Friday September 7th, 2007: Issue #838
I don’t think I’m a stupid person. I can do a lot of stuff that makes other people’s eyes glaze over: computer programming, website building, copywriting. I can even record TV programs without the help of a 5 year-old child!
So why is it that some things seem to be dead simple to everyone else, but to me they are fraught with difficulties and complications?
In an idle moment this morning I decided to join Second Life - the huge virtual world that everyone seems to be raving about. It has millions of users, so you’d think that signing up would be straightforward.
Not for me. Second Life appears to one of those things that is determined to prove to me that I’m nowhere near as clever as I like to imagine!
The first problem was typing in the captcha code - you know, that scrambled image of letters and numbers that you have to type in to prove you are a real person. It took me 7 attempts to get it right. Maybe that should have been a warning to me!
To cut a long story short, I went through the signup process - it seemed perfectly straightforward - and then entered the game.
My avatar appeared (the person you are in the game) and despite the fact that I specified that I’m male and chose a ‘boy next door’ image, I found I was represented by a naked female image! I can see the attraction (even though she stubbornly keeps her back to me), but she really isn’t who I want to be right now!
On top of that, I seem to have appeared in a Spanish- speaking part of the game. Even the signs I could see were in Spanish!
What have I done wrong?
I can’t see any way to make my avatar more appropriate to who I am or even put some clothes on her. Oh well, hasta la vista, baby!
I’ve given up before I’ve even started - I guess there are just some things in this world that are destined to remain a mystery to me.
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In a rare idle moment yesterday I got to thinking about how I’d like my children to remember me when I’m long gone.
(I hope that will be a long way hence - but sometimes my mind works like that).
I ran through all the usual things that I COULD be remembered for but they all seemed rather pointless from that perspective.
In the end, I came up with one phrase that seems to me to be well worth working towards, and a fitting way for any of us to be looked back upon:
“He was a nice man.”
If I look down from my cloud in fifty or sixty years time and hear someone say that, and mean it, I think I’ll be happy.
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Sometimes you are just lost for words.
I visited a computer games store the other day to buy a new game. The store, in Orpington (near where I live) is called ‘Game’.
Having found the game I wanted I duly handed it to the spotty oik behind the counter.
“Are you sure this will run on your computer?” he demanded.
“I expect so, it is pretty up to date.”
“Well have you read the specs on the box - we don’t give refunds on games if your computer isn’t up to running it.”
“No, I haven’t read the specs because they are printed in tiny text and I don’t have my glasses with me.”
He sneered at that. “Oh well, I’d read them out to you, but there’s no way you’d understand a word of it. You’ll just have to take a chance.”
I felt like saying, ‘I’d give you a punch in the mouth, but there’s no way you’d understand why I was giving it to you.’ But at that precise moment, words escaped me.
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If you’ve been reading Kickstart for a while you’ll know that I’m very keen on the $7 concept of selling ebooks (and if you haven’t been reading that long, you know now!)
The $7 system took the net by storm a while ago. The idea is that you write an ebook, put it up for sale for the really low price of just $7 and then let anyone who recommends it keep the entire $7 as their commission. Why would you do that? To build a list.
Ask any successful Internet marketer and although they won’t agree on many things, one thing they’ll almost all tell you is that building your own mailing list is the first thing you should do.
But there is a problem with $7 ebooks.
The problem is, in my opinion, that some authors are tempted to sell their work at the ridiculously low price of $7 when they could easily command a much higher amount. There is a very real risk that the $7 concept is devaluing ebooks overall.
Of course, not all $7 ebooks are even worth that! Some are junk, plain and simple. But every now and again a real gem is lovingly produced. I bought one of those gems this morning.
I’m delighted to say that ‘Social Marketing Mastery’ is written by a Kickstart reader and one of the regular London Lunch attendees, Rob O’Callaghan. I didn’t get a freebie though - I paid my $7 - and it has proved to be a great investment.
As Rob says (I suspect another Robert, Mr Zimmerman, may have said it first) ‘The times they are a-changing’. While many of us are still struggling to keep up with ‘Web 1.0′, ‘Web 2.0′ is upon us. And in the fast-moving world that online has become, it is vital to try to keep up.
I’ve made no secret of the fact that all this Web 2 stuff confuses the heck out of me. So Rob’s book came at just the right time. He explains, in clear, plain language, what it is all about. And you know what - it isn’t complicated at all. Most of it is common sense stuff that we are all doing bits of already.
What Rob has created here is a concise, step-by-step plan for producing successful, money-making websites based on sound principles. As he says early on, it is a recipe book. If you can follow the instructions, you can make successful websites too.
Of the hundreds (possibly thousands now) of $7 ebooks out there I only recommend a small handful. I’m very pleased to be able to add Rob’s ‘Social Marketing Mastery’ to my very short list.
http://www.urlnex.us/SocialMarketingMastery/
Even if you’re not interested in the book, check out Rob’s page - the graphics are superb!
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An Inspirational Thought
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Perception is the spark that often starts us on the road to success. We perceive that it possible.
Perspiration is the oil that keeps our wheels turning even when they start to seize up.
Persistence is the fuel that keeps out engine burning even when the journey seems impossible.
Performance is the wheel that steers our course - as long as we can perform the correct actions, our route will be true.
Personal is our destination. Only we can truly say to where we are journeying.
Perhaps you agree. That would be perfect.
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Don’t keep it to yourself - send them to
http://www.kickstartdaily.com today!
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The Quote of the Day
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Anatole France said,
“An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don’t.”
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Today’s Power Thought
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How much are you worth?
I don’t mean how much are the component parts of you worth - the water and minerals that make up your body (a bit less than a dollar for the raw materials, a bit more if you could sell your working parts).
I mean how much does it say on the invisible price tag that you have hung around your neck.
$10 an hour? $100? $1000?
You are worth exactly as much as you believe you are worth.
My friend David is a joiner. He makes stuff out of wood. Recently he was asked to price up a job that he really didn’t want. Rather than turn it down, he simply double his normal rates in the hope that the customer would be put off.
The next day they were on the phone asking him how soon he could start.
THAT made David rethink how much he was worth!
Another friend (also called David, coincidentally) is a central heating installer. He told me that he normally quoted £800 to fit a new boiler, but recently has been losing jobs to other companies who charge much more. When he started asking why he’d lost the job, the customers told him that they figured the more expensive companies would do a better job.
Dave immediately added £1000 to his standard price and has been booked solid with work ever since.
Mike is a management consultant. He recently decided to increase his hourly rate from £200 to £800. He is still billing exactly the same number of hours but his income has quadrupled - and he reports that his clients are now FAR more likely to do as he recommends.
It happens all around us. People everywhere are undervaluing their worth because they put their own value on themselves instead of the value that their clients and customers would put on them.
Take a look at the value that YOU put on yourself.
Look harder.
Now, whatever that value is, increase it. Live with it. Let that new value sink in to your subconscious.
Then go out into the world and show them what you’re worth.
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Fascinating Facts
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The tongue is the only muscle in the human body that is only attached at one end.
And speaking of tongues, the tongue of the Blue Whale weighs more than an elephant.