January 18, 2010

It's Never Too Late to Reinvent Yourself... Find What You're
Looking for... Have You Asked Yourself This?... Carving Out
a Place of Your Own... and More.

The other night, I invited my neighbor Joe and his wife Melissa over for dinner.

We haven't really engaged with these neighbors a lot. A couple of "front lawn conversations" from time-to-time, but nothing formal. So my wife and I decided to be neighborly and invite them to break bread.

Now, I know that Joe's a contractor because he has advertising on his truck. So, over the course of dinner and post-dinner drinks, Joe and I chatted about home renovations, how the current economy is affecting his business, and so forth. At the same, my wife is chatting with Melissa about, well, whatever.

Then my wife turns and asks Joe, "So how did you and Melissa meet?"

Now, before I go any further, I'm totally used to my wife asking this kind of personal question, even going so far as to veer way, way off topic to ask it.

But Joe obliged and told me that they met when they were working at the same advertising agency. Melissa was a graphic designer and a Joe was one of the top account executives.

So then the conversation switches to how Joe went from a high-powered Madison-Avenue-type to master renovator.

And the short answer was that, after almost 20 years as a "Mad Man" (and if you've ever seen the show Mad Men, you know what I mean), he decided he'd had enough. So, six years ago, he quit and decided to get into contracting.

Now, he's always been handy, but he'd never tried renovations on such a grand scale.

He recounted how tough the first two years were. He said he went without any work at one point for almost six consecutive months. But once the word-of-mouth started to ramp up and his work started to earn high praise, it was nothing but a success.

Now, he has a crew, is booking jobs six months in advance, and has never been happier.

It goes to show you that, even if you've been in a specific job for 20 years, you can reinvent yourself and start doing something you love. Even better, you can become very successful at it as well.

And if there's something that you love to do (cooking, renovating, arts, whatever), then the time is right now to reinvent yourself and start turning your passion into your income-producer.

It's never too late...just ask Joe.

When the customer service representative at my telephone company put me on hold, the song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by the band U2 came on the line.

This made me laugh out loud. Here I am, hoping to find the solution to my phone problem and playing on the line is a song about not being able to find an answer.

Thankfully, the representative was good at his job and took care of my concern quickly, with no wandering around in an aimless search for either of us.

However, this got me thinking about how to find useful information when there is just so much distracting and misleading stuff out there. On the Internet. A search engine is a powerful tool that, with the click of a button, can locate millions of web sites; all with the potential of holding that answer you're looking for.

However, there are also millions of web sites with the potential to send you off course and that can mean you forget about your problem until it's too late.

So, how do you sift through the bad to find the good?

Well, much like you would go to your doctor with a medical question, you should also go to the places online that have a greater expertise in what you're looking for.

Got a medical question? Look around for a web site that focuses on just medical articles. If you see something about the latest celebrity gossip, well, time to look elsewhere.

Many of us have also formed a relationship of trust with other news sources, such as our daily paper or nightly newscast. Odds are, both your paper and your news show have a web site.

The Internet is a very, very big place. Finding what you want online can seem scary at first. But once you start finding a few trusted sources, you'll uncover the wealth of information that could hold the big answers you've been searching for.

Sometimes there are things we want and, for whatever reason, we feel we can't get them. Perhaps because it seems unrealistic, that we are undeserving, that those things only happen to "other people" or that simply, no matter what we do, we'll be able to achieve what we're looking for.

This is a normal feeling and it attacks many people both in their business and personal lives. The truth is, however, sometimes getting what you want can be as easy asking.

Of course, it's unlikely that a simple, "Can I have it?" will be enough. After all, the first question fired back at you will likely be, "Why do you want it?"

If you want to get what you want, you're going to have to work for it. That way, you can prove you're deserving.

Let's say, for example, that you're running your own business, but you'd like to pay less on shipping. Before you call your shipper to ask for a rate reduction, compose all the information you can in order to persuade them that your request is legit. After all, no one will just hand something over. In most cases, they'll have to be convinced through negotiation.

In the case of trying to acquire cheaper shipping, look at the volume you ship, the length of your relationship with the company, comparable rates, any mistakes they've made, economic conditions or anything at all that applies to the request. Once you've done this, you'll not only have the evidence you need to present a convincing case to your counterpart, but you'll also feel confident in your request.

You see, having the confidence to make a request knowing that you deserve it changes your mind frame and actions during a meeting. Your counterpart can sense this, and they won't be so quick to reject you if they see you're serious and have come prepared.

Most of the time, if you feel you need something, you probably do. Don't be afraid to ask. If the inkling is there, then do it. Most times, you'll probably get what you want.

You have to remember that most people don't just want to give you things. Whether it's a raise, a better rate or anything that may end up costing them more, you can bet that your counterpart won't be the one to introduce the topic. Once you realize that you likely deserve what you'd like, do the proper research and ask. You'll likely be surprised at how things turn out!

** Carving Out a Place of Your Own
By James Burt, Online Marketing Expert

How often have you been in someone's house, entered a room, and they said, "Excuse the mess..." or "Don't go in there! It's a disaster area?" Maybe you've even said this to a guest yourself.

I grew up in a single parent home and learned to take on some domestic household chores early in life. I've carried these traits right up 'til now and like to keep my place fairly clean all of the time. My buddies often jeer at me a bit, but I remind them that their girlfriends and wives seem to do most of the work for them.

But before I get preaching, I always caution any guests I have about my home office. If it's true that genius people need to work in a messy area, well, I will diligently await my Nobel Prize's delivery. My desk gets covered in bits of scrap paper with doctor-grade scribbles and other receipts, stationary, and magazines. Around me are other books, computer program software, and my trusty stereo if I want to play some music during break time. That's my work space and, yes, it is a bit of a disaster area.

Sound familiar?

If your work space is like mine, I think that's a good thing. I truly do. It means you are vigorously working at your info marketing business and have created a unique, albeit messy, space to complete the necessary tasks at hand. A lot of other people of all professional walks of life need the same thing -- painters need studios, chemists need long lab benches, and info marketers need their own office or work space. It's part of the job.

But it can get problematic. Time and again, I've seen info marketers, myself included, let their space take over and interfere with their professional life. Important items are lost or accidentally discarded. Even a phone number that could have led to a great new gig gets buried and is probably lost forever.

You can avoid this though. When either outfitting your new info marketing office space or redoing your existing one, you should:

--- Get organized: Some people can remember exactly where they left something or where, under stacks of paper and books, the bill for their Internet service is. That's a great gift to have, but the reality is that few people can really do this. Being really organized is not always the most fun for an info marketer, but it is often the most necessary. I always suggest to info marketers that, at the bare minimum, they should keep some binders, a filing cabinet with folders, and a good desk organizer as well. The binders you can use to store all of your receipts, and your filing cabinet can keep track of all of your info products alphabetically. A desk organizer, usually just a two- shelf unit or four-prong wire stand, can keep whatever current projects you have right at your fingertips while not right in your workspace. A good bookcase for your bigger print info sources are recommended as well. All of these items you can get from your local stationary shop.

--- Be comfortable: I often hear odd stories of writers working while sitting in the bathtub or using a stack of cinder blocks to both sit on and prop their computer on. I am not one to tell others how to work, so I say more power to these people. But personally I think info marketers do their best work relaxed and in comfortable working areas. That said, you should have a good chair with strong back support and a desk that is set to your height. You are going to be doing a lot of sit-down work, so I recommend being in the best position to do so.

--- Keep the necessary tools at hand: Don't keep a lot of things on your desk that you don't need. Some pens and paper that you can grab quickly are good, plus reaching access to your phone, and a good calendar or agenda is needed to schedule appointments. That's really it. Don't be afraid to clean up once a week to discard anything that is extraneous. And be wary of eating or drinking at your desk or work area. A bad spill can ruin some good work beyond repair.

--- Put your computer to work: I've written about the importance of digital archives in the past, but these days pretty much anyone can actually have one. Whatever print items you can scan or copy onto a digital file, it is worth doing. You can store them right on your hard or mobile drives and access them at a later date. It used to be that you needed to save print copies of everything you created, but now there is a way that your computer storage space can really work for you and your business.

My colleague Bill Hebden has written with pride about his workspace -- he's in his own home, surrounded by his own material, he can enjoy working at his own speed while listening to baseball on his own radio. If it sounds too good to be true, it isn't. It's something most people crave and is really attainable for info marketers. Provided you set it up properly and keep it organized, your office will put you in the best position to achieve info marketing success.