it done is ALWAYS Better than Getting It Perfect.

Perfectionism Sucks.  Seriously. it’s the enemy of anything.  The ability to make a decision, to have things ABOUT right is pretty important.  Right now, I’m without a CRM, mostly because I’ve been toying with Heap, Highrise, Act 6 and Daylite.

I’ve been trying to predict what I want to do when I grow up, and the fact that I don’t have anything other than Aweber driving automation is holding me back.  My list still is good.  I still can email and expect a response, but every marketing idea is isolated,it’s in a one off.

And I’ve said that I’ll have a CRM that I’ll adopt for some time.  I’m enamored with Heap CRM.  I pay $14 bucks a month as an ode to Ben’s genius.  I’m also enamored with ACT! 6.0.  No other versions, they all suck.  ACT 6 is the solo warrior’s best friend–except that it is a PC program and even OPENING the email component makes my mac FUBAR.

The prbolem is that I have nothing, it’s hemming me in.  In Geddy’s immortal words: I have chosen not to decide, and thus have made a choice.   So, Sunday morning, I’m going to worship at the Church of CRM and make a decision by noon and spend the rest of the time implimenting it.

You can waste time shopping, or you can F#!@%ing get something done.  Nothing is perfect.  All of my choices sort of have limitaitons that I hate, from having to use the damn mouse for too much (Heap) to lack of activity series (highrise) to being forced to be on a PC (ACT!).  But the fact that I have nothing is fierecely stupid.   I have aweber.  And for those of you on one of my lists, hi there.

I love heap, I want to like it, but it’s such a drag to use the mouse.  Seriously, it limits radically the people that will become customers.  I’m not into slowing down, I’m not into mousing around, I want to hit ALT-C.   Whatever.

Any CRM people have suggestions?  Do I need to get my own made, adopt sugar?

Getting ANYTHING decided is important.

So it’ll either be DAYLITE or HEAP.  I suspect Daylite CRM even though I never got to use it during my 30 Day Trial..  If I was using it, I’d know who I was supposed to call back today.  As it is, if I’ve left you out and you’re not in the process forgive me.

Microsoft’s Apple Tax: What An Asinine Campaign.

I’m a Mac user.  Switched in August.  Never, ever going back.  I’m more than competent using a PC, but i’ll never go back voluntarily.   The frustration ended, and I saw a productivity gain of about 35%.

Microsoft’s marketing  people have come up with a new concept: the apple tax. They are showing a (modestly inflated) version of the how much more expensive apples are.  I don’t dispute that.  Apples are more.  And they are worth it.  Every single penny.   Microsoft is picking the wrong fight by trying for a race to the bottom.  If you are earning $50 an hour…and are 20% better…you can increase your rate 20%, bill your clients 20% more, and make 10 (20% of 50) * 2,000  = $20,000 more each year.

They make no claim that they are better.

Microsoft states that you’ll pay $3,367 over five years on their “apple tax return” document by using 2 pcs over 2 macs.  (This is WITH mobile me, a useless and expensive service that costs $700+/year.  This is $1683.50 per seat…over five years.   I don’t hate windows.  But it’s a BARGAIN to only have to pay that much.  Seriously.  5 years?  $336.67 a year?   $28 bucks a month?  To use a MAC that doesn’t suck? DEAL!  I’m in.  It’s a bargain even with their inflated numbers.

Notice: MS doesn’t attempt to make the argument that they’re as cool as, as good as, as easy to use as a mac.  They don’t fight that battle, saying instead, “they’re cheaper.”   Well, everything works a smidge better.  Firefox running google aps feels like a destkop ap on the MAC and even on a comparable PC with good horsepower, gDocs still feels like a web ap.

You’re telling me for just–at most–$28 bucks a month, I get to use spotlight, I get to not deal with stupid crashes, I get to use a mac that thinks about like me?  And I don’t have to deal with Vista?  And I get to be part of that club that helps each other out, and has set themselves apart?   Hell, even with my IRS problems, I’m in.  Pick another line of reasoning MS.

You want to appeal to my analytical side?  It’s $28 bucks a month to not have to deal with registry garbage, to not have to be locked into your .docx hell.  Done deal.  Thanks for reminding me how much better I have it for such a little extra money.

How stressful is it to deal with a computer that is mercurial and unpredictable as all Windows Vista PCs are?

What about the things that you can’t do on a PC, like use Keynote to grind out videos FAST?

What’s the PC equivalent to the layering goodness that is Imovie?  Movie maker?  That thing?  With the 1990′s interface?  Puh-leaze.

Oh, where is visual hub for the PC?

Where is snapz?  Are you thinking camtasiaHeh.

Microsoft, you’re just reminding us on this side how good we have it.  I’m glad that you’ve done the math, even accepting your (inflated) numbers, I win.

Thesis Theme: A Comprehensive Review of What Brian Clark, & Chris Pearson Created for WordPress

There are no affiliate links here.   Thesis Ain’t Perfect, but if you ain’t making $1,000 a day, you can use it to do so.

I was an early adopter to the Thesisphere last year.  I bought the developer’s license thing in May or June of 2008, and deployed it on my sites. (Here, http://guerrilla.me, http://ftherapybook.com,   And–right now–it’s the easiest way to make money for yourself on the Internet.  I’ll get to that in just a second.  The design framework comes from Chris Pearson, who is responsible for some of the very best themes in the WPress-o-sphere.  (Cutline, PressRow).  He partnered up with Copyblogger’s Brian Clark to shill this thing, and it’s ubiquitous.  If you read blogs, you have come across Thesis.

The Thesis Theme For WordPress Is For The lazy sales guy.

I’m not yet perfect, but look, if you can’t sell thesis sites, then give up on selling anything.   I can make sites that look like mine, or that look like Bakingasametaphor.com I can put stuff anywhere I want it, and with 1.5, I can make any width I think looks good….without limitations that are preset.  Thesis creates css code for me.

My workflow is simple.  I follow keywords on twitter.  (Blog redesign, fix my blog, many others that I ain’t sayin’).  I call ‘em up (if they have anything in their profile) and tell them my team can whip out a blog in a day, and it costs, $1,000 bucks.  You’ll have a little work in it, you make videos on http://screencast-o-matic.com to tell ‘em how to work it, and you’ll be coming in chepaer than anyone else, delivering a better experience, and you’ll pocket 800-1k per.

I send out a paypal link, I do a brief, recorded design interview.  I have someone cool like Kasey Kelly bang out a design for them.  I install WP on their server or mine with whatever plugins it needs, and give ‘em access  to it.  The whole thing can be in and out in a day, and clients are happy with the results.   It’s cheaper for them. It’s FAST, and it’s GOOD.  And since I’ve made a ton of WordPress how tos, it’s easy to support.  Brian and Chris get $40 per deplpoyment.  I pay $100-200 in design, and that cost is trending down because I’m building a library of cool friggin’ looks.

A client can have a killer blog in a day and a half that doesn’t HAVE to look like other blogs.  And then we retain the desing shells, the custom.css theme to deploy in other colors elsewhere.   At the end of the day, I’m the one that delivered a killer, custom blog in a day for just a grand…not some jackass that sold them a crappy website that is fixed.

The Thesis Theme For WordPress Is Flexible & The Support Kicks Ass.

Look at all these thesis blogs.  Couple hundo per deployment because it’s one custom.css file.  They don’t have to look very much alike at all.

The support?  I generally haven’t needed much, and what I’ve needed is in the forums on their website, or I can, since I’m lazy, @pearsonified on twitter.  The forums have stuff–and another semiscocial community space to waste time with random bragging (my random bragging goes here on  the blog).

The Bad Stuff

Keith Baker had gotten me used to using Headspace2, and headspace2 doesn’t seem to work with Thesis, not right, at least.  I also have to, from time to time, edit and modify code a little bit for this plugin or that thing.  And, there seem to be upgrades about 3 times a week, so you may have to upgrade more than you like (although, in fairness, You also need to, once you buy a developers license, pay $40/pop to put it on someone else’s site.)   Also, when you do want to legalize your licenses, their cart doesn’t let you edit quantities, so you can’t buy 10 at a time.  It’s not clear to me when All-In-One SEO works and when Thesis’s stuff (SEO details and additional Style) work.  It also needs to have some more clear instructions to get custom pages, and a better/saner uploader.

There are also minor peculiarities on install, and times you need to save, and the normal stuff where widgets can pass code to the whole theme if you dont close an <iframe> tag or whatever.  Nothing that’s not learnable by a sane person in 3-4 times and fixable easily.

If you’re SUPER lazy, you run the risk of all your blogs looking  alike. That’s happening on the net and we’re a couple beats away from Thesis being a brand that people avoid (I don’t-want-a-thesis-blog).  Hopefully Chris will whip out something new.  Clients won’t notice, but when you lower your standards, it’s  F#@%ing slippery slope.

Finally: I’d sell blogs and make cash with or without thesis.  Seriously.  But it’s a framework for a sales guy like me to be able to rapidly deliver a quality experience.

Book Review: How To Launch the **** out of your E-book.

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…”

bookThere 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).]]

More Cold Calling Stuff….Freelancer Cold Claling

Couple things I didn’t mention:

  • Be F#@%ing intense.  Don’t back down, don’t be average.
  • Be doing things with a purpose.
  • Make moves towards the final sale..

Also, oh, I’m as serious as a heart attack about this:  http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog/?p=7167

Who’s on your board of directors? Please Tell Me!

Who’s on your board of directors?

One of the things I did last fall was to create–on my wall, in my space and in plain sight, a board of directors.   We’ve all heard the exercise, have inspiring people out there so you can make sure that you’re plugged into the best things that the best people are saying.  I’ve put up a wall full of people, mostly men, that I’ve long admired, thought of and wanted to learn from.

If I could get advice from anyone in the world, who would it be?   Mostly, it’s people from history (George Washington, Winston Churchill), but there are contemporary people like David Allen , Seth Godin, Scott Adams and Randy Pausch. And I’ve done that for a while now, but I’ve not blogged about it.

I’ve been thinking and producing more lately (go buy a mac if you want to be productive, really), and trying to take my act to the proverbial next level.   I want to do stuff that my grandkids are proud of, as recent addition to my board “Gary Vaynercuck ” says.

Now, I’m not delusional.  These people don’t talk to me all “Coldwell Banker” style.   But what I can gain from, say looking up at Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan is that you gotta focus and work.  Or from Oprah–that I’m a survivor and not a victim.  The achievements of people I think are really cool is fun.   Working on something till the effort is good enough for Steve Jobs, for example is a daunting task.   But, that’s what it’s there for.  Being good enough for the coolest and best, an getting out of the pull of gravity.

So let me know something–who is on your personal “board of directors.”  Let me know in the comments.

Each Tuesday I’ll be listing and profiling my board of directors, alternating between the living and the dead.   There are over 90 right now, a portion of them is here.   I put ‘em on foam board so I could take them with me when I travel.  I have yet to do so, but I do plan to move in a matter of a few months.

100_0931

So tell me in the comments Who’s on your board of Directors…!

Modified GTD: More On Personal Production.

So, I’m taking it to the next level.  I’ve gotten my book finished, and the ‘marketing’ stuff is no longer a precondition to do other things.  I can branch out a little, which is good.

But, right now, let’s look at the things I have to do on a regular basis.

-create a SEO singing blog for my therapy alternative book.

-Create about 18 blog posts/week between here, http://rightrightnow.com (so not up yet), and the 3-4 guest posts I want to write.

-Get my adipose problem solved.

Now, to do this, I have a simple tool.  One task list, one piece of paper for daily actions & basecamp.  I haven’t ‘finished’ this daily form yet, i’ll give it some thought & a week.  But it has me making the calls and suchlike that I need.

What I made:

weekly-scorecard

Now, this gives me a sense of what I’ve done, and committed to.  I’ve got an ‘action stack,’ each day where everything is planned and I know where I’m going with my life on a regular basis.

It’s not yet perfect, but this is 2.0, and what is?  Everything is in beta.

So, I use two sheets of paper a day.  I guess I should probably put it on the other side of this.  I don’t comute, so sop lecturing me bout being green.

Five Figure Months…Joe’s Goals and Google Docs

So the sidebar “transparency” project is nearly done. I’m glad. I will be starting another sidebar transparency thing by Monday.

Let’s recap the time I’ve had:

I’ve had 3 consecutive 5 figure months, which is encouraging, I think, for me just starting and me being in this economy. I also have room to grow, which is also exciting. I’ve created a world beating e-book, and I lost 7 pounds in December, during the holidays. So I am not discouraged by my progress. I am going amp up my efforts in January–with what’s left of it, to hit some January 2009 goals:

$15,000 in profit. My five figure was a revenue figure, and I outsource an increasing amount, so, I gotta pay attention to #1. You do, however, have to gross before you net. So this month, I want to work and get $15k in the hopper. I want to replace my mortgage income.

Anyway, goals for this month:

10 Blog Posts Linking back from PR 4+ Blogs, not counting BHB/Lenderama.

F-therapy finished by 1/15/09. (By the way, I’m biased, and it’s really, really good, novel and nonobvious).

Get “Right Right Now,” working in some way that’s more formal than me grinding out jobs. Grinding is fun, and I want to SELL more work, and do a little less. I can find people that need work and work that needs done better than I can do the work myself. If not for the bias against people that find work and people to do it, there’d be an easier path for me. Not that this is bad. The ‘markup,’ is going to be transparent. I’m going to generally stick to a 60-65% of the rev to the freelancer model. This will keep price pressure minimized. I want to be fully transparent. The only times I’ve gotten in trouble are when I was representing myself as doing more of the work than I was and creating a barrier between clients. The ‘handoff’ can be better done elsewise.

10# dropped this month. (I’m still heavy, and I’m pissed that I hit a plateau. Most of my 7# was the first 10 days of December, and I fell off the Vegetarian wagon, and had a burger, enough, I say.

$15k/profit.

I’ll be using Joe’s Goals to track and display it. The things that I’ll do daily:

  • Wake @ 5:30
  • Morning Pages
  • Video weblog.
  • Guest Post Written & Sent
  • RRN.COM
  • Workout
  • Do 2 a days 3x a week. (keep my mental energy up.)
  • Acquire 2 projects a week.

That’s pretty much it. Nothing else really matters. I do need to spend more time thinking about nutrition, and figure out some measurable metric for this stuff.

I’ll have another post when I’m done with Joe’s Goals, but right now I’ve got some mental energy, and I want to use it on FT.

Godaddy, You Go To Far.

Hello Godaddy.  I hate you.  A bunch.  Why?  Because everything is about you, not me.  Currently, I have about 90 domains with you, and some different privacy services and more.   I went with you because you were cheap, and while I knew you wanted me to host on your crummy servers, I wasn’t forced to.   Yes, ordering I had to say “no thanks,” five, maybe six too many times, but you stayed out of my way.  I was having some misgivings about the increasingly shrill and anxious extra screens, but I kept on keeping on.   The load times to get to ‘my domains,’ slowed a bit, but it was rmanageable.

Then today, I was moving a server from my former host (maia) to hostgator, my new host.  And that’s when you did it to me.  You made me look at  what follows.  Click to embiggen:

godaddy-blows

Well, today, when I was moving from MaiaHost to ny new company, you lost me forever.  I’m never going to give you my credit card number again, and I’m never going to do business with you.  I’m not going to plunk down the extra $500 to move, and I know that domain registration is something you tolerate to get me to buy your cruddy hosting.  But your hosting is, in fact, cruddy.  Fantastico doesn’t work, WPMU takes apparently loads of effort to get done.   I might have been receptive to different ideas you had, and I might have given your servers another chance.  Not so much anymore.  You don’t interrupt people and make it difficult for them to do business.  I don’t work with jackasses that do that.

I wish you, Bob Parsons, the best in the future.  I support your ideas, but you’ve seriously got to stop selling like a street vender in Kingston and start serving like nordstrom.  Interrupting people is dissipating your reputation and jeoprodizing your future.

Cutting and Pasting Into WordPress…A Quickie Video Tutorial

Sometimes when you cut and paste into wordpress you wind up with ghosts in the machine–things that aren’t intended, leftover bits of XML or HTML that have unclosed tags and make your blog wonky.

Amyway. we use the ‘kitchen sink,’ tool to make this work.

More to come as is always the truth.

OZH’s Admin Drop Down Menu And 2.7.

Are You Having WP Problems with the Left Sidebar in WP 2.7?

You might have OZHs Admin Drop Down Menu installed or activated.

To fix?  Go to http://your-blog-here.com/wp-admin/plugins.php and disable, then DELETE.

And you’ll be all better.

Hope this helps.

The transition is otherwise an improvement.