Branding. Create a coherent and predictable emotional experience for your customer.

Hey there!

I’m on my way back from a gloriously sunny weekend by the seaside. We lay on the beach, we played Frisbee, we paddled in the sea, we surfed.

Everything I own is now full of sand. Including this laptop, which I haven’t touched all weekend.

Now… I’m sure you’ve been sat by your email box all day, eagerly awaiting the delivery of your weekly Jalopy Gang V.I.P. newsletter. Well… I’m afraid you’ll have to wait one more day to receive it this week, because I’ve been extremely busy all weekend doing nothing. And now I’m worn out!

It’ll be totally brilliant. Sign-up below to be sure not to miss out.

 
There’s some really great free stuff coming soon…

Earlier today, as the sun beamed down on my face and the cool sand squeezed between my toes, I got thinking about branding.

I’ve spoken before about the benefits of communicating a single, coherent message to your customers through your branding.

Equally important, I think, is to deliver a coherent and predictable emotional experience, and to anchor this to your brand.

What am I talking about?

Well…Why do you watch 24?

You watch 24 because you want excitement. You want 600 plot twists in 6 minutes. You want close-ups and explosions and stuff. You have an expectation that it will get your blood pumping. 

Why do you watch Oprah?

You watch Oprah because you want to connect. You want to hear people’s stories and relate to them. You want to feel understood. You want to feel inspired. You have an expectation that you will feel this way, and it is familiar and comforting.

Why do you watch films you’ve already seen before?

Because you know how they’re going to make you feel. You know what you’re going to get.

Whenever we enter into an interaction we have a certain expectation of what the emotional experience is going to be.

What is the emotional experience that your service / product / website / brand provides?

Is it predictable and consistent? 

If you switch on Oprah, hoping for some inspiration, then you’re going to be disappointed if you end up with a sweaty Rush Limbaugh blaming all his personal problems on anyone else who isn’t just like him.

If you switch on 24, hoping for some action packed excitement, then you’re going to be disappointed if you end up with a slow, tender love story.

So, be consistent. Make the emotional experience part of your brand, and keep it mind in all your communication.

See you tomorrow!
JJ Jalopy.

Stop your blog from sucking. And save the world!

Hi there!

Do you have a blog?

(To extract the maximum enjoyment from this narrative, you might want to play along. Even if you currently find yourself blogless…)

Does your blog suck?

No, of course it doesn’t. It’s brilliant.

But even the most brilliant of brilliant blogs can be improved upon a little…

So would you like to make your blog even better?

Of course!  And how would you feel if I told you that you could achieve this with the very simplest of strategies, right now, at home in the comfort of your own pants (or someone else’s if you’d prefer) in 6 minutes a day with a glass of wine in your hand and your cat curled up on your keyboard?

You’d say that would rock, right?

Well, what if I told you could do all this and save the world at the same time?

You’d say JJ, you must have fallen out of the crazy tree. I know you’re totally awesome and everything, you’d say, but I don’t think you could offer us all of that.

And I’d say perhaps not… But I’d like you to meet to very lovely people who can.

They are Darren Rowse from Problogger, and Naomi Dunford from IttyBiz.

They are both very lovely and they both know lots and lots about blogging and small business and stuff like that.

Darren has written an indispensable eBook which gives you 31 simple actions steps towards making your blog really awesome. It’ll take you a month to get through, after which your blog will emerge as shiny as the shiny side of a coin well polished on one side.

If you do the exercises in the book then you will see results. That’s a Jalopyland Guarantee. If you don’t then you can follow me everywhere I go for 24 hours prodding me continuously and yelling I told you so in my face.

And I won’t be allowed to punch you in yours.

Fair?

I thought so…

Now what’s the deal with this Naomi lady? Where does she fit into this grand plan?

Well… the  book costs $19.95 (That’s a total bargain, by the way.) And if you buy the book through her, she gets $10.

And why should you care?

Because Lovely Naomi is not going to keep that $10. No, she’s going to take that $10, give it to Kiva.org and then she’s going to double it.

Yep. You can rock your blog and save lives at the same time.

Convinced?

I thought so. Now… go to Naomi’s blog here, scroll down and click on the bit where she says “This is the Link. Click on it.”

Buy it and change lives.

Rock and roll.

Oh… I should probably make it clear that I make no profit whatsoever from all of this. Im fact, it has nothing to do with me at all. I’m just sharing the love. That’s how we roll in Jalopyland baby!

I’m off to the seaside tomorrow. Chat to you later!

JJ Jalopy.

Tell us about all the cool stuff you’re doing JJ!

Hey there!

So Manchester United lost the football tonight.

Still… life goes on. Especially if you could care less about Manchester United.

Today I thought I’d share with you what I’m up to, and then send you away with a chocolate surprise as I get busy with aforementioned stuff.

You’re soon going to see a few changes around here:

A New Cleaner, Clearer Website Design

A new splash of paint.

 

There’s a ton of really awesome stuff on this website.

But it’s a right bitch to find it, and the layout of the site is rather confusing.

So I’ll be taking the time to sort that out. The new design will be:

• cleaner
• easier to read
• lighter
• whiter
• like fresh laundry on a summer day
• funner
• more JJ. (Oh yeah.)

If you come and visit and the site looks as if a child drew it on your screen with half-chewed crayons, then you probably caught me in the middle of upgrade limbo.

I know there are ways and means to update a website in such a way that the changeover is almost seamless from the visitor’s perspective. I also know we probably won’t bother ourselves with such folly.

So if it looks like crap, that’s why. It’ll get better. Honest.

More Really Cool Stuff.

I’m busy making really cool stuff for you. If you’ve been paying attention to my coaching marketing blueprint then you’ll know that the last step is:

Explode your Business. Get leverage on your time.

In my business, this means making cool stuff to help as many people as possible. There’s some really great free stuff coming up which I’ll make available to existing and new subscribers to my awesome Jalopy Gang newsletter, as well as some slightly-more-than-free-stuff that I’ll be revealing soon.

Some secret other stuff which is just like so totally cool it’ll make your eyes pop out and your head fall off, at which point you won’t mind so much about the eyes.

Yeah, some of that too. Subscribers will find out soon!

As I’m so busy, I’ll posting a bit less often on here from now on. Not a lot less, mind you. We’ll still hang out and laugh and learn together.

To make up for that – and as a present for being so lovely and reading down so far – I’m going to share my super awesome brownie recipe with you.  These are the best brownies in the whole world. Enjoy!

Here’s your shopping list. 

• 200g Butter
• 200g of the finest dark chocolate money can buy
• 100g of milk chocolate
• 50g of cocoa powder
• 275g of caster sugar
• 90g of flour
• 3 big eggs

This makes enough brownies to last a couple of hours, regardless of the number of people you have. They’re good. Really good.

Now the instructions. Pay attention!

Cut the butter and break the dark chocolate into cubes. Put them in a bowl. Rest the bowl on top of a saucepan filled about a third full with water. If the bowl touches the water then you either have an inappropriately shaped bowl or too much water – remedy the situation!

Now but the saucepan on a low heat and stir the butter and chocolate as it begins to melt. 

Once melted remove the bowl from the pan and allow the melted chocolate to cool.

As it cools, sieve the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl to remove any lumps.

Chop the milk chocolate into chunks with a knife or whatever garden implement you feel like misusing.

Put the eggs and sugar into a bowl and whisk like crazy until you get a nice fluffy sweet mixture. This mixture is delicious…

Now pour the melted (cool) chocolate over the fluffy eggy goo and fold it together with a spatula. Keep going in a figure of air so everything is the same lovely chocolate color. Be nice and gentle because we don’t want to get rid of the lovely fluffiness of the egg goo.

Now sift the cocoa and flour mixture on top of the chocolate goo. When it covers the top, fold the dry mixture into the goo. This will look horrible and dry at first, but bear with it. Keep going gently until you’ve folded in all the cocoa and flour and you end up with a fudgy, sticky consistency.

Finally, stir in the milk chocolate chunks. 

Stick the mixture into a shallow baking tin that you’ve prepared in whichever non-stick way you like. Make sure it covers the whole surface of the tin.

Whack it in the oven for about half an hour. You can tell when it’s ready because it won’t wobble in the middle when you shake it.

Now allow them to cool, chop them up and eat them.

They are best served with wine, coffee good music and great company.

TASTY!

See ya later, Alligator!

JJ Jalopy.

How to identify with your prospective customer.

Hi there,

How are you today? 

Hi again. This is JJ interrupting himself. He’s going to drone on for a couple of paragraphs about some of the mildly unfortunate things that happened to him today, using naively constructed metaphors involving the wet bits of fish. Skip to the bit marked AIMLESS SELF-INDULGENT RAMBLING STOPS HERE if you could care less. Thanks.

I woke up in a foul mood today. 

I think it might have been the rain that did it. 

It had been such a sunny weekend, and I woke up early this morning to rain.

Then… when I left the house I discovered I had a hole in my shoe.

Then… as I squelched my way up the escalator and out of the tube station, I realized I had left my umbrella on the seat.

By the time I arrived at my destination I was as wet as the very wettest bits of a wet fish.

Under other circumstances I may have found this funny. I may even have done a little dance in the rain – Dick Van Dyke style.

But not today… Today I was a big grumpy grumpyhead.

Why am I telling you all this?

To be honest, I’m not sure. You are not my therapist and I’m rapidly talking my way into a blogging black hole.

HOWEVER…

Do not be too quick to write off this post just yet, because I’m putting aside my petty grudges against the unfortunate practicalities of the day and pulling something TOTALLY AWESOME out of my box of tricks.

Sometimes I like to mention how brilliant my Jalopy Gang newsletter is. 

(Totally, is the answer, by the way. It’s totally brilliant.)

Well… I’m getting lots of few new subscribers these days. (Hi new subscribers! I love you!) And one of the things that makes me a little sad, is think that these awesome new folk have missed out on some of the really cool stuff I’ve downloaded into your head in my previous newsletter.

So today I’m going to share this with you. It’s an answer to a lovely reader’s question about how she can identify with her prospective customer. It’s not the best-written thing I’ve ever produced, but it’s jam-packed with useful information. Awesome.

Let’s go…

 

 

 

==> AIMLESS SELF-INDULGENT RAMBLING STOPS HERE

A question from a reader:

JJ. I’ve picked a niche market to target, and I’ve created a simple representation of my average customer as you suggested, but I’m having trouble identifying with my customer. Do you have any tips on how I can get inside my prospective customer’s head?

This is a great question!

I realise now that it’s something I glossed over somewhat when we discussed this in the context of my business.

It is relatively easy to identify with your niche if you are already involved in that niche. It is even easier if your prospective customer is essentially a past version of you, before you solved some of your own problems.

But what if you are new to the niche? How can you identify with something you have never experienced yourself?

Well, thankfully, there are some great tools you can use to help you understand your prospective customer, before you immerse yourself in that niche.

What are people searching for?

When someone has a problem, or they want information on a subject, they go to Google (or a similar search engine) and they search for information, advice, or people with similar stories or experiences.

And they don’t censor what they type in. It might be embarrassing to ask your Mom, but it’s not so embarrassing to ask Google!

Google knows everything.

And Google will happily tell you what people in your niche are searching for! You can find out what they’re worried about, what they’re looking for, what is on their mind.

This is amazing.

Go to https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and type in a search term describing your niche.

If your niche is women trying to come to terms with their husband’s infidelity  then type “cheating husband” into the keyword tool and see what comes up.

Google will tell you exactly what they’re looking for!

Spend some real quality time with this tool. All the information you need to use it effectively can be found on the Google website.

Do it. I can’t overemphasize how important this is!

What are people talking about on Internet groups?

One of the great things about the internet is that there is a community for everything. No matter how bizarre your area of interest, there will be an online community for it.

Lizard racing?

Underwater scrabble? 

Whatever your area of interest you will be able to find someone else who is also interested in that thing, and you will be able to chat to them online.

Your mission is to find the online communities related to your niche market and find out what people are talking about and the questions they are asking.

So where can you find these:

Popular group sites:

http://groups.google.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/

http://groups.live.com/

Social Networking Sites:

http://www.facebook.com/

http://www.myspace.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/

Use directory sites (dmoz.org, yahoo directory etc) to find the most popular forums in your niche:

http://www.dmoz.org/

http://dir.yahoo.com/

http://specials.msn.com/

What questions are people asking on the Internet?

Question and Answer websites are an absolute goldmine for niche research.

Sites like Yahoo Answers, WikiAnswers etc. allow people to post questions, which are then answered by experts and Internet busybodies alike.

http://answers.yahoo.com/

http://wiki.answers.com/

Search these sites for questions relevant to your niche. It’ll tell you exactly the questions people are asking, and what they’re having trouble finding out by other means.

Find a popular question people are struggling to get answered anywhere else on the Internet, and you have just discovered yourself a potential goldmine!

NOTE: This is a massively awesome tip. You should do this. And then you can thank me by telling all your friends how brilliant I am. And why not suggest that they too subscribe to my newsletter so we can all play together in a giant bubble of love, and take over the world.

Ask people yourself!

My final suggestion is to do some good, old-fashioned market research. Find people who represent your niche and ask them what they’re worried about, elicit their values, find out what makes them feel good and what their dreams are.

You can create a survey online at www.surveymonkey.com.

If you’re a respected member of a popular forum then you could make a post on the forum, linking to your survey. This will be especially effective if you offer a small incentive for filling in the survey. A small downloadable report might be good.

If you’re not an already respected forum member then this will probably be regarded as spam. It is best to build up a reputation as a value-giver before you ask for anything in return.

Please let me know how you get on with your research. And please share any magic bullets of your own!

See? That rocked in the end, didn’t it? 

Well done me.

See you tomorrow for more fun and games!

JJ Jalopy.

P.S. I’m thinking about simplifying the look of the website. It’s a bit busy, I think. I want it to look cleaner and more fun. And I want bigger text, so it’s easier for you to read. Let me know if you think it’s a good idea. 

Which reminds me… I should really update my contacts page…

You can contact me on:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/jjjalopy 

Facebook: Just search for me. Not many people have my name. Except one guy who’s into cuckoldry. Mrs. Jalopy would probably appreciate me pointing out that this is not me.

Email… jj at jjjalopy dot com

Other stuff, but I can’t be bothered to type any more right now. G’night!

How to Market Test your Business Idea in Under Ten Minutes

Hi there!

I hope you had a lovely long weekend.

Sometimes on my blog I like to have imaginary conversations with imaginary people who appear to be very interested in what I have to say.

If one of these imaginary folk were to ask: 

Hey JJ. So what’s are the real steps involved in this setting-up-business / coaching / mentoring lark of which you speak?

Then I would be able to show them checklists, flow diagrams, lightning-bolt-strewn process maps. They would be impressed.

I like to call this my methodology, because I am fancy like that.

This methodology is the foundation of all my work with folks who want to set up their own little businesses. It’s the main reason that my mentoring service is so totally brilliant, and why this website is too. Even if you’re only here because you like my hat.

Earlier today I was doing some ad-hoc coaching with a friend of mine who is looking to start an online business. I ran him through a quick set of tests he could use to determine whether there would be a market for his business idea.

That’s cool, I thought to myself. I should share this on my blog and add it to the methodology.

And that’s what I’m doing here. 

I made a quick 7 minute video to explain the process. It’s a long way from being slick – and if you’re not interested in internet business then frankly it’ll bore you to tears – but the information in here is fantastic.

I think everyone would benefit from following along with this one. I should really sell this information for a gazillion dollars or something, and I probably will one day, so watch it now whilst I am still outrageously generous!

Enjoy! And if you feel like telling the rest of the internet how great you think this is then please go ahead and Digg, facebook, mixx me and generally shout messages of love from the rooftops. I won’t mind!

See ya’ tomorrow.

JJ Jalopy.

How to be more productive by doing less stuff.

Hey!

It’s a beautiful sunny day in Londontown and there’s a beer outside waiting for me…

…just as soon as I get my AWESOME Jalopy Gang newsletter finished.

Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s totally brilliant.

Reading it makes you instantly cleverer, richer and more attractive.

If you would like to be stupid, poor and ugly then please don’t put your email in the box below.

 

This week the newsletter is better than ever. It’s jam packed with instantly applicable advice on getting client testimonials, and it’s absolutely hilarious if I do say so myself. You will laugh. Oh, how you’ll laugh.

Just to prove it, here’s an article from the newsletter…

 

How to be more productive by doing less stuff.

Most of us spend a lot of time doing stuff we don’t want to do.

We attend meetings that waste our time, we stay late at work because we think it will impress our boss, we hang out Dave and Sue twice a year even though we think Dave and Sue are terrible bores.

Productivity advice is big business. There’s a whole ton of boring books written about how to be more productive. There’s a whole industry devoted to squeezing the maximum amount of work out of a workforce who, in most cases, would rather be doing something else.

Probably the most famous is Getting Things Done, by David Allen.

It’s actually a very good book if you like that kind of thing. (Which I do, a little.)

It’s basically a complete system to help people to do more stuff they’d rather not be doing.

It’s generally accepted knowledge that productivity springs naturally from the fire of passion.

If we’re doing stuff that we love, then we are productive.

Do you need to motivate yourself to play with your kids? Or go fishing? Or go for a beer with a good friend?

No, because we love doing these things. We are passionate about them. At least some of us are.

If we flip this on it’s head, we might conclude that being unproductive results from doing a load of stuff we don’t really want to be doing.

So how to I stop being unproductive? What’s the solution?

Well the solution is to stop doing stuff you don’t want to do.

If you only did what you wanted then you’d get an enormous amount done.

Yeah, but it’s not that easy is it? Some of the crappy stuff I just have to do.

This is true. And it would be grossly irresponsible of me to claim otherwise.

You really should pay your bills. 

You really should do your tax return.

You really should pick up your son from soccer practice. 

There are a number of things that you might not want to do, but you really should to avoid death or imprisonment. 

There are a number of things that you might not want to do, but you really should to avoid being a terrible person. 

Thing is, we’re not always very good at being objective about what we have to do, and what we really don’t have to do but just think we do. (For example, many people will think that I should rewrite that last sentence because it’s ugly as sin, but I won’t because I’m lazy.)

Here’s some stuff that you really don’t have to do.

• You don’t have to hang out with Dave and Sue. They’ll cope. And maybe they find hanging out with you a bit of a chore too. (They don’t, obviously. They think you’re brilliant. But you can see my point.)  
• You don’t have to answer the phone when you’re in the middle of something important. They’ll leave a message. Or they’ll call back if it’s important. It’s okay.
• You don’t have to return all your phone calls.
• You don’t have to reply to all your emails.
• You don’t have to send birthday cards.
• You don’t have to go to valueless meetings just to show your face.
• You don’t have to finish everything you start.
• You don’t have to get up early every day.
• You don’t have to stay in college if you don’t love it.
• You don’t have to stick in a job you hate.
• You don’t have to have a well-paying professional career simply because you paid a lot of money for your degree.
• You don’t have to have goals.
• You don’t have to have a five year plan. 
• You don’t have to live up to other people’s expectations of you.

Aren’t I just going to end up annoying and upsetting everyone?

In order to rid your life of stuff you don’t like doing, you’re going to have to say No a lot. You’re probably going to disappoint people who are used to you behaving in a certain way. 

You might run the risk of people thinking you are a flaky, self-centered, arrogant, egotistical.

But I’m not advocating that you go too far with this. I’m intending this as a re-balancing exercise. I don’t want you to make a religion out of giving stuff up. Don’t make it a total lifestyle decision. Don’t become a selfish idiot.

The key is to create space for the passion to grow in your life by eliminating the shoulds that cause you anxiety and stress, and replacing them with the “work” you love.

The message, summed up in a cheesy alliteration-heavy catchphrase?

Do what you dig. Don’t do what you don’t dig.

See y’all tomorrow!

JJ Jalopy.

SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE: Sign-up for my newsletter. It’s totally brilliant.

10 Simple Things that will Immediately Increase your Quality of Life

Good day!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend.

I hope you have a fantastic time with the people you love.

Here’s 10 simple things that you can do right now to immediately improve the quality of your life…

1. Get a teapot.

2. Have a bit of a tidy-up. Then have a nice cup of tea, made in your new teapot.

3. Put the phone back on its stand thing. It looks untidy lying down like that.

4. Get a mac. If you’re going to be sat in front of a computer you might as well make it a nice looking one. Like my beautiful silver iMac. Even if it crashes, you don’t get mad ’cause it’s just so pretty…

5. Tidy your computer desktop. You’ll never achieve Productivity Zen Mastery with all that crap in the way. So put those icons away somewhere. Do this: http://kinkless.com/article/kinkless_desktop

5. Buy loads of toothpaste, shampoo, soap, toilet rolls etc. Having to buy that stuff all the time is annoying.

6. Always have scissors, wrapping paper and tape in an easily accessible place. Wrapping up presents is painful enough at the best of times. Why make it harder on yourself?

7. Drink good wine. It’s nicer than the cheap stuff, you know. You deserve it.

8. Go outside. Go for a walk. Get some air. Sit under a tree. Hug it if you like. Just get outdoors. It’s good for you. 

And from Mrs. Jalopy…

9. Paint your nails. It makes life funner.

10. Carry tissues at all times.

Ta-ra! See you tomorrow!

JJ Jalopy.

This is beautiful.

Hi there!

I hope you had a great week.

I want to share this with you. It’s one of the most beautiful music videos I’ve ever seen, by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós.

If you have the time… then take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy six minutes of exquisite beauty.

http://www.vimeo.com/3977937

See you tomorrow!

JJ Jalopy.

Get Paying Clients from Free Coaching Sessions in 7 Easy Steps

Hi there!

Just when you think you don’t have to listen to me anymore…

I have a REAL treat for you today.

If you’re struggling to fill your coaching practice with clients then you have to listen to this.

I run through a simple 7 step process that you can use in your free trial coaching sessions to get more people to sign-up for coaching with you on an ongoing basis.

It’s 100% content and value packed. I hit this one out of the park!

The 14 minute podcast is below. Click the Audio MP3 icon to make it play. Or select the link below.

Get Paying Clients from Free Coaching Sessions in 7 Easy Steps

Would you like more cliches? More hyperbole?

Good.

This 14 minute recording is an extreme injection of value packed information into your brain. I go into brain-hemorrhaging detail and define a clear cut strategy to turn your free trial coaching session into a gold mine of happy paying clients.

This time there’s no B.S., no cowboy hats, no larking around – just clear, applicable strategy. I’m really pleased with it, and I hope you will be too.

If you’re a visual person, you might like to look at this as you listen to me explain the process:

 

I hope you enjoy it and get as much value from the process as my clients do.

NOTE: In the latter part of this podcast I mention setting up coaching sessions 4 times a week. That’s an awful lot of coaching. I meant 4 times a month. Thanks Mrs. Jalopy!

See you tomorrow!

JJ Jalopy.

P.S. I’ll doubtless post some larking around for you again soon! My buddy Duane and I are planning to do a podcast together. And who knows what might happen…

Fill Your Coaching Practice in 7 Easy Steps.

How to become a coach. With Coaching Marketing Superstar JJ Jalopy.

Hey there!

Look! I’m on YouTube – spreading the word about my coaching marketing blueprint and other awesome stuff.

Obviously I cringe if I watch it and have no way of telling objectively whether it sucks or not.

So please tell me what you think…

Feel free to be totally honest with me.

Except if you think it sucks. You can keep that to yourself.

Actually, you can keep quiet unless you think it’s totally brilliant. Otherwise I’ll get all self-conscious and I’ll do the next one in the dark.

Thanks. Glad we’ve sorted that out.

See y’all tomorrow!

JJ Jalopy.

An interview with a Health, Nutrition and General Zen Master Rockstar!

Hey there!

I’ve just recorded a podcast interview with holistic health expert Anthony Lemme of www.anthonylemme.com. 

Check it out. It’s awesome.

Well, Anthony is awesome anyway.

He teaches me some new words, drops some great soundbites and explains his functional approach to health and happiness. He truly is a master of body and mind. And a darned humble one at that.

Unfortunately, though, he cannot levitate.

I guess you can’t have it all…

(I lose my voice about halfway through. So that’s a plus too!)

Enjoy!

JJ interviews health expert Anthony Lemme

UPDATE: 22/05/09 – Here’s Part 2. It’s way better quality and you get to hear me call my friend, ubiquitous blog commenter Avery, an asshole. 

Interview with Anthony – Part 2

JJ Jalopy.

Your substitute teacher for the day is…

Hey there!

Yeah, I know.

I’m looking a bit rough today. I’ve had a busy day and I’m bloody knackered. 

(That means I’m tired, my American friend.)

My bed is calling to me like a treacherous Siren.

Be silent – vile temptress of the sea – for I have a blog to write, folk to entertain and educate, babies to hug shirtless and oiled…

Actually, screw that. I’m going to bed!

In my place today will be surrogate blogger extraordinaire Mr. Johnny B. Truant. 

I discovered him recently in my quest to find the greatest writing on the internet as part of my evil networking plan. Johnny has been writing totally awesome guest posts on Naomi Dunford’s totally awesome IttyBiz blog. 

He’s funnier, better looking, far more modest, and slightly more profane than I. 

Here he talks about Marketing for Nice People and punching Ashton Kutcher in the face. Apparently these two activities are not mutually exclusive.

http://ittybiz.com/why-its-nice-to-be-nice/

Enjoy.

I’ll be human again tomorrow!

See you then!

JJ Jalopy.

Why you’re not achieving your goals.

Hi there!

Hope you’re having a good weekend.

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but my awesome Jalopy Gang Newsletter hits your email box every Sunday. The article that I’m going to share with you below was originally written exclusively for the newsletter, but I think it rocks so much that I want to share it with you here.

Just in case you needed convincing of the value of my esteemed e-publication…

So if you’re super intelligent and enjoy great writing and practical honest, no-nonsense coaching, consulting and home business marketing advice then sign-up below and make my day!

And that is why my buddy Don Shepherd coined me The King of Shameless Self-Promotion…

Anyhow…

Today I’m going to talk about goals.

As you’re here I’m going to assume that you have set goals in the past.

I’m going to assume that you are working to achieve some of those goals right now.

I’m going to assume that you’re at least thinking about working to achieve some of the goals right now.

(Unless you’re my Dad. Hey again, Pa! He’ll tell you that he’s perfectly happy without goals, thank you very much. And then he’ll go make a new wall in the garden. He’s Zen like that. And that’s why you’d do well to read his forthcoming guest post on my blog!)

I’m also going to assume that you’ve forgotten about a few of the goals you’ve made.

And some of them you totally gave up on because – even though you really wanted to achieve the goal – life kind of happened, it all seemed like a bit too much work, and you had other stuff to do anyway…

A lot of people have written a lot of good stuff about the art of goal achievement.

A lot of people have written a lot of nonsense about the art of goal achievement.

One thing that most people will agree on, is that the key to maintaining the drive and commitment you need to follow through on your goals, is to remind yourself why you want to achieve the goal in the first place.

This is good advice. But some people are better at that “why” than others.

Meet Juliet.

Since she left school, Juliet had thought about running her own catering business. But she got married at an early age to a very busy and successful banker called Bob.

Bob would put on a pinstripe suit and bowler hat to go and pick up the Sunday paper. He was that kind of dude.

Juliet played the role of housewife. This was what Bob wanted the most, and what Juliet thought would make Bob happy.

When Juliet would speak of her idea to run a catering business Bob would get angry. He would tell her not to waste her thoughts on silly dreams. He would tell her she would never be able to do it by herself. He would pat Juliet on the head, tell her to forget all about and go and make him a sandwich, there’s a good girl.

Yeah. Bob was an asshole.

Fifteen years later Juliet would finds out that Bob had been having an affair with his secretary.

This gives Juliet the courage she needed to leave no-good Bob and move into a small one-bedroom apartment by herself. Juliet feels like the last fifteen years had been a waste. She doesn’t have qualifications, she doesn’t have experience, but she has her dream – the dream that loser Bob had told her she wasn’t good enough to succeed with.

Juliet immerses herself in self-help literature. She learns how to clarify her desired goal, and see it clearly in her mind. She gets clear about all the good positive things that would result from the achievement of her goal. She learns about positive thinking. She reads some books about self-acceptance.

Juliet decides to give her goal a bit of oomph. She goes to see Coach JJ.

Juliet explains that her goal is to have a successful party catering business, and explains what that would look like to her.

I ask her why wants this and how it will make her feel.

I’ll feel like I’m in control of my life, she says. It’ll feel great to be able to make money all by myself. I’ll feel secure and I’ll also feel free. I’ll feel proud of myself. I’ll feel like I’ll be able to do anything.

That sounds great, I say. What else?

I’ll feel like I’m a success.

How do you feel about your success as it relates to your ex-husband, I ask.

And then we start to learn about her most powerful motivation to succeed in her business…

She wants to prove Bob wrong. She wants to prove to herself and to prove to him that she can succeed. That she is good enough. She wants to show him that getting away from him and his good-for-nothing philandering ways is the best thing that has ever happened to her. She wants to show him she was better than him – and show herself she was better than him.

Juliet had read so much about positive-thinking and self-acceptance that she had been actively ignoring one of her most powerful motivators!

Now if there’s one thing I’ve learned from having Tony Robbins enthusiastically yelling into my ear on the tube journey into work, it’s that most human behavior is determined by the following two motivating factors:

• desire to move AWAY from perceived PAIN
• desire to move TOWARDS perceived PLEASURE.

Makes sense right?

And which of these two is the most powerful motivator?

PAIN!

We hate pain. We go to extraordinary lengths to avoid experiencing it.

And we can use this to our advantage to give us the motivation we need to keep working at our goals.

Sometimes our most powerful motivating factors are the ones that aren’t necessarily considered socially-acceptable.

• We have a desire to prove our doubters wrong.
• We have a desire for revenge.
• We have a desire to settle the score.
• We have a desire to make up for past mistakes.
• We have a desire to prove ourselves to others and to our past selves.

These desires and motivations may not be the ones you like to admit to others, or even to yourself, but they are often the most powerful.

Let’s say you’re trying to lose weight. What do you think will motivate you more?

The thought of being healthy and fit?

Or the thought of watching your ex-boyfriend’s double-take as your sexy ass struts past him in the street?

That’s right, Sista! You show that no-good scrub what he’s missin’ out on!

(Okay. Okay. I promise to never speak like that in public again. Point taken!)

One of the reasons why the message of Oprah-favorite DVD, book and “metaphysical” personal development cult The Secret sucks so much is that entirely ignores the biggest motivational factor in human behavior – the desire to escape pain, the desire to get revenge and the desire to prove our own self worth.

In fact, it actively encourages that you suppress these powerful motivators and delude yourself with positive thinking and gratitude.

Here in Jalopyland, I’m not here to blow sunshine up your bottom. I’m here to tell you what works, and hopefully to make you laugh in the process.

Now, I’m not saying that clinging onto the negative events of your past is a good thing. Of course, you’ll be happier if you can let go of these attachments.

But trying to ignore or suppress these thoughts and feelings is not doing you any good either. And neither will painting over them with fake feelings of acceptance and gratitude.

It always pays to be honest with yourself. If you can regularly get in touch with the real reasons you are striving towards your goal then motivation to act will not be a problem for you. You might change your goals and dreams, but you’re not going to let your goals go forgotten.

So what happened with Juliet?

Well her goal now has a momentum of its own and now her motivations have changed. You can bet your life she doesn’t think of Bob much anymore…

Cool, eh?

If you thought this rocked, and you haven’t already, then why not sign-up for my Jalopy Gang newsletter? It’s packed full of awesomeness like this!

See you later!

JJ Jalopy.

Operation CommentBomb and the CommentLuv plug-in.

Hey there!

Come on in. I’ve just made a pot of tea.

How are you?

Mrs. Jalopy was up early this morning to go off to a big coaching training and networking event. 

I stayed in and laid in bed ’till the early afternoon…

It was great!

(Yeah, that’s right. There are no kids in Family Jalopy just yet.)

Then this afternoon, before I got dressed, I did some networking of my own from the comfort of my man cave.

Earlier this week, inspired by an awesome book I’d been reading, I revealed the intimate details of an evil plan to get more readers to my website prior to my book launch.

One of the integral parts of the plan involved finding people with blogs that are relevant or semi-relevant  to what I do and are awesome enough to have a gang of enthusiastic followers interested in the kind of stuff I write about.

I’d then comment on their blog in a value-adding, amusing,controversial or plain obsequious manner to attract the attention of blogger and blogger cheerleaders alike.

Then, both blogger and blogger cheerleaders fall in love with the JJ style, come and hang out here in Jalopyland and tell all their friends. Global domination soon ensues.

Cool.

So today I did a few useful things as I sat at my computer, sans pants.

I found the very best writing on the internet in the coaching / consulting / personal development and internet marketing fields, and I commenced Operation CommentBomb.

This intimidated me a little. There’s a lot of fantastically awesome stuff out there. 

But my stuff is awesome too. I hope.

Another cool thing I did was install a thing called CommentLuv on my blog.

This is a really cool plug-in (the technical term is thing) which allows me to reward my JalopyGang cheerleaders by automatically leaving a headline link to their last blog post in their comment.

If you have a blog then add a comment below and see how it works. Be sure to put the URL of your website in the relevant box on the comment form. If you can’t think of anything to say, then feel free to tell me you think I’m brilliant. I won’t mind.

The plan is to get more people active on my blog by making the comments more useful to readers and commentees alike.

Why? Well…

• Post titles are more fun and eye-catching than your name or the name of your website. My awesome readers are more likely click on a link if it’s an intriguing sounding post title.
• I can keep up with my readers more easily.
• Commenters get an extra link to their website in their comments!
• Readers see a selection of posts from people who enjoy the same kind of thing as them.

So, yeah. This rocks, essentially.

And part of my networking operation will involve commenting on a number of blogs with CommentLuv installed. 

For an example, check out the embarrassingly sycophantic comment I left on the blog of Life Coach and supremely talented writer Tim Brownson. 

Why not suck up to me too?!

Get involved!

Speaking of which… thanks for all the praise and feedback about my awesome Jalopy Gang Newsletter. The next issue hits your emailbox tomorrow so sign up below if you don’t want to miss out!

One of my favorite comments came from my friend Jon, who claimed that my latest newsletter (which I thought was a bit rubbish) read the way I sound when I’ve had a few beers.

Probably won’t be including that testimonial anywhere other than this post here! Thanks mate.

Anyway… it’s been a hard day of lie-ins and playing on the internet – so I’m going to head to the sofa now with Mrs. Jalopy, watch TV and eat some Chinese takeout.

Mmmmm…

Have a wonderful weekend folks!

JJ Jalopy.

What to do when you suck.

Hi there!

The weekend starts here! Make it a good one.

I’m exhausted. I’ve had an incredibly busy week. It’s been great though.

I found out earlier today that my Dad is an avid reader of my blog. How cool is that?! Hey Pa!

He says he might write a guest post sometime soon. No pressure, Dad, but it would sure be awesome if you did!

Outsourcing to the family is beginning to look like an integral part of the Jalopy Plan for World Domination!

So…

Have you ever done something really stupid?

Have you ever done something really embarrassing?

Have you ever done something really mean?

Have you ever done something so outrageously shameful that you can’t help but wince when you so much as think about it?

 

Yeah, me too.

We all suck sometimes. 

This is a fact of life. Sometimes we screw up. Sometimes we’re mean to each other. Sometimes we take our frustrations out on the people we love the most. Sometimes we feel insecure. Sometimes we yell and shout. Sometimes we throw things in frustration. Sometimes we get angry and swear too much. Sometimes we do hurtful things to each other. Sometimes we say things we don’t mean. Sometimes we say things we’ll later regret. Sometimes we do things we’ll later regret. 

And after a monumental fuck-up, we get angry at ourselves. 

And then we often do just about anything we can to block it out and forget about it.

So we go about our lives as we were…

…and then we go and screw stuff up again.

And that’s fine, you say.

Nothing wrong with screwing stuff up, you say. It’s a learning experience.

But when did you do that learning? 

And why did you do that same stupid thing again?

Well, I have some expertise when it comes to doing stupid things. I’ve probably done most of the stupid things that it is possible to do. At least those that don’t involve a great deal of bravery, anyway. And I’ll continue to add new stupid things to my repertoire of life experiences for as long as I live.

Hopefully it’ll be different stupid stuff in the future.

I hope I never again decide to make bad jokes at the expense of a bunch of drunken cowboys in Wendy’s at 2:00 AM in Oklahoma City.

I hope I never again send the wrong email to my boss…

Well, you get the idea.

So how can we use these experiences constructively?

Well, the process I’ve just made up is a nice simple one, that goes like this…:

 

1. Allow yourself to react

So you screwed up. Doesn’t it feel bad?

Allow yourself to be annoyed. Allow yourself to be angry. Allow yourself to kick the door. Allow yourself to feel embarrassed that your toe hurts because you kicked the door.

Allow yourself to tell yourself you’re stupid; that you suck; that you’re unworthy; that you’re not good enough.

(But only if you actually react like this, of course! Don’t be mean to yourself intentionally. That would just be silly!)

Just allow yourself to feel whatever you feel. 

 

2. Realize that it’s done. It’s over. And you’re okay

Look. You’re okay. That really dumb thing you did didn’t kill you.

No-one came and crushed you with a big rock.

This is a good thing. Everything is okay,

 

3. Realize that telling yourself you suck isn’t really very helpful

It’s very nice of you to tell yourself you suck, really.

You have your best interests in mind. 

You probably think that telling yourself you suck is an important destination on the path to future non-suckage.

And you might well be right. Who cares. Just realize that the rest of your life would be a whole lot nicer if you stopped.

If that doesn’t motivate you then realize that you really will suck if you keep telling yourself you suck. And no-one wants that.

 

4. Learn the lessons

Okay, so you screwed up. It wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last time, but we can decrease the chances of you making the same mistake again by answering the following questions.

Why did you screw up? 

What would you do next time?

What actions can you take to minimize the likelihood of doing the same stupid thing?

 

5. Remind yourself of the lessons you learned

So, time has passed and you no longer spend every other second of the day thinking about your fuck up.

This is a good thing.

But don’t forget about the lessons you learned just because the emotional charge may have gone.

Set up a system to remind yourself of the positives you got from the experience to reinforce the actions you started to take in step 4. 

 

The last step is the one most people skip. It’s certainly the one I often forget about. Thankfully I’m very rarely in a Wendy’s in Oklahoma City these days…

Well I hope this post entertained you at the very least. I know that you don’t ever do dumb stuff like this, but I hope you can see the value in this for others!

See y’all tomorrow!

JJ Jalopy.

Coaching Business Startup 207 – Coaching Business Branding Basics

How to become a coach. With Coaching Marketing Rockstar JJ Jalopy.

Hey there!

Welcome back to Casa Jalopy.

Let me pour you a glass of wine. It’s a cheap Chilean Shiraz today – half price from the supermarket.

Yep, I’m living the V.I.P. lifestyle to the fullest. Diddy would be proud!

Unfortunately you missed dessert. We had a Gu chocolate souffle each. Have you tried them?

They’re the best thing in the world. (Well, apart from me!)

They’re delicious. Every taste is like a spiritual orgasm! They’re even better than the awesome chocolate brownie recipe that I shared with you in my last newsletter.

My newsletter sucked a bit last week, actually. Sorry about that. I was tired. I wrote way too much. And it was formatted like crap.

BUT… it’ll be waaaay better next week. So sign up here!

The Jalopy Gang Newsletter – A newsletter so awesome that it knows when it sucks…

Yeah, I know. And I call myself a marketing expert!!

Yesterday I had a busy, amazing, productive and love-filled day. When I blogged about it, my buddy Christian asked me to elaborate on what I’d been doing.

Well, like any self-respecting attention-seeker, I love talking about myself . What I’m about to talk about is almost entirely irrlevant to anyone wanting to learn about starting their coaching business, setting up their home business, productivity tips, marketing advice, or any of the cool coaching and mentoring stuff I talk about, so feel free to the section below entitled JJ stops rambling here to get to the content!

So what was I doing?

Well… I completed the arrangement of an asset securitization for an automotive vendor finance portfolio.

Ever wish you hadn’t asked something?

<<If you care, insert your own paragraph here about credit rating agencies, responsibility, asset-backed securities, credit crunch, capital adequacy, balance sheet restructuring, Megan Fox or Stephen Hawking, or Megan Fox and Stephen Hawking together with a big bowl of strawberries.>>

The details are unimportant, thank God. What is relevant is the sense of achievement that comes from doing a job really well. THAT rocks.

JJ stops rambling here!

Right. Let’s get out the blueprint.

You found your niche coaching market.

You personalized your prospective coaching client or customer and created a customer avatar, a representation of your average coaching client. You sat inside their head for a while and you understood their problems and their worries. You understood what scares them. You understood how they feel about their friends and their family. What obligations they feel they have. What their hopes are.

Then created an image of the kind of person they would like to talk to. How would they make them feel? What experience would that person have? How would they make them feel better about themselves? How would they help them solve their problems?

This was the first step to finding solutions to their problems.

So what’s next?

Well if you like, pretend for a moment that you are JJ Jalopy.

…

Now come away from the mirror and get back here. Concentrate!

That’s better…

Now your customer avatar (following mild-mannered ladies man Eben Pagan) is an awesome lady called Marjorie. Recap here…

Now, as a coach, the answer to your coaching clients’ problems is going to involve You. 

You are going to form an essential part of your brand. Your business communication is going to largely based in the way You communicate.

That’s a given. And it’s massively important, actually. Don’t go thinking you need to put on a serious business hat when you’re running your business and that you can relax and be yourself when you get home.

However it is that you are – that rocks. That’s why I love you. Be like that when you’re playing business.

HOWEVER…

You are a complex and multifaceted individual. You are a socially sophisticated person. You do not interact in the same way at the Vicar’s house as you do when you’re sharing a glass of wine with your best friend.

Unless the Vicar is your best friend.

You do not bring the same aspects of yourself to every situation.

Remember the image we constructed of the person your customer would most like to talk to? Let’s call this person your business avatar.

In constructing your brand and communication plan we want you to:

• be totally authentic
• emphasize the aspects of your personality and communication style which are consistent with that of your business avatar.

Make sense?

Cool. Write this down. Think about how this feels to you. 

And in the next post in this series I’ll discuss how I do this in my businesses.

Until then have a wonderful evening. I’ll see you next time!

JJ Jalopy.

A Perfect Day

Hi there!

How was your day?

I’m feeling pretty Zen right now.

At least I would be if Zen were an acceptable adjective.

I’ve been working like crazy today and now I’m basking in the pride and satisfaction of a Job Well Done and the fuzzy, wired aftermath of a serious caffeine overload.

My limbs feel like they’re about to fall off.

I can feel the blood passing through every one of my veins.

I feel totally worn out.

It might not sound like it, but it feels really good.

I’m on the train on my way home. When I get home I will give Mrs. Jalopy a hug and I’ll tell her I love her.

Then I’ll fall asleep with her head on my chest.

It’ll have been a perfect day.

See you tomorrow!

JJ Jalopy.

R-RATED INTERNET MARKETING RANT!

Hey there!

How are you this fine Tuesday evening?

Let’s share a whiskey and light up some cigars. We’re going to get R-rated today.

Sometimes I just love a good rant. 

I’ll admit to being an enthusiastic cheerleader for the benefits of positive thinking, but sometimes it’s a whole lot of fun to unleash a big torrent of uninhibited vitriol into the world.

Sometimes it can even be productive and educational.

I’ll maintain the pretense that this will be the case today. (Really, we’re just here for entertainment…)

Please don’t follow the forthcoming link if you’re easily offended, you have a mother, you’ve ever seen a rainbow, eaten a cupcake, kept a puppy, kept a hamster or were even the slightest bit offended by Janet Jackson’s left nipple.

Otherwise…. here’s a glorious and luxurious rant about internet marketing on the weblog metafilter.com in response to the news that the makers of a popular online advert blocking plugin are considering permitting advertisers to unblock their adverts. 

Highlights below…

You want attention for your goods or services? Make them the best you can. We’ll f—ing find you, ok? Eliminate your marketing department and take all of that money and all of those resources and refocus on making a product that doesn’t suck ass, and we’ll find you.

It was true before the internet in the age of better mousetraps and beaten paths, and is especially true now that “word of mouth” is a global phenomenon. Make good shit. Put up a simple but useful page. Be good to your customers and clients and we’ll find you and bury you in business.

Although I’m not going to agree completely with my angry friend, this actually fits in with my coaching marketing blueprint pretty well.

• Create massive value
• Take advantage of word of mouth marketing and social media in favor of old-school marketing and advertising techniques
• Rule the world!

Hope you’ve enjoyed yourself tonight. Tomorrow we’ll drink tea and talk about puppies and rainbows and little fluffy clouds.

JJ Jalopy.

Two inconvenient truths about marketing

Hey there!

I’m going to be short and sweet today. I’ve been writing way too much recently and I feel like joining Mrs. Jalopy on the sofa and watching 90210.

Yep. That’s the kind of mood I’m in today!

I’m going to share with you two inconvenient truths about marketing and human nature which, if you’re smart, (and I know you are) you can use to your advantage in your own marketing…

1. Everyone THINKS they are too smart to respond to advertising or marketing messages. 

2. Everyone loves to feel superior.

Okay. Okay. They’re not truths. They’re generalizations. But I couldn’t say that. It would make for a shit title, wouldn’t it?

Have a think about this.

How are these two related? 

How might you take advantage of this in your marketing efforts?

How might you best assess the effectiveness of a marketing campaign?

Right… It’s time for Beverly Hills 90210. Oh, how I love great art!

See ya tomorrow!

JJ Jalopy.

Marketing your blog and getting people to fall in love with you!

How to become a coach. With Coaching Marketing Expert JJ Jalopy.

Hi there!

Happy Mothers’ Day!

Hope you had a fantastic weekend.

I’ve just returned back to the city from a wedding in the countryside.

I love a good wedding. Or as my friend Steve pointed out, what I really love is a good wedding reception. (We must have that Martini sometime soon, Steve.)

Now, as you know, I’m writing a book at the moment.

It’s obviously going to be brilliant, but that doesn’t really matter if no-one reads it.

So how do I get people to find me, take the time to find out about me, realize I’m a genius and fall in love with me for my modesty, good looks, charm and business expertise?

Well I guess the first thing I need is a bigger picture of my happy smiling face on my website! I’ve been meaning to get around to that for ages…

…But more importantly, I need a marketing plan much like the Coaching Marketing Blueprint I have been sharing with you over the last couple of weeks.

And of course, this here blog is all part of that evil plan! <<Insert evil laugh here>>

Now, if you’re new to the internet and you’ve been following along with my series on Marketing your Coaching Business then what I’m about to talk about may seem like a massive jump into the realm of the of the unknown.

But I’m going to talk about it anyway, because that’s what I feel like talking about today. And I’m tired. And you should always let a tired person do what they want, or they’ll get grumpy.

I can be good at grumpy!

Right… so this blog forms part of my evil plan to get the internet to fall in love with me and buy my book. You know this because I just told you. But how exactly does this work?

Well my blog is useful for a number of reasons:

• People searching for information on marketing their coaching business more successfully may find me and become interested in my writing.
• Other bloggers may dig my writing and link to me, making it easier for more people to find me
• It helps to build my reputation as an authority in the coaching marketing niche
• It’s an informal forum in which I can be myself, which means that…
• I can build my relationship with my readers
• I can build relationships with other bloggers and businesses
• I grow a large repository of useful and relevant written content
• I get valuable feedback on my writing and ideas and inspiration from comments, linkbacks etc.

I could go on and on and on. But a list of poorly elaborated bullet points does not a good post make.

Suffice to say, having this blog is a very good thing and an important part of the JJ Jalopy marketing plan.

If you follow the marketing plan I use with my coaching clients then it will soon be a part of yours too.

Now, on the train back from the countryside I was reading an awesome book by Naomi Dunford and Dave Navarro (no, not the guitarist dude) called How to Launch the **** out of Your Ebook. Yep, the name was what attracted me to it!

It’s a great book. Really awesome. You can find out more about it here. And if you buy it then I get half of the book price, thanks to another awesome concept called affiliate marketing, which we’ll be discussing when we get a little further in our Coaching Marketing Blueprint.

Well something in the book caught my eye, and it was this:

Blogging is not complex – it’s about 20% writing good content and 80% getting the word out (seriously.)

Hmmm, I thought.

And I scratched my chin, as that is the internationally-recognized symbol of a good ponder.

Do I spend 80% of my time networking, building traffic and getting the word out and 20% of my time writing content?

No, it’s more like 80% – 20% the other way round!

At least it has been, until I had my little ponder…

So how do I get the “word out” about my blog?

Well, inspired by my obnoxiously-titled favorite new book,  here are some of the strategies I’ll be using to pull readers from other people’s audiences.

Sneaky, eh?

I will contact competitors or bloggers on related subjects and ask to write guest posts.

The advantage to me here is massive. These bloggers have put in a lot of work building an audience that is receptive to the coaching market. If they fall in love with my writing and they follow a link back to my site and enjoy what they find there, then I have a new fan. Marvelous! (Note that all of these plans fall apart if my content sucks.)

So why would anyone let me do this? Surely they won’t welcome the competition?

Well, they might want to mix things up on their blog. They might just want someone else to write something for once so they don’t have to. If they’re a big time blogger then they’re probably not too bothered about the competition that lil’ ol’ me represents.

Little do they know… <<Evil Laugh>>

Another strategy is to do loads of useful and valuable commenting on the popular blogs in the coaching advice niche.

Up to now, I haven’t been doing enough of this because, quite frankly, it’s time consuming and a bit of a pain in the butt. But the networking and traffic-building payoffs can be massive. As long as I don’t insult too many people, it will help build my reputation in the eyes of readers and bloggers alike.

Posting on relevant discussion forums can make a massive difference too.

I don’t do this, but I should. If I set myself up as an authority on a couple of well-frequented relevant coaching forums, then this can only be a good thing. I’ll be testing this out in the next month or so and reporting back…

Social Media Networking is another thing really smart thing that I’m not doing that much of. Websites like facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter make it very easy for people with similar interests to find each other. It’s a great networking tool, and something I’ll be talking about as I get more experience with these tools.

That’s a lot to be getting on with! Like a good investigative scientist, I’ll be testing out these strategies and monitoring their effect on my visitor traffic and subscriptions. I’ll report back with data. Now, where’s my lab coat?

One final thing… if you’re observant you may have noticed that it is Sunday.

Sunday is the day that my awesome Jalopy Gang Newsletter hits your email box. This week we have a fantastic exclusive article about outsourcing, as well as all the usual value packed articles, fun and games and silly shenanigans. There’s also a super tasty treat at the end!

I have an incredibly discerning readership. So if you suck, please don’t bother signing up.

If you’re intelligent, creative, generous, sexy, and otherwise generally awesome then please join the gang by putting your name and email address in the boxes below.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
JJ Jalopy.

The way you make me feel!

Hi there!

How are you?

We’ve been in the heart of the English countryside, at our friends Adam and Louise’s wedding. It’s been a great day. We’re in a beautiful part of the world. The bride looked beautiful. We drank too much wine. We danced to Journey, Bon Jovi and Bonnie Tyler…

It’s been awesome.

And now I’m going to urge you to think about a very simple but important concept.

Imagine that I am your prospective customer. I’ve had a hard day at work, my kids are being difficult and there’s nothing good on the TV. I’m feeling a little bored and a bit fed up. I open my mail or go to the computer and I come across one of your marketing messages.

Now, ask yourself the following question:

How does your communication make me feel?

Think about the amount of money people will spend on music, hobbies, the cinema, going out, drink, drugs, fairground rides, bungee jumps…

Why do they do it?

Because they want to be entertained. And they want to feel something different to how they feel right now.

So when your prospective customer or client comes into contact with you, what do you do?

Do you treat them like kings and make them feel appreciated?

Do you make them laugh?

Do you challenge them?

Do you excite them?

Do you let them in on a secret?

Do you make them feel accepted and part of a cool group?

Do you make them feel clever; superior even?

Something to think about…

Love you!

JJ Jalopy.

Coaching Business Startup 206 – Find the solution to your customers’ problems

How to Become a Coach. With Coaching Marketing Rockstar JJ Jalopy.

Hey there….

2003 Contino Rioja?

Yeah. It’s been a busy week. I’ll pour you a glass – you deserve it.

I have some cool news!

After submitting my coaching marketing podcast to iTunes a couple of days ago I am now available in the iTunes store!  Subscribe here!

If you think I’m totally brilliant then feel free to rate me five stars and tell iTunes I rock. I won’t mind. Really.

Recently, we’ve been talking a lot about marketing coaching. I’ve outlined a marketing blueprint for you to follow. It’s superhighway to coaching domination.

So you found your niche market.

You created a representation of your customer and you got inside their head. You got to know their worries, their concerns, their hopes, their dreams. 

You began to see a process that could lead them to find you, if you could be the solution to their problems.

And if you did the first two stages really well then the next stage should be easy.

Let’s go…

Put yourself in the shoes of your customer. Look through their eyes. Feel what they’re feeling. Feel their pain and their frustration.

Now ask yourself the following question:

What kind of person would your customer like to talk to right now?

Don’t think about what kind of business they might like to deal with.

Don’t think about what products they would like to buy.

Don’t think about what marketing messages would work well.

Not yet, anyway…

Picture in your mind a single person talking to your customer, making them feel better about themselves and making their pain go away.

How does this person talk to your customer? What experiences do they have? What knowledge do they have? How do they make your customer feel?

Have a really good think about what the relationship between these two people would be like. What would they talk about? What tone would they use with one another? 

I urge you to really think about this. Take your time. 

The next step will be to translate this insight into a full branding and communication plan. We’ll use my business communication plan as a case study. This is where it gets really exciting!

Mrs. Jalopy and I are hitting the road early tomorrow to go to a wedding in the countryside – so I’d better hit the hay!

See you tomorrow for more fun and games.

Love you!

JJ Jalopy.

Your right foot is stupid!

Hey there!

Are you sitting down?

Cool.

Wanna play a game? It’ll only take a second or two and it’s a lot of fun…

Good!

Now, pick up your right foot and start making clockwise circles with it.

Concentrate on your foot and don’t let anything distract you from moving your foot in clockwise circles. Okay?

Now, as you continue to do this, draw the number 6 in the air with your right hand.

 

Is your foot still making clockwise circles…?

…

No – it has changed direction!

Amazing isn’t it?

Go on try it again – you can’t do it.

Now why is that, JJ? Hit me with some science!

Sorry, I have no idea. But it’s a fun little trick!

It’s amazing how we can confuse our minds like that…

Here’s a cool video of Tony Robbins talking about stress and the recession. Gotta love him…

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7506072

Have fun! See you tomorrow.

JJ Jalopy.

How to submit your podcast to iTunes.

Hi there!

I’ve just submitted my podcast to iTunes.

This makes me feel very big and important.

I have an official looking email from Apple telling me that they are going to review my podcast feed and decide whether it’s good enough to be allowed in.

I bet Steve Jobs will review mine personally.

The process isn’t that hard if you know what you’re doing. But it can be a right pain in the proverbial if you don’t.

Thankfully I took some screenshots along the way so I could share this with you. Yes, I really am too good to be true.

Many of the steps I’m about describe I learned from this website. I wouldn’t advise you visit though. There’s a lot there. I read it so you don’t have to!

Before we start, I’m going to make some fairly big assumptions. I’m going to assume that you:

• have the podcast recorded in a file on your computer of a sensible type
• have iTunes installed on your computer
• have a blog with FeedBurner RSS feed.

Now I know these are pretty big assumptions, especially the first. If you think it would be useful, and I don’t totally suck at describing this stuff, then let me know and I might describe how to record one.

Or I could make a screencast of me making a podcast. That would be wild. Like standing between two mirrors and watching a million reflections of me go on and on and on and on and….

Ahem.

I’m also going to assume that you already think that getting your podcast into iTunes is A Good Idea. So I’m not going to convince you of that one, but move straight onto…

Step 1 – Make a Cool Logo for your Podcast

The iTunes Store displays an image for your podcast in a number of places.

Your podcast will look rubbish if it doesn’t have an image. So you should make one.

Create one which is 340 x 340 pixels.

Then another for encoding into your MP3 file which is 157 x 157 pixels.

Upload these two your website server using your favorite FTP program.

Here are mine:

Okay. So they don’t look fantastic. But they’re okay.

Step 2 – Use iTunes to Tidy Up your Podcast

Open iTunes.

We’re going to use iTunes to convert your file, of whatever format you recorded it in, into something which is friendly and compatible with the iTunes store.

Select iTunes >> Preferences >> General

Press the Import Settings button

The Import Settings box is displayed. Select MP3 Encoder, and select Custom from the Settings menu.

Select the options displayed below:

Now, drag your podcast file into the iTunes application.

It is likely to import it with no album name, so sort by album name to bring the blank album files to the top.

Select your podcast file by clicking on it once and then go to the Advanced menu and select Convert Selection to MP3.

iTunes will now make itself busy with converting your file to MP3 format.

When it’s done  (and it’ll take it’s time) right click on the new MP3 file and select Get Info.

Select the Info tab and fill in all relevant fields.

If there is no relevant Genre available then select Custom and make up one of your own.

Now select the Artwork tab.

Select Add and choose your 157 x 157 pixel image.

Cool.

Now drag the MP3 file out of iTunes and onto your desktop. Then FTP the file to your website server.

Step 3 – Configure your FeedBurner RSS feed.

Log into your account at feedburner.com.

Go to the Optimize tab and select SmartCast in the services menu on the left hand side.

Fill in the fields as relevant to your podcast. These fields will be displayed in the iTunes store so fill them out well.

In the Image Location field enter the location of your 340 x 340 pixel image.

Step 4 – Link to your podcast in your blog.

Create a simple blog post in which you include a link to the URL of your podcast file.

Step 5 – Ping your RSS feed!

FeedBurner will check your blog feed for changes every 30 minutes.

We want it to update a bit quicker, so we can get on with things. So Visit FeedBurner’s ping page and enter your URL.

FeedBurner will let you know if your update was successful.

Step 6 – Test your Feed in iTunes

Go back to iTunes.

From the Advanced menu, select Subscribe to Podcast.

Enter your feed URL in the box provided.

Your podcast should start to download. Check that all titles and images look correct and marvel at your handiwork!

Step 7 – Submit your podcast to the iTunes Store

Select iTunes Store >> Podcasts from the iTunes menu on the left.

Select the Submit a Podcast button. It’s the funny looking one in the middle of the screen.

Enter your FeedBurner URL into the field below:

If everything was okay, iTunes will now send you a confirmation email stating that your feed has been received for review.

And you don’t have to do anything else…

I’ll let you know how I get on…

Goodnight,

JJ Jalopy.

Podcast number 1 – JJ’s Warm Call Confidence Blaster Reloaded!

How to become a coach. With Coaching Marketing Expert JJ Jalopy.

Hi guys!

This is a repost of my first podcast, featuring my extraordinarily awesome Warm Call Confidence Blaster Visualization.

Podcast 1 – JJ’s Warm Call Confidence Blaster

I’m reposting it:

1. because it’s totally brilliant and…
2. so my shiny new RSS feed that I whined about yesterday will pick it up so that…
3. iTunes users can learn of my magnificence! 

It’s a Podcasting masterstroke. 

I’ll let you know how I get on.

Fingers crossed!!!

JJ Jalopy.

Reboot.

Sometimes things are annoying.

Oh, sorry. That was rude of me. How are you?

Yeah, I’m a bit peeved.

I’ve been writing a super nerdtastic article on how to turbocharge your RSS feed and submit podcasts to iTunes! 

I’ve created beautiful screenshots with annotations, clear instructions and bullet points.

It really is a work of art. 

But I can’t share it with you yet…

…because I’ve been unable to turbocharge my own feed today. And my podcast remains unsubmitted.

I’m laying the blame for this entirely on feedburner.com because it’s the only part of the process that isn’t me. I know it’s probably my fault, but feedburner.com doesn’t have feelings and I think it’ll be okay shouldering the blame for a while.

Technical problems can be irritating because they are rarely the most profitable or effective thing you could be working on. 

And you never quite know how close you are to solving the problem.

It’s a shame to have spent four hours sorting out an RSS feed. But what if the solution is only a few minutes away? The payoff in those few minutes would be large. When do you give up?

Having gone through every troubleshooting attempt I can think of I have one last option to try… 

If there’s anything I learned from my time as an I.T. consultant, it’s that the first thing to try in the event of technical failure is to reboot the system.

That’s going to be my approach today. Except that the system is me.

Tomorrow I might have another go. Or I might decide to create an RSS feed for my podcasts manually. No turbocharging in sight. 

Either way I’ll show you how I did it, and that’ll make us both happy.

I’m off to bed for a reboot!

See you tomorrow. I’ll be cheerier then, no doubt…

Good night.

JJ Jalopy.

P.S. Two of my other websites are down today too. Sometimes it happens. Tomorrow will be better.

What is Coaching? And are you a Coach, JJ?

How to become a coach. With Coaching Marketing Expert JJ Jalopy.

Hi there!

Did you have a good weekend?

I’m glad. I’m recovering from some karaoke over-exhuberance. I almost have my voice back now.

When I mentioned yesterday that I was going to do karaoke, Super Chef Christian Haller left a comment on my blog explaining that he would rather have his finger nails pulled out with pliers!

Well, Christian, I’m afraid my singing last night would have done nothing to change your mind on that one.

We did have a lot of fun though.

I also received my favorite ever comment yesterday from Central Oregon Expert Don Shepherd. 

JJ, you are the King of shameless self promotion.

This is so beautiful that I want to frame it and put it up on my wall!

I’m going to have to get that in some of my marketing literature. Thanks Don!

Last night, I was talking to a friend of my friend Steve. He’d been introduced to my website here at www.jjjalopy.com and he told me:

I love reading your articles. It’s my favorite lunch time reading; your writing is really entertaining and I’ve been learning a lot about starting a business. But I’m not quite sure what it is that you do. And I’m not sure I fully understand what coaching really is.

And I realized that I have never really discussed that with you.

Let’s have a look at the various ways coaching authorities describe Coaching:

an … ongoing relationship which focuses on clients taking action toward the realization of their visions, goals and desires.

– Personal and Professional Coaching Association.

Coaching involves holding out a possibility in front of others whilst coaching them to move to the next level with relentless compassion.

– Robert Hargrove.

Coaching is a collaborative process that amplifies and accelerates self-discovery, promotes clarity, creativity and choice, and helps people achieve – and often exceed – their goals more quickly and more efficiently than they would without the partnership of a coach.

– The Academy for Coach Training.

Effective coaching challenges limiting assumptions embedded in our viewpoints about self and others in a way different than teaching or training… coaching is a unique form of dialogue that expands an individual’s capacity to transform his or her limiting beliefs.

– William Stockton.

So what does this mean in the real world?

Well coaching is really a conversation between the coach and client with the goal of helping the client lead a happier, more awesome life.

 This is achieved by:

• increasing the client’s level of self-awareness
• setting goals which will add to the client’s quality of life
• achieving those goals.

Simple, right?

So what does the coach contribute in this process?

Clarity - The coach asks questions to help the client build up a clear picture of what they really want.

Ideas - The coach may lead the client in exploring options they may not have considered before

Accountability - The coach will hold the client accountable for their actions. The coach may give the client homework to complete between sessions.

Brainstorming and Collaboration - The coach acts as a non-judgmental sounding board for new ideas. She creates a creative and supportive brainstorming environment.

Support – The coach provides encouragement for new ideas and supports the client in their decisions.

Challenge - The coach may challenge the client to expand their comfort zone, break old habits and pursue new beneficial directions in their life.

Validation - The coach may provide validation, support and encouragement.

Direction – The coach helps the client to gain perspective in times of overwhelm or confusion. She may also voice her opinion or give advice if it is necessary to move the conversation forward.

This last point, about advice, is a controversial one. Many well-respected coaches and coaching academies will disagree with me on this, stating that coaching should be entirely non-directive. 

My view is that clients will often get overwhelmed and confused. And when we get overwhelmed our minds and bodies can shut down and ideas can appear out of our reach. Figuring it out becomes very difficult for someone experiencing overwhelm. In my opinion a suggestion or piece of advice can work wonders to give the client the support, structure and confidence they need to move forwards.

Now, if you are observant you’ll notice that I do not describe myself as a coach, but rather as a mentor (or sometimes as a consultant, if  I’m in that kind of mood.)

My clients are coaches, consultants, home business owners or managers within larger corporations. My work with my clients is directive.

I work within a framework similar to the one I’m sharing with you on this blog here and I give specific advice and guidance – lots of it. I am an expert in this area, and I would be doing my clients a disservice if I did not.

To avoid confusion within the industry I do not use the term coach to describe what I do, even though I like it!

Coach JJ just sounds cool.

Now as we get to know each other better, you’ll begin to see that I fit a lot of different things under my coaching umbrella. I like it that way and I hope you will too.

Now go enjoy the rest of your day. I’m going to have a cup of herbal tea, then off to bed!

See you here tomorrow.

JJ Jalopy.

More Readers’ Niche Questions – How do I identify with my niche?

Hey Dude(tte). High five!

I’m back on the train, returning from a wonderful weekend with my parents in the countryside. It always feels relaxing to get away from the city for a while.

We’re returning this afternoon for our friend Ellie’s karaoke birthday party. There’ll be party food, lots of wine, Abba and glittery cowboy hats.

Not quite so relaxing…

…but a lot of fun!

I love karaoke. My friends usually wind up wrestling the microphone away from me so they can have a go.

Mrs. Jalopy doesn’t seem to enjoy my singing quite so much…

Right… This week has been truly nichetastic! I’ve used the word niche more often than is recommended or considered normal in polite company.

But that’s because I believe it’s super important to define and identify with your niche market.

So today I’m going to tackle another reader’s niche question…

JJ. I’ve picked a niche market to target, and I’ve created a simple representation of my average customer as you suggested, but I’m having trouble identifying with my customer. Do you have any tips on how I can get inside my prospective customer’s head?

This is a great question!

I realise now that it’s something I glossed over somewhat when we discussed this in the context of my business.

It is relatively easy to identify with your niche if you are already involved in that niche. It is even easier if your prospective customer is essentially a past version of you, before you solved some of your own problems.

But what if you are new to the niche? How can you identify with something you have never experienced yourself?

Well… I’m going to be answering this one in the second edition of my Jalopy Gang newsletter, which will hit your email box around midnight tonight (if you live on the East Coast.)

I’m going to share with you my secret niche-finding magic bullet! This is a veritable magic dowsing rod for finding profitable and untapped niche markets!

To be sure not to miss out, why not pop your name and email address into the boxes below?

You’ll be glad you did! It has been described (by me) as the greatest e-zine ever written!

See you then,

JJ Jalopy.

Readers’ Niche Questions – Niches for Affiliate Websites

Hi there!

How nice of you to come visit me in the countryside.

It’s a beautiful spring day here. Let’s sit on the porch and have a cup of tea.

 

Hey JJ. I’ve set up a website selling affiliate products that I like, but I’m not really sure what my niche is. Can you help?

Okay. So you’ve found a product that you like and you want to sell it. 

Cool. That’s the other way round to the approach we’ve been discussing recently. And that’s fine. Variety is good. Sometimes it is good to do things upside down. Especially if you are a bat.

The first thing to say is that if you don’t know what your niche is you probably aren’t concentrating your efforts as effectively as possible. That’s okay. We can remedy that by deciding on a niche.

So how should we start?

Well, let’s have a think about the actions that might lead a person to purchase the product you’ve chosen.

Building on our conversation yesterday, let’s assume that our prospective customer is either:

• ready to buy from a preselected manufacturer, retailer or authority figure
• looking for more information on a product or service
• looking for information to help them solve a problem.

Let’s think about your prospective customer, as he sits in front of his computer, ready to search.

 

Scenario 1 – Dave has already decided on the product he’s going to buy.

Dave has heard great things about Kevin Hogan and his Secrets of Reading Body Language Home Study Course. He’s a subscriber to Kevin’s newsletter Coffee with Kevin Hogan, and he digs Kevin’s no-nonsense approach to life and work. He learns a ton from Kevin’s newsletter and he trusts and appreciates the Kevin Hogan brand.

Dave is likely to go directly to Kevin’s website, or take a link from Kevin’s newsletters, maybe with a discount coupon code. He’ll buy the Course directly from the source that he trusts.

Is there any way that you could persuade Dave to buy the course through your website, rather than directly from Kevin?

Well it’s not likely, because Dave isn’t looking for anyone else.

Your best chance in this scenario would be to buy prominent advertising on keywords similar to the one’s Kevin uses to promote the product, or to offer compelling extra bonuses or rebates to tempt Dave to buy through you – effectively reducing your margin on sale.

Neither of these options are likely to do very well because you are competing directly with Kevin, who is an established and trusted authority figure. And Dave isn’t looking for you anyway.

Oh well.

 

Scenario 2 – Marie is looking to buy a certain type of product, but doesn’t know which one.

Marie had a great conversation with her friends last night about body language. She becomes fascinated by the subject. Her friend John tells her that he took a great weekend course on body language and it helped him to improve his personal and business relationships enormously.

Marie goes online to search for body language courses in her local area of Wichita, Kansas.

Is there a possibility that Marie could buy the Kevin Hogan home study course through your website?

Well, yes. But you will need to be the answer to the question that she was searching for.

Marie was looking for body language courses in Wichita. If you know something about that subject then maybe you can create a website that Marie will visit?

Maybe you’ll have a website with reviews and listings of different courses around the U.S. or within Kansas. On that website you’ll could also have a review of Kevin’s Home Study course, or a relevant sales letter. Marie might decide that, although she was looking for local weekend courses, she quite likes the idea of being able to study at home. And if she buys the course you make a share of the profit.

In this scenario you have created a niche market – people looking for local weekend courses. 

If you concentrate your efforts in building a resource rich website in this area, or buy advertising in this niche area then we can attract visitors and sell some copies of the course.

It’s not a great niche, because there is little emotion associated with the common problems and passions of the group. But it’s a step forward from Scenario 2.

 

Scenario 3 – Susan is pissed that her husband cheated on her.

Susan’s husband cheated on her last year.

She’s hurt and she wants to be sure this doesn’t happen again.

She goes online and searches for information on how to be sure she is never lied to again. 

In this scenario, is there a possibility that Marie could wind up buying the Kevin Hogan home study course through your website?

Of course. But, just like before, you need to be the answer to the question that Susan is asking.

Maybe you have a website with articles and advice targeted at married women trying to deal with their husband’s infidelity. Maybe you have a specific page dedicated to reading body language to ensure that you are never lied to again. Maybe this page will contain a summary of your experiences with the Home Study Course and a link to purchase it.

It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that we have defined a niche. And in concentrating on that niche, you have been able to provide the answer to the question Susan is looking for. Once you have her attention you can then offer her the chance to buy the course from you.

This niche is probably going to be more profitable to you than the previous one because there is a large amount of emotion associated with the common problem the group experiences.

 

Do you see how this works?

Good. So, assuming you have already chosen an affiliate product to promote, how are you going to decide what niche to target?

I would start with thinking about your own personal experience. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Why did you buy the product?
• What in particular benefits did you get from the product?
• What kind of people do you most identify with?
• How could the product benefit your friends?

In many ways this approach is slightly more difficult than tailoring the product to the niche.

It can be a great approach if you have personally received a lot of value from the product and have a clear idea of an accessible group who could obtain similar value from it.

Good luck! And let me know how you get on.

See you tomorrow.

JJ Jalopy.

Reader’s Niche Question: Why do I need to pick a niche?

Hey there!

How on earth did you find me here on the train?!

How very resourceful of you. I’m impressed!

Mrs. Jalopy and I are leaving the city to spend the weekend in the countryside. It’s my Dad’s birthday and we’re going to see my parents.

Happy Birthday Jalopy Senior!

Recently we’ve spent a bit of time talking about niche markets.

I’ve received a few great questions via email. So over the next couple of days I’m going to take some time to address these and clarify a few things.

I’m going to talk generally today. What we discuss will be directly applicable to anyone who wants to sell something.

So, why do I need to pick a niche?

Okay. Let’s think about what a person thinks and does before they buy something.

Jane wants an iPod. She’s seen lots of adverts on TV and she thinks they look pretty cool. Lots of her friends have one too. She knows they’re made by Apple and she’s heard that the Apple Store is a fun place to hang out. 

She goes to the Apple Store and buys herself an iPod.

Duane also wants an MP3 player, but he’s not sure which one is best. He canvasses the opinion of his friends, reads some reviews in a Hi-Fi magazine and, based on his research, opts to buy an AussiePod. It’s slightly more expensive than the iPod but real flames come out of the top of it whenever Duane listens to AC/DC.

Unfortunately, three moths later, after rocking Highway to Hell on heavy rotation, Duane’s AussiePod case is burned to a cinder.

Duane goes online to look advice about burnt AussiePods.

He types “flame resistant AussiePod” into Google and he finds a website called Percy’s Pods.

Percy knows everything there is to know about fictitious iPod variants and he shares his incredible wealth of  knowledge on the internet. The same technology anecdotes which prompt rolled eyes from his wife at the dinner party go down a storm with the enthusiasts who visit his website!

Duane finds a great article on the site which helps him to construct a flame guard for his AussiePod using everyday household materials. Now he’s free to rock out in total confidence and safety!

Over the coming months Duane returns to Percy’s Pods because he loves the site so much.

He discovers that a new iPod variant has just been conceived in the fertile imagination of a man on a train.

It’s the ConservaPod. It’s been specifically designed to filter rock stars’ political ramblings out of their live performances.

That would make a perfect gift for my friend Rob, says Duane. Now he can listen to The Boss without cringing!

Everyone loves Bruce.

 

Duane takes a link from Percy’s Pods to the ConservaPod website, where he buys one for Rob. The ConservaPod vendors give Percy a percentage of the proceeds for referring Duane to their website. Duane doesn’t mind about this one bit, because he gets the same price regardless, and he enjoys Percy’s website.

Now, was there any point to that little story or was I simply amusing myself?

Well the first and most obvious point to make is that nobody buys anything by accident.

In these stories (and most other stories we could come up with) the customer is either:

• ready to buy from a preselected manufacturer, retailer or authority figure
• looking for more information on a product or service
• looking for information to help them solve a problem.

Let’s think about this from the point of view of your business. Are you or your business:

• an established brand or authority?
• providing specific information, advice or product or service reviews?
• providing solutions to common problems?

And if you’re not….

…then how do you think people are going to find you?!

In order to become an expert, authority or a solution in either of the ways outlined above, you will need to concentrate your efforts.

This is why it is important to clearly define your niche market.

If Percy hadn’t concentrated his efforts in one particular area, Duane would never have bought that ConservaPod through him.

Make sense?

Shout if not. And maybe I’ll tell you another story!

Tune in for another great question tomorrow. See you then.

JJ Jalopy.