Book Review: FREE - The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson

Hey guys - finished another fantastic book. The book, FREE - The Future of a Radical Price, by Chris Anderson, who previously wrote, The Long Tail, is about the concept of FREE & how it is changing in today's society.

He starts talking about the Industrial Revolution, & how the concept of FREE was either to 1. Entice you (give you a little bit, ie freebies at the grocery store), 2. Be included in the cost when you buy, 3. Marketing gimmick - buy one, get one free (ie buy one at 1/2 off). And how in the Industrial Age, whose concepts are based on scarce resources, goods, the concept of FREE bred distrust, reeked of scams, etc.

However, with the advent of increasing computing speed, bandwidth, and memory, the Internet is changing the concept of FREE, to be actually really FREE. For example, with improving technology, Moore's Law, and others, the amount of information is doubling every 18 months, and the price of computers is drastically falling (down to as close to zero as possible). And with services, digital media, non-tangible goods/services increasing in ever increasing supply over tangible goods/services, small entrepreneurial companies recognizing this trait have started to rake in profits over the slower, larger corporations. The book is filled with tons of examples, from RyanAir, Google, environmental companies (the list goes on & on), Chris Anderson weaves a fantastic thesis on the concept of FREE & how it is changing in today's Digital Age - politically, economically, socially. You can download a FREE audioversion (abridged) at the following link (not affiliate).

Check it out. I liken it to the book, The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman.

US Open Warns Tennis Stars About Tweeting

Recent article by Mashable's Jennifer Van Grove on curbing athlete Tweeting to prevent leakage of inappropriate information. Check the article out.

Tweeting and Insider Information, interesting.

Interview with Mike Cliffe-Jones, Blogger/ Author/ Consultant

Hey guys - today I'm interviewing Mike who I wrote about in last week's posts about blogging your way to a full time income and the Power of Karma. Mike was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions for us today.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself - have you always been an entrepreneur, did you work in the corporate world, etc.

I'd say the entrepreneur has always been within me, but I spent the first 18 years of working life with big corporations, I worked for Toyota, Ford Motor Company and then Volkswagen group in Northern Europe. When we decided to move to the island we live on now, about nine years ago, we set up a Real Estate business, which started small and then become quite big! So I guess that started in an entrepreneurial way, but became something more. I started blogging less than a year ago, but now it's my full time job.

2. Why/how did you get started in blogging?

I'd already started the process of easing myself away from my old business, and I wanted one which could provide me with a solid income, and which I could run until retirement without having staff or meetings or hassle! I also chose blogging because I have been writing all my life, and it was a logical decision. I studied the blogging market for some time before moving into it, and clearly understood what I wanted to do and which niches to enter, and I was fortunate in that my wife joined me in the venture and she runs one of our three blogs.

3. What are some key factors to your success in blogging?

The most important factor is lots of quality content. As long as you keep that going, everything else just seems to happen - traffic growth, more subscribers, great connections with other bloggers. You just have to keep the content coming, and stay focused on your readers and what they need.

4. Any tips on driving traffic to your site - SEO, PPC, affiliates, referrals - on & offline, partnerships?

I'm not a "technical" blogger. That's to say I didn't come at it from a web based background. I'm a writer, and the blog is simply a medium for that. Because of that I have to be honest and say I don't really "do" SEO at all. I simply write what I think is good stuff, and it seems to get indexed well and quickly by the search engines. Twitter has brought me an awful lot of traffic, but again I don't really push it for that reason, I enjoy the communication side of it. I've been lucky enough to develop some quite close relationships with other bloggers, which has enabled us to introduce our readers to each others. I've also worked hard at commenting on other sites, and I know that brings good traffic to mine.

5. Any tips of converting your traffic into profits?

We use different business models on the sites. Mike's Life is aimed at new and learning blogers and the income comes from a few affiliations, and three of my own products which we sell on there. On the other two blogs, the income is from direct advertisers, adsense and affiliations. The best tip I can give people is that the more good quality stuff you give away for free, the more your readers will want to buy the paid-for stuff. And products you create inevitably make more margin than selling other peoples!

6. What experiences - successes, setbacks have you experienced along the way & what have you learned from them?

I set out with some very clear objectives, and bar a few, we've exceeded them all, so I'm very happy! That's not to say I haven't learned a lot of lessons and here are some:

• Aim to grow your email list as fast as you can, and use a "proper" provider like Aweber
• Create a product of your own as soon as possible, it doesn't matter if you only sell two a week!
• If you plan to make money from your site, do so from the beginning, don't wait until you have lots of traffic
• Stay focused on the things that help you achieve objectives - it's easy to get bogged down in unimportant stuff
• Find one social media site you like (Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed etc) and become an authority

7. What projects are you currently working on?

My Beginner's Guide to Blogging course starts again on 1st September, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm also working with Nathan Hangen on a book (not an E Book) called "Beyond Blogging" which will go on sale in December. We're excited about that project and so far Gary Vaynerchuk, Penelope Trunk, Chris Garrett and David Risley have agreed to participate. On the travel blog, we are working on a book called "The Insider's Guide to Lanzarote." So we're pretty busy!

8. Where do you see yourself in 10 yrs? What is the long-term vision for your business?

I'll still be running the blogs and still writing every day, but we don't have any plans to grow the business to include staff. It will always just be us. I love public speaking, so I hope to start offering my services to talk at events about blogging and social media. But overall, we'll still be doing what we're doing now, just for millions, rather than thousands of people, I hope!

9. Where do you see the greatest opportunity for bloggers?

The greatest opportunity for bloggers is to provide a great service for a lot of people. There are so many niches out there, and so many people looking for information. Find the niche, provide the information and then sell a product, a service or a membership that relates to it. There's a world of opportunity.

10. What do you do outside of business, to balance your life/work?

I'm a scuba diver, so I get away to dive at least once or twice a week. The best thing about being a blogger is that you can come and go as you please. We are also part way through restoring a huge house in our village, so that takes a lot of time, and we're into various outdoor stuff like water skiing, sailing, cycling, quad trekking and camping. We spend as much time outdoors as possible, which is a great antidote to blogging! For holidays, we love snowboarding and touring around the mainland of Europe.

11. Any resources for beginning bloggers (books, websites, blogs).

My whole site is a resource for new bloggers, but I do give away a free E book for new bloggers to people who join the community, and there are some good starter posts here.

12. Contact info

Skype Camelmediagroup

Email mike@mikeslife.org

Twitter @mikecj

Mike CJ is a full time blogger, author and social media consultant. His main blog Mike's Lifeis focused on helping new and learning bloggers earn a sustainable, long term income from their writing - something he achieved in six months. You can follow Mike on Twitter @mikecj

Book Review: An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths

Hey guys - great book. The book is written by Glenn Reynolds, who writes on his blog Instapundit.Com. Written in 2006, the book is truly a glimpse into the future.

He starts out by describing the Hunter-Gatherer Age, then progresses into the Agrarian Age, Industrial Age, & into the Information Revolution. He describes the various economic, political, social factors contributing to the transformations.

Citing numerous examples where ordinary people are taking power away from Big Government, Corporations, & the media - from "viral" word of mouth/texting, tribes, easy creation of digital media through YouTube, MovieMaker, GarageBand.Com, to blogs taking over poor media coverage of Iraq, Reynolds illustrates how the "little guy" and "ordinary people" are taking down Big Goliath. He then goes on to describe the future of nanotechnology, space travel, & the singularity. This book is truly ahead of its time & a glimpse of what is in store for us in the future.

Literary Tweets: 100+ of the Best Authors on Twitter

Check it out at the following link, courtesy of Mashable.Com's Cameron Chapman

Enjoy!

Will the Miss Universe pageant replace the U.N.?

Hey guys - was surfing & came across this CBS video. Disregard the content if you're not a Trump fan. The quality is absolutely amazing. Maybe TV's will become like the radio, printed newspapers. Enjoy.

Book Review: Larry King - My Remarkable Journey

Great book. Talks about the incredible life of Larry King, from his early days, to interviewing celebs/presidents/CEO's, being put in jail, being married 7 times to 6 different women, having a traffic accident with JFK, & surviving a heart attack/bypass surgery. I don't normally watch primetime TV, but the book inspired me to start watching his show CNN 8/9PM CT/ET Monday - Sunday.

Some notable things that stood out to me:

1. Larry King knew that the radio was for him (his path/purpose in life) & sought out to create an experience out of it.

2. Regardless of his marital problems, financial problems, when he was on air, interviewing one of the greats, that was his "thing", his essence, he was totally in the moment, totally absorbed in the moment, totally in control. It was funny how he described it as being easy. He described it as something he'd done since childhood.

3. Rather than read out a script, to him an interview was easy. Simply ask simple questions, draw out the interviewee, create a void with your questions, & fill that void. Go with the flow.

4. Being "lucky" bumping into celebs, and the sort.

5. When interviewing top athletes - baseball, basketball, the common trait, was, "I just play", or "I just have fun". Fascinating.

6. How he arrived at the ER, decided to leave, but then fate intervened, so that his heart attack was caught early on.

Check it out!

The Power of Karma - a Random Experiment in Cyberspace

Hey guys - the other day, I posted an article/link to the blog MikesLife. What was interesting was that I was referred to this website from one of my friends & learned some interesting things. So I thought I would let my readers and others know about Mike's blog.

Well, I was checking my stats on SiteMeter.Com (not affiliate) the other day & noticed a lot of traffic from MikesLife. Curious, I clicked on the referring links & was surprised to see a whole video blog/post about my blog. You can check it out here to find out more about this extremely interesting incident.

Pretty cool stuff. Mike has offered to do a guest post, or possibly an interview, in the next couple of weeks. Karma works in amazing ways.

Nonfiction Tweets: 70+ Authors to Follow on Twitter

Great article by Cameron Chapman, of Mashable.Com, about 70+ authors who blog about some pretty interesting topics ranging from Career, General Business & Marketing, Personal Finance, & Creative Nonfiction, Hobbies, Social Media, and various other topics. Check it out. Great resources!

How to Make a Full-Time Income from Blogging

Hey guys - a friend of mine recommended this site called MikesLife.Org. The owner is a full-time blogger (he & his wife). In the span of a year, he was able to go from zero to full-time blogger, making a full-time income. They generate revenue through affiliate marketing, advertising, and others. The interesting thing is that he & his wife have different blogs devoted to different subjects. Each one targeted to a specific niche in terms of content, customers. He's got some great content that is absolutely free. His wife's website is called LanzaroteInformation.Com, a blog solely devoted to the island of Lanzarote!

Couple of things I've learned from them on being a successful blogger:

1. Focus on a particular subject, something that you're passionate about so that it's easier to write about.

2. Generate outstanding content that is free.

3. Know everything about your customer, see everything from their perspective.

4. Focus on driving traffic - either through other blogs, word-of-mouth, friends, family, PPC, SEO, affiliates/partnerships, social media.

5. Convert that traffic into profits.

That's it!

Showdown Between Facebook & Twitter

Hey guys - pretty interesting stuff - Facebook & Twitter competing in the social media domain, with their real-time search features. The Internet is absolutely exploding.

Check it out at Mashable.com's (cool website on social media) feature article by Ben Parr.

Book Review: Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich

Hey guys - just finished this fantastic book titled, "The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, & Betrayal" by Ben Mezrich.

Great read. Talks about the founding fathers of Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin. And the supposed controversy that Mark supposedly stole the Facebook idea from Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss (Founders of ConnectU.com). The book then chronicles how he went to kick out Eduardo Saverin (financier) & venture capitalist Sean Parker.

Some highlights I particularly liked:

1. The rise of social media, social networking.

2. Mark Zuckerberg dropping out of Harvard to work on Facebook, similar to Bill Gates.

3. Mark Zuckerberg's genius & passion was in computers & found a way to create something truly life-changing. Got me to thinking about my passions & talents.

4. The Information Revolution - sites such as Google (revolutionized Search), Facebook revolutionized social networking. The innovators, creators using technology & the flattening world to fulfill a need.

5. To see something start out as an idea, work on it as a hobby/side project, & to see it grow to a full time endeavour, with a billion-dollar valuation.

6. The rise of intellectual property & potential conflicts of interest.

Ben Mezrich has written other books about young, energetic, smart talented renegades/cowboys /mavericks/rebels who find a way to take their hobbies & make them into something big, unique, & interesting.

1. Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions

2. Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students for Took Vegas for Millions

3. Busting Vegas: A True Story of Monumental Excess, Sex, Love, Violence, & Beating the Odds

4. Rigged: The True Story of an Ivy League Kid Who Changed the World of Oil from Wall Street to Dubai

That's it!

4 QUICK Updates on My Blog

Hey guys - have been working on my site, taking one action step a day. Just finished a fantastic interview with Brian Amstrong. Among other things:

1. Traffic has almost tripled since promoting my site on Twitter, Facebook, & my Ebay store.
2. Subscriptions to my blog have doubled as a result of the increased traffic, social media, personally promoting it.
3. Sales and revenue from my Ebay store have doubled using drop shipping & product sourcing strategies.
4. Logged into my Google AdSense account & was astonished to see money there by people viewing, clicking the ads (Talk about passive income).
5. Have secured 2/3 more interviews - one's with an Olympic Coach.

Now granted, these are small successes in the grand scheme of things. They don't generate a full-time income, but generate enough to cover my internet expenses & to go out once in a while. But what occurs in a positive feedback loop, is that small successes with enough dedication, hardwork, commitment, can turn into larger & larger successes easier, faster, and a lot quicker over time. What I'm excited about is the POTENTIAL to see my Ebay store/Blog grow. What started out as a hobby that I started from my own living room, did in my spare time, & with little capital can now continue to GROW.

Blogging is a lot of fun. You get to write, create something, interact with others, sell products (your own, others), & promote advertising. Of all of these, I enjoy the interviews, affiliate marketing, drop shipping, & the marketing & advertising aspects.

That's it. Stay tuned!

INTERVIEW with Brian Armstrong, Internet Entrepreneur, Author

Hey guys - today you are in for a treat. Every now and then, I'll interview someone who's been successful as an entrepreneur - either in the internet, real estate, stock, or brick-mortar business.

Today, we have Brian Armstrong, who has taken time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions.

Brian is an American internet entrepreneur currently living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After graduating from Rice University with a computer science degree, he left his high-paying corporate job to work for himself & achieved financial freedom at the age of 23.

He started the websites UniversityTutor.com, BuyersVote.com, and FeedmailPro.com. His personal blog is at StartBreakingFree.com.

Brian has authored, "Breaking Free: Fire Your Boss, Toss Your Alarm Clock, and Double Your Income with an Easy Transition into Self Employment" (Click on the link to purchase his book). He is also an active speaker & writer & has written articles for sites such as ProBlogger.net, LifeHack.org, and GordieRogers.com.

Without much ado, here's Brian!

1. How did you get started in entrepreneurship?

I think it's always been in my blood. In 5th grade I started selling candy at school. I could buy pieces in bulk for 10 cents and the kids at school would buy it for 25 cents. It was great until some teachers got wind of it and I got called into the principals office. I'm not sure why, but they weren't too happy about it! In high school I tried several companies from reselling computer hardware to starting my own web design firm. There were more in college and beyond. I guess I haven't stopped.

2. How long have you been an entrepreneur?

Probably since 5th grade or so. I've always thought it like that and looked for opportunities.

3. Did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur - was it a sudden "aha" experience/moment, or was it a gradual realization?

I don't think I always knew. I've tried lots of things over the years from corporate America to strange jobs. Entrepreneurship was a good combination of something I both enjoyed and was good at. It was a slow realization and I think I'll be exploring this question for my entire life. Entrepreneurship is a huge field with tons of different things I could do. It feel right for now.

4. What experiences - successes, setbacks have you experienced along the way & what have you learned from them.

There have been a lot. I've started lots of project (or businesses) that completely failed, and I learned something valuable every time. In fact, here is a list of 9 businesses I started which failed:
http://www.startbreakingfree.com/363/9-businesses-i-started-which-utterly-failed/

Here is a quick overview of how I now think about entrepreneurship:
1. Most of the stuff you try won't work, and that's ok
2. Invest as little time and money as possible to get your idea off the ground and test it out (then if it doesn't work, no big deal try the next one)
3. When you have an idea you're excited about, get going on it right away, if you wait around too much you'll lose your motivation
4. You don't need a business plan or investors or any of that. Do a quick Google search to see what else is out there and if you still like it a day later, get to work
5. Start cheap (particularly anything online) by outsourcing the site, using free wordpress templates, or giving a programmer equity for his work (or learn to program it yourself)
6. DON'T take on business partners and DON'T take on investors for web businesses, boot strap. You need to be the one in control of your destiny, not bogged down in drama managing other people's expectations.
7. Once you have one that starts to work, don't be ADD and continue rushing off to start a new business every day, force yourself to stay focused and really make that one blossom
8. Entrepreneurship is an emotional roller coaster...you will doubt yourself and wonder if you made the right decision on a regular basis. Get around other like minded people as often as possible to stay mentally tough.

5. What do you say to the "naysayers"?

There haven't been any really. My parents weren't crazy about the idea of me quitting my job to wok for myself, but that's understandable. The biggest person you have to worry about motivation-wise is yourself I think. You have to realize you're attempting something very difficult and if you fail a few times on the way that is to be expected. In fact, it's more than that...it's REQUIRED to get to success. If you want it bad enough, you'll keep at it.

6. You specialize in web startups, why/how did you come to choose this sort of business?

My background is in computer science so it was a natural fit. Also, I like the low cost the web startups. It's an amazing medium to work in because you can throw up an idea in two weeks, and even launch an entire company for $10 that has the potential to be used by people all over the world (I've detailed how I've done this on my blog). When you compare this to other mediums, it's not even close. For example, if you're launching a bio-tech startup you need to rent lab space and equipment, if you're building something mechanical you need to cut metal in a machine shop. You can run up costs very quickly to "experiment" and if you don't get it right the first time you might be out of money. With web startups that's not the case. They're very forgiving if you do it right and keep your costs low until you're cash flow positive.

7. What are the critical skills needed to become an entrepreneur - personal, business skills?

That's a good question and I'm not really sure. Probably the most important part is to just love it and really want it. If you have that you can pick up any skill you need along the way.

But as for a list of skills, I'd say getting the basic of accounting is helpful (try this post). The basics of marketing is always good (I particularly liked this book). And then I would just read a ton of what other successful entrepreneurs are doing. I read as many of their blogs as I can and reach out to them personally when needed. I find these sources of information to be much more valuable than any MBA textbook.

8. What are you currently working on?

My latest project is FeedmailPro.com where I'm making a better, cheaper alternative to Aweber.com in the blog newsletter space. BuyersVote.com is less of a business and more of a community site where I'm helping people make better buying decisions. UniversityTutor.com is the company I've had the longest.

9. Where do you see yourself in 10 yrs? What is the long-term vision for your business?

Ultimately I'd like to continue to build websites that people are getting a ton of value from, with potential sales along the road as they mature. I'd LOVE to one day build a site that has the reach of gmail or craigslist, or a site on that order of magnitude. Selling one of them for $100 million wouldn't hurt either. My other passion is helping other entrepreneurs break free and start their own companies as well, so I could see that playing a bigger role down the line as well.

10. Where do you see the greatest opportunity for entrepreneurs?

200 years ago it was the industrial revolution
100 years ago it was the birth of mass media (TV, radio, newspaper, etc)
right now it's still the internet and technology revolution. To me, that's the greatest opportunity for our generation.

Some other technologies I see playing a bigger role down the line? Genetic engineering, robotics, artificial intelligence, and anything having to do with renewable energy. Not all entrepreneurship has to be technology focused however.

11. What do you do outside of business, to balance your life/work?

Lately not much! :) But seriously, I'm enjoying traveling (having businesses online allows this nicely) at the moment. I've tried lots of different hobbies over the years, like salsa dancing, brazilian jujitsu, and acting.

Brian can be contacted on his personal blog at StartBreakingFree.com, where he writes about entrepreneurship and his latest projects.

That's it!

6 Ways to Get into the Top 3 Searches on Google in Less Than a Week for FREE

Hey guys - have been working on my blog lately, did a search recently to see where my blog stood in Google, & was surprised. Decided to do an article on ways to increase your search engine rankings.

1. Blog every day on your particular subject.
2. Develop an online community network - contribute to other people's blogs via comments, interviews. Put your blog link in your emails, Ebay stores, etc.
3. Join free affiliate marketing programs including - Amazon.com, WorldWide Brands, Commission Junction, AWeber, Audible.com
4. Use references that link to past articles, different blogs, etc.
5. Utilize social media marketing via Twitter, TwitterFeed, TwitterPics, Facebook.
6. Promote your blog to your friends, family, coworkers.

I did 1-6 & in less than a week, a search on lifestyle blogs (Maximizing Life the Easy Way) put my blog in the top 3, where it was previously unranked. Things I learned were how Google decides to rank your page, building a successful blog (as with any endeavour) requires commitment, one technique/action per day to get you to your goal, various ways to promote/market your blog - online, & in person, & honing my writing skills to develop outstanding free content every day.

In the meantime, I am working on several other projects including interviews, articles, affiliate programs, increasing my reader base, and working on the overall design of my blog. Any comments, suggestions, or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Until next time!