
So
You Got The Memo . . .
.
. . or you have stumbled in wondering what this is all about.
In a simple sentence,
it
is about what you are going to do with the second half of your
life, especially
if
you have been unceremoniously chucked from a job you have had
for quite
a
while, a job you worked hard at, sacrificed for, and relied upon
to make the second-half a bit easier. Yup – that worked really
well, didn't it? Even the GenXers, watching the Boomers hit the
wall at 50-something, have begun to pound in their tent stakes
against the time that the hurricane will hit their generation.
We
are in a sea-change, where young and cheap is valued above old(er)
and more skillful. Other than high-tech (any field) jobs, that
require VERY advanced degrees,
we
have produced a whole BUNCH of highly-trained hardworking folks
who are
finding
themselves without a job. No news there. But instead of sending
out thousands of resumes over and over, eating more chocolate
and calling your
single-malt by it's first name (HEY Glen! How ya doing today?)
maybe it is time to switch lanes. Easier said than done, right?
No, it is not easier. In fact, on some
levels
it is a WHOLE lot harder, but if you succeed the only person who
can fire
or
retire you is YOU! You get to be 100% responsible for your life,
your successes (and your failures – and there will be some) and
how you choose to structure the quality of your life.
One
of my favorite movie lines comes from “You've Got Mail” (yes guys
– it's
a
chick flick. Suck it down!) In the movie, as Kathleen Kelly (Meg)
tells the table
she has decided to close her shop, Birdie (Jean Stapleton) says
“Closing the shop.
It
is the BRAVE thing to do.” When Kathleen asks why, Birdie replies
“Because
you are daring to imagine a different life, a different future.”
She
then equivocates, but that is beside the point. MY point is that
you are not what you DO, you are what you KNOW!
Start there.
Since
I am an entrepreneur to the bone, have started 3 businesses, and
have
been
entirely self-employed for the last 20 years, I have a unique,
if quirky,
way
of looking at the creation of a business that actually WORKS,
and that generates revenue which contains a net margin (net margin
is what you charge
for it, i.e. $10, MINUS what it costs you to do/make including
labor i.e. $7 = $3
net margin). We will explore this process – identifying
what you KNOW
so
as to make money on the web that actually contains a net margin
-
in
a later chapter.
One
of the classic canards in the wholesale world I inhabited for
a decade was presented as a question . . . "Do you know how
to make a small fortune in business?
Answer: "Start with a large one."
So
first, by way of introduction and so that you understand how I
view the web,
and
because I don't want to have to keep bringing this up when we
begin to
actually
TALK about how to think about your website, I am going to tell
you
one
of the BIG no-nos now.
NEVER
get involved in a website where you are offered the opportunity
to set-up your own store using one of their templates, for the
purpose of going into their
catalog
as a “seller” and putting things from their catalog on your “store”
website.
They
will offer to handle the sale, ship the merchandise, and to send
you the
“profit”
for the sale. What they have done is turn you into a sales rep
who is
PAYING
for the web hosting (a revenue stream for them) and selling their
warehouse
of virtually mediocre stuff to anyone who accidentally
stumbles
into your store, because you are
working with the same merchandise as hundreds of other sellers
in their program. There will be no KEY WORDS
(how
you are found in a search engine) or descriptions (page titles)
that
will
ever get you closer than page 400 in the search engines. JUST
DON'T DO IT.
It
is a legal pyramid scheme. You'll be out of it in a year.
The
point is to take what you KNOW and LOVE, and apply it to a business
you
can
create and manage on the web – even if it is a local service –
that is designed and styled BY YOU as a match to your abilities
and passions. Unless you have
complete
ownership over this thing you want to create, it will not succeed.
(I
know there are some affiliate renevue streams out there that work
for some people, but they are more miss than hit unless you are
a techie and find
the
right slot).
So
our journey together is to help you identify that special ability
you have, and
then
to decide how to roll it out. You will have the added benefit
that whatever
you
create will be genuine, and not another template-based punch-card
built by
a
14 year old with perfect eyesight (hence the 6 pt type) who lands
you on
a
page so crammed with junk that you can't find the product or service
you had searched for in the first place. That is also, by the
way, why marketing people
should
not be allowed to build websites. Their mandate is SALES and PITCH,
which
often results in one ugly cluttered page. We will get to that
too, later.
So
go out into the yard, open your arms wide to the sky, and scream
at
the top of your lungs NEXT!
I
WANT NEXT!!! I AM READY FOR NEXT!!!
When
you have done that and finally REALLY believe it, then go to Chapter
1.
My
brilliant coder George will be working on the blog format for this,
so we can talk.
It
will be moderated, as I will allow nothing here but on-topic questions
and observations. People will simply have to sell their sex toys
elsewhere. In the
meantime
I have created a special e-mail where you can send in questions
if
you
have any that I can post and answer for others to see. For the
near-
term
if you have questions or something to share send it to:
TheOldBroadSpeaks@gmail.com
I
will be adding more material relatively soon.
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