Kickstart Today Archive

______________________________________________________

Kickstart Today
______________________________________________________

Monday March 17th, 2008: Issue #900

Kickstart Today is published three times each week for opted-in
subscribers only. Publisher: Martin Avis. Your comments are
always welcome - to respond to anything you read here, please
click ‘Reply’
______________________________________________________

Greetings!

Nine hundred issues! I can hardly believe that I’ve been typing
away so long! Makes me feel really old.

In all the time I’ve spent writing Kickstart, I’ve learned a few
things - but the main one is never to assume that you know what
your readers want to read about! Over and over again, the things
that I’ve spent hours researching and writing have received zero
feedback, whereas the things I’ve been a bit lukewarm about have
cause emails to flood in!

The same goes for products that I recommend. I’ve often said to
friends that if I could predict which products sell and which
ones generate no interest whatever, I’d be a very rich person by
now. But the truth is I have never been able to work out what
Kickstart readers will buy in their droves and what they will
quietly ignore. Sometimes I’ll sell 50-100 of something from a
single mention, and other times I’ll struggle to sell 5 - even if
I happen to think that the product is one of the best! Go figure.

Still, I wouldn’t have it any other way because that variability
keeps me honest. All I can do is give an honest, frank review and
recommendation - as equally and even-handedly for each product as
I can - and leave the decision on whether it is a ‘buyer’ or a
‘leaver’ up to you. That way I can remain true to the principle
of only recommending things I truly like without worrying about
how much I will make as a result.

I’ve learned that the people I’m writing for like to read about
what’s going on my life. Sometimes it is embarrassing or awkward
to live parts of my life ‘out loud’ but that’s the stuff that
gets the feedback. For every email I get that says ’stick to
business’ or ‘enough of the movie reviews already’, I get a dozen
in support.

I’ve learned that wherever you may live in the world, you face
the same day-to-day issues of jobs, income, family and
frustrations. When I talk about the problems my kids face, or
rant about the idiocy of government or comment on the
shortcomings of big businesses I get emails from Austria to
Australia, from Canada to China, from the UK to the US, from
India to Italy - and all points East, West, North and South - all
agreeing that its pretty much the same there too.

I’ve learned that Kickstart readers are a great bunch who always
say hello when I meet them at seminars and elsewhere. I’ve also
learned that they know more about me that I realize!

I’ve learned that while writing Kickstart three time a week can
sometimes be a challenge, it is something that I wouldn’t want to
be without. Occasionally circumstances dictate that I miss a day
or two, but I’m always happy to get back in front of the
keyboard.

I’ve learned that no matter how many notebooks I carry and how
good I am about jotting down my thoughts, the best ideas for
things to write about in Kickstart will always come when I don’t
have a pen or paper handy - and no matter how I tell myself that
I MUST remember it, all that will come back to me when I sit down
to write is a hazy memory that there was something important I
wanted to say - but the details will be lost in the mist.

I’ve learned that Kickstart readers are an amazingly generous
lot. Whenever I’ve asked for support for charities the response
has been incredible. Whenever I’ve posed a question, answers have
come back in moments. Whenever I’ve talked about problems I have
faced, the emails of support and advice have flooded in.

I may not be able to answer every email from everyone who writes,
but I do my best - and I do read every single one.

I’ve learned, too, that it doesn’t matter what I write unless you
want to read it. And for that, your feedback, either directly to
me by email, or in your posts on the forum, is absolutely vital.
Talk to me, engage with me and tell me what you like and dislike
about Kickstart. I write this stuff for you, so it’s only right
and proper that you keep me on track.

I’ve learned that 900 issues is just a start.

#~#~#

It was the early hours of Sunday morning. Quarter to One. Hannah
had sent us a text message to say she was on her way home from
her friend’s house where she’d had a lazy evening watching DVDs.
Delia and I were in bed, just about to go to sleep when the phone
rang.

Hannah was crying … it was every parents’ nightmare: “Dad …
I’ve been in a car crash.”

She was about 3 miles away and Delia and I got dressed and into
our car in record time.

She’s been driving slowly toward a road junction and had been
aware of a car driving very erratically behind her. She says she
thought at the time that he was probably drunk. As she slowed at
the entrance to a big roundabout, the car behind didn’t. He
crashed right into the back of her and shunted her car, spinning
it round on the wet road, right into the path of oncoming
traffic.

One car swerved around her and drove off, as did a police car!

The car who caused the accident, naturally didn’t stop - he just
sped off at top speed. Leaving Hannah facing the wrong way,
shocked and stunned, on a major road.

Luckily, because of the time, there wasn’t much traffic on the
road and she was able to pull over to a safe position - which was
where we found her a few minutes later.

Hannah has got whiplash and has gone to work today with a very
sore, stiff neck. Hopefully she’ll be able to get an appointment
to see her doctor later today, but I won’t bank on that.

Her car has got a smashed rear bumper (fender) and the floor pan
inside the boot (trunk) is buckled. It looks like an expensive
job to me and her insurance company say that she has to pay the
first £500 ($1000) - IF they don’t decide to write her car off.

She phoned the police from the scene of the accident, but they
weren’t interested at all - telling her to present her insurance
and car documents at a police station within 5 days, but that as
the guilty party had fled the scene and she hadn’t got the
registration number of his car, there was nothing they could do.

At least, apart from a sore neck, she is safe and sound. It could
have been a lot worse.

I’m not a particularly violent man, but I would dearly like to
have a few minutes alone with the driver of that car.

#~#~#

For the last week I’ve been working, on and off, of a new PHP
script. When I started, I knew exactly what I wanted it to do,
and how to achieve it.

Oh the arrogance of ignorance!

It is proving to be a complete pig. Every time I think I’ve
finally solved the problems, I discover that something else
doesn’t work correctly. It’s driving me nuts!

But … my knowledge of PHP is growing in leaps and bounds as
result.

It’s funny how failure spurs you on. My program may be failing
(for the moment) but its failure is causing me a lot of success
as a programmer. I have learned or devised at least half a dozen
techniques and routines that I’ll be able to use in future
scripts.

I’d rather like this script to start to go right now, but the
journey has been a very educational one.

#~#~#

The questions that constantly flow through my mind are both a
curse and a joy. A joy because I love to learn new things and
find weird and wonderful answers, but a curse as well because of
the time researching the answers can eat up.

And, of course, there are always more and more questions!

Take this morning. I was idly cutting my finger nails when it
occurred to me that 40 years ago when I was a child, we didn’t
have nail clippers. I’m sure they existed, but we didn’t own any.
We had nail scissors.

Nail scissors were fine - using them left-handed to cut your
right hand nails was a bit of an effort, but we managed okay.

But what, I wondered, did people do before there were nail
scissors?

Although scissors have been around for about 3500 years, ones
that we’d recognize only came about in the 17th century. And they
were expensive.

So I doubt that ‘ordinary’ folk had them until relatively
recently.

But how then, did people cut their fingernails? I suppose biting
was one solution. Or filing.

But then, what about toe nails?

I’ve read somewhere that about 2.5% of Americans bite their toe
nails (sorry if you are from the US - I’m not singling you out,
but that’s the only research I’ve seen). Surely that can only be
something that young, flexible people can do! What of the rest of
us?

###############################################
Who do you know who would love Kickstart Today?
Don’t keep it to yourself - send them to
http://www.kickstartdaily.com today!
###############################################

______________________________________________________

The Quote of the Day
______________________________________________________

Samuel Butler said,

“The one serious conviction that a man should have is that
nothing is to be taken too seriously.”

_____________________________________________________

Today’s Power Thought
_____________________________________________________

What do you think about?

It is important.

What you spend most of your time thinking about affects who you
are - and what you can achieve.

Successful people tend to spend most of their time thinking about
their goals, and how they can achieve them.

Unsuccessful people tend to spend most of their time thinking
about anything else that takes their fancy. If they do ever get
around to thinking about goals it is usually to wonder why they
are not achieving them - or worse, to persuade themselves that
they can’t.

“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”
said William Shakespeare.

If you think, and believe that you are a success (even if you are
a success in waiting) then you are. Your life will be focused on
the singular achievement of that objective.

And if you harbor doubts - if you think in terms of failure -
then your trusty brain will do everything in its power to prove
you right.

It has to be crazy to deliberately program yourself for failure.
Why then do most of us do it?

Let it stop right now.

You are a success. I think so, and so should you.

_____________________________________________________

The Foolproof, No-Nonsense,
Kickstart Guide to Making Money Online
_____________________________________________________

Part 11 … How to Create Your Own Info Product to Sell.

In the last part of this course I hinted that one of the uses of
your shiny new blog would be to promote your own ebooks or
special reports. But is it really so easy to create a product of
your own?

The answer to that is a resounding ‘YES’!

While selling other people’s products is a great way to make
money online - and a method that I’ll cover in a lot more detail
later in the course, I don’t want you to fall into the trap of
thinking that creating products of your own is in some way beyond
you. In many ways, it is actually the easier option - and
certainly it can be the more profitable one.

When you sell your own products, you get the entire cost price -
not just the affiliate commission. And that difference can really
add up.

In my book, ‘Unlock the Secrets of Private Label eBooks’ -
http://www.plrsecrets.com - I discuss ways to create top quality
information products - ebooks and special reports - from private
label sources. In other words, you don’t even have to write them
- other people will do that for you. All you have to do is shine
them up, add a few personal touches and turn them into a PDF file
and you’re set to go. It really couldn’t be easier. And the
excellent PLR ebook membership site at
http://www.urlnex.us/PLRproEbooks/ is one of the best places to
get them from.

But even if you do create your ebooks and reports from private
label source material, it is very useful to have made a product
that is entirely your own first. That way you’ll know the ropes
and be familiar with the pitfalls and procedures.

Below is an article I wrote a while ago about how to create your
own info products. It is still very much on the money - and
describes a process that I’ve used many times to great effect.

Before we get to that though, let’s consider briefly what the
difference is between a report and an ebook.

In my mind, an ebook contains a series of chapters that each
examine a different aspect of the book’s topic, whereas a special
report tends to be just one extended chapter - delving into just
one facet of the subject. As to length, there are no hard and
fast rules. My rule of thumb is that anything that is less than
20 pages tends to be report material, whereas an ebook would
usually be longer. However, I’ve seen reports that were 50 pages
long and ebooks that were 10. It all comes down to the
information they contain.

Another possibility is a ‘factsheet’. This can be a resource
list, a diagram or a bulleted step-by-step guide that gets right
to the point without any verbiage to slow down the reader. These
can often be just one or two pages, but can still command
relatively high prices.

A good example would be the instructions for a magic trick. It
could easily be just one or two pages long, but avid aficionados
of the conjuring arts would easily pay $20 or more for the
information it contains.

Information is valuable. Don’t undervalue yourself!

#~#~#

How to Create Your Own High-Octane Info Products.

Like most things in life, there are ’secrets’ to being
successful. Creating info products is no different. And like most
things, the ’secrets’ are there for all to see.

The first problem that most people face when starting out as an
‘info-producer’ is in coming up with ideas to write about.

Initially, you have to be a thought recorder. Write down every
crazy (or not so crazy) idea that fleetingly crosses your mind.
Carry a notebook. This not only lets you capture the brilliant
ideas that have a habit of disappearing, but also starts to train
your mind into an opportunity state.

Opportunities are like cosmic rays: they are everywhere, but most
of the time we can’t see them. With the right training, our
brains can easily become very sensitive opportunity detectors.

At some point you will start to notice that many of your
brilliant ideas are rubbish. Don’t worry. Keep on writing them
down. Even a bad idea can sometimes be adapted later.

You will notice that a lot of your ideas fall into patterns. This
is your subconscious mind’s way of pointing you in the right
direction. If it keeps on returning to a theme, the chances are
that somewhere, buried deep inside you, is gold. Now go digging.

When your notebook is growing, start thinking about your ideas
bank. Be objective and ask yourself, “If this was the only
project that I could ever do, would I be happy?”

Take all your top scoring ideas. Take a little time and expand
each one. Write a broad synopsis of each so that you have a
concrete idea of what the final product will look like. Don’t try
to write it - just outline it.

What do you put in your outline?

Remember the old adage: ‘I take advice from five wise men:
Mr Who, Mr Where, Mr What, Mr Why and Mr When.’

Add to those two more: How and How Much.

Make every section or chapter answer one of these seven questions
(and you can ask each of them in different ways) and you have the
outline of your book.

Now you should have a shortlist of realistic, doable projects -
any one of which you would be happy to run with.

Next comes the most important step of all: do your homework. The
best product in the world is worthless unless there is a market
for it. So how do you find that out?

1. Take your shortlist and talk to 5 good friends. See what they
have to say. Do they all favor one over the others? Why? What is
it about it that captures their imagination? Would they buy it?
Who do they think would buy it?

2. Pay attention to their advice, but don’t even think of acting
on it. Even if they all think every one of your ideas stinks, it
could easily be them that is wrong: they may simply be the wrong
audience.

3. Write a very detailed description for yourself of exactly who
you think will buy your products. Really try to get inside the
mind of someone who could use what you have to say.

4. Write down at least ten words (or 2 word phrases) that most
sum up each of your possible products. Define your keywords, in
other words.

5. Get yourself online and search every search engine you know
for every one of those key words or phrases. Check out as many
sites as you can that the engines throw up (and don’t just look
at the first page of listings either). Get a feel for the market.
What you are doing here is trying to find out if there is already
a market for your product, and what the people searching for it
are being offered.

6. Be brutally honest with yourself. If Google only comes up with
10 sites for one of your keywords, and none of the sites are
particularly relevant, then you can bet that right now, there
isn’t much of a market. If this is the case, ask yourself
honestly if you have the staying power and specialized knowledge
to carve a completely new niche. And where would you go to reach
them?

7. Find newsgroups and forums that are relevant and lurk. Are
people asking questions that your product will answer? Can you
discern a need?

8. If you can, you may have the next super-niche product all
ready to be written. Congratulations!

9. If you can’t, move on to the next project on your list and
repeat.

This might all sound rather long-winded - and it certainly flies
in the face of the proponents of ‘create a product fast’
philosophy, but it needn’t take all that long.

At the end of the day, you will have achieved three things. You
will KNOW which project to work on, and why. You will KNOW who to
target. You will KNOW what your future projects (and backend
sales) will be.

And, as a by-product, you will have become a super- powered
opportunity magnet in the process.

As you can see, the real secret is taking action. But if you are
like 99.9% of people, you will find excuses for not taking
action.

Every single excuse is ‘getaroundable.’ For example:

“I don’t know if anyone will be interested.”

It certainly helps to write about your passions - if only because
your time spent in research will be minimized. But it isn’t
strictly necessary. Do you really think that people who write
fascinating fact- filled articles in magazines are all passionate
about their subjects? No, they are just writers who are given an
assignment.

If you can’t find a subject that YOU are passionate about, find
one that SOMEONE ELSE is passionate about. Maybe that someone
else is a friend or family member - great! Start a joint project.

Or maybe you don’t have friends who are passionate about anything
(hard to believe, but possible). Then go and find a subject that
a lot of people are trying to find out about. Do a search on the
most popular keywords. I just did that and these seven all came
in the top 50:

* Weight Loss
* Jobs
* Prom Dresses
* Travel
* Recipes
* Dogs
* Baby names

Now, I’m not passionate about any of those, but I can clearly see
how any one of them could be turned into an information-packed
special report that would sell for 10 bucks or more. Can you?

* Weight Loss: What are the most popular diets in America
today? Go to newsgroups, find out what people are saying
about them. Find two or three people who have succeeded in
losing serious weight on each diet. Interview them. Package
the whole thing up as an ‘insiders guide to today’s diet
plans.’

* Jobs: How about a state-by state analysis of unemployment
figures. A regional plan for optimizing your chances to find
a new job. A directory of job- seekers resources. A book on
101 thing you can do if you are laid off. A report on ‘home
workers guide to surviving the recession.’

* Prom Dresses: Now I know nothing about dresses, and I’ve
never been to a prom, but this subject is not only highly
important to those involved, it is also emotionally charged,
and perennial. What more does a business need? Subjects that
could be included: this years styles and colors. How much
should you pay? The best suppliers. It is highly
researchable and I’d bet, very much in demand. This search
term came 28th out of 500 so the market is pretty big!

* Travel: Where do you live? Folks come there. They want to
know the best places to go. You can tell them. I’m not going
to labor this one, the scope is so huge.

* Recipes: This is a big field, but you can narrow it down.
Everybody loves cook books. Take a look in any bookstore.
And there is a world-wide market. The secret here is to link
it with something else that people want. So, to use our
example above, you could produce a series of recipe books
for each of the top diet plans. See where I’m going?

* Dogs: Dog lovers are obsessed. If you own a dog you’ll
understand. If you don’t, you will be baffled. Yet canine =
cash. You can write about breeds, training, behavior,
exercise. Just go to the library, or search on Google and
facts will fall at your feet. Pick them up and put them in
your book.

* Baby names: Okay, there are books in the stores with lists
of names. SO WHY ARE PEOPLE SEARCHING ONLINE? There is a
market. People want the answers NOW. Not next Saturday when
they can get to a bookshop. What can you do that is
different? How about a list of all the names celebrities
have called their kids in the last 5 years? What about a
list of names with all the meanings, plus the numerology
forecast for each one?

See what I mean? You may not be passionate about any of these
things, but if I told you that when you have finished writing
your book 1000 people will pay you $10 each to read it - will
that spark a little passion in your belly? It does in mine!

“I can’t write that well.”

That is really just an excuse for not doing it.

It doesn’t matter one little bit if you can’t spell - the
software will sort most of it out for you.

So what if you don’t understand grammar? Most ebooks are written
in a very conversational style. Can you talk to your friends?
Write like that. Totally correct grammar is often a disadvantage
online.

When your book is written, give it to a few friends to read over
for you. Listen to their suggestions because no matter how good
at writing you are, other people will always spot your mistakes.
You can even post on forums for people to review/critique your
work.

“It’s not that easy. I have been trying for six months or better
to find something to develop and cannot seem to find that one big
hit-that home run.”

The problem here is that you have paralyzed yourself by wanting
to see the end result before you have put pen to paper (or finger
to keyboard). That is where you have gone wrong. If you tell
yourself that you can’t do it, then GUESS WHAT? You CAN’T!

The only way to finish a project is to start it.

To summarize:

# Create your own ideas bank.
# Find out what people are interested in.
# Find a subject that you like (passion is optional).
# Write your 7-question outline.
# Research until your eyes hurt - looking especially for facts
that are not easily accessible.
# Write, write, write. Don’t even think about if it sounds good,
or reads right. Just get words on paper.
# When it is done, read it over and then put it aside for a week
or two.
# When you come back to it, re-read it and then start to rewrite
it.
# At the point that you feel you can’t do any more, ask other
people to chip in.
# Then, if you have done a little each day, you will have a
product to sell.

There is an old writer’s mnemonic: WRITER

Write Read Ignore Trash Edit Rewrite

Do you want to have an information product of your own to sell?
Then congratulations, it is right there for you to take.

Or do you want to find more excuses for not doing anything? It is
your choice.

Go and get your book started. You know you can.

_____________________________________________________

Fascinating Facts
______________________________________________________

Most of us are familiar with the word karaoke - and some of us
dread it with a passion.

In Japanese, the word means ‘empty orchestra’.

______________________________________________________

Products you may enjoy
by Martin Avis
______________________________________________________

* ‘Unlock the Secrets of Private Label eBooks’ (Ideal for
anyone who is a member of the excellent PLRproEbooks site):
http://www.plrsecrets.com

* ‘You CAN Write Articles’ - Anyone can write articles to make
money online. This $7 ebook shows you just how easy it is.
http://www.youcanwritearticles.com

* ‘14 Days to Total Time Control’ - The book that will help
you control the time IN your life, so you can get on with having
the time OF your life. http://www.totaltimecontrol.com

* ‘Keyword LSI Spy’ My new script that lets you find the exact
words that the search engines love to see on your web pages and
in your articles - and a whole lot more!
http://www.keywordlsispy.com

#~#~#

Do you enjoy Kickstart Today? Please tell your friends!
http://www.kickstartdaily.com

Let me know what you think - about anything! To contact me,
please reply to this email and remember to put ‘Kickstart’ in the
subject line so that it doesn’t get filtered.

Visit the Kickstart Blog - Your comments will be very welcome:
http://www.kickstartdaily.com/blog/

Kickstart has a forum too! http://kickstarttodayforum.com/