My God! I got 489 emails in one month. Now I'm sure for some people that's minuscule compared to their daily intake of the inbox, but actually every single one of the aforementioned, was junk. I have a couple of different emails addresses; one is for real business and the other is a yahoo account that I give out when I am forced to subscribe to something I have a small interest in reading about. I find it interesting that many of these companies say they don't give out or sell your email address, but I have to wonder if that's true.
Protect yourself from the world of spam and create an email for the things you're just not sure you want. I belong to a few groups on Linkedin and I need to go back into my settings because every time someone posts in one of the groups, I am instantly informed. I should keep track of how much time I spend deleting these notifications (Though it is my fault).
Because I have a couple of websites, a few different interests, and because when I ghostwrite I must research, I am often times a marked man. Google and FB have it down when it comes to direct market advertising. If I go to a website about rock climbing, within a day or so, I'll begin seeing advertising alongside of my inbox regarding rock climbing. If I mention ghostwriting in one of my out emails, I also get advertising about ghostwriting. Hmmm!
I am inundated with offers to be a better marketer, to have whiter teeth, lose 25 lbs (do they know something), to make my schlong long enough to trip over, and to avail myself of younger women with no integrity and just want to meet me, an older man (because the younger one's just aren't sexy enough?)
Then there are the offers to teach me how to be a consultant (have they not read my works?). There have been many consultants that want me to follow their free newsletter so they can offer me a package deal later. I can even sign up and pay for their courses on how to be a consultant (groups I've never even heard of). Hmm! If you can't do, then teach.
As I often do here in SituationsX, and occasionally at my other blog, www.booksbyjeffscott.blogspot.com I offer information for free that will help people in some positive way. I am about to listen to a webinar on how to expand my business of selling my books and the books of the people for whom I ghostwrite. After the seminar/webinar I will be hit up to join a class for a mere $5000. They have some good information I'm sure, and yes, some of the classes will pay off for those that really accurately utilize the information, but the numbers will be small. Instead, I listen to the free information; taping it on my recorder and then do a reverse analysis. I can usually figure out everything they're going to sell in their program. Is it fair that I do this?...take info and not pay them for figuring out their program?
I say give it away. Give give give until you can't give anymore. I've donated books to youth groups. I've donated my time. I'm about to donate my newly acquired speaking abilities to a few junior colleges. I give of myself and if it comes back to me, then that's great. I make a good living through my ghostwriting and my books (because one does need to make a living). Give of yourself and the universe will find a way to match your vibration.
I'm about to rearrange my website www.booksbyjeffscott.com and offer an affiliate program. I'm not offering a class so I can make money, and then if you do what I say, perhaps you'll make some money also. I'm making an offer that if you have a website and want to be an affiliate, we both make some dollars. I also have a download for those that are Networkers (know how to use small talk for sales) and want to add to their income. Is this your type of gig?
It's a tough economy and you never know what life will present to you (unless Google catches wind of your searches). Learn how to expand with a side income before you're even close to being stuck in a SituationsX.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
America, what happened?
Are there too many rules these days for what seems to be anything and everything? I recently received an email from my mother that actually made a lot of sense, but it had one drawback, which I will share at the end of this post.
The email presented an idea of real freedom that people born between 1925 and 1975 got to experience, and that people of the present day, mostly kids, have never known. There were things such as: not coming home until the street lights went on (we didn't worry about being nabbed), we could ride our bikes and sometimes fall off (maybe we got hurt maybe we didn't) we experienced a life of play while using our imagination (do kids even know what hide & seek is?) In sports, you either made the starting line-up, or you sat on the bench during the whole game (we couldn't cry to our parents because their anti-dote was to say, "step up your game," they didn't complain to the coach for us and make excuses).
A friend of mine, Vince Mancino, who I assisted in writing his book, Down the Drain, has basically said it best, merely by the title, Down the Drain. America has gotten so caught up with "protection" and "prevention" that they have lost sight of the fact that loss or lack, teaches us extremely valuable lessons; how to step up our game. There are a lot of ideas in Vince's book that we need desperately to revert to; we need to not be helicopter parents, stay-at-home moms need to not bitch about how hard their day was when the kids have been in class for most of it, and the husband is sweatin' his brow just so she can have bon-bons. Politicians need to get a clue that wealthy pay more than their fair share of the taxes, willingly make large charitable contributions, and that eventually the well will run dry, or at the least, the donation for a political run will be limited, if presented at all.
The world really is a much different place than when I was growing up. I truly wish every kid of the day could experience it in the same way as my generation. I didn't stay home to play video games during a great summer day. I was either playing a great game of Over the Line baseball, or jumping off the local pier at the beach. Were there risks being taken? Would our parents have objected? I'm sure they would have, but at least we got the experiences before we got the beating. That's another thing; we didn't have a government agency called Child Protective Services to dictate what our parents knew was right or wrong, we learned by a swat, or sometimes a bar of soap. Our parents were the law and we knew it.
As Vince puts it in his book, it seems that the kids of the day, whether in the working field or in school, just don't have the gumption or the spirit of play; as the way of our generation. Maybe that's okay, but maybe it's not. Because they have had so many rules and regulations put on their proverbial plate, they aren't allowed to make mistakes which really, in turn, enable them to learn. It's a proven fact that the more regulations society has pressed upon them, the more dangerous it becomes.
I'm hitting my 50th this year and I've done so many things in my past, some to be proud of and some not, but all in all, I'm so glad I grew up in the era that I have. I was allowed to speak my voice (without a permit), whether anyone wanted to hear it or not. I was allowed to live, experience and many times get things wrong, which as it turns out, has always been at my expense.
The kids of today will never know the freedoms of my generation, and so be it. Though I find the things in their generation, such as technology and quantum theory exciting, I wouldn't trade my era for all the tea in China. If the kids of today took the time and could understand my generation, and then add to it, their information; they'd be unstoppable.
Though each generation has something to offer, I believe it will be interesting to see what the youth of today will show the world...besides a back-flip off of the latest skateboard ramp...which my gen invented.
It's a different world than the one I grew up in and there will always be, no generations excluded from a SituationsX.
The email presented an idea of real freedom that people born between 1925 and 1975 got to experience, and that people of the present day, mostly kids, have never known. There were things such as: not coming home until the street lights went on (we didn't worry about being nabbed), we could ride our bikes and sometimes fall off (maybe we got hurt maybe we didn't) we experienced a life of play while using our imagination (do kids even know what hide & seek is?) In sports, you either made the starting line-up, or you sat on the bench during the whole game (we couldn't cry to our parents because their anti-dote was to say, "step up your game," they didn't complain to the coach for us and make excuses).
A friend of mine, Vince Mancino, who I assisted in writing his book, Down the Drain, has basically said it best, merely by the title, Down the Drain. America has gotten so caught up with "protection" and "prevention" that they have lost sight of the fact that loss or lack, teaches us extremely valuable lessons; how to step up our game. There are a lot of ideas in Vince's book that we need desperately to revert to; we need to not be helicopter parents, stay-at-home moms need to not bitch about how hard their day was when the kids have been in class for most of it, and the husband is sweatin' his brow just so she can have bon-bons. Politicians need to get a clue that wealthy pay more than their fair share of the taxes, willingly make large charitable contributions, and that eventually the well will run dry, or at the least, the donation for a political run will be limited, if presented at all.
The world really is a much different place than when I was growing up. I truly wish every kid of the day could experience it in the same way as my generation. I didn't stay home to play video games during a great summer day. I was either playing a great game of Over the Line baseball, or jumping off the local pier at the beach. Were there risks being taken? Would our parents have objected? I'm sure they would have, but at least we got the experiences before we got the beating. That's another thing; we didn't have a government agency called Child Protective Services to dictate what our parents knew was right or wrong, we learned by a swat, or sometimes a bar of soap. Our parents were the law and we knew it.
As Vince puts it in his book, it seems that the kids of the day, whether in the working field or in school, just don't have the gumption or the spirit of play; as the way of our generation. Maybe that's okay, but maybe it's not. Because they have had so many rules and regulations put on their proverbial plate, they aren't allowed to make mistakes which really, in turn, enable them to learn. It's a proven fact that the more regulations society has pressed upon them, the more dangerous it becomes.
I'm hitting my 50th this year and I've done so many things in my past, some to be proud of and some not, but all in all, I'm so glad I grew up in the era that I have. I was allowed to speak my voice (without a permit), whether anyone wanted to hear it or not. I was allowed to live, experience and many times get things wrong, which as it turns out, has always been at my expense.
The kids of today will never know the freedoms of my generation, and so be it. Though I find the things in their generation, such as technology and quantum theory exciting, I wouldn't trade my era for all the tea in China. If the kids of today took the time and could understand my generation, and then add to it, their information; they'd be unstoppable.
Though each generation has something to offer, I believe it will be interesting to see what the youth of today will show the world...besides a back-flip off of the latest skateboard ramp...which my gen invented.
It's a different world than the one I grew up in and there will always be, no generations excluded from a SituationsX.
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