Content Is Not King, King Is King

Posted on 24 November 2009 by admin

Stop Giving Good Content And Start Leading

How many FREE reports, videos, and interviews are in box or on your hard drive right now?

Have you ever been told that all that it takes in this social media game is to give a ton of great content and people will automatically find you, know like and trust you, and magically want to buy from you?

The fact is, those techniques work but 99% of us, (you and I included) usually get it wrong.

I’ve been blogging much more often and reading some new and different (to me) ideas that have brought me to a new conclusion.

Content is not king. Leadership is.

“Here’s the mistake. Content DOES NOT EQUAL VALUE, VALUE = VALUE”

Content is only valuable to the extent that people preview it to be valuable. Your authority, positioning, copy writing, persuasion and THE POWER OF THE SOLUTION you give all determine value.

Professionals lead by giving value, amateurs create content.

I just finished “Crush It” by Gary Vaynerchuck, and one of the things that hit me was what he said about content being the easy part, especially if you’re passionate about it.  He said the hustle is around the commenting, syndicating, interacting, joining and starting conversations with all the people that are as passionate about the topic as you are.  In essence, create great content, but do it as a leader and player in  the community.  I personally know, that I need to re-tool and get better at this, which is why I am writing this post.

So here’s the action Items:

1- find 5 -10 people that are just as passionate about your topic as you are, who have a blog, and add those blogs to your RSS reader or just book mark them and start reading and commenting.

2- do the same thing but in twitter, and just re tweet them, frequently.

Andrew James #1 Reason To Blog

Posted on 23 November 2009 by admin

Lately I’ve given this site and blog an elevated degree of focus. It’s been interesting to kind of “re-get-into” blogging again.

I’m realizing that blogging for any of the following reasons is secondary to this number one reason.

Blogging For:
-traffic
-money
-branding
-networking

They may all be primary purposes but none of these things offers the benefit of the number one benefit.

THE BIGGEST REASON EVERYONE SHOULD BLOG

… It’s what it does for your brain. The number one reason for me to blog is that it enlivens my mind and makes me learn at hyper speed…and because of my emotional blue print it’s ultra fulfilling

Here’s why this happens:

1. Super learning studies have shown that when you learn with the intent to teach your brain records the information differently and you internalize it faster and better.

When you blog you’re teaching. Whether you have 300,000 visitors a month or 3, the simple fact that people COULD read it, and maybe will is enough to make your brain encode whatever you’re learning about in “super-learned format”

2. Writing and communicating information evolves it in your mind. Stephen Covey talks about this in the 7th habit. Sharpening the saw, refining your ideas through preparing the for communication gives you more and better ideas.

3. Know what’s valuable: you get real time, real feedback as to what is valuable to others based on your content.  Most of the time, we are wrong in determining what is valuable to other people, what we value and what they value are often very different.
4. Give: this, to me is one of the best ways to give to others, and help.  Giving has it’s own benefits and we could have an entire blog and books about why that is so.
5. Allows you to shut up: If you’re like me, you have way more stuff to talk about that you find interesting and relevant to business, friendly, and almost all other conversations.  You learn a lot and need to share those thoughts.  A blog let’s you get that out so you can actually listen to others, and you don’t always have to be explaining your point of view, because it’s already there, on your blog.
6. Legacy: Perhaps the biggest and best reason of all.  This is the first time ever in the history of mankind that we don’t have to work that hard to create and preserve our legacy.  When you blog, you get that same benefit, even more, because it’s not just a recording of your actions on face book, what you had for lunch that you tweeted or whatever, it’s your best most important thoughts.

7. Accountability: Turn your life into your own reality show and you can create whatever reality you want. There was an amazing study in the book Predictably Irrational, (I forget which chapter) that talked about a woman who started a get out of debt blog, chronicling her “journey.”  The same has been done for weight loss.  The point is, there are some amazing goal getting, psychological benefits of telling everyone about your progress that actually helps you to progress.

Action: don’t be dead like this lobster I ate on my cruise in new England a month ago, TAKE ACTION

here’s some suggestions:

1. Start a blog if you don’t have one yet… Easiest is blogger.com
2. Pick a topic you like
3. Write at least 7 posts, once a day for a week, the challenge gets your mind moving….

The 3 Stages of Evolution of the Virtual Entrepreneur

Posted on 20 November 2009 by admin

I’ve noticed that there are about 3 Stages of Evolution of the Virtual Entrepreneur

1. Bust your balls, your brain, and maybe your bank account

I don’t know anyone who’s achieved anything you’d want who hasn’t had to go through at least some of this stuff to get there

2. Leverage, momentum, and cash flow…

Aka you actually start making money

3. System Over Ride: Freedom

Outsource stuff just to see if you can or because you feel like it…

You basically don’t have to do anything but you still do you favorite stuff and anything that sounds fun.

Focus time on building, optimizing and delegating systems to people companies or other systems so you don’t have to touch them at all.  Taking you to freedom.

So this basically the pattern I see with most entrepreneurs who make it from start up to freedom.  Have you seen differently?

What Watching Lost Can Teach You About Copywriting, Marketing, and Selling

Posted on 19 November 2009 by admin

J.J. Abrams’ mystery box

Please, just watch this.  It is huge for you. After you watch it, I’ll explain why it’s such a big deal.


Investment of Character

The mystery box, what makes compelling stories work are mystery boxes.

Story telling and character are key’s to marketing and branding

Mystery boxes are keys to mystery boxes.

If you want people to follow you, you need to start making mystery boxes…

Digg's vs Retweets: Which Would You Prefer?

Posted on 18 November 2009 by admin

If You Could Write An Article On Your Blog And Get 100 Digg’s or 100 Retweets, Which Would You Take?

My Opinion

Digg’s May get you more search engine exposure but retweets get you more readership, which can lead to more exposure.  Really, it’s a toss up and you have to get both and ultimately focus everything towards an opt-in.

If I Had To Choose, I’d Choose Digg’s: The long term benefits are much greater for everything else that you do on your site.  If you have several high quality articles out there that really go viral, the effects on page rank for your site alone are worth it.  You can always go out and re tweet something that has bee Dugg up, and not to mention now there are sites like “StuffToTweet.com” that catalog all the stuff that’s being viewed, read, and dugg.  If I had to choose a point of syndication, I’d choose Digg, and then refuel and promote the content with twitter.  I might even tweet the link to the article on Digg, in hopes of getting more Digg’s.

START A BATTLE HERE: DO YOU THINK TWITTER OR DIGG WINS, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS COMMENT WHICH ONE, ADD YOUR REASON WHY IF YOU WANT…

"Digg"ing Deeper: Studying The Most Profitable Blogs Online

Posted on 17 November 2009 by admin

blogger-logo

What Makes A Blog Profitable?

How Much Do Top Bloggers Make, And Is It Even The “Bloggers” That Make All The Money..?

Or Do The Savviest Marketers Who Are Best At What They Do Who Use Blogs More Profitable?

This may sound strange to some, but I’ve kind of decided to disect blogging.  Mostly for my own reasons, and for pure pleasure and self interest in making my own blogs better… After all with social media today, and so much of our time, attention and information coming from the web, it serves all of us, marketers, entrepreneurs, and anyone who has a presence of any kind on line to get with it on blogs…

Continue Reading →

Snow Report: Stealthy Tactics And Tips To Snowboarding 3+ Days Per Week And Still Being Productive…

Posted on 16 November 2009 by admin

the-snow-report-north-face-app

Snow Flakes Are Falling On My Head.  My Next Test And “Adventure-Preneur” Mission Is Upon Me…

I am writing this post for two reasons.

1. I am giddy with excitement to go snowboarding.  It’s almost here, snow is falling and I am coming back from a year away from the snow due to a blown out ACL.  Business is also going better than ever so I am getting new equipment (board, boots, bindings that are long over due).

2. After going over my blog and looking at lots of other highly successful blogs, I have found a new plug in I wanted to test called aperture.  You’ll see some super cool little nija tricks in this post, and you may want to use them… Continue Reading →

It's Possible

Posted on 15 November 2009 by admin

You can do it.

It will work

It is work

What do you have to be grateful for?

Don’t you realize the possibilities

Be YOU

Be YOUnique.

You are unique, and that is valuable.

Whether it’s the economy or the policies and procedures or the socialistic tendancies and trends of our society, it’s cleansing time. The weak are going to be weeded out, the roads are going to be cleared and only those with high performance engines are going to be allowed. We’re all going a lot faster.

The road is wide open to those who will open their minds.

Whatever you why really is. What ever you are really truly passionate about, that is where you’re attention needs to go.

Here’s Mine, these are the places I have true passion and empathy:

1- People that are entrepreneurs, people who have a dream, who know it is possible and who want to make a big, positive difference in the world
2- People in spiritual pain. People in lack. People who are frustrated
3- Adrenaline junkies and hippies. Snowboarders. Surfers. Skaters. Skydivers, etc. Adventure travelers.
4- Travelers and adventurers. The people who jump on a plane and all of a sudden everything seems allright.
5- Artists. Particularly photographers.

There you go that’s me.
There’s my why and my yeses and nos and frustrations and gratitudes.

Here’s the reality.

It’s going to be easy to succeed at whatever you want, but particularly your business…if you’re legitamate, honest, and sincerely want to provide real value to people.
If you really want to make it work. It can and will.

Great Book Of The Day That I Would Recommend: “The Go-Giver”

On Photography

Posted on 14 November 2009 by admin

(I originally Wrote This About A Month Ago While I Was On A Cruise, And Forgot About It Till Now)

For those who are passionate lovers of the medium of communication that is photography, such a title for a post is a bold imitation of Susan Sontag’s great work, the book, “On Photography.”

In reality, it is but a summation of my own personal pontifications on the subject, one of which I have a deep passion and love for.  I believed and still believe that photographs can change the world, and that they can be worth one word or thousands or even millions.

What’s more powerful about a photograph than it’s ability to be worth many many words and to communicate complexly nuanced subject matter in an instant, is that those elegant communications can be multiplied thousands upon thousands of times over, upon the eyes of every person who see’s an image.  Thus a “thousand word” photograph seen by a 1000 people is really a million word photograph… if you know what I mean.

Why Pontificate On Photography?

1. I am a photographer, and feel like it is something that I have neglected greatly over the pas few years…

2. I am on a cruise ship and feel the need to write something meaningful…

- reconnecting with Sam Abel… Sam is/was a national geographic photographer that I got to hear speak when I was about 17.  He totatly ignited my desire to be a great photographer and was largely responsible for my pursing photography so tenaciously in college.

WHen I head him speak he talked about his book: “The Photographic Life” and in that book shared his first national geographic assignemnt.  It was in Novia Scotia, where we stopped on our cruise today.

I had the chance to stop and “shoot like Sam”… below are some of the photos.

The Harbor At Peggy's Cove By Andrew James

The Harbor At Peggy

The Sea Under Clouds At Peggys Cove By Andrew James

The Sea Under Clouds At Peggys Cove By Andrew James

Fishing Stuff At Peggy's Cove, By Andrew James

Fishing Stuff At Peggy

3. I had some powerful thoughts about it that may help you make your communication with pictures more powerful and lastingly meaningful. Here they are…

1-Q: What is the scarcest resource today? A: peoples attention

2-The most powerful and meaningful priority of a photograph: get attention, to cause people to stop and look

3-Most meaningful purpose of a photograph which has captured the attention of another? A: Cause them to ask questions that lead them to a place you want them to go…. If you can get someones attention, and cause them to ask questions, if you control the questions you can influence.  The irony in photography is that you can never control the questions, you can only hint at them… And that’s what makes it so powerful.

Now, you may choose to communicate or capture emotions and messages with specific meanings.  Specific desired outcomes in your communication.

Or

you may be one to want to communicate much like one of the 4 photographers I studied at great depth, like Diane Arbus, who said that every photograph is a secret about a secret, and the more it tells you the less you know.

There is something extremely powerful about being the source of heightened awareness and consciousness for anyone.  And while you may create images that do not necessarily answer the questions they raise, sometimes being the person to cause someone to stop and ask more questions that are more meaningful is just as important.

PONTIFICATION: DONE

How To Be An Entrepreneur

Posted on 13 November 2009 by admin

Yesterday, I talked about the idea that you will make a lot more progress being and entrepreneur first and “social media celebrity” second.  Which makes sense, you know it does.  How to be an entrepreneur is a much deeper, near infinite topic.

It’s actually simpler than you think…

Problem + Innovation + Marketing = Entrepreneurial Success

Just focus on a market that’s big enough, passionate enough, and that spends enough money to:

A) be worth your time

B) be profitable to you

-Andrew James

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