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May 11th, 2008

About To Start An Online Business? Read This First.

Posted in Publishing Info

Copyright © 2004 Steve Shaw

I recently received an interesting question from a visitor to one of my web sites: “If there is any advice that you wish you would have gotten before you started a business online, what would it be?”. Rather than write an extensive email on this subject, I figured my answer would be of use to many people out there about to embark on what for many could be a life-changing experience.

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It takes a lot more work than much of the hype suggests.
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If you think you can put in a couple hours when you feel like it and achieve any level of success, you have been seriously misled. You need to be prepared to put in some very long hours, and to go through a steep learning curve as you find your way.

Establishing an online business is the same as setting up any other sort of business - it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of commitment over a long period of time, with many trials and tribulations along the way. Don’t expect instant results, nor to sit on the beach after a couple of weeks while the money flows in - it doesn’t happen.

The current success stories on the Internet have got there through months, more likely years, of hard work. You should be prepared to do the same, and to make whatever sacrifices you may need to make in your current life to do so.

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Don’t fear failure - just get started now.
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Many people do not start something because they are afraid of failure. They are afraid of looking a fool, afraid of their nearest and dearest saying ‘I told you so’, afraid of wasting time, effort and expense on something that may not work out.

In fact, the very nature of the question in my opening paragraph above is based on a fear of failure. It is a vain search for that gold nugget of information that will prevent them screwing up.

The truth is that failure should be celebrated, it is a simple milestone on the way to success. It is only through failure that you can truly find the path to any sort of success, right from when you first learned to walk as a small child. Failure teaches you important lessons that make you wiser and will make your business stronger and far more likely to succeed.

Instead of just giving up when something has failed or not worked out like you expected, there is a really simple question you can ask instead that can lead to great success - “What can I learn from this experience?”.

Everyone who has ever achieved success has gone through failure first. The difference is that the success stories picked themselves up, learned from the experience, and persisted anyway.

For many people, just getting started is often the hardest part. They will think about it, think some more, and then think again. Often rather than thinking in a focused way, they will end up procrastinating, and never get off the starting line.

The important part is just to get started. Yes, you may be initially doing completely the wrong thing, such as selling the wrong product in the wrong market, but failure is the only way you will learn, and the only way you will reach success. If you don’t fail, you can’t succeed.

And simply by starting, you have succeeded already, succeeded in getting way beyond the point that most people reach, which is usually just saying, ‘One day I will’. Make today that ‘one day’ - why wait until tomorrow, when tomorrow never comes?

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Focus, focus, focus.
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It is important to maintain your focus on what you actually want to achieve. Are you aiming for an additional income to supplement an existing wage; or are you looking to make an Internet business a full-time occupation?

Whatever your focus is, it is important that you continually work towards it until you achieve it, whatever knockbacks or challenges you receive along the way.

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Be careful what you read - beware of information overload.
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There is so much information out there about how to do business online, much of it contradictory, that it is often difficult to separate fact from fiction.

Rather than read everything and anything you can get your hands on, it is best to find just a few people who you trust, who have a good reputation, and who are actually qualified to give the advice they give, and listen to them.

A little high-quality information can be worth a great deal.

It is also useful to watch what they actually do, and compare that to what they say - sometimes the two are very different, and following what they do is far more useful.

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Don’t aim for perfection before you ‘launch’.
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No web site is ever perfect, and if you try to reach a high level of perfection before you launch or make your site live, you will lose more than you can achieve. Plus your version of ‘perfection’ may differ a great deal to what actually works with your market.

Once your site is functional and of a reasonable quality, start promoting it immediately. Start to build up your mailing list by requesting the email addresses of your visitors. Test what works with your visitors and what does not, and alter your site accordingly.

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Listen to your visitors and customers.
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When you have started and got a web site up and running, it is important to listen to your visitors and customers, and to treat them with great respect. Not only will you learn a great deal from them about what the market is actually looking for, you can also earn lifelong customers and friends.

Positive comments from customers can be used with their permission as testimonials on your web site, which will strengthen your online credibility and profit potential.

Be prepared to continually adjust your web site to meet the market demands. A web site is never ‘finished’, a successful web site must evolve over time on a continual path of improvement.

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But most importantly…
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Decide to succeed - right now.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Shaw of takanomi.com develops software and systems for effective e-marketing. His PopUpMaster Pro software at http://popupmaster.com creates popups that beat the popup blockers and which you can use with Google Adwords.

April 19th, 2008

Essence of Communication Skills

Posted in Publishing Info

When we talk of communication skills, the first and the foremost thing that comes to our mind is fluency. ‘Fluency’ is one of the many aspects that good communication skills consist of. While fluency is very much important in verbal communication, its peer part, that is, good hand-writing is important in written communication.

Whether we communicate verbally or through writing, our purpose is to convey our message to others. So, a good communication skill would, definitely, mean how easily we can convey this message. This, in turn, means that message has to be unambiguous, clear and precise. Saying a thing in round-about fashion i.e. not to the point and with multiple meanings is considered as bad communication.

To add impact to your verbal communication, avoid flat tone. Instead modulate your voice to match your sentences. You verbal communication should include low and high pitch with appropriate delays in-between words. You should neither shout nor whisper. But, you should be audible. Also, your facial expressions and gestures should be in accordance to your words.

Therefore, if you want to improve your communication skills then have sound knowledge of the language you choose for communication. Good grammatical knowledge is important for both oral and written communication skill. Grammatical errors can sometimes be tolerated in verbal communication but not always.

If you know the grammar well then fluency will automatically come. Initially, you may not be fluent but gradually you may acquire it. Hesitation can be one of the reason that bars fluency. Keep communicating with no hesitation. Analyze your previous communications for the mistakes you did. You may record your conversation for this purpose or may ask a friend to help you in this matter. Try to remove these faults and soon you will become fluent. Listen to audio-video programs and communicate with other people as much as possible in that language.

So, a good communication skill means a precise and unambiguous communication that is grammatically right and delivered through well modulated voice or in neat and legible hand-writing with your expressions matching your conversation. What if written communication is not hand-written? So, if written communication is typed one or electronically delivered then also you need to take care of proper font face and font size which is readable. Here, font color and font style are expressive of your communication.

My best wishes for happy and good communicating…

Syed Feroz Zainvi has obtained M.Tech. (Comp Sc & Engg) degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (INDIA). His areas of interests are distributed computing, computer graphics and Internet Technologies. Currently, he is involved in Software Project Planning, Development and Management. His other interests include writing for magazines and contributing utility softwares on Magazine’s CDs. He also have flair for teaching computer science with new teaching methodologies.

His web-page URL is http://www.zainvi.tophonors.com.

April 10th, 2008

Public Speaking: Asides

Posted in Publishing Info

In the theater, an “aside” is something said to the audience that is not to be heard by the other actors. If the aside was delivered on a television sitcom, the actor would look right at the camera and talk to the viewers at home instead of talking to the other actors.

To a public speaker it means a temporary departure from the main theme or topic. If you get good at this technique, the audience will think you are a genius. The way it works is that you begin telling a story or delivering information on a certain topic. Then you go off on a tangent (aside) indirectly related to the main theme. When you have finished the aside, you pick up the main theme where you left off and keep right on going.

The audience may think you are lost or confused when you first leave the original topic, but when you return to the main line after the aside, they realize you are in total control. This is very impressive.

Great storytellers are able to take you down several auxiliary paths, but still move you along the main path from beginning to conclusion. I tell a story about some medical work I had done where the doctor said to me, “This will just pinch a little bit. ” This phrase sends me down a whole different path talking about how my dentist had said the same thing and then pushed the Novacaine needle up into my brain, twisted it around, and pulled it out. I then came back to the main line of the medical story until I got to the word gauze. This word sets off another tangential story about my mother ripping gauze off me. Then it is back to the main line again.

You can alert the audience of an upcoming aside by saying the word “incidentally” before you veer off the main path. Another good technique is to go to a different part of the stage when you do the aside. Get good at asides and you will add a new dimension to the way you tell your funny stories or deliver information.

Copyright © 1998 - 2005 Advanced Public Speaking Institute

Tom Antion provides entertaining speeches and educational seminars. He is the ultimate entrepreneur, having owned many businesses BEFORE graduating college. Tom is the author of the best selling presentation skills book “Wake ‘em Up Business Presentations” and “Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing.” It is important to Tom that his knowledge be not only absorbed, but enjoyed. This is why he delivers his speeches laced with great humor and hysterical jokes. Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and is thoroughly committed to his clients’ needs. http://www.antion.com

Advanced Public Speaking Institute
3105 Sergin Ct.
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
(757) 431-1366
Fax (757) 431-2050
Contact: cmckinney@public-speaking.org
http://www.GreatPublicSpeaking.com

Visit our Blog at http://www.GreatPublicSpeaking.BlogSpot.com

April 8th, 2008

Setting Achievable Writing Goals: How a Goal-Setting System Can Help You

Posted in Publishing Info

Most of us would clearly agree that one of the best ways to grow and make progress in almost any field of endeavor, whether professional or personal, is to set and achieve a series of goals. By setting goals we can give ourselves a pathway to success, a set of directions that lead us step by step towards where we want to be or what we want to achieve.

But simply setting goals is not enough. Our goals need something else. They need to be achievable. If we set goals that are inherently out of range, it only serves to set us up for failure or disappointment. So therein lies a dilemma. Set goals that are too low and we don’t push or force ourselves to change or move ahead. Set goals that are too high and we risk almost certain disappointment and failure. Our goals need to be set far enough out to ultimately cause a change, yet seemingly be just within our grasp.

This likewise applies to setting goals for our writing. Here’s a series of steps I set up for myself that helped me to continually forge ahead - writing and producing not only more and more articles, but also continually improving content and quality. My pieces contained more high-traffic keywords and depth of information to lure and hold readers.

The first month my goal was simply to write a publishable article of less than 1000 words and post (publish) it in an article bank. After reviewing several I choose EzineArticles.com. The screening process of this initial piece would encourage me to continue if the article was accepted and published. It was and it did.

The second month my goal became to write at least one article per week to send in for review and publication in the article bank. When the second, third and fourth articles sailed through the approval process and were published without a hitch, I had no trouble getting article number five out fairly quickly.

When I learned that an upgrade in status was forthcoming if I reached the goal of submitting a tenth article, that became my new goal - get to ten. I got to ten ahead of schedule. Remember, with each goal you set it’s important to set a deadline or time frame in which to reach that goal. Otherwise you could languish forever in one never-ending step.

According to expert marketing article writer Jeff Herring, article “saturation” occurs at about 25 articles or so. At that point, more or less, you start to receive a backflow of traffic from your article submissions. So, 25 articles became my new mark, and I wanted to reach it before the next month’s end. I made it with time to spare, especially with the “head start” I had due to reaching my tenth article ahead of my targeted schedule. My status was upgraded and I couldn’t have been happier. I was hooked all right.

Posting my 25th article was another proud day for me. Next stop, 50 articles. With 50 posted articles online I’d hoped to get some respect as an expert author along with some recognition for the effort I was continually putting forth. Reaching 50 published articles online a full two weeks ahead of my goal sparked not a small bit of a commotion. “You’ve written and published HOW MANY articles in WHAT period of time?” Their disbelief was fuel to spur me to even greater heights. My colleagues were absolutely stunned. None had accomplished anything like this previously. I sniggled at their discomfort. I’d broken out of the pack. Like Timothy Robbins says, I’d taken “massive action”. Could 60 articles be far behind? I thought not.

Next stop on the article train, 100 published articles before year’s end. That would far outstrip anything I’d done before. But then, that’s the idea, isn’t it? I’ll reach the 60th article mark by next week. Will I be able to write another 40 articles in less than one month to reach my goal of 100 articles by New Year’s Day? Meanwhile new benchmarks loom ahead enticingly, after 100, 250 then 500 followed by a 1000 posted articles goal for next year. Are these achievable? Yes, they are. Using article templates, multiple writing topic specializations and keeping my pieces down to around 500 words or so each, these future steps are more than achievable. Will I make them? Time will tell as I publish both on and offline for a number of sources. Setting goals though, keeps me honest and focused.

You should set some writing goals for yourself. Small ones at first, achievable ones. Then set progressively larger ones as you begin to pick up speed and momentum in your research and writing. Try setting a new writing goal today. Think about it and just do it. Even you may be surprised and well pleased with the results.

To be continued by YOU and I …

Larry M. Lynch - EzineArticles Expert Author

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is a bi-lingual copywriter, expert author and photographer specializing in business, travel, food and education-related writing in South America. His work has appeared in Transitions Abroad, South American Explorer, Escape From America, Mexico News and Brazil magazines. Free details of his 5-week online course “Develop a Specialty and Get Published on the Web for Fun, Fame or Fortune” and more tips on article writing, public speaking, and mental skills development are online at: http://bettereflteacher.blogspot.com/.

April 1st, 2008

What Is Drama?

Posted in Publishing Info

Since I became a newsletter editor, I have struggled with the question, what is drama? What makes a story into a drama? This has been especially difficult as I sought out works to include as editor’s picks. I fear a riot should I inadvertantly include a non-drama piece - but I’m sure it would make for a dramatic uprising.

What else could I do but search the dictionary - or in this lovely modern era, dictionary.com? The site discusses various aspects of a play or theatrical production, then moves towards the definition of drama as a genre. The two interpretations that stuck out most to me were:

an episode that is turbulent or highly emotional
the quality of being arresting or highly emotional

In both instances, the phrase ‘highly emotional’ stands out. To write a dramatic piece, it seems that emotion must be the primary focus. The activity that occurs is important, of course, but without an inner or emotional change, the piece is not a drama. It may be a fine story, fit for the science fiction or action/adventure genres, but not drama.

This is not to say that a science fiction or action/adventure piece cannot be drama. I think many pieces can be classified as both. The difference is how relevant the emotion is to the story. Do we find ourselves mainly rooting for the hero to overcome his nemesis, or do we also hope he can defeat his childhood demons?

I’ve noticed most movies seem to be picking up the trend, perhaps not wanting to be considered ’shallow’. They want to be deep, or maybe they just want to appeal to the ‘chicks’ as well as the guys. For some reason, the movie Batman (the first one, with Michael Keaton) sticks out in my head. Poor Brucie struggles to overcome the emotional upset of confronting his parents killers. Contrast this with the Adam West Batman shows and you’ll see the difference. Now, this doesn’t mean I consider Batman a drama, but they sure did try, didn’t they?

Back to writing. How do we bring out the emotion in our characters? How do we put ourselves in our characters shoes if we’ve never felt what they have? How do we make sure our readers are convinced?

Start with how you would feel in a given situation. Relate it to what you know. Perhaps you have never lost a child, but what do you think that would feel like (start with what having a child might feel like and go from there). Do you remember the pain you felt when your puppy was run over? Expand on that. Make it more tangible. Obviously, losing a child and losing a dog are two different pieces of pain, but start with what you know.

Avoid cliches. Phrases like grief welled up inside him, and she loved him more than he would ever knowdon’t reveal how a character truly feels. Find a new way to say it.

Which lets you know how much the character hurts? }Pain cut him like a knife or }With those words, Jack’s chest contracted. His lungs no longer functioned, and he struggled to breathe. She wasn’t leaving him, was she? A dull roar inside his chest grew stronger until it consumed him. And so forth.

If the experience is totally foreign to you, do a little research. After all, this is the age of the Internet. Search for grief and loss forums. Search for pieces on writing.com that handle whatever emotion you are exploring. See if you can find any books that deal with similar subjects. Then apply these emotions to your own characters.

What seperates a three dimensional character from a cardboard cutout? Generally, it seems to be emotion. Keep your stories’ inhabitants from being singlesided by given them realistic emotions and reactions.

Nola Redd is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/
which is a site for Creative Writers. You can read more of her fiction and nonfiction at http://scottiegaz.Writing.Com/.