Cool thread over at the Copywriter’s Board:

How To Find Selling Story Buried In Your Business

Yet another video I learned about from Ray Edwards.

Tim Ferriss’ book, The 4 Hour Work Week, is required reading for any entrepreneur. This video summarizes the book in about six minutes:

You should get the book, but if you don’t have it yet… watch this video and then get the dang book! Okay?

Thanks to Ray Edwards for making me aware of this:

At the end of this video, he mentions Soap Lake, Washington (a town which, as he mentions, is in the middle of nowhere and just so happens to be within spittin’ distance of where I grew up) and their Lava Lamp project.

I’ve been earning my living full-time as a copywriter and marketing consultant since January of this year.

My family decided to take a “working vacation” which would take one day’s travel to and from, and I would work for several hours during the day while Genhi and the kids “played”. We did break the pattern one day when we went to the zoo, although I took care of some business via cell phone, and worked for several hours in the morning before we left.

After we had been gone about a week, every day Genhi and I would have a discussion that went like this:

Me: “Ready to go home?”

Genhi: “Let’s stay a few more days.”

(We could stay as long as wanted; someone else did not have a “reservation” after us.)

The point is, we didn’t have a boss to report to nor clients to whom we had to meet onsite. We did work with clients over the phone and via email.

We are headed home now… her turn to drive… .

What a life!

What would it mean for you to have this kind of freedom?

This is a really cool concept that Ben Settle discusses here:

http://bensettle.com/blog/how-to-create-profitable-copywriting-joint-ventures/

He suggests that copywriters break out their working time into thirds:

• Doing fee-based copy projects
• Doing performanced-based projects (joint ventures)
• Creating/enhancing one’s own products

This struck me as a very synergistic model. Here are my thoughts:

• Fee-based projects can bring in consistent income, assuming you have a good marketing funnel. Keeping one of these “in the hopper” at all times keeps you involved with what is happening in the marketplace, outside of your own business.
• Performance-based projects keep you focused on those activities that produce income.
• Your own products can create long-term, semi-passive income.

The great part is… this is not limited to copywriters! I’m convinced that almost anyone whose job is to provide a service can apply it in some way.

In future posts, I’ll provide some examples.

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?

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.

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

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!

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!