Tim Ferriss, in his book The Four-Hour Work Week, talks about “mini-retirements.” Now I liked Ferriss’s book, there are a number of great ideas inside. Except one thing – what I see as the Big Con at the centre of it. It is the same con that is sold at the ‘Internet Secrets, 2 Day workshops where you will learn how to make a million dollars a year while you sleep’. And yes, a few years ago, I was hoodwinked by one (or two) of these.

The con? That you too can find a niche for an online business that will make you money while you sleep. And only takes 4 hours a week.

All you have to do is follow Ferriss’s formula (or Mal Emery’s or Daryl Grant’s or Dan Kennedy’s).

It reminds me of the betting systems that people sell: if it is that good and that easy, why aren’t they betting themselves? Or in Ferriss’s case, creating lots more easy businesses – and then hiring someone not quite so smart to administer say 8 of them as a full time job and give them 10% of the profits (that’s what we’ve started to do – though we give them more than 10%).

Those of us working with clients to sell services and books know it can be done. But it’s hard work.

As it always has been. There is no quick and easy way to make money. And the funny thing is, when you get to know the promoters of the Get rich quick seminar and coaching schemes, how honest they are about this.

And about how they get rich from the flow of mug punters. Just like BNI, but that’s another story.

What’s your view?

Cheers,
Toby

Charities are now too easy to set up given communications technology. When combined with the honourable reasons and powerful emotions of the founders they proliferate. And as Adele Horin observed in the Sydney Morning Herald, persist for all the wrong reasons.

Same problem with industry and professional associations. Another ‘dad’s army’ of small inefficient enterprises. As with charities they are past their use by date as online Social Networks can deliver most of what they do for free.

Should we care? It’s at least a billion of useless overheads. The bigger waste is what they ‘deliver’: duplication, lack of service integration plus a lack of knowledge of the real needs. Billions waiting a better use.

There are too many well meaning snouts blocking the inevitable change, many with ‘founder’s syndrome’. Which combines with association and charity administrators being oblivious to the power of new media. Most dismiss it citing the fatuousness of celebrities on Twitter or drunken young on Facebook. Correct, but completely missing the point.

Their demise and the emergence of larger communities with huge economies of scale is inevitable. Large communities with hundreds of sub-communities delivering on a small scale. It should be happening now. Communities delivering so much too so many by so few.

For more on why Industry Associations are heading the way of the Dinosours.

Misconception 1:

“Sales is marketing”.

No! It’s sales.

Sales always involve people talking to potential customers. Marketing, (particularly on social media) on the other hand, brings people into your ‘funnel’ so you can later sell to them. Ideally after you are positioned as the expert.

Misconception 2:

“The kind of marketing done by corporates is the same as what SMEs need.”

Complete rubbish, but believing it will just waste your hard earned money. Almost equivalent to buying a yacht—just a hole that you pour money into which quickly vanishes. Something I know from personal experience!

For a large company, their advertising and marketing focuses on building a brand and broadcasting that image into the marketplace. They do this because:

1. It builds the profile and recall of their brand so people will more likely choose their products or services

2. It pleases the board of directors and senior management who like most people know little about marketing. But they sure have strong opinions and have clout to get their way.

3. It wins awards for advertising which makes management feel good

4. And at a distant fourth spot in the line, because they want to sell something!

The marketing departments in big companies have a real battle on their hands if they want to create marketing that is effective. Now, if it’s hard for them, it’s impossible for an SME. Brand marketing is very expensive which just makes it ridiculous for small businesses who don’t have big budgets to blow on hit and miss campaigns.

Or the money to spend on something as vague as ‘raising ones profile’.

Good words will work without pictures. But pictures add the zing to copy.

Pictures help break up large amounts of text and make a piece more visually appealing and effective. If you use in your copy, make sure they’re the best pictures you can find to suit your content. Beware of the stories that pictures tell all by themselves regardless of what your copy is saying. Be careful they don’t undermine your message—easy to do in social media marketing where images are everywhere.

Here are the 8 keys to using pictures effectively:

1. Don’t use photos from ‘politically correct central casting’. You know the ones—sharply dressed, late 20’s, sitting in a high tech office; one black, one white, one brown! Tragic.
2. The picture needs to suit the pitch, your message.
3. Use a picture to tell a story, not just because you like it
4. Use specific captions for all of your pictures
5. If a picture is unsuitable for whatever reason, just don’t use it
6. If you want to encourage trust, have a picture of someone with their family, their kids or with their dog—family values encourage trust
7. As to where to place pictures on the page, look at where everyone else is placing them and do the opposite. You’ll stand out
8. Have someone who is not involved in your work have a look at the copy and the picture together. Ask them if the picture completely suits the copy, or if it undermines it in any way. If they say it does, listen to them! Don’t just use it because you like it

Finally and most importantly: If the picture is on a website, put and alt tag in using your keywords.

Yes, they tell a thousand stories. Be sure you tell the right one.