Fact is, there is no single “best” model, but one of the most powerful ones is the approach shared by famed blogger and friend, Brian Clark of Copyblogger.com—membership sites that teach high-value/how-to information.

In fact, Brian’s first big monetization play as a blogger was his own membership site called Teaching Sells that (cough) teaches people how to build membership training sites.

Confession, when Brian first launched Teaching Sells well over a year ago, even though I have huge respect for him, I was suspect. Because there are a lot of scams out there selling make money online info. But, after spending a bunch of time peeking under the hood and getting to know Brian, I was blown away by the quality of information he was sharing. In fact, that’s a large part of why I included him in my book.

And, here’s the thing coolest thing…

Teaching Sells has been closed to new members for a while, but in a few days, it reopens. And, every time Brian reopens Teaching Sells, he does a mini-launch where he gives away a boatload of tremendous information. I don’t know why he does this anymore, because his reputation is so good, people pretty much line up to scramble for their spot before it closes again anyway.

But, hey, his kindness is your windfall…

Because, even if you have no intention of signing up, after you’ve headed over to Teaching Sells today, you’ll be able to download all this stuff (e-mail required, but it’s so worth it):

• A 22 Page whitepaper - Forget Everything You Know About Making Money Online (And Start Making Some). Also available as an mp3 version, so you don’t have to read it (love to listen to stuff like this while I’m driving, except it takes forever to get anywhere, because I have the urge to pull over and take notes every 10 seconds!)
• Case Study: Aaron Wall Moves From SEO Book to SEO Training - an eye opening look at how one of the most respected SEO publishers moved from offering an ebook to a membership model (PDF & mp3)
• Case Study: Realtors Become Real Estate Industry Online Trainers – A great example that reveals how to turn your industry-specific experience into high-value training content for that same industry (PDF & mp3)
• Case Study: Borrowing the Expertise of Others – Shares how to launch a membership site even when you’re not the one with expertise to share (PDF & mp3)
• Report: How to Build & Launch a Quick & Easy Membership Site with Licensed Content – Reveals an alternative approach to membership sites that let’s you essentially borrow other people’s proven training content
• A 20 step process map that literally outlines how to build an online training business
• A killer video that reveals how to “borrow” other people’s traffic and send a torrent of people to your site

If you want to jump in and sign up for the full Teaching Sells training, hey, that’s your choice. I can tell you as someone who’s worked through the content firsthand, it’s tremendous.

But, even if you don’t, at the very minimum, click over and download all the tremendous educational content that Brian’s giving away.

And, probably best not to wait, because the giveaways usually come down when the launch goes live and I think that’s happening tomorrow or Thursday.

If You Have Pain, You Need Law

My jaw dropped. I was really bothered.

First, at the law firm. And then at society at large. Because this commercial, sadly, reflected a growing and in my mind somewhat perverse expectation (at least in the U.S.) that if you get hurt someone’s gotta pay…even if it was nobody else’s fault

Even if it was YOUR fault!

Whatever happened to personal responsibility?

I’ve even seen this mindset justified by people arguing, “hey, nobody gets hurt, it’s just the insurance company that’s paying and they’ve got billions.”

Wrong on two levels. One, where do you think all those billions came from? Uh…you and me. And the one of the big reasons our insurance fees are so high are because so many people will sue at the drop of a dime in the mistaken belief that nobody gets hurt when an insurance company pays. We all pay in the form of higher personal, health, product liability and business insurance. And, on the consumer side, a portion of those costs are often then passed on as higher service and product fees.

Two, it’s not supposed to work this way, but in the U.S., you can leverage the system to more or less coerce a person or company to pay “something” in order to avoid the fees associated with a full-blown law suit. It’s a simple cost benefit analysis and a lot of litigants and their representatives know this. Happens all the time. Puts money in your pocket when you feel pain without much reference to fault.

But, just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s right.

I’ve seen small businesses created by moms and dads trying to put food on their tables crushed because someone decided the system would let them get something for nothing. I’ve seen caring, compassionate OB/GYNs who love bringing babies into the world drop the OB part of their practice, because they can’t afford the insane malpractice insurance.

FYI – This doesn’t happen in a lot of other places because the rule of law in many other locales is “loser pays,” meaning the loser not only pays their own fees, but the fees of the winner, too. This drastically lessens the number of “lightly supported” law suits.

Am I saying “if you feel pain, you should NEVER need law or dollars?” Of course not.

The same laws that allow for people to claim pain and cash without merit also protect those who’ve genuinely been wronged and are rightly entitled to compensation. But, the notion that pain automatically entitled you to legal recourse and money…that’s just wrong.

Life happens. Pain happens. Accidents happen.

But, liability doesn’t automatically flow.

Curious what you think…

In the 9 months since its release, though, both the economic climate and the mood throughout the world have changed in a fairly profound way.

And, again, I felt the need to revise and expand the Fire Fly Manifesto to address the questions that were being asked of me and the challenges that lie ahead. Things like, “should I really be thinking about starting my own adventure in this economy?” Or, “can I really go renegade if I’ve just lost my job?”

So, I created  “F2 | Firefly Manifesto: Remixed,” and I’m grateful to have it released today by ChangeThis.com.

Please check it out now and, if it resonates, spread the word by sharing it on twitter, stumbleupon, facebook or any of your preferred communities.

Together we change change not only the conversation…but the world.

Pass it on…

Scenario #1 MegaCo.

An international consumer goods company is looking to explore new ways to market it’s product in a tough economy. They learn about this new social media/Wed 2.0 thing and, even though the people in legal are massively freaked out about employees running around, talking smack and causing potential PR debacles, they give the okay for marketing to “explore” social media.

So, MegaCo goes out to it’s ad agencies and even a few “specialists” to get the 411. And, of course, the big questions they keep circling back to is the very same question nobody who wants to take their money can answer in a remotely convincing way…”what’s the ROI on social media?”

The agency and other consultants come up with all sorts of valid points about building community, opening lines of communication, improving customer feedback and even mining social media for product research. All good stuff, but still, MegaCo is having a tough time biting the social media bullet. So, rather than ramp up something real, they allocate a teensy bit of money to play around because who knows, maybe it’ll work. And, besides, GiantMegaCo is doing it, so they don’t want to be late to the party…if there is a party.

Maybe someday there’ll be an ROI connection, but as of right now everyone’s telling them, “you just can’t measure it like that.”

Scenario #2 – Mountainbike Madness

Mountabike Madness is a local bike shop run by two college friends, Mario and Eva. It’s a real business with a great product and it’s growing nicely. But they’re always interested in finding new ways to get customers to the shop. Along with trying out street teams, the local pennysaver, mailings, sandwich boards and a bunch of other marketing ideas. Eva gets the idea to start to play around with twitter.

Actually, she already has a personal account. So does Mario, so they’re familiar with the nature of conversation in the communities, because they’re already regular users. So, they set up a Mountainbike Madness account and use Mario as the name associated with the account.

They use twitter’s search function and a number of other tools twice a day to find people in their neighborhood who either have some variation of the word bike in their profile or their tweets. They broaden it out to various forms of outdoor activities, too. They see what these potentially likeminded folks talking about, then follow them and join in the conversations they are having.

They also start to share all sorts of funny, quirky, edgy quotes, ideas, and stories. And, here and there, they throw out tweets about instant giveaways for the first person to tweet their favorite rider, grip or trail. They do daily or weekly specials on bikes, parts, clothing and other schwag. They share cool tips and riding strategies and aren’t afraid to show their personalities. They announce weekly Rave Rides where everyone has 4 hours to show at a particular trailhead for an epic group ride. And, once a month, they do a one-day 20% off twitter-only sale from the back of a truck and you have to be following them to know where it will be.

After 3 months, they can track twitter related sales to an average of 30% of daily sales and total sales have gone up 20% since starting on twitter. Not only is it great for the community, for customer service…they’re using social media to put money in the bank.

That all elusive ROI that MegaCo will likely never be able to quantify is trackable income for Mountainbike Madness.

The truth about social media and ROI…

Right now, small businesses have a huge advantage over big business in actually being able to convert social media conversations into dollars and cents. Here’s why:

Small business:

• Can be less censored – They don’t have to wade through layers of social media do/don’t policy and legal sign-off on every tweet, update, post or comment. And, in social media, people respond to real and spontaneous. So, it’s much easier to build the conversation
• Can have a personality – All too often, the voice of the company that filters through to social media is almost entirely devoid of personality. People connect with color, not gray (unless you live in NYC).
• Only needs to connect with hundreds or a few thousand, not hundreds of thousands or millions – If a small business connects with a few thousand people, that could make a huge dent in it’s business, making it worth the effort. A large business may need to connect with millions to feel the same impact and that may well not be worth the effort from an ROI standpoint
• Can tap into local energy, events, traditions – By having a shared experience based on the local community, it’s a lot easier for people to bond with the voice of that business
• Can implement instantly and tailor highly relevant offers – When it’s one person behind the mic, it’s way easier to carry on a real, spontaneous conversation and also create an ongoing series of highly local, highly-relevant and time-sensitive offers that will convert followers into customers.

So, if you’re a small business or solopreneur Career Renegade and you’ve been wondering about the value of this wacky thing called social media, fact is you’ve got a huge advantage over large corporations right now. You have the ability to actually convert time spent on social media into money in the bank. And, have a lot of fun doing it.

So, what do YOU think?

Anyone have a story like Mountainbike Madness to share?

Let’s discuss…

It’s called the Big, Bad Implementation Gap…and it’s the biggest dream crusher on the planet. Thing is, I’m determined to help you…personally…get out of your head and, probably for the first time in your life, start taking the daily actions needed to launch or grow your renegade vision into a serious, family-worthy living.

A little over a month ago, I posted a survey asking how I could best make myself available to turbocharge your personal quest. Thanks so much to all who responded, your answers were invaluable.

Based on that survey, I’ve created  3 ways to stop talking about all the cool things you’d like to do and…

Work directly with me to make them happen

And, even cooler, there’s an option for every price point…even donation basis!

Click here now to visit the new “Work with Me”
page and see which option is right for you

(Or,  just click the Work with Me tab up top)

The first is from New orleans’ Naked Pizza, a neighborhood pizza place that reported 20% of revenue coming directly from twitter with spikes as high as 69% on days where they hit twitter with a serious campaign. Here’s a sample from their tweet-stream…

Notice a few things:

• One, it’s a person, not a robot.
• Two, that person is ENGAGING in conversations nonstop.
• Three, they’re not just pimping pizza.
• Four, they have a personality.
• Five, every once in a while, they sneak in a playful promo that revolved around the community.

Fun stuff. Then, when you click on over to their website, one of the first things you notice is it’s built to proactively built community through social media, with Facebook and twitter buttons and the Share This app above the fold.

Next up, Rascal House Pizza. Dunno what their percentage of pizza sales from twitter is, but I’m guessing it’s not even enough to measure.

Here’s a sampling from their twitter stream…

This same stream is repeated with little variation all day, every day. It’s about as spammy as it gets. It’s using its twitter accounts not to build community, but to hock what appear to be completely unrelated affiliate products (FYI – the iPhone offer they promote all day doesn’t even connect to a live link). And, scrolling back 10 days, there was way not a single “@.” Translation – All spam, no engagement!

And, everyone knows spam doesn’t taste good on pizza.

Similarly, when you click on over to their website, it’s devoid of any type of social media driven community building efforts.

Funny thing is, Rascal House is actually a much larger franchise operation that can afford to invest way more in doing it right in 2.o. And, they make in fact make great pizza and have great service. But, if that’s true, then there’s a massive disconnect between the message they’re sending through social media and the product or service they’re giving customers, face to face.

Where does this leave us?

If you’re a local biz, before writing off social media as just another time-wasting fad, you might be better advised to embrace it and figure out how to turn engagement into income. And, when you do, take a bit of time to learn how to do it right. Because if you don’t…your competition will.

Thoughts?

Problem is, nearly every example of greatness in the world of business either uses a short window of assessment or reverse engineers the determination of greatness by curve-fitting a select number of high-achieving companies into a desired algorithm, then cherry-picking certain shared qualities and listing them as the essential elements of greatness.

Unfortunately, while curve fitting can identify historical similarities, it provides little predictive or instructive value. In fact, many of the companies mentioned in the above books not only suffered major stumbles after the books’ publication, but upon deeper analysis, didn’t even outperform other companies in their sectors.

Truth is, there is no such thing as a great company, there are only:

• Great ideas,
• Great moments,
• Great decisions,
• Great strategies,
• Great people, and
• Great execution

And, by definition, every one of these elements of greatness are impermanent.

A company launched and grown into a paramount by a great idea can be felled by a subsequent terrible decision, strategy or person. Witness the epic rises and falls of major players in the U.S. automotive, banking, law and dozens of other industries.

It’s never about the company, it’s about the impact of those 6 defining qualities. So, if you’re thinking of launching a business, instead of studying what unites great companies, you’d be better served by studying greatness in the context of the individual qualities and the impact of their presence and absence.

As always, just thinking out loud. Do you agree, disagree? What have I left out?

What do you think?

It’s Wuthering heights meets Spongebob, but edgier and with a Quentin Tarantino fast cut Miller Time energy. It’s The Four Hour Workweek meets Fried Green Tomatoes, but set in Little Havana and with a bit more of a Catcher in The Rye slash The Secret thing happening. And let’s not forget, “it’s the next Hemingway, Brando, Jobs or Ablom.”

People want to frame and pitch you in the light of other massive successes to give context in the hope that you’ll ride reputation of the legends you’re being compared to.

Sounds cool, shorthands the pitch…only it’s garbage.

Strike that. It’s worse.

Because implying you’re the NEXT something or someone simultaneously diminishes the value and power of you being the FIRST you!

It tells people from the get go that you’re derivative.

It strips away the extraordinary opportunity to rise to the challenge of defining who you are, demonstrating the value of your own unique contribution and proving to the world that you’re not the next anyone. You’re the first you. And that’s enough to get you where you’re going and then some.

So next time you or your rep are tempted to shorthand how you’re magically delicious and utterly different, do it by framing yourself as the first big you…not the next big someone else or the coolest elements of other peoples’ work,

Kapish?

Do enough people want to buy what you’re looking to sell to call it a business?

For example, you may have a hidden passion for designing biodegradable hemp thimbles decorated with organic dyed cashews, but do enough other people want to buy those suckers to make it a business? This is actually one of the biggest missteps folks make in launching a small business—thinking you are your market.

Sometimes you are, many times you think you are…but you’re not. So, rather than invest a boatload of time, energy and money in launching something built around your own belief that a sea of people with the same mad passions as you exist, do a bit of research.

Ask these two giant questions:

• Does the service or product that I create through my passion solve a strong, emotionally-invested problem for other people? And,
• How many other people? Is there a large enough, regularly renewing market of people who are:

1. Willing to buy what I’m selling,
2. At a price that will make it worth the effort?

If the answer is yes, you’ve got a potential business on your hands.

But, if the answer to either of these questions is no, you’ve got a serious business model challenge.

Does that mean you abandon your passion-driven quest to make a living doing what you love? The answer is…maybe. There may, in fact, be certain quirky passions that are so solitude driven and so oriented away from community and problem solving that they’d be extremely difficult to build a living around.

But, far more often, there is a way to go about your passion differently in an effort to discover or sometimes even create the demand and community needed to turn it into a business.

As I mention in Career Renegade (the book), take a serious look not only at the activity itself, but the:

• Culture surrounding the activity
• Need for community surrounding the activity
• Need for products or service that solve a problem in the community or provide a rallying point
• Available modes of access to that activity, and
• Informational and educational needs of that community

In the end, it all comes back to finding the genuine (read “not fabricated”) intersection between what makes you come alive and what enough people are willing to pay for. Clear that hurdle and you take a big step toward the process of turning your passion into your profession.

So, what do you think?

And, I was asked what my top book recommendations were for marketing, selling and writing compelling copy. So, I reached deep down hoping to come up with the coolest, newest, hippest, most cutting edge recommendations…but instead, I started offering up titles that ranged from 20 to 80 years old.

What gives? Simple answer. Times change, circumstances change, marketing and distribution channels change, products, services and technologies change. But, human nature has remained largely unchanged for as long as history has been recorded. And, in the end, solving, selling and marketing are fundamentally about understanding human nature, not bells and whistles.

So, if you want to go find the latest jazzy book on copywriting for the web or optimization, that’s fine. But, my guess is you’ll get even more out of legendary books like

• The Robert Collier Letter Book (1937),
• Claude C. Hopkins’ Scientific Advertising (1923),
• John Caples’ Tested Advertising Methods (5th ed 1997), and
• Eugene Schwartz’ Breakthrough Advertising (1966)

These books are as relevant, powerful and useful today as they were when they were published. Because, they spoke directly to:

(1) Crafting messages that cut directly to the heart of human nature and what makes people act, then

(2) Measuring, with precision, the impact in an effort to repeatedly tune and improve that message

So, if you want to know how to solve, sell, write copy and market better, don’t study advertising, study human nature…and start with the classics.