Last week I attended Pioneer Nation, a 3-day conference of solopreneurs and location independent entreproducers, organized by the same folks who put on the World Domination Summit. When I attended WDS last year I realized what Chris Guillebeau had done by bringing this community together: he gave us a digital guild. Before WDS, I was [...]
Featured images for blog posts look great. Blog posts with featured images enhance visual appeal, increase clickthroughs, and augment the user experience on your blog. (With clever use of titles and ALT tags on each image, you can even boost your SEO.) It is really easy to find images online, and downloading them is a [...]
Recently a friend of mine moved to Ojai, and I wanted to reach out and make an impression. So I decided to send him an Ace of Sales Email Greeting and give him an ‘Ojai Five.’ Making this customized image only took a few minutes. I’ll walk you through how to customize your own photos in [...]
Does your business run better with a shotgun? Or a laser? Lemme 'splain. When you want to hit something with a shotgun, you point it in a vague direction, and hope to hit something when you pull the trigger. With a laser, you have to be precise. Aiming at one specific point. Most small business owners [...]
A new phase of your business, a new project, and a brainstorm walk into a bar. Things Get Messy. Organizing lots of ideas can be overwhelming, unless you get all the ideas onto one canvas, where you can review them all together. Once you can see everything in one place, it becomes much more manageable. [...]
Guest Post by Amber Adrian Sending your work out into the world can be intimidating. But whether you’re looking to make money with freelance writing or submitting guest posts to build your audience, it doesn’t have to be a daunting hurdle. Here are five ways to help you clear the fence. 1. Research [...]
When you’re defining your personal branding, it’s easy to get trapped into relying on only your own impressions of yourself. After all, who knows you better…than you? However, that’s exactly the problem. You know too much about yourself. There are so many various details that make up your personality. Trying to include all of them [...]
You strike up a conversation with a guy at a coffee shop. It’s a good chat. You’ve made an acquaintance. Congratulations! At this point in the new relationship, how comfortable are you with asking him to borrow his car? How about inviting yourself over to his house for dinner that evening? Awkward silence, right? If you’re [...]
You’ve arrived five minutes early to your appointment. You think there’s a good chance this could lead somewhere… …until twenty minutes later, when you call to find out that, yes, they’ve forgotten all about you. No-shows waste your time (and your reputation). Protect your time. Prevent appointment no-shows from happening by sending 2 emails with [...]
Productive people make things happen. Procrastinators make good excuses. “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” – Paul Meyer Deadline. The very name sounds menacing and morbid. Many procrastinators can only finish their work under mortal threat. Knowing they will be completely [...]