DSM Welcomes Luke Alley to the team

Luke Alley (update that LinkedIn page will you bud?) is the newest member of Dream Systems Media. Luke will be helping to guide our company as the Pay Per Click Marketing Director and we couldn’t be happier to have him join the team! Luke is a PPC wizard but much more importantly we feel he truly reflects the culture of our company — Luke works hard, plays hard and seems to be genuinely committed to touching the lives of those he associates with in a positive way.

You could say he is a regular member of Team Tebow (just kidding Luke I am a sucker for Tebow too but that is a pretty good picture!). Luke is originally from Colorado, and is actually a big Broncos fan, an Eagle Scout, Google AdWords Certified, married to a lovely lady and has one little boy! In addition to all that great stuff, Luke is a BYU-Idaho graduate, the former President of Get Found First and one mean tennis player!

So, if you are looking for top-notch pay per click management, inspiration from above or just a great tennis partner, Luke’s definitely your guy. We hope you will be able to find him between 9-5 at a Dream Systems Media office in Lehi, Utah for a long, long time to come!

Pubcon Hawaii Dream Systems Media Shirts

Pubcon Hawaii 2012 is just around the corner, and I am looking forward to attending, speaking and modering. Pubcon is, and always has been one of my favorite conferences throughout the year.  The entire Dream Systems Media crew will be on the Island enjoying the conference and networking.

We have already been passing around DSM Pubcon Hawaii Tee’s … so if you were lucky enough to get one we’d love to have you post pictures of them here (just comment with where I can find them and I will get them added).  I am going to have extras at the conference, so just find me and let me know you want one!   I am really looking forward to seeing all my old industry buds, and meeting and making new ones.

What I will be speaking/moderating:

• Convergence of Social Media and Search - Speakers; Rebecca Murtagh,  Matt Siltala,  Sarah Carling (and Carolyn Shelby will be the moderator for this session)  - I am lucky to be on this panel with 3 lovely ladies and industry pros.  For this session I will be taking a deep look at social signals & factors, and thanks to the fellas at Authority Labs, (for helping me with) a pretty extensive case study on the subject.  There will be some amazing data for everyone to enjoy and digest!  I can’t wait to share it!
• Link Building & Link Baiting for Tourism – Speakers; Mark Barrera & Michael Bonfils with myself moderating the panel.  Link building can be done organically and strategically. This session covers the latest tactics used by top link builders to increase the popularity of a website with quality and relevant inbound links. Check out the latest tools and easy backlinks that count.

Please let me know if you are gonna be at the conference, or come up to me and say hi while there.  Hawaii is going to be EPIC & I am so looking forward to it!

Dream Systems Media has been providing local search engine marketing for small town business owners for almost a decade and we wanted to share some of that history here.   We hope everyone enjoys using and viewing it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Infographic & Viral Marketing from Dream Systems Media

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COPY FROM THE GRAPHIC:

Since communication

Asking others, talking with friends and family

Asking the opinion of people that you trust has always been a staple of local search. Since people have been able to communicate, they’ve been sharing their favorite hunting spots, or fheir favorite coffee shops. Local business owners have been able to take advantage of this by making sure that their service/product is always the best around, thereby facilitating conversation about it.

Top 5 Native Languages Spoken Worldwide
Language
1. Mandarin
2. Spanish
3. English
4. Hindi-Urdu
5. Arabic

Native
845 million
329 million
328 million
240 million
232 million

Total
1025 million
390 million
-
405 million
452 million

Since Written Word

Walking/traveling & depending on signage

People have always traveled. We have also almost always needed something when we travel. One of the ways that we find things is by walking or driving, and looking for signage. Whether its a billboard, or a sandwich board in front of a local butcher, we depend on signage to inform us.

The US sign industry employs over 250,000
The Sign Manufacturing industry is worth
$11.7 billion
67% of US sign exports are bound for Canada & Mexico

1440

Reading printed word

With the advent of the printing press came the ability to print local advertising. Local advertising in newspapers & magazines have long been a staple of local search. The first yellow Pages directory was published in 1886, which featured business names and phone numbers, categorized by products and services. Whether you’re searching the classifides for something, reading about a local shop, or looking through the yellow pages, reading the printed word has been, and will be, a staple of local search

Worldwide Circulation of Top 5 Printed Magazines

Title
1. The watchtower
2. Awake!
3. AARP The Magazine
4. AARP Bulletin
5. Reader’s Digest

Circulation
42,182,000
41,042,000
23,721,626
23,574,328
17,000,000

Languages
194
84
1
1
21

Founded
1879
1919
1958
1960
1922

1915

Radio Transmission

In 1915, speech was transmitted from New York to San Francisco, and from Arlington VA to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The marked the beginning of radio broadcasting, which allowed people around the world to hear transmitted human voices. This communication medium has also allowed people all over the world to listen for information that is beneficial, allowing radio transmission to be a viable search medium.

9 out of 10 people listen to the radio at least once a week

1926

Television Broadcast

On January 23, 1926, John Logie Baird gave the world’s first public demonstration of a mechanical television apparatus. Since then, TV has been a vital source for information for people all around the world. People often turn to television to find local information. Today, whether its a local news broadcast, or advertising, televsion continues to play a large role in informing local search patterns.

The Average American watches…

4 hours a day
2 straight months a year
9 straight years in a lifetime

1989

Internet

The first internet service provider, “The World” launches, opening the doorway for people all over the world to become connected to the internet. This was the firs step in making local search informative and instantenous.

Internet Users in the World by Region

Asia – 44%
Europe – 22.7%
North America – 13%
Latin Am/Carib – 10.3%
Africa – 5.7%
Middle East – 3.3%
Oceania/Aust – 1.0%

1995

Craigslist

Craigslist started by Craig Newmark as a way of staying on top of San Francisco’s busy arts and technology scene. It quickly became a way for people to both buy and sell items online, limiting the search area to their city/area.

60,309,277 unique visitors in November, 2011
Erotic Services ranks among the most popular categories

1999

Mobile GPS

The first instance of GPS being integrated into a mobile phone was the “Benefon Esc!” phone in 1999. Mobilizing GPS into a phone opened the way for phones all over the world to later integrate GPS as a key feature for local search functionality.

86% of all mobile phones sold in the US come with GPS capabilities.

2004

Google Local Launches

Google Local Launches in 2004 offering relevant neighborhood business listings, maps, and directions. This new local concentration gives local businesses the opportunity to have a strong web presence, connecting them ton individuals who are searching.

20% of Google searches are for local information

2004

Yelp Launches

Yelp launches in 2004 from an office on Mission Street new museum row in San Francisco. By contentrating on reviews of local places, Yelp becomes one of the most trusted sources for local search and reviews.

Reviewed Businesses by Category

Restaurants – 26%
Shopping – 24%
Beauty & Fitness – 9%
Arts, Entertainment – 8%
Home & Local – 8%
Nightlife – 4%
Health – 5%
Travel & Leisure – 4%
Auto – 3%
Other – 10%

2005 -

The Virtual Earth

Google & Microsoft both launch their own “Virtual Earth” applications, that combine local search with maps and arial photography, along with 3d buildings, and terrain. This is an example of local search ebing used in a different application.

Google Earth includes 1,288 shipwrecks including the Titanic in 3D

2005

Google Maps

Google Maps Released, featuring satellite views and directions. Google Maps quickly becomes one of the most trusted mapping systems on the internet.

Google Maps usage is 40% mobile, or 150 million users.

2005

Google Local on Mobile

Google Local available for mobile devices, including SMS driving directions. This step in local search allowed users to search and get directions on their mobile devices, no longer being tethered to their computers.

Google Maps Navigation has guided 12 billion drivers a year.

2007

Yahoo OneSearch Goes Local

Yahoo OneSearch begins doing local searches in 2007. Now search results in OneSearch also return local search results.

Yahoo owns 6% of the Mobile/Table search engine share. Google owns 91%

2007

Google Maps Place on iPhone

in 2007, Google Maps is placed on the iPhone. For the first time, users are able to search for what’s nearby, using a native application, and get search results shown within the context of a Google Map, on a mobile device.

1,389,000 iPhones on the market at the end of 2007

72,300,000 iPhones on the market at the end of 2011

2008

Google Android

Google’s first Android phone, the T0Mobile G1 is launched, with GPS and full Google maps integration to make local searches not only simple, but a natural extension of the Android mobile device.

By the end of the 3rd quarter in 2011, Android devices accounted for 53% of worldwide shipments.

2009

Google Place Pages

Google launches Place Pages in Google Maps in 2009. This is one page that organizes all the relevant information about a business, point of interest, transit station, neighborhood, landmark or city, in any part of the world, in one place. Place pages include details like photos, videos, street view preview, nearby transit, reviews, and related websites.

Google has generated nearly 40 million place pages that are waiting to be unlocked.

2009

Augmented Reality

Layar launches what they market as “the first augmented reality browser”. Augmented reality browsers allow users to use their device’s camera as a way to see what is near them. Yelp’s “Monocle” feature also acts as an augmented reality browser.

197,000,000 augmented reality capable smartphones are set to be in the global market by 2012.

2011

Siri

Siri, on the Apple iPhone 4s, lets you use your voice to command the phone to do things such as send messages, call, and yes, search. Siri understands natural language, and responds to your commands.

If you use Siri 10-15 times a day she would use about 18.5 – 27.7 MB of data a month.

2012

Foursquare Search Options Emerge

On January 12, Foursquare launched a new search option under the “explore” tab. This new option allows a user to search, then filter by locations that Foursquare recommends, places you’ve been to, places you haven’t been to, places your friends have been to, or just places that are offering specials.

Foursquare now boasts 1.5 billion checkins which feed these search results.

Old Facebook Profile Ads

Old Facebook Profile Layout

New Slimmer Facebook Profile Ads

New Timeline Layout

 Compare the Same Facebook Ad Side by Side

239 x 117

128 x 168

Differences in Facebook Ads

While the ad sizes are not exact, the widths are fairly accurate. The new ad is slimmer, at about 128 pixels. The image sizes remain the same at 110 x 80 pixels. The background color has changed from white to the light blue. The number of ads on a traditional page range from 1 to 6. The number of ads on the new facebook timeline layout is 2 or 3 depending on your screen size. Yes, the ads display in conjunction with your screen size, pretty high tech programing there. One of the biggest differences between the two sets is that the new layout keeps the ads on page as you scroll down the page. The old set up will actually scroll the ads off the screen. Very subtle differences, but I am sure someone somewhere at Facebook is monitoring revenues based on the layouts. Curious internet marketers would like to know what that difference is. Facebook marketers want to know how this could effect their ads.

Related articles

• Timeline vs Old – How Our Eyes Look at Them (sociableblog)
• How to sign out of the new Facebook layout update. (haiteq.com)
• 8 Great Facebook Changes (dreamsystemsmedia.com)
• How Big is Facebook? (dreamsystemsmedia.com)

-

Just your friendly neighborhood pest control guy reporting… I also Report on Scorpions. =)

-Thomas Ballantyne
Director of Marketing for Bulwark Exterminating
Follow me on Twitter —> @Thos003

SOPA reminds me of a scene from the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest movie, when Jack Sparrow and Will Turner are discussing plans to retrieve the mysterious key from Davy Jones. (NOTE: If SOPA had passed last week, I would have had to find a more witty way to prove my point here for fear of copyright infringement):

Jack Sparrow: So what’s your plan, then?

Will Turner:  I row over, search the ship until I find your bloody key.

Jack Sparrow:  And if there are crewmen?

Will Turner:  I cut down anyone in my path.

Jack Sparrow:   I like it. Simple, easy to remember.

With SOPA, the government will have the ability to raid a business’s “ship,” find the forbidden loot, and have no problem cutting down others in their path. While the plan seems to be a simple and quick solution for conquering piracy, it fails to address other complexities that are a reality for businesses, especially entrepreneurs and internet start-ups. One thing SOPA does is emphasizes the ability for the government to exercise injunctive powers in stopping a website from functioning due to third party actions. Injunctive powers consist of such things as court ordered temporary restraining orders (TROs), preliminary injunctions, and permanent injunctions. Among other things, I see the big issue lying with temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions, which allow an “offending” party to come to a judge, explain and justify their offense, then request relief via a shut down of the website even before the owner of an “offending” website is brought into court and/or the case is finally reviewed and decided upon. Depending on the judge’s discretion, a TRO could be granted right there on the spot until matters are further reviewed by the court. While these injunctive powers can certainly be found Constitutional and do find their rightful place in our society, it seems that SOPA would expand the justifications and legal limits for exercising these injunctive powers that could shut down or filter websites.

First, this is a dangerous power that reminds me of time when a British government was sending their soldiers into citizen’s homes to seize their “houses, papers, and effects” without justification and at the whim of a complaint from any third party. For these very reasons, the American Founding Fathers put in place the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments to protect citizens from these types of oppressive government actions, thus providing a proper venue for reviewing complaints and allowing fair due process before stripping someone of their rights. Under SOPA, I’m afraid that the real pirates will become the government as they “pillage and plunder and don’t give a hoot” of e-silencing websites without proper due process and in the name of the threat of piracy.

Second, SOPA regulations could cause existing, well-established businesses to take enormously expensive precautions that deter foreign invaders from posting infringing content on their websites. Businesses would essentially have to provide an additional army of content monitors, attorneys, and others to babysit those visiting and using their website. A likely scenario could be that a business would find it difficult to provide an adequate army and would take the safest precautions for removing any content that had any inkling of potentially infringing a copyright, trademark, etc. This could be a killer for large companies such as Reddit’s social news site. If a business isn’t quickly assassinated, then the affects of having to fend off the government’s discretionary ability to censor could certainly slowly bleed a company to death or change it to something less innovative.

Third, the powers granted in SOPA could have a drastic affect on the inception of small internet businesses. Under SOPA, these internet start-ups would require an arsenal of attorneys and consultants to assist in navigating their new venture. Additionally, these new business would have to take additional precautions to ensure that their new venture was not violating any minute portions of SOPA that could trigger a complaint from a cash-flushed corporation or others bent on taking out the competition. All this would require additional upfront money and could cause many to give up on their brilliant ideas because of lack of funding, for fear of being legally punished, or just not wanting to deal with the headache and stress of additional regulation. Think of all the major internet businesses that have changed our lives, including many that we use on a daily (if not hourly) basis. Many of these companies were started in someone’s bedroom, with the idea of two students, or by some whiz kid. In a SOPA world, these new ideas, the innovation, and entrepreneurs could be quickly drowned in facing the reality of having to address so many unknown legal issues, having to fight a claim or complaint from a third party, or by the decision of the government.

I think it is important to understand that most of SOPA’s supporters are NOT advocating piracy in any form and it is a real issue sucking money away from innocent victims. However, supporters are not prepared to give up their Constitutional rights for this threat or to bring a crushing blow to the businesses and innovation that have shaped our lives and made them better. There definitely needs to be an effective approach to address the piracy problem, but legislators need to consider the detrimental effects of SOPA, or any other piece of related legislation, on businesses and resolve to protect those interests. Fortunately, SOPA’s vote has been postponed for at least another month, which gives additional time for supporters to voice their opinions and stave off an impending attack.

About the author:

Follow @ShaineAlleman

Shaine has always been fascinated with how people interact with each other and shape the world around them. The internet and social media has brought a whole new sphere in these communications and has produced a world our past would have never imagined possible. He is finishing his law degree and plans on being a licensed attorney by August 2012. He will continue helping businesses navigate around pitfalls and have the most success possible. (NOTE: Any information provided by Shaine is in no way meant to be a legal opinion and/or legal advice. It is important to contact a licensed attorney to obtain proper legal advice for your situation.)

Caution: Follow Me At Your Own Risk

Recently, an episode of “Staffers Gone Wild” played out on the internet with the unbelievable tweets of government staff members being broadcast for all to see. Isn’t it comforting to know that your hard earned tax dollars are being spent to fund the watching of Nirvana videos or support drinking while on the job? I’m not here to talk about the politics of this behavior, as I will leave that up to the political pundits to comment on.

What I do want to talk about are some potential legal ramifications that exist in businesses with easy access to the thousands of open eyes and ears reading your posts and tweets. We all know that social media marketing, imaging, and messaging are extremely important in shaping your brand. It takes a lot of time and money to get others to see you as you want them to. However, with one simple tweet your whole plan and message can be compromised, leaving you open to liabilities and harming your brand. Additionally, there are a host of legal pitfalls awaiting you.

It is important to know that each of your employees using social media accounts can be potentially viewed as “agents” of your company. While the law recognizes various types and levels of agents, it has been generally defined as basically someone who is authorized to act for another and/or someone that the outside world would reasonably believe is working on behalf the company (each state has its own “agency” laws and a licensed attorney should be contacted to provide proper legal advice regarding your situation). Any employee tweeting or posting may potentially become a liability to you. Regarding a private (social media) account, employers are somewhat limited in controlling an employee’s personal posts. However, there may be an issue if employees are posting company-related information on their private accounts.

Regarding social media content, businesses need to be aware of laws that govern and limit what can be posted. One of the laws is the Federal Trade Commission’s truth-in-advertising rules, which require businesses to not make misleading, false, or deceptive claims in their advertisements. There are also many intellectual property and copyright laws governing what you can use for your own business without infringing on another company’s ownership rights. Additionally, defamation and harassment laws limit what can be said without invoking other types of legal action from companies or individuals.

So what are some things that you can do to help protect your business?

1. Understand Your Legal Limits – Before employees can understand what information can and cannot be use online, those at the top need to understand first. Seek out those laws that affect your business and understand your legal limits. Of course, if there are any questions, consult a licensed attorney that can address your questions.
2. Empower Your Employee Policy Manuals – In all of your employee policy manuals you should have clear and detailed policies regarding social media use, including who is and is not allowed to post content. When hiring 3rd parties to post content for you, be sure to have clear communications regarding what is allowed and prohibited. It is highly recommended that you hire a licensed attorney to review or write your policy manuals and to draft and review your employee contracts/agreements to minimize your legal risk.
3. Train, Train, Train – Have immediate training with new employees and frequent follow-up training that communicates clearly what can and cannot be said online regarding your business. You should also train employees regarding the potential risks that can occur when using their private accounts, such as defamation, trade secret disclosure, etc.
4. Monitor Content – Depending on the size of your business and the amount of content being generated, this may be a difficult one to accomplish. However, it is extremely important to know what information is going out to the public regarding your business. Have someone in your company that is knowledgeable of the risks to oversee posted content. If something detrimental does go out, the damage may already be done. However, damage control can be better executed the earlier damage is caught.
5. Plan for the Disaster – No one likes think that something bad will happen to them. However, if damaging content does go out, do you have a plan in place? Depending on the harm of the content the plan can range from a quick apology, to reprimanding or firing an employee, to quickly consulting an attorney to defend yourself from legal action. Sit down with your staff and determine what detrimental scenarios can occur from detrimental content and put an action plan in place that can be quickly executed to handle any issues. It is also wise to consult an attorney to review your plans and ensure that proper protections are in place.

(NOTE: In any business, legal issues are not to be trifled with. This information is in no way meant to be construed as a legal opinion and/or as legal advice. The author has provided the information provided herein simply for informational purposes only. It is important to properly plan, prepare and protect yourself from legal issues by contacting a licensed attorney to obtain legal advice for your particular situation.)

About the author:

Shaine has always been fascinated with how people interact with each other and shape the world around them. The internet and social media has brought a whole new sphere in these communications and has produced a world our past would have never imagined possible. He is finishing his law degree and plans on being a licensed attorney by August 2012. He will continue helping businesses navigate around pitfalls and have the most success possible. (NOTE: Any information provided by Shaine is in no way meant to be a legal opinion and/or legal advice. It is important to contact a licensed attorney to obtain proper legal advice for your situation.)

A lot of times when online marketers think about doing competitive analysis we just look at the SEO and PPC side of things. But if you really consider yourself to be an “online marketer,” you need to look beyond just the two obvious channels. You should also try to figure out what your competitors are doing for testing, retargeting, and any other advertising networks they might be using.

It won’t be possible to figure out everything your competitor is doing, but by doing a little detective work you can get an idea of at least some of the tactics they’re using. Once you have that information, you can then evaluate and see if there are additional tactics that you should be using as well.

The key to finding out if your competitor is using any of these tactics is simply to dig through their code and see if you can find the right signals.

Split or A/B Testing

There are a lot of tests that a site can run on it’s content, but in the end the goal of doing testing is to make changes to your site that lead to better conversion. If you can find out what your competitor is testing, you can then evaluate it to see if it’s something you should be testing as well.

Some of the common testing platforms include:

• Omniture Test&Target
• Google Website Optimizer
• Optimizely
• Vertster
• And a lot more (any you use you wanna share? drop them in the comments)

Each of these platforms will require the site to install a snippet of code for it to work. One of the great things about code snippets is that lots of times the default version will have a comment tag identifying what the script is. For example, in the instructions for Google Website Optimizer this is the beginning of the code that they give you:

<!– Google Website Optimizer Tracking Script –>
<script type=”text/javascript”>

Good pages to look for this kind of code would be any landing pages, product pages, or shopping cart pages. Testing almost always has to do with conversion, so look on the pages of your competitor’s site that are focused on conversion.

If you find a snippet of code that you don’t know what it is, search for it in Google and you’ll likely find a tutorial about it identifying what platform it belongs to. The best way to do this is to copy a generic part of the code. For example, if you search in Google for “mboxCreate()” most of the search results have something about Omniture Test&Target. But if you just do a search for ‘mbox’ you’re going to get a lot of electronics products in your search results, which obviously isn’t very helpful.

A lot of the testing companies will also require you to put a snippet of code around the element that your testing. If your competitor is using this kind of platform you can easily see what they’re testing. If they are using a more advanced system, you will want to try cacheless refreshes, or coming to their site through different channels and see if you notice any changes to the page.

Retargeting Pixels

If you’ve been reading online marketing blogs or gone to any Internet marketing conferences lately, you’ve likely heard a lot about retargeting. It’s a really hot topic, and for good reason – if done right it works really well!

So how do you know if you competitor is using a retargeting network? Once again, HTML comments are your best friend. For example, here’s a sample code for Google Remarketing (one of the most popular remarketing networks):

Google Remarketing Code

As you can probably guess, there are a lot or retargeting networks out there. The nice thing is that these tracking pixels will almost always be at the bottom of the HTML code. So once again, go to a product or lead page and look at the bottom of the code to see what kinds of scripts you can find. Then, search for a generic part of that includes words that might identify the company.

Here’s a list of some retargeting company names to watch for when looking for retargeting snippets:

• Retargeter
• Google Remarketing
• AdRoll
• Fetchback
• and more!

Conversion Tracking Pixels – The Goldmine

The goldmine for this kind of detective work is in the shopping cart, or the lead confirmation page. Think of it this way: if you’re doing any testing, retargeting, or advertising with some kind of specialized network you have to be able to tell if a visitor actually converted or not. This is the same for different banner networks, PPC, and anything else that you’re tracking conversion rates on.

For example, if someone converts you don’t want to retarget them for a regular sale anymore. If someone came to your site through a banner ad you’ve placed on a site, you need to be able to tell if that banner helped lead to the conversion. All of these conversion pixels are found on the receipt of lead confirmation page.

HTML comment tags are once again your best friend since most conversion pixels will have an identifying comment before and/or after them. If they don’t have a comment, you will most likely be able to see the name of the company in the code since most companies will include their company name in their function names.

This is one of the only ways that you can really find out what kinds of specialized banner networks your competitor is advertising with which is another reason why I call this the goldmine.

Who’s Smarter – You Or Your Competitor?

As you can see, by digging through the code of a site you can learn a lot about some of the additional online tactics they are using. And this can really help you understand how sophisticated and advanced your competitor is.

In some cases you’ll find that you’re ahead of the game and they aren’t doing much. But in other cases you’ll find that you have a lot you can learn from your competitor. Make sure that if this is the case, you take the time to learn the lesson well and further investigate what networks and technologies they’re using so you can become a more sophisticated competitor to them.

Why is this you might ask?

I personally don’t think I’m a negative guy. In fact, when I worked in “Corporate America” I was given the “Best Attitude” Award…ha ha!

The reason things tend to turn negative, in my opinion (IMO), is because my friends know that what I’m doing as a self-employed entrepreneur is EXACTLY what they want to be doing…but they’re afraid to take the leap from that “security”.

SECURITY MY EYE!

It’s also because, due to the “chains” that have tied them down, there really aren’t a lot of positive things for them to share with me.

In an effort to give you more than just my own biased opinion about self-employment, I reached out to some of the people I look up to in this world of self-employed freedom. Here’s what they had to say:

I worked as a consultant for two years, in those two years I saw my dress sense, hygiene, sleep patterns, health and body go to complete shit. I was working all the time I wasn’t sleeping, and I wasn’t sleeping enough, I would wake up and start working often without showering or dressing, often without having breakfast, never at the same time, I would order in and eat unhealthy foods, and I was almost completely sedentary.

So my advice, have a room in your house that is a dedicated office space. Make sure you wake up at the same time every day and start work at the same time every day, make sure you have breakfast, shit/shower/shave and dress appropriately. Cook your meals, take frequent breaks and go for walks, do stretches, etc.

Do everything the opposite of what I was doing. I was young and learned it the hard way. I was wide-eyed at the prospect of working from home but honestly, you have to pretend you’re not at home so you work smarter if not harder, work in an office space (don’t forget it’s tax-deductible), make sure you don’t let yourself get distracted by kids/wife/tv/anything else.

- Muhammad Saleem

To get all of the influential people in his/her life on board with the decision being made. You need to make sure that everyone understands the decision you have made, why you have made it, and that you simply can’t deal with detractors and doubters over the next couple of months/years.

- Dave Mink

In the words of Nike: Just Do It – make sure and have a plan though, set goals and work your ass off to achieve them. Leave all fear behind. There is no room for fear in self employment. Network. Use your connections and social media to let the world know what you are doing and how they can help. If you do, you will realize quite soon how much money you were losing by limiting yourself to a 9-5 … Be prepared for trials, but know after much adversity comes much success.

- Mat Siltala

• be out of debt
• be willing to lose
• have the funds to make educational “gambles”
• be smart, if someone can do it better than you, hire that person to do it
• stay connected with your market
• be flexible
• and work with your pants off

 

- Paul Barker

From time to time I get to work with clients who are classic “Corporate America”:

• They have to asked permission to speak in turn
• They have to bring in 5-7 people to make simple decisions and get everyone’s complete buy-off
• They have to use lots of acronyms and corporate “jargon” to sound more sophisticated
• They use lots of cliches like “Win Win” and “ROI” and “High-Level”

Granted, there may be some “Corporate America” jobs that are to die for. But in my experience and in talking with many others, they are definitely few and far between.

So what can be done?

Gary Vaynerchuk, one of my favorite social media rockstars, shared this advice:

The key concept you have to take away from all of this advice is you have to WORK; you have to WORK; you have to WORK! Continuing to work at your crappy day job and doing your self-employed dream on the side for a while is ok.

But don’t fall into the trap of “someday I’ll take that leap” because that someday may never come.

I took the self-employment leap over a year ago. It hasn’t been easy, but I’ve learned a lot of things.

Here’s my list of suggestions on how you can take that leap and work your way out of “Corporate America Hell”…

The Hell-Hole Release Formula

• keep working on your businesses while your at work (or before or after hours if that’s more safe)
• set specific, measurable, reachable goals and HIT THEM
• make a list of ALL your contacts
• make a list of all the special skills you have that you can offer as services
• set up a freshbooks account: http://bit.ly/mm-fresh-books
• it’s a free invoicing tool that helps you keep books as you do work
• it also has a timer to keep track of hours you’re working on projects
• it took me a bit to figure out how to best use it, but now it’s basically something I HAVE to use to keep up on book keeping
• it will save you money from paying a slimy accountant the beaucou bucks
• use a tool like GoalForIt.com to keep track of progress
• write out what you would LOVE to do if money weren’t an option
• write out what you’d love to do for work if you could pick one thing
• learn how to sell, sell, sell
• EVERYTHING starts with a sale
• Most Important Tip: go to all your friends who have taken the same path and ask them lots of questions (ie. insurance, accountant, tips, tricks, any partnership opps, etc.)

Thoughts?

Suggestions?

What do you think?

Social Media Stats

Infographic & Viral Marketing from Dream Systems Media

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A lesson in Repurposing Content -

I heard an English teacher once say that “Every modern love story is a copy of Shakespeare.” She used Westside Story as an extreme example, stolen from Romeo and Juliet. She went on to challenge us to find a theme that Shakespeare did not cover. But there are those who argue that Shakespeare himself stole content. Who did Shakespeare steal stories from? Well, no one really knows at this point. But if he did borrow some ideas, does that constitute stealing? He took stories and themes and reworked them so eloquently that they became his own. Taking a peak at what people have done in the past and building upon their thoughts and ideas can be a healthy exercise. Adding to the conversation is a good thing. Further, those that we can identify with and build better thoughts with may even thank us. …or not. Matt Cutts may just consider me more of a pest than a pest control guy. I concede. But thanks Matt Cutts for the original Pac-Man Pie Chart idea.

Making Viral Pieces

Do your homework first. Successful viral marketing campaigns don’t just “happen”.  Search out things that have already been done in your vertical. People send the same chain letters over, and over again. In fact, I was shocked just recently to get an email about some scandal 5 years after the first bogus email came through. Yet, the same sensationalism exists, and that email was forwarded and will continue to be forwarded for who knows how long. The point being, if it worked once then it will likely work again. If people liked it before then they will like it again. Weighing human nature into business is part of a winning strategy. Love songs are still sung, and new songs still come. So find something that worked well in the past and do it again. Do it better. You may not be able to judge a viral piece correctly every time, but if you do your homework then you can certainly increase your percentages.

But Don’t mind me, Just a pest control guy… Make it a great day!

-Thomas Ballantyne III
Director of Marketing for Bulwark Exterminating
Follow me on Twitter —> @Thos003