Do What You LOVE and Focus on What Matters

I read a great blog the other day from a guy that is an App Game “guru”. He’s a young entrepreneur who has become very successful and has figured out how to make a great living doing what he loves and having others do what he hates. I am re-posting part of his blog. His name is Trey Smith. He lives in La Jolla, CA and I have been following his stuff for awhile. Tonilee and I have also seen him speak in person. He’s a cool, laid back “dude” but makes some great points in his blog. I hope you enjoy it! Don’t forget me to join me on Saturday, February 23rd for my next seminar. I will be showing you HOW to do these things he is talking about. Check it out HERE.

Here is Trey’s blog post:

“ONLY DO WHAT YOU LOVE. SCREW EVERYTHING ELSE.

Now, this is a hard one to grasp. At first it seems IMPOSSIBLE, and honestly, it would have been impossible 10 years ago. If not impossible it would have been extremely expensive, but thanks to our good friends Odesk, Elance, Guru and Freelancer, it’s now super cheap to UNLOAD weight from your shoulders.

Here’s the thing that’s kinda crazy. Most likely what you hate doing does NOT make you money.

For example, here are things I can’t stand doing in order:

– Paying bills

– Answering emails

– Handling finances and taxes

– Putting things in my iphone calendar (ashamed to admit this one)

– Phone appointments

Here’s what I now do instead:

– Paying bills (Have a PO box setup and also a voice mailbox. My assistant handles it all, no bills come to me and they call her when have an issue.)

– Answering emails (Killed my email as you can see here. Best decision ever.)

– Handling finances and taxes (Have a bookkeeper now, you can hire someone on odesk for SUPER CHEAP and give them limited access to bank account to start doing quickbooks. Secure and simple.)

– Putting things in my iphone calendar (I know, this is crazy, but I email any appointments I have to my assistant, Natalie, who then logs into icloud and puts it on my phone with a 15 minute and 1 hour reminder. I send one email and it just happens, amazing!)

– Phone appointments (I thought this would be a hard one to get out of, but I figured out a super easy way to handle it. Now Natalie also does all my phone appointments for me. If there is something she can’t answer, then she gets all the info and gets with me to learn that part of the business. Now she rarely has to ask me anything.)

If you hate making websites, then you will never build a good website business if that is your job. If you hate programming, then you’ll never build a successful game when your job is being the coder. My job is now to come up with ideas and think about where to grow the business. Both of those things happen to dramatically add to the bottom line and you’ll find typically the stuff you WANT to do will make you the most money.

YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Think about this… What if instead of thinking about how to grow my businesses every day I was paying bills, entering finances into quickbooks, doing phone calls, answering emails and answering emails. Would my business grow effectively? Would I make as more or less money? Definitely less. Absolutely no question.

Not only would it eat up my time, it would eat up my SOUL too. Here’s what I mean. To make a business successful, you have to do something different than the competition. You must have a competitive advantage. If you do exactly what everyone else is doing then your business will be average. Your average business will have average results. This might be good enough for some, but if you want an above average business with above average income, you have to start thinking and building your company in above average ways.

Typically this means you are willing to either out work or out think the competition. The only way this can happen is if you are truly addicted to your business and free to think. If you are counting the hours until you can leave your business, then you are a slave to it and it is eating your soul. To reverse said soul eating process you don’t need to read some black magic spells from a book, you just need quit doing things that suck. If you’ve successfully outsourced everything that you hate, then your job is not a job anymore, now it’s a pleasurable experience 24 hours a day that you can focus on building and making more money with.

HOW IT CAN RUIN YOU

Let’s take it up a notch… if you DON’T outsource the things you can’t stand, it can ruin your business.

Case in point:

I always had a good credit score, but hated paying bills. When I made the move from Georgia to California I really screwed up big time. Not because of money issues, but because of slackness issues. I forgot to pay a few things and my 750 beacon shot down to 580. Bad timing as I was investing in a new startup and was supposed to secure the American Express card we would use and got turned down. You can imagine how that looked! After paying a ton of money to get my credit fixed and outsourcing bill paying, I was back on track in 8 months, but it was a VERY close call and an embarrassment for me in the start-up.

If you force yourself to do things you don’t like, you will not only stunt the growth of your business, you will slowly kill it. To build something amazing, you have to have undying passion and love for what you are doing.

GETTING STARTED

First off remember, you are outsourcing what holds you back in your life, NOT just what you don’t like about work. For example, me outsourcing bills was not just work related.

With any task you think about outsourcing there are two parts. Level of dislike and time it takes. You might have something that is a 5/10 on the dislike scale but it takes 20 hours a week. This would be something that is definitely worth outsourcing if possible, because it takes up such a vast amount of time. If something is a 10/10 on the dislike scale then it needs to be outsourced immediately as these are the “business killers”.

Here’s a quick exercise to help you decide which items to outsource first:

Make a list of the top 5 things you can’t stand doing in your business.
Rate them on a scale of 1-10 on how much you can’t stand it. 10 being the highest.
If any are a “10″, then figure out how to outsource those immediately. They are business killers (like bills with me!)
Next to the rating, write down how many hours per week you spend on this task.
Now add up the ratings and the hours for each task.
Focus on figuring out the biggest numbers first.

If you find yourself getting overwelmed or stressed out, then typically it’s because you are wearing too many hats. You’re doing too much and not focusing on the things that REALLY matter.

Remember, the most important thing in any business is traffic and conversions. That is what makes the most money regardless if you own a hardware store or an app company. Focus on your marketing and build out a plan that will help you grow over the next two years and think about how to hire people (on a budget) to help you do remedial tasks that drive you nuts!”

There is one thing I have learned in being an entrepreneur…DO NOT QUIT…KEEP GOING! Can I help? Email me for a Free Consultation.

Bobbye Brooks bobbye@media4women.com

Kicking Off 2013 with a New Seminar from Media 4 Women

Today on our radio program (www.TheWay4Today.com), Tonilee and I interviewed the CEO of oDesk.com, the world’s largest online employer. It was a very cool and amazing opportunity to speak with Gary Swart and hear his story. www.oDesk.com currently has over 1.2 million contractors across the world. Basically, there is nothing you cannot do in business today. The resources are astounding, from your own call center to a personal assistant to an app developer…all handled online.

2013 should be your break out year for success and prosperity. I know it’s time to see goals achieved and dreams realized. Are you ready? Media 4 Women is ready and making big plans. But, as we plan our goals for the new year, we also continue our mission to help others as entrepreneurs. Teaching, training and providing tools and resources to help those who want to be their own boss and control their own financial destiny are the motivations behind our services. From websites to social media to online marketing, the Internet is the future of most every type of business. Love it or hate it…we cannot escape it.

I’m kicking off the new year with a new seminar on Saturday, January 26th. The details are at www.Media4Women.com/seminars. The most important thing I have learned in working online is to not quit, keep at it and the rewards will come.

Here are my top 5 tips for online and social media success:

1. Think about and plan what you want to communicate; what you do; your mission; your services; etc
2. Engage and communicate authentically. Be real. Be honest. Be genuine.
3. Select your social media sites and use them consistently. Build relationships and develop trust with your audience by staying in touch with quality information on the same sites.
4. Promote others’ businesses, organizations, events, etc. Be selfless and willing to network without being competitive. The returns in the long run are greater.
5. Use the Internet and social media for good. Be positive in your communication and establish a solid quality reputation. Negativity and criticism should be avoided in online and social media postings. Choose your words wisely.

Make it a great year in 2013! Let us know if we can help. www.Media4Women.com

The Cell Phone: A Standard of Way of Life

 

While sitting in the cell phone lot at the Phoenix Airport, I was amazed by how far technology has come. Cell phones have impacted our world to a point of having whole parking lots designated to their owners. Right there on the overhead sign, there was the announcement stating “Cell Phone Lot.”

The frustration of the Airport attendants trying to shoe away those of us from waiting at the curb for our friends or loved ones to exit the terminal now has a solution.

We followed the signs to enter a parking lot estimating 75 parking spaces all facing an extra large electronic billboard flashing flight arrival statuses. It was amazing; this billboard was as large as you would see in a football stadium. Each person (sitting in their car) would look up periodically to check the status of their particular flight waiting for the status to change from Enroute to Ready for PickUp.

I was thinking that the Phoenix Airport didn’t really need to call the parking lot a cell phone lot but a waiting lot because of the status announcements. Just then, my cell phone rang from an unknown number. I answered the phone to hear my friend say that she had arrived but lost her cell phone in the departing airport. She had to borrow a cell phone to call me.  Wow, I was absolutely wrong! The cell phone connection was far more accurate and timely than the billboard.  The person to person connection is far better than the electronic announcement.

The billboard was just an added benefit for the person waiting in the car because the person arriving does not realize there is a sign announcing the arrival and the billboard was still reading “Enroute” while my friend was waiting at the curb for me to pick her up.

Cell phones are now a way of life and the Cell Phone Lot is now a way of life. Cell phones are not going away and if anything we are now upgrading to Smart phones as 250 million apps have been created for them to complement our lives. We even have an app to read daily devotions.  That is, if you don’t lose it!

If we can help you move forward in this new era of technology, please visit us at www.Media4Women.com. We are here to help.

 

BTW, it took some time to find her at the curb. Why? She had no cell phone!

Can you really make money online?

On an average day, I receive about 20 emails from companies and people trying to sell me something. You probably receive similar types of emails. Most of us either hit delete or the message goes straight to our Spam or Junk folder. It can be quite annoying. However, I also understand and  appreciate those who are using the Internet for e-commerce opportunities. Personally, I believe there is a “right” way to communicate and promote your business online. It is a very delicate balance between advertising with taste and consistency versus blatant, obnoxious ads that pop up everywhere. We have learned to tune most of them out, which hurts legitimate businesses who are also trying to get our attention.

Can a business really make money online? Can a person actually stay at home and  make extra income using their computer? If we are tuning out the ads or ignoring the promotions, how does this really work for those who want to start something new and fresh? Or, who are trying to promote their existing business online. My answer is “yes”. There are tremendous opportunities for anyone at any level of knowledge to actually make some extra money using the Internet and a computer. As I said, I believe there is a “right” way to conduct business online, a way that is honest, ethical and transparent. In my opinion, there are no get-rich-quick schemes that work. I wish there were, but I have yet to find them. But, an online business that is well planned and with some persistence can be a very successful venture.

I started down a path a little over 2 years ago, somewhat anonymously, learning tools of online marketing. I can honestly say that it works, with the right training and methods. It has become a passion of mine to help women learn how to start their own business or at the least, learn how to use the Internet in a positive way. I have been writing and teaching about this for awhile and the more I learn, the more I want to share. It is exciting and fun…why not enjoy learning new things, especially when you can see the results financially.

I am teaching a new seminar, the first one I have ever done on the tools to make money online. It is not just starting a business; it is about how to earn some extra income. Plus, the seminar includes a lot of online marketing tools and tips. You can register HERE if interested. I see so many people who are struggling and need encouragement. Knowledge is power and I pray everyday for God to show me, teach me and lead me to learn more about how to use the Internet for good and for His purposes. Don’t every give up…keep going. Bobbye Brooks

I’m Upset with Myself: A Lesson Learned About Persevering—Online

For the past few years, I have been studying and spending literally hours per day “online.” I am not exactly sure what fascinates me the most by it but I truly believe that the potential for knowledge and creativity is virtually limitless. However, I have also learned that with all of the competition and search engine strategies, there is one key component to success…be patient. Don’t stop with whatever you are doing online to promote your business or message. I know this firsthand and after two years of working on various projects, I cannot believe what I have gained and what I have lost. Lost, because I stopped.

Let me give you an example that I just recently discovered and to be honest, I am still upset with myself over what I did. In January 2010, I was learning and testing how to place a digital product online and sell it.(A company called Traffic Geyser was my coach, trainer and I was using their system.) Within 3 days of setting up my little system, I sold the first digital download. So exciting. For someone with no experience at this type of online marketing and sales, I was ecstatic at what I discovered could be done. And, the best part was this: the product was a Bible study. I learned about this system using videos, landing pages and a digital product website. I had everything set up in one day. I made a 60 second video using pictures, music and text. I bought a domain name and created a one page sales page. Pretty easy to do.

Over the course of that year, I made money every month selling online products, using the same system. But, I learned so much that I began working with other businesses and clients to help them with their products. Last year in 2011, I decided to stop the very first campaign I had set up, the one with the Bible study. I did not renew the domain name. I took down the digital site and the landing page to sell it. I just stopped. Why did I do that? I think I figured it was just such a small piece of activity that it was not really doing anything anymore. Boy, was I wrong?!

I let the domain go and did not renew it. It is now being sold for almost $1000 as a premium domain. The little video I put on Youtube has almost 10,000 views and has comments as recent as last month. People are looking for the original domain and website to buy the product, the digital Bible study. I realized that the momentum did not slow down but it grew. My little online experiment from 2010 would be worth 1000% more today if I had just been patient and kept it going.

I am writing this blog to both encourage and warn you. If you have a business or are starting a new venture online, with a website, social media, online marketing, PLEASE do not stop. Time is on your side. If you are putting out quality, value-added content and products, then just keep going and keep telling people about your business. More people may be paying attention than you realize. I am still upset with myself for stopping this one little campaign.

I have a renewed motivation and enthusiasm to expand on what I have learned and to help others not make the same mistakes I have. I can honestly say that in just 2 years, the online world has changed dramatically. Every week brings more developments and “new” things. I try to test as much as I can before recommending certain services and I do love experimenting and seeing what happens. My next new venture is in App development. Apps are definitely the future.

Take home message: Don’t Stop! If you are just learning about social media, keep working with it. If your website is new and not getting much traffic, keep promoting it…through social media. Just keep learning, growing, trying new things…but don’t quit. Our next seminar is Tuesday, April 10th from 5:30 to 8:30pm at the West Inn and Suites in Carlsbad, CA. We are doing a 3-hour, hands-on training for how to set up your own WordPress blog site and start marketing it. Spots are limited but a few are left http://wordpressblogsitetraining.eventbrite.com/    Join us as we learn and grow together to use the tools available to us online. Keep going.  Bobbye Brooks

Bobbye & Tonilee Hosts the Power of Hope Women’s Conference

The following information is from our recent press release about the upcoming conference in San Diego. We are super excited about this event. Let us know if you have any questions by calling 800-992-0369.

Bobbye Brooks and Tonilee Adamson, co-founders of Media 4 Women and Daily Disciples Ministries announce the launch of their 7^th annual women’s conference, held on the campus of Point Loma University in San Diego, California on Saturday, February 25, 2012. This one day women’s event is titled, “The Power of Hope,” and is designed to reach women from across Southern California.

Bobbye and Tonilee are entrepreneurs, speakers, authors and radio/television hosts who have inspired countless numbers of people to start their own business. These events captures the essence of motivating women to believe that their dreams can come true and to never give up on the “hope” of a brighter future.

“We are so excited to see more and more women stepping out and taking those steps toward freedom and independence, to grow stronger in their faith and to inspire others in the power of hope. This event in San Diego will be our largest to date and we are very appreciative of Sharp Healthcare as our title sponsor,” states Tonilee Adamson. For $25 a ticket, attendees will enjoy a day of music, special guest speakers, lunch by Panera Bread and much more, even parking is included in the ticket price.

“The ticket price is intentionally affordable, and we appreciate those who graciously support those who cannot afford even an extra $25. We consider this event a huge outreach for women in the San Diego community,” says Bobbye Brooks. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged due to expected attendance. Ticket holders can easily grab a seat and not stand in the long lines at registration.  Group discounts are available for those who purchase 4 or more tickets and can be purchased online at http://RealIssues-RealAnswers.eventbrite.com.

http://realissues-realanswers.eventbrite.com?ref=eweb

Event management for Real Issues Real Answers Conference powered by Eventbrite

Bobbye & Tonilee New Internet TV Program

Our New Internet TV Program Introduction

We are launching the official program, Real Issues-Real Answers w/Bobbye & Tonilee, LIVE this Wednesday at 11am PST. All archives can be watched at WaZilloMedia.com If you would like to be a guest, please email us at info@media4women.com

Don’t Forget the “Must Have’s” for Your Website

Media 4 Women Blog Talk Radio Program

Listen to
internet radio with Media 4 Women on Blog Talk Radio