It sounds so cliche to say that I’m blown away by what I’ve learned at Blog World Expo so far and it’s only day one. But, cliche or not, facts are facts and it wowed me!

I think what impressed me most, even more than the fantastic training is the people I’ve met. Their creativity extends beyond what my mind can fathom and I’ve loved hearing the stories behind the blogs of the people I’ve had the pleasure to meet and network with. I have a pile of cards already and several new friends whose blogs, websites, and businesses I’m anxious to explore!

If you wanted to come to Blog World but couldn’t, I’ve been sharing tweetables from the session’s I’ve attended on twitter @StephensHeather throughout the day. I plan to do the same today, so check it out, and follow the #BWELA hash tag for even more blogging brilliance!

Here are the trainings I’ve attended so far.  I will be turning my notes into blog posts for you when I can squeeze out a little time from the crazy conference schedule.

• Google+ for Business with Guy Kawasaki and Chris Brogan
• How to Teach & Grow Your Audience with Webinars with Chris Garrett & Ben Eadie
• How to Get More Impact from Your Content Leveraging Influencers and Tribes Dominique LaHaix
• Accelerate Your Blog’s Growth Using Cialdini’s 6 Weapons of Influence with Sid Savara
• Plus an Incredible Keynote from Peter Shankman

If you’re here at Blog World let’s connect! Here are the sessions I plan to attend and share tweetables from today.  (This may change depending on networking opportunities and word of mouth recommendations of other trainings form people I meet.)

• Blogging from the Heart with Daren Rowse
• Technorati’s state of the Blogosphere Address
• Real-Time Content in No Time with Eric Berto
• Blogs Bribes & Blasphemy: Engaging Influencers in a Changing World with Greg swan & Anik Hanson
• Facebook Insights and Advertising with Dennis Yu

Hope to see you there!

Heather

I was so excited when Ann Sieg asked to interview me about my blog and my business last spring. I’ve mentioned before how much I have admired Ann as a mentor, teacher, and leader in the home based business industry.

I’ll share a link to the interview at the end of the post, but since I’m in such a different place now than I was when Ann and I spoke, I feel the need to fill you in first.

Life Lessons from Ann Sieg:

One of the biggest lessons Ann has taught me is to adapt. Life changes quickly, and those who are able to change with it and stay ahead of it are the ones who will succeed.

My life changed when I had my son. His sweet surprise arrival made me stop and evaluate life as I knew it and what I wanted from it. That exploration into my values led me to learning about online marketing, to Ann Sieg’s Renegade Network Marketer book, and eventually MLM Blog Secrets and Code with Ann Sieg and Ty Tribble.

It only took a few months from the time I started to implement their teaching until I was consistently generating leads and earning a small, but real income from my online business. During that process, I discovered how much I love helping others and seeing them reach for their goals in ways that expand their comfort zones made them nervous, and caused them to do things they wouldn’t have done otherwise.

As I my business grew, my confidence grew and with that my focus changed. I went from approaching my business with self serving monetary goals, to wanting to make a bigger difference for others. That kept me pushing forward, practicing and learning more about marketing so I could teach it on my blog, until I marketed myself, unexpectedly into a dream job.

Going from WAHM to Working Mom

If you’d have told me last spring, when Ann interviewed me, that I would be working outside the home, I would have laughed in your face and said NO Way! It would have been as absurd to me as you telling me, as I was getting started online, that Ann Sieg would want to interview me.

But the “being adaptable” lesson, Ann taught me came into play once again when I was offered a job at FatWallet.com, an online coupon company specializing in helping others save money on the things they buy to live and give.

Before taking the job, I went through some major soul searching and evaluation of my goals and values once again. I wondered if I was selling out on myself and my family by taking the position. I worried about the impact it would make on our family, and I even had some insecurity in myself, wondering if I rally could play in the world of big business with the skills I’d developed in my small business.

But I knew that becoming their social media manager would be an opportunity of a lifetime, to expand my knowledge and take my experience to a completely different level. And since the company was also behind my personal goals and offered me the flexibility to be a mom first, I decided to take it.

Ironically, or maybe not so ironically, it’s given me the opportunity to do even more of what I love. While I’m not a full time work at home mom now, I’m just as engaged with my family and even more fully engrained in the blogging and social media marketing world than I ever have been.

I still get the fulfillment of helping others, and recently received an IM from a friend I had given a pep talk to, before he presented a webinar on SEO:

“Your support was incredibly helpful, you lit a fire under my ass, motivated me, helped me prepare for things that wound up being life changing.”

And I get to expand my blogging, social media, copywriting and seo knowlege through trainings that I probably wouldn’t have attended otherwise. I’m leaving tomorrow morning for L.A. to attend Blog World Expo, LA, and then flying from there to Las Vegas to attend Pubcon, both of them conferences to help me learn and network with other bloggers around the world.

I know that right now, as unexpected as it is, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be and I have no idea of what tomorrow will bring, except that it will be wonderful if I remain open to change, continue to adapt and more than anything take a chance to do whatever gives me the biggest butterflies and makes my heart beat faster!

If you’re sitting on the sidelines watching everyone else succeed online or your struggling in your business, I recommend with total confidence that you go read Ann Sieg’s Renegade Network Marketer book, and implement everything Ty Tribble teaches in MLM Blog Secrets and MLM Blog Code.

So, here’s the interview with Ann Sieg on The Renegade Blog. Enjoy it and remember that you’re capable of so much more than you believe you are. Blogging can truly transform more than your business, it can transform your life if you let it.

Love,
Heather

Tax season is still a few months away, but it’s never too early to begin preparing the tax documents that may need to file your tax return. While this is true for all taxpayers, individuals who own their own businesses – or those who who have more complicated tax situations – must pay closer attention to ensure that all of their qualifying tax deductions and credits are applied to their income tax return. A growing number of today’s small business owners are members of the blogging community. While some bloggers share their content for personal reasons, others actually blog as a way to earn income. If you are one of those who makes or intends to make a profit, consider the following tax deductions that may reduce your tax liabilities.

Internet Expenses

Since blogs are published online, Internet expenses are typically tax-deductible. Additionally, the following related expenses may very likely qualify for tax deductions:

• Media Downloads: If you have to download music or photos for your blog, any fees that you pay for publishing rights are tax-deductible.
• Software: Any programs and software required to run your blog
• Domain Fees: Includes Internet access fees, hosting fees and registration fees for domain names

Electronic Equipment

If you blog for money, you will need to have your own computer, which typically includes such accessories as keyboards, mice, and monitors. Depending on your business needs you may also use a printer, copier, fax machine and scanner. Cellphones and digital cameras may also be used for your business, all of which may be considered deductible expenses.

Home Office Supplies/Expenses

Small business owners who blog out of their own homes may have a home office set up to facilitate operations for their business. If your home office is used exclusively and regularly for business purposes, is your principal place of business, and is a separate identifiable space in your home, you may be able to deduct your home office expenses based on the square footage of the space. Using the square footage calculation, business owners can deduct a percentage of household indirect expenses, such as rent, electricity costs, heating costs, insurance and so forth. If you own your home, you can take a depreciation deduction (calculation is tricky), and pro rata share deductions for property taxes, repairs, and insurance. Additionally, direct expenses such as cost of your computer warranty, your chair, your desk, that are used in your home office for business purposes can be deducted as business expenses.

Small Business Expenses

Many people do not understand that blogging can be a legitimate business, providing income for one or more individuals. Like any other business, certain expenses resulting from the running of the business can be used as a tax deduction. These may include fees paid for licenses, insurance, accounting services, banking, tax preparation fees and any other expenses that you may have incurred as part of building and/or maintaining your blog.

Education & Networking

With blogging becoming an industry of its own, it is necessary for bloggers to stay ahead of the curve by educating themselves and by networking with other bloggers. Related education expenses – such as classes, seminars, webinars, etc. – are tax-deductible. In addition to education, any professional association fees and subscriptions to trade publications or relevant market research studies and tools may be eligible to deduct as well.

Travel Expenses

Bloggers are now meeting other bloggers at conventions and conferences worldwide. As the blogging industry continues to grow and evolve, travel may become necessary for small business owners to remain current in the industry. Business-related travel expenses, such as rental car costs, hotel accommodations, dining and even some entertainment (if business-related) expenses, may be deducted at tax time. Keep all receipts from your trip to provide documentation of business travel expenses.

Promotion

In order to earn income from a blog, you must have an audience. Any money spent on advertising, graphic design costs for logo and banner ad development, contest prizes, and SEO and SEM services will be tax-deductible. Also, since social media networks have become hugely popular as a way to connect with a blog’s audience, many bloggers hire experts to manage their social media networks. The cost of hiring any of these consultants is a tax deduction as well.

Other Fun & Miscellaneous Deductions

Just about any expense – no matter how seemingly strange – can be deducted if you are able to prove that the expense is necessary to run your blogging business. Some fun deductions that may apply to certain bloggers include:

• Cable or Satellite TV Charges: If you run a blog that offers movie reviews or critiques the effectiveness of TV commercials, you may be able to deduct these expenses.
• Pet Expenses: If your blog documents your duck hunting expeditions or chronicles the daily life of your animal, your pet expenses can be deductible.
• Alcohol: If you blog about wine, beer, whiskey, tequila, grain alcohol or any other type of alcohol, you may be able to take a 100% deduction for these types of things rather than the 50% deduction that is typically allowed for entertainment expenses.
• Trips to Exotic Locations: As previously discussed, money that you spend traveling to a training seminar – including seminars in exotic locations – is tax-deductible. Also, if you run a travel blog and write about your experiences, any trip that you take may be fully or partially deductible.

Not All Bloggers Qualify for Deductions

As you may have noticed, all deductions allowed by the IRS apply to business-related expenses. Of course, not all bloggers are business owners. In order to offset other income that you may have earned, you should have a blog that produces profit at least three of the past five years; otherwise, the IRS may deem your blogging activity to be a hobby. IRS classification of your blog as a hobby means that “allowable deductions cannot exceed the gross receipts for the activity.” In other words, your blog-related deductions cannot have totaled more than the income that you report from your blog (or hobby) on your tax return. In turn, your blog’s expenses will be subject to the 2% miscellaneous expenses rule. See IRS.gov to learn more about the strict guidelines that are in place to determine whether your blog is for profit or merely a hobby.

When in doubt, it always recommended that you check with your tax preparer or accountant as opposed to making assumptions that may land you in hot water with the IRS.

Last summer the editor of Networking Times magazine contacted me on Facebook.   She had been on my blog, loved it and wanted me to write an article for one of their upcoming issues on Writing: The New Social Currency.

I was so surprised and excited because I saw it as an opportunity to reach a bigger audience and help people who have avoided getting started on a blog for their business because they think they can’t write.

Your writing doesn’t have to be perfect to be effective; you just have to write! I’m one of those “throw the formalities out the window” type of people.  I like to have fun with my blog, be myself, and talk to all of you like we were sitting across the table having a glass of wine or cup of coffee and hanging out.

That was why I chose to write an article sharing 7 tips to creative writing that is fun, easy, and will get results.  And in my typical “Heather style” I couldn’t stop with just the article (I love surprising people with fun freebies.) So I also gave away a writer’s resource at the end of the post for those who needed a little help getting started.  It includes a downloadable pdf writer’s resource that includes a copywriting cheat sheet, 45 hypnotic headlines, simple writing formulas, as well as 50 things to blog about (for home based business owners and networkers) so you’ll never be stuck with writers’ block!

I recorded a video for the Networking Times TV channel sharing one of my favorite tips. Watch the video and grab the link to the article and your free downloadable writer’s kit below.

Enjoy!
♥ Heather

September/October 2011 Networking Times Article:Creative Writing Made Easy

To get your free gift, please enter your name and email in the fields below and then go check your inbox. In a few minutes you’ll receive an email from me with a link to download your writer’s resource.

Liar liar, pant’s on fire! Yes, I’m talking to you!

You lie every day to yourself, your family, your business partners, even your mom.  It’s time you stop lying, cheating, and stealing from yourself.  You’ll never be successful in your business if you keep it up.

You know deep down in your heart that you do it, but you may not be willing to admit it. Why?  Because it’s easier not to. Because you’re keeping yourself so busy with excuse after excuse so you don’t have to face the facts.

It’s time you take a look in the mirror, ignore the toothpaste splatters, and get honest with yourself.  (I did and it feels great!)

Enjoy the video, excuse the pj’s please.  This message was too important to waste time getting dressed for.

This bookmark worthy post contains a list of resources you’re going to want to refer to again and again, including a fantastic free video marketing ebook, and one golden nugget shared by an audience member at BlogHer that had the crowd standing in applause spontaneously during the session!

We covered the basics of video marketing last week and now we get into the juicy details that really got me excited:  The things that make your audience able to find and actually want to watch your videos!

Planning, Recording and Editing Your Video:

As you’re planning your video project, you need to pay attention to several things that will make marketing your video easier.

Keyword:

• You know the keyword phrase you want your video fund under, right?  That needs to be figured out before you get started recording your video.

Recording Your Video:

• Keep your video short: 3-5 minutes max (shorter is better!)
• Remember from the previous post, lighting is important, audio is more important.
• Indymogul.com great source for lighting tutorial
• Stay consistent with your branding on video, colors, your personality, style, and image.
• Keep video focused, only one topic per video
• Use a teleprompter a white board or remember a couple of bullet points to stay on task
• Shoot your video in segments to give you an opportunity for transitions in the final edit
• Don’t give away all your tips in your videos…leave some stuff out so they have to visit your blog.
• Remember to include a call to action: Tell your audience what to do next and then tell them again

Editing Your Video:

• Don’t have anything on the video that doesn’t need to be there.
• Add music to keep the video moving: For royalty free music try:  http://incompetech.com and http://kevinmcleod.com
• Check out youtube’s creative commons for video clips to break your video up.
• Use annotations in youtube and let your audience interact by voting or choosing what happens next, etc.
• Have a great thumbnail: go for the thing that people will question ”what’s she doing?” Something strange will make people want to wondering what you’re up to and click.
• Have a title card on the beginning and end of your video with a CTA leading them to your blog.

Make your video findable: Video SEO Search Engine Optimization

Title, Description, Tags:

• Put your tags (your keyword phrase) in the actual movie file you save and upload
• Have a great title that’s relevant and includes keywords and name of your blog
• Description should reflect the title
• Tags should reflect the description and the title
• Link to your blog in the description in the title

Video Distribution:  Get your video out there so people can find it!

• Good: Tube Mogul Free for non commercial videos.   Commercial videos are $100/month no contract.
• Better: Traffic Geyser $1 for a 21 day trial and $97/month no contract

Some Extra, Extraordinary Video Tips I Got From BlogHer:

• Host an online talk show at: http://www.vokle.com/
• Consistency in uploading videos: 1/week, 3/week doesn’t matter as long as it’s consistent.

Monetize your videos:

• Biglive.com http://www.biglive.com/bl/ beta site that allows you to put video behind a paypal button
• FYI: I use: Easy Video Player (to host private videos on Amazon and embed them on my blog…Great if you are creating content that someone will be paying for!)

Free YouTube eBook:

• Just released: “Best of YouTube Practices:” http://www.youtube.com/creators/playbook.html  (Free eBook which is basically the YouTube Bible!)

And finally: the tip that got the applause: When you’re linking to your videos make sure you’re picking the code from your channel and not the main stream so people have an opportunity to watch more of your videos and subscribe to your channel.  Here’s how to do this:

1. Upload your video to youtube
2. Go to your channel
3. Click on your video
4. Use the url on YOUR channel, not the main stream

If you want more video resources and tips, check out the marketing resources page on my blog and please share your ideas and tips in the comments below!

What happens at BlogHer does not stay at BlogHer.

Whew, what a summer!   I hope yours was as amazing as mine was!  I’ve traveled, entertained, and partied more this summer than I in any summer I can remember.  Our family vacations were fantastic, but I’m so craving a routine again.  It’s time to get these rusty ol typing fingers back into the swing of things!  The kids start school on Wednesday, so it’s coming soon.

I’m weaning back into a schedule, starting today with the video blogging secrets I learned at BlogHer11.  I’ve got so many golden nuggets from the BlogHer convention and I can’t wait to share them with you!  I’ll be breaking them down in a series of posts for you over the coming week or so!

Video Marketing Secrets: Take 1

Equipment:

Lighting:

While we all probably know that natural lighting is the best, that can be a struggle if you’re building your business while your kids are sleeping or around a full time job.

Solution:

• Ikea paper lamps are awesome for lighting!
• Clamp lights from Home Depot or Lowe’s with gels over them work great too.
• Tip: Make sure you don’t get the yellow tinted light bulbs. Look for white light bulbs instead.

Audio:

Your video viewers will tolerate poor quality video better than poor quality audio and let’s face the facts, the built in mic on your laptop probably isn’t going to give you the best audio quality.

Solution:  Invest in a  USB microphone that you can attach to your laptop.

• If you are using the Kodak Zi8 video camera here’s a post that includes entry level mics.

Video:

Chances are your laptop, cell phone and your digital camera all have video capabilities, but the quality may not be great.  The good news is that you don’t have to spend a ton to get high quality video!

• Kodak Zi8 (approx. $250)
• Canon 5D Mark II  takes incredible video. (High end approx.$2500)
• For quick easy HD webcam videos, I use the Logitech C310 ($25.00)

Software:

• Mac:
• Good: iMovie (free)
• Better: Final Cut Pro (approx. $300)
• PC:
• Good: Microsoft Movie Maker (free)
• Better: Camtasia (approx. $300)

Stay tuned, I’ll share all the video SEO tips, distribution resources, and video monitization secrets I learned at BlogHer in the next post!

Please post a link to your latest video in the comments below along with your best video tip and share this post with others.  I can’t wait to see what you’re all doing with your video marketing lately!

Frankly, sweetheart, I don’t give a damn.

I spent the entire day yesterday schmoozing and socializing with hundreds of other bloggers at BlogHer and I’m absolutely stunned by the lack of focus the majority of them had when I ask them what they blog about.   I’d rather pull my toenails out that hear another pitch like:  “I blog about being a mom, my knitting hobby, and my cats.”

I’m dying here!  I don’t care about what’s happening in your life because chances are it’s a lot like mine and I’d love to hear something new!

Ladies, we need to take a big lesson from the guys here at BlogHer11, who stand head and shoulders above the girly-girls.  Not because they’re obviously a taller minority in general, but because they have a point and they know how to get to it rather quickly.

Home based business owners, this applies to you too, when it comes to talking about your business to others, so please listen up.

One of the best blog pitches I received yesterday was from Andrew Wilder from EatingRules.com.  He simply said his blog was Eating Rules and he said he blogs about how to simplify healthy eating and nutrition into three simple rules.  Why?  Because healthy eating shouldn’t suck.

Wow!  You’d better bet I went to check his blog out to learn more about him and what he does, and I passed his blog on to about 1/2 a dozen other women later on that day.

There are 3 things you need to include in a great blog pitch:

1. Before you talk about your blog to someone, get it clear in your mind why you’re blogging and please make your point to tell me something interesting, something that’s going to shock me, entertain me, or at the very least something that’s going to make me think.

I totally get the concept of having a creative outlet and a place to express yourself, but your blog should still have a purpose! Is it to entertain, educate, inspire, or keep your audience informed about what’s happening in your field?  Is it to establish your credibility or give you exposure for your new book?  Or maybe (heaven forbid) it’s to generate leads for your home based business or coaching practice so that you can help others and make an income for yourself too?

It doesn’t matter what the purpose is.  What does matter is that it has a purpose and you know what it is.

2. Say something that makes me want to read it!  Don’t be scripted and dull but definitely know what you’re going to say when I ask you about your blog.  Say something that is going to make me want to drag my phone out of my pocket and check it out.  Even if it’s not a for me it will at least make it easy for me to connect you to the person I sat next to at the previous session who would be perfect for your audience!

3. If you’re paying money and attending a conference, networking meeting, or any type of business venue, what do you want to accomplish while you’re here?  Do you want to connect with others?  If so, who is on your hit list?  Why do you want to connect with them?  What is your next step after you’ve met, exchanged business cards, and moved on?

So to make it short and sweet, here’s how to have a great response when someone asks you about your blog.  Think of the acronym WIN to help you in your conversations today.

W=Why: Minimize the “what” and emphasize the “why.”  I’m blogging about _________to: “inspire others to _____,” “teach moms _______.” etc.

I=Inform: Tell me your blog’s name and tagline.

N=Next step:  Tell me why you’re here.  “I want to learn how to ____.”  “My goal is to connect with _____.”

It’s so easy to feel weird talking about ourselves, but that’s why we’re all here.  I wouldn’t ask you about your blog if I didn’t want to know, so say it loud and proud with passion and punch today!  I can’t wait to meet you!

Heather

I’m so excited to be going to BlogHer in San Diego next week and I would love to meet you in person if you’re going to be there too!

I’ve missed you! I stepped back from my business for most of July while vacationing with my family, entertaining guests, and passing the torch for my VA positions to the people who are taking those over for me.  My new job is fantastic, I’m loving every second of it, but I’m missing you all so much!

I will be writing more consistently to CleverMarketer after we wrap up one more family vacation and the kids head back to school, but in the meantime, I’m squeezing in a quick trip to BlogHer, compliments of FatWallet.

My Mission at BlogHer

It’s my goal to connect with other mommy bloggers and mompreneurs and to soak up every drop of knowledge I can while I’m there.  I’m building my hit-list of superstars I want to meet and pouring over the agenda to choose which speakers I want to hear.  And I’ve ordered my portable charger for my flip camera and phone so I can share all the awesome information with you!

I would LOVE to meet you if you’re going to be there!  Leave a comment or send me an email to heather (at) clevermarketer.com  if you’re wanting to connect so we can exchange cell phone numbers and such.

See you soon!

♥

Heather

Summer is here, the kids are home and between trips to the pool, play dates, picnics and popsicle breaks, having a healthy work life balance feels practically impossible!

It’s not like the bills are on summer break with the kids, so business must go on.  So we live with one foot in our business and another foot in the family, never 100% connected to either one.

Is all of this worth it?

If you feel guilty that you’re not spending more time with your kids when you’re working and guilty that your businesses is going stagnant while you’re vacationing and having fun with your family, then this post is for you!

Hear my honest answer in this post and learn how, even now, with a new full-time job, I’ve got a better work life balance than I’ve ever had before.

One Unforgettable (Totally Regrettable) Summer of Blogging that Had NO Work Life Balance Whatsoever

I will never forget (or allow myself to forget) last summer, trying to untangle the complexities of wordpress, SEO, and social media while launching my blog.  I spent hours inside, writing, tweaking, and networking, and went to bed heartbroken because I felt like I’d missed out on the kids playing in the pool in the backyard or disappointed them by not taking them to the park.

I kept telling myself that it would all be worth it in the long run, but the pit in my stomach didn’t believe the logic in my mind.  I stayed focused on the philosophy, “Short term sacrifices for long term gains.”  I kept focusing on my why, and I “did the do” as the cliche says but I was so far away from achieving any sort of work life balance that I fought a constant internal battle.

Did my blog and my business grow at rapid speed?  Yes.

Was it worth it?  Honestly, no.

Not when I consider how much time I wasted by spending it doing the wrong things.   I was pure passion diluted by not enough experience to know what things to focus on and what things to ignore.

Business is an experiment to some extent, but if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have done half of the things I did to put my blog on the map.   My focus was on the wrong things, for all of the beginning months of my blog.

I listened to too many gurus telling me to do this, do that, and ended up missing the point of why I was growing my business in the first place…so that we could plan our work around our family and achieve that ever-so talked about work life balance.

I lost sight of the 80/20 rule and spent so much time working on the things that would only give me 20% of my results.  I didn’t track my growth or expenses and I ended up spending more time and money than I should have on things that didn’t really matter.

As you’ve read on my blog, it’s not always been a smooth ride. I’ve overcome many a speed bump along the way, but I’m lucky I learned from them and eventually I found a way to get my life back and it involved doing three simple (not easy) tasks.

A WAHM Schedule that Makes Work Life Balance Possible:

Three Secrets to Getting Control of Your Time & Taking Your Life Back from Your Blog…

Three secrets is a bit of a stretch since each secret involves habits that may take a while to change, but here’s what helped me…broken down into the three main areas I focused on to get control of my life.

1. Set achievable goals and refer to them daily.

I was just focused on “growing my business blog” in the beginning, but I didn’t know specifically what I was doing any given day.  My posts didn’t have a purpose, other than to document what I was learning and share it with others.  I didn’t have a plan in place.

Once I started planning out my posts and activities to align with my business goals helped me to focus I got much better results than I did before.   By also tracking my results I learned which activities gave me more traffic, more opt ins, more customers and more members in my forum.

2. Eliminate ALL unnecessary distractions.

I unsubscribed to dozens of email lists and started to follow only a couple of marketers I resonated with the most.  I cancelled several subscriptions to software and accounts I was not really using enough to get my money’s worth and redirected it into coaching to help me stay focused on my goals.

I also eliminated some activities in my life that were taking away time I could be spending with my family instead and started to separate myself from family time when I needed to focus on working and physically unplugging my computer and leaving my cell phone up stairs when it was time to focus on my family.

3.  Get organized and find a way to keep track of it all.

I’m someone who struggles with strong ADD tendencies, and while they serve me well as far as being blessed with lots of awesome ideas, it’s sometimes a curse as too many ideas can lead to lost focus.  I had to find a way to stay focused on my goals, my blog plan, my business plan, and my family.

I found a day planner that was close to what I needed and really loved how it helped me to stay on track with some things like social media, but it left big voids like blogging and my business.  So I started created cheat sheets and checklists (many of which I’ve shared with you on my blog) to help me create systems out of what I was doing for my business.

The results were astounding and with about a dozen papers clipped to the back of this day planner, I was feeling so much more in control of my schedule and so much more productive.  I was doing a much better job of knowing which things were giving me the biggest results, and therefore I wasn’t wasting as much time on activities that didn’t really matter, and helping me to achieve a healthier work life balance and a happier family.

My Readers’ Cry for Help…

These three things: setting goals, eliminating distractions, and getting organized so I was able to keep track of my activities really helped me to take my life back from my blog without sacrificing success, but I was clueless to the fact that what I was so desperately struggling with was a challenge that was universal to bloggers in general.

After running a survey on my blog asking my readers what areas they struggle with in their business, I discovered that almost unanimously, my readers were drowning in overwhelm like I was.

So I went to work and started to pull together the things from the day planner I was using that worked best for me and all my cheat sheets and check lists and created a daily planner specifically designed for bloggers.

If you’re struggling to find a work/life balance with your online business, this blogger’s daily planner will help you to focus on those 20% of tasks that will give you 80% of your results while helping you to eliminate distractions.  You can read more about the Blogger’s Biz Planner here.

If you liked the post, please “like it” and share it in social media!  And if you’ve got some productivity tips you’d like to share in the comments, please do so!  I love that we can learn from each other in this community!

♥

Heather

You’ve heard about them, you’ve seen them, but do you know all the possibilities that QR codes offer you for your marketing?

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Dale Little last Wednesday on her blog talk radio show, Business Strategies that Work, discussing QR Codes.

The discussion was inspired by a post that I wrote a while back called Marketers Secret Codes: Curiosity Captures Leads with Quick Response QR Codes where I went into details about what these QR (Quick Response) codes are, how they are being used by other businesses, ways you can use them in your business, and how to create these QR codes for your own marketing.

In the podcast Dale and I go into more depth on how to use quick response codes in various types of businesses, when it makes sense to use the codes and when it’s not the logical choice, how to use them both as a consumer and a marketer, and more!

Listen & learn about dozens of ways to use QR Codes to market your business!

Business Strategies that Work: QR Codes

I never would have expected this.

Ever have one of those life-changing moments when things happen so quickly you act solely on your gut intuition?  There’s no time to “think,” so you just roll with it and it turns out so much better than you ever could have orchestrated by yourself?

I got a phone call on Monday that set into works a series events that have me in a completely different place today than I was a week ago. (A phone call that’s going to totally benefit you too…but I’ll get to that in a minute!)

The background:

The call was from a web based company called FatWallet, asking me to come in for an interview Tuesday morning.  I was so excited I wouldn’t be surprised if I squealed on the phone!

I’d sent a resume into this company about a month ago, after a high-school friend on Facebook tipped me off to a director of marketing position they had available.  She’d been silently watching me growing Clever Marketer over the past year and said that I was perfect for the position and that she would do anything to work there.

And even though I wasn’t looking for a job, loved working from home and was having awesome success with Clever Marketer, with my husband’s job in the manufacturing industry having taken several hits, pay cuts, and cuts to his benefits, we decided that I should throw my name into the hat.

I questioned if they would think I had enough experience to even apply for the position, but as you all know I’m all about stretching my comfort zone to reach for a goal.  I knew it would be a company I could spread my wings in and grow personally and professionally, and from what I gathered they were family friendly and passionate about work/life balance.

I wrote up a resume and borrowed some marketing strategies from Clever Marketer, giving them some extra value in the form of a Skinny Budget You Tube Strategies for FatWallet report.   To my total surprise, they called me back an hour later and I had a phone interview with them that next week.

And with no voice and a sore throat like none other, I did the phone interview but didn’t get the job.  I wasn’t what they were looking for as the director of marketing, and I left it at that.

Fast forward to last Monday’s phone call…FatWallet wanted someone for their social media marketing position.  I went in on Tuesday for an interview, was given a fantastic offer on Wednesday, and started on Thursday.

The Inside Out and Upside Down Philosophy of FatWallet:

“Throw employees a party when they start, instead of when they’re leaving.”

I had no idea what I was in for, when I walked into the building on Thursday morning. It was like being welcomed home by a fun, crazy, warm family.  FatWallet was awarded as one of the top 50 Companies to work for in the US and it’s totally clear to me why, now that I’ve experienced it personally.

I actually cried when I was shown my office, with dozens of welcome greetings by the other Walleteers written on my white board.  My office was decorated with balloons and a bucket full of t-shirts, a mug, a beer mug, Frisbee, silly putty (aka thinking putty), etc.  Even the CEO, Tim Storm, friend-ed me on Facebook and welcomed me aboard.  Oh yea, and they delivered an enormous gift basket full of snacks, movie gift certificate, toys, pop, etc. to my house for my family, and a tray of cupcakes in honor of me at lunch.

FatWallet lives by Seth Godin’s Purple Cow principle, of being remarkable in every area possible.  And how they treat their employees is just the start.  From the green cleaning products they use, to supporting the local economy, to helping the consumer market, I’m blown away by how well this company does what they do.

The Lessons We Can Learn from FatWallet:

Let me pull back the curtain to show you some of the philosophies that I LOVE about FatWallet’s way of doing business!  You can take these, tweak them and apply them to your business to make it purple cow remarkable too!

1. Build reciprocity and loyalty by giving first.

Do you think I’m wanting to work hard and do good job for FatWallet now after the warm welcome that I received?  You bet!  One of the ladies in the kitchen said the morning of my second day, “Oh good, you’re back.  We like it when people come back.”  I asked her if anyone ever didn’t come back after a welcome like that, and she said no.  Who wouldn’t come back after that?

Are you making your new subscribers, teammates, customers, etc. feel valued so much that they’d never even consider not coming back?

2. Everything revolves around providing value for the consumer.

The business model is a win/win/win and a very clever one if you ask me!  In any economy, but especially a struggling one, families look for ways to stretch their paychecks and make their money go farther.  FatWallet is in the affiliate marketing industry and they’ve partnered with companies to offer savings, discounts, and cash back to the consumer.  When you join FatWallet’s free membership and purchase something through FatWallet’s affiliate link, they earn a commission on it and then split that commission with you.  You get a deal with the coupon, the stores don’t have to pay commission until after the sale has been made, and FatWallet gets paid and splits their commission with you by either sending you a check or depositing your cash back into your pay pal account.

Have you found a way to provide tremendous value to your target audience, helping them solve the problems they worry about at night with a simple solution that also earns you money?

3. Use your brand to build your tribe.

FatWallet is fun, quirky, creative and fast moving and their audience eats that up.  They don’t have the typical “corporate” feel that you’ll find with most companies.  Their offices are fun, with games, company provided lunches and picnics.  Their forum is fun too, with badges and awards for participation.  Everything about this company screams work hard so you can play hard.

This branding has created a cult-like following of raving fans who are loyal to FatWallet.  Built mostly through word of mouth, this company has grown very quickly and organically because the members are excited to share it with their friends and family, not just because of the deals and coupons, but also because of the fun FatWallet represents.  They’re also excited to share the great deals they’ve found online in the FatWallet forum, creating more value and social proof for the company.

What does your brand say about you?  Is it something that your readers will be excited to share with others they know?

4. Stand for something bigger than yourself.

FatWallet stands for the consumer market.  Everything they do is centered around providing value to the consumers through their “strength in numbers” way of doing business.  They’ve fought the big-guys like Walmart and won and they recently moved from their home in Rockton, IL to just across the Wisconsin border because the state of IL changed their affiliate tax laws.  No one really believed they’d actually move, but it was the best decision for the company, their customers, and employees.

What do you feel so passionately about, regarding your customers, clients, or business that you’d stand up and fight for, no matter what?  Is that clear in your marketing message?

FatWallet Beyond the Blog:

As a company they’re dedicated to education, personal growth, and fun.  So for me (and you) that means I’ll be learning more, traveling to some of the bigger blogging events (hopefully getting to meet many of you there), and growing in my marketing knowledge as I blog for them, handle their social media marketing and such.

I’ll be continuing to build Clever Marketer and sharing with you all the fun and learning I’m doing so you can apply it to your own marketing for your home based business.

I’m still getting settled in, but I hope you’ll comment and share this post and please come visit me soon on FatWallet’s blog and their facebook page!

♥

Heather

How much value do you have saved on your hard drive?  Content, projects in progress, ebooks and training products you’ve purchased, photos, videos, family stuff, files for your clients, etc.  I bet it’s worth thousands and thousands of dollars.

What will you do when your computer cries “uncle?”

How are you going to feel when it all gets destroyed because your hard drive had a bad day?  Worried? Nauseous? Frustrated?  Will you go into melt-down mode?

Don’t worry, be happy, and make yourself a margarita. (mmm, I’m enjoying one right now!)  Every little thing’s gonna be alright.

Just like you, I had tons of content saved to my hard drive, all the projects in progress, files for my VA business, files for clients whose websites I’ve developed, my coaching files, photos, videos, family stuff, etc.  I was busy working away, one minute, everything was smooth sailing, then my computer locked up.  I tried rebooting thinking everything would be okay but my computer thought differently.  My hard drive had danced it’s final dance and was now lifeless, unable to load windows.

I would normally be freaking out, but I’ve got an internet secret that has my back.

Backblaze has your back…your online backup that is!

I don’t back up regularly, I back up all the time.  My secret weapon is a little website called Backblaze that charges me a meager $5 a month to continuously back up my computer, and my two external hard drives.

The computer repair guy apologized when he called to tell me it was the hard drive and was sorry to say that he wouldn’t be able to restore my files.    “No problem, I’m backed up,” I said which surprised him.  He said that he’s usually dealing with devastated, frustrated and angry people who have just lost everything.

As the owner of a web based business, not backing up your computer online is risky.

So let me ask, are you backed up?  That’s not what I meant…let me restate that.  Is your computer backed up?

Why Backblaze is the online backup service of choice:

There are other programs out there that do this sort of thing. I like Backblaze because its online backup is automatic which means I don’t have to think about it. They back up all my files unless I tell them otherwise.  Some other online backup programs don’t back everything up automatically.  They also have sent me an external hard drive (for a very reasonable fee) with all my files on it.

Don’t worry, be happy!  Get back blaze and be ready for anything.  Stolen computer, hard drive crash, virus, a margarita spill, and anything else that just might happen.

Get your blog on the backup bandwagon too!

Oh, and by the way, while we’re on the topic, let’s make sure your blog gets backed up regularly too.  After all, with all the blood, sweat, and tears you’ve paid to launch your blog, create awesome content, and connect with your readers it would be devastating to lose it all.

You’ll need two free plugins to back up your blog:

• WP-DB-Backup which backs up your database.
  
• WordPress Backup Plugin which backs up your site, your uploads, etc.

That should do the trick.  Buy the way, I’m not an affiliate for backblaze, but I figure since they’ve kept me out of the hotseat a few times now, I’d give them a little lovin’ and hopefully some extra traffic and subscribers.  Hope it makes backblaze happy, having your computer and blog up will make you happy, and if you’re happy, I’m happy too!   Cheers!

♥ Heather

A mindset and marketing lesson I learned by losing my Molly May, that every marketer needs to hear.

I woke up yesterday morning to the sound of our 11 1/2 old chocolate lab, Molly, panting heavily and throwing up at the foot of the bed.  She’d been doing that more frequently lately, and I was frustrated, after an interrupted night of sleep because of my 3 year old son.  I’d been up and down more that night than a mother of a newborn and I was beyond exhausted. 

After rushing her down stairs to take her out I realized that she’d been up all night too.  She’d messed in the dining room (thank goodness on the wood floors not on the carpeting) and she’d thrown up in several places as well.

She had been fine…getting old, but happy to see us, loving to play with the kids, and always excited about her next meal, so I was caught completely off guard by this.  While we cleaned up the mess, my husband said, “it’s time,” and I didn’t want to believe it.

Throughout the day I had hope.  I made an appointment for the vet in the evening when my husband could come with me.  I expected him (the vet of course) to give her an antibiotic and send us home….but after a day of cleaning up 25+ puddles of throw up I was not sure.

The marketing lesson part of my story:

So what do you think I did?  What would you do?  Of course, I turned to Dr. Google for answers. 

• elderly dog throwing up
• old dog pooping in the house
• when is it time to put your dog down?
• when is it time to put your dog to sleep?
• etc.

All I found out was that vetrenarians suck at marketing!  I mean totally and completely suck.  

When I was scared and frustrated, there were no real answers to be found.  No great informative blogs, no helpful articles, just forums of other pet owners with similar confused worry. 

Are you taking to heart this marketing lesson?

The point of my post is to share with you an important marketing lesson.

You…every single one of you…has information that can help others. The hard part is that you take it for granted that everyone else knows it too.  We don’t.  What comes easily to you, doesn’t come easily to everyone. 

People NEED the knowledge, skills, information, and the experiences you have.  And they don’t want to wait 12 hours for a 5:30 pm vet appointment to find them out, wondering and worrying all day.

Our prospects, customers, and clients are real people with fears, worries, questions, and problems they want answered.  And they’re turning to Dr. Google for answers too.

• How can I make money from home?
• How can I get more leads for my home based busienss?
• How can I sell my products online?
• How can I use facebook/twitter/youtube to market my business?
• Work at home opportunities for moms

And if you’ve been scared to get your business started online, to market your home based business on the internet or to use social media to reach your target audience, I truly hope you take to heart what I’m about to say.

Are you going to let them feel heart broken like I was because you’re too scared to “put yourself out there” in your marketing?  Because you don’t want to come across pushy, or like a know it all?  Because you’re worried if people will like what you wrote?  Because you’re not sure if you know enough? You don’t feel like an expert? You’re intimidated by the technology and you won’t take the time to learn it? You think SEO is too complicated?

If you know something that can help someone else, it’s selfish of you not to share it. 

If you have a business that could help someone feed their family and you’re too shy to share your opportunity with them, shame on you, you need to find a way to get over it. 

If you’re playing small in your marketing online and you’re too wrapped up in your own junk, it’s time to stop focusing on yourself and start focusing on who you’re going to help instead.

Please get out of your own way, and into mine.  Put your marketing out there so that I can find it when I need it!   If it makes you uncomfortable to step into that role, take it as a sign that you’re on the right track and doing exactly what you need to be doing.

We put Molly May down last night.  Liver failure, arthritic hips, and old age.  My 9 year old was devistated, my 13 year old stoic, and my 3 year old confused and full of questions.  My husband and I shell-shocked and sad, but at peace with our decision.  (And to think I thought this was hard to go through as a kid, I had no idea what going through this as the parent would be like.  I guess that’s a good thing not to know until it happens.)

And I sit here without her alseep at my feet for the first morning in a very long time knowing in my heart that she’s in a better place, but feeling the hurtful void of her presence.

Conviction to help others who need help marketing:

It has given me the deepest conviction I’ve ever felt to share what I know online so that when someone wakes up scared about their business, wondering how to get more clients, confused about SEO, or just searching for a way to make money from home so they can care for their young kids, elderly parents, or old dogs, I will be there, able to reassure them and show them the way. 

I truly want to help others share their brilliance and experiences with the world.  This movement of home based business owners being heart centered, authentic, and genuinely helping each other with what they know is such a neat thing to be a part of.   By helping others solve their problems and achieve their goals, we’re helping ourselves, our families, and communities too.

Will you help refine my message so that I can reach the people who need it most? 

I have a survey that I’d love you to fill out to help me understand your needs, worries, and frustrations about marketing.  I’d love to give you a 15 minute coaching call for free if you fill it out, or if you’d rather remain anonymous, that is okay too.

Thank you for your friendship and help. I’m grateful for you and hope that my marketing lesson will help you too.

♥ Heather

Purple Cow drawing compliments of my 9 year old daughter.

In a world of millions of websites, billions of choices, and trillions of distractions, making your business purple cow remarkable is essential if you want to succeed.  Being very good isn’t good enough, you have to be different, remarkable, interesting. 

As small and home based business owners branding ourselves and building our businesses online, why do so many people struggle to discover their purple cow?  It’s not that easy to see from our side of the fence!  So to help you, I’ve got 99 Purple Cow ideas for you in a free eBook from Seth Godin at the end of this post to help you brainstorm, but first…

Let’s Chew the Cud for a Little While About the Purple Cow Principle and How it Affects Your Business!

Seth Godin told a story in his book, Purple Cow, Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, about driving through the French countryside with his family and being, “enchanted by the hundreds of storybook cows grazing on picturesque pastures right next to the highway…” But after a while the cows looked all the same and were boring.  “…A purple cow, though.  Now that would be interesting. (For a while.)”  He goes on to state that the book is about transforming your business by being remarkable.

I can relate, exactly to what he’s talking about!  I live in the Midwest on the state line between Illinois and Wisconsin. I travel through farmland to reach any major town with fun places to shop, bookstores, or entertainment. Cows were only interesting when my kids were learning their animal sounds and we’d all moo as we drove by a dairy farm. 

They are very uninteresting, and even frustrating at times, like when my husband while driving home in a snowstorm came over a hill and drove into a herd of cows that had gotten loose.  His Subaru is now affectionately called “The Subarmoo” in our family.

Although there is one remarkable exception to the boring cows in our area.  When we’re driving North in Wisconsin on Interstate 90/94 past the ABS Bullboard (a billboard for a company that breeds cows).  We always look for it, waiting to see what funny slogan they are advertising.   I’ve not seen it in a while, but a couple of their slogans I could find online were: “Call the Navy – Our Bulls Make Great Semen.” and, “At ABS, a little bull goes a long way.”

This also reminds me of a funny, but personal story that has nothing to do with this post, except for sharing a little of my past with you, so you can know me better.  In our small town it was tradition when our team made a touch-down for everyone in the stands to ring the bells and moo.  My name before I was married was Heather Marshall, and after ringing the cow bells and mooing at a high school football game, one of my friends and my boyfriend nick-named me Heifer Mooshal.  Which I had to admit was very funny and rather clever, seeing is that I was a young girl who hadn’t had a baby, but still ticked me off as you can probably imagine.  We didn’t date for long after that. LOL

The moral of the story is that our marketing can be remarkably attractive like the ABS Bullboard or a turn off to our customers like my high school boyfriend.  

Let’s get back to our purple cows…

So is Your Marketing Message Purple Cow Remarkable or Does It Go In One Ear and Out the Udder? 

The answer depends on if you are giving your audience what it most desperately wants.

In a post last week, I shared a video from Gary Vaynerchuck talking about the Thank You Economy and how we can build customer loyalty by being remarkable in the way we thank our customers. In another post last week I talked about our hedgehog concept, based on the book Good to Great by Jim Collins, sharing that we need to find a way to combine our passions, the thing we can be the best in the world at, and how we make money in order to succeed in our business.

What these two posts have in common is that they are about beign remarkable. Standing heads and shoulders above our competition in the eyes of our customers who are thinking about one thing…themselves. 

You’ve heard the old WIIFM, “what’s in it for me?” phrase by now, if you’ve been a marketing student for any amount of time.  You’re thinking about you, I’m thinking about me, and our customers are focused on themselves. The world lives by the what’s in it for me principle and the only way to survive in business is to figure out what your customers want most deeply and give it to them.

So that brings us the point of my post! 

I’m Getting My Dairy-air Out There to Beef-up My Marketing Message!

Will you help me make Clever Marketer purple cow remarkable?

I’m working on some new marketing materials for Clever Marketer as well as a training program for small and home based business owners and I want to make sure it covers all the bases for my ideal customers.

So here are a few questions that I’d love you to answer.  I’ll be offering a free 15 minute coaching session to anyone who responds and chooses to leave their email by Friday, June 10th. (You can remain anonomyous if you prefer.)

Your Free Gift 99 Cows eBook & A Video:

Here’s the free gift I told you about at the beginning of the post and a video of Seth Godin talking about being remarkable in your business if you haven’t seen it yet.   Free Seth Godin eBook 99 Cows pdf 

I hope the cow puns weren’t too cheesy and that you had fun today.  Please help me by participating in the survey or in the comments below and please help me spread the word to others in social media who would enjoy this purple cow post.

♥ Heather

How to build customer loyalty with two words.

Would you like to have a magic spell that you could put on your clients, customers, prospects and readers that would make them the most loyal customers on the planet, so that they would NEVER consider doing business with anyone else?

Of course you would…who wouldn’t?  It’s tough out there with so much competition for our customer’s attention, and with the convenience of having the world at your fingertips via your smart phone, internet, and social media, it’s no wonder that customer loyalty isn’t what it used to be.

Some people are price conscious.  Some people are brand conscious. But most people are convenience conscious.

But, customer loyalty exists.  My dad will drive 45 minutes to a hardware store…going past several Ace Hardware, True Value, Home Depot, and Lowes stores along the way because this one store is different.  They carry everything or will get it for you asap, they give personal attention, and not to sound cliche, they treat their customers differently than the big box stores.

Let’s Take the Discussion of Customer Loyalty to a Whole New Level

I was introduced to this video by Fabienne Fredrickson, an attraction marketing guru gal that I admire and follow and I loved it so much I wanted to share it with you.

In the video, with Gary Vaynerchuck, author of Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion and his new book The Thank You Economy,  you will learn how to take your customer relationship building to the next level…beyond the know you, like you, trust you, to the love you so much they are wanting to name their next baby after your company stage!   Okay, not really, but maybe?

So the magic word we learned as a kid doesn’t cut it in the marketing world…the new magic words are “Thank You” but not said in the same-old-same-old way.

Ways to Thank Your Customers to Create Customer Loyalty:

How could you thank your customers in a way that would induce loyalty?  Let’s start a discussion in the comments…

I’ll go first:

• Use a company like Send Out Cards to send unexpected gifts to your customers.  I’ve sent brownies, books, and even baking kit and a dig a dinosaur kit to kids of my clients.  I signed up to use in my primary business and I’ve ended up using it for a million different things.
• Send personalized video email greetings to your friends, clients, and customers letting them know that you appreciate them…maybe sharing ideas you have for them in their business, etc.  I’ve always gotten a fantastic response when I’ve sent personalized video emails to others!
• Brand yourself as a go giver. Example: Do you always bring your clients a flower?  Do you wrap their purchases up beautifully and include a surprise gift so they feel like it’s their birthday every time they order?
• Praise your teammates to their spouses and families.
• Compliment someone in public.
• Send someone you love doing business with great referrals frequently.
• Write a post about someone who has helped you in your business like Mavis did for me in her post: Heather Stephens Proves That Blogging Can Be Fun and Rewarding (Thank you Mavis!  I ♥ U!  You blew me away with this one!)

Okay, now it’s your turn…what ideas do you have to thank your customers, clients and prospects?  Please share your customer loyalty building thank you ideas in the comments and share this post in social media.

P.S. In the event that I’m lucky enough to have Gary V or Fabienne Fredrickson someday stumble upon this post…thank you both for your leadership in the client attraction and customer loyalty building world of social media!

Is your marketing sweet spot out of focus?  Do you feel like you’re going through all the marketing motions but not accelerating your success?  You may not be focusing on your “hedgehog concept.”

Many of you have probably heard the phrase “unable to see the forest for the trees,” which basically means that you can’t see the big picture because you’re focused on all the details.

Although I started 2011 off strong, I have been distracted and working out of my sweet spot for the last couple of months. For me being outside of my sweet spot looks like getting lost in all the details and too much focusing on myself and what I have to do. I’ve got to do this, do that, market here, promote there, and before I know it I’ve lost sight of the big picture; my marketing sweet spot.

Getting Re-focused on The Hedgehog Concept:

I’ve taken over a week off of my marketing, blogging, and building my business because of a nasty sinus infection that had me down for the count.  The time away has given me a better view of the big picture and a whole new perspective on my hedgehog concept, AKA: marketing sweet spot…the center of my skills, my passions, and what I can make money doing.

Check out Jim Collins’ Good To Great book if you want more information on this topic. But it’s an illustration based on the behaviors of a hedgehog and a fox.  A fox is cunning and sly, and will try to out-smart the competition by doing something different every time, but it’s no match for the hedgehog who has one awesome skill, rolling into a ball to protect itself.

Relating to your business, your hedgehog concept is that one thing you do that is aligned with your passions, your skills,and your ability to make money.  You can do it over and over again, and always get positive results.  Finding your hedgehog concept isn’t always easy, and sometimes it can take years to zero in on your true hedgehog.  However, losing sight of your hedge hog is easy when the distractions and details get in the way.  So in today’s post I’m going to share with you how I continue to refine my hedgehog concept and where I’ve lost sight of it along my journey in hopes that maybe you can avoid the same mistakes.

Hedgehog Concept Sweet Spot Blockers:

I have let my passion for helping others go too far;  to the point that I ended up using it as an excuse to avoid facing the responsibility of achieving my own dreams and goals.  Ouch…that hurts to admit and say out loud, but it’s so true!

• I’ve chosen to play small, play it safe, and get distracted by the details because I didn’t want to feel “pushy” by promoting myself and my passions too much.
• I didn’t want to promote affiliate products to my list because I didn’t want to sound “sales-y” even if they’re great products that would be helpful to my readers.
• I dragged my feet when it came to creating information products because I might sound like a “guru,” and of course I don’t know everything yet, so I really should take this next course first.
• I lost sight of my niche and my ideal client and tired to be everything to everybody.
• I stopped asking myself’ “what is my goal for this action page, post, tweet and facebook update?”
• I also tried to do too much, taking on additional projects that were similar but not exactly a match which left me to become totally unbalanced in my priorities, spread thin, and run down.
• And I let my comfort zone get too comfortable again.

The Hedgehog Concept Blockers Part 1: Your Passions

• Not being clear on what your passions are.
• Giving passions more attention than the other areas of your business.
• Letting your passions keep you from doing what you need to do in other areas of your life and business.
• Playing down your passions to others because you don’t want to sound pushy.
• Focusing on the wrong passions because they seem noble or honorable.

The Hedgehog Concept Blockers Part 2: Your Skills

What can you be the best in the world at is an intimidating thought.  I know I have struggled with the feeling of responsibility and commitment that being the best in the world at something might impose upon me.  “The more successful I become, the more thinly I will be spread.”

There is also a strong tendency for entrepreneurs to suffer from the impostor syndrome when it comes to embracing their gifts and being the best in their field.

• Being afraid to try something because the thought of being the best in the world at it, intimidates you.
• Failing to acknowledge what you’re great at
• Overlooking the fact that what comes easily to you might not come easily to others.
• Feeling like people will discover you’re a “fake” if you achieve the best in the world status.

The Hedgehog Concept Blockers Part 3: Economic Engine:

• Competing commitments, i.e. you don’t want to sound pushy, when it comes to the money making part of your business.
• Failure to see the value in your knowledge, skills, and experiences.
• Failure to sell yourself because you don’t want to sound sales-y?
• Avoiding packaging your skills, knowledge, and experience.
• Shying away from conversations and opportunities to share your results and the results you’ve helped others achieve.

How to Find Your Hedgehog Concept Sweet Spot:

This past week, with a full head, miserable headache, and an overwhelmed feeling of having so much I should be doing, but didn’t feel like doing, I finally stopped took a deep breath and gave myself permission to just breathe.  The gift I received was an entirely new perspective of my business.  The hedgehog concept sweet spot of my strengths, passions, and ability to make money became clear to me once again.

If you’re hedgehog concept is a bit out of focus, here’s how to zero in on it:

1. You MUST step away from your business.
2. List your passions, the things you love to do, the things you lose track of time doing.
3. Spend some time getting very clear on who is your niche, target market and ideal client.  If you’ve already done this, do it again. Mine has changed in the last couple of months and yours could have too!
4. Make a list of all the things you do and are good at.  What things people ask you, what you help people with, etc.
5. Outline some ways you can package your knowledge, skills, and experiences for others.  Can you create information products, host live trainings, write a book, entertain others, create resources, etc?
6. Redefine your marketing message.  What do you do or offer exactly, and how is that different from what your competition does?
7. Map out your marketing funnel: Your marketing message, your free offer, your products and services.
8. Create a marketing plan: How are you going to put your home business products/services in front of the ideal people you are meant to serve?

While it may be uncomfortable going through the process of finding it, working in our sweet spot will feel great.

• Knowing your hedgehog concept will allow you to find the people you were meant to serve.
• You will know how to create marketing materials and content that will speak to their exact hot buttons and help them solve their problems.
• You will have a clear method and system of helping them.
• You will be able to clearly describe what we do to others and they will know how to refer you to others.
• You will be able to make money doing what you are great at and enjoy.

You’re going to be seeing a lot of changes around Clever Marketer in the next few months as I pull together the loose ends of things I’ve let slide and implement the projects I’ve planned.

Those of you who I’m meant to serve, you will love what I have in store for you!  Together, we’re going to build or boost your marketing blog that puts you and your home business products/services in front of the ideal people you are meant to serve, who are searching for what you offer, and who can’t wait to do business with you!

Please share your hedgehog concept in the comments below and share this post with your friends!

When it comes to creating an online presence as a writer and a blogger, there is nothing more important than having an impressive and varied portfolio to show clients and potential clients. When you have a blog, quite a lot of this portfolio will be made for you. You will have the entire site as proof of what you can do, both as a writer, and as a webmaster.

But this will not always be enough, as you are limited to one niche. It also doesn’t show that you are able to finish a project or task based on someone else’s specifications, which puts you in a bit of a bind. What do you do to fill a portfolio when your main writing goal is as a blogger? The answer is simple: guest blogging.

The Benefits of Guest Blogging

There are a number of benefits to building a portfolio this way. For one thing, you are potentially increasing your readership by offering a link to your own work as part of the contributing writers page or byline. This shows off your ability to market yourself beyond your own work. This boosts you on a client’s radar, while giving yourself more traffic.

Another positive is that it expands where you write about any given topic. This pegs you as an expert who knows the niche, making people more likely to come to you when specific work needs to be done. This can also put you in the eye of companies searching for a blog expansion, reviews or other paid work that can then be used as a sample of your expertise.

Getting Started On Guest Blogging Work

There are three simple steps to getting started:

1. Finding a blog that needs guest posters.
2. Plan out what you want to do, how you want to do it, and why you are going to do it.
3. Get writing under your chosen byline.

Finding a Blog

This part is relatively simple. There is a good chance that the blogs you read every day allow for occasional guest posts, sometimes once a week, sometimes once a month, or even as substitutes when they are sick or take vacations. If you have any bloggers who post on your site, they are also a good bet. Remember to start from the closest sources first.

Once you have exhausted those options, you can do a Google, Twitter or other social media related search to find guest posting positions. Be sure to be specific on niche when you do this, looking for those that are in areas of your expertise. The closer they are to your blog’s topic, the better. But they don’t have to be exact, or they can be unrelated if you have another area that you can prove you know.

The final way is going to a job posting board or blog specific website. For example, My Blog Guest was created specifically for bloggers to connect for guest posting purposes. And their Articles Gallery is the best and quickest way to find blogs to host your content (Disclamer: I am MyBlogGuest Premium user).

Making a Plan

Take an honest look at who at what it is you hope to achieve. Are you filling your portfolio? Diversifying it? Looking to get clients or build a larger readership? Just in a rut? Once you know, use that do draw up an outline to decide how often you are looking to post, and any specifics you want to have met in the agreement you settle with the blog owner.

Blogging Under a Byline

Finally, it is time to create a byline. This should be easy, because the purpose is to explain who you are simply, professionally, and without a lot of filler. Tell them why they should listen to you, without adding in too much that sounds like you are arrogantly promoting yourself. For example, if you have 20 years of experience in the field, say so. But avoid using terms like “genius”, “leading expert”, or anything that sounds like you are selling something.

When choosing a site link, only use one. There is nothing worse than a link-heavy byline, so put it to the blog you most want to promote. You can also add in a link to your online portfolio, if you have one created. Contact information should be short and sweet. Some people like to provide a phone number, but if you would rather not you can just offer an email address, which is the usual method of communication.

Guest Blogging: The Ultimate Portfolio Filler

There is nothing quite as good as guest blogging for creating a bigger, better portfolio to showcase your talent. So, now that you know the why and the how, you just need the when: right now! Get started today.

Hey there!

I want to let all of you awesome readers and followers of Clever Marketer know how much I’m missing you!

I’ve been sick for over a week and a half and in bed most of this past week with a sinus infection and chest cold.  The good news is that even though I’ve been down for the count this may be the reason for the migraine headaches I’ve had for a while, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be back in swing next week!

After spending the week laying low:

• The laundry is crazy out of control and the house is a mess
• My toenails are polished and my face has been “facial-ed”
• I’ve filled a notebook of ideas of things I want to do this summer (both for fun and for my business)
• I’ve redecorated my house (in my head) about 20 different ways
• I’ve re-watched some of my favorite movies like You’ve Got Mail, Peaceful Warrior, and The Ultimate Gift
• I’ve planned a couple of vacations for summer
• And I’ve sketched out notes on 2 big projects I plan to launch for Clever Marketer in the next month or so!

I’m waiting until my voice comes back so I can record the winners from the drawing of people who completed the “Prove It!” Challenge and I hope to post it with a big mash-up post next week.  I’ve gone past the sexy deeper morning voice to the nasal sounding kermit-the-frog voice that cracks and squeaks when I try to speak up!  (My kids are in heaven, since I can’t yell, and my 3 year old thinks whispering is the “cool” new way to talk and he’s whispering to people everywhere. LOL)

So I miss you and wanted to wish you a happy weekend.  For those of you in the United States, have a fun Memorial Day.  I send my sincere gratitude to everyone in the services who have sacrificed to keep us safe.

Have a great weekend and happy blogging,

♥

Do you struggle with marketing management and knowing which projects to work on yourself and which projects to delegate to others?

Well, here I come to save the day, like the superwoman and fairy godmother I wish I were! (I’ll have to post a picture of me in my cape and tiara someday! No I’m not kidding, I really own them and wear them when I want to feel powerful beyond measure!)

I have a simple 2 question solution for the delegating dilemma many home based business owners dive into when they start marketing online!

Marketing Management is Monkey Business

I was reading my son one of my favorite childhood stories last night which inspired a marketing management lesson I want to share with you today.

The book is called Caps for Sale, A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business, by Esphyr Slobodkina. It’s about peddler who sold caps. He walked around town wearing all the caps on his head, first his own checked cap, then the gray caps, then the brown caps, then the blue caps, and then the red caps on top.  It’s a cute story about monkey see monkey do!

Venturing off the topic of marketing management for a minute: I’ve placed a sweet video of a daddy reading Caps for Sale to his kids while he was away in the military for you at the bottom of this post if you’d like to hear the whole story.  Parents, it will melt your heart.

Although the point of the story does not totally relate to the plot of the book, it does bring to mind the question about how many marketing hats you may be wearing in your business.  My guess is way too many!

I know how hard it can be when you’re a one man band marketing department for your home based business. From designing your website, writing your marketing messages, engaging in social media, blogging and commenting, creating videos, podcasts, and webinars, etc.; a day in the life of a home based business marketer can leave you little time for your home based business!

Monyelle Mingo, on our Clever Teleseminar Secrets call last week said something that really hit home for me.  “Just because I can do it, doesn’t mean I should do it.”

Yea-but…

…we all know the importance of consistent marketing and when growing a business we constantly come up against things we need to learn and want to try.  Delegating some of your marketing tasks is the answer.

Monkey See-Monkey Do, Marketing Management Strategy:

You might try the marketing monkey see, monkey do approach to building your business and training a virtual assistant to take over some of the routine tasks like SEO management, social media management, and customer service for you.

It takes a little while to develop the systems in your business so that you can leverage yourself, but I promise you it will be worth it.  Just like taking the time to teach your kids to tie their shoes, teaching someone how to help you in your business can be a perfect solution!

I’ve  at times had my kids help me with entering order and getting mailings ready to go, and my oldest daughter will be helping me with editing my videos this summer as well.

My 2 Question Marketing Management Formula:

“Effective management always means asking the right question.”
Robert Heller

So how do we separate the marketing tasks we can do or can learn from the tasks we should do or should learn?

My solution is to ask myself two questions about the situation to determine which marketing tasks I should give to someone else and which tasks I need to learn myself!

1. “Will I need to know how to do this again?”
2. “Am I the only one who can do this?”

For example:  Installing the forum in the Clever Marketer Mastermind Community.

Will I need to know how to do it again? Not likely.  I don’t plan to build a business installing forums for business owners on a regular basis and I don’t have plans to start many other forums in the near future.

Am I the only one who can do this? Of course not.  There are plenty of talented web developers and wordpress gurus who can do it faster and cheaper than I can. So, this was a great task to delegate to someone else.

Here’s another example: I just created a training program and planning kit for hosting teleseminars.

Will I need to know how to do it again? Yes.  I created the planning kit for my own benefit because I’m planning to do a couple of teleseminars in the coming couple of months.

Am I the only one who can do this? Yes. I wanted to teach this process myself, from my own point of view, sharing my experiences, knowledge and in my “voice” so that it was consistent with my branding.

And one more example: Building your brand in social media.

Will you need to know how to do it again? Yes, social media is an integral part of any marketing strategy in today’s world. You definitely need to know how to navigate at least Twitter and Facebook.

Are you the only one who can do this? Yes again.  You are the one who needs to be out there building relationships and networking with others.  No one else can do it just like you can.

There are exceptions to this social media example though:  If you want someone to customize your facebook page, twitter background, or youtube channel, you might outsource that, unless you plan to offer it as a service to others.

You may also choose to outsource some of your social media marketing to someone else.  Let someone else help you optimize your profile, weed through the spam to find the customer service issues that need addressing.  You may try outsourcing your brand monitoring, letting a social media manager scour the internet to see what’s being said and bring you into the loop if there are issues that need addressing.

The Goal of Strategic Marketing Management:

In the end, your the goal of marketing management is to free you up so that you can focus on growing your business instead of being lost in the marketing maze unable to see light at the end of the tunnel.  There are people you are meant to serve, who are searching for what you have to offer.  By using strategic marketing management you will have plenty of time to help them and still have time for the important things in life!

Enjoy the video if you wish and please take a minute to leave a comment and share this post on social media!  I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on marketing management and which projects you delegate and which you do yourself!

Are you a QR Code marketer yet?  QR codes are a hot, fun, and clever idea to add to your marketing toolbox!

Have you seen them around town, in your magazines, and on the web?  If you haven’t then you will now that you know about them. (I’m in a small town and they’re just starting to catch on, although they’ve been in use in Japan since 2008.)

QR Code Q & A

What are these funny looking little squares?

QR Codes are square geometric codes that are similar to the barcodes you’ve seen on products at your grocery store for years and years. The code links to something on the web, some text, the train schedule, historical information on a monument, real estate listings, images, music play list, your resume, a phone number, sms text or just about anything else you can think of.

What does QR stand for?

QR stands for quick response which is just what it gives you. With the internet in your pocket via your smart phone, a quick scan of any QR code will deliver information in an instant.

How do you create a QR Code?

You can create a QR code for anything, for free!  There are several websites and apps that will generate QR codes for you.  Here is the QR Code Generator I’m using.

How do I read QR Codes?

You need a cell phone with a QR Reader app installed on it.  I’ve got a droid and there are a bunch of apps that come up in the marketplace.  You iPhone users, will have an easy time as well, I’m sure.

QR Codes make it easy for your prospects to interract with your marketing!

So today’s post is to get creative on how we can use QR codes in our marketing to peak the curiosity of our target market! People love interactive marketing that engages them and holds their attention.

Using QR codes can keep people engaged in your marketing and give them something to do!

Some suggestions for using QR codes in your marketing:

• Link them to a coupon or discount code
• Link them to a free gift
• Link them to your products
• Link them to your affiliate products or reviews
• Link them to your blog
• Link them to your RSS feeds
• Link them to a specific post
• Link them to your facebook profile, pages, groups
• Link them to your youtube channel
• Link them to your twitter profile
• Link them to specific tweets
• Link them to a specific youtube video
• Link them to your linked in profile
• Link them to your resume
• Link them to your about me page
• Link them to your lead capture page
• Link them to a free ebook, video, article, or podcast
• Link them to your open appointment schedule
• Link them to your contact information
• Link them to a SMS text/autoresponder system
• Link them to your presentations
• Link them to your PayPal button
• Link them to your press releases, articles, docs etc.

Where to market your QR codes:

• On your business cards
• On a t-shirt, mugs, or even a temporary tattoo!
• On your ebooks
• On your product samples
• On your catalogs
• On the page with your free downloads
• On your website
• On your blog posts
• On your google places page
• On your youtube and twitter backgrounds
• On the end of your videos
• In your presentations
• On your postcards, cards, and mailings
• On a bumper sticker
• Share them in social media

A Creative Way to Use a QR Code to Get A Job!

Ok, Now It’s You’re Turn to Get My QR Code Free Surprise:

Here is a QR code for you to try out.  Grab your smart phone. Download a QR app if you don’t already have one and then scan this image.  See where in the world wide web you end up! I promise you it will be a happy surprise!

Please share your thoughts on using QR codes in your marketing in the comments below and share this post throughout social media.   Do you think you will use QR codes in your marketing in the future?  Do QR codes peak your curiosity as a consumer? Do you think QR code marketing is a fun way to engage your audience?

We all know how popular Facebook and Twitter are for personal use, but companies have quickly caught on to how effective they can be at bringing in business and creating lasting relationships with customers.   The right social media training can give you the skills and techniques to navigate the world of YouTube, LinkedIn, blogging and beyond.   For starters, consider these five important reasons to get started using social media.

5 Reasons to Use Social Media

1.  You can brand yourself as an expert

People pay attention to experts.  They listen to them, read their work, follow their blogs and look to them for the latest in professional developments and strategies.  Effective social media training can help you gain the experience and reputation people look for in an expert.  Be careful not to brand yourself too early because it’s important to be trained, confident and comfortable using social media before promoting yourself as an expert.  Once you’ve created your niche though, you will soon reap the benefits of being your business’ ‘brand expert’.

2.  Your customers are on social media

No matter what age group your target customers are in you can safely bet that they’re on social media.  Since you should market to your demographic accordingly, you can use this data from Media Badger to see how your target audience uses social media.

For example, if you’re a network marketer targeting the 25 – 45 age group you’ll know to focus your efforts between the web and mobile technologies.  Alternatively, if your target market is the 55 – 65 age group then you’ll know to focus primarily on Facebook as this group does not easily adopt to new technologies and tools.  Even if your customers are not using social media today, you can be sure they will be in the not-too-far future.

3.  You can manage your reputation

Controlling how the world sees your business becomes much more manageable with social media.  You can successfully use it to create and build relationships, communicate with your customers and inform the public of important changes and developments.  Initially, many businesses have been hesitant to jump into using Twitter or Facebook, but that trend is shifting quickly and dramatically.  Over the past few years, commercial banks whose reputations have taken a hit have been able to reach out to millions of Facebook users and Twitter followers to share their good work, such as JPMorgan Chase’s Community Giving page.

4.  Your competitors are on social media

Social media training can help you pull ahead competitively using today’s popular sites.  Today, the most competitive and successful companies understand the importance of incorporating blogging, Facebook and Twitter into their business approaches.  The sooner you catch up, the sooner the increase in your fans, followers and blog readers will drive your business forward.

5.  Tablets and smartphones make social media easy and accessible

With the push of a button or swipe of the finger, you can reach thousands quickly and rapidly.  Smartphones and tablets are taking the world by storm, allowing you to reach your customers around the clock.  Some companies are taking their tablets into the field as a sales tool, while others have developed apps to help small businesses process payments, have Internet access on the go or even keep track of receipts. The possibilities with these new tools are endless.

Branding yourself as an expert, connecting with customers, managing your reputation, pulling ahead of competitors and taking advantage of the new tablets and smartphones are but a few of the many reasons to use social media in your business, so why not get started now?

The concept of using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube as effective business tools may seem overwhelming, but with training and practice, you can learn to embrace these trends and use the most popular sites to your advantage.

Have you ever wanted to know more about using a teleseminar to generate leads, monetize your marketing and position yourself as an authority in your niche, all at the same time?

Me too!

I’ve been wanting to do a telesummit for some time now, but I’ve been overwhelmed by the details and not sure how to pull one off.

And we all know a confused mind says no…and that’s just what my mind has been saying for months now!

I’ve attended dozens of teleseminars, and think they are one of the coolest, most clever ways to pick the brains of other marketers you admire for free and make money doing it while building your list and looking like the superhero you want your readers to think you are!

Well, I’ve been invited by Monyelle Mingo, from MonyellesMarketing.com, to be a speaker on her Online Social Media telesummit next month.  (She’s a savvy marketer and a social media expert who was also one of my Prove It challengers!)

Yes, of course I’m thrilled and so excited to share my secrets on “Business Blogging Secrets to Build Your List of Fanatic Followers,” with her listeners,  but…

(and it’s a BIG BUT)

I am also excited because this gives me a chance to pick Monyelle’s beautiful brain for every marketing morsel I can find about pulling together a successful telesummit.

I’ve sweet talked Monyelle to share her teleseminar secrets!

And we’re going to do just that, tomorrow, on our Clever Marketer of the Month Call!

Clever Teleseminar Marketing Secrets with Monyelle Mingo

I can’t wait to find out:

• How Monyelle chose her speakers and exactly what she did to get them to say yes!
• The technical details like payment options, affiliate processing, actually hosting the telesummit, and marketing her telesummit!
• How she decided on the different packages and prices!
• and buckets more of great content to help you eliminate the pitfalls of putting on your own teleseminar series!

Here’s how you can get in on this Teleseminar Marketing Secrets call:

Ok, so I know you want to be on this “Clever Marketer of the Month” Call to Hear these Teleseminar Marketing Secrets from Monyelle.

Usually these calls will be private for my Clever Marketer Mastermind Community paid members, but since I also plan to sweet talk you into attending Monyelle’s Online Social Media Summit through my affiliate link, I figured I’d open it up to everyone on my list!

There is no cost for tomorrow’s call and no obligation to purchase anything! (Although it’s a little crazy to think you wouldn’t want to be on this telesummit when you see who is speaking!)

I hope you’ll join us.  If you’d like the details on the call please enter your name and email below and I’ll send them to you right away. You can listen live for free, and the call will be recorded and available to the basic and premium members of the Clever Marketer Mastermind Community.

UPDATE: Wow, what a fantastic call we had with Monyelle today!

Monyelle answered my every single question, and shared specific details like:

• What plugins she uses for affiliate tracking
• How to handle payments
• How she priced her telesemniar
• What conference company she uses
• How she chose her topic, speakers, and what she did to get all but one to say yes. (That one had a scheduling conflict.)
• How she is marketing her teleseminar
• And so much more!

If you’ve ever considered doing a teleseminar to build your list, create a product, monetize your marketing, and establish your credibility this training will give you the answers you need!

Were you not able to listen live?

There are 2 ways you can access the call!

1. The recorded audio has been posted in the membership area. It will be accessible to the CMMC Basic and Premium members. If you are not a Basic or Premium member, you can join here.  You will receive access to the call and the resources Monyelle shared with us as well as my 125 Blog Marketing Secrets training!
2. If you would like to have access to the call without becoming a member of the CMMC you may purchase it here.

I’ve got a great debate for you today centered around the value of participating in a blog commenting tribe. And since I’ve taken over the EIF Tribe and moved it to my blog, creating the Clever Marketer Mastermind Community, I can’t think of a topic more worth discussion!

First I’ll fill you in on a little background and then I’d love to have a naked discussion with you all, out in the open for everyone to see. I want to know what you think, the good, bad, and ugly around how you feel about commenting tribes, and specifically our CMMC tribe.

My goal for this commenting tribe debate:

It’s my goal to make the Clever Marketer Mastermind Community an awesome place for bloggers to connect, support each other, share ideas, and help create a buzz around each other in social media so that ultimately we can all get more traffic and achieve success.

There is no way to grow without doing something new, and this blog marketing forum has been one of those experiences for me.

My first experience with a commenting tribe:

A bit-o-history for you…I joined the EIF Tribe as a brand new blogger last August (2010) because I’d heard that tribes were the way to go, and that a commenting tribe would be one of the best ways to get traffic to my blog. I instantly saw results, yes in terrific spikes leading to steady traffic, but the biggest benefit that gave me results came from the feedback I received from the other tribe members who offered suggestions to me on how to approve my writing and marketing.

I honestly can say that it was one of the best experiences I could have ever had as a new blogger. Being a part of the tribe kept me accountable to writing frequently. It helped me to push my comfort zone and grow as both a writer and a marketer. It gave me connections with others I couldn’t have had before.  And it helped me to establish myself as a credible authority within my niche.

Was I a great blogger when I started? No. Am I better blogger for having been a part of a tribe? Absolutely! I believe that we all matured and grew as bloggers because of our masterminding and commenting.

Commenting Tribe Challenges:

Sporadic Participation & People Being Left Out:

Here’s the dilemma, commenting tribes aren’t perfect and our little EIF Tribe was no exception. I took over moderating the tribe a few months after I joined it, and began to see the challenges of moderating such a group. There were a few of us bloggers who networked together and stuck it out, but many people came and went and there was always a waiting list of people who wanted to get into the tribe.  There were some campaigns that would be so packed I didn’t think I’d ever get around to all the blogs, and others that were sparse with only a few core members participating.

Shortly after I took over the EIF Commenting Tribe, I launched the Prove It Blog Challenge, and it grew WAY bigger than I ever expected it to. My original hope was that we’d be able to comment on the blogs of the other challengers and help each other get results like the EIF Tribe had done for me and our core members.  But with the Prove It Challenge growing by leaps and bounds, it was impossible to keep up and most people fell through the cracks.

So I decided to combine the two communities into the Clever Marketer Mastermind Community which would contain a blog commenting tribe as well as resources and training to help beginner bloggers grow their skills while they grew their audience. My “in a perfect world” vision was that all of us veteran commentators from the EIF Tribe would be able to pay it forward to the next generation of up and coming bloggers, creating a win/win situation of broadening our own reach as well as helping others achieve success. Yes, I thought we would all live happily ever after.

Various Niches:

But shortly after opening the doors I was surprised by another big challenge.  Most of the bloggers who are part of the CMMC are home based business owners and network marketers, but a few are not. Our niche specific commenting tribe started to get diluted and a few of us EIF Tribers felt a little frustrated. (Yes, I’m part of the frustrated bunch.)

You see, commenting on blogs that are in the home based business industry and are centered around marketing, including the topics of blogging, lead generation, leadership, personal development, traffic generation, network marketing, internet marketing, attraction marketing, video, and working from home, etc. made sense. I always felt like I learned something and that my time was well spent reading and commenting on these other blogs.

Nothing against bloggers in different niches, but for the sake of example, commenting on a blog centered around “automotive repair” wouldn’t fit. To be honest, on a couple of the blogs within the CMMC tribe, although I wanted to be encouraging and supportive, I have struggled to come up with what to say in the comments.

I have also received a message from a very good friend and one of the original EIF Commenting Tribe members that the comments on their blog were lacking in value and if it wasn’t from a tribe member they would have deleted it. To me, this is evidence that others feel the same way.

I have spoken with many of the EIF Tribers over the last couple of months, sharing that my intention was to wait until we had enough CMMC members that we could break down into blog commenting tribe niches and only comment on tribes within our specific focus. I think that time is here.

I received a very thoughtful and thought provoking email from Danny Iny from Firepole Marketing giving me a head’s up about a guest post he was writing.  You see, after a round in the CMMC commenting tribe, Danny felt the same way many of us EIF Tribers have felt about commenting on blogs that aren’t specific to his niche.

Various Skill Levels:

Danny also felt that some of the blogs “stunk” after his round in the blog commenting tribe.  I’m curious, are you talking about beginner bloggers or bad bloggers Danny?  I know we’ve some beginner bloggers in our group and I don’t know who starts off as an A-list blogger.

I’m absolutely blown away by the progress some of the newer bloggers are making as a result of being a part of the CMMC blog commenting tribe.   They are action takers, and solution seekers!  I see them posting questions in the forum on how to do things, writing posts that ask for blog critiques and feedback on how to improve from their peers. And they are implementing the suggestions given to them.

I’m loving it because it’s exactly where I was less than 9 months ago!  I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for a couple of hard critiques. (MLM Blog Code bonus webinar with Ty Tribble & Ann Sieg, Blog Audit Friday with Ana Hoffman, and asking for feedback from my readers)

The benefit I see from this aspect of the blog commenting tribe is that experienced bloggers get an opportunity to display their leadership, and new bloggers get the help they need.

The disadvantage is that experienced bloggers end up commenting on a few blogs that hardly get any traffic and aren’t going to teach them something.

How to Improve the Clever Marketer Mastermind Community & Blog Commenting Tribe:

1. Break Down into Niche Specific Tribes for Blog Commenting.

So far I believe we’ve got active commentators with blogs focused in:

• The majority of us are in: Home Based Businesses/Network Marketing/Direct Sales/MLM
  • Our blogs are focused on: Marketing, Blogging, Social Media, Video, Lead Generation, Personal Development, Leadership
• We also have members who are in:
  • Real Estate Marketing
  • Health & Wellness
  • Beauty & Fashion

I believe that if we break the commenting tribes down into a few smaller niches we will see better results and we’ll all be happier!

If you’re part of a smaller niche, then you are welcome to invite other bloggers in your niche to the CMMC so that they can participate in a blog commenting tribe with you. I’d start by focusing on finding 2 or 3 other people to start with and then growing your tribe from there, leverage your efforts.  Another suggestion would be to open up a forum for your own niche…which I can help you do if you wish.

2. Neighborhood Watch, Blog Tribe Style

As with any community, we need to take personal responsibility for our asset.  If you feel that a blog is not high enough quality to participate in the community you need to speak up.   You are welcome to bring it to my attention if you’re not comfortable addressing the blog owner yourself, but I suggest that you speak with the blog owner, let them know why you feel their blog isn’t worthy of your comment.  Many times we don’t know what we don’t know and we should be grateful for information that helps us improve.  (Just like I’m so very grateful to Danny for bringing this topic up for discussion!)

If you’re going to play in the CMMC commenting tribe you have to understand that you’re going to be under the watchful eye of the community.  If you’re not comfortable receiving honest feedback and valuable suggestions that can help you improve your business, then this isn’t the right place for you.  I don’t want to play with whiners and no one else does either.  If you’re not taking actions to improve, then your account will be deleted.

Now it’s your turn to weigh in on the commenting tribe debate!

So I’d love to know what you all think. (Danny you too!)

I did not create the Clever Marketer Mastermind Community for me.  The community and blog commenting tribe is for the benefit of everyone involved and I feel that we’re growing a fantastic group of bloggers in our forum who have the best of intentions. I want to know your thoughts, feelings and suggestions.

Please let me know what you think and then head over to read Danny’s post!  Building an Audience with Commenting Communities Smart or Sleazy? I’d love our blog commenting tribe to shower him with value adding comments as a thank you for asking the tough questions that will help us to grow and improve!

“The Me I Want to Be.”  What do you think about that phrase?  Are you there yet, or do you think about someone who has the essence of you, but only better?

Photo credit: Bakerella via Bakerella.Blogspot.com.

You know who you want to be. We all have moments of wishing we were better at certain things, and as WAHM’s and home based business entrepreneurs, we’re naturally on a mission to become the best versions of ourselves as possible, so that we can grow bigger businesses that help more people, and that provide the lifestyle we desire for our families.

The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg

I’ve been reading a fantastic book called, The Me I Want to Be, by John Ortberg with my growth group which is really creating significant change in the way I view my work, motherhood, and my personal growth.

It seems like when I’m setting goals, balancing my life as a WAHM and working on growing my business, if feels like I’m frequently focused on the gap between where I am and where I want to be.   How many books have been written on the subject of bridging this gap?  Countless for sure.

But yet, I am drawn to this type of material over and over again, probably because every time I reach a goal, there is something else on my horizon, a desire within me, that draws me farther ahead once again.

The Challenge of Becoming The Me I Want to Be

It is human nature to grow, create, want to achieve more, and be better overall.  But there are some areas in my life where professional and personal growth are harder than others.  It feels like there is something always standing in the way, blocking the bridge to success.

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” Ralph Waldo Emerson (Personally I don’t think that’s the whole story.)

I’ve read the books and quotes, listened to the audios, and attended the seminars–I brought home the t-shirts too–but it doesn’t matter what kind of a high I’m on when I get home, eventually that external motivation wears off.  Trying harder, as John Ortberg says, is not the answer.  We need to try softer.  We can only white knuckle our success for so long before we begin to lose our grip.

I don’t believe secret to success is becoming better or smarter, or more clever than the next guy/gal you’re about to meet.  It’s about being more you; “youier” as John Ortberg says.  Turning up the volume on the things that make you, you.  (We’ve talked about this on the subject of personal branding before!)

The Me I Want to Be has given me a clue, just a glimpse into the things (the me’s) standing in my way.  Let me explain…

So if you’ve played wii you surely have had some fun creating different mii’s.  My kids think this is more fun than many of the games, making different characters with many different features.  Oh, how I wish sometimes that I could just slide the bar and make myself thinner, taller, give myself a new hair-do, or sexier lips.   If only success was that easy too!

Can you imagine, sliding the bar to find your sweet spot?  A little farther to the right to be  a better mom and wife, more creative, a better leader, or a braver and bigger risk taker!  Woo hoo, I’m getting excited already.  Doin’ a Happy Dance!

The Me’s Stainding in the Way of the Me I Want to Be

But  it’s not that easy.  There are Me’s that get in the way of the me I want to be!  (Isn’t that the way it always is?  We’ve got such a knack for getting in our own way, don’t we?)

But we’ve each got several mii’s that play tug-of-war with each other.  There’s the me that is working toward losing weight, and the me that wants to dig into the kid’s Easter candy.  There is the me that wants stretch my comfort zone to grow my business, and the me that fights to remain within my self limiting boundaries.

John Ortberg describes it as, “Inside your soul there is a battle between a flourishing self –the person you were created to be–and a languishing self.”  The book, The Me I Want to Be, takes you on a journey through your spirit,  mind, time, experiences, and relationships in order to help you discover the me you are meant to be.

But like any great adventure of life, there are challenges and obstacles to overcome: The Me I Don’t Want to Be.

John Ortberg talks about several Me’s that get in the way of the me we want to be.  I’m going to run through them here for you and share a little about the me that gets in my own way in my follow up with tomorrow’s post.  I’d love to know in the comments the Me’s that get in your way too

• The me I pretend to be.
• The me I think I should be.
• The me others want me to be.
• The me I am afraid God wants me to be.
• The me that fails to be.

I know you don’t know how John Ortberg describes each of these Me’s yet, but I’d love to hear what you think might be the Me that gets in the way of you being the me you are meant to be.  Here’s the link to The Me You Want to Be, Becoming God’s Best Version of You on amazon if you’re interested in reading it!