Reinventing the Entrepreneur: Turning Your Dream Business Into a Reality

Reinventing the Entrepreneur: Turning Your Dream Business into a Reality......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Contents......Page 11
Acknowledgments......Page 17
Introduction: Turning Someday into Payday......Page 19
Part One: The Who and the Why......Page 23
Chapter 1: Idea Brainstorming: Fun, Fast, and Easy......Page 25
Discover the Three “P’s”: Passion, Purpose, and Profit......Page 27
Is It Sellable?......Page 30
Quick Start Summary......Page 32
Chapter 2: Markets versus Topics: Understand the Difference and Prosper......Page 33
Starting Small Is Better......Page 36
Chapter 3: Determining Market Size: Easy as the Three Bears—It’s Got to Be Just Right......Page 39
Where’s There’s a Good Question, There’s a Great Answer......Page 41
Chapter 4: Your Subscriber Avatar: Knowing Your Ideal Customer......Page 45
Birds of a Feather Flock Together......Page 48
Two Is Better Than One......Page 51
Quick Start Summary......Page 53
Part Two: Anatomy of Your Business......Page 55
Chapter 6: A Proven Business Model: If It Ain’t Broken . . .......Page 57
The Pros and Cons of Each Business Model......Page 59
What’s a Guru?......Page 63
No Face—No Name......Page 64
Show Me the Money......Page 65
A Name Can Make You or Break You......Page 69
Give the People What They Want......Page 74
Give It a K.I.S.S.......Page 76
Chapter 8: Design and Frequency: It’s All about Engagement......Page 79
When, Oh When......Page 81
Plain Text or HTML—What?......Page 82
Let’s Push It!......Page 83
It Needs to Be Actionable and Useful......Page 84
Stick to Your Guns......Page 85
Your Panache......Page 86
Chapter 9: Software and Systems: Technology Made Easy......Page 87
You Want to Stay Single......Page 89
Websites Have Never Been Easier......Page 90
Opt Them In—Send It Out......Page 91
Action Step 1......Page 93
Action Step 2......Page 94
Action Step 3......Page 95
Action Step 4......Page 96
Action Step 5......Page 97
You Are on Your Way!......Page 98
Part Three: The Useful and the Actionable......Page 99
Chapter 11: Building Your Panel: Content Is King......Page 101
Step 1: Brainstorm a List of Potential Panelists......Page 104
Step 2: Contacting Potential Contributors—The Right Way......Page 117
Step 3: Turning Content Providers into Panelists—Abracadabra......Page 122
“No” Won’t Be an Option......Page 123
Alert Yourself......Page 125
Become a Dictator......Page 126
Take It to the Bank......Page 128
Creating the Perfect Article Structure Is Golden......Page 129
Creating Engaging Content......Page 131
Be Remarkable......Page 134
Private Label Resale Content......Page 135
Article Sites......Page 137
Public Domain Content......Page 138
Meat, Vegetables, and Bread......Page 142
Chapter 14: Don’t Delay: Action You Should Take Right Now......Page 143
Reality Awaits......Page 145
Part Four: The Art and Brilliance of a Community......Page 147
Quantity Plus Quality Equals a Great List......Page 149
The Home Page Opt-in Form......Page 152
The Pop-up Opt-in Form......Page 154
The Stand-Alone Squeeze Page......Page 157
Long versus Short Squeeze Pages......Page 158
The Elements of a Squeeze Page......Page 162
Get Out of the Headlights......Page 164
Chapter 16: Lead Magnets: Your Ambassador......Page 167
The Reciprocal......Page 169
Not Peanut Butter and Jelly......Page 170
Be a Leader with Your Lead Magnet......Page 174
Chapter 17: Your First 1,000: It’s a Numbers Game......Page 177
Step 1: Social Media Marketing......Page 178
Step 2: Article Marketing......Page 181
Step 3: Active Content Syndication......Page 190
Making Contact......Page 191
Step 4: Press Releases......Page 192
Where, Oh Where......Page 193
Step 5: Viral PDFs/Infographics......Page 194
Step 6: Ad and Resource Swaps......Page 195
Less Is More......Page 196
Low-Hanging Fruit Is Always the Way to Go......Page 197
Part Five: Finally, a Real Business of Your Own......Page 199
Affiliate Promotions......Page 201
Nobody Likes Greedy......Page 202
The Proof Is in the Pudding......Page 203
Selling Advertising......Page 205
Love Those Sponsors......Page 206
Dedicated to Making Money......Page 208
You Can Be Direct or Indirect......Page 209
Rates and Data: It’s All in the Cards......Page 211
Evolution in Advertising......Page 215
Brokers and Managers......Page 217
Logical and Methodical......Page 218
Chapter 19: The Publisher’s Matrix: Your Content Empire......Page 219
Publisher Method 1: Joint Venture Partnerships......Page 224
Start Simply......Page 227
Publisher Method 2: Buying and Licensing Content......Page 228
Publisher Method 3: Hiring Ghostwriters......Page 232
Go Fishing Where the Fish Are......Page 233
Publisher Method 4: Interviewing Experts......Page 235
Do One, Do All......Page 240
Part Six: Big or Small, Your Choice......Page 241
Daily Key Metrics......Page 243
To Keep the Doors Open = Fixed Plus Variable Expenses......Page 244
Costs in Action......Page 245
Subscribers Are Your Lifeline......Page 246
You Can Improve Only if You Know Your Results......Page 248
Revenues by Month......Page 251
Mark Your Calendar......Page 253
Your Status, Please......Page 255
Long-Term Metrics......Page 257
Successful Entrepreneurs Love Numbers......Page 260
Chapter 21: Building Your Team: It’s Good to Be Great!......Page 261
Who and When......Page 262
The Million-Dollar Mark......Page 265
Never, Never, Never Outsource . . .......Page 266
Gross Revenue versus Profits......Page 267
A Good Problem to Have......Page 270
Chapter 22: Positioning for the Sale: Your Big Payday......Page 271
Getting Ready......Page 272
WMO—YouSendIt.com SOP......Page 274
Good Things Come in Threes......Page 277
Start the Right Way......Page 279
Epilogue: Still Growing Strong and Damn Proud......Page 281
About the Author......Page 283
Index......Page 285