“We live in a world where consumers actively resist marketing. So it’s imperative to stop marketing at people. The idea is to create an environment where consumers will market to each other.”

“You can no longer survive by interrupting strangers with messages they don’t want to hear, about a product they’ve never heard of, using methods that annoy them. Consumers have too little time and too much power to stand for this any longer.”

“Marketing is about spreading ideas, and ideas are all you have left to compete with.”

Thought I would offer some food for thought with these excerpts from “Unleashing the SUPER Ideavirus” and maybe entice you to rethink the way you market your products and services.

Give your customers a reason to trust your message and your bottom line will thank you.

This goes far beyond what I ever imaged an ebook could look llike, but then again, the iPad is no ordinary eReader. Imagine the possibilities…

What does the publishing industry have to do with the earthquake?

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for the publishing industry, life finds a way to surprise you. It seems unlikely that a natural disaster and political factors can affect an industry so seemingly unrelated, but it’s true.

Chile’s earthquake and the recent Finnish port strike are causing pulp prices to rise to new levels.  Higher pulp prices = higher paper prices for all of those in the publishing industry.

Fun fact : Chile and Finland account for 12% of world pulp sales.

But wait, it gets better. One Chinese paper producer is taking full advantage of the shortage by increasing its price per ton from $150 to $1,050.

Can you see my point about the ebook industry? Not only is information moving online because of the internet boom but this most recent rise in pulp prices won’t hurt either.

And did you know that magazines like Gourmet spend 95% on overhead costs and only 5% on creating the content that gets them subscribers?

You Should Write an Ebook:

1. Because you need to provide value to your customers. If you own a gardening business, you could write an ebook about starting a vertical garden. A photographer can write a beautiful and illustrated ebook about taking creative family portraits.

2. Because although information is free, it’s highly coveted. Discuss issues surrounding your industry with your customers. Tell them something no one else wants to admit and let them spread the word about you.

3. Because we need to stop marketing AT our customers. “We live in a world where customers actively resist marketing. The idea is to create an environment where customers will market to each other. Marketing is about spreading ideas, and ideas are all you have left to compete with.”

How to Write an Ebook

I’m putting together a simple and informative ebook about writing ebooks. Topics will include:

• A list of software options for creating your ebook.
• How to design a simple, visual ebook.
• How to promote your ebook.
• How to use your ebook to build a tribe of loyal subscribers and customers.
• Ideas for ebook subjects.

The plan is to email it out as soon as I’ve compiled enough quality info. If you want a free copy, sign up below:

When is it most productive to use Twitter? What’s the best day of the week for retweeting? Well, a picture really is worth a thousand words so I’ll let David McCandless’s visual do all the talking.

I found Apture while reading Inc.com’s “30 Under 30” article. It’s such an amazing tool for bloggers that I have to share it. Ready for a little demonstration? By the way, this might not work if you’re using a feed reader; you might want to click back to the actual post.

First, you can embed links that pop out an info window, like the ones I posted above. Click the links to see what I mean. The benefit here is that you give readers an informational snippet without them leaving your website.

Secondly,  you can embed an object along with tons of other content in the form of thumbnails.

• As the main object, I chose this awesome picture I took of the French Quarter from the rooftop lounge of our hotel.
• The first thumbnail below that is an image of crawfish bubbling away in a huge pot right on the sidewalk of the French Quarter. Click on it and it’ll pop right out.
• Then, click the next thumbnail to read about the Omni, the hotel we took the rooftop picture from.  The Omni Royal Orleans has the most incredible staff.
• The third thumbnail shows you the most amazing plantation on the Mississippi. Two rows of giant oaks lead to a plantation built in the 1800’s. It’s breathtaking.
• Then, another cool pic of Londy and the St. Louis Cathedral in the background.
• Next, you can read a Wikipedia article about creole food, which is the only reason we went to New Orleans!
• And lastly, Mother’s Restaurant, where we gorged ourselves with po-boys, crawfish étouffée, jambalaya and bread pudding.

As you can see, this tool is a beautiful and clean way to add a gallery of content to your blog and give visitors more information without having them leave your website.

Other content options include YouTube videos, which play right on the pop-up window, along with documents, audio files, articles, and even google map locations.

It’s free to download and very easy to install so go have some fun. If you need help of have questions I’m happy to help!

I’m sure I’m not the only one who collects useless vacation crap. For years, my junk of choice was shot glasses. I bought one on every vacation I went on until I realized how terribly tacky dozens of shot glasses looked on my shelf. But as tacky as they looked, I couldn’t bear to throw them out. So here’s my DIY project for useless junk, which added up to approximately 30 shot glasses.

Ingredients: 1 hurricane vase, 1 pack LED lights, 30 shot glasses (feel free to substitute w/ junk of your choice)

Start by placing the end of the LED string on the bottom and gently laying the shot glasses on their side in all directions. To get an extra burst of colorful light, I inserted some of the lights inside the shot glasses with the prettiest colors. Pile them up and you’re done! I placed mine on a shelf and it currently serves dual purposes – ambient light and a book end.

Night & Day Shot Glass Lamp

I also like to grab business cards from every restaurant I eat at, so I’m in the process of dreaming up an new DIY project to take care of that mess as well. More on that soon! Happy DIY-ing!

I never thought I’d love animal print on a house. Inspiring isn’t it? I would love to know who lives in these houses (check out the other 11).

These two jewelry displays by Kate from Design*Sponge are probably the most creative I’ve seen. Both require some elbow grease but the results will be worth it.

1. Wood Carved Bust

2. Hidden Jewelry

So get to work and send me pictures of your creations. I’d love to post them!

Don’t be so quick to dismiss your abilities.

Genius = Artist = Linchpin = an individual who can walk into chaos and create order, someone who can invent, connect, and make things happen. A Linchpin is someone who isn’t afraid to stand out or to share her gift with the world. And more importantly, it’s someone who’s willing to break the rules.

So can you be a linchpin? Seth thinks we all can.

“The linchpins among us are not the ones born with a magical talent. No, they are people who have decided that a new kind of work is important, and trained themselves to do it. I’ve never met someone who had no art in them, though it’s buried sometimes.

The Old American Dream: keep your head down, follow instructions, show up on time, work hard, suck it up…you will be rewarded.

The New American Dream: be remarkable, be generous, create art, make judgment calls, connect people and ideas…and we have no choice but to reward you.”

Believe me when I say, you NEED to read this book. If you’re not convinced yet, check out Seth’s 2.0 Media Tour.

Sometimes a change in perspective can breathe new life into an object. I flipped my jewelry tree on its side for a more artistic look.

It might not hurt to try and approach everything from a different angle.