When I was growing up, it was a given that when you finished high school, you went to university. This was automatic. This was guaranteed.

If you went to university, you’d be fine.

If you didn’t, you’d be screwed.

But most people I know with extraordinarily successful careers say a university education can be a waste of time. They’ve seen many, many students who attend university only to finish with degrees that are completely irrelevant to their future career.

The same successful people will tell you that an online course can absolutely transform your business, your career, and your success.

Here’s why:

Online Courses Correlate to Your Business

In university, most of your classes won’t translate to your career.

You’ll learn language skills as you write essays, sure, but no one’s going to ask you to write a 20-page screed on Proust in any marketing department. You might learn statistics skills or some algebra, but you won’t learn how to do your taxes.

And so on.

Online courses are specifically designed to solve real-world problems. Problems you’re probably having in your business right now

Not sure how to market your business? There’s a course for everything from how to set up an email marketing account to how to conduct a full-scale guerilla marketing campaign. Don’t know how to write that sales page? There’s a course that tells you exactly how. Not sure how to write an ebook? There’s help for that too.

Online, you’ll find a huge array of courses that makes sure that whatever your problem, someone can guide you step by step through the answer.

And that’s guidance that’s near impossible to find anywhere else.

Speaking of which . . .

You’re Never Without an Online Course

I know many people who’ve taken workshops, seminars, or specific courses to learn more about business topics. Those courses are often great, and they usually offer the ability to talk directly with the instructor or speaker, so it’s easier to get questions answered in the moment.

The problem is that it’s extremely rare for those workshops or seminars or courses to be offered when you actually need them.

If you saw a flier tomorrow for a seminar on how to conduct an affiliate program, you might pass up because you’re not currently looking to start an affiliate program. Six months from now, when you have a product that needs affiliates, you’ll wish you’d taken the course.

But it’ll be too late.

Online courses are usually more flexible. Whenever you want to learn something, you can find someone offering it. You can educate yourself at the same pace your business develops, which means you’ll never have to walk into a new phase without the knowledge you need to pull it off well.

Oh, and by the way…

Online Courses Are Cheap

Many people balk at the price of online courses, which can run in the thousands. This always baffles me, and here’s why:

On average, an upper-level university course costs about $3,000 in the United States – and there’s no distinction between useful courses and non-useful courses. Want a full education? $40,000 is the norm. (It’s not much cheaper in Canada, by the way.)

And out of that 40 grand, there might be two courses that were in any way useful to your career.

But the same people who shelled out tens of thousands to take Shakespearean iambic pentameter balk at paying a reasonable fee for information they actually need to run their business.

That class on Russian social studies will never earn your business any money. The online course on how to launch a product successfully? You bet it will.

Any course worth its salt helps you earn back the price of the course AND go on to make a sizeable profit on your investment. They give you immediate potential to create more wealth – and they’re tax-deductible, too.

I’d say that’s the best ROI you’ll see in the business world.

And guess what?

Online Courses Get Personal

Sitting down in a classroom with other students and the instructor has its advantages. Interaction is one of them: You can raise your hand, discuss with peers and listen to what they have to say.

Some people think that online courses are still plug and play, where you learn on your own in a solitary vacuum, and the instructor never shows up. And way back when, that’s exactly what used to happen.

Online courses have changed a lot since those days.

Most online courses come with forums where you can interact with your peers and your instructor. Some have live calls where you chat as a group. Some have video conferences, or webinars, or chat features.

They’re alive. They’re real-time. And you always know how to email the instructor for personal help so he can answer your questions promptly when they arise.

Learning online is the next best thing to being in a classroom – in fact, it’s even better. What university lets you show up in pajamas, munching on a snack and holding a mug of Irish coffee?

Yeah. Exactly.

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Post by James Chartrand

James Chartrand is an entrepreneur, a pro copywriter and the founder and CEO of Men with Pens and Damn Fine Words, the game-changing writing course for business owners. She loves the color blue, her kids, and ice skating.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
How Taking an Online Course Can Transform Your Business first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

This quote has been stalking me for weeks now:

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”- Jim Rohn

It gets me. It really gets me. And here’s why:

In the business books and blogs we all love, there is constant talk of finding our ‘tribe’, our most ideal clients. We create elaborate customer avatars to dig down into the demographics and psychology of our tribe.

And we spend no small part of our time strategizing where we will locate potential tribe members, how we can connect with them and the key influencers we need to give us credibility.

Cultivating a tribe (even if you don’t call it that) is what most good marketing strategies are all about.

But in order to build and maintain our business tribe while still producing our actual products and services, there is another sort of tribe that we cannot ignore. It’s the tribe that Jim is referring to in his quote.

The Foundational Tribe

This is the tribe of significant others, friends, family or colleagues that we turn to when we need a break. They are the ones we call when we score a new client and they’re also the ones we call when we lose a client. They’re the people we lean on.

Most of us spend a lot of time thinking about and cultivating our ideal business tribe, but hardly any time creating our best possible foundational tribe.

Why is that?

We need a strong foundational tribe in order to be able to create an awesome business tribe. It’s basic common sense: if you feel alone and unsupported, all of your endeavors, business and otherwise, are going to be a heck of a lot harder.

Our foundational tribe is the engine that drives us to run our business, complete the marathon, publish that book or take that vacation.

Pretty important tribe, huh?

So ask yourself this: when you think of the average of the five people you spend the most time with, are you happy with that idea? Or do the names you come up with disturb you a little?

Maybe it’s time for some tribe cleaning.

Is there someone in your foundational tribe who really shouldn’t be there? Someone who takes and takes but isn’t giving you much value in return?

A lot of us are holding onto people that aren’t contributing to our rock solid foundation. Instead, we’re allowing them to put cracks in it.

And let me reiterate: If you’re not getting the support you need outside your business, that weakness will eventually sneak its way into your business.

So this isn’t even a purely personal question. This is about creating sustainable, solid businesses that thrive for a long time to come.

Without a strong foundation to stand on, your business will suffer.

It’s your tribe. You choose who stays or leaves. You are not chained to any of these people. If you’re not satisfied with the relationship, do something about it.

Easier said than done. Taking action in these situations is tough, especially when we have history with the person, mutual friends or maybe even live on the same street.

I get it. I’ve been there a bunch of times. If there was an easy checklist to make this less painful, I would give it to you. But there isn’t.

For some people, walking away isn’t the solution. Maybe these are your right people but neither of you have been investing in the relationship. Maybe it’s not too late and you can still get the train back on its tracks.

For others, walking away might be the only solution.

I can’t tell you which option is best and neither can anyone else. And you don’t need me to. Deep down, you know what needs to be done.

Yes. You do.

Are there people in your foundational tribe that are hurting you more than they’re helping? What are you going to do about it? Are you going to let them keep affecting your business negatively?

Or are you going to replace them with a tribe that truly helps you flourish?

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Post by Annika Martins

Annika is currently based in the Cayman Islands. When she’s not standing in her kitchen eating sun-dried tomatoes by the gallon, she spends her time coaching entrepreneurs (and the wanna-be self employed) to bring in the revenue they need to live the lifestyle they want. To read more (and watch her cool videos) about her passion for tomatoes drowning in olive oil and her belief that every entrepreneur needs a good swift kick in the ass, visit her blog.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
Is It Time to Clean Up Your Tribe? first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

It’s the middle of summer. You’re going camping, and you have the option of two campsites. One is by a running stream. The other is by a pond.

Which do you choose?

If you’ve ever had a run-in with mosquitoes before, you pick the stream. Running water doesn’t allow algae and rotten leaves to collect and rot on the surface, which means mosquitoes don’t have anywhere to lay their eggs.

What does this have to do with writing?

If you’re doing the same things over and over again, your writing has become stagnant.

Nothing is moving. Nothing is changing. Your creativity is festering. And yeah, your business is probably starting to go a little rotten around the edges.

Here’s how you keep your stream of thought clear – and avoid a business that stinks.

Keep Things Moving

Moving is better than standing still. That means you should be constantly learning, applying new ideas, and pushing forward.

If you’ve been at the same level in your business for more than a year, you’re a still pond. You’ve had the same number of clients and a consistent level of income. You write the same number of posts on the same topics every week. You haven’t launched a new product in months – maybe you’ve never launched one at all.

Since nothing is strictly wrong with your business, you think you’re doing okay. But since you’re not challenging yourself, you’re probably getting pretty bored.

And your creativity is completely stale.

It’s time to get the river flowing again.

Challenge Yourself

Challenge yourself to do one new thing in your business every day. Crack out those e-courses and ebooks you’ve bought and start writing down the tasks they suggest in your calendar.

Your business will begin growing and changing because of your efforts. And as your business changes and grows, up the challenges.

If you’ve successfully launched a product, start researching how to pull off an even bigger launch next time. If you’ve doubled your client base, start investigating whether you should take on some help to triple it.

Never stop moving forward. Standing still is how the skeeters get you.

Clear Out the Debris

After applying new strategies and ideas, you’ll find that your business has begun moving forward – but slooooowly. You’re not so much a river as a trickling stream, and you’ve probably got a lot of debris collected around the edges.

What do I mean by “debris”?

A bad accounting system. Procrastination habits. An email system that doesn’t work. A typo that’s been on your website for ages. A newsletter that you never actually send out, even though you have sign-ups and subscribers.

That’s the sort of stuff that’ll start to fester and wreak havoc on your business if you don’t watch out.

So here’s your second challenge: in addition to adding one new thing that works for you every day, start looking for one old thing that’s working against you.

These can be small things. On the first day, maybe you fix that typo. On the second day, write an email for your list. On the third day, call up some accountants in your area.

One new thing and one old thing, every day.

Raise Awareness

Any environmentalist will tell you that one of the reasons running water turns into stagnant pools is because of erosion and destruction by well-meaning campers.

Since they don’t know they’re causing harm, they don’t stop. But if they realize how important it is to help out, they’ll get engaged – and they’ll recruit others to the cause.

This equates to marketing.

If you’re looking to make your business a more engaging, creative, fast-moving place, you need people to rally to your cause.

You want to bring around and encourage people who want to work with you – or even for you.

You want to develop relationships with people who have similar ambitions, like colleagues and peers who are willing to lend a hand when you need one in exchange for your help when they need you.

How do you improve your marketing? By raising awareness.

Get on social media and talk about what you’re trying to do. Ask for help and get people’s feedback. Write to people directly and see if they’d be willing to help.

Let people know what you’re trying to do. Revamp your mission statement or philosophy or About page. Put up a notice on your home page that says what you’re all about.

Promote your products and services. Shout it from the rooftops: this is a place where creativity flows.

Smell that? That’s not the stinky whiff of stagnancy. That’s the sweet scent of awesomeness.

Got some ideas for stirring up still waters? Let’s hear ‘em in the comments.

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Post by Taylor Lindstrom

Taylor hails from Boulder, CO, and she blogs for people who are too good to fail over at... well, Too Good to Fail. Go check out her inspiring posts now.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
Are You Building a Business That Stinks? first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

The holidays are coming. You know it. I know it. I see Christmas lights going up faster that lightning strikes, and people have started asking me, “Bought your kids any gifts yet?”

I have. But before I planned what I’d buy for my family, I thought of what I’d buy for myself.

This goes against popular thinking. Buy for yourself? No way. Other people are supposed to buy you gifts!

Except when they’re not.

Take Care of Number One First

Years ago during a talk with my brother, he pointed a firm finger at me and said, “Take care of Number One first.”

I was young. I had no idea what he meant. But as I grew older, I learned… the hard way.

I took care of others first. I clocked long work hours. I gave too much and got very little in return. I trained people to take advantage of me – and they did. I was overly generous with my time, my money and my friendship, and got burned for it. I cut back on my sleep. I neglected my nutrition.

I ignored my general health and happiness for the benefit of other people.

Never a good idea.

Eventually I realized I was exhausting myself, getting walked all over and being taken for granted. And slowly I learned how to start taking care of myself by pushing back.

I finally understood that if I didn’t take care of myself first, no one else would.

Give to Yourself Before Others

I decided one day that I needed to give to myself first – and I made that a literal gift. I wrote a wish list, and I started making steps to give them to myself.

I choose gifts I knew would improve my quality of life. Gifts that eliminated an annoyance of mine, that made me more productive or relaxed, or that helped me increase my financial freedom.

They were business-related gifts. Gifts that increased my potential, that helped me accomplish goal after goal. Gifts that let me attain all my dreams, and desires.

Think about it: Would you be able to earn more money if you improved your skill set? Would you be able to widen your service offerings with some training? Would a better website boost your sales? Would more focused web copy turn more visitors into clients?

Of course. And when you gift yourself with these and other business-related investments, they pay off.

Your customer base increases, your products sell faster, your services become in demand and your bank account starts growing.

The Real Magic: Taking Action

Here’s the real magic that happens when you decide to gift yourself: You take action. You start making steps towards reaching your goals. You work harder on your business to bring in new customers and sales. You clean up your act, get on it, and get going.

And the gift? Not only does it increase your business potential for years to come, but it becomes the reward you give yourself for your hard work.

Double-win, I’d say.

So sit down right now and make a list. Think good and hard about the gifts you’d like this year. Then make yourself a promise that you’ll take steps to get them. And don’t just promise – actually commit to taking action.

Don’t Make Money Excuses

Some gifts you want (or need!) may cost a lot and you can’t get them right away. That’s okay. In fact, it’s even better if you have to work towards saving up for your gifts slowly, because you’ll work harder to earn them, with more intention and with stronger motivation.

Work harder on your business. Set sales goals each week. And set money aside from those sales each week too. Stash 10% of your earnings away. Cut spending and expenses. Give less to others. Go frugal. You can even get a little stingy for a few months.

It’s not selfish, believe me. Buying gifts for yourself means you’re taking care of Number One.

And when you do, you’ll soon realize you’re in a much better position to take care of everyone else around you.

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Post by James Chartrand

James Chartrand is an entrepreneur, a pro copywriter and the founder and CEO of Men with Pens and Damn Fine Words, the game-changing writing course for business owners. She loves the color blue, her kids, and ice skating.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
What Gift Are You Giving Yourself This Year? first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

I’ve got news for you: The coming year? It’s YOUR year.

Introducing the Men with Pens Insanity Sale – a one-time event now extended to January 2, 2012!

You might have put some effort into your website already. But deep down, you probably know it needs some attention. Maybe you need better website design. Maybe you need brilliant copy. Maybe you need both.

Whatever you need… we’ve got it.

We usually sell our 5-page web copy package for $2,387.

It’s yours for $999.

We usually sell our world-class websites (complete with logo, social media customization and blog) for $4,999

Yours for $2,999.

Need a website AND web copy? You get the best deal of all. We’ll build you a ready-to-knock-their-socks-off website just dying to give your business that foothold for success… for only $3,799.

I remember looking at sales like this and thinking, “You must be crazy. I don’t have four grand kicking around just waiting for an opportunity to spend it to come along.” I’m betting you might be thinking that same thing right now.

That’s why we’re offering an installment plan.

Make a deposit of just $1,000 right now, and we’ll hold your place in line. We’ll start working on your website as soon as you’ve put down half – and you can take all the time you need to get there.

Use a credit card. Ask someone who knows how important this is for a loan. Hell, talk to us and we’ll try to come up with a solution to get you the website your business so badly needs.

This is the year your business stops barely hanging on and starts having a life of its own.

This is your year. Make it count.

Ready to take advantage of this insane offer? Just hit the button of your choice below.

Website Design

One custom-designed WordPress website, complete with logo and blog.

Web Copy

5 pages of brilliant web copy, ready to help boost your sales.

The Whole Shebang

One custom-designed website AND 5 pages of web copy. Get ready to revamp your business!

Or, click here to contact us now. Tell us what you need, and we’ll take care of the rest. It’s that easy.

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Post by James Chartrand

James Chartrand is an entrepreneur, a pro copywriter and the founder and CEO of Men with Pens and Damn Fine Words, the game-changing writing course for business owners. She loves the color blue, her kids, and ice skating.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
The most insane – and hottest – offer ever. first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have done it. I have found the ultimate secret to success. The magic bullet, if you will. It’s a precise method that takes you from where you are now (nowhere) to where you want to be (pool side, surrounded by beautiful individuals and sipping on something that’ll get you very intoxicated).

Best of all, you won’t have to pay $997 for some bloated ebook + video course that takes 40 million hours to get through and bores you half to death.

Before I enlighten you on this amazing method, let me ask you something: Do you know why you haven’t already reached the success you seek?

• It’s not because you’re lazy (although some of you are).
• It’s not because you don’t know how (how-to products are more common than Oprah re-runs).
• It’s not because you don’t have the time (if you truly want something, you’ll make the damn time!)
• It’s not that you don’t have the passion (why else do you slave away 16 hours a day?)

The real reason you haven’t yet achieved success is because you haven’t clearly defined what success means to you. And you don’t keep your eye on the prize.

For example: Let’s say one week you define success by owning a Ferrari. Then the next week you wish for a mansion. The week after that you want to fly around in your own private jet, flush with your own service tending staff and the finest cook money can buy.

Well, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll never achieve any of these goals. Ever.

Why? Well first of all, you don’t even know what you want. Your success wish list jumps around more frequently than a kid playing hopscotch. Second, you don’t have a firm grip on your definition of success.

There is nothing wrong with material prizes as a definition of success. Just make damn sure that if you want to own a Ferrari, then you have an income stream that sustains the sort of lifestyle where you can drive around in one. And driving around in a Ferrari requires a very different income stream than flying around in a private jet. So does owning a mansion. It’s not a matter of aiming low or aiming high; that’s nonsense. It’s a matter of aiming, then locking on to the target.

So “success” should really mean “an income stream that sustains the lifestyle I desire.”

Here’s the good part: I know a method of achieving such success, and it’s practically foolproof.

1. First, define the prize you’d like to have. Pick one – and only one. Not ten.
2. Then, figure out how much income you need to achieve that prize and sustain it.

Let’s say you’d like a Ferrari. A used F430 costs around $170,000. Maintenance and gas for one is usually around $10,000 a year. Insurance has too many variables (such as your credit rating, accident history etc.) so we’ll leave that out for now. So you’d need a total sum of $220,000 to buy and sustain your Ferrari for 5 years.

Now take this goal, and divide it down to a monthly amount. So $220k works out to $18,333 per month. Now divide this further into a weekly goal, which works out to $4,583. That last step is mucho important – you need small, achievable steps in order to succeed.

So how will you make $4,583 per week? Well, being the savvy entrepreneur that you are, it’s highly likely that you’re going to have to sell stuff. Awesome stuff. If you don’t have stuff to sell, then do whatever it takes to create a valuable product to sell.

I want you to look at the products or services you provide. For the sake of simplicity, let’s say you have product A priced at $97 and product B priced at $197 and you want each of these products to make up 50% of your weekly goal. This means 23 copies of product A and 12 copies of product B. That equates to 3 sales per day of product A and about 2 sales per day of product B.

Think about that for a second. Is it really that hard to sell 2 copies of your high end product on a daily basis? That’s nothing. It’s so easily achievable it should be a joke. You should be laughing right now. But that’s not even the best part.

Here is where things get really good. Sign up for a newsletter service and create an autoresponder email list called Success Goal. Add your own email to this list – make sure it’s your main email, the one you check most often.

Next, set up 24 auto responders that you’ll send to yourself. 12 will be used to help you keep your eye on the prize, and the other 12 will be used to help you keep tabs on your small, achievable income goal steps.

Write two emails to send to yourself. You’ll copy/paste one in the Eye-On-The-Prize autoresponders and copy/paste the second in your Income Steps autoresponders. Set your system up to send the first autoresponder bi-weekly and the second autoresponder on a weekly basis.

Here’s an example of what you might write to yourself for the bi-weekly Eye-On-The-Prize email:

Title: Hey you cupcake, this is what you wanted to achieve

Dear Future Self,

On [date], you decided that achieving a Ferrari would be your ultimate symbol of success. Every action you take should help you move closer towards that goal. Look at what you’re doing – if it’s not helping you move closer, then stop immediately and get back on course.

Remember the initial excitement you felt when you thought about this goal. Visualize what it would feel like if – right now – you were driving around in that Ferrari. Don’t let go of this vision.

• If people try to throw you off track, show them your middle finger.
• If people get in your way, run them over.
• If you encounter huge obstacles, find a way around them.

Your goal is to get that Ferrari. Keep your eyes on the prize and pat yourself on the arse, because you rock.

Yourself

Your second, weekly autoresponder should look something like this:

Title: Your end of the week goal – $4,583

Dear Future Self,

By the end of today, you should have made 35 sales or have banked $4583. If you did, then congratulations! By the end of the year, you’ll have that Ferrari in your driveway, just like you wanted.

If you didn’t manage to hit your goal, then there’s something wrong. Increase your marketing, increase your conversions, or seek help so you can reach your targeted sales goals. Do whatever it takes!

Because if this keeps up, you’ll end up with mere chump change by the end of the year… just like every other average Joe.

You’re not average. Average doesn’t cut it. Thousands of people have Ferraris, and you can have one too. All you have to do is take the right action.

By next week, you should have $9,166  in your bank account. If you let yourself down, how will you set an example for others?

Wipe the dust off your shoulders, pick yourself up and back on the horse you go. HIYA!

Yourself

How perfect is that? Obviously your emails will be based on whatever prize and/or goals you’ve figured out, but the point is that the method works.

I used this very method to increase my client base by 100% and reduce my workload by about 50%. My ultimate success goal was the 100% increase in paying clients, which I achieved. My short-term goals were to increase my marketing efforts and create more template-type content I could customize in minutes instead of hours.

So be creative, and get cracking. The experts already tell you to set up autoresponders to stay in touch with your potential customers and get them to take action, so why wouldn’t you use this technique on yourself?

One thing I’ve realized is that knowing marketing psychology doesn’t make you immune to it… so instead of falling for other people’s hoopla, fall for your own. It’ll put money in your pocket instead of theirs. And if you found this method useful, consider putting money in my pocket. I won’t mind. I’ll even give some to James.

Here’s to brainwashing yourself to success.

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Post by Fitjerk

While he has a passion for writing and oozes the entrepreneurial spirit,FJ is a fitness expert first and foremost, focusing on impeccably accurate advice. To read more of his ramblings, check out his fitness blog.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
How to Spam Yourself to Success first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

Everyone’s heard they need an elevator pitch.

This pitch is supposed to be less than ten seconds, but it should be so compelling that your elevator companion immediately goes wide-eyed and captivated, clasps your hand and declares that they’ve never needed anything so much as they need you and your services, right now.

In an online world, pretty much no one rides the elevator with a prospective client. Steve Jobs created a lot of wondrous things before he passed, but a virtual elevator ride was not among them.

The elevator pitch can still get you clients, convert skeptics, and guide the entire course of your business marketing strategy, though.

With a few upgrades, that is.

When Fast Isn’t Fast Enough

When the elevator pitch was first conceived, it was a remarkable idea. Before, pitches were usually conducted in fifteen-minute-to-an-hour-long meetings, followed by a Q-and-A with plenty of time to cover anything you’d left out.

You could bring visuals and graphics. You could give analogies and anecdotes. You could display all your ideas for how to fix this particular client’s problems.

The idea of a pitch you could deliver in the mere ten seconds it takes to ride an elevator to the ground floor?

That was revolutionary.

It still is. The only difference is that the amount of time you have to convey what your business is and offers has narrowed.

Considerably.

Instead of 10 seconds, it’s more like 3 seconds. That’s about how long we spend on a website before deciding whether or not it’s worth our time.

The difference between 3 and 10 seconds doesn’t seem like much. They’re both very short periods of time.

But there are a few critical differences between the elevator pitch and the online pitch – and they all have to do with what happens in three seconds vs. ten.

Ten Seconds is a Captive Audience

The elevator ride worked as a concept because no one can escape your pitch on the elevator ride.

You have enough time to ask a critical set-up question. You have enough time to rescue a pitch that doesn’t land right during the first sentence. You have enough time to stumble and recover.

In three seconds, there’s no time for a recovery. You either land that person’s interest or you don’t.

You may have time to deliver a second pitch – but only if the first one hits a home run.

If the first pitch piques their interest and the second really hits home, you’ve got them. But if the first fails, they’ll never know about the second pitch.

They won’t be there anymore to hear it.

The lesson? In the online world, the elevator pitch loses its set-up. You have about two sentences to get your audience’s attention.

Make them count.

The Internet Is a Much Bigger Elevator

While you had more time to make an elevator pitch work, you were also limited by the number of people who were actually in the elevator with you.

An elevator pitch was designed to catch the interest of one person at a time. At a maximum, the pitch might catch three people – assuming they were all from the same company and had the same needs.

The elevator pitch was a one-at-a-time deal. The odds of there being two people in the elevator who would be swayed by the exact same pitch were next to nil.

The Internet is a different story. It’s possible to put your website in front of thousands of people on any given day.

You have essentially expanded your elevator to include a thousand people instead of three.

Your odds that several of those people will respond to the same pitch?

They just got a heck of a lot better.

The lesson: Just because you have less time to make an impression doesn’t mean you need to make your pitch generic. Your three-second pitch can be just as precise – or even more so – than your elevator pitch, because the size of the audience makes it more likely your precise pitch will find interested ears.

The Old Strategies Still Apply

The elevator pitch was distinct from a job description. That was part of the whole revelation, in fact.

Instead of simply saying, “I’m a copywriter,” the elevator pitch taught professionals to say things like, “I make businesses more appealing to their clients.”

The elevator pitch taught thousands of professionals that their job wasn’t important.

What was important was what they could accomplish for the client.

“I can get you more clients,” is an accomplishment. How you got them more clients – with great web design, fantastic copy, killer marketing strategies – was a detail.

It often wasn’t even a part of the pitch.

Focusing on the client’s needs instead of your own skill set? It still works.

Here’s what else still works: Asking the client a question when you already know the answer.

One of the classic elevator-pitch strategies was asking a question that 99% of people would answer yes.

• “Ever wish there were more hours in the day?”
• “Ever had one of those clients you just can’t satisfy?”
• “Ever get to the end of the month and find yourself a few clients short of your goal?”

The person in the elevator says, “Why, yes, I do have that problem sometimes.” Which gives the guy pitching a great opportunity to say the most important sentence in the history of marketing:

I can solve your problem.

That strategy still works in web copy. It still works in three seconds. All we’ve done is eliminate the need for the other guy to say yes.

• “Getting tired of strategists who think it’s their way or the highway? I can solve that problem.”
• “Not getting enough website conversions? I can solve that problem.”
• “Wondering how on earth to manage all your social media channels? I can solve that problem.”

It’s the oldest strategy in the book. And it still works – in just three seconds.

What’s Next for the Elevator Pitch

Once you understand your elevator pitch, it becomes the basis for every piece of copy you’ll create. It will help you draft your website copy, your marketing emails, even your Twitter bio.

You’ll start seeing the world in the space of three seconds and answering the critical question:

What problem of mine can you fix?

Answer that question, and you have a pitch that works absolutely everywhere.

Including the elevator.

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Post by Taylor Lindstrom

Taylor hails from Boulder, CO, and she blogs for people who are too good to fail over at... well, Too Good to Fail. Go check out her inspiring posts and beautiful encouragement now.

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The Elevator Pitch: A Guide for an Internet without Elevators first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

You probably read that title and thought of your most recent vow of commitment – a course, or your business, or your marketing, or that thing you’ve been putting off.

And you probably thought, “Hell yeah! I’m definitely committed!”

I’m sorry to say that you’re probably not.

Think of all those New Years’ promises people make every year – to go on a diet, to quit smoking, to spend more time with their kids, to focus on this or that.

They break those promises. They forget about their commitments. They pretend they never uttered the fateful words. Most people go back to the way things were in just a few weeks. Life’s just easier that way.

You see, commitment is easy. It’s just you making a vow. A promise. A statement of potential action. “I’m going to do this!”

There. You’ve made a commitment. Pat yourself on the back.

Sticking to your commitment takes dedication and effort. Hard, hard work. And the dedication to stick to putting in that hard work is far more difficult to achieve. Most people don’t actually have it in them to follow through on their commitments.

So once that valiant vow-making moment has passed and everyone’s forgotten you’ve cried out a promise, it’s easy to slip out of the room unnoticed.

And if by some stroke of bad luck, a friend asks how you’re doing with that commitment you made, you probably think up some plausible excuse. “Didn’t have the time – things just got too busy.”

You might even try to make your buddy think you still have good intentions to actually follow through on your commitment. “I haven’t forgotten about it. I’m going to give it another shot in a month or two when life quiets down.”

Life isn’t going to quiet down. You’re always going to be busy. And quite frankly, if you take an honest look at what’s keeping you ‘busy’, you’ll probably see that you do indeed have the time.

You just aren’t dedicated to your commitment.

One of the problems with commitments is that people tend to encourage making them. We get all excited when people say they’re going to do something. We applaud. We cheer. “Good for you!”

Well, all that encouragement and support is nice, but it’s misplaced. We shouldn’t be praising commitment.

We should be praising dedication. Effort. Sticking to it.

And each time we hear someone make a promise to take action, we shouldn’t applaud. We should say, “Yeah? Prove it.”

Harsh? Maybe. Better? I think so.

Sure, you might deflate someone’s wind-filled sails by asking them to prove their commitment. Plenty of people thrive on back-pats and warm fuzzies. They get discouraged when their Big Commitment doesn’t get them their desired response, and then they don’t follow through.

That’s just an excuse. That’s blaming your inaction on other people’s lack of back pats.

When it comes to commitments, there can’t be any excuses. This is all about you. Either you want this, and you’re ready to dedicate your efforts towards achieving your goals…

Or you don’t.

Which is it?

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Post by James Chartrand

James Chartrand is an entrepreneur, a pro copywriter and the founder and CEO of Men with Pens and Damn Fine Words, the game-changing writing course for business owners. She loves the color blue, her kids, and ice skating.

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Do You Stick to Your Commitments? first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

There are days I get tired of hearing about all the techy stuff I’m supposed to learn – and keep in mind, I’m already pretty savvy.

It’s not that I don’t like to learn – I do. But it seems there’s so much we’re being told to learn… and each day, something new is added to that list.

A few years ago, all you needed to know was how to blog.

These days, that’s not enough. Now you need to know how to write viral posts, create downloadable PDFS, manipulate small designs, send out newsletters, build lists, create videos, give presentations, offer webinars…

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

It’s crazy. Are business owners truly expected to learn everything there is to know about the online world? What happened to just doing some plain ol’ business?

And while we’re asking questions, how are business owners supposed to keep up? Technology evolves and advances at warp speed. By the time you’ve finished learning something new, it’s old.

All the knowledge you acquired is outdated already. Which means you need to learn more.

While you’re busy learning all this latest, greatest stuff, you’re not paying attention to your business. You’re not doing the work that you need to be doing.

Like managing your company. Or working for your clients. Or improving your products.

That’s pretty important stuff.

Plus, you only have 24 hours in a day. Even less if you opt to sleep, eat and go to the bathroom from time to time.

You have even less time to work and learn if you have a family.

And friends.

And a cat. Or maybe a fish.

By the time you try to fit everything – life, work, learning – into your day, you end up with no time for yourself. (You may not have much of a marriage left either.)

This makes no sense.

And even if by some miracle you manage to do all you’re supposed to do and learn all you’re supposed to learn and keep everyone happy in the meantime…

Well. You’re exhausted.

Hell. Something’s got to give, right?

Look, if something has to give, try not to let it be you. You’re pretty vital to this whole online business thing.

Without you, your business tanks. Your income stalls. Your health goes down the drain. And probably your sanity with it.

So how about slowing down? How about taking it one step at a time?

I know, I know. This flies in the face of current beliefs propagated by impressive Internet super-humans who believe people are built to operate at warp speed without rest or respite.

These guys seem to learn all the latest technology with a snap of the fingers. They sometimes make you feel inadequate. Or slow. Or dumb. Or lazy, outdated dinosaurs.

Give me a break.

I believe you can only do so much. Yes, you need to spend time building your business. Yes, you need to spend time learning new things.

But let’s not go nuts over it, hm? Take things slow. Just do what you can, a little each day. Stop kicking yourself that you don’t know how to do all the cool, crazy stuff you can do with technology.

You’ll get farther with your business when you have this attitude. Because your business isn’t learning everything under the sun until you’ve become a literal ‘net know-it-all guru.

Your business is your business. Remember that.

So get a grip. Focus on what matters. Start like this:

1. Make a list of everything you feel you need to do and learn for your business. It’s probably going to be a really long list, but that’s okay.
2. Prioritize your list. Stick the tasks you feel will bring you most money fastest at the top. Stick the “would like to learn this one day” at the bottom.
3. Each day, pick the most important, highest-priority task at the top of the list to work on.

And just do it. Forget the rest.

If you accomplish the task at the top of the list that you were working on, great! Strike it off the list, pat yourself on the back, and move to the next task.

The stuff that’s at the bottom?

It can wait. It isn’t really that important. So what if you don’t get to it for months? So what if you don’t learn how to do it now? So what if you don’t know how to do that thing everyone else knows how to do?

At least you have a business – one that’s growing, thriving and succeeding because of your attention.

Eventually you’ll get to the stuff you’d love to learn. It’s on your list, right? And as you work through your high-priority items that help you bring clients and steady income, the low-priority stuff at the bottom moves up.

One day, the stuff you want to learn will be number one. And by then, you’ll have the income and time to learn how to do it.

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Post by James Chartrand

James Chartrand is an entrepreneur, a pro copywriter and the founder and CEO of Men with Pens and Damn Fine Words, the game-changing writing course for business owners. She loves the color blue, her kids, and ice skating.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
Are You Keeping Up With Technology? first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

Remember kindergarten? For every goal you reached, like writing your name or finally spelling C-A-T, you got a gold star or a new pencil.

In grade school, there were Principal Awards and End of Year Prizes. In college, you earned certificates of merit, achievement prizes, and academic scholarships. Even in the nine-to-five grind, it’s still possible to earn Employee of the Month or some token of esteem for 10 years of service.

But not online.

Online, there’s no reward of excellence. There’s no teacher giving you a gold star to prove you’re good at what you do. There’s no certificate of merit to show everyone you’re good enough.

So what did we do? We made up our own.

The “I’m Good Enough” Award

There are thousands of people out there competing for this award. Few of them realize that’s what they’re doing, but they’re working hard to complete all the requirements. The requirements have not, to date, been formally written down, but we’re going to solve that right now so that any confusion can be avoided.

The “I’m Good Enough” Award is granted to all online entrepreneurs who are worthy of running a business. They may do so by demonstrating prowess in each of the following three categories.

First, all candidates must have an overflowing inbox.

Since the number of emails clearly directly correlates to a business’ success, it follows that any successful business will be forced to handle an enormous amount of mail. Proof of inbox overflow may be demonstrated through various social media channels over time.

It starts with complaints about too many emails to handle. Then a couple of tweets about blocking off a day to get rid of all this email. Then there’s the countdown to Inbox Zero – which will happen several times a month.

Next comes writing a blog post about email-management strategies.

Finally, there’s the declaration you’re going minimalist. You’re unsubscribing from a ton of stuff, setting up auto-responders and even refusing to reply to new mail.

It’s very impressive stuff – surely deserving of an award, no? All thriving businesses have too much email, so doesn’t it follow that having too much email indicates a thriving business is at work?

Second, all candidates must be exhausted.

All candidates must show that they are utterly exhausted by the sheer bulk of the work in front of them. Since lots of work clearly equals achievement, the candidate is clearly due recognition for becoming so busy.

Candidates may demonstrate their qualifications in the form of social media.

You write on Facebook that you’re swamped with coaching calls. Your schedule is packed. And there aren’t enough hours in a day. You’re overworked. And you’re loving it! You leave a steady stream of comments that go something like this:

“Can’t stay! Gotta get back to work. Got people’s lives to transform!”

Third, all candidates must demonstrate a vast knowledge base.

Obviously it would be too difficult to simply ask questions in your area of expertise, so candidates must show they are actively acquiring knowledge through such track-able mediums as seminars, conferences, e-courses, and so forth.

The more the candidate participates in these mediums, the more qualified they are considered to be.

You attend every conference, sign up for every seminar, buy every ecourse and show up for every free webinar.  You consume education voraciously and read hundreds of blogs, hoping to find that missing piece of knowledge that’ll shoot you to business big times.  

Of course, you don’t actually apply any of this knowledge to your business – you’re too busy hoping that merely appearing in the forums or on the call will somehow mean you get noticed and elevated to superstar status.

Why Do We Pursue This Award?

It’s completely empty, after all. Our followers aren’t interested in how busy we are, what webinar we’ve signed up for, or what we learned reading someone else’s blog. None of that information makes us more hire-able or even more of an expert in our field.

It doesn’t earn us respect, and it certainly doesn’t bring in business. So why are so many of us in full-on pursuit of the “I’m Good Enough” Award?

I know why I did it.

I wanted to know that I mattered.  I wanted to know that I was valued.  I wanted to know that someone noticed me.
I thought if someone saw how busy, how in-demand, how committed I was, my business would automatically be considered successful. Instead, I got this pointed question:

“Are you in business? Or are you just busy?”

Not quite the accolade I was looking for.  More like a slap in the face.

But it was what I needed to realize something very important about online success:

There is no “I’m Good Enough” Award.

It’s not about how busy you are, how many emails you received or how many blogs you read.

The only measure an online business needs is the bank balance. The only score you need to keep is whether you are making more money then you are spending. 

All the rest is just noise, and keeping you away from what is really important – your business.

Wait a minute, you may be thinking. What about doing a job I enjoy? What about the clients who love me and shout their adoration from the rooftops? What about the quality of the work I do?

These things are all important to you personally and professionally, but they are not what makes you successful as a businessperson – and you shouldn’t mistake them as such. You could have a hundred grateful clients, a job you love, and work you’re proud of – but if you haven’t made a dime off of any of it, you don’t have a business.

You just have a lot of work.

You don’t need someone to tell you that you’re doing great. You don’t need anyone to say how proud they are that you got a new client. You don’t need to compete with your peers over who has the fullest inbox or the most extensive feed reader.

Your certificate of achievement comes every time you get payment from a client. See that big number? That’s your gold star.

That’s how you know you’re no longer just busy – you’re in business.

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Post by Ainslie Hunter

Ainslie Hunter is an online education consultant who knows how to turn your great idea for a course into cold, hard cash. Sign up now for Email Courses that Matter, and you'll be well on your way.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
How to Measure Whether You’re Good Enough first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.