(tricked ya… that’s not a real video… it’s just a picture

I’m always on the lookout for awesome new tools and ways to save me time and give my customers a better user experience.

As you know… video is pretty much a must nowadays and if you’re not using video you’re going to be left in the dust.

Anyhow, as I type this… we’re in a little “launch” over at the real estate investing site where we’re going to be teaching our readers over the next couple weeks how to get private money for their real estate deals.

Long story short… we’re using video heavily in this series and I was pulling my hair out trying to find an easy and cheap way to get video up on the site… other than posting it to the masses of video sharing sites.

Nothing wrong with using Youtube, Viddler, etc. to host the video… but I’d rather have full control over the video and make sure there’s no chance the reader can click on the video and be taken to the Youtube site and diverted to someone elses videos.

My Easy Flash Video Solution

I was watching a few internet marketing product launches recently and did a bit of investigative work to see what they were using for their flash video.  Some were simply using the JW FLV Player and streaming from Amazon S3 (if you’re not streaming your videos from S3 and you’re getting any traffic at all… you should seriously start doing it… cheap as heck and great servers.  By cheap I mean… I only paid .15 cents last month… ya) … but I got frustrated at the whole thing after 30 minutes of toying around with it and trying to get it hooked up to my .flv file.

Then, I kept seeing this “ezs3” thing coming up in the code for some of the big guys (Ryan Deiss and others) and decided to check it out.

Basically, what this “ezs3″ thing is is a service that makes it easy as heck to put flash video on your site hosted through Amazon S3.  Here’s a video I put up today using this service… looks extremely sharp and loads very fast.  And… you can customize the look of the player pretty much any way you want very very easily.

The Benefits Of EZS3

Yes, at the JW FLV Player site there is a free tool that will build the script that you can embed into your website.  I was actually going to go that way but I’m not a huge techie so it took me way too long and I got confused about half way into the process when I was trying to link the video script to the actual .flv video file hosted on Amazon S3.

So, I signed up for a free trial over at EZS3 (it’s 14 days free, then $20 after that a month… a bargain IMHO) and tested it out.

Here’s What I Did:

• Uploaded my .flv video file to Amazon S3 easily through the free S3 Firefox add on in my browser.  Took about 3 minutes.
• Got in my EZS3 account and hooked it up to my Amazon S3 account.  Took 45 seconds.
• Created a player, customized it, and got the script to paste on my web page.  Took 2 minutes (probably actually way less… but I was toying with some of the links).
• Pasted the code in my html file… and uploaded it to the net.

The whole process took me about 6-7 minutes… if I were to do it now I could probably get a video from the raw .flv file to the net in a nice flash video format in under 3 minutes using EZS3.

And… that video I showed you before is the result of that first try with their service.  I’m sold… and will for sure renew my membership at the end of my 14 day free trial.

Check Out EZS3… But Don’t Take My Review For Gospel…

Try it yourself…

If you’re already using Amazon S3 to stream your videos from this solution is way the heck easy for you to implement… and it may just save you a ton of time and money in the process because it’s only $20 a month and its easy as heck to use.

Here’s a few other cool things about EZS3 that I like a ton:

• Has great stats to show how many times the video (or any other file you use with this) has been viewed.
• You can pretty much fully customize the look, size, functionality, etc. of the video player… very flexible.
• Can use this service to easily display other files too… like pdf’s, other video file types, camtasia studio projects, etc.
• Can change the video display unit on the fly… even after you’ve already published the script to the web page.  It all runs on Javascript so you can make changes after you publish the video to the net, right in the EZS3 membership panel and the changes take place immediately.

Anyhow, I know this post looks kind of like an infomercial or a big ol’ product review… I didn’t mean for it to be like that… I really did just find out about this service today and am now sold on it for my own biz.

Check it out… get the free 14 day trial… let me know what you think!

For the longest time I’ve been one of the biggest advocates for consistently posting great content on your blog… I mean… that’s the one sure way to get your site on the map and to start to generate some traffic. But I haven’t’ been doing it… until now…

Here’s the deal…

Right now I’m in the middle of a ton of huge changes.

1. My wife and I are buying our first home right now (I own rental properties… but it’s never made sense to buy a house until now)
2. I officially am completely on my own now (as far as my work)… working fully for myself and no longer having to answer to anyone else… which is great… and I’ve seen two of my highest income months ever the last two months (October w/ just my online income I jumped over $12k for the month… we’ll see if I can keep it up
3. Moving to a new town where we know pretty much no one
4. I’m taking part ownership of an existing business with a very well known marketing and sales consultant… gonna be fun as heck

You’re probably asking where I’m going with all of this… aren’t you?

Well…

Right now is a time of huge change for me (good change)… and last week I decided that this is the perfect time to go ahead and change pretty much everything that I’ve been putting off or sucking at lately.

Moving Toward Change… and The Chronicle

Okay, like I said… since I’m already going through a bunch of changes… right now is the best time to integrate some other positive changes into my life… including:

• Consistently posting to this blog and my real estate blog at least 4-5 times a week… each (I’ll need help with this one)
• Really ingraining my morning ritual into my life.  Waking up early, working out, a bit of meditating, etc. Basically… getting my day going right rather than waking up at 9 am every morning and being tied down by my email all day (I started out trying to do a morning ritual a few months back… it didn’t stick… but I changed my ritual around a bit and it’s been sticking great so far!)
• Building a team of awesome people around me and my business(es).  A couple months back I hired my first Virtual Assistant… and still haven’t used her to her greatest potential.  I’m still doing a lot of things I shouldn’t be doing… so I’m going to work hard to systematize my biz and build a team of people around me so we can all prosper together

There are a few other small changes I’m going to make in the next couple months too… but the ones I mentioned are the most important.

So… what I’m going to do is set out to do each of these new changes every day for 30 full days… at the end of those 30 days they should be part of my life and become rituals that I’ll keep on doing.

But…

It’s important that I stick to it EVERYDAY for 30 days or I could fall off the wagon… and these changes are so important that I guess I’ll just have to kick myself in the @ss and make sure I go through with it.

The Start Of A Chronicle

I’m not sure if the word “chronicle” is the best word for it… but that’s what I’m going to use because it just sounds right.

Anyhow, the next 30 days is going to be crazy as heck for me… and I’m going to write in this blog everyday to show some accountability… and to show how I progress from where I am… to where I want to go… and we’ll see how that affects my income and the amount of extra “leisure time” I can create for me and my wife… because in the end… that’s what its all about… working less and doing what you want to do in life.

So, I’ll post updates daily… I can’t go back now because I’ve already written it down as part of my new “morning ritual” that I’ve been following everyday this entire week so far.

Who knows what the heck I’m going to write about… maybe things like:

• Things I find out about myself and little tricks to make creating rituals easier
• How my new rituals affect my income and “leisure time”
• Marketing or business building stuff I’m trying right now in my own biz… and how you can apply it to your own biz
• How daily posts affects my traffic and blog subscription stats versus posting once or twice a week
• Random things I just want to pass on

… who knows.

Anyhow, thats about it for today.

I just created a sense of accountability to YOU… if I hit a road block and don’t update… I hope that you’ll call my @ss on it and whip me into shape by posting a chiding remark or comment (or you can be nice too here on the blog.

I’ll Take It One Step Further

Hey… I’ll take it one step farther and create even more accountability for myself…

If I miss a single day of updating this blog between today (10/30) and 11/30… I’ll personally do something that I truly DON’T WANT TO DO… not sure what that is yet… but it’s gotta be good for it to stick.  This is a little experiment… lets see if it works.

And…

Hey… if you have an idea of what I will have to do if I don’t make a post everyday… post it in the comments section below. No matter how crazy it is… I’ll consider it and pick the best “motivation” by this next Monday.

It could be that I donate $5 for every comment I receive on ANY blog post between today and 11/30 to a charity of YOUR choice…

… or that I do something stupid or embaressing…

… whatever… but it’s gotta be good.

So, have an idea?… don’t be shy… this single “away from” motivation could mean the difference between me succeeding and failing… no pressure huh?

I’m settling into my “new morning routine” of waking up early (tough to do when you’re a lone ranger internet marketer) and getting crap done early in the morning… it makes me feel better when I get up early… but it’s tough to create a new routine for pretty much anything in your life.

Anyhow, as I’m writing this this morning… I’m getting work done on my business… without actually having to do the things myself.  My Virtual Assistant is taking care of things for me.

You see… three months ago I had a breaking point in my online business.  I was spinning my wheels and pretty much getting nothing done everyday… but I was working hard as heck at it.  You know the gig.  You do EVERYTHING in your business… you find yourself buried in your computer for hours on end hacking your way through html, submitting articles and social bookmarks, etc.

The “busy work”.

Then… once I started to actually make some good money online (away from my offline marketing consulting)… I decided that something had to change… and what had to change was TAKING ME out of MY BUSINESS.

I Was Hurting My Own Business and Progress

So, here’s what I did.

Nothing special… crazy new… nothing like that.

I just took the advice that people were giving me for months on end and buckled up and finally hired my first virtual assistant.

Just like with anything… the first month is pretty much a wash as far as having the work my VA did for me actually take time off my hands.  The first month you have to train your VA, write up the processes for things you want them to do, and on and on.

But…

Once you get past that first month or two… and your VA passes the test… you’re on your way to being a REAL ENTREPRENEUR and having that entrepreneur lifestyle.

What I Outsource Right Now

Right now, I admit that I still suck at really handing off everything I should to my Virtual Assistant… just haven’t cut the umbilical cord on everything yet.

But, here’s what I have my own VA doing for me:

• Article posting
• Social bookmarking
• Editing videos
• Submitting videos to video sharing sites
• Creating podcasts and editing the podcasts
• etc.

Really… I want to start handing off even more tasks… I guess I just need to buckle down and really think of the things in my business that AREN’T FUN.  Truly… if you’re an entrepreneur you should be doing it because you enjoy doing it.  So, anything you don’t think is fun should be outsourced.  Period.

How To Know What To Outsource Yourself

Here’s what you need to do…

1. Write down the tasks that you’re currently doing yourself in your business throughout the day/week.
2. Write down how many hours you spend on each task every week/month.
3. Write down what you hope to make in income in the next 12 months… then divide that by 12… then by 30… then by 8 (basically compute your hourly income based on what you hope to make in the next 12 months).  For instance, if you hope to make $100,000 over the next 12 months… your hourly worth (figuring 8 hours a day… which is WAAAYYY to many hours to work a day is $34/hr.That’s the number that you value your own ti

   me at.  Anything that you can hire someone for less than that # should seriously be considered to be outsourced (for like $5 $10 an hour to a VA).

4. Then, take the 2 tasks that are taking up a ton of your time but worth the least to you as far as your time value.  Find a virtual assistant, draw up a process map for them to follow to complete those two tasks for you… and hire the VA for a couple weeks as a “trial run”.
5. IF you like the VA, stay with them and increase the hours as needed
6. If you don’t like the VA, keep looking until you find one that is great!

It’s really that simple.

Here Are Some Websites To Find Great Virtual Assistants

• www.elance.com  (bid type site)
• www.guru.com   (bid type site)
• www.agentsofvalue.com  (great company according to a friend of mine.  They’re based in the Philippines and charge about $5-$8 an hour)
• www.teamdoubleclick.com  (mostly based in the U.S… charge between $15-$30 an hour)

I found my current virtual assistant simply by typing in the type of VA I was looking for in Google.

At the time I was looking for a virtual assistant to do audio/video type stuff.  So I went to google and typed in “multimedia virtual assistants”… scrolled through a few sites… interviewed a few people… and went with the one that I felt the most comfortable with.

Really there’s no science to this. You just need to buckle down and make the decision that you’re going to find a virtual assistant for x number of hours a week and run a week or two trial until you find a VA you like.  Spend the $100 it takes to hire a VA for a few projects and get after it.

Do what you love to do and what you think is fun… have someone else do the other stuff… that’s what being an entrepreneur is all about… it’s not about doing everything you can in your biz.  Sound good?

Let me know your thoughts and questions.

When I was pounding the books in college and “learning” about marketing at OIT (I like to say it’s the “MIT” of Oregon I learnerd all kinds of great marketing stuff.

You know the stuff…

• Talk about what separates you from the other competition
• Breaking down your customers objections
• How to do market research when you create a product or business
• How to write up nice looking and fancy fliers and ads

… the stuff that really pulls in the customers in droves… right?

Well… not really.

Marketing To Customers Versus Talking With Customers

The other day I was chatting with my little bro who’s in his sophomore year in college right now working on a marketing/business degree.  When I was talking to him about his damn economics test he was working on I had flashes in my brain of what I “learned” in college about running a business and marketing for THE REAL WORLD.

This is what I came up with after remembering what college taught me…

What I learned in college about marketing was more about BRANDING and ADVERTISING… not MARKETING.

I had no clue back when I was in college… I thought I was a friggin’ marketing expert when I graduated.

Little Did I Know…

When I finally got out into the real world and started my own business… as a “Marketing consultant” of all things… it took me a little while to learn what marketing really is… direct response marketing that is.

Marketing TO customers and prospects (as I learned in college to do) is WAY different than direct response marketing and talking WITH customers and prospects…

… and I can tell you with 100% confidence that you build stronger customer loyalty, increase response rates, have happier customers, and have WAY MORE FUN talking with customers and helping them solve their problems than marketing TO customers. But maybe that’s just me.

People Like Conversations…

People are social creatures and like to feel like they’re in a conversation… no one likes to be talked AT all day… they like to be talked WITH.

So, in your marketing here’s a few tips to try out next time:

• Talk or write in conversational tones… like you would to your friends.  Rather than sending out an email to your email list looking like a complete ad or pitch… write as if you were writing to tell your best friend about this “thing” you are telling them about.  Keep it short and personal.
• Provide value even in your marketing… don’t push for the sale before you’ve provided value and built trust… you’ll end up far better in the end.  So, next time when you get someone in your store or on your email list… how about trying to give them a bunch of value BEFORE you ask for the sale.  Give people a ton of great actionable tips, information, etc… then AFTER you’ve done that use the law of reciprocity and say, “now that I’ve helped you do x (or solve x), check this out… it’ll help you solve y (or solve another part of x).”.  That’ll close way higher than pushing for the sale upfront without providing value first. (isn’t that what friends do anyhow? )
• Ask people what they want… then give that to them.  Don’t underestimate the “smartness” of your market.  They know way more than you do (most of the time) on what the heck it is they want… or what problems they need solved.  So, ask your prospects what problems they have… then you need to go out and create something to solve their problem.  Don’t create a product then go out and try to find the market for it… that’s backwards… start with the market, then the problem, then the product.

That’s really about all you need to do in virtually any market and you’ll be better off than 90% of your competitors.

Build A Following… Not A List…

All in all, what I’m trying to say here is what I learned in college is great for building brands and building lists.  But when it comes to truly selling and being successful… you need to build followings and that isn’t easily done unless you can make a connection with your prospects… a personal connection.

So, stop building lists… start building followings… and start talking WITH your prospects rather than marketing TO them… you’ll be far better off in the long run and you’ll be wondering why your college professors didn’t teach you that way back when.  I did.

Okay, I’m sitting at my desk this morning listening to some great inspiring music… and thinking about how I got to where I am.

Yep, I’m still on my upclimb as an entrepreneur… my lifelong goals are still way out in the future…  but this morning I was looking at a goal sheet I wrote up over a year ago (that I haven’t looked at since then)… and my jaw literally dropped…

Why?

Because almost every one of those goals I set for myself over a year ago are either met or surpassed.  Pretty damn cool feeling if you ask me. While I did meet those initial goals… in my mind I’ve already transitioned into going for the next level of goals… so still in my mind I’m not anywhere near where I want to be.

I got to thinking about how I got there… and realized that it amounted to just one or two things… simple things actually… but most entrepreneurs simply don’t do it.

Want to hear those two things?

You’re probably looking for that magic bullet that will solve your problems… I can honestly tell you over a year ago I was too.  We always want a quick and easy way out.

Well…

Here it is…

Making it as an entrepreneur is easy as long as you’re:

• Consistent
• Focused
• Committed

That’s it.  I know… you’re saying, “holy hell… I already knew that!  That’s nothing new.”.

But, this is where I ask you… have you reached your goals yet?  Are you successful in your own mind?

A Quick Story…

Early in ‘07 I was technically “self-employed”… although it didn’t feel like it… nor did it have the cool advantages I was thinking I would have as an “entrepreneur”.

Here’s what the deal was…

I was a contract worker (I’ve never been “employed” by anyone else since I graduated from college) doing marketing for a couple companies.  But the way I had set up my work with them I basically set myself up just like an employee of those companies.  Not a lot of “freedom” (at least in my own mind), I wasn’t doing exactly what I wanted to be doing, and I wasn’t making all that much cashola.

Not an ideal situation…

So, what I finally realized is that there were a couple big constraints to my success that I NEEDED to get past.

1. I needed to separate myself from the way I felt I had “bound” myself to those other companies.  Don’t get me wrong… the companies I was “consulting” for I absolutely loved… I loved the owners, the workers, etc. Great company.   But deep down inside I knew I wasn’t doing what I really wanted to do so I felt somewhat trapped… and felt guilty whenever I would do “my own” work (even on weekends).
2. I needed to finally focus on what made me happy… and focus on moving my most important projects forward with full force.  In the past I’d be working on a project “on the side” for months and months… and never push it forward.  But, finally about 8 months ago I decided to give myself what I deserved and to really pick a project of my own (not one of my clients projects) and focus on it until it was successful.

The funny thing with this is…

As soon as I DECIDED to focus on and get done a specific project OF MY OWN… it took less than 3 weeks to have it make a huge difference in my life and my business.

Separate From Your Constraints and Focus…

So, there it is.

Find out what is between you and your success… separate yourself from those things… then focus on ONE specific project that can immediately produce results for you.

For me, like I said… I needed to separate myself a bit from the idea that I had to always work on my clients work… and I had to learn to not feel guilty if I spent time growing my own business (rather than my clients).  Yes, that thinking was backward as heck… but I’m sure I’m not alone.

As I said… within 3 weeks my whole outlook on my business changed and I actually created 2 new income streams that are completely PASSIVE and pump out more than $1k in income (from less than 2 hours of work) each and every month whether I work or not.  And… just that little bit of money was enough to make me realize that I was really wasting my time doing what I had been doing for the past 2 years.

That’s a liberating moment.

Since then I’ve been able to create multiple other passive income streams (that are enough for most people to live off of) and have several other exciting projects that will boost my business into the next level that will be happening before the end of the year.

Long Story Short…

It’s nothing new… nothing revolutionary… nothing so kick ass that I should write a book over it…

But…

It’s so important that I can guarantee you that if you’re not as successful as you want to be… those three things can make all the difference in the world for you… it did for me.

• Committment
• Consistency
• Focus

Thats it.

Let me know your thoughts… what’s holding you back?  I’d love to help ya find out and blast through them.

Chat soon,

- Trevor