jiveSYSTEMS Blog » Our Chronicle

[newsletter] iPad and iPhone Support, New Member Ambassador

FollowFlywheel — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 17:52:26 +0000

We’ve been busy bees over here at jiveSYSTEMS!

Since our approach to teaching people and businesses how to leverage our video email and web video marketing software is heavily focused around training and support, we have added a Member Ambassador to our team of video coaches. Also, due to the rising popularity of the iPad, iPhone, and android phones, we have been working diligently to have our encoders and player automatically support them. We are performing the final tests of the new jiveSYSTEMS software and will be rolling it our to our members in the coming weeks.

Highlights

New Tutorial – Learn how to integrate jiveSYSTEMS with your email marketing program
New Webinar – Concept to Profit 4.0 is now available on demand

Summary of Popular Posts

3 Building Blocks of Success with Video

Understanding why you fail is just as important as knowing why you succeed. This is why Flywheel did an investigation on why some of our members sign up, never use it, and then leave. What he discovered was very interesting.

F irefox and Chrome – the Death of Internet Explorer

Do you know how to browse the web quickly and safely? This post from the Propellerhead reveals the flaws of Internet Explorer. It doesn’t stop there; in this post you will also learn about the two alternatives to Internet Explorer and how to use them. For those of you who haven’t made the switch yet, this post is for you!

Team News

Member Ambassador

We are welcoming a new team member. Her name is Christine.

Christine, or Teeny for short, brings considerable skills to the team. Her background is in theater and business, working side by side with colleagues as young as 6 and as old as 60 – she’s very personable. She’ll be reaching out to our members, so feel free to reply to her emails and let us know if there’s anything more we can do to assist you in leveraging video email and web video to automate and grow your business online.

Closing Thoughts

If you haven’t already, get the low down on Flywheel’s new program Rocket2Profit.

Time, energy and imagination are the key to lasting success, not a big marketing budget. If you want to learn how to make your company memorable and generate buzz around your products and services on a shoestring budget, keep reading!

[newsletter] It’s All About Having a Good Team

FollowFlywheel — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:22:25 +0000

We have been working diligently behind the scenes to provide you with all the information you need to automate and grow your business efficiently and effectively, not just with video email and web video, but overall.

The feedback we’ve been receiving has helped us hone in on the specific elements that will help you Rocket2Profit. This is the fitting name of my new project that will help you do just that: Rocket2Profit! Learn more about Rocket2Profit.

Summary of Popular Posts

Inside-look at Our New Member Tutorial #1

This is the first video a new member in our video email and web video marketing coaching program receives. The video goes over the overall theory and application behind implementing video email and web video in your business.

The Hierarchy of Computers

Our resident propellerhead, Reed, has written another uber useful post. This one is a crash course in understanding all the different types of computers from desktop to smartphone.

Team News

We are saying goodbye to Level Juan, our level 1 jiveSYSTEMS Video Coach, who just so happens to be named Juan. He is going into the Army to be a 19D Cavalry Scout with a 40 option. This job means he’ll be going out with a small team of snipers and scouting for them. The 40 option means that he will have the opportunity to go straight into Ranger School to be an Army Ranger. We are sad to see him go, but happy that he is on the way to fulfilling personal life goals and dreams. We welcome your positive thoughts and good wishes for Juan. Please feel free to leave a comment for Juan at the bottom of this page.

We are welcoming two new team members, Tiny and Jim Gribble.

Tiny, aka Keith Pottinger, is our new Level 1 video coach in training. He has a strong background in computers and video production. Tiny can actually build a computer from the ground upward and he is a magician at fixing them when something goes wrong. We stole Keith from EA Sports where he was a lead computer game tester. Needless to say, we keep a vigilant eye on Tiny to ensure he doesn’t have World of Warcraft open in the background.

Jim specializes in Affiliate Program Management and has done so since the dawn of time. Well, maybe not the dawn of time, but he’s a pioneer in the field. He is now managing our rarely spoken of affiliate program which we, for all intents and purposes, keep hidden. We are thankful to add Jim’s expertise and experience to the team. Now that you know about the opportunity, what will you do with it?

Software Updates

We upgraded our web-based flash encoder and the quality now competes with that of our desktop software. In the background we’re well underway with mapping out the new user interface for our software, along with the transition to full H.264 encoding and streaming.

Closing Thoughts

Business is only as difficult as you make it out to be. Ask the right questions to the right people at the right time, and you will be amazed at how simple business becomes.

Inside-Look at the jiveSYSTEMS New Member Tutorial #1

FollowFlywheel — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:02:47 +0000

The video below is the first tutorial our members receive upon signing up for a 30 Day Free Test-Drive. It covers some of the overall theory and application behind implementing video email and web video in your business.

***Note*** The call to action at the end of video says to check your inbox; our members watch this tutorial immediately after signing up. You will not receive an email after watching the video below.

New Member First Touch Success Page Video

From this tutorial, our members continue to receive unlimited coaching and support for the duration of their membership to our video email and web video marketing software.

Here is a little more information about who we are and what we do:

We help small businesses, entrepreneurs and sales professionals leverage web video and video email to automate repetitive tasks and nurture better relationships with their prospects and clients, even if they have a face for radio and are completely terrified of computers.

Let us prove to you that this technology and our training can help you automate and grow your business.

Take a 30 Day Free Test-Drive Today>>

[newsletter] Big Improvements, 3 Great Posts, and More…

FollowFlywheel — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:22:21 +0000

It has been another action packed month. As our members will know, we went to the Infusionsoft conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. The event never disappoints me! At the conference we meet a bunch of our members, as many of them are Infusionsoft users.
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I asked almost everyone I met, and we also did a competition for our members to find me and ask the question, “What is the biggest roadblock you face when growing your business?” Almost everyone responded, “Educating our prospects and clients, along w/ long-term nurture marketing campaigns.” In the coming weeks, I am going to create a series of posts that will answer this question.
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Summary of Popular Posts

For those of you who have been tracking our blog closely, you will have noticed the post rate has dropped significantly this month. It is not because I am spending less time creating content that will help you grow your business, I am actually spending more! The reason is this: I am shooting for 1 exceptionally useful blog post per week now, instead of as many as I can cram in.

Let’s take a look at this past months posts:

How to Leverage Executive Summaries to Learn More in Less Time

This post is arguably one of the best I have ever written, and one of the most useful. It has been several weeks in the making because I researched and tested summaries from several different services. Applied knowledge is one of the major keys to success, and executive summaries allow you to acquire knowledge at an astounding rate. If you want to learn more in less time, read this post.

Q3 Zoom: Finally, a Camcorder with Awesome Audio Quality

Since writing this post, I have started calling the Q3 Zoom the “Flip Killer.” This is because I haven’t touched my Flip Video camcorder, since purchasing the Q3. This camcorder is a must have for anyone who wants to leverage web video.

TimeDriver: The Ultimate Appointment Scheduling Tool

If you don’t have an executive assistant, or simply want to put your assistant’s time to better use, TimeDriver is going to become your best friend. Using this web-based service, you can put your appointment scheduling on auto-pilot.

Team News

Myself and Reed are eagerly awaiting the launch of the iPad. I don’t even own a Mac, and I want one, as I am growing tired of lugging my laptop around and my G1 mobile phone is simply too small for web surfing.

Paul is still booked back-to-back w/ integration and strategy sessions, this is all due to TimeDriver’s awesome automated scheduling ability. Also, I have launched a new personal website concept, which represents a completely new way to build a personal page.
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Software Updates

We are working a major system upgrade, to support mobile phones. This first step is upgrading our players to support H.264 and then transcoding all the existing videos. Our ultimate goal is to have a mobile app for every phone that has a camera. Instead of prettying up the system, we are going to be tackling mobile phone support head on w/ complete focus. A bonus of using H.264 is that, as a result, we will support HD recording devices.
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Closing Thoughts

There is no magic button or secret strategy that will make your website make money. Further more, a long-term prospect nurturing campaign does not guarantee sales. If you are looking to grow your business, the best way is to do it is 1 step at a time. Start by eliminating as much work as you can w/o breaking anything that currently works, then streamline and automate as much of the remaining load as possible. Once you have done this, you are ready to adopt an assiduous and almost obsessive focus on your prospects and customers needs. I believe the foundation of success is a CRM system that can manage all our your marketing and billing in one solution. We use Infusionsoft to manage jiveSYSTEMS, I am also affiliated w/ Infusionsoft and a Certified Marketing Automation Coach (CMAC) on their system. If you do not have a CRM or are not happy w/ the capabilities of your current system, watch the Infusionsoft demo, it is well worth giving your contact information for. They really are an all-in-one solution!

[newsletter] It’s That Time Again, and We Have Lots of News

FollowFlywheel — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:50:54 +0000

In the past, our newsletters have been primarily a summary of the latest blog posts. Things are changing.

We are welcoming a new author to the blog, Propellerhead. In addition to the posts I write on business and marketing, you will now be getting detailed articles on how to keep your computer in tip-top shape and other computer and software and hardware related subjects. The Propellerhead author team is headed up by Reed LaFerriere, one of our video coaches. His first 2 posts are invaluable resources for anyone who has used a computer and isn’t a total tech-head.

Desktop Psychology: Declutter your Desktop, Unclutter Your Mind

A clean desktop keeps your computer running fast, it also keeps you running fast! Step-by-step, this post will guide you through the tasks you need to perform to create a clean desktop.

Essential Computer Maintenance Tools

If you recently got a new computer, or maybe have an old one that isn’t running as fast as it should – this post is for you. In this post you will learn how to perform regular maintenance on your computer.

Side note: Just in case you were wondering, the pose Reed is doing is called “Le Tigre”.

In Other News

We are welcoming another video coach to the team. We call him Level Juan. This is because his name is Juan and he is currently a “Level 1″ video coach. It doesn’t seem that funny in writing, but it sure has been giving us a lot of laughs around the office.

Here is a Rundown of the Most Popular Posts I have recently Published [and some of my personal favorites]

Big Monitors Improve Productivity: The Facts

If you are working on a monitor smaller than 19 inches, you need to buy a bigger monitor; I recommend using a 24 inch one. Everything I write about is from first-hand experience, as I learn, test and then write a blog post about it. Since upgrading to a bigger monitor, I not only feel better, I can work faster – much faster.

How to Increase Your ROI Without Spending a Dime

Jim Cecil has been teaching me to understand DISC and personality profiling, so I can relate better to other people. I noticed the difference immediately. This post goes over the basics of what I have learned and applied so far.

The Problem Box: A Way to Keep Yourself and Others Focused

This is my first proper blog post with a video. If you remember watching Thom’s Video, I definitely had to beat my inner critic to publish it. I use a problem box to solve problems efficiently and effectively. In this post I explain how and why I use problem boxes, and how a problem box can help you.

Other popular posts you might have missed:

My Rig: Connecting the Dots, Overcoming Camera Anxiety, Roadmap to Acquiring Customers Online, The Serendipity Engine, 6 Steps to Make Any Business Grow and Prosper, and 8 Steps to Communicating Effectively on Camera.

Thanks for reading our newsletter. If you have any feedback, comments or questions, please leave them on the related blog posts, and we will do my best to make the adjustment or answer your question. We are here to help, whether you are a jiveSYSTEMS member or simply a patron of our blog. We have been very fortunate to learn how to navigate the digital domain, and we want to share our knowledge with as many small businesses as possible so they can make the transition and/or improve their current operation.

For general feedback, please email welisten@jivesystems.com

Think-Automate: Do it, Automate it, Delegate it, or Ditch it

FollowFlywheel — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:29:33 +0000

At jiveSYSTEMS, we teach small businesses, sales professionals, and online marketers how to leverage the tools and strategies that put them in the driver’s seat of their businesses.

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We teach you how to automate repetitive tasks like:

Following up a first phone call with a new prospect or using an evergreen video
Recording evergreen videos to respond to the questions you get asked the most often
and a lot more…

The key to success is to know which processes can be automated and how to do so, without eliminating the human touch. We must recognize tools and software, in most cases, serve to streamline human contact, not eliminate it. Automation, in the way we are referring to it, only works when it creates a better experience for your prospects and clients!

The term I have coined to help people connect with our method is “Think-Automate.” We leverage our video email and web video marketing system to build trust and rapport – to nurture relationships. Next we utilize our all-in-one business automation machine (Infusionsoft) to automate the appropriate customer-company interactions.

The old school mentality is “Do it, delegate it, or ditch it.”

We supplement this tried and true formula with our home-grown version of processing automation.

Our new skool approach is “Do it, automate it, delegate it, or ditch it,” or “Think-Automate.”

This methodology definitely presents the small business world with a vastly improved system to manage their daily operations so they can focus on growth.

If you would like to learn more about our company, visit www.jivesystems.com

[weekly review] How to Get More Done in Less Time

FollowFlywheel — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:41:06 +0000

Last week was very busy. I ended up burning both ends of the candle, a habit I do not wish to reform. In reflection, last week has got me thinking about a blog post I keep meaning to write. The premise is how to get more done in less time. The strategy is partial based on measuring the things that matter.

First though, here is my favorite song of the week. I hope you like it.

Improving Base Skills – How to Get More Done in Less Time

How do you get more done in less time? You can look at this question from two directions:

Learn to do things faster
Prioritize better

Either way the result is the same—you get more done!

Doing things faster is actually much easier than you would think. I feel many people overlook the importance of improving base skills.

We spend hours reading each week, but how often do you sit down and improve the skill of reading? What about listening? A major part of life is listening. But, when are we ever taught to listen? Certainly not in school—I spent the majority of my school life being told to listen, but never how. Strange, isn’t’ it? That is, not to mention the art of communicating, for example, writing and speaking. Considering that typing is where the majority of my thoughts are focused, not knowing how to touch type seems ludicrous to me. Bear in mind, the context I am using is not about form, rather speed and accuracy.

Hopefully, I am starting to paint a picture of just how much almost everyone can benefit from improving the base skills. Just imagine for a moment how much more work you could get done if you could read four times faster, type four times faster, or better yet both? Well, for one thing, it is definitely possible. I am yet to accomplish the feat, but others say they have. I’ll be writing in more detail on this topic in the future—when I can say from first-hand experience that I have achieved a noteworthy goal and developed and tested a system for others to do the same.

The foundation skills from my perspective are:

Learning (Listening/Reading)
Communicating (Writing/Speaking)

Improving these skills should be the first priority for the curious mind.

If you want to improve your reading speed, you can read this blog post by Tim Ferriss, Scientific Speed Reading: How to Read 300% Faster in 20 Minutes. I did not make a 300% improvement, more like 50% increase in both speed and accuracy without losing any comprehension, it adds up, especially since I subscribe to around 60 RSS feeds and read well over 100 blog post each day. I am going to take a few more passes at the technique Tim refers to as well. I will keep you posted.

Do you have any methods for improving your base skills?

[weekly review] Your Health is About More Than Your Business

FollowFlywheel — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:20:51 +0000

I have been revisiting my health and fitness archive. Prior to pursuing a career in business, I was a personal trainer in Sarasota, Florida. I focused on corrective exercises (i.e. bringing the body back into alignment by stretching and strengthening at the same time) and functional training methods (i.e. not doing bicep curls).

For each weekly review, I include a widget that will play my favorite song of the moment. So, you can listen to a nice song while you read the post.

Within a few short months of taking the path of learning about business and marketing, my diet and training regimen went out the window [for several years]. To make matters worse, at the beginning of 2009, I also tore my lisfranc ligament—the ligament that holds the foot together. I needed surgery and a temporary screw to give the ligament time to reattach. After three months of little to no walking, the screw was removed. At this point in time, I could barely walk, had lost almost all my muscle mass, and was eating exceptionally poorly. Cooking on crutches is like eating rice with chop sticks. This was the kick in the ass I needed to get back in shape. So, I designed a rehabilitative exercise program and stuck to it. I made time and made my recovery a priority in my life. Who wouldn’t?

Things are different now. I am on the other side of the fence because I am not a trainer; I am an entrepreneur working in a small business. I see how difficult it can be to eat well and exercise regularly when it’s not your career. It can be too easy to say, “There are not enough hours in the day.” Back when I was a personal trainer, I often believed what my clients were telling me and offered my ear rather than my thoughts. Now that I am on your side, and have lived the excuse of “There are not enough hours in the day,” I realize that the issue is not with the amount of time but in how we prioritize the use of it.

If you are working long hours, eating poorly, and exercising rarely, maybe you should take a step back and reprioritize your life. I am a firm believer that 45mins of exercise each day combined with a diet of healthy, organic foods will positively impact your performance at work, decrease your risks for encountering avoidable health problems, and improve your overall well-being.

Books: a list of books I read this week with a short summary paragraph.

How to Eat, Move, and Be Healthy by Paul Chek

I have read this book several times, learning something new every time I revisit it. Since I sit in a chair over a computer most of the day, my focus is on my neck, back, and hamstrings. The hamstrings shorten from sitting which pulls the back out of alignment and the neck. The neck muscles also shorten as our heads often protrude forward when working on a computer. I am not sure about the legal ramifications of scanning and publishing pictures from the book. So, I grabbed links to near the same stretches from Google.

These 4 stretches are the foundation of my “Beat Chair Pain” routine:

Lying Hamstring Stretch—Lengthening those tight muscles on the back of the legs
Neck Retraction Stretch—Pulling your chin in, the opposite of it protruding
Bent-Over Cat Stretch Movement—Alleviating the tension from the neck down to the hips
Seated Bent-Over Lower Back Stretch—Opening up that lower back area

Closing Thoughts

In almost all instances, if you don’t have enough time to exercise and eat properly, you are not prioritizing correctly. Proper exercise and nutrition are a crucial part of one’s overall success system. I let my health slip and didn’t realize just how much it was affecting my work. Now that I have reestablished a decent exercise routine and eat fairly well, I feel better and my productivity has increased measurably. The long-standing team members around the jiveSYSTEMS office will also testify to the fact that my overall temperament has improved.

Making exercise and nutrition a priority in your life is a sound business decision that will benefit you in every area of you life.

[newsletter] A Shapshot of the Lastest Blog Posts and Weekly Reviews

FollowFlywheel — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:27:21 +0000

I have made 5 new blog posts and 3 weekly reviews. We are really starting to pick-up the pace and hone in on specific tools and strategies that will help a business grow. We also recognize that not all growth is equal–our focus is creating incremental and sustainable growth.

Blog Posts – Here is the snapshot

Who We Are and What We Do

This post started out as a memo to our team. We have evolved so much and so quickly due to our very agile approach to business that I wanted to clarify to our team exactly where we were at. We then realized that our prospects and members might want to read the memo as well. Since we practice full transparency, it just made sense to publish the memo to the blog for you to read as well, if you so choose.

Using Video in Your Tweet

Why not? Social media is all about building relationships. People want to know who you are, and a great way to tell them is to show them. This post tells you how to put links to videos in your tweets. For those of you who are not currently using web video, it also covers the equipment you would need.

Imagine Leadership | By XPLANE & Nitin Nohria

Forget about the rat race for a minute. In fact, forget about it forever. Take a moment to contemplate your contribution to the world. Success is guaranteed when you are doing something you really love. Everyone at jiveSYSTEMS, including myself, will attest to this fact. The 6 minute video presentation in this post will inspire you.

A Niffty Little SEO Tweak is to NoFollow Outbound Links

If you have a blog or manage your own website, you will find this tweak especially useful. If someone else does the work for you, scan and then forward this post to them.

TweetMeMe and Facebook Share (WordPress Plugins)

Same as above.

Weekly Reviews

Okay, so let’s talk about the [weekly reviews]. I write these to crystallize what I learn each week or so. I have a thirst for knowledge and therefore, quite literally, plow through content. To keep track of what I am learning, I write a weekly review [this makes it easy for me to reference and source content at a future date]. I don’t actually write them every week—as you may know, I don’t do well with schedules, I prefer to go with the flow [and it works well for me]. My weekly reviews are a sort of data download for permanent storage and easy recall, so I can study the next batch of stuff. I don’t think of myself as a guru, far from it actually, and I am not trying to win you over to my way of thinking–I author content because it’s what I love to do! I just genuinely hope that my content and the jiveSYSTEMS Blog in general helps people connect with the joy of living their passion.

Here is a quick-study of the 3 [weekly reviews] I have made since the last newsletter:

October 19th

I talk about some of the books I have read: using the web to build trust and influence, the art of the start, and the magic of lean. There is also some information about the best music to work to. I also cover the new FTC rules and regulations that affect businesses that use testimonials.

October 28th

This one covers the books Found Money, Freakonomics, and Six Thinking Hats. I also go over Steven Covey’s 4 quadrants.

November 11th

I found a gem of a book about Selling to the V.P of No. I also did a breakdown of how I structure my world which was inspired by Covey’s 4 quadrants from last week’s review, and my belief that success and happiness and found and lost in habits. At the bottom of the post, I placed a very touching story of two brothers I met, who are walking around the world together spreading the message of micro-peace.

So, there you have it: the quick study on what’s moving and shaking in the jiveSYSTEMS Blog.

Make it a great week!

[reflections] Who We Are & What We Do

FollowFlywheel — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:43:57 +0000

Introduction

Nowadays, almost everyone is looking for the best ways to automate themselves out of repetitive tasks. Hence the meteoric rise of companies like Infusionsoft (CRM platform) and the flood of new automation software specifically orientated to this fast changing market place. However, to my knowledge, no one has focused on automation with a human touch, apart from us! We have created something very special. It is not our software alone that defines us. It is our service; our methodology for teaching small business owners how to leverage the tools and strategies that put them in the driver’s seat of their businesses.

Video Email and Web Video

Video email and web video can be used to automate repetitive tasks like responses to frequently asked questions and can be used to deliver messages with a personal touch. A video also has greater transference of verbal and nonverbal cues, because recipients can see and hear you; greatly improving retention. That being said, technology, as applied to business process automation and marketing, serves to reduce and/or streamline the need for live human contact, not eliminate it entirely. The key is to know which processes can be automated and how to do so, without eliminating the human touch.

What Makes Us Special

We understand how and when to introduce the human element through video emails, web videos, video conferences, live video broadcasts, and just as importantly, through phone calls and in-person visits. You wouldn’t automate taking your significant other on a romantic getaway, would you? [Well you might, but you shouldn't.] This is why I am so surprised when I see businesses sending automated, impersonal plain-text emails to thank a customer for making a purchase. An evergreen video would take minutes to record, could still be automated, and is infinitely more personal than a plain-text email.

We must recognize tools and software, in most cases, serve to reduce and/or streamline human contact, not eliminate it. Automation, in the way we are referring to it, only works when it creates a better experience for your prospects and clients!

Our Benefits and Features

You get unlimited storage and bandwidth with your membership to jiveSYSTEMS. You can also record and/or upload videos that are up to 60 minutes long. Our software automatically encodes and uploads video to your account on our servers–it makes it easy! In addition, we explain how and when you should utilize video sharing sites (e.g. YouTube and Vimeo) to generate buzz and drive traffic to your website. Our video coaches are not just technically proficient on our system; they also understand the peripherals used in concert with it: webcams, camcorders, email marketing systems, CRM platforms, and more…. They have been trained to extend their vision past the completion of a task into that of producing the true desired outcome.

An Epiphany

Our epiphany has been for us to finally realize why people were gravitating toward us. Our goal, from the start, was to provide top notch customer support, focused not on answering questions, but instead on producing the real desired outcome that the task was associated with. But we were not fully aware of the massive impact this would have on our members’ lives and the growth of their businesses and ours. We can say, with absolute certainty, that the traditional process of selling is now a truly old school mentality that should be laid to rest. Its successor is an assiduous focus on your clients’ needs and fulfilling them. While we are far from perfect, we listen to our members’ feedback and strive to make incremental improvements on a daily basis.

You can take a free test-drive of our service by visiting our homepage.

A video also has greater transference of verbal and nonverbal cues, because recipients can see and hear you; greatly improving retention.

[weekly review] Selling Stars, More Thoughts on Priortization, Keeping Life Simple

FollowFlywheel — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:44:54 +0000

It’s been a very busy few days. We just finished deploying our slightly improved homepage, updating our video servers, and ending the beta period. Also, our blog traffic has more than doubled in the past month. We must be doing something right. On the previous version of our homepage, we removed our logo because it reduced the number of opt-ins we got. We are now testing a tabbed style version of our logo in the top right corner. Some background: it’s widely known in the squeeze page design circle that conventional headers on websites reduce sales–hence the jiveSYSTEMS website not having one.

Books: a list of books I read this week with a short summary paragraph.

Selling to the VP of NO by Dave Gray, Founder and CEO of XPLANE

Snippet: Secrets of the Selling Stars
This gem of a book doesn’t break any revolutionary ground–it does something better! XPLANE has a talent for simplifying knowledge and then breaking it down into a logical flow. This is why this little book is so powerful. It literally takes you step-by-step through the sales process–a process of identifying, relating to, and then responding to your prospects needs. Many of us have been exposed to parts of the sales process through expensive training courses and seminars. This book gives you the full monty in Plain English for only $19.95. I focused on a specific area of the book which I believe to be the core of successfully presenting your products and services: 1) What pain/problem do you address; 2) What are your benefits in relation the pain/problem; 3) What are the unique features you offer in relation to the pain/problem; and 4) Why should I trust you? This is part of the sequence as listed in the book. However, when you migrate into the digital domain, I believe trust must be established first, “Why should I listen to you?” A crappy website and a few emails that are thrown together will not suffice! You need a create social capital–the currency for your business online. A quality website with a couple of landing pages for free items (e.g. reports, ebooks, podcast, web videos, etc.) is a good start. A blog is a close second, arguably the first. Anyway, this book is a quick study and it’s well worth the read.

Closing Thoughts

Sometimes life and business gets in the way of the healthy habits you have formed (e.g. writing blog posts, eating properly, exercising, and learning), it happens. The key is reestablishing your good habits as quickly as possible. Habits are very easy to break and become harder to reform the longer you leave them by the wayside. I have a list habits I wish to keep, for every position in our company we have a list of habits also. This makes it easy to spot if things are slipping or need to be changed up.

I am a big believer that success in business and happiness in life is found through balance. This is why my habits are composed of business related activities and personal ones. One of my primary work habits is writing; exercising is one of my personal ones. When I see these habits slipping, I know I need to take a step back and re-prioritize what I am doing.

What are your most productive habits at work, the ones that have the highest return on investment for your company? What habits have you formed to keep your body and mind in shape? Use your habits as an indicator to your current stress level. When you are living your habits, you are the most productive and centered. When you are not, you are living in what Steven Covey refers to as Quadrant 1: crises, pressing problems, deadline-driven projects. Personal and business growth are rarely seen when operating in Quadrant 1.

Habits don’t have to conform to a schedule. If you have been reading this blog, you may have learned that I don’t care much for schedules. I set my destination and then go with the flow. Schedules do have their place and they can be very useful for some people; however, not so much for me. Too much scheduling takes the joy out of life! I keep a handful or so of what I call habits that are in alignment with my goals and live them.

Here is a window into the way I structure my world:

Content Creation

I really enjoy writing in this blog and creating content that will help small businesses owners achieve their dreams for business and life–possibly even dream a bigger dream! So, I aim to write something that I hope you will find useful each and every day.

Exercising

Exercising is a big part of my life. So, I aim to exercise each and every day. I mix it up–it keeps things interesting. Sometimes I go to the gym and do a hardcore powerlifting routine and on other days, I will simply meditate while stretching for 30 minutes or so. I also go to Rebounderz a couple of times per week for a cardio class with several of my friends, it’s basically a big warehouse filled with about 25 trampolines that are all touching [they even have that at 45 degrees to the walls].

Learning

In order for me to create content that you will find useful, I need to assiduously study and meticulously test. This is another one of my habits, ‘Learning and Testing.’ My passion for learning is bridges by testing what I learn and then becomes content in this blog.

Eating

I was born in France, and they say the French “Live to Eat.” I will agree with that one. I like to test my cooking skills on new dishes from countries all over the world–more often than not, many of my friends and the jiveSYSTEMS team, come over to my house, every week or so, for a big and delicious meal. I also look for restaurants that have unique menus, and since I lived in England until I was 16, you can bet I love me some Sunday brunch.

Traveling and Meeting New People

I drove around the United States this summer with a friend, over 8000 miles within a month. Over the course of that trip, I paid for just 1 hotel. I had a friend in every place we stopped apart from one. I like meeting new people from all walks of life and listening to their stories. You can learn something from everyone. Here is a little sentence I wrote to remind myself of this fact: Everything you need is everything you have, Everything you want you can get from what you need, Everything you’ve found you had all along. In fact, I have had some very insightful conversations with drifters that I have picked up by the side of the road. For example, a hitchhiker in Georgia, who turned out to be a medical student taking a year out. He got to Georgia in under a month from somewhere in Canada without spending a dime. I became friends with a very old and frail man who ended up being an amazing teacher and Al Capone’s piano player for a period of time–he had some wonderful stories, but even more so a wonderful perspective and attitude about life [I made a blog post in memory of Joe]. A sniper from World War 1. And many more. Here is a mini-video interview I did with Two Brothers I stumbled across that are literally walking around the world in spreading the message of micro-peace:

peacewalk-brothers.flv

They plan to walk around the world in just six years. A total of 25,000 miles (40,000 km) over five continents: Europe, Africa, the Americas, Australia and Asia. Ferenc and István Ivanics—walk 15-25 miles a day to reach their goal: to arrive back in their home (Hungary); they were Florida, USA, when I met them. You can learn more about their voyage on their website.

Keep Life Simple

You should quickly see that life for me is kept quite simple. As entrepreneurs, it can be very easy for us to get sucked into long days of work and sleepless nights-that is why it’s critical that we define our most productive and fulfilling habits and stick to them as much as we can. If you have read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, you will know that writing crystallizes your thoughts. So take a moment, it doesn’t have to be long and write down 2 of your most productive work habits and 2 of your favorite personal ones. Then take a step back and ask yourself, “Am I living these Habits?”

[weekly review] Found Money, Freakonomics, Six Thinking Hats, Covey’s Quadrants

FollowFlywheel — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:00:37 +0000

It is that time of the week again. Actually, it’s past that time. This is why I don’t like schedules and one of the benefits of owning your own company. I was traveling last week, so I had a little catching up to do. That being said, I used the plane rides to read a few more books from my stockpile. You see, whenever, someone sends me a book or recommends that I read one, I add it to my stack. I believe that everything we need and want from life is given to us and that we sometimes pass-up the best opportunities, more accurately miss them. So, I made a habit, several years ago, to at least test every piece of advice I get from someone, regardless of their economic standing and personal beliefs. Testing in the sense I am using the word means: explore, research, possible even try, or adopt. For me now, it’s as simple to adding it to a list and crossing them off one by one. Sometimes when I get backed up, it can take me months to get a book someone recommends, but I do get to it, and if I like the book I make sure to email or snail mail the person – depending on their communication medium of preference – or call them if time permits.

Books: a list of books I read this week with a short summary paragraph.

Found Money by Steve Wilkinghoff

Snippet: Simple strategies for uncovering the hidden profits and cash flow in your business
Wow. This book got the wheels turning. While I don’t agree with a couple of the points Steve makes in the book, I agree with the rest, and that is impressive. He has created what I feel is a very straight-forward and logical way to approach accounting, and it is not the way your everyday accountant does it. Since, we (jiveSYSTEMS) use Infusionsoft (a CRM platform) to manage our business, we are at a significant advantage because I have most of the data I need to make business decisions at my finger tips, including a revenue forecast report for booking and opportunities. What I am saying is this: if you have a CRM platform, the data you need to make sound decisions about how to grow your company [how being the operative word], it makes your life much easier. Regardless, you need to collect the data and then interpret it. The major question that Steve’s book helps you answer is “How does your business make money?” I guarantee that many of you don’t actually know. If you did, you would be a millionaire, or even a billionaire right now — wouldn’t you? I am not totally excluding myself here either. Their are many ways for a business to make money, some will yield better results than others. The key is to find a way that will yield the best results, constantly and continuously. The only way to do this is to create a systematic method for collecting and then interpreting specific data about your business. Google Analytics is only a small piece of the puzzle. How does your business make money? Chapter 10 was my favorite, it explains how to create a Customer Profitability Map and how to use it to generate more revenue based on two key areas of your client base.

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubnar [executive summary]

Snippet: A rogue explorers the hidden side of everything
I would have most likely told you this book was useless [aka not even mentioned it], that is if I didn’t read “Found Money” first. The reason: Freakonomics has little to no practical application. The book is more like a colleague of this is what people commonly believe and this is the truth, it’s a academics version of the popular television series MythBusters. That’s all I have to say about the book. However, I did read Found Money and therefore derived a very important piece of insight from this book which I will elaborate on for the rest of this section: their are multiple layers to the data you collect about your business–make sure you are collecting accurate information and taking notes about the ways it could be compromised. Here is an example: your monthly ledger may record a healthy NET Profit but does it include your Accounts Payable (A/P) or outstanding checks? Here is another one: your web statistics tracks the number of visitors to your website, you pull your Unique Visitors, but are they truly unique? How many of them delete the cookie that marks them as an old visitor, and then return to your site? You’ve got to know this stuff! If you don’t, you are making decisions based on compromised data. Entire wars have been hinged on single inaccurate details; for example, we tricked Hitler into thinking we were not invading Normandy. He knew D-Day was coming but he got the location wrong. Granted, we don’t have counter-intelligence operatives doing using Jedi mind trick on us. However, when you look at the data that many business collect, you would think there were. My recommendation, if you have a reasonable amount of clients and collect a healthy amount of data about your business, set aside two full days with your team [if you work alone: go get an employee, or a partner if you can't afford one] and challenge every piece of data you collect about your business. As you business grows, if you have quality data on its performance it actually becomes easier to make it grow as long as you [aka your company] has someone who can interpret the data and make sound business decisions from it.

Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono [executive summary]

Snippet: An essential approach to business management
I did not connect with the genuis contained within this book at first. It all seem fairly obvious to me. It still does. However, some things are easy for some and very difficult and often vice-versa. So what are the Six Thinking Hats? They are interchangeable hats that you wear to expedite problem solving.

Six Hats, Six Colors

The knowledge shared in this book, (well, executive summary of the book), is definitely growing on me.

Blog Posts from Other Blogs: Noteworthy posts from my Google Reader

Reviewing Covey’s 4 Quadrants

The main discovery of which was Covey’s 4 Quadrants which I don’t know how I missed before. I love Stephen Covey’s work. The goal it to spend most of your time in Quadrant 2 [see below].

I feel you should ‘email’ into Quadrant 1. The key to unlocking hidden growth potential is weening yourself out of your inbox and into performing scheduled tasks that are geared toward growing your business.

Closing Thoughts

As I make more time to study and systematically apply what I have learned, my business grows; it grows at an ever-increasing rate. It is often the things that we don’t make time for that have the power to make our businesses grow. The pursuit of knowledge for entrepreneur is a business activity and therefore should be treated as such. You should schedule time to study. Ultimately, the goal should be to study more than you work. This is because growing your business isn’t about doing more work, it’s about more thought. Building a business is about building people, and you are one of those people.

[weekly review] Trust Agents, Art of the Start, Kaikaku, Music for Work, FTC Rules

FollowFlywheel — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:29:48 +0000

I have decided to do a weekly review of my noteworthy activities that may interest and hopefully benefit you in some way. This is my first entry, so you can expect the structure to improve a lot in future posts. However, I view this entry more so than others as my personal journal. Accordingly, I would like the presentation to stay fairly organic. Also, if you have any suggestions on how I can improve the way I present things to you, or simply would like me to write about an area of my week that I do not mention, I am all ears. After all, I am here to serve you.

Books: a list of books I read this week with a short summary paragraph.

Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

Snippet: Using the web to build influence, improve retention, and earn trust.
After reading their manifesto Trust Economies which definitely gave me a much clearer perspective on how marketing is evolving, I decided to buy their book which was published this August. It did not disappoint. The book is now highlighted from cover-to-cover–it was that good! I think we all recognize that a shift is taking place. The key is understanding why and how the business landscape is changing. Social media provides us with a network of friends that extends beyond our town, city, country, and even spoken language. More and more buying decisions are being made based on blog posts and comments in the social domain. So, unless your involved in an industry that is still in the stone age, I suggest you join in the conversation. A blog is the foundation for your online presence, Twitter is a close second. To learn more, you could read my post about the 5 Major Reasons You Should Start Blogging.

The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki [executive summary]

Snippet: Everyone should be careful to observe which way their heart draws them, and then choose the way with all their strength.
I learned something vitally important from this book. In the past, I have always struggled writing mission statements because they seem, well, superfluous, and I am don’t like waste of any kind. Guy says mission statements are long, boring and irrelevant. I think he is right! His solution is to make a mantra. I have since authored several mantra’s and mantra-like statements to support my business endeavours. Why does your business exist? Our mantra at jiveSYSTEMS is “Connecting People.” It has much more meaning than our service description “Video Email and Web Video Marketing System, with Unlimited Coaching and Support.” The root of a mantra is meaning and therefore it brings meaning to your daily tasks. Take 10 minutes and author your mantra, right now. It’s easy, ask yourself: 1) who do I serve; and 2) how do I serve?

Kaikaku by Norman Bodek [executive summary]

Snippet: The power and magic of lean: a study in knowledge transfer.
This book is about manufacturing. I am not in the manufacturing business. However, Norman defines “lean as an all out war against waste.” I like that!

Here are my cliff notes in bullet form:

Maximize people and processes will improve as a result.
Trace issues to the cause. Ask “Why” over and over until you identify the cause.
Implement systems for continuous improvement.
Business is not about a series of tasks, it’s a flow of events toward a result.
Encourage your team to find the answers to their questions.
How can I please my customers by giving them exactly what they want?
One way to improve motion is to improve the equipment.
Engage your team in bottom up innovation by providing them with a voice.
Create the ideal work conditions.

Blog Posts from Other Blogs: Noteworthy posts from my Google Reader

The Best Sounds for Getting Work Done

Music motivates me–it’s a fact, I have known for quite some time. I have about 3 tracks I put on repeat when I am writing. Right now, I am listening to Basement Jaxx, ‘If I Ever Recover’ on repeat. The track has a moderately fast pulsing sound that I latch onto and it keeps me focused. However, the track depends on my mood or the task at hand. If you haven’t already, you could pick a couple of tracks that is has a fairly constant beat and little to no vocals; next time you need to write a long email, stick your head phones on and give it a go–place each of the tracks on repeat and see which one works best. It can be a little annoying at first, especially if you fail to focus your attention on the task. When you do get into the zone though, the repetition of the song often freezes time for you, though it will fly by in the real world. This heightened level of focus can significantly improve your output.

Two Posts on the new FTC Rules for Online Marketeers

FTC Drops the Banhammer on Undisclosed Reviews by Joe Manna, Infusionsoft Community Manager
FTC Imposes New Rules for Online Marketeers by Dave Kaminski, CEO/Founder of Web Video University

I was going to write a blog post myself about this topic. However, Joe and Dave have done an absolutely stellar job. Dave is a 10 year direct response marketing veteran who successfully made the transition into new media. Joe manages Infusionsoft’s online community which includes their awesome blog. Infusionsoft has made the Inc.500 list 3 years in a row.

What do these changes mean to you? I don’t really know. The new rules are so bloody ambiguous. What have I changed since learning about the new rules? Nothing. We always present jiveSYSTEMS in a fair and totally honest light. We are not spammers and our blog is packed full of tried-and-true information, nearly all of which is from my own first-hand experience. Never-the-less, if you market your business online, I do recommend that you read both Joe’s and Dave’s blog posts. It took me about 20 minutes at a lesuriely pace to read both posts.

Closing Thoughts

As we (jiveSYSTEMS) make the transition from start-up into small business, I am constantly reminded that life and therefore business is about people. The more and more I learn, the less and less I realize you have have to know to become successful. To build a business that will stand the test of time you need to: know yourself, understand your team, assiduously interact with your customers, and study your competition.

I do hope you have found this entry useful. Please feel free to leave questions, comments and feedback below.

We Made a Halloween Video Email Template for You

Video Coach — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:31:15 +0000

Every one of our members has access to different holiday themed templates. In the spirit of halloween, we have just recently added a new animated template called H-Halloween Haunted House. You can see a screenshot of this new template below.

Holiday templates can be used in a number of ways:

Personally to spread holiday cheer to friends and family
Internally within your team to spice up the regular video email communications
If you are holding an event (i.e. costume party), the template can build more excitement and increase attendance
Externally with your clients to add some holiday cheer
Announce special service/product promotions for the season

By taking advantage of the holiday templates available, you can further differentiate yourself from the competition and build more customer loyalty. After all, if you send them a quick video wishing them a happy holiday, you will position yourself more as their friend and less of a strictly business contact.

If you’ve found a creative way to use the holiday templates, please post a response so we can help others take advantage of these cool templates.

jiveSYSTEMS Blog » Our Chronicle

[newsletter] iPad and iPhone Support, New Member Ambassador

Highlights

Summary of Popular Posts

Other posts

Team News

Member Ambassador

Closing Thoughts

Most Popular Posts

[newsletter] It’s All About Having a Good Team

Summary of Popular Posts

Other Posts

Team News

Software Updates

Closing Thoughts

Inside-Look at the jiveSYSTEMS New Member Tutorial #1

Most Popular Posts

[newsletter] Big Improvements, 3 Great Posts, and More…

Summary of Popular Posts

Team News

Software Updates

Closing Thoughts

[newsletter] It’s That Time Again, and We Have Lots of News

In Other News

Here is a Rundown of the Most Popular Posts I have recently Published [and some of my personal favorites]

Think-Automate: Do it, Automate it, Delegate it, or Ditch it

The old school mentality is “Do it, delegate it, or ditch it.”

Our new skool approach is “Do it, automate it, delegate it, or ditch it,” or “Think-Automate.”

Most Popular Posts

[weekly review] How to Get More Done in Less Time

Improving Base Skills – How to Get More Done in Less Time

[weekly review] Your Health is About More Than Your Business

Books: a list of books I read this week with a short summary paragraph.

Closing Thoughts

[newsletter] A Shapshot of the Lastest Blog Posts and Weekly Reviews

Blog Posts – Here is the snapshot

Weekly Reviews

Most Popular Posts

[reflections] Who We Are & What We Do

Introduction

Video Email and Web Video

What Makes Us Special

Our Benefits and Features

An Epiphany

Most Popular Posts

[weekly review] Selling Stars, More Thoughts on Priortization, Keeping Life Simple

Books: a list of books I read this week with a short summary paragraph.

Closing Thoughts

Content Creation

Exercising

Learning

Eating

Traveling and Meeting New People

Keep Life Simple

[weekly review] Found Money, Freakonomics, Six Thinking Hats, Covey’s Quadrants

Books: a list of books I read this week with a short summary paragraph.

Found Money by Steve Wilkinghoff

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubnar [executive summary]

Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono [executive summary]

Six Hats, Six Colors

Blog Posts from Other Blogs: Noteworthy posts from my Google Reader

Closing Thoughts

[weekly review] Trust Agents, Art of the Start, Kaikaku, Music for Work, FTC Rules

Books: a list of books I read this week with a short summary paragraph.

Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki [executive summary]

Kaikaku by Norman Bodek [executive summary]

Blog Posts from Other Blogs: Noteworthy posts from my Google Reader

Two Posts on the new FTC Rules for Online Marketeers

Closing Thoughts

We Made a Halloween Video Email Template for You