Bruce Hoag
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Hi Everyone.
My name is Bruce Hoag, and I’m a writer who also happens to be a psychologist. I’m the first author of the book, Managing Value-Base Organizations: It’s Not What You Think and have written hundreds of articles for management consultants and other entrepreneurs, including IM-ers.
I have a PhD in Organizational Psychology from the Manchester Business School (UK); but I’m an American who lives in the UK.
I first came to England with the USAF where I was a weather observer and forecaster. (If you live in the UK, I can probably tell you more about the weather here than you’ll ever want to know. LOL)
My goal is to develop the writing business into a full-time gig, leave the daytime marketing gig (a.k.a. the day job), and to move back to the States.
I hope that the comments I make will be beneficial to all of you and will help you to reach your goals.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
The best way to find out the best time is to ask your subscribers.
Failing that, there are various tools you can use that will tell you when your followers are online.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
You have to be really careful with JVs, Scott.
You’re correct. The right ones can be very profitable.
But there has to be mutual value, enormous trust, and great chemistry first.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
Lesley, I don’t see the two as being mutually exclusive.
I believe that all of us will remain active in this group even if we join others.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
It seems to me that the only time PLR is offered is after the original author has sold the living daylights out of the product already.
Then when he / she can no longer make many sales from it, as a last gasp, it’s offered to anyone who will take it.
On those rare occasions when PLR materials do seem to have some value remaining, I’ve noticed that much of it is out of date.
So really, in my opinion, you’re better off putting the time in to create your own evergreen material.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
I don’t believe in “karma.”
To me, it’s a fundamental misunderstanding that’s common to many people – that when two things happen at the same time, one must cause the other.
That’s simply not the case.
The format that you’ve described is a form of “chain letter.”
This kind of thing has been making the rounds for decades.
Don’t waste your time on it.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
If you haven’t published it in Kindle, then that’s the first place to start.
You want to do it the right way, however.
I haven’t tried this myself yet, but here’s a good video on how to go about it. The guy that does the training is a bestselling Amazon author, and he explains exactly how to do it.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
Join the Entrepreneur’s Academy on Facebook. I know that there are VAs in there.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/INTLENTREPRENEURSACADEMY/
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
I haven’t done a catalogue page, but I’m not fond of the idea.
Let’s take an extreme example.
Think how much training Sean has.
Have you ever seen a catalogue page?
In eight years, I never have.
Instead, he asks his list if someone would help them. When he knows what they want, then he records new material, adds some evergreen training he has on hand, and then presents the exact product that people want.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
Einstein had this to say: “Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be counted counts.”
To me, that sums it up.
Some people spend all their time counting.
They’ll tell you that it makes a difference in their bottom line, but since we know that at least 80% of your output comes from 20% or less of your input, you have to ask if spending a huge amount of time on metrics really matters.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
The most successful people make time for that which matters most.
They schedule it into their day.
I know a guy who was the R & D director for an international company who took at 75% pay cut so that he could stay home more to be with his family.
To me, that’s success.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy1 user thanked author for this post.
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Some probably do.
What’s more likely is that they don’t tell you the whole truth.
The pictures of people sitting on the beach with their laptops, or in some huge house or yacht, probably are canned. As one person suggested, sand doesn’t work well with computers unless it’s in the form of a silicon chip.
What I have discovered is that at least some of those who are making five figures each month are doing far more than most people.
They use complicated strategies and complicated software on a level that most of us are completely unaware of.
And they may be the deception: The idea that ordinary people can get extraordinary results by doing ordinary things.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
There’s an old saying: “It’s hard to fly like an eagle when you work with turkeys.”
Sean and I were discussing this the other day.
One of the central problems with online entrepreneurship is that we’re all isolated from each other.
You’ll read about how you should surround yourself with other successful people.
Thing is that it’s nearly impossible to do in the online space because we’re all over the world.
It’s not as though we’re getting together for lunch at our local Lions club, though some of you may do that.
I’m certainly up for a mastermind group of some kind.
Time zones are something that will have to be considered.
For example, although I’m an American, I live in the UK. Our time zone is Eastern Time +5 hours.
That said, I value the input of “fellow” Americans, especially because most of my clients are likely to come from there.
Another thing to think about is whether or not to have only one person per profession in a group or to create groups where everyone is in the same niche.
Pluses and minuses for both.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
Maybe you don’t know this, but all entrepreneurs have self-doubt.
And if you happen to be in a “creative art” – writing, music, drawing (painting, etc) and so on, you’ll be prone to it.
Self-doubt comes from basic insecurity, and we’re all insecure to a certain extent, especially in areas that we know very little about.
Now add to that the fact that you’re trying to change the lives of people by doing something that no one else has done.
You get the idea.
The truth is, and Sean will tell you this as well, is that you won’t know what works until it does.
You have to just keep at it.
You can get guidance by attending Sean’s coaching calls, but you still have to do what he suggests. It might work, or it might not.
You have to press on.
The key thing is to separate the idea that failing to achieve what you’re trying to do is not personal failure.
Trust me.
You’ll have a breakdown if you can’t keep the two apart.
Just recognize that all successful entrepreneurs got there by persistence.
They worked on a problem until they figured out how to solve it.
As long as you have a clear conscience about what you’re doing, then you should press on.
The self-doubt may never go away completely.
You have to accept that.
But instead of letting that limit what you do, use it as a means to motivate you to prove that it’s wrong.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
Forgive me for saying so, but I think you’re looking at this the wrong way, Sue.
I’ve been in your shoes myself, and it’s taken me a long time to recognize what I’m going to tell you.
When you’re starting out, you need one website that focuses on one thing.
Now one thing is likely to have several facets to it, but the site and your business needs to have one central theme, in your case “improving the lives of kids.”
There are two reasons for this.
The first is that in order to make your business a success, you have to put all of your energies just one place. Sean talks about being laser-focused, and that’s what he means.
The problem with trying to do several things is more than just dividing your time between activities. It also divides your thoughts.
When you focus on one thing, your understanding deepens. If you’re trying to do more than one thing, at least at the beginning, you won’t be able to develop that depth; and let’s face it: It’s the depth of your understanding that interests your prospects.
The second reason is that your message has to be crystal clear to your prospects.
When they come to your site, it must be obvious to them what your central message is.
If you’re trying to do more than one thing, you’ll confuse them.
Most people won’t be able to articulate that confusion, and so it’s unlikely that you’ll ever figure it out on your own. (It may be why it took me so long.)
It’s worth mentioning that there are those who seem to have their hands in a lot of pies simultaneously; but you’ll find that in the beginning, they all started by doing one thing only.
I know that trying to do this can be extremely frustrating, especially when you can see the connections so clearly among your own interests.
One way to overcome this is to create a file. I like paper files. It’s easy to write a quick note with an idea on it, and then put it there. Later, when you come back to it, you’ll be able to consider its relevance “out of context” so to speak.
I did this when I wrote a book. I had ideas for all of the chapters, but I knew that I had to focus on the chapter in front of me. So I created a folder for each chapter, and every time I got an idea for a chapter that was different from the one I was working on, I put it in the folder for the chapter where I thought it was relevant. I knew that when I got there, I’d have a much clearer idea about what to do with it.
So have one website that focuses on improving the lives of kids, but instead of sub-niches or additional sites, “flesh-out” that site with different ways to do that.
Clarity of purpose directed at a single point is a powerful combination.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
You have to be really careful with this sort of thing.
That’s because it has the hallmarks of a Private Blogging Network (PBN), which Google frowns upon.
I’m guessing that if you do it among a couple of sites, then you’re probably okay. Just don’t overdo it.
PBNs can be effective, but they’re expensive to set up, and you really have to know what you’re doing in order to avoid the Google Police.
Matthew Woodward has sold a course in the past that teaches you how to do this.
If you can find the three introductory videos online – they’re free – then that will give you a flavor for how to do it.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
There’s an easier way, Claire.
When you’ve finished reading a post or writing a reply, scroll to the top of the page and find the “path” in red.
For example, “Home Page > Forums > Ask Anything > “the post that you’re reading.”
Click on Forums, and you’ll be taken back to the list of forums that you started with.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
I thought of that, Don, but still felt that it was worth asking.
Who knows?
Sean may give us that flexibility.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
In the management literature, strategy generally refers to longer term plans, and tactics to the short-term tweaking to get you there.
That said, there’s also no agreed definition of strategy.
It really depends on who you ask.
Rather than get caught up in the jargon, recognize that there are two types of activities: One consists of things you do for the “distant” future, and the other that you’re doing now to make that future possible.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
You can, but you need to recognize that in so doing you’ll end up dividing not only your time, but also your thoughts.
This last part is critical, and I don’t think that many people realize that it is.
The two – actually three niches – that you mention could each be emphasized.
And the people you reach will depend on the one they think is central.
If they’re not sure, then you won’t reach anyone.
That’s because niches aren’t just for the entrepreneur. They’re also for your prospects.
Your prospects will evaluate what you offer on its relevance to them.
If they can’t figure out how it relates to them, then they’ll be confused by what you offer.
To prevent that from happening, I suggest that you choose just one, and then make sure that the other one or two conforms to it, rather than trying to pursue two (or three) simultaneously.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
I like to be in control of my passwords.
That way I can remember them.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
It’s already been suggested that you put it where you want to, but I’m inclined to agree with Joe. That’s because it could be that your subscribers won’t want one.
Seems to me that it makes more sense to put your efforts into creating a solid business first, and then when you have a sufficient number of subscribers – and it will be different for everyone – ask them if this is something that they would like.
If it is, then you could create a membership program that’s tailored to what people want.
If you try to do it beforehand, then at best you’re only guessing at what it should look like.
And if you discover later that you have to change it – and you probably will – then you will have wasted a lot of time that could have been used more profitably at the beginning.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy
