(NOTE: This is an update of a previous post… enhanced with video. Please be sure and let me know what you think of this “multi-media” approach, okay? It’s quite a bit of work, and I’m happy to do it if you think it’s worthwhile.)

As marketers and entrepreneurs, we have a simple job – to get other people to do what we want them to do.

I’ll leave the discussion about the ethical side of this for another time; let’s just assume that you and I will always work for the best interests of our customers and prospects, okay?

So. We want to get people to do what we want. It will help them. It will help us. But exactly how do we do it?

There is a tactic that gives almost magical powers of persuasion.

You can, quite simply, get practically anyone to do practically anything.

It’s so simple you’ll be tempted to shrug it off.

Don’t.

Take just a moment to think about the fact that you already know this works, because you already know people who have this power. Don’t you know at least one person who seems to be able to persuade people on just about any issue?

Don’t you know at least one person who can seemingly “sell ice to the Eskimos”?

So how is it that some people are able to do that – and more importantly, how can you do the same? Wouldn’t that make an enormous impact on your business?

Here is the big secret…

“Enter the conversation already taking place in your prospect’s mind.”

As far as I know, that idea originated with the late, great copywriter Robert Collier.

If you can “join up” with what your prospects are already feeling and thinking, get in synch with them, and get them to identify you as a “friendly” in a hostile world… they will listen to what you have to say.

Think of it this way: the easiest way to influence someone is with whatever is already influencing them.

It’s a simple principle, but not easy to do.

So how do you do it? Here are some tips that will help you harness this seemingly magic power:

1. Listen. Pay attention to what people say. Hang out in online forums. Track trends on twitter. Collect the words, phrases and ideas your market uses. Speak back to them in their own words.
2. Watch. Be conscious of what your store or website visitors actually do. What causes them to opt in? To opt out? To buy? To ask for a refund? Nothing teaches like behavior. People vote with their feet. Watch their feet.
3. Think. How can you solve their problems? How can you solve them quickly… easily… and with simplicity? Be the “aspirin for their headache” – and abundance will be yours.

If you can do these things, your readers/visitors/ listeners will be nodding their heads, slapping the table top, and saying, “Yes! That’s exactly how I feel!”

And when that happens, Constant Reader, they will do anything you ask.

Because anything you ask will be in alignment with what they already desire.

That’s a deep well I just pushed you into. Follow it all the way down, and be rewarded with the cool fresh water of more sales, more often.

So even though I’m busy preparing for our next “dollar webinar”, I wanted to share something with you I just read from President Roosevelt.

Stick with me, Hoss – it’s worth it.

If you’ve ever been falsely accused…

If you’ve ever had anyone spread lies or deceit about you…

Celebrate!

Vocal critics are sending you a signal…

The signal is: you’re on the right track.

Don’t take my word for it – here’s what Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt had to say about critics:

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

- Theodore Roosevelt

Now don’t get me wrong.

I’m talking about UN-JUST criticism.

I’m assuming you’re doing good things, with right intentions, and you’re being honest and fair in your dealings.

If you’re doing BAD things, you have bigger problems than being criticized.

So let’s say you’re creating value.

You’re being honest and fair.

And then for some reason – WHAMO! Somebody you never even met starts criticizing you.

Congratulations!

The only reason you’re a target for these trouble making complainers is… you’re DOING something.

Most people never do ANYTHING.

Especially the critics.

In fact, in my mind, the letters of the word “C.R.I.T.I.C.” actually stand for:

C – an’t
R – eally
I – nvent
T – hings
I – nstead
C – riticizes

And rest assured, the only way to be sure you’re never criticized is: don’t do anything.

CERTAINLY, if you’re having any success at all, you’re going to get criticism.

Welcome it.

And remember the business twist on all this that President Roosevelt certainly understood.

Your place “shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

’nuff Said,

Ray Edwards

PS - If you’re doing business online, then one thing you for sure want to be DOING is using video on your marketing. We’re doing a whole webinar on the topic of making money with online video Monday.

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Ask Darth Vader.

I mean, for almost a DECADE we all thought Darth was the villain of Star Wars.

And after more than 20 years in the making, the series of movies in the Star Wars saga tells the whole story.

Darth Vader started out as a good guy.

He got off track. WAY off track.

Then, in the end, he did the right thing.

And turns out he was STILL a good guy.

Why? Because people in his Mastermind Group – the Jedi - got him back on the right path.

Even if it WAS at the last possible moment.

Between the training that Darth got from Obi-Wan…

…and the example his former master set for him…

…and the direct appeals of his son Luke…

Darth did the right thing, and killed the Emperor.

He saved his son… the Rebellion… and his own soul.

That’s what a Mastermind Group – a good one – will do for you.

They will tell you what you’re doing wrong, even when you’re completely full of your own crap.

Even when you think you’re about to Rule The Universe.

Because the moment you start believing your own bull is usually the moment when you’re about to take a big fall.

QUESTION: who do you have in YOUR life who’s willing to tell you that you’re about to “blow it”?

If you don’t have somebody who’s willing and committed to doing that, you need to find them. Pronto.

There’s several ways to do it.

For instance, you can set up your own Mastermind Group. Find the members, recruit them, and set up the meetings, etc.

It’ll take some legwork, but it’s worth the effort.

You could also join an existing small group, but good ones are hard to find and harder to get into. Just make sure you’re not getting yourself into a negative gossip-group that is PRETENDING to be a true “Mastermind”. You’ll know pretty quick.

You can also pay to join a Mastermind.

This is often a good option, because the fact that there are “membership dues” helps weed out the more undesirable loser types.

I’ve been part of paid Masterminds for years now, and even run one of my own which you can try out for a dollar and see if it’s just what you’re looking for.

(By the way, it’s a good time to try it out – we have our annual in-person get-together next month in Vegas).

Whatever you do, make sure you get yourself involved in some kind of Mastermind Group.

If it can save Darth Vader… what can it do for you?

May the Force Be With You

Every piece of your website is a link in the sales chain.

Each link leads to the next, and at the end of the chain is the sale – and profits for you and your business.

Of course, as we all know, any chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

One way to get quick sales boost is: find the weak or broken links in your sales process and strengthen or repair them. And almost every website has at least a few week or broken links. I’m not just talking about hyperlinks, here… I’m talking about any crucial part of the sales process.

No website is perfect – no website is ever optimized fully. There’s always room for improvement. In most websites I look at for clients, there are some basic fixes that can pay off in a big way.

Here are three examples of things you might want to do on your own website:

• Fix Broken Links. The most obvious example is actual broken links. These are frustrating at best for your visitors, and for many it will kill the sale instantly (“if they can’t get their links fixed, what must their product be like?”).
• Remove Inconsistencies. In the world of direct mail, there’s a proven response boost when the message on the outside of the envelope matches the message on the headline of the letter inside; the reason this is so is, we are wired to respond positively to consistency. We like getting what we expect. Even seemingly small inconsistencies send a subconscious signal to your prospects that all is not right. Some specifics to look for: different typefaces or look & feel on your pages; lack of consistent layout from one section of your site to the next; jarring differences between your major sales pages (opt-in page, salesletter page, order page, thank you page). Get fanatical about consistency.
• Remove “Mind Stoppers”. Some things just cause us to “stop our mind” when reading a website. For example, strange or unnatural wording can cause us to stop in the flow of reading and ask “What? Huh?” Even though these “Mind Stoppers” may only cause a pause of 1 or 2 seconds, they interrupt the flow of your sales message. Avoid “Mind Stoppers” at all costs. The best way to find them: read your copy aloud, to another human being, in a natural tone and at an easy pace. Then have them read it aloud back to you. In each case, mark any section that causes you to pause or stumble. Re-write those sections and remove the “Mind Stoppers”.

When you forge stronger links in your “Sales Chain”, you’ll increase your sales results. And that means more profits for you and your small business.

And maybe you wondered, “How the heck does he do that?”

Allow me to part the curtain with this free video where I show you some reasons why this page is getting these insanely great conversions. No opt-in required (you can see the page itself here).

Click Here To See Frank’s “Magical” Opt-In Page For Mass Control.

There are many studies that demonstrate that multimillion dollar CEOs spend less than 30 minutes per day doing the work they’re actually paid to do.

Why is this?

It’s because the higher we go in our levels of responsibility (and this is especially salient for entrepreneurs) the more likely it is we will be interrupted throughout the day by concerns, people, and tasks that are urgent (needs attention from someone immediately) but not necessarily important (needs high-level attention from the entrepreneur, CEO, or manager).

This applies even if you are a freelance worker (or perhaps you started your own online business in your “spare time”).

The key to success on a massive scale is to focus on revenue-generating activities as much as possible.

Here’s how you do that…

Focus on Revenue Generation

If you were to analyze your day, you would no doubt discover that less than 20% of your daily activity produces 80% or more of your total revenue.

Another way of looking at this is to realize that 80% of what you do doesn’t really contribute to your income in a directly measurable way.

You may be familiar with this as Pareto’s Law: “80% of the results typically come from only 20% of the activity”.

Instead of expending a lot of effort trying to change that 20% number to a higher percentage-save 50 or 60%-it might be more useful to consider simply eliminating the 80%.

Sound almost impossible? In fact, you already know how to do this…

Day Before Vacation Phenomena

Have you ever experienced “the day before vacation phenomena”?

You know what I’m talking about.

You’re leaving for vacation on, let’s say, a Thursday. Have you ever noticed how that Wednesday becomes the most efficient work day you’ve had in many weeks (perhaps months)?

Have you noticed how, on the day before vacation starts, you get 10 times the work done in a single day?

You’ve probably also noticed the wonderful euphoric feeling you experience when you walk out of the office on that day… how you feel that everything is in its place, each task is handled, each responsibility delegated to a team member, or at the very least deferred until you get back.

On those days, don’t you feel more at peace, in control, and effortlessly productive then on 99% of the other days of the year?

So there it is: your proof that you’re actually capable of eliminating the 80% of normal time-wasting, revenue-depressing, stress-inducing activity that makes up most of your days.

Dan, The “No Email Man”

I have a colleague named Dan who doesn’t do e-mail.

I don’t mean that he does “very little” e-mail… I mean he doesn’t do e-mail at all. Doesn’t have an e-mail address.

Dan also doesn’t have a cell phone. If you want to talk to Dan, you have to call him at his office; his phone is answered by his assistant who deftly protects Dan from time-wasting phone calls and appointments.

In fact, Dan has very few appointments. Yet he is very productive, very receptive and open to talking with people, and runs a multimillion dollar business. He somehow manages to do it while living a sane, orderly, and peaceful life.

So what excuse do the rest of us have?

My 3-Month Experiment

Just a few weeks ago, I wrapped up a three-month experiment.

For three months, my wife and I traveled the United States in our motorhome.

We ran our business in our “spare time” from that motorhome-using laptops, WiFi Internet connections, and UPS stores.

While I will admit it was challenging at times, I can also tell you that on average for that three-month period, I worked about three hours a day (weekdays).

Normally, my work day is anywhere from 8-10 hours long.

It was startling to realize that I could maintain (actually not just maintain, but increase) my net income while working around one third fewer hours.

Now that I’m back in my “normal” environment, I am remaining very conscious of how much time I spend working-versus how much time I spend “being busy”, giving the APPEARANCE of work.

You see, I already know it’s possible to maintain my income working only three hours a day.

I should be clear: some days are 12 hour days, and some days are zero-hour days.

It only averages out to three hours per day-it’s never as neat as exactly 180 minutes each day. But that misses the point. The point is: what on earth have I been doing with those other 7-9 hours each day?

How bout you?

What could you do with an extra 7-9 hours of discretionary time every single day?

Think about that.

Going Cold Turkey

Last weekend I decided to experiment with my colleague Dan’s lifestyle.

My wife and I got in our motorhome once again, and drove about six hours to a lake in Oregon. We visited a state park… where there is no Internet service, and no cell phone signal.

That meant I wasn’t able to “sneak in” an e-mail scan, or send out “tweet” on Twitter.

Going cold turkey was interesting.

The first day I was a bit jittery. I experienced some “withdrawal” symptoms.

The second day I experienced a feeling of relaxation I haven’t felt in a very long time.

By the third day, I was ready to continue the experiment for another two or three months-however, it was time to come back home!

These “free days”, as Dan Sullivan calls them – are days where you have absolutely no contact with anything work related (cell phone, voice mail, Internet, files, business reading, etc.).

In my experience, “free days” have almost magical powers to renew and revitalize your spirit, body and mind.

Since getting back from my three-day “cold Turkey” experiment, I’ve been more productive or energetic and more efficient than I have been for a long time.

So those “free days” are now on my calendar every single week; Friday through Sunday are work-free zones.

Having this space to let my mind unwind, to let my spirit relax, allows me to bring back more creativity, energy and enthusiasm to the work I do Monday through Thursday.

I benefit, my family benefits, my clients and their customers all benefit.

Try Your Own Experiment

So what does all this mean to you?

After all, you may or may not have the luxury of spending three months puttering around the USA in your motorhome (we were very blessed by God in being allowed such a privilege).

You may also find it seemingly impossible to take three days a week “off”.

But certainly you could take a single day, couldn’t you?

After all, most of the major spiritual traditions of the world include some form of the “day of rest”. I think that is for a very important reason: we were designed to require such a day of rest each week.

So this week-just for this one week – take a single day that is totally free from any work.

For that 24-hour period put yourself on a diet or you don’t take in any e-mails, Twitter messages, voice mails, cell phone calls, meetings or work of any kind.

You’ll be forced to find other things to do.

Some suggestions that might help you:

• Take a long walk with someone you love
• Spend some time over coffee talking
• Go see a play or movie, read a good (non-work related) book
• Play a game
• Go visit an old friend or loved one

While this kind of “slowing down” might be difficult for some of us, I believe the benefits are extraordinary.

But don’t take my word for it.

Try it and see for yourself.

An Advanced Experiment

If you are “all in” for taking a single day off in the next week, perhaps you’d also like to try the advanced part of the experiment.

Two ways we fill that 80% of wasted time each week is in doing things that we either (a) don’t like to do or (b) are not good at doing.

My suggested “advanced experiment” is to choose three of those things (things you either don’t like to do, or that you are not good at) and find someone else to do them for you.

Your three items that you are going to “delegate” or “out-source” could be small and insignificant, or they could be large and important items.

They could be as simple as dusting the bookshelves, or as complex as creating the project plan for a major new initiative in your company. That’s up to you.

I’m only asking you to follow some simple directions:

1. Pick something that you’re either not good at, or that you don’t like to do. And if you want extra credit pick something that fits both of those criteria.

2. Pick something that definitely falls in the “80 percentile group”; something that is not directly revenue-producing for your company or your business.

3. Pick three such “somethings”.

4. Select someone else to take care of these three tasks on your behalf. It can be someone you know personally, who does it simply as a favor to you; it can be someone on your staff to whom you assigned the task; or you can “outsource” the task to someone in another state (or even on another continent) using the Internet. It doesn’t really matter who you get to take care of it, it simply matters that it isn’t you.

By the way, if you’ve never outsourced a task using the Internet, you might find it valuable to join Kirt Christensen and I for our one-dollar (yep, $1) webinar this week which is on the subject of outsourcing:

http://DollarWebinar.com <– Register Here

It’s no coincidence that outsourcing is the subject of this week’s webinar – this subject has been very much on my mind recently (for obvious reasons), so that’s why we’re doing the webinar.

We’ll show you some interesting ways you can outsource just about anything in your life – from getting your laundry done, to making travel arrangements, to creating crucial reports for your business, designing websites, setting up “little income streams”, and just about anything else you can dream of.

We’ll also show you our tools, websites we use to find outsourced workers, and software (much of it free) that we use to manage all this.

In the meantime, try your own experiment (as outlined above) – and let me know your thoughts below.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

Back in my radio days, one of the shows I was in charge of was a morning radio team.

And this particular morning team had a regular feature where a couple of psychotherapists woud come on each week.

When I say a “couple”, I mean it. They were actually a COUPLE, and they were both actually THERAPISTS (can you imagine the dinner table conversations?).

Anyhow, I knew this couple only as characters on this particular morning show. “Judith and Jim” was how I knew them. And I knew only their voices.

Fast forward a few years later.

I had left the radio business, and was at an Internet Marketing seminar.

During one of the presentations, I noticed this couple sitting near the front, and I noticed  they were asking lots of questions. And their voices sounded familiar. And their names were… Judith and Jim.

We connected for the first time in person, and we’ve been friends ever since. (Okay, so it was “funny” as in “coincidence” and not funny as in “LOL”).

To continue my story…

I discovered that Jim and Judith ventured into online marketing just four years ago. Along the way, they had to overcome their technical deficiencies and learn to make friends with their computer. Even more so, they had to, in their own words, “open our minds to an entirely new way of being in the world, a whole new and very different mindset-a marketing/business mindset”.

But there was a problem. As they attended lots of marketing conferences, they felt something was wrong.

According to Judith and Jim, “We always felt a sense of displacement, a feeling of not belonging, of somehow being outsiders.”

As they connected with people at those same  conferences they learned that others had the same complaint. And they noticed a pattern: All those who voiced this kind of discomfort were service providers, care-givers, change agents of some kind, men and women who had dedicated their lives to helping others-heart-to-heart.

“It became clear that there was a segment of the Internet marketplace that was not being served,” says Judith.

Jim chimes in, “That segment is peopled by soft sell marketers-all of us who are care-givers and life-change artists as distinct from accumulation artists whose focus is money first and foremost.”

And now these two friends of mine have written a book on the subject of soft sell marketing for service providers… and for people who don’t like hard-sell approaches. I recommend you get a copy of The Heart of Marketing.

I don’t make a dime for recommending it to you.

I just think this is a book worth reading. Brief story:

I read this book as a favor to a friend (the author).

I did it to be courteous.

Frankly, I was going to speed-read the book just so I honestly could say that I had read it. I am a busy guy, and I had a lot of other books that were higher on my “need to read” list.

I rapidly skimmed the first 5 pages or so.

Then I stopped.

I went back and starting reading more slowly.

You see, I had that surprising experience that doesn’t happen to me very often… I had run across a book that delighted me by wildly exceeding my expectations.

I read a lot of “self-help” and “business philosophy” books (it’s part of what I do for a living, let’s leave it at that), and most of them are tripe.

This book is different. Very different.

While I was reading The Think Big Manifesto, I was, by turns, challenged, provoked, charmed and even once or twice annoyed. And I found myself thinking BIGGER about myself and what I bring to the world by the time I reached the last page.

And not one time did Michael use any of the normal “motivational speaker” tricks, nor did he trot out any over-used cliches like “your attitude determines your altitude”.

As I said, this book is different.

A fresh view on what it means to “think bigger” (and no, this is NOT a “get rick quick” book… FAR FROM IT.)

This is NOT one of those ephemeral “little books” that come and go like a fad; yes, you CAN read it in a couple of hours. But it will stick with you much longer. And if you’re like me, you’ll find yourself reading it a second time, with a pen and notebook at your side.

In short, $15 well-spent.

Plus, Michael is giving away prizes when you buy the “Think Big Manifesto” book.

And even if you’re not buying the book, take careful note of HOW Michael is “thinking big” in his promotion of this book.

I predict he’s going to do extraordinarily well with this promotion.

You might learn a thing or two — I did.

Highest recommendation!

I just need to point you to this one: Seth Godin on taking the high road.

So I was not thrilled when my wife called to me from our home office saying I just had to come watch this video on YouTube.

Yet, a few minutes later, I was watching it with tears in my eyes.

I decided I would write a post about the video today, only to find my colleague Clayton Makepeace beat me to the punch. Read Clayton Makepeace’s post on Susan Boyle here.

And watch the video for yourself by clicking here.