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Don’t Tell People Everything You Know
I am going to tell you something right now that I hope will get you over that hump of making your next information product. It should also change your minds about what your customers are actually paying for and what information you should be giving away.
My mentor for many years was a guy called John Calder. He was really arrogant (which is a good thing!) and the best piece of advice he ever shared with me was, "Don't tell people everything you know."
But what does that mean?
Leave Room For A Sequel!
Here is something to think about: How come every movie you watch does not end with all the characters dying? Because there is a chance that the movie will get a sequel and that some or all of the characters can be in movie number two.
The same is true with your report creation. Do you try to put everything you know about a certain subject in one report? Sure! Can you put EVERYTHING there is to say in that report? Of course not!
A great example is my "Time Management on Crack" report. This is something that started off with me just explaining how I get things done, how I'm so productive. Then, I later added in formulas for writing, for blogging, for video creation and so on.
In fact, it has now tripled the size and got ten times' as much information - and I am still adding to it! But is that my only product about time management? Of course not!
Lance Tamashiro and I have a Membership site all about time management called, "IM Productivity Secrets." I also have a report called "100 Time Savers" that lists 100 quick and easy things you can use to save a minute a day.
Even though "Time Management on Crack" is the best report anyone could ever get about time management, I do have a prequel to "Time Management on Crack," called "100 Time Savers" that is at a lower price point and gets people ready for the main course, and I have a sequel to "Time Management on Crack" called "IM Productivity Secrets" which is a monthly membership site that contains ongoing training. And none of these products have any overlap.
You don't have to give away every single thing you know, because you might have a Volume II of your product.
Keep It Simple!
Here is the next thing to think about: Do you know how your cable internet gets from your computer out into the world? Probably not. I don't know either. But I still can USE my internet.
Do you know how your power company pumps electricity into your home? I don't either. But I still know how to turn on a light switch.
I can teach subjects, such as time management, without knowing exactly how psychology works, or how everything in my brain works. People don't have to know all the details.
My copywriting report, "Fast Food Copywriting," doesn't explain every single facet about copywriting, because I don't KNOW everything about copywriting. What I do know is how to accomplish a task. And that is all you really should be explaining in your paid materials, is how you accomplish a task and how other people can do the same thing you do.
I have many home study courses teaching people various things about PHP and WordPress. All I do is show how to use a certain script or WordPress plugin, and how to tweak it. That's it! Do I explain in every single report exactly what a function or a variable is? Not necessarily. I just show how to put those things into action.
And that leads me to my final point about not telling people everything you know: You deserve to get paid for your expertise.
Here is a really easy formula to decide what information you should charge for, and what to give away. If the information you are teaching about your subject is a step-by-step "How to" process, people should pay for that. But if all you are sharing is a simple tip, that is free article content or blog post content.
Inside "Fast Food Copywriting," I explain my step-by-step process for copywriting. But I also have hundreds of articles about copywriting that explain simple ideas like a headline or bullet points.
In "Time Management on Crack," there are five productivity levels you can master. There are also over 28 formulas when it comes to article writing, report writing, copywriting, and more.
I share my general time management advice in articles and in my blog posts. But the "How to", the Step-by-Step, people have to pay for that.
I hope you are now ready to knock out that next article or report - because guess what? You don't have to tell people everything you know!
Did this blog post help you? Tell me in what way... that comment form won't bite.
Can’t Write Your Next Sales Letter? Dictate It Out Of Thin Air!
Writing anything is pretty tough, whether it is writing articles, putting together a report, writing a blog post - but especially creating sales copy. Let's figure out what your options are...
Hiring A Copywriter
Finding someone to write your sales letter for you sounds good, right? You just pay somebody some money, and out pops a brand-spanking-new sales letter.
But it's not great, because the copywriter doesn't necessarily know you. He doesn't know your voice. He hasn't seen your product. He doesn't understand what your customers' problems are.
And the worst part is you paid money to get something that is worse than if you had made it yourself!
Writing It Yourself
There is a free option: that is that you try to write the sales letter yourself. However, unless you have been trained in writing sales copy, it is not going to be that great. It is also going to take you for ever, and you might not even finish it. If you are not a writer, let alone a copywriter, your skills might be better put to use creating videos or marketing your solution.
Also, many people who have not written on a regular basis don't write the way they sound - which means your sales letter is going to seem completely different than the way you come off in person or in audios.
What is the solution then?
Put together a list of problems your customers have, and a list of benefits that you have that will solve the problem, and...
Dictate Your Sales Copy!
You are going to use the same exact elements as a sales letter: like a headline, sub-headline, body copy, your story, a problem, and so on. So you might need to consult for one hour with a copywriter, especially to help you flesh out the headline and organize the copy.
But if you know your niche and you know your product, and you are passionate about it, you can dictate out an audio file, get someone else to type it up for you. And now you have a complete sales letter that sounds exactly like it came from you - because it did!
Also keep in mind that once you have the sales letter dictated, transcribed and properly formatted, you can send it to the same copywriter again to get it critiqued.
This will probably take only about an hour, and critiques where the copywriter gets on a phone call with you - or preferably a webinar - work the best because you are not waiting around for him to finish.
The next time you need a sales letter done, dictate it! Meet with the copywriter for one hour to flesh out the plan of the copy. Dictate it, transcribe it, format it. Then meet back with the copywriter again, to make it shine.
Have you dictated sales copy yourself? What kinds of things are you dictating? Are they articles / reports / sales letters? Or something I hadn't even thought of?
Leave me a blog comment below with your response.
Sending an E-Mail Every Day is Scary, Right?
Quick question: how the heck are you going to send an e-mail every day to your list, if you don't already?
Inside "Time Management on Crack" I show you the five different types of e-mails I regularly send to my list... and six more types of blog posts I write. Guess what, every time you send a blog post is a chance to e-mail your list three more times per blog post.
Oh yeah, plus I have a formula to launch a product in five-step e-mail sequence.
Guess what all that gives you?
- Five follow-ups (per thing you are offering)...
- Six times three blog post notification e-mails (that's 18 more)...
- Plus five e-mails to launch the product... even if you're only promoting as an affiliate.
Five plus eighteen plus five is 28 e-mails. So yes, you can promote one thing for a month, or even one week at a time for four months.
You Just Gotta Follow a Formula!
That and remember e-mails should be short and only have one call to action.
Never broadcast an autoresponder email with signature links. Or with 3 SEPARATE URLs. It's ok to mention the same URL multiple times.
But you might say, Robert, I've got 10 different URLs. People need to see them all.
Fine. Just space them out over 10 weeks. Week 1, all you're doing is giving different reasons, and on some days just reminding them, to visit URL #1... every day of the week.
During week 2 you transition into URL #2 and keep promoting that all week.
And so on. So now you don't have to give people a 10-step process (because they WILL get confused)... just commitment and consistency them.
Just one call to action, simple steps, and follow a formula... please.
If you think daily emails will "annoy, overload or confuse" your subscribers... the internet marketer known for unsubscribing from lists that mail too often, is still on my list after years and years. And I mail every single day! Here's what he had to say when I asked him:
"You're right. I don't usually stay on lists that email me every day. Your stuff is short, useful and interesting enough to keep me reading. Doesn't hurt that your products rock, either."
-- Paul Myers
There you have it. How often you mail is irrelevant. What does matter is: short length, interesting messages, and good offers.
Do you disagree, or do you think I'm awesome?
Paper: Why You Should Never Use It Again And Why Your Business Will Accelerate As A Result
It's 2010, do you really still write on scraps of paper? Do you still use post-its, index cards, and notebooks? Why?
Here is something really interesting. Even in the early 90's, I met someone who hated paper. I was in grade school at detention in the principal's office, and a woman who worked in that office did not use paper, and hated paper. Keep in mind that this was before the internet was available anywhere. This was just when Windows 3.1 was coming out, and "easy" networking was almost unheard of. To transfer files she must have been limited to a slow modem fax machine. But even with all the limitations of the 1990's, she made sure not to use paper.
Now going paperless doesn't seem silly at all. I am telling you right now, as soon as you stop using paper, you will instantly become more productive. But how can you give paper up?
Network Shares
Because networking and file sharing has been built in to all modern operating systems for at least the past 10 years. You can easily share a folder on your desktop computer and access it from your laptop.
I don't have everything on my computer shared over my network. But I do know that anything I am currently working on such as a word document, a mind-map, or a PowerPoint presentation, I will have on my desktop. I have my desktop shared through the whole network so that when I am downstairs on the couch, or in my front yard or backyard, I can easily get to whatever document I am currently working on.
Having shared folders over a network also makes file copying easier. When I record a webinar on my laptop, I don't have to use a USB Stick to transfer the file, I just copy it right over the network. Think about all the steps you save
You save having to put the USB stick in, wait for the computer to recognize it, open up the folder on the USB Stick, open up the folder on your desktop, drag the file over, wait for it to copy, close out the windows, unplug the USB stick from the laptop, plug the stick back into your desktop, open up both windows and copy it over.
Instead, you open up the destination you want to copy your file to on your laptop, find the file you want to copy, drag it over, and it magically happens.
EverNote
Speaking of things happening magically, my favorite iPhone app is a program called Evernote. Evernote allows you to write notes, in other words text documents. What makes it magical is that they have versions for the iPhone, iPad and Windows. They actually have a web-based version, a MacIntosh version, a Droid version, and a Blackberry version, but I don't use them.
The idea is that I have this program called Evernote installed on my laptop, desktop, iPad, and iPhone. Whenever I make a change to any of the notes or documents in Evernote, it will sync them up to the cloud and any other devices I have, and will download the new versions.
This means I can type a note on my computer and get to it on my phone. I can edit on my phone and read it instantly on my iPad. I can change it on my iPad, and then open up my laptop and read it or write to it there. In other words, I have many devices editing the same document at the same time.
Accountability Blog
Speaking of storing my notes in the cloud, the number one source of wasted paper I used to have was my to-do list or my task list. Not anymore. Now I store my full daily tasks on a private membership site that only myself and Lance have access to.
Because my laptop, desktop, iPad, and iPhone all have internet access, I can get to that task list any time I want. Because I have XML-RPC enabled on that blog I can use the blog press app on my phone to easily post new to-do list items without having to even use the browser.
The great thing about storing my daily task list on my blog is I can easily edit it. I can store away the old version. But if I need to get something, I can type something in the search box and figure out exactly when I was working on what tasks.
Speaking of depending on searches.
Gmail And Google Calendar
If you are still stuck on an email program like Outlook, you are missing out on the advantages of Gmail. Gmail is a totally web-based email client. What set it apart at first from other email clients is it has almost a desktop-like interface. You use keyboard shortcuts, you can drag and drop, and most importantly it's fast.
Instead of using the folder system like Outlook, Gmail allows you to tag your messages with labels. If someone emails me asking for a download link for a specific product, I can label that message both with the name of the product and the tag download link. That means, if I ever want to view all the requests for download links, I can click on one button and find it.
If I get a confirmation email about a hotel or flight reservation, I tag it as "Travel" and then I can see the email in the list of all my messages, or just click on the "Travel" label and see everything I need.
Also, the search feature is extremely fast. If I am going to Austin for example, I can search the word Austin in the search box, and get a list of all the email messages that contain the word Austin. If I want to look up all the correspondence between myself and a particular person, I will type the persons name and find all the results.
The missing part of Gmail, that I only discovered within the last year or two is the Google calendar. Google calendar allows you to store appointments and see everything you have to do today. But what makes it unique is that you cannot only see it from anywhere, but you can share your calendar with other users. Just like with Outlook.
I make sure to store my appointments and my meetings on there, and I synchronize it with my iPhone and iPad. That way I get alerts when something important is coming up. When I am traveling, I also store my travel itinerary directly in the calendar, that way I can be sure which flight I am on and when my flight leaves and arrives. The final paper killer I want to share with you today is.
Mindmaps
A mind-map is basically a network of thought nodes, you can have one node and many nodes coming out of that node, and other nodes coming out of those. That way you can structure a thought into a tree.
Many people spend way too much time on mind-maps, and make them crazy, which is why I only use mind-maps as a temporary brain-storming tool. If I am going to be making a power point, I will plan out the structure in the mind-map. That way I can drag notes around and arrange things, and then create the power point, then delete the mind-map.
I will also use mind-maps to plan out a series of articles I'm writing for the same reason. Because I can drag ideas around before settling on the final structure, and once those articles are done, I will again delete the mind-map.
Those five elements of technology should completely remove any reason you have left of having paper.
Did I leave any out? Do you still have an excuse for using paper? Please let me know in the comments below and I will tell you why I think you are wrong.
Eight Time Management Habits You Need to Adopt Right Now if You Ever Want to Be Successful
If you are in business for yourself, you need to have good time management habits. You no longer have a boss looking over your shoulder, making sure you get things done. You can no longer get paid by the hour and run out the clock and make money doing nothing.
You need to do something to make money. That means you need to get the most out of every single day. You need to be busy and not just productive. Take a look at these 8 time management habits, figure out which one you're not applying and apply it to yourself right now.
Habit #1: One Project At a Time
Many people fight with me or don't trust me when I tell them they need to have one project going at a time and yet they wonder why I get so much accomplished. Don't have a big long to-do list. Instead, decide what is your focus this week – are you writing articles, are you writing a sales letter, are you making a new product? And this week is only for completing that project.
You will wear yourself out if you try to write an article in the morning, build an AdSense site at noon, make a product in the afternoon, and post on forums in the evening.
If your focus today or this week is to write articles, have a goal such as 30 articles... write a handful of articles everyday until you're done and then that project is finished forever and you will never have to go back and worry about it.
Habit #2: Finish What You Start
If something is 99% complete, it's not complete. Write that report or finish that sales letter and launch it, even if it's only version 1.0.
Habit #3: Stop Doing What Loses Money
I have known far too many marketers who had a successful information product business working for them but then they abandoned it all to move towards a new niche or to move towards membership sites. If you have something that is making you money and you want to try something new, add it to your business. Don't simply drop one thing and get a new thing.
The (basic) definition of insanity is to continually attempt an action and expect a different result to happen. If something is not making you money, if building AdSense sites are not making you money, if pay-per-click is not making you money, try something new.
Habit #4: Repeat What Makes Money
Once you find that one thing that works for you and it might be freelancing for the moment, repeat it but in a bigger scale. If you're freelancing, that might mean to charge more for your hourly rate. If you have a low ticket info-product, that might mean to get more traffic or make new joint venture connections.
Find one thing that makes money that's been proven to convert and to sell and course-correct. For example, if you find that writing 10 articles on a certain subject gets you lots of traffic, opt-ins, and sales, then write 100 articles on that same subject.
Habit #5: Simplify It
Although many gurus get money from you by selling their complicated system or by throwing out fancy terms for you, the things that work and the things that you are able to wrap your head around are the simple things.
Most of the systems I use for writing sales copy, making articles, writing blog posts are only around 4 or 5 steps long. Think about Steve Jobs and Apple's product line. What do they sell? Desktops, laptops, Mp3 players, and phones. When in doubt, if you can't fit it on a napkin, it's too complicated.
Habit #6: Be Fast
It's one thing to say you're going to write 100 articles but if it takes you a whole year to do it, that's no fun. You want instant gratification and instant results, that way, you know that what you're doing is working.
You need to be fast in order to stay excited... you've been only working on something for a few days, it's fresh, and it's new and it's not some chore you have been forced to keep up for the last several months.
Get used to going from an idea to a finished concept quickly and be used to making snap decisions, whether it's to choose what you'll do today, what your project will be or even how to outline it and what the structure of that project will be.
Habit #7: Do What Makes You Happy
Here's the thing most people won't tell you about working for yourself and working on the internet – it is much harder than any day job. Why deal with that? Because the idea is: even though the thing you are doing is tougher than a day job, it's something that you are excited to wake up and crank out.
You can focus on what excites you, what niche excites you, for example, webinar training, and what activities about that excite you, for example article writing to get traffic. You might work harder and might even work longer hours being self-employed than at a day job, it's something that you're excited to wake up and complete. So that way, it's really not a job.
If you do what makes you happy, even if it's slightly more work, you will be able to sustain it for longer and it will have a much better payoff. When you're happy with what you do, your life has meaning.
Habit #8: Don't Do It Alone
For me and many others, we became much more productive when we had someone making sure we stay on task. I'm not necessarily saying a boss who gives you orders. Just someone who makes sure you stick with your own orders.
Have somebody who will read your task list everyday, have somebody who you can report to and at the beginning of the day, tell them what you will be working on and at the end of the day, you can tell them if you completed those tasks or if you failed. This way, if you fail, you'll feel bad, but if you succeed, you'll feel happy.
You will be a lot more motivated if you're worried about letting someone else down as opposed to letting yourself down.
Those are 8 habits you should be adapting right now to make yourself more successful...
Change of plans today: I will also RESPOND to your comment, if you click the retweet button in the post above, and your Twitter "first and last name" is the same as the name you leave in the comment.
1. Leave a comment. 2. Click the retweet button. 3. I'll respond to your comment.
Out of the 8, which was your favorite? Please let me know in a comment below.
The Reasons I Buy Your Stuff, Finally Explained
Why is it that people pay you money for your services, products and memberships?
It really helps to figure out not just how people found you, but what is their reason for joining your community? That way, when you send emails and write sales letters, you can appeal to all the groups.
I can't speak for anyone else, but here are the reasons I buy your stuff...
The Entire Step-By-Step Training
Four years ago, I joined a Membership site from Jim Edwards that taught everything I needed to know. It taught how to create videos, how to make reports, gave me tips on sales letters... And a lot of the things I learned were not taught directly to me. They were things I observed from his marketing and his videos.
I joined that site as a relative newbie because I wanted to learn and apply one hundred percent of what he showed me.
That training helped me get over a lot of obstacles. For example, I had not ever created video. I had some idea in my head that I needed to have green screen, that I needed to have different camera angles and different screens. But most of his videos were simple PowerPoints. At the time, PowerPoint videos were not very common. And that was the biggest benefit I got from learning and taking all his training, was making PowerPoint videos.
Eventually I outgrew that training and quit. But I short-cut a lot of things that I might have taken a long time to figure out, or maybe would not have figured out at all.
The Quick Fix
I have joined other membership sites, just to get one piece of the training. It is very important that when you join some kind of site, you know what your goal is.
Jeanette Cates delivered a three-month training program about product creation. And although most of the things she taught I already knew, I joined because I wanted to get motivated enough to record more audios. That was my one goal from joining: to record more audios.
I joined the site, picked up some extra tips about how to make my audios better, recorded them and then showed them to her for accountability. I also used those audios to build my list, and I reported back to her about how many opt-ins they gave me and how many sales those led to.
More often than not, I will join someone's site just for one particular thing. This is why, in addition to explaining the step-by-step of what they are getting in your sales letter, go into the details. Tell them EXACTLY what result they will get from your training - because you never know what outcome people are looking for.
Community
I have joined a number of monthly membership sites, just to get my name out there. It is one thing to leave blog comments, or post on a free forum. But the audience there has not been proven to buy anything.
On the other hand, if you join somebody's "$100 per month training" and are allowed to leave comments or make forum posts, you know that every single person reading your messages has at least $100 per month to spend on some form of training.
Also, because it costs money to get into this community, it is more exclusive, which means it is a smaller crowd, which means you have less competition as far as getting your information read.
Some of my best connections came from the inside of these communities.
Brownie Points
When a friend of mine, Stu McLaren, offered training about his WordPress Membership Software, I joined - even though I had previously taught similar membership training.
I joined this site basically to become the "Star Student." I listened to all the training calls, read all the blog posts, and when he had call-in days, I made sure to have some kind of question, to make sure I understood all of the content. And I contributed a couple of things just to make sure all the bases were covered with his training.
Although you should definitely position your sales letter and marketing materials to "Why newbies can best benefit form your course," keep in mind that some experts may join, to keep their own training up-to-date, or even show support for you.
And those are the four reasons why I buy eBooks, reports, services and memberships. Did I leave any reasons out? What is the top reason YOU join someone else's community or pay them money for something?
Let me know down below, in the form of a very brief comment.
What You Have That I Don’t: Remove These Things from Your Life to Instantly Become More Productive
Why are so many other people in the world more successful than you?
As you read this blog post, you are not only going to discover the answer, but you are going to be surprised that most people who get more things done than you don't have MORE stuff to do in their life. They actually have LESS things to do.
Let's figure out what you can REMOVE from your life to become more successful, more productive - and therefore make more money.
Clutter: Paper And Notes
I have told you before many times how much I hate paper. Paper is imperfect. You write on it and you can't really change what is on the paper. It takes up space. You can't always find it. And it distracts you.
I often hear people recommend you do silly things like write the amount of money you want to make per month and put it on your computer monitor. Or write your daily "To Do" list and put it on your wall. Or even (the silliest of them all!) have a whiteboard! Yuck, I hate whiteboards.
Are you kidding me? How often does your whiteboard really change? Chances are, when you first got that whiteboard, you wrote on it every day. But then you let it sit for a month or longer with the same exact stuff written on it.
You can't have all that stuff around your office distracting your attention. If you have got something to write, send it to someone in an email. Or write it as a blog post. Or post it to your Accountability Blog. Or write it in EverNote. But put it down and file it away so it doesn't distract you.
And because it is filed away in a computer system, it is very easy to find, especially if you need to search for it.
Remove paper from your life.
Time Killer: Cable TV
I don't think it is a coincidence that five years ago I stopped getting cable TV, and that was also when I started to get a lot more accomplished.
With TV, it is way too easy to sit down, flip channels, and before you know it, an hour or two has gone by. If we all lived for ever, cable TV would be a great invention. But because you will never get tomorrow back, or last week back, last month, or even last year, back, you shouldn't waste time on cable TV.
I am all for watching a DVD or watching a movie. But having that ability to wander and get distracted, especially by commercials, is not a good thing.
Remove cable TV from your life.
Distractions: Instant Messaging, Email and Pop-Ups
Back when I hosted webinars for people, so many of those webinars were interrupted by someone's chat box appearing. You may have heard the statistic that "Once you get distracted, it takes you at least fifteen minutes to regain focus."
That means that if you were distracted twice, by only a few seconds each time, every hour, you have just lost half of your productivity.
Your computer needs to be a hot seat. When you have a task you need to finish, such as posting on forums, replying to emails, writing articles, scheduling blog posts, finishing that chapter - whatever it is, close your instant messaging, close the browser that is open to your email. Otherwise you will see that "1 New Message" and HAVE to click on it!
Close Tweet deck or any other program that can pop up and distract you with a new message. It's okay - the world will still be there when you turn those programs back on after your pressing matter is finished!
Turn off the instant messages.
And those are the top three things that you should definitely remove from your life if you want to become twice as productive - or even more.
Are you going to remove one of the three from your life? If not, what one thing can you remove from your life RIGHT NOW to eliminate distractions and get more accomplished?
Leave a short comment in the form below.
Who Do You Want To Be Like? The Correct Way To Have Role Models
You do have role models, right? People whose behavior and success you want to model yourself. I know you do because every time I see somebody ask this question on blogs or forums, they usually get people responding with at least 10 names. The problem with listing all these role models is that there are too many people in that list to even keep up with what they are doing, or there are conflicts.
I don't want to name any names, but all too often I see people list one of their role models as being a guy who only markets using article marketing, and another role model is someone who markets using only pay per click.
That is why today I am not going to list people who I only take "partial advice" from like Seth Godin, James Brausch, Steve Manning, Allen Says, John Calder, or Joe Sugarman.
Instead I am just going to list my top three role models and why they are that way.
Role Model #1: Steve Jobs
Many people will agree that Steve Jobs is the best presenter out there. If you watch one of Steve Jobs' videos on you-tube, he makes everything look really simple. I used to not be too impressed with Steve Jobs' presentations until I knew what to look for, until I saw how simple his power point slides are, the words and the branding he uses and how easy his demonstrations are.
Role Model #2: Armand Morin
I am in Armand Morin's mastermind and he is my coach. I also try to duplicate the way he presents, but the most significant part of that is the way he speaks. If you have watched my videos, heard my audios, or seen me present you know that I am kind of a Spaz. I talk too fast, I slur my words, that is just how I talk.
I have made it a point, especially in the last couple years, to slow down my speaking, project better, so that the way I present is clearer. Whenever I am going to present, or I want to get excited about something, I will have one of Armand's recordings playing in the background.
It doesn't really matter what the subject is, I just try to get his voice in my head, and get his energy and enthusiasm. I will also listen to his talks to pick up some of his careful phrases. For example, you notice that Armand uses words like "free" a lot, or "instantly, or "overnight", or the phrase "100%". Even when he says things like that, he will slow down his speaking when he says words or numbers such as one hundred.
Role Model #3: Joel Spolsky
One thing you may have noticed about the first role models is that they are computer nerds. 
They are programmers, they are tech guys, and Joel Spolsky is as well. Joel runs a company called "Fog Creek Software", and he runs a blog called "Joel on Software" where he gives advice about marketing and software developments. I haven't seen nearly as many of Joel's presentations as I have Steve's and Armand's. I have read a ton of his writing.
I read his writing for the attitude he gives. He is a sassy guy and has a way of telling stories and saying phrases that get in your head and stay there. He also has strong and direct opinions, which is what I like in a writer. He writes like a programmer in a clear step by step fashion.
Who are your role models? Do you have too many, if so can you narrow it down to your top three? What do they all have in common? Are you picking out the right things from the three?
Comment below. Go ahead, do it right now.
Start Less, Finish More
On almost all of my web sites, I use the same paper looking sales letter template.
On all of my paid membership sites, I use the exact same WordPress theme.
Why the Heck Do I Do That?
Because the layout really doesn't matter. Which would you buy from, a fancy looking sales letter with no text, or a plain looking sales letter WITH text? Exactly.
On top of that, I've tested this and I know people who have tested this... the "plain looking" web sites convert better.
Is it because most designs have giant logos that distract people? Who knows.... all I know is the plain template converts.
So when I launch a new product or write a new sales letter, I don't even worry about the design.
I worry about some stuff like the headline, a TINY logo, and a bunch of other stuff... but the mini-site design, not an issue.
What Decision Can You Remove Today?
What's one thing you can make it so you'll NEVER have to think about it again?
Is it what autoresponder to use? What shopping cart? What download page template or sales letter template? Or even something simple like the name of your next product?
Remove something today so you NEVER have to think about it again. That's how you'll get more stuff finished!
You'll find more about this in Time Management on Crack, when I talk about how you need to be "desperate to reduce clutter"...
Remember: start less, finish more! Darn, I should trademark that...
I Am Done: How to Finish Everything You Start, and Then Some
If you have been inside any of my training courses you probably see the phrase "I am done" showing up a lot in the comments, especially in the "Challenge" posts.
Whenever you teach somebody something, it is in both your best interests that they go ahead and complete that task - isn't it? It is one thing to get people to PROMISE to complete something; but it is just as important that they come back and tell you when that has been finished.
And that is why, when I offer membership challenges, I always tell people to come back and post "I am done" in the comments. That way I can easily do a search and figure out who has finished and who hasn't.
So How Do You Know That You Are Done?
And how do you make sure that you finish as many things as possible? First off, only focus on one project at a time. You might have to change your thinking. I know that for a long time I had many different projects going. When I was finished High School, I was taking AP Tests, going to school, working on a long-term programming project, creating products of my own, and writing my own books. I had about five or six projects going on at the same time - and I had to switch gears so often that I hardly got anything done!
If I had spent just one week finishing the book I was working on, I wouldn't have to think about it ever again. If I had then turned my efforts to finishing the script I was working on, the program, I'd be done! If I then focused all my effort on the large project, I'd be done!
So don't leave things unfinished because you underestimate how much effort it takes to switch between tasks.
Also, set a deadline for everything you do. You know yourself; you know how long something is going to take you based on how focused you are on it. If you have to record a set of five videos, and you know you can only record one video a day, it will take you exactly five days - and that becomes your deadline.
It is important, though, to have not just a DATE-based deadline, but a TIME-based deadline as well. Don't say something is going to be finished "next week"; tell me it is going to be finished "next week, Wednesday, at exactly 4.30pm."
And to make sure that you HIT your headlines, keep what you have shippable, so that you can be done at any time. This means that when you are recording that video course, if you can get away with only having three videos, and that is Version 1 of your course; and Version 2 contains five videos, then you can meet that deadline without having to stress about it. You could launch the product with just three videos instead of five, if you had to.
And finally...
Don't Tell People Everything You Know!
Look at the way Apple launches new items versus the way Microsoft does: Microsoft announces things years in advance and always misses their deadline; while Apple keeps their new stuff secret until it is perfected and it's ready to go.
You don't have to announce every single thing you are going to launch because you might not end up launching all of them - and then you appear to be unreliable and a joke!
Those are the ways you are going to get more stuff accomplished in less time: By only having one project at a time and finishing what you start; having a time-based deadline; keeping it shippable - and don't announce everything you know.
What is your best productivity tip to get your tasks finished? Leave me a comment below telling me right now.
