Internet Business Mastery AUDIOblogs: Our Best Tips in 15 Mins or Less

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/-/57229124/0/ibmaudioblogs.mp3 New Media Expo was exciting and extremely fulfilling this year. It’s fantastic to get a chance to see extremely successful friends and students as well as new student and audience members. There was one aspect of the Expo that I hadn’t seen in the past. This might be because the Expo has grown so much or maybe it’s the amount of highly success bloggers and podcasters exploded to record numbers this year . Either way, what I saw was was a little disconcerting and I want to make sure none of our community falls into this trap. Hero Worship Hero worship is the excessive adulation of an individual. There is also an aspect of hero worship that makes it so that the hero is SPECIAL or has special abilities. This year, at NMX, I saw people expressing quite a bit of both. I saw people throw their hands up in the air and slowly bring them down, then up, then down saying, “we’re not worthy” as they worshiped a certain podcaster we all know and love. I actually saw this a couple times! I heard people talking about another speaker in reverent tones of how quickly rose through the ranks to the top position, as if it was magical or he had a superpower that assisted him with his meteoric rise. I was also talking to a group of people when one of the group members shook my hand and said he loved my show. Another members said, “What show do you do?” I told him and his face lite up and he said, “WOW, I didn’t realize it was you. This is crazy, you’re awesome! Can I shake your hand?” He then left the group and went to his group of friends and I saw him point and they all seemed to be excited for their friend, like he’d just met a rock star or A level actor. Now, if all of these behaviors simply came from a place of Admiration, great! I just wanted to make sure that people are aware of the dangers of hero worship and have the ability to avoid the trap and learn from people that are further along (the so called heroes) instead of seeing them as magical or super hero special. Dangers of Hero Worship When I got home from the Expo, I found that favorite philosopher, Stefan Molyneux, had discussed this hero worship a bit and I wanted to share that section with you. Listen from 2:14 to about 8:25. VIDEO Transcripts Click here The big take away is that holding up someone as an idol or feeling hero worship can only happen if you diminishing yourself! I think it also saps one of their power to achieve the same thing, if that is their secret desire. Worship ends the discussion. More times than not, worship ends with, “but I can’t do that, they are special.” We feel worship when we think we have no way of achieving what the person of interest has achieved. So, if you have the desire to do achieve what Pat Flynn has achieved, hero worship will lead to feelings of, “I’m not good enough”, or “There’s no way I can do that!” Avoid the Trap I have no problem “looking up to” someones actions and achievements. The thing to remember is that they are just ahead of you, not magical or in possession of skills and special abilities that you cannot work on yourself. Admiration is give you a target to shoot for, minus the diminishing effects of hero worship. Admiration can still lead to powerful questions, like;

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/-/54934586/0/ibmaudioblogs.mp3 Information overload. It will stop you in your tracks. Every day we consume blog posts, podcasts, email newsletters, text messages, courses, books, magazines, and on and on. Learning is critical for any entrepreneur, but if you don't manage your info intake wisely it will overwhelm you. Even worse it will completely derail your progress. I'm going to share with you a simple learning system that keeps you focused and accelerates your progress. In this four-part series, we'll discuss the four types of learning and when to use each. More importantly, we'll discuss when to STOP learning and take action. Let's start with the type of learning that serves as your compass… Discovery Learning. How I Discovered Discovery Learning The commute to my one-and-only job as an engineer was a 30-minute drive in a sweet ride I bought from my grandma. It was a brown 1988 Buick with long, velvety bench seats. The back seat was constantly littered with books, cassette tapes and CDs. Books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad opened my mind and gave me the itch to escape the rat race. It was like the scene from The Matrix where Neo plugs into the "headjack." This chair plugs directly into his brain filling it with any knowledge or skill in a matter of minutes. Kung fu anyone? When I was in my car, I was jacked in. I was on a quest to find my path to freedom. During that time I didn't take any action toward my dream other than to discover possible ways to get there. And for a time that is exactly what I needed. I call this process Discovery Learning. Discovery Learning is about plugging into the "headjack" of knowledge, filling your mind with new ideas and possibilities. Discovery Learning is an important process for reaching big goals in life. However, at some point it needs to turn into taking action on the new knowledge. Even Neo had to stop learning, enter the Matrix and face the Agents in order to fight for freedom. The key is to know the right time to plug into Discovery Learning and the right time to take action and fight for freedom. Let's take a closer look at how it works. Plugging into Discovery Learning Discovery learning is the process of finding a good path to take in order to reach a chosen high-level goal. Notice, I didn't say the best path or the perfect path. You just need a good path – one that allows you to take the next step toward your objective. The objectives of Discovery Learning are to: * Open your mind to new possibilities * Get excited about the journey ahead * Get a sense of what interests you most * Find the best fit for your vision, values and objectives * Bring clarity to the fog around a question or goal * Explore past the boundaries of your current comfort zone * Set reasonable expectations for the path ahead For example, if you wanted to climb Everest, that would be the high-level goal. Discovery Learning would reveal the possible paths that lead to the summit. Then it would guide you to a path that would work well for you. Maybe you'd prefer the less crowded, but more difficult route. Perhaps you'd choose for scenic route. You don't need Discovery Learning if you already know what path to take. In that case, move on to Just-in-Time Learning. We'll talk about that in the next post. Escaping the Rat Race My Buick learning sessions focused on finding possible paths out of the 9-to-5 rat race. I looked into investing in stocks, buying a franchise, joining an MLM, licensing products for import, real estate, freelance consulting and more. Real estate investing excited me the most. As I learned about ways to invest in real estate my excitement...

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/-/54464496/0/ibmaudioblogs.mp3 New Media Expo has become the premier gathering for online bloggers, podcasters and video makers. Events like NMX provide key insights, valuable relationships and a good-ol’ shot of inspiration that propel your brand or business forward. I've spoken at NMX going back to their first event in 2008 (and full disclosure we sell tickets as an affiliate). But set aside being a speaker, I would still attend.  I recommend you do the same. I pulled from my past experiences to list eight ways to get the most out of your trip to NMX. 1. Apply “Just in Time Learning” – Save Your Sanity Many people make a critical mistake when they attend conferences, myself included. By the time you leave New Media Expo, you’ll have more ideas and inspiration than you’ll know what to do with. In fact, you’ll likely feel overwhelmed by the pages of notes you take. You’ll put them aside only to find them months later when the opportunities have past and the iron is no longer hot. That is the critical mistake. All the ideas in the world don’t mean a thing if you don’t take action – fast action! Here’s the hard truth. You won’t possibly be able to do it all. So let that expectation go now. Instead, use the following four-part system to get maximum impact from what you learn. a.  Define Your Next Most Important Milestone What is THE most important thing for you to accomplish next for your business/show/blog/brand? Don’t put the cart before the horse. “Get 10,000 visitors a month to my blog” is an excellent goal, but premature if you haven’t chosen your niche or even launched your site. Here’s a list of possible milestones for online content creators. It’s not all-inclusive, but it gives you some ideas to pull from. * Define your goals as a content creator * Define your audience and the problems you will solve for them * Define your brand * Make a content creation plan (i.e. format, frequency, style, etc.) * Create the first X pieces of content * Launch your content platform (i.e. site, social media profiles, etc.) * Build your traffic to X monthly unique visitors * Grow your email list to X subscribers * Grow your social media following to X * Create a content monetization plan * Convert X% more subscribers/visitors into buyers * Set up metrics to measure your progress Choosing one specific milestone to focus your learning on will save your sanity, ensure you take action and get you results. b. Take Two Kinds of Notes Divide your note taking into two sections. This might be two separate notebooks, Word documents, Evernote notes or whatever fits your style. Use one set of notes for things that relate to your next most important milestone. Only write down things that you can put into action within four weeks. The other section is for all the other notes you take. c. Choose Three High Impact Actions to Take When you get home, look over your “most important milestone” notes first. Choose the three ideas/insights/tips that you think will have the biggest impact on achieving your next most important milestone. Within the first week of returning home take get started putting these three things into action. You have a window of time to make it happen. Strike while the iron is hot. Successful people take fast action. d. Let the Rest Go What do you do with the rest of your notes? Stick them in your “someday maybe” file to review later.  Or even throw them away. Really, if you get the three highest impact ideas done,...

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/-/54477486/0/ibmaudioblogs.mp3 Over the last eight years I've had a lot of great business advice from some fantastically successful people. They have been very kind to offer me the gift of their insight which has lead to having an extremely helpful and fulfilling membership site and a fantastically fulfilling coaching system, both I’m intensely passionate about. Strangely, the one piece of advice I get all the time from these very well meaning mentors and friends is NOT to work with business beginners! They say the real money is from people that have already gotten through the mindset challenges and have a thriving business. These intermediate/advanced student will know the value of what you teach and will not be bogged down with the worry of “am I good enough to succeed”, or “will anyone care about the value I create”, and all the negative mindsets that plague most beginning entrepreneurs and cause them to quit, hence, no more money for the coach teaching them! I know they mean well and are trying to help me avoid pain and even failure, but I’m surprised they never asked my what I wanted! My Single Motivating Purpose is to inspire purpose-driven action that leads to freedom, fulfillment, and happiness. My affinity is to the person with the spark or desire to create value in the world and the hope of they can make a change by helping an audience THEY have an affinity for. I know that desire is their ticket to a thriving business, it is the admission ticket to come in and play. I also know my job is to fan that flame of desire into purpose-driven action. Here is just a couple reasons why I've dedicated my life to internet business mastery and the beginner community we attract and why I think anyone with a desire should start a freedom business: SCIENCE: The rate of scientific advancement is no longer simply doubling, the growth is exponential. I do quite a bit of study in the area of anti-aging and transhumanism and what the top minds are driving towards is longer life. A MUCH longer life. In fact, many of the scientist in this field have the goal of: Live Long Enough to Live Forever. Will forever happen? I certainly hope so, but who knows? For now it’s important to understand how the aging process is being altered and how that is destroying status quo concepts like retirement. The goal of these scientists is not having a longer life with age related illnesses and sickness, but a much longer life with vibrant health. What this means is there has to be a new paradigm. There is not going to be the old status quo that you work 40 years then you retire. Right now the basic paradigm is school till your mid 20’s, then 40 years of work, then retire around your mid 60’s, then you die within the next 10 or so years. This paradigm is already showing to be outdated. We are living longer. My great grandma was 93 when she died not long ago and she lasted that long with very little health education and access to great health care, as she was quite poor. She was actually physically fit till the last couple of years, so that would be a good 90 years. She easily went a good 10+ years past the typical human expiration date, which is just over

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/-/54464549/0/ibmaudioblogs.mp3 As you may have noticed, we've started upping our game here at Internet Business Mastery.  We have been producing more and more stuff that we think will create more value for you. We’re producing more stuff to create more value for you. This direction fulfills and excites me. Now, there is a downside to this, and it may not be what you think. I imagine that many would think the downside to adding more content is time consumption.   Clearly it takes more time to write and produce the blog posts, podcasts, AUDIOblogs, VIDEOblogs, and BOOKchats. No more ‘4 hour work weeks’...and I’m glad about that. If you love what you do, why would you limit it, right? Anthony Robbins says that business success is 80% psychological (Mindset) and 20% skillset (technical business knowledge).  Most people come to internet business thinking the ratios are 99% skillset (things like:  find an audience, put up a blog, create content, social interactions, get paid) AND 1% psychology IF any issues come up. I empirically disagree with BOTH. After over 9 years working on my internet businesses, and helping others with theirs, I think the ratio is 90% psychology (mindset) and 10% skillset (technical business knowledge).  Getting over my own psychological issues, even now, is far more of a challenge then which WordPress plugin I should use to gain an SEO advantage or finding other ways to drive traffic to the site. The FIRST Key to Success With MY ratio in mind, I know that the first key to internet business success is PURPOSE, or as we call it, the Single Motivating Purpose (SMP). The downside I spoke about before is that most people think the word purpose is spammy, overdone, useless or on the flip side, religious.  Frauds and scam artists seem to have sucked the life out of the word and that really makes me mad. I want to take back the word right now. Purpose means the reason for which something exists.  I see the Single Motivating Purpose as why I exist in regards to serving the world, or as far as Internet Business Mastery is concerned, the SMP is the reason why I exist in regards to serving my chosen audience. This doesn't take away from other fulfillment factors like taking care of your family or making your community a better place or other personal fulfillment and responsibilities that have great importance to you.  The SMP will still be a part of those interactions, cause it’s the main part of you, but I’m talking about it in regards to business. Ignoring the First Key to Success I have rarely seen any of our colleagues talk about purpose.  If they do, it’s quick, like they want to get over it as soon as possible. Why? Purpose is hard and scary for people to think about and talk about.  Internet marketers want to get you to the buy button as soon as possible and purpose gets in the way of that, but here is why ignoring purpose is very detrimental in the long run, for you and your business. * If you don't consider your SMP now,

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/-/54464559/0/ibmaudioblogs.mp3 As purpose-based business owners we spend a lot of our time creating super engaging content that makes our audience come back for more. It’s the type of content that: * Gives our reader that “a ha” moment * Delivers signal rather than noise AND * Enables our audience to get closer to their single motivating purpose Yet, as much time as we spend on creating the content, the podcasts and the videos that our audience consumes...it’s the landing pages that convert our audience into customers, turning our single motivating purpose into a business. Your audience is begging you to go mobile and you already know the first 3 things you should do to make your purposed based business mobile friendly, but 1 of those three...turns your blog or podcast into a business. And that’s your landing pages. You see, as important as it is to have a mobile-friendly website and mobile optimized emails...it's just the foundation to give your customer what they need...access to your content that helps them grow in their lives and their business. Your in depth tutorials, how-to videos, podcast interviews and success stories only make your customer want to take action. Your landing pages or sales pages enable them take action. As your audience continues to engage from their mobile phone it’s critical that your landing pages allow for conversion. We’ve discussed the many ways your audience is connecting from their phone but let’s run through a refresher real fast: * 41% of all emails are opened from a mobile device * Over 60% of Facebook’s traffic and 60% of twitter usage is from a mobile a device * And our podcasts and internet radio shows are continuing to connect with those in their cars and working out all because of their smartphone. With this usage behavior it only makes sense that we need to make it as easy as possible for our audience to become a customer when we have something amazing to sell them...mobile-friendly landing pages gives us the best chance to convert readers and listeners into customers no matter what device they are using. Here are 8 tips to make your landing pages mobile friendly: 1. Offer Value Some people forget this but if your offering doesn’t deliver value to your customer it doesn't matter what device they are on...you won’t convince them to buy. Make sure your product or service delivers tremendous value. 2. Be Fast Your mobile landing pages should be lightweight. That means less than 20kb total ideally and load under 5 seconds. Your customer expects your site to load fast on a phone and won’t wait around so your site performance is critical. 3. Close The Goal Gap Mobile users are goal-oriented versus the benefit-oriented behavior of desktop users. Featuring your call-to-action and task completion content (click to call, subscribe to email, register or buy) above the fold or within the top 100 pixels for smartphones makes a huge difference. If your call-to-action is lower on the screen and takes endless scrolling to present just the teaser you’ll not only risk retaining the reader, you might lose them all together. 4. Be Brief Contradictory to what many many marketers may say...long form sales pages are not mobile-friendly. Now, if you have a super dedicated audience like Jeremy and Jason do, you can probably get away with a longer sales page. However,

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/-/54464561/0/ibmaudioblogs.mp3 As purpose based business owners it’s our mission to connect with our ideal audience and help them in their own journey. Each of us will affect people in our own way and it’s just one method we’ll make our mark on the world. No matter your passion...no matter your purpose...we all look to affect as many individuals as possible, because helping others is a key part of our single motivating purpose. Let me ask you a question... As a purpose-based business owner, do you want to build a business while adding value to many lives? If you answered yes, you need to consider, not only the different ways people choose to learn but the best ways to reach your largest possible audience. Well, you may have noticed, your audience is very connected to their mobile phone.  In fact, I recently shared 5 ways they are begging you to go mobile. You can learn more about that at www.internetbusinessmastery.com/whymobile More and more we consume our favorite blogs, podcasts and news sources from our mobile device...it’s become the easiest and most convenient way for us to consume content. If you’d like to set your business up for success, you’ll want to understand the best way to connect with your audience on their mobile phone.  Before we get to the 3 foundational elements of your mobile success, I want you to understand that mobility is a mindset.  As you grow your business and create content, whether that’s editorial, video or audio...the simple consideration of those reading from a mobile device will dramatically improve how you create content and how they respond to it. Yet, for some reason, this idea of mobile marketing scares a lot of people... “It sounds expensive” “I don’t really understand mobile” “Isn’t it just one more thing I need to think about?” I’ll tell you...I’ve heard it all and I’m not sure why mobile is viewed differently than the other things you have to consider in your purposed based business BUT there are some key foundations you should have in place before anything else. Here are your first 3 mobile to-do items to set the foundation:  1. Create a mobile-friendly website. As you’ve learned with Jeremy and Jason, your website is your home base. Everything you do should be driving your audience back to your site. Whether it’s your podcast, YouTube videos, Pinterest...you name it...your website is your home. With most of your audience connecting with you from their mobile device, whether it’s via email, search, YouTube, Facebook or any other social network, you won’t survive long if they can’t do so easily from their phone. If your situation permits, I highly suggest you leverage a responsive wordperss theme. This means that your site will respond to whichever device is accessing it to give the viewer the most optimized experience. Since most of us are on a budget I recommend you leverage a responsive wordpress theme that already exists. This means you’ll give your audience the best possible experience as fast as possible... If you just finished your site and it’s not mobile-friendly you have a few options.  * Use a free mobile wordpress plugin such as WP Touch to mobilize just your blog. Note: This really only makes your blog mobile friendly BUT it’s free and a start if you have to go this route.  * Create a separate mobile site focused on how your audience might connect from a mobile phone. There are services such as Duda Mobile or Bluetrain Mobile that can help you build a separate mobile site.

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/-/54464566/0/ibmaudioblogs.mp3 Every morning my phone alarm wakes me up to start my day. After reaching for my iPhone I quickly open my email to see if there is anything urgent I need to take care of. Nothing ever really needs immediate attention so I take that opportunity to scan my inbox and identify all of the emails that may seem unimportant and hit delete. Mmmmmm. A tiny bit of stress eliminated. It’s refreshing isn't it? If this sounds like your morning, you’re in good company. In fact, in a recent study, 67% of adult cellphone owners check their phone for messages, alerts or calls even when they don’t notice their phone ringing or vibrating. And almost 50% have slept with their phone next to their bed because they didn’t want to miss any calls or texts during the night. This is just one signal that we need to consider how we can better connect and market to our audience through their mobile phone. Now, before we can implement a mobile marketing strategy we should understand what mobile marketing is. What is mobile marketing? Mobile marketing is defined as the use of the mobile medium in our marketing communication. Simply, mobile marketing is connecting with your audience and customers on mobile devices like smartphones or tablets. You’ve most likely already engaged with a business or blog from your mobile phone, possibly by visiting their website. Having a mobile friendly website is a key part of your mobile marketing strategy but it also could mean using tools and tactics such as: * Mobile-friendly websites * Mobile optimized email * SMS text message marketing * Podcasts * Landing pages * QR codes * Mobile search * Mobile advertising * Smartphone apps The reality is that mobile marketing is affecting everything we’re already doing as purpose-based business owners.  Whether we like it our not, our audience decides how they consume our content and we should make it as easy as possible for them to connect with us however they choose. If we make it difficult to engage with our content from a mobile device you’re likely to lose their attention and they’ll go elsewhere. It’s clear from our morning routines that we already use our mobile phone as an email filter to what we want to pay attention to before we ever sit down at our computer. If you’re not yet convinced your audience is going mobile... Here are 5 reasons you should not ignore mobile in your business: * Mobile internet usage is expect to surpass that of desktop by the end of 2013. That means more people will access the internet from their phone than their computer. * About 40% of emails are opened from a mobile phone * Close to 60% of all of Facebook traffic; 60% of twitter usage and 25% of global Youtube views all come from a mobile device. * Most podcasts are listened to from a mobile device while not at home. * Over 90% of text messages are read within 4 minutes Note: You can find the sources for these compelling stats as well as a whole bunch more interesting mobile usage patterns by clicking here.  You see, there are various ways your audience may end up on your site from their mobile phone or even tablet... The question is are you going to be prepared to deliver them the best possible experience no matter what device they are coming from? As purpose-based business owners we often aim to help as many people learn and grow in their own lives and businesses. Adding mobile marketing will extend your content to reach more people ...

A few days ago we received an email chastising us for encouraging the use of offshore outsourcing. I spent a couple hours exchanging emails with the sender where we shared our differing opinions. As a result, it struck me that Jeremy and I hadn't fully shared our our views on what could be an emotionally charged issue given the current economic climate (not only in the U.S. but in many places around the world.) This is a long post, but it is one that is important to consider. In the interest of discussion, I've included the email here (with the sender's name omitted) followed by our views.   Listen Now! http://feeds.feedblitz.com/-/54464584/0/ibmaudioblogs.mp3 Download the MP3 Here Jeremy and Jason, I'm surprised that you would boast about outsourcing to the Phillipines at a time when unemployment in the US is at a high. There are plenty of highly qualified tech people looking for work in the US who can help you--people who can actually come to your office and meet you in person. I understand that businesses have to be competitive. And, they are often driven to find the cheapest price, but at what cost--fewer jobs in the US, the comodification of high-level intellectual jobs; which makes it difficult for US companies to compete because we use local talent and have to charge more. Your email announcement describes hiring this person like you found a great online deal on a laptop. This is just as problematic, if not more, as hiring outside the US--human beings are not commodities. I'm sorry you've gone this route. You have lost a devoted follower. NAME OMITTED This was in response to an e-mail newsletter that said we'd just hired a full-time Filipino web developer for $500 USD a month. In my emails I responded to the following claims. * That we caused harm to jobs and the economy. * That we talked about a human being as a commodity. * That we have a responsibility specific to the U.S. Here are my thoughts on each of these points. Which Option Would You Pick? When making business decisions, it's important to consider your Definite Major Purpose as well as the impact that your actions will have on others. For us the ultimate mission is to bring increased freedom and financial stability to our listeners and Academy members. Continually improving our sites and web services  helps us accomplish this mission. We've reached the point where this requires hiring an ongoing web developer. To do this we have two options. Option 1 The first option is to hire domestically. Our budget allows us to engage a freelancer for ten hours of work a month. Compared to a full-time developer this only provides a sixteenth of the improvements to our sites (ten hours a month instead of 160, thus greatly limiting our ability to accomplish our primary mission. In order to afford more time from a domestic freelancer, we'd have to raise our prices to cover the additional expense. This would make it harder for people to afford our help to create the income they need. Option 2 On the other hand, with the same budget we can hire a full-time web developer in the Philippines. This gives him a very livable salary. We achieve sixteen times the site improvements than if we hired in the U.S. Consequently, our ability to reach and help people create their own business and income is vastly improved. Outsourcing Leads to a Stronger Economy By being more cost-effective, we assist more of our listeners to achieve financial stability and freedom. As a result, new businesses are created. This leads to more jobs and income. It has been said repeatedly that small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Thus,

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/-/54464588/0/ibmaudioblogs.mp3 The e-mail list is still king. No matter how much talk there is about Facebook likes, Twitter followers and blog subscribers, e-mail lists still convert the most sales. At the same time, e-mail subscribers are more discerning than ever. To attract subscribers (and keep them), it requires upping your game. Open rates are on a decline for anyone still stuck in the past with their e-mail practices. Let’s take a look at five ways to level up your e-mail newsletter and keep your readers coming back for more. 1. Use Images If you don’t use images in your e-mail newsletter, start now. I know what you're thinking. “Why should I use images when most e-mail services turn images off by default?” Well, guess what. Your reader can click a link to turn images on in all your e-mails! You just have to ask and give them a good reason to do it. If you never use images, they never have a reason to turn images on. Without images, you're missing out on the following three important things. A) Better Engagement Images set a tone, provide proof, emotionally engage, entertain, solidify your brand and on and on. B) More Accurate Tracking Here’s how your e-mail provider tracks your open rate -- the percentage of subscribers that open an e-mail. A tiny, invisible image is included in every e-mail. Every time that image is displayed, it’s counted as an open. The problem is that most people have images turned off by default. Even if they open the e-mail, the tracking image isn’t pulled up. The open isn’t tracked. If you never give them a reason to click Display Images, then they won’t click it. By not using images, you’re training your subscribers not to expect images. Your open rate tracking will continue to suffer. C) Standing Out Using images helps you stand out from your competition. They’re probably not using images. They’re still afraid of it. How to Get Images Turned On Here are two ways to get your images seen. First, start your e-mail by asking the reader to turn images on. Second, set the ALT text of each image to say, “If you can’t see this image, please click the Display Images link in your inbox.” The ALT text gets displayed in the place of the image if it doesn’t display. The following image shows an example of how we do this. Once the reader clicks Display Images the e-mail looks like this.   2. Include Exclusive Content The contents of our newsletter used to consist of links to the latest podcast episode and blog content. While this is a useful reason for some readers to subscribe, more people will subscribe (and stay subscribed) by including exclusive goodies in the newsletter – content they won’t get anywhere else. A month ago we introduced a new format for our newsletter. Now the format looks like this. * Excerpt from and link to the latest podcast * Excerpt from and link to the latest blog * Step-by-Step: A step-by-step tutorial on a biz strategy * Quick Clicks: Recommended links, tools and reads * Fan Fav: A link to popular content from the archives Our goal is to pack so much value into the newsletter, you can’t help but look forward to reading each week. Some of the juicy tidbits from just the last month of newsletters include: * How to Record Audio Interviews * The #1 Strategy of High-Performance Brands * Installing WordPress with Hacker Protection * How to Track Opt-In Conversions * How to Use Your Story to Sell More * Custom Logos at a Fraction of the Price To get exclusive weekly content like this,

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/-/54464579/0/ibmaudioblogs.mp3 I’m committed to the idea of intrinsic motivation.  In fact, I've been fighting for this idea my entire adult life. This concept is all about being internally motivated.  Intrinsic motivation is doing something because you have a personal interest in learning and enjoyment in the subject itself. Happiness counselor and friend Wes Bertrand, who researched it extensively and posted his findings in his MA thesis called  Learner Driven Education, defines it as an interest and desire in learning, which leads to more effective learning. Intrinsic motivation is the rocket fuel behind your Single Motivating Purpose and why you desire to strike out on your own and create a purpose-driven internet business. Intrinsic motivation is at the core of why we desire freedom so much.  Freedom is about the ability to choose what you do with your time, your body, and the results of those actions including financial gain. On the other hand, focusing on money is an Extrinsic Motivation, like grades were in school. I believe, and have seen over and over, that in order to have long term success and fulfillment, your business and pursuits must come from an internal, not an external, place. Are you Intrinsically Motivated? Being intrinsically motivated to have your own purpose-based internet business means that you have a desire to create value for others that comes from the core of who you are. Here are a few ways you can tell that starting a purpose-based business is an intrinsic pursuit: * No matter how many fears and extrinsic challenges are in the way of finding an audience and getting started, you still have the desire or spark to do it. * You want to make an impact on the world, or at least a group of people in a market you are passionate about. * You listen to and read just about everything you have time for in the area of starting an internet business; you just cannot get enough. * You have a deep desire to live your life on your terms. * You’re tired of your boss or just the idea of having ANY boss. * You want your productivity (work) to matter to you. I could list even more reasons, but really it boils down to understanding that if you have the desire to help the world with your own internet business, you have it in you to succeed. Simple as that. That desire is why you MUST get paid to live your purpose! Dedication to Intrinsic Motivation As I said before,  I’m personally dedicated to helping people I care about live an intrinsically motivated life, and part of putting my money where my mouth is includes (1) my commitment to making Internet Business Mastery my sole business passion and (2) taking my kids out of public school in order to experience an education aligned with their own interests (just to name a couple). A Personal Example of Extrinsic Motivation Public school is largely extrinsically motivated.  You are trying to prove to others you know something that you may, or most likely may NOT want to know in the first place, all for a grade someone else gives you and finally a piece of paper saying to did certain things that others told you to do. I spent 4 months in a Utah History class in Jr. High School, which was a fantastic example of extrinsic motivation. I had no desire to learn how the Mormon pioneers settled in Utah and how their culture shaped the design and growth of that fair state. As is the case with all "schooling,

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/-/54463568/0/ibmaudioblogs.mp3 There is a dirty little secret about me and the internet business mastery blog.  If you've been around awhile, you might have noticed it. After 8 years in the content creation business I was still afraid to write this post. Not just a post about fear, but ANY blog post! The fears I'm going to talk about have plagued me the entire time as an internet business influencer. It's why I write the least amount of blog posts on my own site! Yes, believe it or not, there are guest posters that have written more than I have on my own blog! Why, you say? And I say back with a strangely creepy inflection, FEEEEEEAR.  Fear. For some reason I can babble on and on in the podcast, but if I have to go deeper, like in a blog post, I really freeze up. Suddenly, the dishwasher needs to be emptied. My kids ferrets are in serious need of some mauling (to the ferrets dismay). The podcasting profits membership site needs a tweak. Another grumpy cat facebook picture must be sent to Jason for my amusement. ANYTHING else needs to be done rather than write. I realized that it's not just one fear, but a load of fears that are responsible for my freeze up. I've been really annoyed at the control over my life that these fears have taken, so I've been really looking at what I can do about them. Here are some of the fears I've had to overcome and what you (and I) can do about them. FEAR #1: It has to be perfect! I struggled with this issue HARD for the first 4 years. Each episode of the podcast had to be edited by me and had to be perfect. I'd spend 3-4 hours editing a 45 minute podcast, just so I knew that everything was right. It was a major time suck each week and I didn't enjoy it at all, but it HAD to be perfect! When Internet Business Mastery went from hobby to real business, my time was starting to get really tight.  I didn't have 4 hours each week to edit the show. It took me a long time to give up the editing task and finally hand it over to the same editor we have today. I was scared we were going to get major complaints. "What happened to the show, it sound terrible!", "Wow, who edits that show, it's not professional at all", "Were you DRUNK when you edited that show?!" Guess how many complaints we've had in the last 4 years about the new editor? None. Zip. Nada. And to top it off, he is only taking about 2 hours to edit them and they sound great. I bet a trained professional editor couldn't tell the difference between our editor and me.  YEARS of me taking 4 hours to edit every episode... What a waste of time. By the way, even worse then a time suck is NOT STARTING AT ALL 'cause you think it won't be perfect. This is the business kiss of death. Here is my suggestion; become a "recovering perfectionist" I still want to over think every episode, take 3 times as long with every blog post, spend 6 months on every product, and redo the website every 2 weeks.  Here is what I do instead: Counter Fear with Action Now, I just get started (and stop!) as soon as possible. I give myself a time deadline and whatever I have at the end goes out.  My goal now is to create value rather than be perfect. 99% of the time my worst fear, which is usually the feeling of being embarrassed, never happens. The other 1% of the time I get a great take-away from the constructive criticism that might come in because I didn't make something perfect.