Wed, 29 January 2014
Do you have a message you'd like to get out the world, and you wonder if it's possible to get paid for it? It is possible, and it does take work, but not as much as you might think. And on today's episode I'm going to show you seven simple steps to monetizing your message. Also coming up…
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Tip Of The WeekMy top must-have travel app, Tripit. There are lots of travel apps available, and I have tried most of them. But this one is the hands-down winner that I was willing to pay money for. Here are three reasons why I really love this app:
Copywriting Corner Do you want to know the magic formula for writing copy that sells? Me too. The fact is, there is no such formula. There are frameworks, and I teach those. What's more, I use them. But the truth is the best copy comes from inspiration and creativity. Where do those things come from? That is the subject of this week's Copywriting Corner. John Cleese has famously said he doesn't know where great ideas come from, but he's certain they don't come from our laptops. I believe it's important to be open to, and fill up on, stimulating, exciting, interesting, moving, and varied experiences. To live life. To give your brain a chance to get away from your projects, so it can do your work. My best copy has never come from following a template or formula. It is come from a flurry of white hot inspired ideation. Yours can too. In the audio version of this show, I expand a bit on these concepts, but for the benefit of you text a files, here are some tips
Spiritual Foundations How do we know who's a true follower of Jesus? Well, first of all, there is no “litmus test” they can tell us for sure if another person is “saved” or not. Only the Holy Spirit himself knows that for sure. So how do we know, with all the various opinions and doctrines and expressions of Christianity, who the true followers of Christ really are? I think Jesus himself gave us the answer. He said:
Feature Segment: How To Monetize Your MessageBy far, the most frequent question I am asked is some variation of, “Ray, how do I start a business of my own on the Internet? Can I really make enough money to get by? Or is it just a scam?” It definitely is not a scam. I know plenty of people who have made this transition. Of course some of them are quite well known, and have been clients of mine. Some are my friends, and I've been privileged to know a few who are household names. But more impressive, I think, are the people you may have never heard of who have done exactly this. People who do things as varied as teaching massage therapists how to run a business, or teaching how to grow your own medicinal herbs, or unique brand of artful photography, or even dog training… It is definitely possible to take your knowledge and experience, what you already know, in turn that into money. In fact, I'm teaching a brand-new webinar on this very subject tomorrow night (Thursday, January 30, 2014.) You can register for that webinar by clicking here. It's free. Meanwhile, here are seven simple steps that will help you move closer to learning how to monetize your message.
We are at a significant point in history, unique and exciting. Every person is a media company if they want to be. For less than $100, you can have your own mini media empire. So the question is no longer access to distribution. The question is what will you do with it? Listener QuestionsBarak: How do you grow your audience? Corbin Links: How do you overcome a bad book review on an influential site? Dan Tredo: How do you overcome technical problems when building information business? Todd Liles: Where do you find good Infusionsoft campaign templates?
What To Do NowIf you enjoy the podcast, I would consider it a great favor if you subscribe (and leave a review) in iTunes. This helps new people discover the show. You can also find the podcast on Stitcher. Question: What are your big questions about how to monetize your message? Click here to leave your comments. |
Wed, 22 January 2014
Have you broken your New Year's resolutions yet? Most people have-my estimate is that over 90% have. So what do you do now? I'd say it's time to get serious about planning your year. And on today's episode I'm going to show you how to do it in less than one hour. Also coming up…
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Tip Of The WeekMy top three productivity apps probably will not come as much of a surprise. But I have made a shift, so here they are:
Copywriting Corner If you ever get stuck writing copy, and find yourself staring at a blank page, here's a quick tip that will get the copy flowing again. Just start writing up the offer. Describe the “stuff” you'll be selling. If even that requires too much creativity, try just writing up the guarantee. In other words, write what I call “the stupid parts”. I don't mean that these parts the copy are unimportant, or that you should be careless about the final draft of these sections. What I do mean is that you can write this kind of copy even if you are in a “stupid state”. I usually find that fairly soon the creativity starts to flow again, and I can start writing “the smart parts”. And yes, I also go back and rewrite the parts I started with, because all of your copy needs to be “smart parts”. Spiritual Foundations I believe that as followers of Christ, we have the very Spirit of God living inside of us. I believe because of this, the words we speak have power. Thus, saying negative things (“I can't do this”… “Why does this always happen to me”… “It always turns out like this”… and so on) can have a powerful adverse impact on our lives. By the same token, saying positive things brings about good things in our life. This is not “positive thinking”. It is absolutely not “The Secret”, which is a new age religion not compatible with following Christ. Some people wonder if my belief in “positive declarations” is Biblical. It certainly is. And here are 3 biblical reasons why you should only declare good things about yourself, your loved ones, and your life.
Feature Segment: How To Plan Your Year In Just 1 HourBy now it's likely your New Year's resolutions are broken. Most people's are. I believe the reason behind this is the same force that was behind my experience while hiking recently. I got so focused on the length and height of the mountain we were trying to climb, I wanted to give up. It was only when I learned to focus on short-term and intermediate points on the path that I found the strength to continue the hike. (For the full hiking story, you need to listen to the show!) This is the problem with New Year's resolutions. I have a different plan in mind for you. Here's how to plan your entire year in an hour or less, and it matches up a lot more closely with what you already do naturally anyway. First, plan your days off. 52 weeks means 52 Saturdays and Sundays… Which really should be 104 days free from work. Add in 10 days for actual vacation, and 10 more days for holidays, and you have a minimum of 124 free days. Put those in your calendar, and protect them like the treasure they are. Next, plan the important personal events that you simply must attend. Weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and family reunions come to mind. I would also include here any important church or mission functions. Now, plan any seminars, conferences, or other learning events you are going to attend. Don't fool yourself; you have a limited number of these events you can attend. You probably know the most important ones already so plug them into the calendar. Any weekends or other free days that get eaten up by these events must be replaced somewhere else in your calendar. At this point, in my own planning I realized I had only about 165 days left before I even started the year. That means out of the entire year, I only had 23 weeks to “work”… less than half the weeks in the year. This is a powerful realization, because the things that I have listed above are going to happen to you… whether you put them on the calendar or not. The only exception might be that, because of a lack of planning, you sacrifice your “free days”… meaning you are sacrificing time with family, time recharging and resting, time to re-create. Big mistake. So what do you do when youre remaining 23 weeks (or whatever number you came up with)? First of all, I don't recommend working 12-15 hours a day to try and make up the difference. In fact, I recommend you limit your work day to about six hours. That's all the productive time you're going to get out of the day anyhow, whether you admit it or not. This leads us to a very important realization… we can now calculate the value of an hour of our work. Here's how to do that…
So what's the point? I haven't describe anything unrealistic. In fact, I may have just given you the first realistic picture of what your year actually looks like you've ever seen. Perhaps right now you're having a revelation of why you never made the money you want to make, or achieved the things you want to achieve. It's because you have less time available to work than you think you do. This is not bad news. It simply means your primary question should be: “Is what I'm doing right now worth $259.74 per hour?” If the answer is no… stop it. You're probably already ahead of me. You're probably thinking about all the other things I haven't plugged into your schedule… doctor appointments, unexpected illnesses, pleasant surprises… even the possibility that you want to make more money than what I mentioned. My point isn't even that you need to have a perfect plan. It's that you need to put the big pieces of the puzzle in your calendar first, the ones you know that are beyond choosing, the ones you know that are important (like those free days), and the ones you know you have little control over. It means you need to get a realistic view of how many hours you actually have available to you this year to accomplish your goals, to be intentional about how you use them, and most importantly… to not be surprised at the end of the year, when you could've planned a different outcome. I suppose if I had a summary message it would be this: I believe you can do almost anything you want this year, but you almost certainly cannot do everything you want. What To Do NowIf you enjoy the podcast, I would consider it a great favor if you subscribe (and leave a review) in iTunes. This helps new people discover the show. You can also find the podcast on Stitcher. Question: how do you plan your year? Click here to leave your comments. |
Wed, 15 January 2014
This week we will continue with listener questions. As you may remember, we just completed our first ever Annual Reader/Listener Survey for this site (and podcast). We got some interesting and surprising results in that survey… and lots of feedback, comments, and questions. We will answer more questions and comment on more comments. Also on today's episode…
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Tip Of The WeekCopywriting Corner This is the official kickoff of one of your suggestions from our listener survey: that I include a copywriting tip in each episode. Each week I will include a tip on how to improve the power and persuasiveness of your copy. In other words, I will help you write copy that moves people to action, whether that action be to buy a product, to opt into a list, or to adopt an idea you are “selling” to them. This week's tip: the easiest and fastest way to influence anyone is by using what is already influencing them. This is a restatement of Robert Colliers classic advice: you must enter the conversation that is already taking place in the mind of the reader. But how do you do this? To get into the mind of your prospect, you need to have tea. No, it's not a beverage. It's a visualization exercise, for which I have coined the term The Empathy Amplifier (T.E.A.). Here's how to do it:
Try it. In fact, I would love to share some reader examples with everyone else. So if you do this exercise, and write a paragraph or two of copy, and you know there is a difference-send me that copy! I'll share with the world! Spiritual Foundations Last week I talked about those who resist a “radical grace” approach to the gospel. I mentioned that some people are afraid this is an error, and refer to it as “cheap grace” or “greasy grace”. Their concern is that this teaching that Jesus has already paid the price for our sins… past, present, and future, is a perversion of the gospel. That it gives people license to sin, and makes them bitter, arrogant, and prideful. I said that Grace is not a license to sin. It is what empowers us to overcome sin. I also knowledge to that some use the word “grace” as an excuse for their sin. But we don't know (a) whether that person IS or IS NOT a true believer… and (B) how and/or when that person will be overcome by God's Grace and led out of a life of sin. Let me assure you that I got the same objections from more than one person. So if you objected, and you are hearing this, please understand that I am not directing this only at you. I am, in the best way I know, lovingly offering you a different way of considering this issue. I reached my conclusions on these matters based solely on Scripture. I can defend them based solely on Scripture. But that would take an entire podcast to even begin to scratch the surface. So let me summarize this quickly, and perhaps allow some people to rest easy, by saying this: The grace that Jesus Christ offers lets you completely off the hook for sin. It settles your sin problem once and for all. Past, present, and future. It is not necessary for you to beg for forgiveness every time you cross the line in sin. Even if you do it willfully. Grace is much more powerful than that, and creates within you a new heart that makes it more and more impossible for you to sin.
Grace does not increase the desire to sin. Preaching this radical grace does not cause people to sin more. What causes that is the very spirit of “religion” which so desperately wants to bind people to rules and regulations. It is this religious spirit that causes well-meaning believers say things like, “Yes, grace is wonderful, but you got to be careful… you've got to make sure you balance that teaching with an emphasis on holiness… and following God's commandments.” I humbly disagree. We are not under the law, but under grace. Let's see what the New Testament has to say about the Law. Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
1 Timothy
Hebrews
This list of scripture, and the commentary, was supplied by my good friend Phil Drysdale. I recommend you read Phil's blog at PhilDrysdale.com Let me answer clearly this accusation that there is such a thing as “greasy grace”: no, no, no! Grace does not cause disregard for holiness-your religion does. As a final thought on this subject, I will quote the well-respected Bible commentator Martyn Lloyd Jones, who wrote the following in his Commentary on Romans 6:
Your Further Comments
Your Further Questions
What To Do NowIf you enjoy the podcast, I would consider it a great favor if you subscribe (and leave a review) in iTunes. This helps new people discover the podcast. You can also find the podcast on Stitcher. Question: how are you doing on your goals and resolutions so far in the new year? Click here to leave your comments. |
Thu, 9 January 2014
I promised this week would be about the most important subject I've ever covered. That subject is… you. We just completed our first ever Annual Reader/Listener Survey for this site (and podcast). Boy, did we get some interesting and surprising results in that survey… and it's all about you. I also received a ton of comments and questions. Many of them flattering, some of them not so much. On this weeks podcast I'm sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly. Also on today's episode…
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Tip Of The WeekAs you may know, I have taken a deep interest in digital photography. After extensive research, reading many reviews, and looking at many, many cameras, I settled on the Sony NEX-7. the main reasons I decided on this camera are:
If you're interested in knowing more, check out this review by Trey Ratcliffe. If you want to buy a Sony NEX-7, get the best deal here at Amazon. Spiritual Foundations When we talk about the radical grace of Jesus, some people become concerned that this will encourage others to sin freely. This is not the case. Grace is not a license to sin. It is what empowers us to overcome sin. Do some use “grace” as an excuse for their sin? So it seems. But we don't know (a) whether that person IS or IS NOT a true believer… and (B) how and/or when that person will be overcome by God's Grace and led out of a life of sin. Resist the temptation to judge people, and resist the temptation to diminish the power of the Gospel. For that is what we do when we throw around terms like “cheap grace” or “greasy grace”. There's no such thing. God's grace covers all of our sin. ALL. You won't win people to the Kingdom by bearing them over the head with the 10 Commandments. You win them by showing them the grace of Christ. “Just as I am, without one plea, Survey Results And Listener QuestionsThe votes are in, the polls are closed, and this is what I learned (thank you for sharing).
That’s a topline selection of some of the most significant data we collected. Were still sifting through some of the open-ended responses. The Most Surprising ResultWe did ask a follow-up question about what product or training you would most like me to create for you next, and frankly I was shocked by the results. I felt certain the number one choice would be a new, revised copywriting course. I felt so certain, in fact, we had already started working on this. But… By a healthy 3-to-1 margin, the most desired training is “how to package, promote, and profit from what you already know”. The people have spoken, and I have listened. We are working on this very training right now… more to come on this soon. (Never fear… The copywriting course will be next on the agenda!) So what does all this data mean, anyway? How will it affect the content we publish going forward? What We Plan to DoFirst and foremost, I want to make this blog more useful for you. A better investment of your time. More helpful to you. Let me be clear: even if you never do business with my company, even if you never buy a single thing we have to offer, I want to make sure we offer value to you. Based on what we learned in the survey, here are some things we plan to do:
Your Comments
Your Questions
What To Do NowIf you enjoy the podcast, I would consider it a great favor if you subscribe (and leave a review) in iTunes. This helps new people discover the podcast. You can also find the podcast on Stitcher. Question: how will YOU engage un more of a conversation with your customers this year? Click here to leave your comments. |
Wed, 1 January 2014
Michael Hyatt is my guest on the first podcast of 2014, and we discuss how to set effective goals for the new year.
What To Do NowIf you enjoy the podcast, I would consider it a great favor if you subscribe (and leave a review) in iTunes. This helps new people discover the podcast. You can also find the podcast on Stitcher. Question: What goals will you set for the New Year? Click here to leave your comments. |