A F*REE electronic magazine... January 15, 2003
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B I G B U C K S I N A B A T H R O B E
Make More Money & Have More Fun With Your Small Business!
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Publisher: Dave Balch, "The Stay-at-Home CEO"(tm)
"David made over $5 million at home and wants to help you
do the same or more"
Mark Victor Hanson, co-creator of the #1 best
selling "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series
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I n T h i s I s s u e . . .
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1. Feature: The Stay-at-Home CEO Recommends
2. A "Quickie" - Personal Observation
3. Feature: Article
"Perfection"
4. Feature: "Ask Dave" - My take on your business problems
"Getting Out There"
5. Feature: "Meanwhile, back at the ranch..."
Kelly is a lady
6. About "Big Bucks in a Bathrobe" Newsletter
7. Who the heck am I, anyway?
8. How to get on or get off of this list
You are on our list as <$email$>
(To be added/deleted from this list scroll to end for link.)
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PLEASE FORWARD THIS issue to each of your friends who have
small or home-based businesses; they'll LOVE you for it!
(Be sure they know it's from you, or they'll think I sent
it without asking, which is a big no-no!) Thanks!
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(c) Copyright 2003, A Few Good People, Inc. ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED.
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11111 The Stay-at-Home CEO Recommends:
According to my recent subscriber survey, many of
you wanted my recommendations on various books
and products.
You can read past recommendations here:
http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/reviews.htm
(While it is true that I may make small amounts of
money on some of these recommendations, my integrity
is NOT for sale: I would never recommend something I
didn't believe-in 100%, just to make a buck or two.)
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The 52 Most-Asked Marketing Questions
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I just finished listening to an awesome new course that
answers the 52 most asked questions about running a business
online.
It covers everything from setting up an e-commerce site, to
which e-mail company to use to send your online newsletter.
It is easy to understand and is quite thorough.
If you have a Web-based business, and want to make more
money online, you'll love this package. And for a limited
time, you can listen to it totally and completely fr^ee of
charge!
I suggest that you check it out at:
http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/nl/brain.htm
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22222 A "Quickie" - Personal Observation
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We recently had one heckava windstorm: our power was out
for 18 hours and it was 35 degrees outside. Needless to
say, it got a bit nippy in the house. In order to avoid
this situation again in the future (and we are expecting it
because of 60,000 dead trees in our area caused by drought
and bark beetles), we bought a portable generator.
The box showed a toll-free customer support number. In the
plastic bag containing instructions, there was a day-glo
sheet inviting me to use their customer support. Every page
of the instructions encouraged me to call the number. And
the generator itself even had a sticker on which the
customer support number was printed!
It's one thing to have a customer support line, it's quite
another to actually care that your customers use it. To me,
it showed a new level of caring that their customers were
completely satisfied with their product.
It made me feel good about the product, the company, and my
purchase.
How can you apply this concept?
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
SIGN-UP FOR MY FREE MIN-E-SEMINAR:
"Secrets of an Actual $5 Million Home Business"
Eight e-mails in eight days that will change the way you run your
small business!
http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/secrets/mine1.htm
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33333 A r t i c l e "Perfection"
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By Dave Balch, "The Stay-at-Home CEO(tm)"
I am always harping on maintaining high quality in our
marketing materials, as well as in our products and
services. Quality in marketing materials is important in
order to project a good enough image to get new customers;
quality in products and services is important in order to
keep those customers, and to getting repeat and referral
business from those customers.
But...
It is possible to go overboard in achieving that high
quality; there is high quality and there is VERY high
quality. After that, there is very, VERY high quality and
so on. Where does it stop? Only you can decide, and that
is the dilemma: how good is "good enough"?
The trick is to balance the amount of work with the result
of that work; remember that the Law of Diminishing Returns
applies here. In this case, that means that each unit of
time spent on a project will contribute less benefit than
the previous unit of time. For example, you may spend one
day writing a brochure and another day changing the fonts,
the spacing, and a hundred other cosmetic factors in order
to make it "just right." Did the second day on the project
make it twice as good? Probably not. Did it need cosmetic
changes? Of course; but did it need a whole day's worth?
Did the last four hours really make a difference? Decide
when it looks good (rather than perfect) and then call it
"finished." It doesn't have to be perfect to go out the
door.
The question, though, is how do you suppress your tendency
to want perfection? One thing you can do is realize what it
is costing you; not just in dollars but in stress, time, and
productivity. When you are spending more time than
necessary on a project, you are putting yourself under
tremendous stress. You have given yourself an impossible
task and how stressful is that? If you are trying to meet a
deadline, it's like racing toward a brick wall with the
accelerator stuck to the floor.
Also, the time you are spending trying to make it "perfect"
is time that you are NOT spending on something else. That
means that you are wasting productive and, perhaps, billable
time. In either case, you are losing money.
Another thing you can do is examine the expectations you
have set for yourself. Are they reasonable? Are you trying
to climb Mt. Everest before you've learned how to zip up
your backpack? And how do those expectations compare to
what others expect? After all, if your customer thinks it's
perfect, then it is! There comes a point when you are
spinning your wheels and accomplishing nothing at all,
trying to meet unreasonable standards that, in the end,
don't really make much difference.
The key thing to ask yourself is this: "Will the extra
effort I'm putting into this have a corresponding benefit
for me or for my customers?" If not, it's time to examine
what you are doing and then settle for what you've already
got.
You, and ONLY you, will know the difference.
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44444 "A s k D a v e"
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(Can I help you with a business problem? I will field
business questions in every issue. Send them to
mailto:Dave@DaveBalch.com )
Ask whatever you'd like... all letters will remain anonymous.
Maybe my 2-cents'-worth will help you make "Big Bucks"!
(Maybe not!)
Today's question:
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Dear Dave:
I am a new author of a newsletter that I put out
weekly and have been coming across some questions on how to
coordinate everything. First of all, advertising my
newsletter. I am just now building a site, but not sure how
else to advertise my newsletter.
Also, I want to coordinate all the efforts for my business
together. I am a "Goal Coach" or what I like to think of as
a "Professional Organizer of other people's goals". Aside
from writing my free weekly newsletter, I do 2 chats, teach
a 4-week online class, am writing an ebook, starting my
website, and do email consults and coaching. So far, the
chats, class, and ebook will be the only means of getting
paid (and none are done on my own. They are through another
site I work with). I need to break free on my own,
coordinate everything to get my name out there (and get
paid), and get going. Do you have any suggestions on what I
could do to make all this happen? I'd love any tips you may
have.
J.S.
Dear J.S.
You've got a pretty full plate! My first concern is that
you are trying to do too much all at once. Better to
focus on just a few things until they are cookin'.
That said, one of the most important things you need to do
is responsible Internet marketing. (Note the word
"responsible") The newsletter is the right way to go, but
be sure that you don't send it to anyone that hasn't asked
for it or given you permission in some way. If you're
like me, you'll tell everyone you meet and ask them if you
can put them on the list!
The best way I've found to "get out there" is to write
articles and submit them for other websites and
newsletters to use. They don't have to be long... mine
are typically only 500-600 words. Do it on a regular
basis so that people will get used to seeing your name.
1. Search ezine directories for ezines that
a) target the same market you do
b) accept articles
(I currently send to about 100 ezines.)
2. Search the web for websites that target the same
people you do and see if they accept article
submissions.
3. Also search YahooGroups.com for groups that accept
articles on your topic. There are a few groups that are
looking for business articles and by sending one message
to each group you can reach thousands of people. I
currently send to about a dozen of them.
4. Make a list of email addresses for article
submissions and send your articles to that list every
week, every two weeks, or whatever.
5. Some websites require that you submit articles via
online form or whatever, so those have to be submitted
one at a time.
6. Be sure that you include a 'resource box' at the
bottom of each article that has a little copy about you
and what you do, a brief description of your newsletter,
and a link to your website so they can subscribe. It
is commonly understood that you are providing the
content in exchange for the exposure and the link. Most
people will respect that if they use your article.
7. When you submit the article tell them that they are
free to use it as long as they don't modify it, they
include the resource box, they let you know about its
use, and they don't include the article as part of any
spam. (People see spam and blame anyone and everyone
mentioned in it... you don't want to be a part of any of
that, believe me.)
8. You can also post the articles on your website in an
'archive', which will help you get listed in search
engines because of all of the references to various
things in your articles
9. Since you have the articles, you can see if a local
newspaper wants to pick them up as well... get the most
mileage you can from the same articles.
The "52 Questions" product I reviewed above would be
PERFECT for you because it covers all of the bases of
responsible Internet marketing. There is no getting around
it; you are going to have to invest some time and money
learning the right ways of going about this.
Good luck!
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55555 "M e a n w h i l e, b a c k at the r a n c h..."
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A glimpse into the life of this "Stay-at-Home CEO"
(Photos and short bios of the complete "cast of characters"
are posted at http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/theranch.htm )
Kelly is such a lady. Have you ever known a horse that
valued her privacy? (Come to think of it, have you ever
known a HORSE?)
It doesn't matter how long the ride, Kelly will never
relieve herself on the trail. One time we rode for almost
two hours and she never, uh, "left anything behind." The
second we got home she RAN to her favorite spot to do her
business. By the way she ran over there, we knew beyond all
shadow of a doubt that she had purposely held it in until
she got back.
We tell that to many horse owners and they are simply
amazed. Their horses will do what they have to do no matter
where they are!
Isn't that special?
-------------------- CHRIS' CANCER UPDATE
Our journey is finally over: Chris's last radiation
treatment was today! While the radiation was in progress, I
organized the radiation technicians and some friends, and
when it finally ended she got a rousing cheer and round of
applause as she got off of the table for the last time.
Her skin is burned from the radiation so she is pretty
uncomfortable for the time being, but in a week or two that
will clear up and all that will be left are follow-up
appointments. We are both confident that the cancer is gone
for good.
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66666 A b o u t "Big Bucks in a Bathrobe"
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Welcome! You are receiving this because either:
-You requested it on my website or after seeing me at a
speaking engagement
-I know you personally and thought you'd like it
-I asked you if I could send it and you said "Yes"
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If you don't want to receive future issues, scroll to the
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No harm, no foul, no hurt feelings!
My goal is a bi-weekly newsletter that will:
-help you with your small or home-based business
-share articles of interest
-be informal and informative
-answer specific questions asked by readers
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77777 W h o t h e H e c k a m I, A n y w a y ?
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I've generated over $5 million (so far!) from my own
home-based software business and I have a lot to share with
you about how I did it and what I learned along the way.
Now, as a professional speaker, I offer programs that will
help you and your employees "Make More Money and Have More
Fun" with your small or home-based business!
Visit me at http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com for descriptions
of the programs and educational resources that I offer.
The "Big Bucks Boutique" offers resources and materials that
will help you "Make More Money and Have More Fun" with your
business. Take a look at
http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/boutique.htm
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88888 H o w to S u b s c r i b e / U n s u b s c r i b e
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Please note:
- This newsletter is sent every other week.
- Comments and suggestions are always welcome!
- Your information is NEVER intentionally shared with
ANYone for ANY reason. PERIOD.
- Contact me at mailto:Dave@DaveBalch.com
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A Few Good People, Inc.
P.O. Box 824
Twin Peaks, CA 92391
1-800-366-2347
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