David Smallman

Hi Bruce,

I get what you say. And to be honest I don’t think it would be wise to try and become expert or be “over” lots of Social media channels.

I have read that 4 is plenty. Now those 4 could be big boys like FB and Youtube…or smaller Like tumblr or Pinterest. Medium is obviously smaller, but could still be useful as it has proven to be for…[Read more]

Hi Sean,

I have a least one dormant FB fan page I made a few years back, that I could resurrect. But do Fan pages work anymore?

Or do I have to open another type of page?

As you can see I am totally out of the loop about how FB now works business-wise. That’s probably down to the fact that I’ve never really got my head around FB being the…[Read more]

Hi Steve,

Audience is always tricky, no matter what your niche.

I firmly believe that your audience – your clients – determine your niche; not the other way around.

Terry Dean told me a long time ago – I interviewed him – that hardly anyone ends up in the same business that they first started, and I think that this is why.

Initially, you sell…[Read more]

Robert,

I feel for you. I know how a stressful day job can leave you feeling like you just don’t have anything left at the end of the day.

My advice to you would be to use the information in the training area starting with;

Introduction to Creating a Blueprint For Your Business

And get clear…[Read more]

Bruce- You’ve got a lot of good advice in this thread but something nobody has mentioned is your email subject lines. If people don’t open your emails to read them because your subject line doesn’t get them to want to see what you’re going to say, the whole email is worthless. If you spend as much time figuring out exactly who your audience is,…[Read more]

Yes, I do think minimalism means different things to different people and that it is sometimes hard to define what is “needed”.

Which is the core of my definition of minimalism.

As has been attributed to Albert Einstein – “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

It is definitely possible to go to extremes.

But I…[Read more]

I like the idea of minimalism, just not much of it.

-The Comic Relief Department

What really is Minimalism? I think it means some very different things to different people.

There is this movement that says to be a Minimalist you have to own 100 things or less. To me that sounds more like a game than a lifestyle. What 100 things? It is a bit…[Read more]

I agree with the concept of minimalism as Julia defines it here. But I’m way ahead of the curve in this regard.
My first wife died of cancer a few years back and when that long ugly ordeal occurred, it became very obvious that we had way too much stuff for our kids to have to deal with if I was to follow in her footsteps any time soon. So a few…[Read more]

Hi Les,

In all fairness to Sean, he doesn’t have the time to stay up on everything. Nor do I, come to that.

The thing is that in my day job, I’ve had to create a marketing plan for a bricks-and-mortar company that’s quite set in it’s ways and has never had a marketing budget.

So most days, I’m thinking about what content to create and…[Read more]

How could you turn your interest in WWII into a business, Les?

The answer won’t be obvious, but there’s a lot of interest in it, so I would’ve thought that a side hustle could be created from it.

To get some ideas about how people have turned their hobbies into business, listen to their stories here: Side Hustle School.

Hi Robert,

There’s power in examples.

Our best ideas are often stimulated by our awareness of what others do.

And so I recommend that you listen to the descriptions that Chris Guillebeau gives of the 200+ side hustles that people with full-time jobs created.

Here’s the link: Side Hustle School

Bruce

Robert,
I feel for you. I guess I am out about a half million now because a man decided to start drinking before he took his step children to school and hit my wife and daughter. They are much more valuable than the money, but if I had not had the money they would have got the best care charity could have provided. That is far from the best care…[Read more]

Should have known it was you Bruce,

I think Quora is a viable platform for building a list. I, personally, have daily emails about different aspects of Word War 2 (a big side interest of mine) And I always make time to read them. It can become quite addictive in fact. So if it interests me, I’m sure that many others feel the same.

The many and…[Read more]

Thanks Bruce,

I guess you just confirmed my fears.

On the whole I tend to agree with you, but even more so with Facebook.

However, I have never heard of Medium, so it intrigues me a little. Maybe it could become a piece of the puzzle I’m missing. But I am surprised that Sean has not (to my knowledge) recommended Medium, especially because of…[Read more]

Bruce, a couple of thoughts:

You can create a short survey in Survey Monkey and post a link in your ebook toward the front of the book, in exchange for a cheat sheet, worksheet or video. I’d make it open-ended, but short – 1-2 questions only. Get the flavor of the words they use, and incorporate them in your marketing materials. Remember this…[Read more]

You don’t have to advertise to get Likes.

Anyone can search FB for topics and have the relevant posts, etc, listed for them.

I imagine that’s what people do, and then when they see your page, they Like it.

Just walking out the door, I will check for your email.

I don’t get the flow. I think I need a flow chart on how facebook works and how things are connected. How do you get 50 likes from India when you aren’t even advertising?

I see things pop up on my page and before I can read them they disappear. What is that about?

I did advertise for…[Read more]

I remember you made some comments on helping people in third world countries. You had some ideas, were working on a few things. I seem to be growing in popularity in India (which I am not sure you could call a third world country anymore, they are becoming more and more advanced, I saw where some areas have more cell phones than people) I don’t…[Read more]

I may talk about the weather on my home and personal facebook page, but I always do a quote, suggestion, news bit or outline to a goal on my business facebook page. Sometimes I post to my blog or create an article for my website and then link to it on my facebook page.

I wonder if from the business facebook page they can find my personal page. If…[Read more]