FOX NEWS IMAGE

Just last week there was a MAJOR blackout in Southern California and I was smack dab in the middle of it.

A Blackout Doesn’t Seem Like a Big Deal….  Initially.

Your thinking oh, just a minor thing, they will have power back in a couple hours or something.

I was on may way to get my eldest daughter from school and none of the street lights are working in multiple areas. Pretty much everywhere we go… no street lights.  (Never mind the terrible traffic… that was a sight to see.)

While driving I noticed people started lining up outside convenience stores… long long lines.

All the gas stations have yellow tape around everything and they are waving people off. Essentially chasing them away.

So I think to myself… “Ok, maybe something important is happening here”.

Flipping on the car stereo I hear some troubling news….

” The two major power lines feeding southern California, Yuma Arizona and Baja Mexico are down and there is no specific news about how, why or when they will be restored….”

Keep in mind this is the Friday before the 10 year anniversary of Sept. 11th …. “freaking perfect!” Just when I decide to make a move to cooler weather, the “bad guys” figure out where California is.

That isn’t the biggest problem actually….

In an “every man for himself” scenario, which was unfolding in front of my eyes, I can hold my own. I am confident as a well trained ex-military guy that I can handle most situations.

But not with two little girls to protect, feed and care for.

It was me and my two little girls, totally unprepared and alone (extended family is in Arizona).  Bottom line…

I am unprepared for this event.

I immediately think of the events in Japan and New Orleans. They had it WAAYY worse but just like other catastrophes… no power means… no food, no gas and the potential for riots and looting. Granted none of this actually happened but in my head I was playing out different scenarios:

1. I could drive to some place more hospitable. Problem, no gas and really bad traffic.
2. I could just buy a bunch of food and water. Problem, most stores are closed, open ones are only taking cash and I have $10 in my pocket.
3. Ummm…. hope the power comes back on.

I have absolutely NO CONTROL over #3 and that is not a good feeling. And here is another thing I started to think about, there are other people in the #3 scenario. And some of them might do desperate things to survive. I am thinking to myself….

I REALLY Need to Be Better Prepared!

I mean, the people in New Orleans and Japan probably had more time to better prepared. Or maybe not. Maybe they just figured bad stuff just happens to everyone else and ignored the warning signs.

This whole incident reminded me of  Tim Ferris, in his book he talks about taking a leap, leaving your job or whatever BEFORE something bad happens. Essentially being prepared. I can’t tell you how many people think they are going to quickly jump into internet marketing and replace their lost job income, only to be disappointed later.

Despite this flawed planning, there are some important lessons and useful suggestions in the book. Suggestions that are best used prior to an actual catastrophe.

Have You Read Tim’s Book?

In his book, The Four Hour Work Week , he uses the example of having a health problem like a heart attack or some other catastrophe.

Ultimately I used his pretend scenario to think through my day job situation prior to make the leap into full-time entrepreneurship.

I had some real motivation too.

In a previous job, working for a major corporation, I thought I was safe, secure and untouchable. Working for a large corporation is actually not safe at all. They make decisions based upon numbers and stockholders, not long term logic. After almost five years of work I was part of a large unannounced lay-off.

So when I was reading this part of his book I was feeling the reality of the potential situation (without the illness part).

Here Is Another Cruel Example …

My father-in-law, after 25+ years working for a large drug company was given notice. He could either relocate to a new state 1,000 miles away from his home or take a severance package.

Behind the scenes I am sure the corporation was looking for a way to “flush” all the highly paid senior staff and replace them with “fresh blood”. In other words, young, hungry and lower paid workers but that is only an assumption.

My father-in-law later discovered, from some work friends, the drug company closed the new location all together a few years after. Leaving those who moved to this far off place…. high and dry. The problem, in general, is that…

You Never Know.

I know, I am wondering a little here but there is a connection between these events and stories. The bottom line is that you need to be aware risks and do more to reduce all threats to your livelihood and family.

The government can’t save you from floods and earthquakes. And your employer isn’t going to go the extra mile to make sure your employed….

Because The World is Changing.

You need to look out for yourself, stay educated, motivated and maintain an edge. Some take this concept to the extreme maybe to a level or crippling paranoia. That is not what I am advocating here… I prefer to manage risk but also take some risks too. Calculated risks.

If our still sitting on the sidelines, stop. Do not become complacent or assume that your J.O.B. is not at risk, it is. The world is different. You need a plan B and maybe an emergency survival kit (also referred to as a 72 hour kit ).

This Free Resource Might Help…

If you have certain income goals, the only way to achieve them is have a plan. Consider it your pay-cut or layoff survival kit.  I created a income calculator as part of my Internet Street Fighter Program. Here is a simplified variation I call the Offline Cash Calculator .

Of course it assumes that you are interested in pursuing the offline niche as an income source and that you have excel. It is fairly self explanatory, you have three columns and each represents a financial target based upon what you charge and how many clients you get. This will allow you to determine what you need offer and how many clients it will take to hit your cash flow targets.

If you have questions or comments please leave one below.

P.S. – If you are interested in discussing this in-person I suggest you consider joining me at the Offline Underground event in Las Vegas in October. I will be covering pricing strategies and “client getting”. But you don’t need to rush to signup if your busy or far away, probably wont work out for you… as we are nearing capacity and raising the price anyway.

Source: Aweber.com

Discovered this by accident about 6 months ago. I am subscribed to my own lists, so when I send emails I always get a copy. But suddenly I had a problem…

My Email Broadcasts Were All Marked As Spam.

And I wasn’t sure why at first. But then as I looked through my spam folder I noticed that other emails, from marketing compnaies I wanted to hear from, were also marked as spam. That made we wonder….

What Were The Similar Elements That Could Cause This?

In this case it was a bit.ly link. So I tried sending a test email to myself with and without the bit.ly link and noticed that without the url shortener, it worked fine. This created a bit of a problem for me, I didn’t want to send long URLs but it seemed obvious that this was a potential problem for any type of free url shortening service. But after talking to a few friends…

I found a solid solution.

There is a free wordpress plugin, you may have heard of, called Pretty Link. It is really simple and fast to setup.

Download the Free Version of >> Pretty Link <<

Ok, once you have this installed, you basically have your own URl shortener. If you want to make it SUPER short then go buy a cheap domain like “url22.info” or some other creative domain, install wordpress and the prettylink program. Personally, I just tend to…

Install It On All My Blogs.

Which allows me to track and shorten content for each related blog topic. I happen to have the pro version with an unlimited sites installation license. Why? well one of my favorite features of the pro version is the ability to automatically find and replace keywords with pretty links. For example, on this post…

You Probably Noticed That “Pretty Link” Is Well…. a Link!

That is one of the cool features of the pro version. There are some other ones like Auto-Tweet and Shorten of all blog posts. If you look at my Twitter account, every time I post to my blog it also sends out a tweet with a shorter url. That is a really cool feature!

Click to Enlarge

Ok, I know… someone reading this is going to get their panties in a bunch cause I am going on and on about this tool. So… in all fairness lets mention one other shortening service.

Alternatively, Goo.gl Is A Good Choice For Shortening…

Except that Goo.gl can see WHAT your shortening and WHERE it is going. I am guessing they will use that information to find out “What your up to”. If your paranoid that might not be what you want. A fair number of marketers don’t trust Goo.gl 100%.

But If Your Not Paranoid…

Then Goo.gl is a great choice. You will notice that in the list of “Blocked Shorteners”, as provided by Aweber, that Goo.gl is whitelisted. I am guessing that it will remain a safe choice and remain whitelisted but this most likely means that they will start screening links.

And They Will HAVE To Screen Them..

Otherwise Goo.gl could end up being blacklisted by other email services. Of course bing / microsoft might do that just out of spite. Ha! Anyway I hope you found this information useful. Please leave a comment! And let me know…

What is Your Shortener Of Choice?

P.S. – As Usual, Best Comment Gets A Street Fighter T-Shirt!

P.P.S. – More About Pay-Per-Click for Local Marketing Next Week

P.P.P.S. – If you want to read more about this from my inspired source, go check out the Aweber blog post here

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a169mb

It’s A War On Internet Marketing!

Actually, many would say it is a long overdue correction. To eliminate the scummy, make money overnight and push button millionaire programs. What has happened in the process is that some legitimate online businesses have been hurt. Unfortunately its part of the risk you take when “riding the line”. The days of overnight internet millions may be coming to an end…

But What Can You Do About It?

Who cares. If your an offline marketing consultant then you wont be impacted by these radical changes. Offline IS and always WILL be an evergreen opportunity for those who are committed to helping small businesses. Years ago when you wanted to start a business your first order of operation was to get a logo and business cards, maybe incorporate.

Not Anymore…

When local businesses are in start-up mode they also want “social media” help. And this is the new business requirement that didn’t exist in the minds of a new business just 5 years ago. To clarify, when businesses talk “social media”, they are actually thinking about online advertising or getting new customers. In my experience they tend to blend websites, facebook and client acquisition and file it all under the topic of social media.

But What About Google?

Certainly we need to make sure that our clients are receiving the proper exposure from the largest search engine but it is NOT the end-all be-all for local businesses. This is something my partner and fellow offline consultant Jack Mize is rather vocal about. Keep in mind that Facebook and Mobile have both recently emerged as serious marketing tools for local brick and mortar businesses. Besides that….

Google Has It’s Own Troubles…

I guess the FTC is chasing after Google . Apparently they aren’t playing fairly with others and it has certain organization like Yelp and Expedia rather upset. Curious how this will actually work out considering the power, wealth and reach that Google has. It is really hard to comprehend when you think about it.

So Whats My Point?

I will summarize in bullet points. I know you like “them-there bullet points..”

• Traditional Internet Marketing (IM) / Biz-Op Is Being Targeted
• Offline Will Live Forever As Businesses Realize The Value And Seek Your Help
• Google Is Not The Only Solution, It is One Of Many
• Google Has It’s Own Issues, With The FTC and Challengers Like Facebook

Some Closing Thoughts

Avoid the make-money overnight IM and MLM world if at all possible. Build real equity in yourself (skills) and your business (get customers). Because setting up 1,000 autoblogs that make $1 a day each just won’t work. Remember, people and money follow value. There is no real value in autoblogs, not to Google, the visitor or You.

If you really want to profit from all this online madness just focus on providing value. Real solutions, real advice and avoid the “quick buck”.  I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Leave a comment below and I will send a FREE Street Fighter T-Shirt to the best one (totally subjective of course).

P.S. – In case your wondering… I still think Local Business Marketing rocks and yes, I still help local businesses in my area. You should too, they need it.

A question I hear often and a very good question indeed. This is not something you want to screw up! It is worth thinking about to ensure the highest profits for your offline business. The question is…

… How Do I Make The Right Pricing Decision?

Most new businesses look at the market competition and start by offering a lower price than competitors.  But is this really the right way to start? I would argue against it. However, getting your FIRST offline client is more important than anything (including price strategy). But lets assume that you already have a few clients….

… Then What?

Well, your first few clients need to be ignored for the moment. You need to focus on the future and find a price model that will meet your financial needs. Here are a few things to consider when setting price:

1. What are your costs to provide the service (labor, tools, etc)?
2. How hard do you want to work?
3. Can you scale and service a large number or would you rather have only a few?
4. Who charges the MOST and Who Charges the LEAST in your market?
5. How is your product or service better or different ?

These are just a few ideas to get started. What you may find is that charging more and having fewer clients, is the best path for your goals. If your uninterested in servicing hundreds or even thousands of offline clients, there is no reason to attempt the Wall-Mart pricing approach. Anyway, I am….

Not Sure I Have The Perfect Answer For You…..BUT!

I happened to meet the one expert who does have the answer. His name is Jason Marrs and he recently released a book that he co-authored with Dan Kennedy (Godfather of direct marketing).  His new book is titled: Price Strategy.

This is a fantastic resource for anyone seeking some guidance on this subject.But…

It Gets Even Better Because….

I managed to tackle Jason in the hallways of the GKIC SuperConference in Chicago. Surprisingly it required very few physical threats and absolutely zero black-mail to get him to agree to an interview.

Great News…. Right?

So here it is, my no holds barred interview with Jason Marrs which reveals the proper way to go about pricing your products and services. You asked and we hop to deliver the answer to one of the biggest questions in the business. Well… second biggest behind “how do I get my first offline client?”. Her it is:

Interview with Jason Marrs on Price Strategy:

Hope you enjoy the audio…. There are some quality price strategy tips that you can put to use in your business immediately. I would also suggest that you get your copy of the Price Strategy book as well. Mine is dog-eared and highlighted to death, it is a must-have resource for any business library.