I thought you might be interested in one I’m planning on launching in the next week or so. It’s called AnalyticsMaster.com.

To make a long story short, I discovered a system that lets you funnel your organic blog traffic into a companion site. The process is pretty easy and I want to share it with you.

I scheduled a webinar to step you through the process tomorrow (Tuesday, July 7th) from 3PM EST to 4PM EST. To get access to the mind-blowing webinar - check it out here.

I shared a ton of tools that’ll get you started.

If you’re still interested in learning more about the course, sign up for the updates below, or head over to the Analytics Master information page to get started.

Believe me when I tell you this system will take your existing traffic and generate real cash out of it. I did it by building Creating Slogans because of a #1, first page rank for the term ‘Best Slogans’ and this site, MarketingHackz.com.

Within 6 days, Creating Slogans sold out at 1000 memberships..

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When you walk into Macy’s, you expect to look at things.  When you walk into Best Buy, you want to feel and touch stuff.  If they have a game console hooked up, that’s all the better.

When you view a webpage, you want to be similarly stimulated.

No pictures - no purchase.

So how to you make your informational product look real?  What can you do to give your prospective buyer that eye-candy that they want.  Oftentimes, it’s a simple graphic that is the distinction between a product that makes hundreds a day or a couple bucks a day.

Thankfully, you don’t need to be a designer to create stunning graphics.  Nor do you need to put out a boatload of cash.

It’s usually as simple as a couple clicks of a mouse button.

The product I am referring to is CoverActionPro.

CoverActionPro is a series of Photoshop Actions that let you style a cover or a DVD template however you like, then it outputs the finished hi-def image for you to put on your site.

Here’s some examples:

I felt some of you cringe when I said Photoshop…  There’s a solution.  CAP has step by step tutorials that make the process of creating your covers painless.  In fact, this is how I learned Photoshop - these tutorials.

CoverActionPro truly is remarkable software.  I have used it to make thousands off of info products.  I have even sold the graphics it produced to other clients.  It more than paid for itself within about 7 days…

Have you used any other cover creation products?  What did you think?

JD

[Caption]

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A lot of times, your audience is going to be what determines the style of the content you create.  If you are doing how-to stuff, video is the way to go.  If you are doing something that has learning sections like a workbook, text is best.

With the emergence of free and cheap tools, it’s easier than ever to record audio and put screencasts together.  No need for a programmer or expensive computer equipment, just pick up a mic at Target and you’re all set.

As with content based products - you still have to type.  There’s nothing I can do about that!

8 Cheap And Low Cost Tools That Make Building Informational Products Easy:

• Audacity

  Audacity is audio recording software.  It will interface with your mic and record anything you say!  You can even use it to record interviews and presentations!  Once you’re done, export it as a .mp3 and upload it to your web server.

• GoView

  GoView is a brand new screen recording software put out by Citrix.  It lets you record your screen and your mic and bundle it together and distribute it on the Internet. 

• Camtasia

  Camtasia is by far the industry standard in screencasting software.  They support HD output and will convert the project into any video format imaginable.  The video editing tools and wizards really make you look like a pro in no time.

• Microsoft Word and Open Office

  As much as I hate adding this, I have to.  Microsoft is the default editor for for anyone writing anything.  Both export directly to PDF too.

• Adobe or Gimp

  Being that we’re human beings and we like to look at stuff rather than just read, you’re going to need to do some graphic work in order to sell much of anything.  If you aren’t familiar with Adobe Photoshop, I suggest you start there.  Gimp is the free, open source version and does a lot of graphic type work very well!

• Articulate

  If you plan on teaching anything, this software is what you want to do it in.  Articulate is by far my favorite e-learning software suite for making dramatic, fluid presentations.  You can teach people anything, voice over and narrate a powerpoint, or build quizzes.

There are other tools and software applications out there that do some of the tasks that these do, but none are more complete.  I would hate to see you buy a screen recording application and realize it didn’t do what you needed it to.

If you know of any others, please feel free to let me know if the comments!  I love trying new tools, especially if they help me make money..

JD

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I don’t mean for it to sound like it’s easy.  It’s not.  You have to pick a niche, be an expert, package it, promote it and support it.  It does take time.  But seriously…. a 9 to 5 desk job or build a product that helps people out with a problem and answer to no one about your status reports again!!

How To Pick The Niche For Your Informational Product

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but if you don’t have a niche, you don’t have a target market.  If you don’t have a target market you’re not going to be selling much of anything.

Before we get to that, I want you to answer one question:

What are you good at?  What do you like to do?  What are you passionate about?

Alright, that was three.

But seriously, what do you do for a living?  Are you a consultant?  An investor?  A marketer?  A graphic designer?  What do people ask you to help them with?  What problems have you helped overcome in the last 3 months at work?

I guarantee if one person has a problem that you helped solve, thousands around the world have the same problem.

Think about it…

Finding A Great Product In Everyday Problems

A client of mine once came to me and asked what they should do in terms of venturing off on there own.  She was a college professor teaching Strategic Planning to kids between the ages of 18 and 23.  She did a fair amount of client type work in our local area.  She had a great following and was extremely professional.  She couldn’t sit down long enough to type a paragraph, but we’ll get to that.

So, I asked her what problems she helped her clients with in the past few months.  Her reply, “I helped two small boutique retailers rearrange their stores.”  Then I asked her what kind of results her clients got?  “They doubled their sales in both cases,” she replied.

After about two weeks, we sat down with a microphone and a laptop and recorded 3 hours of audio - question and answer style.  It really was great stuff.  She had a copy of the questions I was going to ask her and she plotted out her answers on tape.

After that, I sent the recording off to a transcription service and got the whole thing transcribed for around $50!  I zipped it up into a pdf, put some nice graphic treatment on it and built a little site around it!

She averages $108 profit per day with that product!

$108 isn’t going to make you a millionaire by itself.  It will provide some much needed cushion in your daily spending, though.  That’s an extra $3000 a month with something that you don’t have to invest time into ever again!

So what are you good at?  What do you do everyday?  What segment of people can you make a product for?

Let me know your thoughts!  Send me an email or leave a comment and I’ll help you flesh something out… 

The next article is going to cover the delivery method including links to free and low cost software that’ll help you record and save your content!

JD

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In Startup Tools, we cover informational products in detail - complete from the brainstorming process to putting the final touches on the website. 

Here on JDsBlog, I wanted to take the next 5 posts and share some important information with you in regards to the thought process behind the product itself.

The secret is to test before you launch.  Start selling the product before you invest any time in it!

Test your market to figure out how well it’ll sell and see if it’s worth your time to build it!

The next 5 posts are going to be related to informational products that you can sell on your blog our your website…  Make sure you grab the RSS feed to keep up with the content!

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What advice would you give to people trying to get a job in social media?

If you want a job in social media, prove you can utilize social media without a paycheck. I recently was just asked to be a social media marketer for a company because I had spent the month I was unemployed building my own brand online. I didnt wait for a company to give me a chance to prove I was successful within social media; I took it upon myself to let my actions speak louder than my words. If you cant build your own brand (your blog or your Twitter, etc), then you cant be successful in social media. And, companies will hire the person that has proven to understand social media, rather than the person who says they do.

Admittedly, the story of the website is a bit intriguing. But Jamie Varon, the site’s owner, used her time away from employment to build her brand. Now she has three job offers on the table!

I am curious… Have any of you ever found employment or freelance work through social media? One of my friend’s only marketing stream is Twitter, and he’s doing very, very well!

JD

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If you haven’t already - it’s about time you get started with Twitter. And this podcast will show you how…

Cozying Up With Twitter Shownotes:

• What is Twitter
• How do you get followers
• How to you promote your twitter account
• How to you use it to market your stuff
• 3 Tools to help you make the most of your Twitter account
  • Shareaholic
  • TwitterFox
  • TweetDeck
• Possible applications of twitter for business

Let me know what you think by either sending me and email or through the comments below!

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This is a similar tale to most of the business owners out there.  Their entire livelihood rests on what kind of money their businesses bring in.  It isn’t like they get a paycheck every week that makes up for time off or lost hours in the day.

So the result is an overworked, stressed out person who never really performs at their peak - but is always performing!

Over the course of about a month, I put myself on a 5 step plan that has worked wonders in my life.  And below, I’m going to outline the process for you:

1. Get a personal cell phone

   Get a cell phone that only your family and friends has access to.  That doesn’t include people you work with.  The fewer people, the better.

2. Set aside time Friday night or Saturday morning to review

   In school, you take tests.  The professor teaches you what you need to know and then quizzes you on the material.  Do you do something similar in your own life?

   I would be the answer is no.  Every day you are learning.  The only way to retain that knowledge is to ponder it and save it in your long term memory.  And the best way to do that is to take an hour or so and review the week.  Think about all the trials and tribulations and write them down.
   
   

3. Take weekends off!

   Learn that weekends are sacred things.  If you go to church, then go to church.  But don’t work.  Do yard work.  Clean the house.  Play with the kids or the dogs.  Learn something or read a book.  Stay away from the stuff you do during the week.

   You’ll end up realizing that when you go back on Monday, you see things in a different light.  Things will be newer; fresher.  You’ll be able to handle situations differently.

The end result is you will be happier.  You’re family will be happier.  And you will learn more and grow more.  Will you make less money by not working weekends or not following up on that lead you got late Saturday evening?  Maybe..

But if your prospective clients doesn’t realize that you need time off to - do you really want to be working with them?

JD

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Personally, I set goals almost everyday.  I write them down, track them, and achieve some sort of action plan for each of them.  The goals themselves are sometimes big and require lots of smaller steps.  Other times, they’re small - like making this phone call or writing that email.

Either way, a goal is a goal.  And here are 11 Tips on Setting Achieving Those Goals from Dumb Little Man.

1. Make the decision that you will achieve the goal.
2. Get your priorities in order.
3. Write it down - very important
4. Think about the goal.  Flesh it out.
5. Put together an action plan.
6. Track the progress toward the goal.. Always do something that moves you toward the end result.
7. Involve others.  Do things in groups.
8. Don’t worry about failing.
9. Don’t give up.
10. Celebrate each and every step towards the goal.
11. Achieve the goal!

This sort of process has helped me quite a lot in the past.  It’s not enough to have the thought and then ‘kind of’ work towards it.  You have to plan it out, take actions toward it and believe in it.

If you do those things, you will be far better off in two months, six months or a year than you are right now.  It can all be done through goal setting!

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I don’t know if you know me, but a i saw (you) graduated from Mercyhurst not long ago, so I thought maybe you can give me some tips on how to find a job in todays market or what should I expect after graduation.

I am sure you’ll agree - these aren’t the best times to graduate college… Not with student loans due and bills to pay.

So, I’m putting together this little list, which is an expanded version of my comment to my Facebook friend:

• Start with your friends

  Start checking in with the people you went to school with who work in the field you want to be in. This could be close friends, roommates, or friends of friends.

  These people can get you in the door farther than your resume will. In fact, they might even be able to get word to the person directly in charge of you, should you get the job.

• Polish your resume

  Your resume should include all kinds of things, not just your previous work history. It should include projects, skills, awards and accomplishments, and anything else of note.

  A prospective employer isn’t going to care that you worked at Burger King for two years during you sophomore and junior year. They are going to care that you are a brilliant strategic planner, though.

• Submit to online job boards

  Online job boards, notably Yahoo Hot Jobs, are of particular importance. Just recently, I had my resume pulled by 3 people, two of which were headhunters looking for more information about what I did for a living and whether I would fit into various projects they were looking to fill.

• Pick Up Some Freelance Work

  This might seem counterintuitive, but look for a couple freelance gigs. First of all, you need money to survive. Freelancing will give you a bit of a cushion until you pick up steady work. And secondly, sometimes, those freelance jobs will lead into steady work.

  There are several times that I hired a person after I was so impressed with their freelancing. It’s a no risk way for employers to find good people, and it puts money in the your pocket.

• Clean Up Your Social Networking Profile

  Over 60% of potential employers will google an applicants name before they ever sit them down in a chair to interview them. If you have stuff in your publicly available profiles that would shame your mother, chances are you need to delete it before you even think about submitting an application anywhere!

The bottom line is you need to start with your friends and contacts. These people will be able to get you much farther in the hiring process than a simple resume or application will. But please make sure your social networks and your resume are up to snuff. I would hate to see you embarrass your friends and acquaintances with something terribly subpar…

Do you have any job hunting tips to add? What has worked for you?

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Two years ago, Google bought a nice little startup called GrandCentral.  GrandCentral did precisely what we just talked about - they synchronized all your phone numbers so when someone called one number, all of them would ring.

Well, Google is relaunching their service, Google Voice.

GrandCentral lets you set up a single phone number that you can give out to anyone. When they call that number, it will ring any phone number you’ve linked to the account. So you can print a single number on your business card, and people will be able to reach you on your home, work, and cellphones. The service also lets you record phone calls, screen calls, create rules for calls coming from specific numbers, and receive email notifications of voicemail messages.

Should be something to keep an eye on…

[via DownloadSquad]

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Aweber is a email marketing service that lets you collect email addresses and names. Using those email addresses, you can send them weekly newsletter or whatever else you want.

There are all kinds of services and open source apps that do the same thing. Constant Contact has a great service if you are looking for aesthetics in your email marketing. PHPlist and Pommo are great open source utilities for setting stuff up on your own server. None of these options, though, allows you to automatically respond to a new user!

What Aweber does is provide all kinds of tools for helping you collect email addresses. There are popovers and inline forms. You can even do popunders and that sort of stuff.

Basically this is how it works:

1. Someone signs up for your email newsletter or campaign.
2. They get an optin in their email.
3. Then the receive an email message immediately after confirmation.
4. In that email message, I like to include a link for a free download. Something of value that will help them in their lives.

And then it starts

You can now send them email newsletters or promotional material whenever you like. It goes without saying - if you send them too much, they’ll unsubscribe. But the beauty of it is you can write out 5 email messages and schedule them! So your readers can get one every 2 weeks or once a month or whatever!

I have found that every 7-10 days is usually best. It’s not long enough for them to forget about you, but it’s not short enough that they get pissed…

Let me know what you think about email newsletter promotion… Does it work for you? What are some of you tactics?

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I have seen it in a lot in my endeavors, and it sucks.  As a business owner you are faced with the tough decision of cutting expenses, letting employees go, or totally closing up shop.

Within the last 4 or 5 months, I have had to experience all of these issues.  And with them comes the thoughts of hopelessness and failure.  But more than any of that, its the thought of being a disappointment that upsets me the most.

One thing you do is pull some cash together and do a mailing.

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you might remember that I posted something to the effect of stamps being so damn expensive!  Well, what I was doing was a small direct mailing from a list that I had.  The mailing was simple " a 2 page letter that was written as personal communication and hand addressed. 

For those of you doing math in your head, thats 500 hand addressed envelopes with a letter and my signature on it.  All told, it took close to 40 or so hours to get them in the mail.

Just so you can get a look at the letter and the way I did it, Ill post a download and pics below..

Basically, the letter just posed a problem, suggested a solution, and introduced myself.  It was meant to be read by a business owner or someone directly related to a companys website.
After about two weeks, we compiled the results.  Of the 500 letters that were sent:

• 82 came back due to bad mailing addresses.  I know its advisable to clean a list with a postcard which is cheaper to mail, but money was tight
• I got 13 special report downloads.  The special report was ironically about lead generation using your website.
• We received 2 direct phone calls about our services
• We also got 3 direct emails about our stuff

Total, thats 18 responses out of 418, or 4.8%.  Now, 18 leads might not sound like a lot, but its better than none!  And when you are selling a product that costs about $4,000 on average that has potential to equal some significant revenue!

Once one of those deals close, were going to dump some of the proceeds back into the same marketing effort and see what kind of results we can get from our total list of over 2700!

Have you had any experience with direct mail?  Good?  Bad?

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This last couple months, I dove into CRM software again. And I have to admit " all those claims of it producing 3 times more sales is true!

Normailly, in the day to day hustle and bustle, its easy to lose track of phone calls and emails. Whats worse, you might forget about something a client said that you can sell them on!

Customer Relationship Management software aims to fix all that.

Heres the basic premise of CRM apps:

1. You upload a list of clients and/or prospects. With those details, you can attach communications such as email messages, phone conversations and notes.
2. You can plan meetings and phone calls by attaching the action to the clients name
3. You can define marketing programs and attach who theyre going to. For instance, if I am sending a direct mail piece to 1000 people, I can define that list and track results.
4. From the marketing, you define leads. The leads are formatted so you can follow up on them easily and efficiently.
5. From leads, you can put in projects and affix tasks to those projects. And those projects each represent a dollar figure.

Think of CRM as more of a progression from prospect to lead to project to close

Most people dont get into CRM software because it is difficult to understand unless you are under the correct assumptions as to what it can do. In fact, I am going to put together a video podcast on how to use SugarCRM, my weapon of choice, which will be available in the next couple posts. But the basic premise applies to all of them " Salesforce.com, Basecamp, etc.

The beauty of the software is it helps you recognize leads that you wouldnt look twice at before!

Do you have any experience with CRM applications? If so, which ones?

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For the past month, I have been Googling odds and ends like, “How to build an Ubuntu mail server,” or “How to install Webmin.”  If you don’t know (or don’t care) about that stuff, then no worries.  But when you type, “How to resurrect a blog” you get almost no good info!

So here’s how we’re going to do it - daily posting on all things business related.  We’re going to talk about starting a business and rehash a lot of the old content that still gets this site quite a bit of traffic…

And the podcasts…  I’ve got some cool stuff coming up for you!

So anyway, I’m back and I couldn’t be happier…  Look forward to some great stuff!

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Failure: The Secret to Success

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Startup Tools has been designed from the ground up as the premier new business website.  We give you all the tools to brainstorm an idea, find a niche,  build it out and market it.  All with cheap or low cost tools.

As of right now, the program is temporarily sold out.  We launched it yesterday and had to shut the doors due to an overwhelming demand (so we could maintain personal interaction).  But you can still get a ton of free tools by signing up to our newsletter.  Plus, you will be the first to know when membership is open again!

Head on over to Startup Tools, get the free sample chapters and the weekly business ideas, and let me know what you think!  I am excited to hear you opinions..

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The oft-raised question–and it’s a big one for the U.S.–is whether millennials (also known as “The Everybody Gets A Trophy” generation) have been so coddled, so inoculated against insults and injury, that they are now too, well, soft to achieve entrepreneurial success.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Entrepreneurship (Or Lack Thereof) In Millennials - Forbes.com

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Starting in 2009, I am going to introduce something that I have been planning for a while - Entrepreneurship Training. It’ll have a much more appealing title, but that is going to be the core of the courses. I am thinking it’s going to be community oriented with training and business creation at it’s core - but you are going to have me and my team to work with.

Over the past couple years, I have been collecting and generating a ton of stuff on starting profitable businesses. What I am going to do is assemble all that into a membership site, build in some community type tools and webinar access, and go from there.

Ideally, I would love for it to be a place that people looking to start a business can go, learn, find great ideas, and ultimately build them out…

So, look for it in the next month or so. I am going to be using Christmas break to build it out. And be sure, you, my closest blogging friends, will be the first to know about it. Hell - I’ll even give you free access :0)

JD

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Well, needless to say, this picqued my interest.  I have always been fascinated by the incubator idea, but I hated the control you had to give the people running the place.  For what?  Reduced office space.

Well, coworking is a cheaper alternative…

A couple weeks ago I also moved into a new house.  The first task was networking all the rooms with cat5, installing wireless and a couple servers in the basement (one for work stuff and one for media), and getting set up.  But then I realized that there is a whole lot of room we aren’t using just yet.  So??  I think we’re going to open our doors to some creative professionals :0)

After we get started, I’ll probably lease office space with a conference room - but for now, our digs will work just fine.

So, what do you think of coworking?  Have you had any experience with it?

[Caption]

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In the four years I have been in business, I have turned down quite a few job offers.  I have pissed off some clients.  And I have went against the odds and built a few really great businesses.  Most of the time, it is fun.  But sometimes…  Sometimes people get the best of you.

Fridays, I usually block off an hour or two of time for goal planning and reflecting.  It’s usually the most productive part of the week because I can look back and see what me and my team(s) are doing and then look ahead and see where I want to go in the months/years to come.  And that is what truly motivates me.

It’s not about making money directly.  It’s about helping people out.  Whether that be a client or a friend - I want to see everyone be successful.  I want to see everyone I come in contact with be something that they might have only dreamed about.

And that - my friends - is what motivates me.

[Caption]

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It’s video-centric so grab a cup of coffee or try to find it in iTunes and have a listen.  This guy is amazing.  I have bought his products and they’re worth every penny if you actually take the time to listen.

If you want success - this guy will help you find it.

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One of our sites, NetHackz.com, was mentioned on BBC World News!

So what did we do? We started promoting that BBC article through the social media circuit - namely Digg.com.

The result was over 8000 unique visitors coming through BBC to check out NetHackz yesterday alone! It doesn’t take a branding expert to figure out that you can’t buy that kind of promotion.

http://traffickd.com/capitalizing-on-social-media-for-maximum-traffic/

And to learn how to do social media promotion yourself - check out Traffick’d!

To Your Success!

Jason

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Gotta love his hair too!

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The bottom line is this: do something…

It isn’t hard to understand or to follow through on, but there can’t be any excuses…

Step 1 - Brainstorm

Do a quick goal brainstormiing session. Noting complex, just take out a piece of paper, get into the visionary mindset, and start writing for 15 or so minutes.

Step 2 - Define your goals

After you do your goal brainstorming, do the following:

1. Circle the ones you can achieve in less than 6 months
2. Box the goals that you can get to in less than a year
3. Circle and box the ones achievable in 3 years or less.

Step 3 - Make a good version

write out a good copy of your goals with any descriptions accompanying them. The descriptions need to be as detailed as possible, such as “But a house - 4 bedrooms, three baths, finished basement, hardwood floors, big back deck, etc.

The more real your goals are in your head - the more likely you will be able to achieve them. And make sure to date it!

Step 4 - Define action steps

Figure out what next steps need to be taken to achieve your goals. For instance, in the above example of buying a house - the next steps would be:

• Save for a down payment
• Reduce credit card debt
• Find a Realtor
• Find an area you want to live in
• etc.

Step 5 - Schedule something

Put your next actions in your schedule. For example, schedule a couple hours to find a realtor or schedule an automatic transfer from your bank account on payday to a savings account.

Step 6 - Follow through

Make sure you keep good to your schedule. Don’t make excuses on how you will get to it next week or why your schedule doesn’t fit. Remember, it isn’t that you are directly achieving your goal - it’s that you are actively working toward it!

Step 7 - Evaluate, Review and Reschedule

Evaluate what you have done and what you still have to do. Schedule the next step in the process and repeat steps 5 through 7!

Goal Planning At A Glance

Remember, the biggest challenge people have with goals is most of them just seem unachievable. They’re daunting to think about. The reason they are is really very simple - excuses.

People have an excuse for everything. Why they can’t get to something or why they haven’t taken care of a certain problem. The bottom line is excuses are the reason you aren’t where you want to be! The one constant in everyone’s life is time. Bill Gates has just as much of it as you do. Take a minute and think about that… If Bill Gates can make billions in the same amount of time that’s allotted to you, why are there so many differences?

If you don’t take anything else away from this article, remember this:

“Take small steps and anything is possible.”

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Well, today was one of those days…

One of my clients needed work done - as always. I have been trying desperately to get out of the center of Tech Solution for some time now. I’ve needed to put the business on autopilot so I can work on some of my other projects. So, I decided to trust an outside person in helping us out.

Needless to say, today was the day that everything blew up in my face. So, I get stuck coding all day to fill an order that should have been complete weeks ago. And that’s about all there is to it. Two bottles of Diet Pepsi, a pot of coffee, and a few empty pizza boxes…

(And I was doing really well with watching what I was eating.)

So, for you independent and small business owners out there… Make sure you be careful when trusting your work (and your business and your brand) with someone else. I am not saying be paranoid… but be extremely careful.

Unfortunately, for as long and hard as you worked in building your business - it can be run under in a fraction of the time…

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How about this: “I only attend business meetings that will positively affect me or my companies…”

I like that one much better. The rest of these informational meetings will have an invoice attached to them!

–

I feel better. Rant over.

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When starting a new business, many entrepreneurs self-finance. That is, they pay for things out of their own pocket. There is nothing wrong with this per se, but it can cause some difficulties, usually with tracking expenses or income. Sure, you can go back through your bank records, but how do you know what is business and what is personal for that day you deposited your spouse’s paycheck (they have a corporate job — poor fool), and that $50 your friend finally paid you back, AND the check that small client you just did the one job for sent you?

This tip won’t help you with keeping your income records, but it can help with your expenses. First off, the IRS wants to make sure you aren’t deducting regular expenses as business expenses. For this reason, they look harder at small business tax returns, particularly those with Schedule C. Second, if you happen to forget to keep a receipt or jot down a note, you need a way to remind you and your accountant that this was a business expense.

The easy way to kill two birds with one stone? Use that second address field on order forms for your business name. For example, this morning I ordered two memory cards for me and my spouse (who is also my business partner on one of my ventures) for our phones. Why? Because I needed her to do a review of something I wrote up for a client (it was Legal-ish and she is an attorney), but she had trouble because the memory that came with the phone isn’t enough to hold all the stuff and download and edit and keep a copy, and etc., and hold the new stuff. Now, there could be some question to the IRS or my accountant about whether or not this was for personal use. I keep good records, but as an added form of proof, I put the business name on the shipping information. So, now despite using a personal credit card (and collecting more points, thank you very much), I have written proof that it was for the business.

(Another tip, only do this on the “Shipping Information” section, or your credit card company might deny the charge as part of its automated fraud protection)

As an added bonus, if I ever need credit from the supplier and I want it in my business’ name, I can refer them to all the orders I’ve made that have already been for the business. They’ll see the business name on all those orders in their own system. This won’t always work, but it can definitely help, especially if you’ve done a lot of business with them in the past.

There you go. Easiest thing you’ll have to do today.

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Image by wallyg via Flickr

I had an interesting experience yesterday. After lunch with a friend, I went back to his company who I have estimated some work for. The estimate that I wrote up went to the marketing director, so I just wanted to see if there was anything else he needed from me. Keep in mind, Tech Solution has helped this company through a couple tech related situations and didn’t expect payment because we knew that sooner or later a big project would come our way.

Well, that time has come. After negotiating the price down twice (taking almost $4,000 off the bottom line), the marketing director said he would get back to me within just a few days. There is no reason why the project shouldn’t get approved, so I started allocating resources (employees) and turning away some of the smaller work, or redirecting it to some of the referral companies I work with. Well, it’s been almost 4 weeks, so I stopped by to see if they needed anything else to move the project along…

When I walked in this guys office, I got a ‘deer in the headlights’ look. I barely said hi before he started saying he has been busy and he would have an answer for me soon. Then, after I left, he proceeded to climb all over his employee (my friend) about how I am a vendor and inexperienced and ‘wet behind the ears’ and on and on.

Guess what. They came to me. They asked me to solve their problems - and I would have loved to have them as a client but I hate bullshit. The client that eats away at time with maybe’s is one you and I don’t want to have.

Tech Solution’s project pipeline just got full - and this guys work isn’t included. I don’t care how much that estimate was. Tech Solution provides web services that help small businesses expand their presence.

The moral of the story is really pretty simple. The world of business is not run by older, complacent executives who are too busy running around barking orders at everyone to realize that the people who live and breathe technology are the ones who will help the company grow. And for as much money as this job is worth, I would rather accept 5 smaller, great clients who I can do direct referral campaigns through.

What about you? Ever had any clients that just pissed you off to the point of no end?

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