When you’re building a business, or putting together a workshop, or trying to make your website better, or writing a book… there will be times you feel inadequate. The self-doubt rears up. You feel a thick fog descending; sucking away your energy and motivation. You start to feel like you're not enough, or you feel like it's all just too complicated, and you can't cope. And all your forward … [Read more...]

When you think about selling stuff on your website, or making money from your blog, do you ever find yourself saying: I know, I'll tell stories! That will increase my sales! Well, here's the thing: David Ogilvy was one of the first big advertising guys to prove that storytelling (a full page worth of small-font text) sold extremely well. When we think of story-based advertising, we often … [Read more...]

The Internet is filled with people who have been happily blogging away, building excellent content, and often impressive traffic to their websites, and thousands of subscribers, but yet they are not making enough money to even quit their day job! This is the exact situation one of my favorite bloggers found herself in. She had a Donate button on her site and she'd just had a book published by a … [Read more...]

Different 'social media experts' will give you different advice as to which social media will produce the best results for your business. Rather than spending time summarizing the different opinions, I'm just going to present you with what actually works. In a real life tried-and-tested Health business; where I sell books, CDs, DVDs, teleseminars and over 300 supplements. And here's the bottom … [Read more...]

If you haven't started hosting teleseminars yet, you've no doubt heard the buzz about how they can be great tools for building or expanding your business. Specifically, teleseminars can help you accomplish the following: Position yourself as a leader or expert in your field. Use teleseminars as a sales tool by giving away lots of free information on a topic and then presenting a special … [Read more...]

From talking with my friends, colleagues and bookclub members, I know that most people perceive writing a book as a big deal - something very difficult and daunting. How many articles have been written about the writer staring at a blank page? How many visuals of the desk or typewriter (back in the day) surrounded by crumpled wads of paper? So… you can buy into these myths, or not. Let me give … [Read more...]

If your business is not generating the kind of traffic (visitors) or sales (conversions from visitors to customers) that you would like, then there are many different metrics you need to look at. This article is going to help you implement two of the most important ones. Sometimes that magic tweak that skyrockets both visitors and sales can be that you realize you've been talking to the wrong … [Read more...]

As the Internet matures, you're going to see this more and more: People taking free information, inventions, protocols etc. that have been developed by scientists or groups and packaging them into digital information products. Perhaps there is a way you can apply this technique to your niche and package up your own information product? Here's a great example of what I'm talking … [Read more...]

Have you ever thought of nutrition as something that sets you free, enables you to get out of a rut, and changes a damaging behaviour, or pattern? Or do you think of food simply in terms of what you feel like eating (your tastebuds)? When you realize that what you eat and drink has a huge influence over your mood, your optimism and your energy levels... you begin to realize that what you ingest … [Read more...]

I was having dinner with my extended family one night, and a question popped into my head: What was the BEST time of your life to date – the time you felt the most energized, alive, and the most like YOU? So I asked the question and we went round the table, sharing our stories. There were people there aged 6 to 75 and their answers surprised me so much, I started asking other people. I asked my … [Read more...]

People often say that if you don't have a clearly defined goal, you will never be successful. If you don't have a detailed road map, you will never arrive at your destination. That all sounds great in theory. And it can work – for certain types of people. But I'm here to stand up for something else. I'm here to root for looseness. And freedom. And FUN. Zigging and zagging. Feeling your way along … [Read more...]

When you're learning a new task, or a new skill, or how to navigate around in a whole new world - like your first baby, or your first business, or a new country - you can get to a place of overwhelm. Where it just seems TOO difficult. You get discouraged. You start to say things like, "Who am I…?" Who am I to think I could do this? Who am I to think I could be the first one in my family to … [Read more...]

Sometimes we don't want to take on a new venture, or expand our horizons, or take a risk, because our life is currently so stressful we don't think we can handle any more! But is your life filled with good stress, or bad stress? Here's what bad stress and good stress looks like to me - and keep in mind that classifying stress as 'good' or 'bad' is a very personal thing and totally open to … [Read more...]

How do you feel when you think about your dreams or unspoken wishes? And how do you feel as you get closer to your dreams becoming a reality? Are you excited? Are you scared? Funny how those two emotions – fear and excitement – often go hand in hand. The really interesting thing is that when you look at the biochemical expression of these two emotions in the body… there is only one molecule … [Read more...]

David Ogilvy was one of the first big advertising guys to prove that storytelling (a full page worth of small-font text) sold extremely well. When we think of story-based advertising, we often think of those mile-long internet sales letters, or slick ads in niche-market magazines. But these next two real-life examples show the unmatched power of storytelling even in difficult arenas like art … [Read more...]