Business Strategy, Marketing, Sarasota, WordPress & More…
A Hearty Merry Christmas to all!
If you find that the mood for reflection is overtaking you, then check out some thoughts I put together over at the Nourish The Dream site this afternoon. The article is entitled, “The Government Upon His Shoulders.” I hope you enjoy it!
Update: The Wealth Alliance Group has set up a special memorial site for Sue Riek.
My wife, Jill, and I first met Sue Riek in February of this year at an internet marketing conference in San Antonio. Sue had an eBay business and was there sharpening her skills and expanding her knowledge base. She and my wife and I all joined the Wealth Alliance Group and have spent the last few months working together under the tutelage of Debra Thompson. During that time, we got to know her — not as well as we would’ve like, but quite well, given the fact that our only interactions were via e-mail and by participating on conference calls.
I had the privilege of seeing Sue again in July at another meeting in Atlanta. It became so clear to me what a treasure she was — loving and sweet, sincerely generous. She had her digital camera with her and we had a new friend snap some photos of the Wealth Alliance Group members that were present. Sue was gracious enough to allow me to snag the photos from her camera’s memory card. I posted them here shortly after they were taken.
As an example of her generosity, check out Sue’s blog. Here, she posted a story about the blessing she received when Dave Lakhani did something honorable… and she just happened to be the recipient of his good deed. It couldn’t have happened to a better person.
We’re going to miss you, Sue. Until we see you again…
Well… sorta…
I’m honored to have been invited to participate in a new weekly podcast from ChristianBusinessDaily.com. Â It’s called the “Friday Wrapup” and it’s partly about business — but it’s also part news, part commentary, and part “who knows what else.”
The first episode is a little wild — probably something to offend the sensibilities of most. Nothing off-color, naturally, but your politics might be a little riled up by the time it’s over.
My co-host in this new feature is bestselling author and sales trainer, Michael Pink. We’ve planned on roughly 30 minutes per week. You can subscribe via iTunes, snag the RSS feed, or visit the site.
I’m looking forward to feedback on this!
In Sarasota, we’re a bit spoiled. We’re accustomed to sharing our local talent with the entire world. So we sometimes miss the significance of it when one of our own is shoved into the spotlight. Here’s a case where that would be a mistake.
Peter Lowe is the famous host of Business Seminars the world over. He’s known for putting speakers like Zig Ziglar, Margaret Thatcher, President Ronald Reagan, Dan Kennedy, President Gerald Ford, Benjamin Netanyahu, and others in front of large crowds to fire them up, inspire them, inform them, and train them. Peter’s latest iteration of these seminars are known as “Get Motivated Seminars.”
Michael Pink, America’s #1 Authority on Principle-Based Selling, lives and works right here in Sarasota. It seems that Peter Lowe has taken notice of the effectiveness of Michael’s training materials and has been inviting Michael to speak in these seminars. One such occasion is on July 10th in Tacoma, Washington.
Many local companies have benefited from Michael Pink through his Selling Among Wolves training events, through corporate training, as well as through the audio and video products Michael has produced. But more than that, many companies the world over have benefited. It would do us well to take notice of local talent on this scale.
Kudos to Michael… and to Peter Lowe for taking notice!
We told you previously about the armor we listed on eBay. This isn’t necessarily all that unique — people sell interesting things on eBay every day. What was unique was using a proven platform such as a blog in order to promote the listing.
How’d we do?
Well, we’re happy to report that the auction ended last night. We’ve already been in communication with the buyer (a “mate” from the land down under — howdy, Dan, if you’re reading this!). He seems like a great guy. We’ll be shipping his new purchase out to him tomorrow.
More interestingly, however, are the results we managed to achieve on our search keywords. We got into the top 10 (read: 1st page) of results for these words: antique armor cuirass. Here’s some photographic proof for those of you from Missouri:
The lesson? If you’re trying to get noticed, you can’t beat a nicely-placed business blog. From an internet marketing standpoint, this is nearly magical. If you have a business and you aren’t blogging, you’re missing out on a phenomenal opportunity to communicate with your existing and future customers.
For those of you wondering about our traffic, I don’t have any other armor auctions to compare things to, so I can’t speak intelligently to that. But on the blog site itself here, we had a significant spike in traffic looking for armor. Ironically, much of it seems to have come from Digg!
Get busy blogging!
And, by the way, we happen to specialize in getting you off to the right start. Contact us today! 😉
If you can’t wait, here’s a great article we just found from the folks that put together the snazzy new design for Michelle Malkin’s blog.
Freedom.
This is a concept that I believe we have truly lost. In recent months, I have re-read many of the writings and speeches from those who staked their lives to bring the United States of America into existence. Hearing the intensity of their passion, the resolute hatred of tyranny, and the willingness to sacrifice all for the future of their families has led me to believe that we have lost the art of valuing something such as liberty.
I truly appreciate the historic speech given by Patrick Henry which is most famous for the phrase, “Give me liberty or give me death!” To think that someone could speak extemporaneously with such clarity of thought about something with such ramifications leaves me breathless.
What a shame that today we allow our freedoms to drain as sand through our fingers without thought as to their purchase price. May God help us.
On this 4th of July — the “Independence Day” here in the USA — let us remember vividly the nature of that which our Founding Fathers overthrew. And let us be vigilant to watch that we do not allow it to return wearing another face.
Well… we said we’d occasionally write about things that might be useless or trivial!
Here’s the skinny on some fascinating armor (breastplate & backplate) that we have listed on eBay. Know anybody who is a weaponry or militaria buff? Perhaps they’d be interested?
We plan to report back on how this process of using eBay in combination with some other internet marketing techniques actually works out. Watch this space!
Why do small businesses build websites, anyway?
I’ve come to believe that most of them (the businesses) are suffering from dysfunctional strategy. Perhaps hypo-strategy is a better way to look at it — a sort of neglect where it comes to developing any overall business philosophy or vision.
Why would I say this?
Most small business websites do just about everything except what they should be doing.
Now here’s a young lady who understands marketing. She’s found a medium that will evidently reach her father with her request.
Check it out on Seth Godin’s blog.
Now, my daughter’s only 2. But, since I’ve already caught her playing with a Rubik’s cube, I’m guessing that by the time she’s old enough to want new furniture in her room, I have something like this to look forward to.
It doesn’t have much to do with business (or does it? hmmmm…), but my good friend Bill Sanders is on a meandering motorcycle trip and is reporting about it on his blog. He left from his home in Northern California on Monday and is making some scheduled stops before starting to wander aimlessly.
Every motorcyclist’s dream trip.
Reading about it is both joy and torture. Makes me wish I had a bike.
