BUT…

You’re wondering if you can do it too?

Maybe wondering what you’ll need to do to run it, day to day?

Perhaps wondering what skills you need to learn vs what skills you have already?

Wonder no more ???? We've recorded a video for you to tell you:

We know there are many visually oriented people who don't have a tangible sense of what a digital business comprises – what it looks like – how it works – and what you have to do to run it.

So, we thought we'd share the highest, most overreaching, principle of doing ANY business online involves helping people solve a problem.

And you do that by giving value.

And we'll cover what we mean by value in a minute.

The Big Principal in Online Business Today

But first, we'll explain, at a high level, or as an overview, the big principal we strive to achieve in our business all the time – and that is:

help people every day get further away from where they don’t want to be and closer to where they do want to be

And the easiest way we do that is by sharing the story of our journey online. How we went from stressed out employees to stress free entrepreneurs having a built an online business that places key emphasis on lifestyle first.

Heck, we went as far as to write a book about our failings and the mistakes to avoid, but you don't need to write a book. I (Fiona) kinda needed to prove a point as I'd gone through life misbelieving numbers were my only strength – which is why I trained to become an Accountant. So, I needed to embrace my creative side and switch off the limiting belief I'd about being rubbish at writing, grammar and the English language. That's one of the reasons we wrote our book, anyway.

Living A Laptop Lifestyle

Living A Laptop Lifestyle tells the story of our journey from being laid off from our corporate jobs, getting uncomfortable with learning a new skill without having to go back to school to study, and failing forward in our quest to create the perfect income. Which is an income which is easily scalable, with unlimited upside, and is also generated largely passively – so we have time to be tourists and travel the world 9 months each year.

That story is also here on our website – we wrote it once, but different people swing by our website every day to read our story and get the sense of self-belief they can transform their lifestyles too.

And we share many snapshots of our journey is this post: What Is A Digital Life, And Why Should You Care

Share Your Journey

So, the key principal we want to help you understand today, is you need to be prepared to share your journey, like:

• what you've achieved in life so far,
• what's not quite worked out as planned,
• what mistakes you've made,
• what you're not happy about and why and how it makes you feel, and then share
• what action you're taking to make change happen for you.

We see it time and again in the Six Figure Mentors community we're members of – the value in the community is people sharing their stories, their learnings, their fears, their little wins, and their eventual successes.

So, the people in our digital community who share their journey, and don't hide away and say nothing, are more likely to succeed because today we live in a world where your journey is your value.

People who succeed take part in community because they’re willing to share and give value – everything in business these days is about adding value to the lives of others.

What's in it for YOU?

The person you become and the advice you give based on your experience and journey is of huge value to others setting out on the same journey as you.

You'll become a person of impact and value to society. Even if that value or information is:

• something you learned yourself only last week, or
• how you battled and overcame a fear or concern, or
• how you set up your home office, or
• why you're starting an online business…

Everything like that is worth sharing and makes you a person of value.

When you share and are a wee bit vulnerable in your sharing, you'll find what it is you're looking for.

When you give value by sharing your story – money will surely follow – as it’s certainly true for all these people.

So, hopefully you understand that the ROI is your journey because you've become valuable.

Your Personal Value

You don't have to be someone you're not, you simply have to be your authentic self and share what you're up to in the world:

• Maybe you had a rubbish day at work, perhaps your boss took all the credit for something you did, or
• perhaps you worked your but off to meet a report deadline and no-one looked at your report a week later, or
• perhaps your boss simply got out of bed the wrong side and needed to vent at someone and that someone just happened to be you

In those scenarios, sharing how you coped, or what did you do to turn the situation around, is very valuable information to someone who's got little idea how to handle that scenario from a self-reassurance standpoint. Right?

When you're relatable, and share the ups and downs in life, it makes you stand out. Because life isn’t always a bed of roses, is it?

It’s our stories that connect. So, age/sex/nationalty don't matter. It's our beliefs, our characters, and our perspectives, that matter.

Those You Can't Help With Your Online Business

There are some people out there looking for something we can't offer them, simply because their expectations are totally unrealistic. So, they don't come from the space, or the idea, of wanting to improve themselves by embracing personal development. However personal development is the key to success, it’s the inner game of always growing and improving yourself.

The people we can't help, aren’t willing to give a little bit of themselves, and aren’t willing to share any value.

When you accept and embrace the value you already have in your life to date, you’ll connect with more and more people.

So, it's super important to be of value and to have integrity in today's social world. That's why everything is centred around community and culture and personal progression.

That's why we keep up with the community, stay checked in, and always reach out to help others who are one or two steps behind us.

Hope you see that by being personal, relatable, and sharing value, is the primary principle in creating a winning digital business that provides you with a perfect income?

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What would you do if someone handed you treasure chest full of jewels?

Would you squirrel it away?

Would you incessantly ponder why anyone would give away something so precious?

Well, wonder no more! We’re giving you the wealth of knowledge we’ve gathered on the sometimes rocky road we’ve traveled to build our online business. We want to share what we’ve learned because we believe there’s enough success out there for everyone to have their fair share.

We want you to succeed! Don’t squirrel these gems away. The secret with these gems is… they’re only precious WHEN YOU USE THEM.

Come on… let’s dig into the treasure chest

CLICK TO WATCH THIS VIDEO… OR READ ON IF YOUR PREFER:

#1 Be Authentic

There are so many people on the internet trying to be something they’re not. They try to be who they ‘think' others want them to be. And they ‘think' that’s easy to do online. They create a make-believe personality. They become chameleons, changing to suit their surroundings.

It’a waste of time and effort. No one can keep up that kind of charade. It has to be tiring, it certainly doesn’t benefit anyone, and people can sniff a fake a mile off.

The best things you can do for yourself on your road to success are:

• Be honest

• Be authentic

• Be genuine

People want to deal with REAL people they can trust. And, when you’re authentic, when you’re upfront and honest, people will have more affinity for you and will grow to trust you.

#2 Provide Value

On one of our travels (when you live a Laptop Lifestyle, you’re able to visit new places whenever you please, with no prior planning), we visited The Vermont Country Store, in Woodstock, Vermont. We were gob-smacked with, and very appreciative of, the wide array of samples of the foods they sold. We enjoyed tasting the free treats they offered. We must've tried a dozen different tidbits ranging from chutneys, salamis, cheeses, choccies and sweets!! (We didn’t need lunch that day lol)

And, d’ya know what happened before we left that store?

Naturally, we purchased quite a few of the things we tasted.

The Vermont Country Store offered huge value and earned new customers because of the free tastings they provided.

It’s no different online. In fact, its been proven to take at least seven “touches” to influence a prospect into becoming a paying customer.

Be sure to PROVIDE VALUABLE INFORMATION to your prospects and your customers through:

• Ebooks, emails, and blogposts

• Audio and video content

• A combination of the the above (you need to cater for the different learning modalities of different people)

The value you offer your prospects and customers will return to you exponentially. It’s priceless.

#3 Build An Email List

Don’t expect people to buy something from you immediately.

Only instant decision makers who have a nagging problem to solve will do that. Digital, physical, no matter the item or service – many people think everything’s a scam until they try it out. And they won’t try until YOU build a relationship with people first.

So, when you know there’s a problem you have the ability to solve:

• Find your target audience

• Build that email list/database

• Develop those relationships

When you do these things, sales will naturally follow.

#4 Advertise Wisely

On your road to building a profitable online business, advertising gets you the quickest results. But…

… you need to manage your ad budget wisely to ensure consistency when building your email list.

Also, choose your advertising strategy carefully – because you’ll need to stick to that choice ‘through thick and thin’.

Your choices include:

• Slow but (almost) free advertising, like blogging and video marketing

• Pay-Per-Click advertising, like Google adwords and Facebook – a bit faster, and not terribly expensive

• Offline advertising, like leaflet drops and print ads – affordable but not targeted

Free ads take time to gain momentum, whereas paid ads can start working immediately, though they stop when you stop paying.

Whatever way, or combination of ways, you decide to advertise, be sure you stick to that method, so you learn it ‘inside out’, and become proficient at building your email list to a point where you can easily scale up that advertising.

#5 Target Quality Prospects

Get to know your audience like an author knows the characters they write about. Who are they? Where do they hang out? What are their primary problems?

But even before you figure out who they are, figure out who you are.

You need to know exactly what you have to offer, and how you want to provide valuable content and information per #2 above – which means attracting the right people to you by how you tell your story on your website.

Once we’d honed our ‘About Us’ story, we were able to focus on our audience. You’ll do the same.

To build your audience and email list (email database):

• Stick with one source for paid ads until you attract prospects on auto-pilot

• Seek targeted quality people as opposed to sheer quantity of people

• Build a value-driven relationship with your audience

Targeting the wrong people is like flushing your money down the toilet, and is a huge waste of your time and effort too.

#6 Leverage Other People's Products

Some people never start their online business because they mistakenly believe they need to do something no one has ever thought of before!

That’s a flawed way to think! It’s not true at all – leveraging other people’s products is a humungous (multi billion dollar) industry.

Ways to leverage other people’s products:

• Become an affiliate marketer. While/If you develop your own products, find others that are a good fit with what you’re passionate about

• If you have your own products or services on offer on your website, find other complementary prducts and offer them on your site too

• Keep looking for new, different, exciting options to promote

#7 Promote High Value Products

This gem is the richer cousin to #6.

When you promote high value products (anything over $1,000), your marketing efforts are rewarded way more richly than if you promote $100 products. Your marketing efforts are the same, but the commissions are super-sized.

But, where do you look for top-tier, high-ticket products to promote as an affiliate? Head down to your local book store and look in luxury magazines in the lifestyle, travel, golf and boating niches, for starters. Read the ads in those upscale magazines. Use what you learn to:

• Visit the websites of the companies offering big ticket items

• Find out if they have an affiliate program

• Apply to be an affiliate and enjoy offering glamour and excitement to your prospects

When it comes to running paid ads to such affiliate offers, again revert to the luxury magazines and study the ads other companies run. Find ads for exclusive, luxurious, top-tier, or high-ticket products that might be of interest to your customers and readers. Look in magazines like CondeNast, Travel and Leisure, Tatler, Forbes, Gold International.

#8 Have Residual Income Products

Make sure you have products that work for you while you’re developing new products or ideas (if that’s what you want to do).

Having just one or two of them will bring in bread and butter income while you are out there bringing in the steak!

Try pulling together:

• Monthly newsletters where people pay a small amount each month

• A series of one-page information sheets, where you charge per sheet

• Any type of regular subscription that fills a need for your clients and customers

These regular streams of income will turn into a river of residual success.

#9 Keep It Simple And Consistent

People like to ‘think' tasks are too difficult, or too complicated, or too boring. They tell themselves all the ways they can’t do something rather than explore the ways they can.

We know a man who wanted to put together a website. He kept putting it off because it seemed like such a gargantuan task. But we persuaded him to take it step by step and focus on one element at a time, and now he’s started a successful business.

Some words of wisdom to live by – Those who can, do. Those who can’t, outsource!

So, move forward consistently.

You build up momentum by:

• Building your list, consistently

• Blogging, consistently

• Broadcasting, consistently

Don’t shift into reverse, and keep your foot on the pedal.

#10 Get A Mentor

Trying to find out everything from the internet is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. Too much, too fast. You just can’t take it all in. It’s overwhelming!

So much of the good stuff in steps 1-9 is made easier and much more effective when you have a mentor (or mentors) to bounce ideas off, to work with, to learn from.

Learning this business is just like starting any new endeavor. When you start a new job, they don’t just give you a computer and expect you to ‘hit the ground running' (the worst catch-phrase ever!). Someone teaches you, guides you, answers your questions about the new role, don’t they?

Likewise, a mentor:

• Guides you so you don’t take too many wrong turns

• Encourages you when you hit a rocky patch

• Educates you and applauds your successes

There's so much hype out there about instant success. We want you to know success is ahead of you, IF you’re willing to work for it in a deliberate, focused way. It’s an adventure! We love it and we know you will too.

Having someone who has been through what you’re going through is key, as within three to six months, with dedication and support, you could see your business bloom. Too many people get frustrated, spread themselves too thin, and give up.

It took time to gather these top ten marketing gems. It’s up to you what to do with what we’ve learned.

The future is digital. Get a jump start on that future! An article in Time magazine stated that by 2045, 60% of jobs will be replaced by robots!

Get to grips with the digital world. Decide to change. Be open-minded to learn new skills.

It’s your turn now. Will you tuck these gems away and forget about them, or will you leverage them and build your road to success?

One little decision. One first step. Give it a try. Give it time. Give it your all.

And have fun doing it

We toast your success.

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The post Finally! Greg and Fiona’s Top Ten Marketing Gems appeared first on gregandfionascott.com.

What'll happen to your livelihood when you act like an ostrich and stick your head in the sand to ignore history, ignore progression, and ignore simple economics?

It'd be super easy to dupe yourself into believing it's not happening and it won't affect you – but that'd be daft.

Smart people pay close attention to what's happening.

We're talking Robots. Artificial Intelligence. Mechanical minds.

Robots that'll do your job.

Let's take a look shall we? (Click to watch)

Willing To Ignore History?

Mechanical muscles killed much of the need for human labour. And the same is now happening with our human minds. They're being replaced by mechanical minds. Replaced by robots.

Diggers and bulldozers replaced humans with picks and shovels. Production line robots replaced factory workers. Automated supermarket check out bots replaced human check out operators in their millions.

Watch the video above for more examples. And keep a close eye out for the ‘luddite horse' example at the 3:34 minute mark – it'll raise your eyebrows for sure.

Imagine two horses talking to each other about technological advancements back in the early 1900's!

One horse says says to the other: “I'm really worried these new fandangled car thingies will make us horses redundant”

The second horse reminds the first that everything so far has made their lives easier. He says: “We'll have no more drudge farm work, no more relentless pony express mail deliveries, and no more bloody cavalry battles.”

He then said: “All the people are moving to the cities so there'll be more cushy city jobs for us horses than ever before. Even if that Mr Henry Ford chap is right about his automobile, there'll have to be new jobs created for us horses which we haven't yet thought of.”

History happened.

Sure, there are still working horses in the world, but only a teeny fraction of the horse population in 1915 when at it's peak.

Are horses not employed now because they got lazy as a species? Nope. They're unemployable because their feed, housing and hay isn't cost effective for the jobs they do.

It's OK talking horses, but what happens when we switch from horses to humans?

As mechanical muscles pushed horses out of ‘making a fair crust', so will mechanical minds do the same for humans.

It’s projected the factory of the future will be managed by only two employees…

A human…

And a dog…

The human'll be there to feed the dog…

The dog'll be there to ensure the human doens't mess with the equipment!

We're joking, of course

Maybe?

But you can’t deny the huge volume of layoffs right now demonstrate that “traditional career positions” ARE BEING TAKEN OVER

… by machines, AND

… by virtual workers!

(This applies to factory workers, mid-level managers, right the way up to top sales and executive people)

This can put you in grave danger IF you stick your head in the sand and don't embrace change.

People get laid off unexpectedly because of technological advancement and have a super hard time picking themselves up again after such a big blow.

And the OLDER they are … the more CATASTROPHIC.

The evidence is all around you – there's staggering numbers stated in this CNBC article which leads to one prognosis that:

Bank tellers will be the telegraph operators of 21st century when we look back in 100 years, the most-impacted job. This will hurt.

Read on if you still think your role/job/career/skill is above reproach from the fast encroaching mechanical minds.

Will You Ignore Progression?

Most people think of technological change as ground-breaking, new, expensive stuff, but real change comes from perfecting last decade stuff, so robots are becoming cheaper and faster – that's what's happening in the robotics industry today.

Meet Baxter (you would've when you clicked to watch the video above). He was ‘born' in the 80's. He has vision and can learn to do whatever you want him to do. OK, he might be slow – but he's extraordinarily cost effective. (More on that in a minute).

We've already seen how robots dumber than Baxter can replace human jobs.

Think about how automatic checkout machines in modern supermarkets have replaced 30 human check out operators. (undetected item in the bagging area – arrrrgh!)

And that hundreds of thousands of baristas worldwide are being replaced by robotic coffee makers connected to a network which remembers exactly how you like your coffee no matter where you are in the world – pretty convenient really! Not for the minority super snob coffee officionados – but for the majority of us who just want a decent cup of coffee – FAST!

Why will robots take over???

Because their mechanical minds are capable of decision making, so they're already in competition with humans for their jobs.

Technology gets better at a rate that's quicker, cheaper, faster than human biology!

ROBOTS DON'T NEED TO BE PERFECT – THEY JUST NEED TO BE BETTER THAN US!

Consider self driving autos. They're already here. (This next bit's worthy of your close attention!) They don't blink, don't text, don't drink, don't sleep, don't chat, don't crash!

Self driving autos are an insurance companies wet dream! Because they don't crash.

Self driving autos will affect 70 million jobs in the worldwide transport industry alone. Minimum!

Now you might be thinking – Ha! we have unions to protect entire industries. BUT…

History is riddled with instances where workers and unions battled against technological advancement.

The result is WORKERS ALWAYS LOSE and ECONOMICS ALWAYS WIN.

But what about white collar workers?

Will You Ignore Simple Economics?

Maybe you're employed in an office job where you sit in front of a monitor or screen and type and click your way through the day – guess what – the bots are coming for your job too.

Show a bot a bunch of correctly done stuff. Show the bot what to do. And it'll figure out what needs to be done.

Bots LEARN.

Bots have learned to write.

Bots have taken over the worlds' share exchanges.

Bots can handle paperwork, decision making, writing – among other things. So the demand for human mental labour in these areas is becoming redundant, obsolete, out-dated.

Surely the professions are safe, you're probably thinking?

Well, clever research bots have mastered the art of discovery in the legal profession – which impacts the human legal eagles as robots are super quick at scanning information, super accurate, and super cost effective.

What about the medical profession? Surely they're safe?

Consider IBM's super computer WATSON – Watson already understands medical conditions people describe in their own words, and provides diagnoses. This overcomes the humungous human doctor failing of not being able to know every ailment, every cure, every medical advancement, the side effect of every drug, and the effect of combination of drugs. (Makes you realise how humanly flawed your local doctor really is).

So imagine such diagnoses being delivered on your mobile phone? Saving you a trip to the Doctors? Think that'll catch on – without sparing a single thought for the Doctors being done out of a job?

Bots outsmart us humans at chess. Bots think. Bots can be creative. Watch the video above for examples of stuff they already achieving.

Look Closely At The Numbers…

It's all too easy to put your head in the sand and ignore this stuff. But, this stuff is not science fiction.

The robots are here right now. They're getting cheaper, faster, smarter.

The robot revolution is different to anything we've lived through in the past. It's completely new ground. NOTHING stands in the way of progression when economics, finances, and efficiency are concerned.

Many bright people will wonder what hit them when bots take their livelihood with no chance of finding another job in the same industry. Remember the horse who became unemployable through no fault of his own? And remember the horse thinking new jobs would be created for it that haven't been thought of yet?

Well there's a list of jobs that are at huge risk of being made obsolete by the bots. Is your job one of them?:

This list above accounts for 45% of the work force. And with the bots existing today, we'll be pushed to about 25% unemployment levels real soon.

Greg used to be a Project Manager, so was in the 2,898,000, and Fiona used to be a Chartered Accountant, so was in the 1,646,000.

According to this handy wee tool on the BBC's website – there's a 95% chance of all Professional Accounting roles being taken over by the bots.

Click Here to explore the automation risk of a full list of jobs:

What percentage does your job score?

Now this post isn't about bots being bad. It's about bots being inevitable and you need to think what you'll do NOW, so you get the jump on your fellow workers when your industry is made redundant through no fault of your own.

What Will You Do In A Future Where HUMANS NEED NOT APPLY?

It's going to be a BIG problem if you're not prepared. Are you ready for the change that's already happening?

The key to thriving in spite of the bots is awareness of what's happening (which you are now) and positioning yourself for the future.

The way we see it, you have a choice. Either lay spread-eagle across the railway tracks waiting to get run over, or stand up and embrace change before change embraces you!

Or, put it another way – either risk robots, tech, or somebody across the globe taking your job, or…

Engineer “the system” to work in your favour, so you harness the power to work less… 5X your income… and have the freedom to enjoy life to the full

So, how can you grasp a real possibility in this new digital economy?

Yes! We’ve seen different people do it over and over again…

You may have heard of other success stories too?

Because…

With the right automated income system at your disposal, you can make more money in a week while committing less time than 40+ hours each week …

But only with the right system, of course.

It can be way easier than you imagine…

And way less technical than you imagine…

And way more satisfying than you imagine

We're speaking from experience here. Back in 2009 we began to understand the power and leverage we could get from using a simple turn-key online system to build a business around our lifestyle rather than a lifestyle around our business (almost every entrepreneur gets that the WRONG WAY ROUND).

But at first, it was a struggle because we didn't have an ‘idiot proof' system – so we ran round like headless chooks trying to devise our own system.

We frittered our hard earned dollars on hair brained schemes that were materially wrong for a variety of reasons.

And we wasted precious months not seeking the advice of entrepreneurs who were already successful, in order to understand what was working for them.

When we joined Six Figure Mentors in 2010… success happened, we got results, we helped others, we found satisfaction and reward, and now we live life on our terms. We never had that ‘working for the man'.

It's obvious that our recommendation for you is to…

Get started NOW. Learn from the best training in the world (OK – we deliver the marketing coaching so we're biased), join the most positive community of bot-evaders we know, leverage their simple turn-key online system AND have a more time freedom to boot!

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. . . so read an ad placed in the London Times in 1914.

The advertiser was looking to recruit a crew for a ship – but not experienced sailors, deck hands or officers. He was looking for men who read that ad and thought: “Awesome, I’m in!” He was looking for men who were up for the challenge, who believed in themselves, and were committed to the cause.

Who was the advertiser?

English Adventurer Ernest Shackleton.

He was building an expedition crew of 27 men to sail the 350 ton Endurance all the way down to the frigid Weddell Sea, below South America, then travel 1,700 miles across the South Pole to the Ross Sea, south of New Zealand.

The truth is . . .

His goal was to be the first man ever to cross the entire Antarctic landmass, via the South Pole, since Roald Amundsen had just claimed fame as being the first person to reach the South Pole.

The rest is history.

We read his story as we sailed to the Antarctic Peninsula from the southern tip of South America in 2007.

Here's The Story . . .

The Endurance never made it to the Weddell Sea.

That year, winter came early, and with a vengeance. Pack ice closed in around the ship and “like an almond in a piece of toffee”, one crew member wrote. Shackleton, his men, and their ship, were stuck fast in the icy Antarctic for ten long freezing months, until the pressure of the ice finally crushed the ship like matchsticks. The Endurance sunk on 21 November 1915.

Believe it or not . . .

The stranded crew climbed aboard their three life boats and paddled to tiny Elephant Island. Shackleton, and five others, left the other men behind on Elephant Island to embark on a hazardous ocean voyage across 800 miles of the roughest seas on the planet, to seek help. On reaching land at South Georgia, the weary rescuers then had to trek across inhospitable terrain to cross the island and muster assistance.

What’s extraordinary about this story is: no lives were lost. The entire crew survived.

Shackleton and his men worked together towards a common goal with a common bond.

Shackleton had formed a crew of survivors . . . from that one simple ad in the London Times.

Do you understand what the point?

What On Earth Can Shackleton Teach Us About Attracting Customers?

When you learn from his approach, his angle, his motivation, you’ll happily place more targeted, compelling, qualifying ads that convert, because they target the right people. So you get ‘more bang for your buck’!

What that means is this:

You build a database of prospective customers who hold similar beliefs as you – which means a higher likelihood those people are interested in what you have to offer.

But let’s break it down further to:

The Top 3 Takeaways From Shackleton’s Approach To Attracting Customers

[1]       Start With WHY

Shackleton was PASSIONATE about exploring.

So much so, he raised $250,000 from private donors, the British Government, The Royal Geographical Society, and from English schoolchildren – all whilst World War I was raging in Europe.

He wanted to attract people (financial backers, fellow crewmen, and followers) who shared his passion and beliefs. People who were a good fit for his expedition because their views and philosophies were aligned with his.

Hence the ad he run in the London Times.

Here's the interesting part . . .

He could’ve run an ad that read:

Men needed for expedition. Five years’ open sea experience minimum. Necessary to hoist mainsail. Come work for a leading Captain.

(Which, when you think about it, is how most job classified ads read!)

This ad would've resulted in a crew likely to have been mutinous, because there’s no connection between passion, adventure, and Shackleton.

>>> We’re passionate about sparking people's imagination so they ignite their passion for a life that matters <<<

So . . . if we were to promote our online marketing education with a view to attracting people who have the same beliefs as us, using Shackleton's approach by way of a classified ad in a newspaper or magazine, would we use Ad [A] or [B] below?:

Ad [A]:

“Adult marketing student wanted, no prior experience or knowledge of industry necessary. Come learn with a fantastic worldwide company, using a proven system paying great commissions”

(this ad would attract opportunity seekers who aren’t on the same wavelength as us)

Ad [B]:

“Entrepreneurs Wanted. Open minded, adventurous risk-takers, prepared to roll their sleeves up, for medium to long term gain. Investment required. Success means living your ideal lifestyle with unlimited earning potential.”

[2]      Benefits NOT Features

Shackleton’s ad mentions the RESULTS, the possible outcome, the “what’s in it for me”.

Results are a benefit, not a feature.

The fact is, most of us humans are emotional creatures, so our buying decisions are made based on deep-seated emotional triggers and NOT on logical thought – however we do justify a purchase, after the event, with logic.

It’s simply human psychology.

It’s how we’re hard-wired.

So the benefits of a product or service will connect with us emotionally, but the features will require too much brain power for us figure out why we want that feature and how we’ll translate it into the influential emotional benefits. In other words, features might make us feel a bit dumb, as we have to figure out why they matter to us.

The features of Shackleton’s expedition are:

• Long sea voyage
• Full pay
• Part of a team

The benefits are:

• Honour and recognition
• Paid journey of a lifetime
• Supportive, like-minded environment

As an online marketer, it’s in our best interest to draw the connection between features and benefits for our prospective customer. Which is easy for us as we know the results ourselves because we’re having our cake and eating it too! We’re living the lifestyle we’re passionate about promoting.

So, to answer the benefit laden question “What's in it for me?” which focuses on the RESULTS of a rock-solid online marketing education:

• Live and work where you want, with who you want, so you don’t have to answer to anyone else
• Have the freedom and flexibility to do whatever it is you love to do
• Ramp up every aspect of your life with innovations that will rapidly increase your income potential

[3]       LEAD By Example

Shackleton was a Leader. No question. His passion for adventure and exploration meant he didn’t limit his skill sets to just that. He also was an advertiser, a fundraiser, a sailor, and above all, a man who lead by example.

When the Endurance sunk, and the crew were stranded on Elephant Island – Shackleton could easily have dispatched a party of crew members to seek help. But NO, he knew he had to take responsibility and lead the rescue mission personally, splitting the crew appropriately, and ensuring the men he left behind on Elephant Island were able to survive.

When it comes to leadership, actions speak louder than words, particularly when your values and your behaviour inspire others to follow the same path as you.

Now listen up . . .

DON'T be sitting there thinking you have to be gallivanting round the globe working as you go in order to demonstrate success in your online business. Because to lead by example in the online marketing space, you simply need to demonstrate you’re rolling your sleeves up, putting in a focused effort to learn a future-proofing skill, and are influencing others by those actions. In other words, be prepared to share your results and lessons learned as they occur on each stage of your online journey.

As soon as you explain to people why it is you want to build an online business and create a business around your lifestyle rather than the other way round, they’ll find that VERY ATTRACTIVE (because they have the same interests as you) and will be willing to develop themselves similarly.

We demonstrated these qualities in LIVING A LAPTOP LIFESTYLE – as we shared our mistakes, failings, and successes. We established we have a genuine desire to openly help people, to value their ability to learn, and to support them in their efforts to change.

In a nutshell, to lead by example, as demonstrated by Shackleton, but in respect of creating a laptop lifestyle, is when you:

• take responsibility for your actions and openly share your learnings and your failings with others,
• demonstrate integrity, humility and honesty in regards to your progress (overnight success is inhuman and impossible), and
• inspire others to believe change is possible and they can to follow in your footsteps along the same path, or journey, as you.

If you’re inspired by Shackleton to Start With WHY, share Benefits Not Features, and Lead By Example, we strongly recommend you leverage the proven digital business system we use to live a laptop lifestyle.

To do that we have an exclusive WEBCAST for you to watch, which is all about the Proven Steps For Running A Profitable Online Business.

Click This Link To Join Our Partner, Stuart, for a special webcast, which is specifically for you if you’re:

• Interested in learning how to become profitable online starting from scratch . . .
• Ready to earn a sustainable income doing something you're extremely passionate about . . .
• Unsure of how to get started, but open minded to learning about new concepts . . .

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Let's face it, in this day and age, we all look for quick fixes, short cuts, and ways to avoid exerting any extra effort. IF we can help it! Right?

You operate electronic devices by remote control, order groceries online and get them delivered direct to your door, and use a mobile phone that has more time saving apps than you can shake a stick at.

Everything is quicker, faster, better – BUT . . . as a result we all become lazier, more expectant, and entitled.

Wouldn’t you agree?

That goes for earning an online income too!!!

Which is where the problem arises . . .

Greed, Impatience, Laziness

Online rogues, fraudsters, and scam artists take extreme advantage of the fact that millions of people are new to the internet and are mislead by greed, impatience and laziness! Seriously.

Fraudsters KNOW there’s a HUGE section of people online looking to get rich quick. And because advancements in technology make us lazier in this modern digital age, some people think lazily when it comes to earning an alternative income stream. Fraudsters PREY on that human greed factor.

Unsuspecting people mistakenly believe they can earn an income by doing little or no work!

That’s right – some people mistakenly think they can ‘get money’ by clicking on ad panels, or doing surveys, or doing online competitions!

As far as we’re concerned, such people are better off buying lotto tickets each week, or betting on the gee-gees, or the dogs.

The point is – and it’s an IMPORTANT POINT: earning a sustainable income online requires time, effort and energy. It requires investment, but it also requires knowledge, and a level of intelligence.

So, if you see a rabid proponent of some ‘get money’ scheme, or ‘get rich quick’ scheme, or ‘passive’ income stream requiring no prior training – put up our SCAM FILTER quick smart.

People promoting such schemes are blinded by gullibility, greed, and desperation. They mistakenly promote a Ponzi scheme as the ‘be all and end all’, because they desperately need it to work for themselves – because they’re driven by greed and fervour – which is an exceptionally UGLY side of human nature.

Don’t get sucked in by such people and such promotions, because, on the face of it, they APPEAR TO BE professional, convincing, and compelling!!!!

There’s a few such scams doing the rounds on Facebook lately:

• My Advertising Pays
• Traffic Monsoon
• Traffic Authority

So . . . if you see someone posting on Facebook, or emailing you screenshots that look something similar to the image below (WHICH WE COPIED FROM FACEBOOK – IT'S NOT OUR IMAGE), pay close attention to our 7 Warning Signs When You’re Confronted With A Ponzi Scheme:

But, first . . .

What Is A Ponzi Scheme Exactly?

Here’s what Wikipedia says:

So a Ponzi scheme is one where you pay money in exchange for promised returns, which require no intelligence or training whatsoever to make – so it’s something any numptie can do. BUT, to maximise your so-called returns you need to recruit other gullible, greed based people, and encourage them to invest too so the pyramid is upheld.

Early investors may get their money back, but any so-called profits may not be paid out – so look out for people who claim to have their initial investment back.

AND . . . spare a thought for the late investors!

We've been gullible and greedy by investing in an identical online ad based scheme back in 2012 called Banners Broker where we ‘lost’ $6,000 – but worse still – we caused other innocent people to lose money too!

Banners Broker was supposedly an online advertising model and revenue sharing scam that takes each country by storm.

The scam works by you buying ads or ad banners to participate in a revenue share of the scheme, and all you have to do is click on ads to create ‘so called' traffic for others who have done like-wise (a trained monkey could do it!!!). It's basically a closed marketing system where people are marketing to other buyers in the scheme by clicking on each others ads.

Can you imagine how easy a sell that is – it sounds reputable, right?

NO – it's NOT. We’re speaking from first-hand experience and want to protect you from making the same mistake we did.

Just for the record, we helped those few people we introduced to Banners Broker to get their money back from their Bank when they paid by credit card – we had some success, but not in every instance. Paying by credit card definitely offered a layer of protection though.

We felt extraordinarily idiotic to have fallen for that traffic ad revenue sharing scam, knowing what we know now. Our intention in this post is simply to avoid others make the same mistake we made.

We only wish someone had alerted us to this type of scheme before we sunk money into it and it consumed us!!!

Our words in this post are HARSH simply to make you SIT UP AND PAY ATTENTION TO OUR ADVICE.

So – that’s why we’re sharing this information with you today.

7 Warning Signs When You’re Confronted With A Ponzi Scheme

[1] Scheme Founders Defend Themselves Saying It’s Not A Scam

This is a doozie. If you see videos made by the scheme founders pleadingly explaining why their scheme is not a scam – pay close attention to what they say, understand the reason why they had to make such video and why they have to use it in their promotion efforts, then run a mile!

Having to justify why something isn’t a scam ought to raise alarm bells in itself.

[2] Scheme Founders Explain Why People Have Problems Getting Cash Out

With schemes like Traffic Monsoon, you can click on fake ads till the cows come home, to build up a sizeable figure in your so-called profits, but can you withdraw the cash any time you choose??? Huh?

Most reputable online business models make payment transfers direct to your bank account (it's how we get paid for our online business), or, at worst, they post you a cheque.

If you’re sat watching a video justifying why it’s not straight forward to get your money out – run a mile.

You shouldn’t need to faff around with irreputtable third party payment processor companies like Payza and STP (can't remember exactly what the letters STP stand for – you'll know it when you see it) who take weeks to process your transfer plus take a 5-10% commission cut in the process!

Here's another interesting article on the small matter of the fake traffic, and of being paid:

Shocking: How Quickly Traffic Monsoon’s Money Pool Will Dry Up and Leave You Hanging to Dry. Warning! Do not Invest Until You Have Read This.

[3] You Open A Can Of Worms When You Do Your Due Diligence

Research the business model the scheme is touting. If the scheme is all about online advertising or online banner ads, then search Google and see what comes up.

Take an hour or two to do this.

Go down a myriad of rabbit holes.

Don’t just do one search and think you’re finished in 5 minutes.

BUT . . .  also BEWARE rogue affiliate who diss one system in order to lure people into their alternate honey-trap. It’s a very UNDERHAND way of marketing. So you need to “read between the lines” and understand the TRUE INTENT of the article (is it to accurately review the scheme the article is about, or is it to dupe readers into trusting the writer so they can be lured into the writer's preferred scheme?).

All we'll say is: do your due diligence properly – like really dig around – and if you still think it's really possible to make money for no work then only invest the amount you're prepared to lose – and certainly don't go making any plans of quitting your job!

[4] They Do Fundraiser Meetings

If you have to attend local Fundraiser Meetings to enlist your friends and family, then BE VERY WARY.

Getting to meet the CEO (Chief Extortionist Online) to get your questions answered is the PRIME WAY to build trust with people and get them to part with their hard-earned reddies! They’ll also be approachable on Facebook and on Skype to be there for EVERYONE – so as to widen the greed net.

Ponzi schemes NEED to hold fundraising events to CAPTURE more and more uninformed people in their net. They know  when people meet the Founder in person trust happens more quickly.

AND – they ‘open up' new countries and new territories when they know they've exhausted the current market.

In my Chartered Accounting days I (Fiona) worked on corporate fraud and financial investigations, I've investigated court appointed insolvencies and have worked alongside the Serious Fraud Office in the UK, so I've met many fraudsters – they all outwardly appear pleasant and plausible – but their intentions are very warped indeed.

[5] Founders Have A Track Record Of Failures

There’s a term in the fraud and financial investigations industry, known as The Phoenix Syndrome – so the phoenix rises up through the ashes of one failed scheme, leaving all the creditors and investors in the dust, only to start a new (similar) Ponzi scheme.

Fraudsters have no feeling or remorse for the people they've trodden on, or used, in order to line their own pockets.

If you see a long track record of failures – run a mile.

[6] Use Authority Sites To Suck People In

We recently saw one rabid proponent of Traffic Monsoon post images on Facebook depicting Traffic Monsoon have a good ranking on Alexa, which is a reputable benchmark website.

What you need to understand is Alexa ranking is based on three months of aggregated historical traffic data from Alexa Toolbar users. This can easily be manipulated by having an army of insiders constantly switching their IP address and visiting the site.

Also Traffic Monsoon is in the business of fake traffic – so this kind of duping is easily achievable!

Run a mile.

[7] Proponents Are Rabid And Frequent In Their Passive Income Posts On Social Media (It’s Free Advertising)

To say this type of marketing is shallow and hollow, is just the beginning. It preys on the gullible and the greedy, so is actually QUITE DESPICABLE.

Unsuspecting people are busy being social on Facebook, snooping on what their friends are up to, watching cheeky videos of puppies, or whatever else is going viral. When they’re unwittingly confronted with a post offering easy passive money for no effort, possibly from someone they think is trustworthy – of course, it’ll push their buttons.

Just remember, that’s NOT the way to market a legitimate opportunity, experience, or system!

We only hope such Facebook users can sleep soundly at night in the knowledge innocent people will invest on the back of such greed based promotions.

JUST BEWARE, is all.

And if you want our feedback on any scheme that’s popped up on your radar – please get in touch with us and we’ll talk it through with you.

REMEMBER, there is NO silver bullet, get rich quick scheme, or big red button out there on the internet. BUT, there are genuine, legitimate business models which work like crazy WHEN you put in the effort, energy, and investment.

Get in touch – ask us more.

PS: UPDATE – we published this post in August 2015, and a year later, Traffic Monsoon got shut down by the US Securities and Exchange Commission

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Have you ever heard your inner critic asking you that question: What ARE you waiting for? 

Your instant reaction, if you haven’t yet attempted to change your future or you haven't yet reached your ultimate goal, is very likely to be Guilt or Shame (if you're human).

So, are you ready to completely stop and shut down that crazy self-defeating cycle once and for all?

In the next 5 minutes you'll learn the one action you can take to make you independent for the rest of your life.

We have the info for you . . . this IS the ANSWER [Click To Play The Video]:

Imagine what your future would look like – what you'd be doing, where you'd be living, who you'd choose to spend your time with.

So, right now, we're asking . . . what ARE you waiting for?

Nothing Could Be Simpler

We're here for you, to reach out to right now . . .

We're happy to chat to you about what's holding you back. We're not consultants, shrinks, salespeople. We're not even into NLP. We're just and ordinary couple who've personally coached enough people from all walks of life to understand the common excuses, the common mis-beliefs, and the common objections holding people back.

What have you got to lose by chatting to us? Or better still, What can you gain by chatting to us?

Who knows! By the end of the year, you might be seeing things happening in a whole new way.

Can you IMAGINE that?

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It was a huge dilemma to decide what to study or specialise in – in the knowledge it would consume a large chunk of your life.

Decision made, willingly or not, you invested several long hard years at University to make yourself employable, desirable, more learned.

You’ve been following that path for some time now.

Maybe, you’re feeling a bit tired, jaded, and ‘same old same old’?

Maybe, you’ve realised ‘the times they are a changing’?

Not having grown up with an ipad in your crib, it's possible you’re just managing to keep abreast of the technological changes?

What’s your Insurance?

Watch this video >>

So, we were chatting this smart, good looking, 34 year old young man the other day. Let’s call him Isaac to protect his identity. He looks a bit like a young Harrison Ford, but he's up to his eyeballs in student debt, and has no assets to speak of.

Isaac studied Geology at Uni, and loved it so much he went on to complete a PhD – thinking he’d attract a big fat salary in the oil and gas industry, which would enable him to pay off his student loan, so he could live happily ever after.

BUT . . . it didn’t work out like that!

And back in 2009 the oil and gas industry had a seismic jolt when an excess supply of oil and gas from the North American shale fields caused crude oil prices to plummet – which slashed company profits – which made employees quite dispensable!

Isn’t It Ironic?

So Isaac suddenly found himself out of work, unable to get a job in the field he loved, and having to accept some meagre role in order to get by. A lowly job that is only just enough to live off, let alone pay down his student debt, and allow him to save for his own home.

To add insult to injury, Isaac’s younger brother returned from travelling the world straight out of school, and landed a courier driving role that paid quite a bit more than Isaac is earning.

What does this mean to you?

You might be thinking “Why should I care?”

The point is – he’s not the only one. And it’s not just the oil and gas industry that’s effected!

Universities are churning out tens of thousands of bright young grads who are greener, younger and way cheaper to hire than you. They’re desperate to do ANYTHING. And they’re got their sights set on your job.

Have you got insurance for that scenario?

How It Affects You

We were connecting with another person this week day via email.

Her name is Beth, she’s in her 50’s, is experienced in sales and customer service, and expects to command a good salary too.

However, she’s never applied for more jobs, attended more interviews, and received more rejection letters in the past 6 months than she ever thought humanly possible in a lifetime. There’s no mention what this does to her self-confidence, self-respect, and self-worth. Talk about taking a knock of meteoric proportions!

There’s only a certain number of rejections a person can take before realising that it’s not just ageism at play – the problem lies a lot deeper.

There’s a nation of leaner, greener, hungrier grads looking to earn . . . something. Anything.

The Result

For us, the nice thing is, both Isaac and Beth have turned their hands to learning how to market online in order to build a recession-proof, technology-proof, future-proof, online business.

They both understand the opportunity available today.

They’re both embracing the digital age we’re in.

And they’re both turning their backs on the traditional way of earning an income – having a job.

Yes, each of them has their concerns.

• worried about learning everything there is to know.
• concerned about how long it will take to build momentum.
• sceptical the training we offer is legitimate, genuine and authentic (It is, by the way)

They Trust Themselves

Isaac and Beth back themselves. They believe in themselves to make it work. They’ve accepted the responsibility to make change happen in their lives. Online business is their insurance. Insurance they won't be held ransom any longer.

What insurance have you got in place?

Think about that.

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Have you ever noticed how some of the top online marketers have something in common?

We're guessing you know they all use slick looking graphics to give offers a professional look and feel.

Whether it be lead capture pages, sales pages, check out pages, blog posts or emails . . . the list goes on.

And it's not just top online marketers using them . . .

Multi-billion dollar companies use professional images and product graphics just like these all the time:

But here's the problem:

. . . having slick professional graphics created for you gets pretty expensive and it's often a very slow and frustrating process to find a professional graphics designer you trust, then to get them to understand and interpret your brief in a way that upholds your personal brand or your personal taste!

Happily, you have options to choose from:

Of course, you have the option of using Adobe Photoshop graphics design software . . .

BUT . . . it takes too much time to learn how to use the software as it kind of needs a degree in rocket science to understand.

What's worse, it's very expensive – like forking out for a new laptop!

Another option is to outsource the creation of your graphical images. There are platforms like 99designs.com (which is a competition based graphic design platform we used to get our brand logo designed) and killercovers.com, which charge an absolute bomb for every single graphic, but you're lucky if the whole process takes less than 48 hours to be done.

There's always fiverr.com too – but you get what you pay for on fiverr and ‘lose your rag’ in the process. We know – we’ve done it a couple of times.

You spend hours looking at contractor's portfolios, even more time explaining your brief, then yet more precious hours reviewing drafts, re-explaining the brief again by dotting your i's and crossing your t's because the gig artist never read it properly in the first place.

It requires more patience, diplomacy, and effort than most people have in a month!

We’ll never use fiverr.com again for graphics design. One outsourcer refused our job after 2 days, giving no explanation at all. Another contractor produced a horrific effort, which lead to two redrafts before we finally ‘lost our rag’ and closed the job. That wasted a whole week – which is frustrating when you want to maintain momentum on a project and you want to get stuff done lickety-split.

That bum experience made us look for an alternative. And we found one that's brilliant – it's called GraphixCreator.

The entire making of the images below only took us 10 seconds per image.

Did you know you can create professional graphics like these . . .  without Photoshop, and in as little as two minutes, even if you're a complete “technophobe” and think you don't have an ounce of creativity in you?

Because now there's a new automated graphic creating software system called GraphixCreator.

It's frighteningly fast as it's ridiculously simple to create professional 3-D graphical images in less than 2 minutes.

How to create unique professional 3D images in 10 seconds
Click To Tweet

This tool takes ANY image (like a website screenshot or personal picture) and immediately turns it into a “Digital Packaging” shot.

All you have to do is:

Step 1: Store an image onto your computer

Step 2: Upload it to GraphixCreator

Step 3: Select the style 3D graphic you want (a CD, DVD, Kindle, iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, HDTV etc . . .)

Step 4: YOU'RE DONE! It instantly renders a highly professional 3D image for you!

All the images in this post only took 10 secs to create. Seriously!

If you're wondering what else you can create with GraphixCreator – the templates include iPads – iPods – iPhones – Macs – tablets – smart phones – video players – HDTVs – paperback books – hardback books – spiral bound books – ring binders – brochures – CDs – DVDs – CD cases – Software boxes – roller banners – membership cards – greeting cards ==> all in varying angles.

Literally anything you can think of, from any aspect, for any product or purpose!

In fact you get over 149 different templates to choose from – and new ones are always being added (like iPhone6!).

This means you're ALWAYS getting the most updated selection of templates.

We hope by now, you’re starting to think of uses for 3-D graphics like:

Sales letters – Blog post images – Lead capture pages – Emails – Facebook posts and timeline covers – Twitter and Instagram posts – Checkout Pages – Webinar promotions – Video sales letters – Powerpoint and Keynote presentations – Brochures – and direct mail leaflets.

How To Make Money With GraphixCreator

You could also even use this software to make a side income by creating graphics for other people or running your own gigs on fiverr.com (we recommend doing that as a way to build a marketing budget)

Simply start doing it in your spare time, and crank out professional graphics in just a few minutes of work.

So, if you like the idea of having professional graphics whenever you need them, then your very best bet is to get and use GraphixCreator.

And if you want to be like all the top online marketers by adding professional and engaging product graphics to your websites to digitally-represent your offers (as most people need a visual representation to understand what’s on offer), then click here to get started right away.

There’s actually a ton of uses for this software. For example:

• Making “Digital Packaging” for selling affiliate offers online

• Making “Digital Packaging” for selling software online

• Showcasing your brand on different mediums (CD's, DVD's, TV's, Membership cards etc)

• Showing your website being read on an iPad, Kindle, Smartphone

• Promoting any affiliate offer by creating your own professional images.

How to create digital packaging for making affiliate offers online
Click To Tweet

Here's another GraphixCreator example we made of our personal site GregandFionaScott.com being viewed on a Mac (this image took 10 seconds to create):

We simply:

1) Took a full webpage screenshot (using Snagit by Techsmith, or you can use Jing by Techsmith too), selected “IMAC FRONT” in GraphixCreator, and uploaded the screenshot image.

2) GraphixCreator let us crop the picture (with a real-time preview).

3) BOOM! The picture was formatted to fit the screen, tilted, colour gradients added  . . . ALL 100%

AUTOMATICALLY!

We then clicked a button to give the image a transparent background and instantly resized it to fit this post.

Sooooo useful and time-saving.

What About Making Realistic 3-D Digital Packages then?

Easy peasy. GraphixCreator has an inbuilt packager.

So you can easily line up and stack multiple 3-D images into a product bundle representation like this one we created in GraphixCreator for a Facebook Ad Training product we produced:

Spit out professionally rendered digital packaging in seconds . . . no more adding light gradients, reflections and finding suitable back-drop templates in order to make one image.

Spit out professionally rendered digital packaging in 10 seconds
Click To Tweet

Do you begin to see how to make money doing individual ebook covers, screenshots, DVD covers, CD's etc – and combining them all together in a professional 3-D product bundle?

People who've created a digital product will be willing to pay handsomely for graphical images which showcase their product as most people are visually oriented and need to see a product bundle representation before whipping out their credit cards.

We willingly gave a testimonial for GraphixCreator as we love it so much. Here’s what we said:

“No more having to rely on fiverr.com – having to spend hours finding a graphics contractor with a good portfolio, then painstakingly writing out a fool proof description of what you want designed, only to have to re-spell out your requirements again when they come back with the first draft that's “wide of the mark”.

Here’s what others are saying about GraphixCreator:

Absolutely LOVE this! Having watched a quick demo I set about doing my own to see if it was as quick (and as good) as the demo, and it totally was….I now feel like a graphic designer, ha-ha! I'm addicted to it!!! I can personalise Images for my Ads now and have them done in minutes! Perfect solution for busy people who want professional images without all the faf and huge costs! Thank you x

Dorne McLoughlin

Made a few of these today and can't believe how quick and easy it was! I've been wanting something like this for ages – every time I've tried to make an e-cover on other sites, it just looks tired and tacky (and takes ages). NO MORE! These are EXACTLY what I wanted – up to date, quality looking options (iPads, laptops etc), very slick and SO user friendly. LOVE IT!

Amy Taylor

Thrilled with this modern and sleek look but mostly love its ease and ability to make me feel like a pro!

Mona Archuleta-Jones

Amazing tool! Created some graphics for my business and already seeing positive results from it. Love it!!

Marc Van Eynde

I watched a short video tutorial on GraphixCreator and cannot believe how quickly I produced an absolutely stunning 3d e-book cover in a few clicks, it’s amazing, it will save me hours, love it

Chris Idle

I had a chance to look at this new tool last night, it looks incredible. You are so right that images play such an important role in business building and relationship on social media and beyond

Steve Wilkes

To wrap up then . . .

When you click the video below, you'll watch a super quick demo, proving you can happily be a technophobe, and be lacking in design skills, but can still quickly crank out professional promotional imagery that’ll put you up there with the serious online marketers.

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You know that sinking feeling?

That sinking feeling you get when you sit through a rubbish movie, like The Hangover Part III, having munched all your popcorn, and are left wondering why on earth you sat there groaning with disdain right through to the very end of the movie?

Or what about the feeling of wonderment when a long movie grips you spellbound – so a 178 minute movie like Avatar seems to whiz by in under an hour? (Does paraplegic Jake Sully get to have his cake and eat it too – will he get to keep the use of his legs AND stay with the beautiful blue Neytiri?)

And did you use to watch any the American adventure TV series “Lost” which aired between 2004 and 2010? Compelling wasn’t it? There’s a reason why it’s listed in the top ten telly series of all time. But didn’t it annoy the crap out of you at the time?

So there’s something pivotal to be learned from these ‘viewing’ experiences to apply in your email marketing.

But more about that in a minute!

Often Asked Question

First, let’s consider another question – because it’s one we get asked a lot in our two-on-one coaching sessions.

Loads of learner affiliate marketers ask us:

“Greg and Fiona, how do I build a better, trusting, relationship with the people on my email list?”

Now this is, unfortunately, one of those questions which doesn’t have a simple, straight forward, one word answer

It’s best answered by starting with an explanation of how we humans are wired.

That is, how we store stuff in our memories.

And how we don’t like having gaps in our memory or in our knowledge so we want them to be filled in (because we all hate not knowing what we don’t know)!

Why does this matter to you?

Because as a marketer, you want to be memorable, right?

You want the people on your email list to remember you as the go-to person for help.

Using Our Brains

Our brains hold a staggering amount of information stored in differing “filing cabinets”.

As an example, think about your childhood home – as soon as we mention it, you instantly visualize it, smell it, hear it, feel it, taste it – it has millions of pointers or hooks in your memory, stored in various filing cabinets labelled for each sense.

A friend’s phone number has about one hook – if that (especially nowadays we store numbers in our phones so we don’t have to commit them to memory).

The number of hooks in your memory for a Hollywood movie ranges somewhere in between your childhood home and your friend's phone number, depending on how crafty the screenwriters are.

So our memory banks aren’t a single filing cabinet. They’re more like Velcro – where one half is covered with thousands of tiny hooks and the other is covered with thousands of tiny loops. Press the two sides together and a large number of hooks get caught up inside all the loops, and that’s what causes your marketing and your messages to stick in your readers’ minds.

Great marketers, story-tellers, and teachers develop a knack for multiplying the number of hooks or pointers in a story, teaching, or idea.

The more hooks, pointers and knowledge gaps you use in your emails and blog posts – the more memorable they’ll be. And the more memorable you are, the more people will relate to you and grow to trust you.

Make sense so far?

So, how do you include hooks in your writing?

How To Seduce Your Email Reader

CREATE CURIOSITY!

Curiosity comes from gaps in our knowledge.

To create curiosity you create open loops which keep readers itching to find out how they work out in the end. Open loops are much more compelling to keep reading (or watching/listening) than closed ones.

Just like in movies!

That’s why “Lost” was listed in the top ten telly series of all time – it kept opening loop after loop after loop – to keep you guessing – and to keep you curious.

“Lost” is a brilliant example to prove that our brains hold a staggering number of loops. The more hooks a story has, the better it will stick in our minds.

Make sense?

Applying Open Loops To Your Email Marketing

Begin by opening a loop in your subject line or blog post headline. Hook your reader in with curiosity by starting with an intriguing thought — but then make sure you promise to close the loop in the email or post itself. (we all know how frustrating it is to be promised something and not to receive what we were promised – remember “Lost”!)

For example: The Hollywood Secret to Seducing Your Email Reader

Just what does Hollywood have to do with email marketing, and what’s the secret?

Movies use this method when they open with a dramatic or action-packed scene, then backtrack in time to ‘paint the characters’, and eventually circle around at the end to close the loop.

Open questions also work too, particularly ones that trigger an emotion in your reader.

As does: “But more about that in a minute!” (Grrrr – hate being kept waiting!)

Do you get the picture?

When you open a loop by using intrigue or curiosity, you leave your reader wanting to know more as they have a gap in their knowledge they want to fill. You create the impetus to carry your reader through your email or blog post as they’re now hungry for the answer or the information. And, as we mentioned above, when you open loops — you need to close them and provide a payoff for your reader.

We noticed this in Episode 1 of a new series of a TV period drama “Downton Abbey” – they opened a load of loops in the characters’ lives – to keep us watching not just that episode, but the entire series.

So the next time you’re gripped in a movie or TV series, think about what ‘sucked you it’ and how you can use that same affect in your writing so you can seduce you reader into remembering you and trusting you.

Work out for yourself how screenwriters, teachers and marketers use the same techniques to build an emotional power?

We could tell you directly, BUT . . . you’ll have to wait for part two to find out

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This is driving you crazy and you don't even know it . . .

Some people find it a hassle using the internet and using browsers in particular.

And the problem is, you don’t know what you don’t know!

So we want to cut through the crap like a buzz saw through butter, and get you EXCITED to use the internet, to browse for answers, and to copy and paste stuff with ease

(Because knowing how to copy and paste stuff is THE SKILL you need to have to run an online business. Seriously!)

So here goes.

Watch this video as we share 7 top tips that’ll make your internet use ten times friendlier and ten times faster

In the video we step you through the following 7 top tips to make using the internet a breeze:

1. Use Google Chrome as your ‘Go To’ Browser

Why use Chrome as your ‘go to’ browser?

Because it’s faster. Wayyyy faster. That’s why.

At least it is for us – and that’s been the case whether we’re in the UK, the US, Australia, NZ, or France. There are many other arguments as to which browser is best, but for us, speed rules. If you have the choice of what browser to use (as in, you’re not restricted by workplace rules), we suggest you download Chrome if you’re not using it already.

2. Make Google Search as your Homepage on Chrome

Setting Google Search as your Homepage on Chrome cuts out the need to type in ‘Google’ ever time you want to search for something.

Yes, it’s only a few seconds saved, but it’s a common thing you do many times a day, so can save you hours of time over a year.

When in Chrome, click the little three parallel line symbol in the top right hand corner, and click Settings.

Then under the ‘Search’ heading, click the drop down box, and select Google.

 3. Use Google and Youtube to Find Answers to Get Out of The Pickle You’re In

You should never sit stewing over a problem for too long. How long is too long is a subjective issue – just be aware you should always be ready to seek help if you can’t solve a problem quickly. And THE BEST place to look for help, answers and solutions is Google and Youtube.

If ever one of us asks the other for help, our first response is always:

Have you Googled it or Youtubed it yet????

So having Google as your ‘go to’ search option is the answer. Be sure to use it.

4. Use the Address Bar for Google Search to Find a Website You Know

This one’s a doozy.

We always see the peeps we coach, opening a Google Search page, then typing in the url of the website they’re wanting to log into, then clicking an ad on Google to get to the website, then logging in!

Talk about long-winded!

All those clicks can be halved when you simply click into the address bar in Chrome and type ‘gregandfionascott.com’. You’ll be taken direct to our website, or the website of your choice lol, and NOT to a Google search result first.

>>> It’s NOT NECESARY to type ‘http’ or ‘www’ any more because Google knows you’re looking for a website because you typed ‘.com’ at the end <<<

5. Open New Tabs in Chrome Instead of New Chrome Windows

Something else we see people doing a lot is they open a new Chrome WINDOW for each new website they want to view, which means they’re all in a jumble and they lose track of which website is which. Whereas, when they open a NEW TAB in Chrome for each new website they want to view, everything is set out nice and orderly, and it’s obvious which tab relates to which website.

There are a couple of keyboard shortcuts to use to manage opening and closing tabs:

==> CTRL-T, or Command-T on a Mac, will open a new browser tab, and

==> CTRL-W, or Command-W on a Mac, will close tabs.

Another easy way of opening a new tab is: when you click a link on a website which you want to open in a new tab, ensuring the initial site stays open too, simply hold the CTRL or Command key down when you click the link, and the new website or page will open in a new tab.

It’s also sensible to close tabs or websites you’re no longer using as having too many tabs open can drain the memory on your laptop!

6. Use Shortcut Keys to Copy and Paste

Why on earth would you want to know about keyboard shortcuts??

BECAUSE . . .

==> they’re great when using a laptop touchpad, and

==> it’s best practice when copying and pasting code or script (even though you don’t have to understand how the code works), but more importantly,

==> *** they’ll SAVE you HEAPS of time! ***

Here’s four universal keyboard shortcuts we use all the time:

CTRL-A or Command-A: use this to Select ALL the code, or text, or script in a particular field or box. So click your cursor in the field or box to make it active, then hit CTRL-A to select all the content. Note, it’s important to select every character in a bunch of code to ensure the code works properly, so it’s best practice to use this keyboard shortcut.

CTRL-C or Command-C: this copies Selected text to the invisible clipboard on your computer, and stores it there until you make the next Copy Selection.

CTRL-V or Command-V: once you click your mouse or place your cursor in the exact spot you want text or code pasted to, hit CTRL-V to paste the content you had previously selected and copied to your computer’s clipboard.

CTRL-X or Command-X: if you want to select a bunch of text and Cut it from the space it’s in, highlight it first, then hit CTRL-X, to cut it and store in on your computer’s clipboard, ready to be pasted elsewhere if you wish.

7. Use Shortcut Keys to Undo and Redo

When you mess up, and want to Undo the last keystroke you performed, simply hit CTRL-Z, or Command-Z on a Mac. If you want to undo the last 10 keystrokes, hit CTRL-Z 10 times!

Conversely, if you Undo something you then want to Redo, hit CTRL-Y or Command-Y on a Mac. And if you want to Redo the last 10 keystrokes, hit CTRL-Y 10 times!

Now, all these keyboard shortcuts do require practice, like anything.

So practice, practice, practice – to save yourself a heap of time, make your internet use friendlier, and hone your online business skills.

LEAVE A COMMENT below if you found this useful, and would be interested in learning more time saving tricks.

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The post Probably The Handiest Damn Video You’ll Ever Watch . . . appeared first on gregandfionascott.com.