Business
Mind Mapping: Turning Ideas Into Content
This is a guest post by Mario Mendoza.
Developing a consistent writing habit was my biggest obstacle. I had ideas scattered: my proof was notepads filled with article topics and potential project ideas that just had a title and nothing else. I had the missing pieces; I just lacked a way to channel my ideas into action.
I decided to give Mind Mapping a chance and see if it could help organize my music projects and website tasks. I was intrigued by the claims of the process: easier organization, remembering ideas, solving problems better and increasing productivity.
Mind Mapping
Mind Mapping is considered a form of “creative note taking” meant to map out your ideas similar to how your brain processes them. You start with a central topic or bubble and branch out accordingly to categories and sub-categories.
Your ideas all branch out from your center concept, keeping you focused on your mission. Some forms of mind mapping are plain while others include images and multi-colors. I chose to use a free version of Xmind.
I use Mind Mapping now as a way to jot down thoughts and create specific tasks for them. I was pitching: my ideas were in the windup position, but they lacked the follow thru.
I found myself speaking of plans in the first stage and not offering specific action to get the ball rolling and see if the idea was worth developing. Trying to balance my music projects and blogging tasks became more of a pain. I tried mind mapping on a sheet of paper and began to brainstorm.
Bloggers can relate to musicians. You can find yourself encountering inspirational moments and not writing them down, or assuming you will remember later. It can be a blog topic, hook, melody, lyrics or an idea. Trying to recall those can be painful, especially when you can’t remember where you were going with the original thought.
Now I follow one simple rule: Give detail to your inspiration.
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10 Tips For Overcoming Critics To Build Your Business
This is a guest post by Frank Angelone, founder of Social Tech Zone.
The number one thing any new business or start up idea is going to face is critics. Critics are everywhere and are always going to voice their opinions. They don’t always necessarily have to be people in your industry, but can also be family members or friends as well.
What I want to leave you with is 10 tips that you should use and implement into your own business so that critics will not get the better of you.
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My System For Getting Things Done [Strategy for 2010]
What you’re about to read is part of a system which I present my students in a training video at the outset of the Blog Masters Club training program. There is more to it than this, but I thought this section of it might prove useful to everybody as we embark on a new year.
One of the things I make a point to do every year is sit down for serious, solid strategic planning for the coming year.
I take some time off. I reflect on what I have accomplished in the prior year. I then set forward my plans for the coming year.
The biggest thing that sets apart a successful entrepreneur from an unsuccessful one is that the successful entrepreneur knows how to make a plan, put it into action, and GET IT DONE. In other words, putting a list of hopes down on a piece of paper doesn’t turn any of those hopes into a reality. The job of an executive is to make planning turn into reality.
That is all he does.
It does start, however, with setting forth plans. With the plans in place, you set forth the action it will take to turn those plans into reality.
Let me let you into a system I find works for me…
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Five Terrible Reasons You Failed To Incorporate Your Online Business
This is a guest post by Michael Alex Wasylik, a Florida lawyer and blogger.
Look around you. You’re neck-deep in other people’s companies.
The computer you’re using to read this? Made by a company. The software that runs your computer? Probably created by a company – even most flavors of Linux. The breakfast you had this morning, the chair you’re sitting on, the roof over your head, even the underwear you’re wearing – all made, distributed, sold, and repaired by other people’s companies.
But there you sit, running your online business as a sole proprietor – me, myself, & I. What do all those other successful businesses know that you don’t? Or, perhaps more important, what are some of the reasons you haven’t gone ahead and formed your own corporation or LLC?
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Just Got BBB Accreditation. But, Does It Matter Anymore?
Late last week, I got word from the Better Business Bureau that I am now officially accredited by them. I paid them about $600 and had them go over my business to make sure I’m legitimate. It took a couple of weeks, but it is now done.
The question, though, is WHY did I bother? Is the BBB even relevant anymore?
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How To Get Blog Traffic By Pissing Off Your Audience
It has been said that you never want to upset your customers. However, I’m here to tell you that sometimes there is a place for it. IF you do it strategically…
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Don’t Worry, Be Crappy
Are you a perfectionist when it comes to your own stuff? When it comes to publishing a blog post, writing a report, launching a product, do you want it to be perfect? Are you afraid of people thinking your stuff sucks? Do you let it paralyze you?
Maybe it’s time to just realize when good is good enough.
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Blog Setup = Huge Business Opportunity
Blogs are sprouting up all over the place these days. And it isn’t going to stop anytime soon. I expect this recession is resulting in a huge growth of blogging. This opens up a huge opportunity for people who know even basic blog setup.
This is not something I have any intention of doing myself. I like to help people USE their blogs to achieve their aims. Even though I can set up a Wordpress blog with my eyes closed and my hands tied, it isn’t something I want to do on a paid basis because I don’t want to trade time for money like that.
But, what about you? Do you know how to set up Wordpress? Do basic theme design and setup? Install plug-in’s? For many of my readers, this is probably child’s play. For most of the world, though, this stuff is HARD.
Besides, most people just want the technical stuff done for them so they can get on with writing. To the majority, the technical stuff is a barrier and they hate it.
There is a huge business opportunity here for so many people. Offer to set up people’s blogs for them. Charge them money.
Even if you charge somebody as little as $100, chances are you can set up a blog with a pre-designed theme in an hour or less. Even if it took you a full hour, that’s $100/hour. And most smart people will spend $100 to save them the endless hours of research to learn how to set up a blog on their own.
Couple this with a little bit of marketing to teach them the benefits of self-hosting, having your own dot-com domain name, etc.
Lastly, target your local area. Sure, you can offer this to anybody on the Internet, but if you promote to relevant circles in your own local area, you will have much less competition. Word gets around that you are the person who can do quick blogs for people.
Listen, I know at least a couple people in my own local area who are doing this. For them, setting up a Wordpress blog is trivial. To their clients, not so much. And there are a lot of people out there who want blogs but don’t know how to start them.
Your thoughts?
From Business Misery To A Solution
What follows is a bit of a personal story which happened yesterday, but one which led to a huge realization about my business.
Yesterday, I got some work done in the morning. By early afternoon, I was feeling burned out. Unenthusiastic. Just not happy. I was at Panera Bread working because it is nice to get out of the house sometimes. By the time I got back home and walked into my office, it was very clear I didn’t want to be there. Life sucked.
So, I want for a walk for about an hour. I took the Iphone with me and listened to a couple of podcast episodes of Internet Business Mastery. The two episodes spoke right to me. Episode #48 talked about lifestyle design (a term popularized by Tim Ferris). Jay and Sterling spoke of their various life goals and how they set up their business to make those things happen. Episode #49 talked about their big mistakes and what they would do differently if they were starting from scratch. In it, they talked about the importance of setting up systems. That is, systematizing all procedures in the business so that they were not personally trapped by it. It means documentation so that another could sit down and do the job.
After listening to these two episodes, I felt re-energized. But, by night, I was incredibly upset once again after my wife and I had a two-hour argument. It all started with the fact that I was on my laptop at night – again. I was on the Internet – not exactly working, but doing some stuff related to my line of work.
The truth is: I find myself defaulting BACK to work-related activities even when I’m not officially working. It leads to constant work, and not enough time with my wife and daughter. I really do enjoy what I do, but there is a definite lack of balance. Not good. Click Here To Continue Reading »
Blogger Gold Rush – Is It A False Hope?
There are certainly a LOT of blogs out there. Many of those bloggers want to make money with their sites. Some actually start the blog with the express purpose of making money with it (usually a mistake). But, do they deserve it?
Louis Gray, a new Silicon Valley blogger that pretty much came from nowhere and is now considered an A-list blogger in many circles, states it point blank: Most Bloggers Don’t Deserve Any Ad Revenue. He goes on to state that, for most bloggers, the hopes of making good money with their blogs is just misguided. There are too many bloggers, and most have little to offer.
The part where Gray loses me is with:
Yet, some bloggers act as if it’s their God-given right to write, post a few ads and start raking in cash.
OK, I have certainly seen bloggers who start a blog to make money. They’re hoping for it, yes. But, I have never met anybody who does so thinking they have a God-given right to it. I think Gray is overstating his case here, perhaps just to be provacative.
He then goes onto say that bloggers are not adding any value to the web. I STRONGLY disagree with that. Look, bloggers put out content that is, hopefully, interesting. Maybe even valuable. It helps people. To say that that is not valuable would be to say that most TV shows are of no value. They are, because they provide the real estate on which to advertise.
Sure, not all bloggers are adding value. Some just add to the noise. But, that’s the way it works in almost any field. It is capitalism, and let them try.
Louis Gray Is Right AND Wrong
Gray had a good point, then went too far. What he forgets is that the most valuable commodity online is one thing: EYEBALLS. Attention. Bloggers who truly concentrate on their audience, provide value, cover things with a unique perspective, provide interesting insight and personality – THOSE bloggers attract eyeballs. And that is valuable. And those bloggers CAN make money through their blog.
Even if that blogger is talking about the same things as others, it comes down to something making them unique, be it perspective, humor, whatever.
This whole notion about bloggers demanding their fair share of the advertising pie – I think this is a made-up figure in Louis Gray’s head.
I make many thousands of dollars per month by blogging. And, yes, it is a tech blog. There are a LOT of tech blogs, no doubt. It is saturated niche. However, do I manage to attract readers? Yes. Do I get a lot of them? Yes, probably 10,000 – 15,000 unique readers daily. Is that of little value, Louis?
I think Louis is onto something, and that is a huge reality check. Yes, blogging is, well, a complete and total bitch. It is hard. It isn’t something that is going to quickly result in an influx of cash. To most, it never will. There is a LOT of competition.
But, to any prospective blogger who is thinking of getting started, I hope you do not become discouraged by Louis Gray’s rant. Just get into blogging with the right expectations. Realize that you have to stand out and that it is going to take time. Also, realize that in many cases the value of a blog is in the branding rather than ad revenue. There are, actually, much better ways to make money with a blog than by hosting ads.
So, I agree with Louis Gray. I just think he could have stated his case a little better.
I am a pro-blogger and Internet entrepreneur who generates six figures online per year. This blog is a plain-English, pull-no-punches tale of my life as an Internet entrepreneur and problogger. 
