Seth Godin just published a blog post that really sums up how important it is to be popular. Inside your marketing, your blogging, your prospecting…everything you do to build your business on a day to day business, there might be a silent pursuit for popularity. Look for it. You want people to “get” you, don’t you? You want the masses to pour into your store or office with orders for what you’re selling. Many of us fall victim to this trap. The popularity trap.

We strive to be #1. We want to be on top. We want recognition for our hard work. We want others to see our success and envy us. We all do. As business owners, we’re competitive by nature. But these are just labels. Why not simply strive for being great? Let your greatness speak for itself. Funny thing about greatness…most people don’t “get” it. They don’t want it. They don’t appreciate it. And they certainly aren’t willing to pay a premium for it. Funny thing about popularity…these are the exact people popularity attracts. The people who don’t get it.

Greatness on the other hand, could care less about popularity. It doesn’t need accolades. It’s just awesome, whether you like it or not. Whether you “get” it or not. Greatness serves it’s customers on the highest level, and it is rewarded handsomely as a result. Greatness attracts customers who value what you do and who are more than willing to pay a premium for it. Turning your focus towards greatness requires that you turn your focus AWAY from popularity. You simply cannot pursue both simultaneously. Focus on being great. Popularity is a costly distraction.

For the real juice, read Seth’s post. That’s what got me started on this rant :-)

We’re called entrepreneurs. We work for wealth, not a paycheck.

The difference between wealth and a paycheck is fantastic! It’s huge. I came across this graph that @mjdemarco posted a long while back, and I think it is very succinct:

Notice how employees (i.e. MOST people) earn quite a lot more than business owners at the start. Business owners are such fools, aren’t they? What losers. They could be making so much more money if they just got a REAL job. So why don’t they?

Again, it comes down to wealth vs a paycheck.

What is the difference?

• A paycheck pays the bills. Wealth sets you free.
• A paycheck comforts you. Wealth challenges you.
• A paycheck makes the car payment. Wealth creates the opportunity for hundreds or thousands of others to make the car payment.
• A paycheck makes you smile on Friday at 5PM. Wealth makes you smile when you wake up every morning.
• A paycheck makes you look forward to vacation. Wealth makes you look forward to work…AND vacation.
• A paycheck sees the internet as a way to kill time. Wealth sees the internet as an opportunity.

So you’re trucking along, and your blog isn’t pulling it’s weight yet. You’ve been working to get your email list going, but it’s taking a while. You’re doing all the right things, but you’re not seeing the results yet. That’s GREAT! You’re in the “working for free” phase of entrepreneurship.

You know what’s REALLY cool? Building a successful and profitable website or blog is even FASTER than building a traditional business. If you’re doing things right, it’s just not gonna take you 5 years. But a lot of you are getting really frustrated and quitting after just a few months. Sorry, you have to stick with it for a while. Please do. The results WILL come.

Why work for free? Because a paycheck is not your goal. Wealth is your goal. What’s wrong with paychecks? Nothing. It’s just a completely, totally different mindset, and if you want to build wealth, a wealth-focused mindset is a prerequisite.

For fun, I’ve included this rant from Chris Rock. Yeah, it’s been around for a long time. You may have seen it already. It stuck with me. It’s hilarious, and it contains a sliver of profound truth. If you’ll be offended by some adult language, don’t watch it.

From now on…build wealth. Have WEALTH be your focus.

If you’re viewing this in a feed that doesn’t support video, click here to view the video :-)

Yet the fact remains that I haven’t directly addressed these questions, so that gave me the idea for this post…

Ask the RIGHT questions!

I’m a huge advocate about being careful when it comes to researching ideas to grow your business. If you want good, helpful answers, make sure to ask good questions. I also talked about this in my last post about How to Make Money Fast. If you ask negative or fearful questions, you get answers which cater to that mentality. I don’t cater to negativity, and neither should you. So basically…I’m not going to answer your quetions :-)

I have something even better for you though. I’ll answer your REAL question, which is “what steps can I take to make sure my business does well and meets my goals?” See how that question  is positive and focused on success instead of failure? This isn’t just some dumb mind game or a word trick. It matters. It’s crucial actually.

So to answer your concerns, let’s start with dumping fear and focusing on how to get the results you’re looking for. Cool? How do you make sure your business is successful in 2011 and moving forward? Some of you are ready for what I have to share with you. Candidly, some of you aren’t ready for the answer yet, and that’s cool. All I can do is give it to you straight.

There are several fantastic ways you can grow your business faster than ever, get on track, stay on track and make sure you’re reaching your goals. I have a new article published on Blog for Profit today. What? Two articles in one day? I know, I’m a machine ;)

I have a few of the most high impact principles outlined there. I recommend you swing out and read the article. Leave a comment, and let’s talk about it! One of the principles I talk about is Once, Twice, Thrice, which is my witty name for an old school principle that WILL double or even triple the growth of your online presence. I also discuss how education, speed and bonuses will get you what you want. Fun things that cost nothing and work…every single time. Let me know what you think!

How to make $522.60 in less than one second

My average client pays me $522.60. You know…it’s the average. Some pay less. Some pay more. Almost no one actually pays me exactly $522.60. It’s just the average. When someone clicks the “submit payment” button, over the course of that one second I make on average $522.60.

It still amazes me that this works. It still blows my mind that I can literally sit here at my kitchen table (or wherever I’m working at the time), click “publish” and then money shows up in my Paypal account. It’s addictive, really.

How to make money fast

Just for those of you who feel ripped off by this post so far, I want you to know…there IS a point, and there IS a reason I’m sharing this with you today! It’s deep stuff, actually.

The reason I’m writing this post is that “make money fast” is a keyword that gets almost 250,000 searches PER MONTH. Can you believe that? There are a LOT of you trying to figure out how to “make money fast”. It’s simple really…EVERYONE makes money fast.

You didn’t know that, did you?

The fact is that making money fast is kind of automatic. It doesn’t take long. Money changes hands. It only takes a second, really. So what’s the problem? What are you struggling with?

You’re asking the wrong question! Making money is a piece of cake. All the work leading up to it…that’s what you need to focus on!

For all of you searching “how to make money fast” this month, I humbly submit that you’re asking the wrong question! Don’t ask how to make money fast. It’s a waste of time. Instead, ask stuff that’s actually going to connect you with better customers and clients. Why aren’t more people searching for this stuff? Ask these things instead:

1. How to create value (5400 searches last month).
2. Ask how to connect with your customers (210 searches last month).
3. How to survey your website visitors (ZERO searches this past month…really?).
4. How to do market research (2,100 searches last month).

Why are so many of us struggling to make money with our websites? We’re asking the wrong dang questions!

One final point

Check it out…not only do the RIGHT questions yield you MUCH more helpful answers (you know…stuff that’s actually going to HELP you grow your business), there is also another extremely high value benefit you might be overlooking. Look at how much COMPETITION there is for these much more powerful questions. There are way less competitive.

Do you know who IS making money fast? People searching the keywords above, not the ones searching “how to make money fast”. It’s ironic, isn’t it?

As soon as you make the decision that you’re going to use the keywords above (and many others like them), instead of useless searches like “how to make money fast”, everything gets so much simpler…and so much more effective.

Are you looking for answers? Make sure you ask the right questions!

Yeah, it's time to starting your business blog already! If you're on the fence, this article has a couple tips for you :)

A lot of you are on the fence, no? Perhaps some or all of these have transpired:

• You’ve heard me and others talk about the high value of blogging
• You want to get in better touch with your customers
• You want to reach out to more customers and broaden your base
• You are seeing a significant increase in costs associated with traditional marketing and want to find more cost effective ways to engage your audience
• You WANT to start a blog…it just looks like fun (it is, you know!)

So what’s the hang up? After talking with many of you for the last several months, I’ve discerned there are three big reasons many of you remain on the fence. You want to start blogging, but these concerns must be addressed first.

1. It’s kind of techy…you might not be sure how to install your own blog software, etc.
2. You can’t imagine always having something new to say…coming up with new posts consistently over time seems quite daunting.
3. Writing to an audience of zero seems like a drag; you want to be confident you can build a good readership

I will be offering a series of video tutorials on dvd showing you how to research, install and operate a business blog. For those of you concerned with any of these three concerns, this video coaching series will answer these concerns in detail.

I’m doing this for one simple reason: these are the most common things I go over with clients for my consulting rate via web conferencing, so it makes sense to me to create a product which offers the exact same content but costs only a fraction of what one-on-one consulting costs. Does that make sense? So any of you on the fence but who cannot pay for consulting, this will give you everything you need for a very affordable price.

That said, I want to sell you on the power of listening. Listening is the key to building a successful blog marketing campaign. It may sound intuitive to pay attention to your audience, but when you look around, not nearly enough (in my opinion) of it is actually going down.

We worry about SEO, what to write about, what to tweet about, how to make our sites look cool…this is all talking. Granted, you need to open your mouth on occasion if you want anyone to know you’re there, but it’s essential to understand that unless your product or service is grandly original…one of a kind, never-existed-before-on-the-face-of-the-planet-original, there is already a vast amount of conversation already going on around what you’re doing. Tap into it, and funnel a portion of it back to your site. How? By listening.

Why Listening is Key

Struggling to come up with content for your blog? Strugging to get enough traffic? Shut up and listen for a bit! There is HUGE traffic and conversation going all already. All you have to do is tap into it.

There is a simple reason why listening will do you more good than talking. Here it is…if all you do is talk, then all you’ll be capable of saying is drivel. That will do you no good at all. You can only create valuable content in direct proportion to how much you listen. And listening must come first of course. You know those bloggers who post every single day, and the content they put out is actually good stuff? They are dramatically tuned into their audience. They follow a lot of people on Twitter and actually pay attention to what people are saying. They incessantly read good content online, and respond to it. They listen intently. They listen first, then they respond.

Blogging is a conversation. When you go to a party or a conference, do you stress out about what you’re going to say? No. You go and meet people; hang out and have fun getting to know new people. This is how it’s done in person. This is ALSO how it’s done online.

Listening Takes Care of Everything

Have a problem with getting traffic to your blog? Then you’re spending too much time on YOUR blog and not enough time on OTHER people’s blogs. When you’re on your own blog, you can’t listen (unless you already have a strong traffic stream and lots of comments). Spend time reading what’s going on in other places instead. Read other blogs, and when you have something to say…leave a comment. Pay attention, because a lot of your comments will spark quick and easy inspiration for a blog post. I’ve seen it happen over and over again. I leave a comment on a post somewhere, and I find I actually have more to say about it…thus a blog post is born. You don’t have to grind it out…it happens automatically. It happens naturally.

And there is even more value than that…because the post is in direct response to an ongoing conversation. You see? There is already confirmed interest in the topic; this makes your post relevant. Instead of having to constantly tap into your own genius, you spend time listening. Tap into the genius of others.

And when you spend time on other blogs, forums, etc…occasionally leaving comments and interacting with other people, guess what’s happening? You’re networking. You’re engaging people on their home turf, in a place where they’re comfortable and at ease. And when they find they like you…when they find you’re genuine and actually have good stuff to say, what do you think will happen? They will visit your site. They will naturally want to know more about you.

See, it’s not about finding the magic keyword. It’s not about creating the ultimate blog design. It’s not about how often you post or how long (or short) your posts are. It’s not about posting links to your articles on Twitter. It’s about simply finding your audience where they already are…and listening to them. When you spend time doing that first, your content takes care of itself. Your traffic takes care of itself.

So am I full of it? Or am I onto something? Instead of worrying about how to use Twitter and pondering what magical tweets you can send out to get that golden traffic stream, maybe you can seek out and follow people you want to reach out and pay attention to what they’re talking about. By paying attention and actually caring about about your audience, everything else in a very real way, takes care of itself.

Your Blog is Not a Short Term Engagement

It's true...this is your year, and the benefits to starting your blog are significant! But don't think of your blog in the same way as your other marketing. A blog is a long term endeavor. If you go into it expecting immediate results, you're not in it for the right reasons.

A blog is not a short term endeavor. It’s not like placing an ad and then watching for the results immediately. Please don’t put that pressure on yourself. It’s just not realistic. A blog is a long term project that you will ideally maintain for a long time. The principle is quite simple actually…it takes a while to build a significant audience in most cases. Are there exceptions? Of course, and you could end up being one of them. But in most cases, it just takes a while to build a large readership, especially if you’re just doing it part-time and not spending a significant budget on marketing.

Building the result is a long term project that gradually builds up momentum. Before you know it, your blog will have momentum and it will eventually become a force to be reckoned with, but don’t expect that to happen in month one. If you approach blogging as a magic bullet, you’ll be disappointed. But if you approach it for what it is…a long term marketing and community-building endeavor, you’ll see the true value of what you’re doing in the short term.

For all you bloggers out there that have only 50 subscribers…guess what, 5 of those subscribers will likely end up buying something from you and tell their friends about you. Those first 5 advocates are where it all starts. If you write them off as insignificant, you’ll miss all the benefits to come. Yes, it starts small, but your first subscribers aren’t “insignificant” or “small”…they’re the most important subscribers you’ll EVER have.

Bottom line: your blog isn’t nearly as small as you think it is, and you’re doing a lot more right than you think you are!

Everyone Struggles…Struggling Rocks!

Here’s another (#2) ninja secret: I struggle also. No matter how awesome and strikingly fantastic you think I am (joking), I have a million things to learn about sales and marketing, and yes…blogging. 10 years in, and I’m just getting started. I’m a total noobe.

Here’s another (#3) ninja secret: Even A-listers struggle. Yes, even the guys and gals who you think have all the answers and have all their ducks in a row (seriously, who says that? I’m bringin it back!) look at their analytics sometimes and say “what the hell is THAT?” Everyone struggles to get the result. Everyone gets thrown for a loop sometimes. The problem is not the struggle…the struggle is the GOOD stuff. The problem is in thinking you’re the only one. The problem is in thinking you’re struggling alone and somehow not smart enough, lucky enough or talented enough to succeed. Please believe me for god’s sake, if I can make money and build a business around a blog, you can too.

Here’s a fourth and final secret for today: That’s how you get the result…struggling. Believe it or not, that’s the key. Struggling and doing the work, that’s your ticket out of this crummy joint and to the good life you hope to achieve after building your thriving blog community. It will be a beautiful thing, and it will be worth the work you put into it and then some. You will be glad you did it. You will look back and say “Wow, I’m really glad I stuck it out.”

But how do you know you’re on the WRONG path?

• When you feel like you have all the answers.
• When you call yourself a guru.
• When you have an “automated solution” or a “maintenance-free” blog. Haha. Yeah, right. Sucker.
• When you are NOT struggling.

The Key to Getting Results…

The key to success in blogging is a lot simpler than most gurus would have you believe :)

Is there such a thing as a beautiful place in business? Can you make it to easy street? Believe me, you can. But you cannot get there by worrying or doubting yourself, and here’s what you cannot achieve: You cannot get to a place where you’re finished. You’ll never be complete. You’ll never be perfect, so therefore there will always be work to do. There will always be something to focus on and improve, and that is a struggle. It requires digging in. It requires work. So dig in…struggle, and do it with confidence.

So when you’re struggling, how do you know what to do? You are already doing it. You read, and you ask around. You execute, make mistakes, learn from your mistakes are make corrections…and then go execute again. Here’s the problem: a lot of you are trying to “figure it out”, and it doesn’t work that way. A lot of you are looking for a blog post or a consultant or a book to instill some bit of knowledge in you that is going to make everything make sense. Ain’t gonna happen. Research is essential, but at the end of the day you have to DIVE IN. You solve one problem at a time. Then you move on to the next problem, and solve that. Then you move on to the next problem. That’s success…as mundane as it sounds, that’s how you do it.

It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You’re thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. -Thomas Watson Sr.

Many of you feel bad because you’re at the beginning and not sure how to get big results from your blog. I just wanted to encourage you today, because you see…you’re doing it. You’re already doing it. You read this blog and others. You ask questions, and you apply that information to your business one piece at a time. That’s how it’s done. Is building a successful blog really this simple? Yes, it is. Keep going!

I plan on kickin some ass this year. Here's what I'm doing to gain focus. Will you join me?

I’m using 2010 as a detox period. Low information diet (as Tim Ferriss calls it), focus and implementation. In other words, I’m executing this year. Here’s what I’m changing:

• I’m reading very little. I have about a dozen books, and I have most of them on audio.
• I’ve cut out about half of my RSS reader.
• I’ve canceled all magazine subscriptions.
• I’ve written a short plan for the year. Instead of my usual 40-50 page plan, my plan for
  2010 is 2 pages long. Some travel, a couple vacations, a couple conferences, a couple product launches. That’s it.
• I’ve deleted most of my email subscriptions.
• I plan to focus less on consulting and more on product creation. It’s simply more leveraged and offers a tremendous value to my clients.

This is the deal. 2010 is about doing less. And I expect it will, at the same time, see a significant amount of growth for my business. I expect to increase sales, because I won’t be doing anything but dollar-productive activities when it comes to business. I want to spend my time writing, networking and creating new solutions for my clients that offer better value than ever.

I don’t want to underestimate the value of reading, education and hard work. I also don’t want to give the impression I’m planning on kicking back this year. This isn’t the case. There’s much work to be done. I’m just cutting out all the B.S. and focusing on getting results. For one year, I want to do nothing but kick ass.

What do you think? 2010 is a year of execution for me. Will you join me?

Subject matter doesn’t matter. At the core of every industry, no matter how exciting or innocuous and boring that industry might be, are people making things and people buying things. What is the core of any business? People. That’s it.

You don’t need to be passionate about the product. You have to be passionate about the people who are passionate about the product.

At the core or every human need and want, no matter how mundane the subject matter, is a human being. Believe it or not, people buy sexy products like Stratocasters (best rock n roll guitar EVAR, don’t argue with me on this!) and vacations to the Bahamas for the SAME REASONS they buy life insurance or a higher grade fertilizer for their crops. People buy out of love, fear, greed, envy…the classic human triggers.

It doesn’t matter what your industry is, if you’re a passionate person, any industry can be your passion. If you’re not, you’ll never find your passion, because passion doesn’t come from out there, it comes from you.

Pick a business, any business, and make it yours.

If you’re not able to view this video in a feed, click here. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

These are my blogging tips for the day…quitting too soon is one of the most common tragedies in business today. Whatever stage you’re at, there are frustrations. Here’s a secret: when you get to the next level, there will be MORE frustrations, not fewer frustrations. Your frustrations will be bigger, not smaller. Success has a cost. When you’re small, revel in it. Enjoy where you’re at. You have more than you think! Keep at it, and don’t discredit yourself for not yet being where you think you’re “supposed” to be. Where you’re at, right now, rocks. Don’t quit! Keep at it…live your mission.

If you’re having trouble viewing the video in a feed reader, click here.