Too Many Baby’s

We’ve always been busy with the business of blogging. Ever since our beginning late last summer, the two of us have been willing to burn the candle to nothing but a nubbin at both ends. The Blueprint was a wonderful way for us to pour concrete into our collaboration and become tangible friends in the offline world. Three-thousand miles might separate us from a handshake, but the sentiment is as solid as an ancient oak.

Our online offspring have multiplied. Both our various online ventures are now beginning to blossom with the true fruit we need to pull our families forward, and Eric has added a beautiful baby boy to his family tree. The two of us have struggled with what to do with our first collaboration. Our time for this particular project has been whittled to a whisper. After a lot of deliberation, we’ve decided to travel a different path with The Blueprint, one that returns us to cradle of where it all began.

Before there was the blog, there was the book.

Our Blogopolis Blueprint book and kit is a wonderful product that our lack of experience failed to properly promote. We are going to lay it back on the drafting table, take it to 2.0, and release it, along with a few surprises sometime in the near future. The Blueprint Boys will always collaborate, but this site will be best served as a static landing page. From here on out, communication will take place through our email newsletter.

The newsletter will be a conduit to all communication and early word on all we have in store. It’s been wonderful. We thank you all for joining us on the adventure.

Feel free to say good-bye in the comments. We’d love to join you in some final farewells!

Adios!

Eric and Sean

Make sure to sign up for the Blueprint Newsletter. Stay connected and keep informed!

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There’s a lot of crap out there in the blogosphere – get-rich scams, blogs that exist solely to ‘scrape’ content from other blogs, posts written only with SEO in mind, and so much more. To me the existence of these trappings suggest that perhaps blogging has become something of a “dream career,” surrounded now by hucksters who try to entice the lazy with promises of wealth without much work.

As these voices become greater in number and louder in their shouting, it’s possible – even likely – that the essence of blogging could be lost. And so I’m asking a very basic question: has this already happened? Has blogging lost its soul?

What is the soul of blogging?

Of course, we first have to define the soul of blogging before we can determine if it’s been lost. I hope you will share your definition of “the soul of blogging” in the comments below.  Here’s mine:

The soul of blogging is the giving spirit of bloggers.

I’d been blogging about my own minutiae for a few years when I decided to launch a niche blog. My mentor in the leap to “blogging with purpose” was a person who was and is about helping others, Mike Sansone of Converstations. What I learned from Mike is that blogging – even for money – can come from a place of giving (of oneself) rather than seeking rewards. And so for me, if blogging is to retain its soul, bloggers must come from that place of giving in a few different ways:

• They must be authentic. This means they express their own ideas (or build upon/add to the ideas of others) in their own voice.
• They must strive to be altruistic, to be about more than themselves. They cannot be all-consumed with their own expertise, but instead must want to be a resource for their readers, even if that means sharing voices other than their own.
• And they must be generous, seeking to give frequently that which they seek to receive, whether it be comments, or links, or whatever other currency.

So – has blogging lost its soul?

For a brief period in 2007 the blogging pundits were all wondering whether “blogging had peaked” as a medium. This was because a Technorati report on “the health of the blogosphere” showed that the number of daily blog posts worldwide had been dropping. I argued at the time – and I still believe today – that if post quantity was the sole measure of the health of the blogosphere then we were probably delusional about that health anyway. I said at the time:

So while the sheer number of daily posts has perhaps peaked… what’s taking place now is the maturation of the blog from ego-driven, junk-filled novelty to information-rich, purpose-driven conversation.”

This, I argued, was a much better measure of whether “blogging had peaked.” It’s also a fine way to measure whether blogging has lost its soul.

Are bloggers still authentic, altruistic and generous? Mostly, yes. The problem is that the huckster voices – those that seek only to separate you from your money with a big promise, or that exist only to steal your content for the sake of their own “link juice” – seem to be making the most noise, and noise begets attention.

It’s important to remember that those are not the only – or even the primary – voices of the blogosphere. The primary voices are still those who have, over time, established their credentials, given more than they received, and reached out to help others time and time again.

Are some bloggers living a “dream career,” making money from blogging? A few are, yes. But they didn’t get there quickly, and they didn’t get there by hawking some secret formula for blogging success. They built their blogs one authentic, altruistic and generous post at a time. Would that we each could reach that level of success by doing the same.

Janet Green has been blogging since 2002. Her current blogs cover motorcycling, life and family in Des Moines, Iowa, and of course blogging. Her blogs and social media profiles are all linked at www.janetgreen.net.

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Many will agree that list posts are often times the most popular format as they enable the reader a quick skim without missing much of the core message.  As blog readers, we may intend on reading through an entire post, but we certainly don’t want to have to actually read the thing before we determine if it’s the one we want to give our precious time to.  With a list post we can glance at a few listed headings and make this determination without breaking a mental sweat.  Too many 12px sized letters between these headings and we’re libel to just move on to our next possible post.

The problem is, many bloggers either don’t like writing conventional list posts or many blog readers don’t really enjoy reading them.  So how can we maintain this skim-ability without confining our content to 1’s, 2’s, 3’s and so on?

Breaking Down Big Posts

I’ve been writing some pretty hefty posts over at Motivate Thyself.  Some have pushed past 3,500 words.  Yet if you were to pop over there and scroll through a few, you’d see that they are still quite easy to skim and decide if the content is worth the full read.  I rarely go more than a few paragraphs without some kind of heading that introduces the next hundred and fifty words.  I list my content without using bullets or numbers and while maintaining a more conventional writing style (most of the time).

As I write, I keep an eye out for chunks of content.  If I’m starting a new paragraph and it seems to jump into its own unique thought or idea or section, I create a heading to start it off.  This way, I not only give my readers clear guidelines to my longs posts, but I maintain a kind of listed structure that helps me maintain focus as I blaze through thousands of words.

Other Kinds of Content Markers

Headings, bullets and numbers are only a few ways of breaking down your content into easily indigestible bites.  We can also achieve this by using other forms of text formats.  Whether we bold our words, color or italicize them, we can cleanly organize our insight while maintaining the interest of our readers.

Integrating A Conventional List

Many of my posts also have numbered or bulleted lists built in.  Usually toward the end, acting as a kind of summary, I find this to be perfect for the application part of the post.  It’s easy to knock out some great writing and share awesome insight, but then leave out the real meat.  Most blog readers (depending on what they’re reading, of course) want to know what to do next.  If they’ve read an awesome, thought provoking post, they want that last bite to be filled with some form of direction.  A kind of, “Now do this, this and this…” kind of thing.  Otherwise, they’re left feeling like, “In theory, that all made sense, but how do I apply it to my own life?”

Sticking To Your Own Unique Style

The bottom line is this:  We all have our own unique voice to share with the world and no one can convey that style better that you can.  Yet there are certain ways to write our thoughts that are most effective for the common blog reader.  If we neglect either of these facts we risk weakening our reach.  So by all means, find what works and then mold it into an easily edible morsel for visitors to comfortably enjoy.

Listing your thoughts is a tried and true method in the blogging community, but not all lists have to look the same.  Find the structure that fits your style the best, while leaving bread crumbs for your readers along the way.  Go too long without a breather and risk losing many of your readers as they grow tired of the uninterrupted information overload.

Eric

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Blogopolis is a world brimming with a billion posts and comments; a place where we can plant our flag and build the value of our property without ever leaving our chair. A land thriving on communication and community, where participation is paramount.

Blogs come in every sort, expressing opinions to every willing pair of eyes. Grouped together in niches, these various platforms live dual lives. Blogopolis is filled with bloggers helping fellow bloggers, as they themselves are climbing for the top, rung by hard earned rung. Opportunity abounds for those with the proper toolbox, and though drive and determination are essential, they are only part of the equation.

Blogopolis is indeed a wonderful place. Making friends and spreading thought has never been easier or more effective.

Our future is now.

How did we arrive at this current intersection between communication and technology? Who is responsible for this unique, complex, and elegant system?  When did blogging begin, where does it come from, and what winding roads did it wander to end up here? Prior to the Renaissance, communication was a luxury. In the West, the church held dominion over the flow of information, and this is how it remained for several hundred years until early in the sixteenth century when Martin Luther pounded his 95 Theses through the front door of the church.

Luther challenged the establishment, in effect saying the rules were no longer written only by them. Luther’s revolution however, would have likely died immediate death had it not been for another equally profound development a few decades prior.

Johanas Gutenberg, a German goldsmith and printer, first dreamed and then developed movable type; an innovation that altered the landscape of communication forever. Movable type meant books were no longer imprisoned by the sluggish speed of human hand. With the advent of movable type, books were able to be printed in a primitive version of a process still in use today. This new procedure meant the papacy no longer held a monopoly on information. Bibles were for everyone.

Access led to literacy, literacy to questions, questions to answers, and finally, answers to the Renaissance.

This is where we find ourselves again, hinged on the precipice of our next great awakening.  That dawn is here, and it is bloggers who are most likely to push the sunrise further and faster than any other tribe.

The dawn of the information age.

The Internet is the largest organism yet made by Man. Its fingers graze every continent on Earth, yet can be accessed in its entirety from an iPhone (a device which in itself is a marvel; the first legitimate PC in a pocket). Amazingly flexible, the Internet is as big as we want, yet as small as we need it to be. In its infancy, the Web was no more than an efficient way for universities to share information.  Hobbyists employed it to play games with other like-minded geeks across the globe.  In its dawn (the 70’s and 80’s), the Net was far from mainstream.  It wasn’t until the early to mid 90’s that circulation of the Internet spread to most of the planet.  The Model T- like milestone of a computer in every household cleared the road for the rest of the world to way for the masses to dial in.

As we marched into a new millennium, the World Wide Web quickly took its place alongside previous technological revolutions such as electricity, telephone, and television. Almost all of us were aware of (and had access to) this bold new technology.

There was no doubt we stood at the edge of a new age.

Never before have we held more power as a people; never has the world been so connected.  It is difficult to argue against the idea that we are now one vast global district.  The internet has rendered futuristic theory into any minute reality.  Now anyone with a phone jack may gather that which makes them unique, and send it in a signal to every spot on the map, sometimes mere seconds from conception.

The class of 2009, has little memory of life before the web. These are tomorrow’s leaders. Collectively, they and all behind them will lend voice to our global future.  It is they who will take what we are building and shape it into something we can not yet fathom.

The Blueprint Team

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When you think about making money blogging, you might come up with ideas like promoting affiliate products, selling an ebook, enticing advertisers, or using your blog to market your services. But have you ever considered how writing for someone else’s blog could put money in your pocket – whilst letting you learn more about the blogging business?

A Very Short Introduction to Staff Blogging

“Staff blogging” is the blogging industry’s equivalent of “staff writing” for a print publication. Being on the staff of a blog typically involves writing a set number of posts each week or month, and getting paid for each post. You’ll normally get your name on each post you write, and often you’ll have a link back to your blog, either on each of your posts or on an “author’s bio” page.

Staff Blogging Improves Your Skills

The problem that most bloggers face is finding an audience.If your blog doesn’t have many readers, it’s hard to get feedback on what’s working – and what isn’t. Write for a big, established blog, though, and you’ll get comments and messages from people who’ve enjoyed what you’ve written. You’ll soon learn what topics go down well – and which sink like a stone.

Staff blogging is also a great way to try out different writing styles. You might not want to chop and change too much on your own blog, but if you write for several very different blogs (like I do), you get the chance to try out concise, newsy posts, long how-to posts, humorous takes on common topics, and more.

Staff Blogging Improves Your Reputation

Writing for a big blog or website gives you something worthwhile to put on your resume, or to drop into emails when you’re trying to network with other bloggers. If readers see your work on multiple respected sites, they’ll soon start to recognise your name.

And staff blogging is also a great way to improve your reputation with search engines. Almost every blog will link back to their writers’ own sites; getting a link from a large, trusted site is great Google juice for you.

Staff Blogging Gives You Money For Your Own Projects

If your first attempts at blogging for yourself were anything like mine, your anticipated fortune won’t have materialised yet. In fact, your sum total blogging income might amount to $15.35 in Google AdSense – and the chance of reaching the $100 payment threshold any time before Christmas could be slim.

Staff blogging, however, means that you get a guaranteed sum for each post you write. This could be valuable extra pocket money for improving your own blog: it could buy you a premium or customised Wordpress theme, high-quality plugins, ebooks or traditional books to improve your skills, or any number of other goodies.

Writing just one $25 post per week (a low rate for staff blogging) probably won’t take you more than an hour, and will net you an extra $100 each month.

Staff Blogging Establishes Writing Discipline

Have you ever abandoned a blog after just a few posts? Have you had long absences on your blogs, when writers’ block has struck – or when you’ve just felt unmotivated? One big advantage of staff blogging (though it might not feel like a positive at the time!) is that you’ll learn to write even when you’re not feeling very motivated.

Knowing that you have to produce a certain number of posts each week or month means that they will get done. You’ll establish a writing routine, and learn what works best for you.

Want to Give Staff Blogging a Try?

I hope I’ve convinced you by now that problogging doesn’t have to just mean making money from your own blog. A couple of great places to look for staff blogging jobs are the job boards on ProBlogger and the daily leads posted on Freelance Writing Jobs.

An even better way to get into staff blogging, though, is to approach the editors of some of your favourite blogs. Offer a guest post (write it before emailing them, if possible, and attach it to your email) and see how it goes down. Follow up by asking if they have any paid positions available. If a blog has multiple authors, chances are that they pay for posts.

Next week, on Wednesday May 6th, I’m releasing a six-part Staff Blogging Course packed with my advice, tips and experience from over a year’s staff blogging (I went from earning $0 in January 2008 to paying my rent and bills from staff blogging by September 2008).

The course is in ebook form so that you can study at your own pace and it includes handouts and practical exercises to get you going with staff blogging. You can sign up for my advance notification list so that you get a sneak preview, and an email to remind you when the course is launched.

The usual price is $19, but there’s a $5 discount for Blogopolis Blueprint readers – just enter the code “BlueBlogger” (not case sensitive) at the checkout.

Good luck with your blogging, whether for yourself or for another blog, and I hope to be seeing your name all around the blogosphere soon!

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I remember the first time a friend of mine equated blogging to a pyramid scheme. My initial reaction, just a couple of months into the game myself, was of indignant defense. “No,” I insisted, Blogging is the great equalizer, where anyone can take their voice and spread it like wildfire until their own millions are burning inside their bank.

Who hit the head harder with the hammer? Is blogging a giant pyramid scheme or a legitimate way to mine untold riches from a winding stream of passive income?

I believe a bit of both.

Blogging is an amazing opportunity for anyone willing to devote the time, attention, and perseverance required to make it BIG TIME. It is also a scaffolding upon which a few nobles rest upon the top as scads of lowly serfs scramble about below.

Let’s look at what constitutes an old fashioned pyramid scheme, then compare it to the relatively new world of blogging.

By traditional definition, a pyramid scheme requires an upfront investment of cash to buy in on the ground floor. With the easy  set-up of a Blogspot or WordPress, is there any investment required for blogging?

Absolutely. Nothing is more valuable than our time, and few things can zap it as quickly as blogging. Though there is no immediate certifiable out of pocket expense required to join the club, there is a non negotiable investment of time. This, in addition to the multitude of add-on expenses that can quickly accumulate, such as hosting, premium themes, and an infinity of info-products promising to smooth the rough edges of your daily game.

Yes, there is an investment required, but by nature, an investment of time carries more soul than an investment of money.

Use your time wisely, climb a step.

A pyramid scheme’s success lies in a steady stream of new recruits. In order for an investor to recover their initial risk, there must be people below them on the pyramid willing to wager their own money. This justifies the speculation of the original investor while it elevates their standing on the pyramid. Is this similar to blogging?

Yes. Simple math states each new wave of bloggers will elevate the preceding generation. Of course, not everyone will hold firm and many will fade along the way, but those who stick around will become part of a narrowing class as more and more newbie bloggers flood to fill the bottom.

Staying consistent and falling into a healthy blogging rhythm can render a one time ordeal into simple routine. Make it past that first retaining wall (many bloggers agree it’s around the six month mark) and you earn the experience no new blogger can ever be given, no matter how many info products they’ve downloaded.

Stick around, climb another step.

Aren’t pyramid schemes inherently fraudulent?

Yes. The fundamental problem with a pyramid scheme is their models are impossible to sustain. Even supposing the entire globe agreed to buy into a particular scheme, there are only a finite number of participants who would ever be able to profit. Because this inevitability grinds against the grain of the original promise, it is fraudulent by nature.

When a cycle cannot sustain itself, the majority of investors become vulnerable to loss. It is estimated that 90% of people involved in pyramid schemes are on the losing end of the deal. Aren’t 90% of bloggers also working way too hard for way too little.

Absolutely, but this is where blogging and pyramid schemes spill into two separate seas. It is true that many internet marketers sell products expounding upon new ways to make money from blogging, and yes it is a bit incestuous, but in no way is a blogger obligated to follow any particular set of guidelines or pay for anything they don’t want to. Blogging is so young, the rules are being rewritten before the ink is even dry. It is still possible to get to the top and do it in your own way.

Stay true to yourself, climb another step.

It’s easy to see how people are so easily lured into the plush promises of a pyramid scheme. They work to whet our hungry appetites and convince us the richest meals may also be the quickest to prepare. It is never acceptable to take part in any scheme that involves deception or fraud either implied or promised. Anything that guarantees wealth without risk, time, or effort should ring in your ears like an entire fleet of fire engines.

Blogging, I believe, is different. With blogging you can build your own pyramid, start your own tribe, sell your own product, create your own network. If you see a product worth buying from a person you trust, priced at a fair point that you can afford – buy it.

Learn all you can, take another step.

When it comes to working online, backsliding is only an illusion, unless it leads all the way back to surrender. You may fall short of specific goals in regards to traffic, comments, followers, sales, etc. but the experience you gain can never be taken away. When it comes to online prosperity, there is no single ingredient more essential to success than forward momentum.

Blogging may share some similarities with a traditional pyramid scheme, but I think it has far more in common with the laws of compound interest. With compound interest you can pay and pay and pay, month after unceasing month, feeling forlorn as you tear open the envelope of every statement only to find your continuous contributions have yet to add to substantial earnings. At some stage however, the tipping point is reached and what you make each month from interest far exceeds the effort exerted.

Keep contributing, take another step.

This is why blogging is different. Those bloggers at the top; Brian Clark, Darren Rowse, John Chow, just to name a few, are not reaping the benefits of bringing others into a bad investment, they are merely earning interest from effort expelled a long time before.

There is no discounting the intelligent strategy and hard work that has placed the A-listers all at the top, but it cannot be argued that they’ve been climbing longer.

Sean Platt is a dad and ghostwriter with a creative streak.

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Enjoy the links, have a wonderful weekend, and we’ll see you next week.

If you haven’t checked out the hottest new WordPress theme, you really need to. It’s awesome, free, and designed by none other than the Blueprint’s own Eric Hamm.

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Though this post is nearly as old as the Blueprint, the subject of making a living with blogging is one we’ve covered quite a few times around these parts.

Remember last week when Twitter was getting all that mainstream attention? Yeah, I know. Who could forget?

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See you Monday,

The Blueprint Team

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You may have noticed a slight difference in the look of The Blueprint.  It was originally built from the framework of the Flexx theme from iThemes, but it’s now sporting a brand new core.

I recently finished creating my very first Wordpress theme called ‘frugal’.  In its stock form it’s a super clean, minimalist Wordpress theme that has everything you need to properly showcase your blogs content and not a code snippet more.  Since creating this theme I’ve gone ahead and rebuilt Motivate Thyself with it and now The Blueprint.  (Dan Miranda of Command Your Time is running it in stock form)

The New Features

I tried to stick with the same general look.  I didn’t necessarily want to redesign The Blueprint, just infuse frugal’s core code to see what happened.  Here’s what has changed:

• Guest Post Submit button: I’ll explain more about this later in this post, but there is now a clickable button in the header for guest post submissions.
• Category Bar: Now, instead of the categories mixing in with the rest of the sidebar content, they sit right under the main navigation bar for easy access (this was a Flexx feature as well, we just never utilized it).
• A Kind of Share-This space above the comments: By way of widget, I’ve added an easy way for readers to share, subscribe and follow, right above the comments.
• MY FAVORITE!  Threaded comments: Now we can reply directly in the comments instead of having to @ everybody.  I’ve been using this on Motivate Thyself ever since I change over to frugal and I’ll never go back!

There are a few more minor differences.  You’ll notice the main navbar is a bit different as well as other minor design changes.

What is the frugal Theme?

As I’ve already mentioned, this is my very first Wordpress theme creation and I’m quite proud of it.  I’ve had great feedback thus far and look forward to seeing it on more an more blogs.  It’s totally FREE and is the **shamelessly inserting anchor text** best free wordpress theme available!

frugal came about while I was looking for a theme to meet my Wordpress theme customization requirements.  I needed something that could be the perfect clean slate theme to build off of.  The problem was that there were either simple themes that were poorly built and had none of the features I deemed essential (threaded comments capable, attractive, custom avatar size and placement without having to add a plugin, clean code that validates, etc…) or full featured themes that required a complete stripping before they could be properly customized.  So I built frugal to fill this need.

frugal is an excellent Wordpress theme in its stock form for anyone looking for a super light, fast, clean theme to do nothing more than make their content shine.  But if you want to customize it, I’ve included a 29-page ebook that goes over both the basics of Wordpress theme design as well as how to specifically customize your frugal theme.  And like I said, it’s all FREE!  So be sure to check it out, download it, promote it if you like it and give me feedback so I can keep improving it!

Share Your Voice!

Now for the focus shift for The Blueprint.  Sean and I have talked a lot about what direction we want to take The Blueprint and with the recent introduction of the best copywriting blog in existence I felt is was time to make a decision and move forward with the adjustments.  So here goes…

Most of us are bloggers, right?  And we all, at some point or another, have great ideas to share about this very subject.  But few of us have an established venue to share our great blogging insights.  Sean and I would like The Blueprint to be that place.

So what we’re doing is offering an open door to submit post ideas.  We want you to be able to take that blogging idea or tip or whatever you think needs to be aired out, and share it with our readers.

Open Debates

One of the things that we have enjoyed at BB is the willingness for this community to hash it out in the comments.  Tired of the ‘bland posts/pats on the back’ kind of content, we’re looking for ideas that will shake things up.  We want bloggers who are willing to put themselves out there a bit.  Not all posts should be agreeable and frankly it’s the agreeable ones that are often the most boring.  Let’s learn from heated discussions and brutal debates (tactful, respectful, brutal debates ), and make The Blueprint an exciting venue to chat up blogging, while sharpening our online presence.

To submit a guest post request or just learn a bit more, go to our guest posting page.

Question (I’m totally stealing this from Collective Inkwell’s last post): What kinds of posts do you find most interesting to read AND which ones seem to invite the best conversations in the comments?

Eric

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The year was 2003 when I first clicked “Enter” on the Yahoo.com sign up page. I was excited as any young man could have been. I had just received my first e-mail address and it was a more significant moment than I had imagined. Having a virtual home gave me reason to explore the Internet and changed my life forever.

1. Social Media. This is probably the most obvious one. I think it’s certain that sites we haven’t even heard of will give Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace a run for their money. Out of the three aforementioned sites though, I think Facebook will end up being the most successful, with Twitter at a close second.
2. Blogging in form of videos. We have seen footprints of what could be a huge explosion. If YouTube challenges Viddler, we could see a magnificent battle for the top “blogger-friendly” video making website. I’m assuming everybody is going to have a much higher bandwidth and hopefully the sites will reflect this.
3. Search engines. They’ll be more precise and won’t just cover the web. They will be our official directory. Google will remain prominent in that scene, but will slyly expand into bigger, better things. For instance, it’s my belief that we won’t refer to Google as a search engine, but rather a complex website with a ton of great features (ie: GMail, Google Maps, Google Reader, etc).

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Sean Platt is not really releasing Get Rich in 5 Minutes per Day! He is a ghostwriter who is launching an out of this world creativity blog with co-conspirator David Wright.

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