Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

A New Focus for My Newsletter
I haven't said much about my newsletter over the last few months. It hasn't gone away, though.

On the contrary, it has turned in some exciting new directions. After a brief experiment with running short series of more in-depth explorations of various topics, subscribers encouraged me to do more of the same.

I'm currently expanding some of my previous series to sell on Amazon. And, as I do so, I am focusing my current newsletter on writing two long-term series, chosen by subscribers to meet their current needs. These, too, I plan to work into book form for Amazon when they conclude.

Until then, my subscribers are serving as beta testers, so to speak, of these upcoming books. Because of that, I no longer offer access to my archives to the public. (I certainly can't sell on Amazon what people can access for free on my site!) The only way to see these series (before you have to pay for them) is by subscribing to my weekly newsletter.

You can do this on the following page: http://www.OneStopWebSupport.com/newsletter-signup.htm.

Right now, the two books I'm previewing in this manner are:

• An in-depth exploration of how to build an opt-in list and market to them profitably
  
• Profitable strategies for marketing your service business

Want to get in on this sneak-peek preview? Come, be one of the select few to preview these future books!
Jeff

Labels: newsletter

Are You Being Persistent in the Right Things?
Here's a favorite quote from Friedrich Nietzsche:

"Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal"

All of us are capable of great persistence. The problem is that we often choose the wrong things to be persistent about. We set our minds about a certain way of doing things and then set about doing them in the most ineffective way possible.

The other day, I took my wife and son out to one of his favorite restaurants before he left from his brief stay home between ending his time in the Marines and heading back to college. The restaurant had two locations, on opposite ends of the metro area.

We went to the closer one and found that their computer was down. They could accept only cash. I immediately turned us around and had us set off for the other location, all the way across town.

Why? Because I've been trying to track my spending more precisely and have found it helpful to put certain categories on spending on my check card. That way I can see those expenditures all in one handy report each month.

I could have easily gone one block, gotten approximately as much cash out as I expected to pay for the meal, and listed the withdrawal as Dining. But, instead, I drove them nearly 20 miles (surprisingly without complaint from either of them) just to go to the other restaurant that would accept plastic.

I have to say, this is not the first time I have been this persistently inefficient in pursuing a course of action instead of the goal behind it. I've held onto unprofitable business strategies for too long because I fell in love with them. I've continued to pursue failed opportunities long after I should have abandoned them.

Examples of being persistent about courses of action rather than the end results are many in my life, as I suspect they are in just about anyone. We get emotionally attached to the means and forget about the ends.

I invite you today to take a look at your business and life right now. Are you pursuing your goals? Or just the path you hope will take you there?
Jeff

Labels: inspirational quotes

Paying Attention to the Short-Term, Too
You've heard it many times. "Forget the short term. Focus on your long term plans." It's important advice, but it can also be misleading.

Granted, if you ignore your long-term goals, you'll never get where you want to go. But if you put all your energy into working toward the distant future, you'll never get started toward it.

I'm very much guilty of this. I can't look at my business goals without seeing all the elements of what they could grow into in their full-fledged form.

The problem is, though, is that it's never possible to go right to that full-fledged form. It takes time to build there.

So I've often fallen into a pattern of putting all my energy into building for the future. I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago in my post about building castles instead of bridges.

One of the problems with that approach, though, is that it becomes very easy to neglect the present. That sometimes puts me into a cash-flow bind. I work determinedly toward long-term profits and suddenly find that my current cash flow is sluggish.

So, for the past couple of weeks, I've forced myself to spend time on quick cash-generating ideas as well as long-term goals. The results have been outstanding!

Not only did I have a sudden burst of income to finish up one of my best July's ever, but I did it without compromising future goals. I identified ways I could fit some of the short-term cash generation into my long term goals and build immediate assets as well as long-term ones.

The result of it all has been more peace of mind (no unexpected cash-flow problems) and, actually, additional progress toward my long-term goals. I encourage you to look at the way you've pursued your goals. Are you focusing too much on either long-term thinking or short-term thinking?

Look for ways to balance them both and make them work together. I've found a balanced approach to be far more effective.
Jeff

Labels: marketing