Wednesday September 12th, 2007: Issue #840
I’m gradually joining the 21st-Century. Well, maybe.
Rob O’Callaghan, the guy who wrote the excellent $7 ebook on how to build efficient and effective websites using Web 2.0 ideas - http://www.urlnex.us/SocialMarketingMastery/ - sent me an invitation to be his friend on Facebook.
Now, to me, Facebook is a complete mystery. I’d never joined or even been tempted to find out what all the fuss is about. Until Rob invited me in, that is.
So I went ahead and joined, accepted Rob’s kind invitation to be my ‘friend’ and then proceeded to wonder what all the fuss is about!
Of course, it doesn’t help that I’m Johnny-no-mates. It seems that sites like Facebook are only effective if you have a lot of people linking to you as friends. It is, after all, called social networking.
As I already consider you to be a friend - all my Kickstart readers are friends - why not come and join me on Facebook. Maybe you already know a lot more about it than I do (that won’t be hard) or maybe you are another absolute beginner. Either way, let’s network!
Head on over to www.facebook.com and join up if you haven’t already (there is no cost involved and it only takes a moment), then look up Martin Avis in the search box and add me as a friend. I’ll be delighted to see you and maybe I won’t be the-man-with-no-chums for much longer. 
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I opened a new bank account a few months ago and now I’m in the process of transferring all my standing orders and direct debits to it. What a nightmare!
The bank promised that they would do the job for me, but the form they sent me to fill in was more complicated than I could understand - and only had space for three standing orders anyway. I have 14. The bank seem to expect me to fill out the entire complicated form five times!
Irritating as the task is, it is actually easier to just call each company individually.
In doing that, I’m actually saving money!
My cellphone company got the wrong idea that I was thinking about leaving them and so not only moved my standing order, but also changed me to a better contract that will save me £10 per month. And on top they’re sending me a whizzy new phone at no cost.
My satellite TV company gave me the opportunity to review my channels package (thinking I’d spend more money with them) and were quite surprised when I elected to remove some channels from the mix that I have never viewed. Another £7 per month saved!
I’ve got another list to call later. I wonder how much I can save today?
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If you are still considering whether to join Michael Green’s $20,000 in 20 Days program - http://www.urlnex.us/2020/ - think about this:
1. Whether the program works or not, you won’t make that kind of money unless you commit.
2. There is a guarantee.
3. Numbers are limited and Michael has always been very strict about closing the doors when the limit is reached in the past. No reason to think he’ll be any different this time.
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An Inspirational Thought
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‘Come to the edge.’
‘We might fall.’
‘Come to the edge.’
‘It’s too high!’
‘COME TO THE EDGE!’
And they came,
and he pushed,
and they flew.
Christopher Logue
English poet (1926- )
This tiny but powerful poem is often misattributed.
Read it. Read it again. Then think how long you have
been standing at the edge waiting for a push.
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Who do you know who would love Kickstart Today?
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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J. Paul Getty said,
“My formula for success? Rise early, work late, strike oil.”
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Today’s Power Thought
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Stories, articles, presentations, sales letters - even conversations - work best when they employ a device called extended loop closure. What does this mean and how can you use it to your benefit?
Some of the greatest storytellers and presenters in the world use this in very sophisticated ways to build up their message in the minds of their audiences.
Take Anthony Robbins, for example. He doesn’t really say much that is too different to other motivators, but he says it in a way that resonates with the audience. He illustrates points with long rambling stories about people he knows - sometimes appearing to stray from the point for long periods.
All of his sidetracks are deliberate. Even some of his sidetracks get sidetracked themselves - but he always brings it back to the main point. And when he does, the tension is released. The audience is satisfied that he has not been waffling and that everything he has said ties together.
Novelists do the same thing. If a novel was simply based on the idea that man ‘A’ is murdered by man ‘B’, policeman arrests man ‘B’, the end - who would want to read it?
Instead, a good writer weaves subplots and red herrings into the story to take your mind off in all kinds of different directions, until, at the moment of the writer’s choosing, you are led back to the denouement where everything ties together.
If it done skillfully, you don’t notice the journey, but you do feel the tension and you certainly feel the satisfaction.
Put simply then, extended loop closure means deliberately setting up a question, moving off topic to make a secondary points, sometimes by examples, sometimes by using parables or witty stories, and then weaving back to the original point right at the end.
The process works because an unanswered question creates a niggling worry. When that worry is ultimately concluded, there is a massive relief which elevates the question higher than it would otherwise have been.
At the start of this, I asked how you can use this to your benefit. You may have forgotten, but if I don’t answer it, you will subconsciously be left with a void that your mind will really want filled. The lack of answer will leave the extended loop unclosed.
See?
(To be continued …)
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Fascinating Facts
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When she was in her sixties, Queen Elizabeth I used to like to sit in front of her court with her gown open at the front to expose her breasts. Nobody seems to know quite why.
I rather think (and hope) that the current Queen, Elizabeth II, is a tad more modest.