Professional Events

By darrel hawes | September 3, 2008

Here are some professional events that I have attended, or will attend. If you’ll be there, I’ll look forward to meeting you!

Please look me up and say “hi”!

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Big Seminar 12 - Atlanta - October 3-5, 2008

By darrel hawes | September 3, 2008

Come join me at Armand Morin’s Big Seminar 12 in Atlanta, Georgia!

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Perry Marshall’s Autoresponder Workshop - Chicago - Sept 27-28, 2008

By darrel hawes | September 3, 2008

I’ll be attending Perry Marshall’s Autoresponder Workshop as a guest copywriter.

If you’re also interested in attending, see this site:

http://www.perrymarshall.com/autoresponder.htm

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Want Milk?

By darrel hawes | August 27, 2008

My one-year-old son, Jerome, has an interesting little habit that he’s picked up.

Upon seeing anyone drinking *anything*, he’ll point at the glass, cup or bottle and say “milk”. Doesn’t matter if it’s water, coffee, or even beer or wine.

It’s kinda cute and perhaps annoying after the fourth or fifth time in a row!

It made me think about how most of us see the world through our own “lenses”, with our own unique perspectives.

To Jerome, anything you drink is “milk”.

As marketers, we have to train ourselves to get outside of ourselves and recognize that other perspectives exist, just as unique as our own.

A former massage therapist said recently that he saw his job as providing pain relief to his patients. He was surprised when he had a survey done and found that the majority of his patients came for relaxation, not pain relief. So when the patients thought of “massage therapy” or of him specifically, the primary association was different than he assumed.

How successful can we be if we approach marketing from own point of view, rather than that of our target market?

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3 Challenges Faced By Home-Based Business Owners

By darrel hawes | August 19, 2008

I wrote recently about the advantages of operating a home-based business. I decided it was only fair to present the other side.

  1. Flexible schedule. Though also an advantage, if you aren’t disciplined, the “flexibility” makes it hard to focus on getting your work done.
  2. Lack of Accountability. In the typical work environment, there’s a lot of external pressure to get stuff accomplished.
  3. You Are 100% Responsible for Results. In the typical office or on the job site, there’s often much finger pointing when things go wrong, but your paycheck doesn’t change unless you’re a commissioned salesperson. When you are the business owner, when things do not go as planned, even if it’s “not your fault”, you don’t get paid.

There you have it. 3 “challenges” to counter 5 “advantages” to operating a home-based business.

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Good Free Software Apps

By darrel hawes | August 17, 2008

Here’s a nice list of 21 good free software apps, along with a short explanation of each by Terry Dean:

http://www.terrydean.org/21-free-software-resources

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Google Docs Templates

By darrel hawes | August 16, 2008

It’s no secret I love Google Docs…

Well here’s some of the “user favorites” you can use as templates for your own docs:

http://docs.google.com/templates?sort=hottest&view=default&pli=1

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Project Management for Internet Marketers

By darrel hawes | August 6, 2008

Pat Boyle’s blog is good; worth a bookmark.

Check out her latest post:

http://www.patbdoyle.com/?p=292

She gives some very helpful tips on planning and completing projects.

Go read it now!

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5 Advantages of Operating Your Own Home Business

By darrel hawes | August 3, 2008

Last Thursday, I took my wife to the airport. It was mid-morning, and I realized that I didn’t have to check with anyone, or call the office to tell them I would be a few hours late. How cool is that?

It got me thinking about some of the advantages of working from home.

  1. Flexible schedule. As I noted above, I can rearrange my schedule to meet the needs of my family.
  2. Accountability. I am accountable only to myself to how I spend my time. Of course, my customers might have something to say to me if I goofed off too much!
  3. Clothing. This might seem odd to mention, but in the six months that I have freelanced full time, I have spent far less on clothing than when I worked in an outside office. I usually just wear whatever’s comfortable unless I am meeting with a local client.
  4. You can get your family involved. My wife is now working with me in my business, and some of my children are as well.
  5. You can network with your colleagues across the country. Among internet marketers especially, I have found an openness to share and collaborate, such that I have not noticed in any other industry.

There are five advantages that I thought of in one sitting. To be fair, I’ll create another post on the disadvantages of working from home. It’s not all wine and roses, after all!

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Web Sales Machine

By darrel hawes | July 30, 2008

Here’s a new site:

http://www.websalesmachine.com

It’s a joint project with my wife, Genhi and me.

More info to come soon!

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