I just returned from an amazing weekend at the NAMS Workshop in Atlanta where I spoke/taught as well as spent a bunch of time in the one-on-one room giving attendees 15 minute clarity sessions. I also got to relax and enjoy time with my friends and meet new friends, as well. (More on that, though, soon.)

As I was in the airport waiting to head back home, I thought of a great question.  This is what I asked.

“What is your biggest tip for those of you who fly often to make life easier, be more comfortable – and/or to earn the most out of your trips in the way of frequent flyer miles, etc?”

I hope you enjoy the responses. I did.

Rachel Rofe of How To Get Every Book You Write Onto The First Page Of Kindle says:

1. Get an AmEx Platinum card! This gets you into all their lounges at airports. SOOO great – you get outlets, extra room, business centers, free food/drinks, and lots of other goodies..

2. Those Xpress Spa stations at the airport = my favorite invention of the month. 25 minute manicure as you sit on an EPIC massage chair. Love.

3. If you go on American Airlines, splurge for the extra legroom and go for aisle 8. You get exit-row legroom (right behind first class) and you get off the plane sooner. (Side note: I got this entire row to myself. WOOHOO!)

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Plan Your Online Business says:

I consider travel time “my” time. So while others are stressing about a flight delay, I'm relaxing with a book I've been too busy to read or downloading a new app I can play with. That takes all the pressure out of the trip.

I also have a standard packing plan – for 3 day weekend events, my mastermind meetings, and week long trips. So when it's time to pack up, I print the appropriate packing list – and relax, knowing I won't forget anything.

I always check my bags. No sense in stressing about overhead space or working around things under my feet. If I'm traveling with a computer, I use a rolling bag to save wear and tear on my back. But increasingly I tuck my mini-ipad into my purse, pack the keyboard and we're off!

I use my noise cancelling earphones on the plane and generally start with a relaxation audio so that I'm in the right frame of mind for creative thinking. This time on the road is great for letting new ideas come out. But if you don't give yourself the “time space” you'll never get those deep ideas.

Enjoy the trip!

Kevin Riley of  Blogpreneur Training says:

Avoiding jetlag. I love traveling and have been taking intercontinental flights since I was a kid. One thing that I do, which IMO leaves me without any jetlag (I'll fly from Osaka to Switzerland – an 8 hour time difference – and easily adjust to the local time instantly), is to stay awake.

I stay awake most of the flight (with just a 1/2-hour catnap somewhere over Asia) and watch a ton of movies. I'll get inspired and start writing stuff in a notebook (my popular Recipe For Commercial Videos was conceived on a flight to Austria in 2008, when I saw a German commercial on the plane). I eat all the airplane meals (yes, I'm brave that way), have a few drinks (a little alcohol is always nice, but I don't get carried away – except for that one flight to Calgary in 1978), and I drink tons of water (get them from the tray coming around and help myself at the dispenser near the kitchen). Very important to stay well hydrated, as airplane air is dry.

When arriving at my destination, I do NOT go to sleep or even take a nap if it's still afternoon or early evening. I always stay up until 10-11 pm, no matter how tired I am. This way, I get a good sleep, wake up refreshed at the local time's morning, and get right into the swing of local time.

Mark Mason of LateNightIM.com says:

I travel all over the world for my day job. On any given week, you can find me podcasting from a hotel in Taipei, Taiwan or blogging from an airport in Bangalore, India. As a result, I am constantly on the lookout for power to charge my iDevices.

By far the best travel gear investment that I ever made was when I bought a HyperJuice battery. This external battery can charge my MacBook Air, my iPhone and my iPad (or any other USB device). I just charge it up before I leave home (or the hotel) and put it in my backpack. That way, I never run out of power on the go.

By the way, a great Swiss Backpack made for laptops is another travel godsend. Don't leave home without it.

Felicia Slattery of Signature Speech Secrets says:

As you know, I had a rough go of it with my health last year, and all work, including business (or other travel) screeched to a halt. However, I found my frequent travel tip also worked for my stays in the hospital as well.

In my career as a professional speaker, I have traveled to loads of events across the country. And I find a few things with regard to packing make life so much more fun!

1. Master Travel List
Several years ago, while I was on an organizational kick, I read about creating master lists for everything. The only one that's stuck with me to this day are my travel lists. I even created travel lists for my kids so when we go on family vacations I can simply print a list for each child and check things off. For my work, it's been such a time-saver because instead of re-inventing the wheel every single time I have to get ready to leave, I simply print my list – which I like printed on actual paper rather than on a device – and start checking off what I need as I pack it.

2. Pre-Packed Toiletry Bag
The one time I didn't follow through on this, I ended up speaking at an event right after the amazing, late, great Zig Ziglar; we were in Florida (humid-city, as you know) and my wild wavy hair was without hair spray. So on the most important speaking day of my career, I had a bad hair day. I learned to never again skip this tip for myself. Of course before a trip, things are crazy busy, and there's always last minute work things going on. But after a trip, you can arrive home and take a deep breath and regroup. Part of my regrouping and unpacking process involves assessing everything in my toiletry bag and refilling or replacing everything before putting it back into my closet. Then it is ready to go for the next trip and all I have to do is pull it out and pack it. Part of this tip includes having doubles of everything I need; one for daily use, one for travel use. So I have my regular daily toothbrush, for example, and I have another toothbrush already packed in my toiletry bag. Same with deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, gel, razor, shaving cream, dental floss, toothpaste, soap, comb, brush, and yes hair spray. If I'm running low on anything, I add it to my grocery shopping list and when I get home from shopping, I refill or replace what's needed and then store the bag until the next trip. Then before a trip when I'm running around at the last minute with everything else, I don't have to worry about stopping somewhere to pick up more deodorant. It's ready to go and totally stress-free!

3. Pre-Packed Suitcase
Now I don't go as far as having all my clothes in a bag ready to go, but like the toiletry bag, I have a few things I bring with me on every trip. So I re-stock when I get home from the trip, so when it comes time to add all my clothes, I don't have less to remember. I keep a set of workout clothes packed, a bathing suit for the hotel's hot tub after a long day, a pair of my favorite comfy socks to wear at night – because every hotel room is freezing to me, etc. That means fewer items for my master list and fewer things to throw together when I have to leave.

4. Pre-Packed Briefcase/Business Bag
Are you seeing a theme here? After I get home I re-stock my business cards, neatly arrange my extension cords that I threw in the bag after the event while rushing to get back to the airport, check to see if my pens still have enough ink, and make sure I have a clean notebook ready to go for the next time I have to make a dash out the door for the airport.

Dr. Mani of How to Set Goals says:

My biggest tip is really a “non-tip”. Before flying, ask yourself if you really have to! The answer to that question is “No” so often, that I've rarely found myself on board an airplane for anything other than on a holiday trip

We often hurry and rush around to keep “doing” stuff that we rarely ask if there's an alternative or work-around. With communications technology becoming so wonderful,
there are few circumstances where, at least as an online entrepreneur, you're forced to travel anywhere at all.

Connie Ragen Green of Affiliate Marketing Case Studies says:

The smartest thing I did last year was to apply for a security clearance through the Global Entry – http://www.globalentry.gov/ – program. This program is open to all United States citizens and the cost is only one hundred dollars every five years.

I travel extensively these days, and during 2012 I flew thirty-six times, including domestic travel and international travel to China, Thailand, Finland, Costa Rica, and the United Kingdom. This program made it all go smoothly and saved me lots of time, while also reducing the stress that can be associated with flying these days. Many times I do not have to remove my shoes, jacket, or laptop, and I no longer wait in line or fill out customs forms.

More and more airports around the world are now recognizing this program, and I do not think it is too much to ask of us to take this extra step to ensure our safety and the safety of others.

Karon Thackston of Step-by-Step Copywriting Course says:

Oftentimes, what I DON'T take is as important as what I do take. I'm not known for packing light (all those shoes take up space!) so I try and save inches wherever I can. The better hotels have great brands of shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, etc. in the room so I leave all those bottles at home and use what's provided by Marriott, Hilton or wherever I'm staying.

I also don't bring a lot of cash. Practically every place along the way takes credit or debit cards from the parking lot to the food kiosks/restaurants at the airports. I carry a little moola for tips and whatnot then put everything else on the card. Not only do I not have to worry about running out of cash or paying ungodly ATM fees, but I get extra bonus points for using my cards. Plus, it's very easy to keep up with my expenses since they all appear on my statement every month.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

I don't fly as much as some of my friends, but I do travel more than many people (averaging 6-12 trips per year between personal/family and professional), so I've developed systems to make the travel less stressful.

Standard Printable Packing List. I have a standard packing list that I print before every trip.  I cross off items as I put them into my backpack or suitcase and it ensure that I don't do anything silly like leave my cell phone, charger, favorite lip gloss, wine opener or prescription behind. I highly recommend you do this as forgetting something important can stress out your trip as you're running around trying to get it replaced.

Standard Luggage. I use the same backpack (with the laptop pocket in it) for every trip. That way I know which pocket has my passport and itinerary, which pocket contains my earplugs, where my money is, and where I can quickly access my iPad to read on the flight.

Standard Travel Clothing/Patterns. Personally I like routine when I travel. I check my suitcase now so that I can put all my liquids (shampoo, etc.)  in it and not have to worry about it. I wear sneakers/gym shoes because it's easy to run through an airport in comfy shoes and my feet are warmer on the plane. I pack my belt so I don't have to take it off during screening. I have my prescription in my backpack in case my suitcase gets lost. All the usual stuff – just makes it much easier for me to relax, especially when coming home from an event when my brain is super tired.

Know What Stresses you Out. If going through security stresses you, then just check your main suitcase and strip down to essentials before you get into the line. (Taking everything out of your pockets, removing your belt, etc., before you even head into the security area.) For me, the noisiness of the plane rattles me. Therefore I actually wear double earplugs. I have one set in my ears. One pair over them. This relaxes me quite a bit.

Always Be Earning the Points. One thing I'm definitely slow on the uptake on is earning points. This past weekend, Connie and David Perdew each invited me up to the Concierge area at the Marriott where we were staying to talk. There was food and service up there and personal guests were welcome. DUH. I stay there often enough now that I certainly *should* be racking up points with them. I'm now all signed up.

Get Loyalty Points at the Airport. I just found out this weekend that some of the airports have loyalty cards. So if you fly through Atlanta (or to Atlanta) a lot like I do, I just register with them and I can earn Delta miles or other miles just for buying stuff like water or meals. Cool. http://thanksagain.com/ for instance, http://thanksagain.com/atl is the Atlanta one.

Well that's what I've got for you today off the top of my head. What is your biggest tip for relaxed travel when going to events like NAMS?

By the way, I hope to see you there in August. I'll be there! Click here to join me.

Best of luck.
Nicole

If you've missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

This week we asked our panel of experts something a little different to get ideas for thinking creatively in your business.

“What's a unique way you make money – something that most people might not think of or think that you would do?”

Here are their responses.

Rachel Rofe of How To Get Every Book You Write Onto The First Page Of Kindle says:

Well, I recently outed myself to my list, but I created a site back in 2006 or 2007 that shows people how they can marry Russian women. I learned a whole lot about Russian culture while making that site!

Another unique way to make money has been with my blog. Sometimes I make blog posts that are informational but also include some of my products, like this one which is a detailed explanation about how to publish a book.

I then add an affiliate link to the post into my affiliate center. That makes it so that affiliates can get an affiliate link to send traffic to that individual blog post.

Basically, affiliates get paid to share great content. A lot of times, leads come to my site and end up staying for a while. They often buy my other products.

And since my affiliate program pays out lifetime commissions, affiliates can send people to a FREE blog post, but get paid for years to come on anything their leads buy.

It's a great win-win-win. Affiliates can share great content AND get paid for it, customers GET great content, and I get more exposure to my blog.

Note from Nik. I do love having the ability to share Rachel's blog posts like the one above with an affiliate link. It's great content and it has profit potential. Two things I love.

Terry Dean of Internet Lifestyle Cheat Sheets says:

Good question. I make money all the normal ways: product sales, coaching, services, Kindle, and many affiliate programs. But here's a method a lot of people might not have thought about. I have business partners in a couple of other countries that translate and sell my products to their audiences.

For example, I have a business partner in Russia who translates my products into Russian including even republishing my physical book into Russian. It's their business. They do the work and pay me a royalty fee on everything they sell that's mine.

I also do a webinar for them around quarterly. They supply a translator and we do a content rich webinar that sells one of the partner products at the end.

This is a fun way to expand your publishing business into other markets and languages while adding almost no additional work for your business (the webinars are usually ones I've done for my own audience and the partner handles the translation of them).

How do you get deals like this? Once you build a name in your market, you may get approached by them. Or it can also be as simple as sending an email to your own list letting them know you're interested in this kind of arrangement. Most of the people who would want to do this with you would already be on your list as one of your current fans.

If you're fluent in another language, this also becomes a potential business idea for you – republishing someone else's work into another language. You'll find most markets are less competitive than the English version.

Note from Nik. Terry's so smart. I've thought about paying to have some of my books translated, but never considered the model he has where he just sits back and collects royalties. It's totally hands-off. And, pretty brilliant.

Connie Ragen Green of Affiliate Marketing Secrets Explained says:

I had to think about this question, because my business tends to overlap with my personal life these days. One unique way that I've made money several times now is by helping my friends to ‘market' their high school age kids so that they are more attractive to the colleges.

This started a couple of years ago when my friend's daughter was told by a school guidance counselor that she would most likely not be accepted by the colleges of her choice because the only thing in her favor was her grades. She was a shy, introverted girl who had never joined clubs or become involved with other activities at school. She was an accomplished pianist, loved soccer, and excelled in mathematics.

We set up a blog for her so that she could share her thoughts and ideas with the world. Being able to communicate from behind a computer made it much easier for her. We also set up a YouTube channel where she could post videos of herself playing the piano. She began to blog about the school's soccer team, analyzing each game and giving tips for what they could do to improve. She also blogged about math, sharing tips and strategies for some difficult concepts. Finally, I had her connect with three ‘influencers' at her school, asking them to tell others about what she was doing online.

The results were fast, fun, and fantastic! She was asked by the music department to join them for specific performances; the math department asked her to help with some after school tutoring, and the soccer coach asked her to come in as a strategist for the season. Her gifts and talents were being noticed and acknowledged.

And, yes, she was accepted by all five colleges she applied to, and she is now a freshman at the University of Texas in Austin.

Note from Nik. Great idea from Connie. And I'm betting whatever she charged, the parents thought it was a steal considering the results they got.

Shannon Cherry of Learn How I Get *Paid* to Attend Events says:

I have several ‘sneaky' ways to add more money to my bottom line. But the most profitable to date has been getting sponsors to pay me to do my marketing.

I've been using sponsors to underwrite everything lately.

• Sponsors pay for me to attend events. I have sponsors pay for travel, lodging, meals, outfits and even gifts to give out whether I am speaking or not.
• Sponsors have paid for me to blog on my own blog, Mommy-Inc.com.
• Sponsors are paying for some of my renovations in my house because I am blogging about it.

(Yes, that means you do NOT have to have your own live event to get sponsored!)

In the past few years, I've earned more than $170,000 just in sponsorships alone.

How does it work?

If I am reaching a particular target market, I find a company who wants a connection to that target market. Then I make that connection for them, by simply using the marketing I am already doing, and they pay me.

Sponsorship marketing is still in its infancy, so now is the time to add this to your revenue mix. If you have a direct connection to a particular market, take the extra step now and get companies to pay you to market to them. If done right, you can be paid for years to come.

You can learn Shannon's system here: Learn How I Get Paid to Attend Events

Note from Nik. Shannon has been talking about these sponsorships that she gets for a few years now, and every time she does, my jaw drops. It's like magic to me. Seriously, amazing stuff. I need new flooring in my house. Hmmm… maybe I should think about this.

Mark Mason from the Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast says:

Well, here is something really different — a non-traditional answer for you. One of the best “unique” ways to make money that I have found is to help people without asking for anything. In other words, helping people absolutely for free and often without being asked.

For example, I just noticed that a guy was having trouble on facebook installing a plug-in in wordpress. I made him a quick YouTube video and sent it to him. Probably saved him hours (maybe more). He was stunned and amazed that I took the time to help. And that is important — I did it to help him. But there are a three good things that might happen.

One — he will almost certainly say thanks. That might seem like a small thing, but I have found selfishly that gratitude and praise from others adds fuel to my fire. I love that feeling of knowing I helped someone and hearing them gushing about what a big deal it was to them. Just makes me happy — selfish, but true.

Two — He will tell people about it. Brand and reputation is everything online. ‘Nuff said.

Three — And he and his friends (and his friends friends) might buy stuff from me someday. Maybe. All just because I helped without being asked. Notice that the money is the last thing. That's important. You need to be satisfied that helping people is enough. Then the money will come.

“You can get everything you want in life by helping enough other people get what they want.” — Zig Ziglar

Note from Nik. True. I find that the saying “the more you do, the luckier you get” holds true.  However, and I'm sure Mark would agree, doing nice things repeatedly without selling won't cut it either. I give all the time, and I have learned over the years that not everyone is wired to reciprocate. If you're hoping that they'll figure it out, it can eat away at the relationship. So, you do also have to be asking for things in return.

But, giving from a place of goodness and not needing or asking for anything in return is sure a great feeling, too. Hmmm… I'm thinking this needs to be a separate blog post. Watch for that.

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

My surprising income stream probably comes from my little blog network. I run ten blogs on a variety of home and family topics and I earn income in quite a few ways there.

First, it's part of an ‘ad network' that pays a tiny amount per ad impression. Two ad impressions are served for every page view so that tiny amount adds up pretty well over a month.

Second, the network earns a nice amount of ‘pay for placement' advertising income as well. This income fluctuates quite a bit, some months I may see only a couple hundred and others months I'll see close to a grand. If I would intentionally promote sponsorship, I'm sure I'd have more steady income from that – I just can't make myself do that. I'd love to work with a partner on that, it has so much potential!

There are some non-financial benefits too. Naturally we get a lot of product reviews offers as well and I'm very choosy about what we accept. I'm not in the habit of doing free PR for anyone but if it's a great product that I'd want anyways or can use as a gift for one of my nieces or nephews – I'll go for it.

Everything else I do online has to be so targeted, so specific! The blog network is all about sheer magnitude of all kinds of content and traffic so it's very different animal for me to manage. I have created it to run as independently as possible. All of the new content is created by my blogging interns and I have a VA who manages email inquiries.

Note from Nik. I love Kelly's blog networks. And the fact that they've evolved and changed over time has been cool to watch.

Jason Fladlien of WP Secure Pro says:

Nobody really sees this, but we license whole or parts of the code for our software… sometimes directly to others marketers in our niche, but also to marketers outside of our niche.

A lot of software developers don't understand that their code has a lot of value – and when faced with the option of developing parts of all of software from scratch or paying someone a few grand to hand over it already done – well obviously a lot of people would happily pay you $2,000.

That's why it baffles me that people on the Warrior Forum sell software for like $10 or $20 a pop. The bigger picture is that it behooves us all to think in terms of ASSETS, not products or services. A product IS an asset, but an asset doesn't JUST have to be a product.

What are ways you can take your current ASSETS and leverage them outside of their normal function? That's a profitable thought exercise to have

-> Check out Jason's course to make sure your WordPress blogs are safe and secure here:  WP Secure Pro

Note from Nik. As I've said in the past, Jason is freaky smart. The way I understand this is – he is saying that he sells rights to his software (or pieces and parts of it) – similar to Resale or PLR rights, but with software instead of content. Not only is he selling to his direct competition, but he's also finding other markets of people who may be interested, as well. Smart. Smart. Smart.

One of the products that I bought from Jason and have listened to many times is this one: Six Figure Baby. Check that out. I love it.

Susanne Myers of  Daily Affiliate Tasks says:

I’m an affiliate marketer and make money in a variety of niches. Some are larger than others. Today I want to share one of my smallest niches with you – a tomato cookbook. Toward the end of the summer I noticed that there were tomatoes everywhere. The store, the farmers market and of course my own kitchen counter. Neighbors would drop off buckets full of these delicious red fruits (yes, they are fruits) and I had to get creative in what to make with them and how to preserve them.

One weekend, I sat down and wrote a kindle cookbook all about cooking tomatoes. It includes salads, soups and the like but also more exotic dishes like tomato jam and tomato pie. I formatted it for Amazon Kindle and uploaded it to the Amazon Kindle Store. It’s been selling like hotcakes. The past few weeks sales started to slow down as tomatoes are no longer in season, but I’m sure I’ll continue to sell a few copies each week over the winter, and really see sales pick back up early next summer.

The Tomato Cookbook

The beauty of this money making method is that it’s completely passive. I wrote and uploaded the book and I’m done. Amazon takes care of orders, fulfillment, customer service emails and even some of the marketing. I can just jump in and do a little extra promoting as time allows. Other than that I’m just cashing the checks Amazon sends my way.

Note from Nik. I love this example, because this is a highly highly targeted niche Kindle book on a topic that most would  never think of. So, rather than writing a big long Kindle book, you might want to grab each chapter of it and put it up on Kindle separately.

Bob Jenkins of How to Use Mindmaps to Organize Your Business says:

As a business coach and marketing teacher, the bulk of my income comes from private and group coaching programs and teaching online courses and virtual workshops.

But what most people don’t know is my long history making a healthy chunk of change from selling a weird product online: beef jerky.

It’s kind of a funny, random story.

Back when I was still a full time history teacher with dreams of making money online, I tried a little bit of everything in the network marketing world. Dental plans, diet cleansing products, video email, even a premium social network.

At the time (this is back at the end of 2005), the Million Dollar Homepage was successfully launched by Alex Tew in England. He sold 10×10 pixel blocks for $100 each – and he sold out for the full $1 million dollars!

Seeing an opportunity (i.e., a squirrel), I bought the pixel ad script from the German company that designed his and launched PixYourBiz.com to give network marketers a unique advertising opportunity. That site generated a couple thousand dollars, but the fad ran its course and I let the site die and its registration expire.

However, I had placed Google Adsense on the site for additional monetization which would prove fortunate. Not because I made much from Google Adsense – hardly! But because one day (this is January, 2006), while I was tweaking the back end settings for PixYourBiz, I noticed an ad that read: “Beef Jerky Goes MLM”. Even though I wasn’t an experienced jerky connoisseur, I was intrigued.

After clicking the ad (you’re really not supposed to do that on your own sites, by the way!), I was introduced to an online direct sales company, Jerky Direct. After a quick review, I jumped on the easy $12/month online store and waited for my 2 bags of jerky to arrive.

I loved every bite of that first bag, and have enjoyed a pair of bags of beef, buffalo, or turkey jerky every month for the last 6 years. The best part has been that I haven’t had to pay for my online store or the bags of jerky since it’s generated a lot more revenue for me.

Here’s how that happened…

I created a page on a brand new (at the time) social content site (Squidoo) to advertise the product and business opportunity – “Where Can I Find The Best Beef Jerky Without Putting 10-Syllable Chemicals Direct Into My Body?” I also bought a good domain name (Jerky.ws). My “lens” quickly hit the top 100 on Squidoo, and I saw sales of jerky coming in. On Google, it didn’t take long for my lens to appear on the first page of the search results for “best beef jerky” and similar keywords.

The real boost came when the New York Times printed its first article on Squidoo in April, 2006: A Home Where Bloggers Can Plumb Those Obscure Passions. The author, Bob Tedeschi, used my lens as the initial angle in the story. Within a day, my lens was #1 on Squidoo.com and remained there for over a week. With an active link from the NYTimes.com, Google rewarded me with the #1 result on its search engine. The lens stayed in the top 3 for well over 3 years. Today, the lens is on page 2, still sending me traffic.

With my passion for coaching business owners, I’ve never actively promoted my online jerky store other than the Squidoo lens and a casual mention, since it makes for a fun story. And now you know another weird, unique way to make money online.

Note from Nik. I'm glad you shared a physical product, Bob. That's a cool twist compared to the other answers.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Well, goodness. I've had several odd businesses in the past, but this is a hard question – simply because I'm pretty transparent about my businesses to begin with.

I'm going to share two methods, today.

Niche Sites.

You may not know this but I have several niche sites still that bring in passive income month after month after month. A few of them, I haven't touched in years – which is a mistake on my part. But they still bring in money. So, that goes to show that quality over quantity worked in 2006 and it still works now.

Is that an unusual way to make money? Not really. But it may be unusual when you think about me.

The niches? Well, I'm glad you asked.

Four of my favorite niche sites are about:

• Romance in a Marriage
• Fun Exercise DVDs
• Kids Crafts
• Cooking

How to I Make Money with those Sites?

Through a few ways.

• Affiliate Marketing. I get checks from Fredricks of Hollywood for the romance one – and all kinds of other places.
• Google Adsense. Yes, still. My deposits aren't nearly as big as they were a few years ago, but I'm also not really doing anything to earn it, so I'm happy with the amount that I am getting.
• Selling my own niche products. I don't do this nearly as much as I used to, but I'm about to get back into more niche product creation again. This time, on the Kindle rather than selling the products as an ebook.

And, because I've successfully created my niche sites, I then spun off a series of Kindle books about a few of them.

So that's one odd revenue stream that you may not have known about.

What else?

Monetizing Affiliate Communications.

Another revenue stream that I have in place that may be considered “unusual” is in monetizing my affiliate program.

I don't “sell” to my affiliates. However, I will include a PS. when mailing them about a new affiliate tool or new product or promo of mine.

The PS might say something like this:

Want to make more money with my Affiliate Program?

I recommend that you check out these two courses to boost your profits:

• Daily Affiliate Tasks is really good, especially if you're struggling with overwhelm.

• If you're just getting started, then this is the training that I would suggest: Affiliate Sales Domination as it starts from the absolute beginning.

I have lists of affiliates. Those affiliates need training to be successful. Therefore, I see a win-win scenario.

How about you?

What are some unusual ways that you make money?

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

PS. Be sure to click on the links of my friends to learn more about them. That’s how I get them to come back.) 

If you've missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

Pinterest is a hot topic around the web lately, so this week I asked our panel of experts …

“Are you on Pinterest?
If so, are you seeing traffic from it?
Got any tips for my readers?”

Mark Mason of MasonWorld Internet Marketing Blog says:

I think Pinterest is really nifty, and is worthy of being part of my Internet Marketing social media strategy. But, I have decided that I don't have time to mess with it. So, I made another decision (that may be instructive).

I decided that since Pinterest does not require using “my voice” in the way that my blog, Facebook or Twitter does, that I could outsource it. So, I identified a (female) virtual assistant that I trust to “figure out what to do with my Pinterest account and just do it.” She has a lot on her plate, so no results yet.

This approach lets me get some traction in Pinterest without distracting me from more important tasks. Since I am not actually using Pinterest myself, I also get to keep my Man Card (the Man Police take your Man Card if they catch you using Pinterest in public).

==> Follow Mark on Pinterest

Alice Seba of Step-by-Step PLR Bundles with Photos and Screenshots says:

Pinterest has been very useful for a few content sites. They are on visual topics (food, fashion, etc.) that appeal to women so are perfect for the typical Pinterest user. The traffic has been quite decent for the amount of time we have put put in.

What I find particularly interesting is that Pinterest isn't really dependent on having a lot of followers to be fruitful. People readily search and browse pins by all users, so our pins are largely viewed and clicked by people who aren't following us at all. I believe that one account has about 12 people following it, but if we invest about 30 minutes or so, we can see hundreds of visits to the website from that. It's pretty awesome. That doesn't mean we won't put some focus into gaining a following, but we can take our time building a truly interested audience instead of worrying about follower numbers. If anyone is just getting started, I'd recommend they focus on putting out great pins instead of obsessing over follower numbers.

I have also seen a lot of advice from people stating you shouldn't simply pin your own images only. They say that you should mix it up and include images from different sources. I think this logic applies more to other social networks like Twitter or Facebook where linking to your own site over and over again could possibly get tiring for your followers. After all, a link like an advertisement that the social network user has to click through to enjoy.

However, with Pinterest we aren't talking about links. We're talking about visually appealing photos. From my experience, if your photos are appealing to Pinterest users, they are not going to care that they are photos from your own website. Of course, it makes sense to pin from other sources if you see something worth sharing, but I wouldn't spend time worrying about how much of your content you're pinning. It's just not a concern.

I am curious to see how copyright issues and concerns pan out for the site though and I think they will have some difficult stuff to deal with in the future. Regardless, I think Pinterest has tremendous value and will prove to be a useful tool for users and businesses alike for a long time.

==> Follow Alice on Pinterest

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts says:

I've been on Pinterest for awhile but I'm not a power user by any means. My pin boards are mostly bare right now.

Last month traffic on one of my niche blogs blew up and stats showed over 1000 new visitors came from Pinterest. That's an attention getter, right? I discovered one of our tutorial series had been pinned by a visitor (see below) and subsequently liked and repinned several times.

The tutorial was a five part series and just the month before I'd made an image for it and added it to all of the segments. I'm so glad I did – otherwise since the tutorial was video based, I doubt it would have received that first pin.

Now I'm much more thoughtful about the images I place with blog posts and I'm starting to get purposeful about having images with words. An example:

Social media was starting to feel sort of ‘ho hum' and Pinterest has sparked a creative direction so I look forward to seeing how it goes in the long term.

==> Follow Kelly on Pinterest

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Pinterest Made Simple says:

Pinterest caught me by surprise – not that I hadn't heard of it, but that I enjoy it so much!

My daughter first told me about it last fall. But I ignored it. My friend Lisa Suttora released her Pinterest for Ecommerce course. But I ignored it. But I kept hearing about it.

On my first visit I was hooked! I'm among the 65% of the population who are visual learners – and a lot of your subscribers and followers are, too.

While I haven't tracked specific business from Pinterest, I do know that I've reconnected with people I haven't heard from in years. And they are keeping up with my pins while I am repinning theirs. It's been my most enjoyable social media experience to date.

I'm sharing free Pinterest tips at Pinterest Made Simple.

==> Follow Jeanette on Pinterest

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

I love Pinterest. I'm naturally a visual person, plus, I AM a woman between the ages of 35-44, so I am their perfect demographic.

I could spend hours there for fun, but, like Facebook, I limit myself so that I can focus on the projects that I have planned that will directly impact my bottom line.

However, I do enjoy poking around Pinterest with my morning cup of coffee and in between power writing sessions.

BUT – this post is about using Pinterest in business, not just for fun. Which means we need to be strategic in using it, as we would in any other area of our businesses. Right?

Although not all who wander are lost, we do want to have a goal in mind whenever we use a new tool for our businesses.

Let me share this infographic again for you so you can see who is on Pinterest. That's primarily important to know, before deciding whether to even use it or not. For instance, if you sell “male enhancement” products or “hair growth pills for elderly men” – you may skip Pinterest entirely and focus on other avenues for marketing.

Pinterest – The Social Media Darling Of 2012: Infographic by Infographiclabs

There are a few things I'd like to point out that I find fascinating about Pinterest (both from a strategic angle AND from looking at my own stats).

1. High Percentage of New Visitors.

The traffic that I get from Pinterest to this blog is 73.68% new visitors according to Google Analytics. That's similar to the YouTube traffic I get to my blog at 87.5% new people and StumbleUpon at 91.59% new peole. This is completely different from my Facebook traffic which is 41.62% new people. So, this is NEW people coming to my blog. Assuming I didn't totally muck it all up and give these new people the impression that they'd find something like recipes here – this is a good thing. And, on average, they do poke around a bit while they're here. Not enough, though, so I'm going to work on that more.

2. You can pin videos!

Did you know that?! So if you're already doing YouTube marketing, get your butt over there now and add your videos.

Example:

You can see my video board evolve by following it on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/momnicoledean/videos-business-tricks-tips/

3. Make them laugh or cry.

Images that evoke emotion tend to get repinned more than any other type of graphic I've seen, even compared to most “Infographics” that are intended to inform.

So, if you can take a picture or create a graphic that evokes ANY kind of emotion,  your odds will increase in having it repinned … tremendously.

Make them mad, make them laugh, make them cry or gasp in surprise – and you'll get repinned.

4.  Be Consistent.

You can have a variety of topics on your wall – but like choosing a variety of niches – make sure you are reaching one MARKET. One person, in particular who would be interested in all of the things you're posting.  Basically stay consistent. You wouldn't put an “I love Rush Limbaugh” on the same account as “I love Stephen Colbert”. It just wouldn't make sense. Just as, if you are in the health field, you wouldn't likely have a fan board for Man vs. Food next to one about nutrition tips.  It would make people confused as to what it is that you offer and what you stand for.

So, I go back to my original words. Choose your strategy – even if you just take a few moments. Your Pinterest board reflects your business and you. Have fun with it and track your results and let us know how it goes.

Leave a Comment.

Be sure to post your Pinterest profile in your comment below and share your experiences, both good and bad, in your comment.

Have a wonderful day!

Warmly,
Nicole Dean (I’m on Pinterest: Nicole Dean Pinterest )

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE!

Be sure to check out this amazing training from Tina Williams and Maria Gudelis all about the changes in Facebook, how to use Pinterest effectively, and how to get on Mobile. But, most importantly – how to tie all three together for the greatest impact on your business.

Join me at the Ultimate Social Challenge.

If you've missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

This week I asked the experts to name names, point fingers, and give shouts of kudos where appropriate.

The question for this week is:

Do you currently have a business coach or mentor?
If so, are you brave enough to share who it is?

Felicia Slattery of Signature Speech Secrets says:

My coach is Steve Sipress, who is the leader of one of the top 3 largest and most successful Glazer-Kennedy Insider's Circle groups in the country. As you know, being a Mom with little kids at home makes traveling to coach or mastermind groups tricky, so when I met Steve, who is right here in the Chicago area, I jumped at the chance to work with a coach like him who knows his stuff and can quickly and easily guide me to the complete marketing and sales success with each project I am working on.

Plus, as a coach and consultant myself, I'd never ask my clients to hire me as their mentor if I wasn't willing to be working with (and paying) someone else as the same. Over the years I've worked with greats like Jeff Herring, Kevin Nations, Bob Jenkins, Ken McArthur, Denise Michaels, and I get to speak weekly as accountability partners with Shannon Cherry, all who brought me to a higher level in various aspects of my business. I'm so grateful I made the investment in myself and continue to see the benefits of doing so!

Susanne Myers of Daily Affiliate Tasks says:

I did some group/forum coaching early on (which is actually where I became friends with Nicole) and it helped me grow my online business to first a part-time, then a full-time income. In other words, I was familiar with the concept, but in recent years, I have not had any type of formal coaching or mentor program with one-on-one interaction. I relied on a wonderful network of successful peers. It definitely helped me grow my business, but about 6 months ago, I realized I was at a point where the right mentor could make a difference and help me grow even more.

The only problem was that I had a very hard time finding the right person. I wasn't at a point yet, where I was comfortable spending a couple of grand on a coach, plus many of the coaches I came across just didn't seem the right fit for me and my business.

I think it's important to realize when you need a coach, but also to not force it and either spend way more than you can realistically afford or work with someone that isn't on the same wavelength as you.

I did find a coach (thanks to Nicole) a little over a week ago. I started working with Tony Shepherd from Hippy Marketing (click for a sneak peek into his business) and so far it's looking great.

We haven't had a whole lot of time yet and I'm only in the first stages of implementing his advice. But I can tell you this… I already have more focus and better clarity of what I need to work on to take this to the next level.

Nicole – I hope you'll revisit this Expert Brief in a few months and have us report on our progress. I have a feeling I'll have some great news to share by then

Note from Nicole:

I really recommend this free report. You can look inside Tony Shepherd’s business and he holds nothing back: CLICK HERE FOR FREE BEHIND THE SCENES ACCESS   (Note: It's not for the easily offended. And, it's funny as heck!)

Mark Mason of MasonWorld Internet Marketing Blog says:

Jimmy D. Brown is my coach for my membership site about Late Night Affiliate Marketing. (Watch for that project to launch soon!)

Cliff Ravenscraft is my coach for podcasting.

Melissa Ingold of Internet Marketing PLR Reports says:

Tony Shepherd is not only an old client of mine, but I also hired him to be my business coach this year. I’m a big believer in working with a coach if it feels right to you.

Last year, I worked with a different coach, and as much I wanted to work with her again, I decided to go with Tony because he’s a better fit for me this year based on my goals.

Anyway, after just 7 days of working with Tony and following his guidance, his coaching was paying for itself. And, it continues to over and over again – seriously!

That's me, in the picture, reading his Tony's private “insider” newsletter where he shares what he's doing in his business every month. Yes, I print them each month and keep them in a binder for easy access.

ShannonCherry of Business Charm School says:

Who's my mentor? No one and everyone.

I have no formal mentor. I have wanted one for a while. I even created a blog post about my search for one more than a year ago. It included a pretty detailed job description. And still, no luck.

But I am not mentor-less. Far from it.

You see, even though I cannot find ‘The One' yet (Yes, I believe that person IS out there!), I have plenty of super smart online business friends who I know I can pick up the phone and call on a moment's notice when I am stuck. And I'm lucky, because unlike many people, I look beyond a specific niche. So my pals run the gamut from great speakers and authors to savvy coaches and internet marketers. By allowing me hear different takes on the same problem/solutions, I can formulate a plan that works for me.

So who are my peeps? People like Nicole Dean, Tracy Roberts, Shawn Driscoll, Sandy Martini, Felicia Slattery, Lou Bortone, and Nancy Marmolejo are all people I rely on. They are honest, helpful and more importantly, fun to be with!

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Organize Your Online Business says:

My mentor has been Armand Morin for the past five years. Prior to that I worked with Jim Edwards and Alex Mandossian. Needless to say, I've learned from the best!

One of the things I look for in a mentor is someone who cares about my success. Frankly, I don't care how successful they are, because there are a lot of people who can create success themselves but have no clue how to help someone else. And that caring and ability to inspire me to action and guide my actions are exactly what I have found with Jim, Alex, and Armand.

I've stuck with Armand the longest because every time I take a class from him, I make money. Every time I attend an event with him, I learn something new – and make money. His excitement and enthusiasm for Internet marketing comes through in everything he does – he's like a kid with a new toy. And his level of caring for my success is obvious, whether he's teasing me from the stage or raking me over the coals in the Platinum group.

I believe that everyone, regardless of your level of success, needs a mentor. We need someone to watch us from the outside, from a detached perspective. Your spouse can't do it. Your best friend can't do it. You need a professional.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Well, Susanne let it spill who my current coach is. Note that I said “current” as I feel that the coaching/client relationship is a fluid and evolving thing. In my opinion, to stick with the same business coach or mentor forever will limit you.

For instance, I  graduate my coaching clients at a certain point, too, once they don't need me anymore as they on on a roll. I'm not going to continue to work with someone for years, because they should no longer need me – if I'm doing my job right.

Or…

I have to eventually let them go, if I feel that they meet any of these criteria…

1. They are moving in a direction where I'm no longer the best person to help them. In which case, I'll give them suggestions and refer them to someone else who is better suited to helping them.

2. They are stuck and are not listening to me, choosing to give me excuses instead. (In which case, they need to have a “come to Jesus” talk with themselves about whether they're willing to do what they must to reach the levels of success that they're telling me that they want.)

3. I'm repeating myself week after week and they're letting fear keep them from progressing. (In which case, they need someone who can deliver a butt-kicking better than I.)

Either way, I see it as a temporary role and eventually they leave the nest and head off on their own.

The problem that I'd been having on the other side of things was finding a coach for ME.  Once you get to a certain level of income/success in your business, it's very difficult to find a coach who you trust and who is someone that you can be honest and direct with – as well as who has knowledge in areas where you want to get stronger.

Could I have found a coach to help me become a better speaker? In a heartbeat. I'm definitely a beginner at that.

Could I have found a coach to help me write and publish my book? Absolutely. In fact I have one.

But, someone to teach me to be a better marketer? Well, I'm kinda awesome at that – so it's a little more difficult.

One normal alternative, and what I'd been doing was to create private masterminds with peers which worked well. I'm also accountability buddies with Susanne and Melissa and a few other friends. And, that's been hugely beneficial.

But, I really wanted something different. And, I've tried to coach friends and be coached by friends — it just doesn't work as well as I'd like. I wanted to work with someone who I admired – but who wasn't a girlfriend (and someone who I was paying so they had to be honest instead of just being nice).

So, I'd been on the hunt for a coach for me. And, I knew several other friends who were looking as well.

When suddenly a few months ago, I opened my email and saw that Tony Shepherd had opened up a few coaching spots. I quickly clicked on the links and saw a big “SOLD OUT” button. DANGIT!  I IM'd Melissa to complain about it and she said ‘Oh, I got in.”

I was like “DOH!”

So, then for the next month, I had to listen to her tell me how wonderful Tony is… as if I didn't already know.

Finally, I got a notice that he'd opened 10 more spots, so I hit that paypal button so fast that I hurt my finger. (Not really, but you get the visual.)

So, I've been working with Tony for the last month or so and am really enjoying it. I love the way the man's mind works. Plus, he makes me laugh.

If you want to peek inside Tony's head without the coaching pricetag – check out his private newsletter here:

Anyway, I do hope you found this post to be interesting and informative.  And, yes, if you'd like to do private coaching, there are a few resources below.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

Recommended! If you need someone to tell you “THIS project” is the one to focus on or “THIS traffic technique is what you need to be doing” – I recommend my friend (and mastermind partner who I brainstorm with on a daily basis), Susanne Myers, who offers private coaching for much cheaper than I do.

You can check it out here: Private Confidential Business Coaching with Susanne Myers.

Or you’ll find mine here: Nicole Dean Private Confidential Coaching. (Yes, I have clients whose names you’d recognize. But I can’t tell you who they are. I promised them confidentiality.)

If you've missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

Back in 2010, I asked my friends to share their favorite wordpress plugins and I realized that it's about time to ask again.

So, this week I again asked our panel of experts …

“This question is about blog plugins. We all know about Akismet and All in One SEO and the other commonly known favorites.

Of all of the plugins that you've got installed on your own blog, tell us about 1 or 2 gems that you use that aren't as widely known.”

Terry Dean of MyMarketingCoach.com says:

I don't use too many plugins on each of my blogs, as I find the more plugins you add the more problems you create. The normal ones like XML sitemaps, Facebook comments, Social Share, Similar Posts, and Mobile packs are all there. To give you an idea of how many I use, my main blog only has 12 plugins running.

Here are two unique ones which aren't talked about often.

Add to Server

Add to Server allows you to upload content anywhere inside your site and then import that content into your WordPress uploads folder. This is perfect if you for example have a WordPress membership site and want to get a few downloads into the WordPress media folder but your host gives you any problems uploading them there. Upload them with FTP to any folder and import them into WordPress with this.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/add-from-server/

MaxA/B

Since I constantly seek to improve conversion on my pages, here is the easiest split testing plugin I've seen for WordPress. It's called MaxA/B. Simply choose your original page and up to 3 test pages from pages inside your WordPress site. Then choose the thank you page after you get a conversion such as a subscription thank you page. Let the test run and it will do all the tracking for you of which page converts best. Gets rid of any excuses you may have for not testing.

Connie Ragen Green of Huge Profits Tiny List says:

I was taught that ‘less is more' when it comes to plugins, so I was late to the game of finding new ones to help me manage my sites and build my business in a bigger way. I now keep my eyes and ears open to learn which plugins are helping my friends and colleagues with what they are doing online.

Theme Test Drive

One plugin I like very much is Theme Test Drive (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/theme-test-drive) It allows you to test drive any theme as an administrator, while visitors continue to use the default theme. This comes in handy when you're deciding whether or not to make a change.

WordPress Backup to Dropbox

Another one of my favorites is the WordPress Backup to Dropbox plugin from Michael De Wildt. (http://www.mikeyd.com.au/projects/wordpress-backup-to-dropbox) This plugin allows you to automatically create a backup of your blog and uploads it to Dropbox for you. It's secure because it uses OAuth so your Dropbox account details are not made available or stored for the plugin to gain access.

It seems like there's a plugin for everything, so make sure you know what you want and need and then make your life easier by installing the right ones for you.

Lynette Chandler of Tech Based Marketing says:

There are two plugins that are still new but are becoming my fast favorites.

Survey Funnel

First is Survey Funnel. This is brilliant – could it be because I wanted to build one just like that myself? On a more serious note, while I did have plans for a similar plugin, I think Jack & Ryan did well with this one. It lets you ask small questions that lead a prospect to different promotions or different opt-in lists at the end. This helps you build lists or send people to offers that they are truly most interested in right now and you know that because they just told you that's what they are interested in – affirmed by the survey they just completed.

WP Squeeze Pro

Next up is Jason Fladlien and Wil Mattos' WP Squeeze Pro. I've written an extensive post on why at times I prefer this over other more elaborate landing page plugins (http://techbasedmarketing.com/tools/wpsqueezepro/3063/). In short, it removes all the need to prettify and nitpick on your landing page. They have great looking templates, you get in, get out, finish the job and move on. There are times you will want to spend time to craft longer, well thought out copy for your landing pages but a lot of times, you just want it done. That's where WP Squeeze Pro works so nicely. Great for niches and newbies.

One more…

Dynamic Step Process Panels.

This can be found in Code Canyon. It's great for content that should be presented or consumed in a step-by-step manner. You can set it to let people jump from step 1 to 5 or make it where people have to go through each step to reach the end because sometimes you want that so people won't miss important information at every step. We use it at TechBasedTraining since many lessons are step-by-step in nature and this plugin lets us display them in an attractive, space saving, yet functional manner.

Susanne Myers of Daily Affiliate Tasks says:

One of the many things I like about WordPress is that it allows me to automate tasks. With that in mind, I’d like to share two plugins with you that allow me to do just that even more.

Gravity Forms

Gravity forms is a form submission plugin. It’s used quite a bit for contact forms and the like. I like to use it as a content submission form. It’s a great way to get user generated content on your site. Create a form with instructions on what type of content you’re interested in (recipe submissions, questions, guest blog posts etc.). Upon form submission, you can have WordPress create a draft post for you complete with title, content and category. My assistant goes through those submissions, edits as needed and posts them to my sites. Without a lot of work on your part, you can have fresh, original content added to your site on a daily basis.

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

The second plugin I recommend you take a look at is called YARPP or Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. It creates a little blurp at the bottom of your blog posts with links to about 5 or so related blog posts that your readers may be interested in reading. You can take a look at my blog at AffiliateTreasureChest.com to see the plugin in action. Just click on any of the blog posts and scroll down to the end of the post.

Having those 5 links directly in your content helps with internal linking and SEO. More importantly though, it keeps your readers interested and on your site longer.

Shannon Cherry of Business Charm School says:

I still use all the plug-ins I've mentioned in the past Expert Brief, but have added a couple more to my roster:

Strictly Auto Tags
This plugin finds keywords to use as tags on the post automatically. They literally just show up! It's awesome.

EzineArticles WordPress Plugin
This allows you to post your great content on EzineArticles automatically, with multiple bios etc.

WordPress Backup to Dropbox
After being hacked in November and my blog destroyed this was a true gift. Just set it and (hopefully) forget it!

And I still am asking the question… Why is ‘Hello Dolly' a plug in there at all?

Mark Mason of MasonWorld Internet Marketing Blog says:

The best WordPress plugin in my toolbox that many people don't know about is the Yoast WordPress SEO plugin (http://yoast.com/wordpress/seo/)

Key features include overall blog SEO (replacing plugins like All-In-One SEO), on-page SEO per post (keyword optimization), a site map generator (replacing your Google XML site map plugin) and a preview of what your listing will look like in Google. It is awesome, and Yoast is awesome too.

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Organize Your Online Business says:

Shortcodes Ultimate

I am in the process of redoing my main blog so haven't activated this on JeanetteCates.com yet but I'm loving the results on my test site. It's a
plugin called Shortcodes Ultimate.

Once installed it adds a new button to your editing screen. When you click the button you can add more than 30 different shortcodes that will generate custom styles, buttons, pull quotes, drop caps, formatted lists, accordian type FAQs, tables, maps, sliders. It is truly amazing! By far the most comprehensive styling plugin I've ever used. And yes, it's free.

Backup Creator

For functionality Backup Creator gets my vote. They have continued to expand this paid plugin so that now it does automatic backups, will save to your S3 account or mail to you, and a whole lot more. I use it a lot when setting up a new site, as I can install a full blog, complete with theme, plugins, standard modifications I use all the time, in just a couple of minutes –
really! Great for client work, too!

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

I love the convenience of plugins. Every time I think “I wish there was a plugin that did _____” – I find one!

Google Analyticator

This plugin makes it super easy to tie your blog into your Google Analytics account. Why is this important? So you can see where your traffic is coming from, find who's linking to you, what terms people are using when finding you through the search engines. And, one of the most important – which of your pages is getting traffic. All important stuff.

Duplicate Posts

I also recently discovered the Duplicate Posts plugin – which I absolutely adore!!!

I recorded a video about it, because that plugin is already saving me hours in time every month.

Here it is:

Two of my long-time favorites are still…

WordPress Editorial Calendar.

Their description says:

The Editorial Calendar makes it possible to see all your posts and drag and drop them to manage your blog.

The Editorial Calendar is basically a way to organize and manage your blog posts.

I’ve found that it’s especially useful if…

• You’re a visual person
• You like to plan your posts and promos in advance
• You’re outsourcing
• You have guest bloggers or a community blog where others are contributing to your blog
• You have theme days (like I do these Expert Briefs)
• You’re doing a challenge or contest of some sort (like my month-long Computer Butt Challenge)

If I didn’t have this plugin, I think I’d have gone crazy(ier) by now.

Page Links To Plugin.

Their description says:

Allows you to point WordPress pages or posts to a URL of your choosing. Good for setting up navigational links to non-WP sections of your site or to off-site resources.

The easiest way to show you how this works is to point you to my navigation bar at the top of my page. If you go to the top navigation where it says “Tools I Use in My Business” – hold your mouse over those words and you’ll see a list of sub-pages.

If you click on some of the pages that display, you’ll be taken to pages here on my blog. If you click on others, you’ll go directly to other sites where you can learn more about the tools. I didn’t have time to create pages for each tool yet, but wanted my readers to know what I personally use in  my business, so I started to list them there.

Here’s what the plugin looks like when you’re using it. This is my settings for my “Contact Me” page under “About Nicole” on my top navigation.

Recommended Resource

Are you Ready to Learn More Tips to Make
Blogging Faster and More Productive?

Click here to check out Blog CPR!

It’s Your Turn.

So, now, I’ll pose this question to you. What are your favorite lesser known plugins? I’d love to hear what you have on your blog!

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

If you've missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

With the recent passing of Steve Jobs, it's made me, once again, think about my legacy in both my business and in my personal life.

I asked a similar question about making a difference last year here:
Are Internet Marketers Good or Evil? but I think this topic is one to think about on a regular basis.

So here it is …

How do you want to be remembered?

What IMPACT are you making?

What do you want people to say about you when you leave this earth?

What steps are you taking to get to that point of making a difference while you're here?

Mark Mason of MasonWorld.com says:

Wow — what a question. What do I want people to say about me when I leave Earth? Hmmm.

At the moment, I am sitting in the Cathay Pacific lounge at Taoyuan airport in Taiwan, about to head for Shanghai. I am watching Steve Jobs stories on CNN. After his passing this week, people had a lot to say about him. Most of the stories are about the impact that he had on Apple and technology. He certainly changed lives. It would be pretty cool to be revered and admired like that, but that sort of fame is not what I want for myself.

I just want people to say that I made their lives better.

I hope my family, friends, co-workers, clients and acquaintances look back on the time we spent together and are glad for it. I hope they see me as someone that made things better by loving them, doing the right thing, and having integrity.

Most of all, I hope they smile when they think of me.

Note from Nik: I already smile when I think of you, my good friend.

Connie Ragen Green of Huge Profits Tiny List says:

Thinking about our own mortality can be an uncomfortable topic, but I believe it is one that bears attention and exploration. I typically talk about my work with several charities and non-profits as the means through which I am leaving a legacy on this earth, but I believe it is more about the people who are closest to you in your everyday life.

My family has never understood exactly what I do each day, so I have taken it upon myself to explain it to them. I now have a daughter-in-law who works online full-time, and two teenage grandsons who earn all of their own spending money and savings.

In my mind, this makes more of an impact than anything else. I want the people who are closest to me to know that I made the effort to teach them how to have the time and financial freedom that comes from working online. This gives them the opportunity to share this knowledge with others in an ‘each one teach one' way. The years I was working 6 or 7 days a week and missing all of their daily activities did not make the kind of impact or build a legacy that I was proud of. Giving the gift of knowledge makes a difference people will remember and treasure forever.

I want people to say that I helped them to become the best they could be and to reach the potential they always knew was possible for them. Life is much too short, so we must make every second count as we deal with others in our path.

Note from Nik: You inspire me, Connie. As you know, I'm teaching my son about the business and he's working on his blog. I love that he understands that he has options in his life.

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Webinars Made Simple says:

I've approached this differently from most people, probably because my father died suddenly when I was 16. I swore at that time that I wouldn't put off life – I would live each day as if it were my last.

My greatest impact has been with my family. I have three wonderful daughters, each of whom I consider a friend. Our family is very close. My daughters' spouses are exactly the people I would have chosen for my girls (had I had any say in it!) and my six grandkids are being raised very much like their mothers were. My husband and I have been happily married for nearly 42 years. That is my legacy – wife, mother, GrandMom.

My business is an added bonus for me. As a lifelong learner and teacher, my highest calling is to teach and mentor. And I do that daily through my products and member sites, even when I'm not personally with them. I love my clients and students. I love seeing the light come on in their eyes – whether on a webinar or in person. I love seeing them make that first dollar online and watching so many of them go on to making millions (literally!) online.

Let me encourage you NOT to wait to make an impact. Don't wait to be remembered. Become memorable TODAY.

Note from Nik: You gave me goosebumps with this “Don't wait to be remembered. Become memorable TODAY.”

Shannon Cherry of The Business Building Live Intensive says:

You know, as my life has evolved and changed over the years, so has how I want to be remembered.

I have always thought I would be remembered as a fiercely loyal friend… but now add to that the word advocate.

You see, once my daughters were diagnosed on the Autism spectrum, I have to be their voice, as they had issues that impeded their communication skills. So now, my business, Be Heard Solutions, has even more meaning… to help people without a voice to be heard.

Note from Nik: Such a beautiful statement, Shannon.

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts says:

Can I come at this from a different direction?

What do I not want to be remembered for…

1. I don't want to be remembered as the kind of person who only cares about money. In business most feel like they have to be all about the bottom line, and while I do care about profits, I care more about the individual people I'm dealing with. I'm choosy about making recommendations and not quick to promote the ‘latest greatest' whatever. I probably miss out on some quick commissions but at least I can look back in pride, not chagrin.
2. I don't want to be remembered as being financially irresponsible. My business is heavily based on affiliates and partnerships. This past year I saw how easy it is to get behind on the books and how difficult it is to get caught back up. To keep it from being a repeating trend, I've had to up my game.
3. I don't want to be remembered as being inconsistent. Half the battle in an online business is being consistent. If I can't set an example in this, I've got no business trying to teach it to others.

There is something I do want to be remembered for. I want to be remembered for the company I kept. Good friends, high quality people, admirable marketers and the like. Considering where this is being read, I think I'm headed in the right direction there

Note from Nik: Kel, you know you were my first mentor and I owe you so much for taking ME by the hand and bringing out things in me that I was to afraid to do. I'll always love and appreciate you for that.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Wow guys. I really loved reading each of your responses.

When I asked this question, originally, I thought I new my answer. But now that I've read your responses, you've got me thinking even more about ways that I can make a greater impact on my family, my customers, my friends, and my world.

I want to be missed when I'm gone. But, I also want to be celebrated as someone who made a difference in people's lives.

Like Jeanette said, let's look at today.

How can I achieve these goals?

With my puppies, I hope they always feel safe, warm, and secure and know that I'll take care of them.

With my family, I want to raise children who are hardworking, kind, loving, and giving – and happy!

With my husband, I hope to be the person he thought I was when he married me, and more. He has always seen me in a totally different light than I see myself. A better, brighter light.

With my parents, grandparents, and extended family, I hope they know without a shadow of a doubt that I love them all.

With my friends, although I'm oftentimes “busy” – I hope they always know I'm here for them if they need me.

And, with my business – I hope the people I touch understand how much they mean to me. That I don't take this business lightly. And, although I can't possibly please everyone or personally connect with most of them, I do make every decision in my business asking myself “Am I making people's lives better?”

As far as a larger impact – I'm working on that one. I want to publicize and give free advertising to more organizations that I support, so I started to set up a page listing my favorite organizations and how you can help. I donate regularly to charities. And… I have a few other ideas in mind, that I'm not yet sure about how to proceed with them – yet.

So, Instead of rambling on myself, let's hear from YOU.

What are you doing to make the world a better place – and your small corner of it? What steps are you taking to make it happen?

Warmly,
Nicole Dean (and friends)

If you've missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

The question for the experts this week is about going back to basics.

What's your favorite old school marketing technique…
stuff that's always worked and is still working.

I think you'll find the answers this week interesting and hopefully helpful to your online business.

Ronnie Nijmeh of PLR.me (< -click for a special free offer from Ronnie) says:

My favorite “old school” marketing technique is email.

Yes, good ol' trusty email! It just works.

It's simple: Write an email, tell a story, share some advice, then send. And with each email I send, I not only help people, but I earn a living.

Far too many marketers I know abuse their email lists and just pump out one promo after another. Blech. Not cool.

But that just gives us all the more advantage to offer greater value content and connect with our prospects and clients on an intimate level.

Yes, it's not all shiny and new as social media, but it still works.

Kristen Eckstein of Finish Writing Your Book Fast: Book Writing for Procrastinators says:

My favorite old-school marketing technique is simple: meet people! Networking, netweaving, social networking, whatever you call it, the important thing is to MEET people. And even more important than that is to make a good impression the first time you meet someone, and follow up with them later.

In my latest book (released July 2011) 21 Ways to Powerfully Network Your Business, I shared my favorite top strategies for making “meeting people” work for your business. In fact, I'm in Scotland right now on a research trip and meeting people all over the world! I'm not trying to sell them anything, though what we do for a living usually comes up after about 10 minutes of conversation. At breakfast in one of our B&Bs I sold a copy of the above-mentioned book. And several other people have taken my business cards. All because I showed an interest in them, their adventures, and their lives.

So my tip? Get out there and MEET people!

Shannon Cherry of The Business Building Live Intensive says:

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the old school technique that got me on the map: press releases. I still do at least 4 a month.

You see, there are a few reasons why this tactic (more than 100 years old) still has leverage in today's world.

1) It's one of the ONLY tactics that can be used online and offline for increased visibility. Use it online for increase search engine rankings and backlinks; use it offline to get media coverage and more credibility.

2) According to a recent iProspect survey, 68% of all searches on the Internet begin from an offline source, most likely a news story or a news story someone is talking about. So if you're not doing press releases, you may be missing out on a LOT of prospects!

3) News stories often beget more: more news coverage, more conversations online and more conversions because the news media is like a third party endorsement.

What would you write a press release about? Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

• How to make a living at home in a bad economy (This is a HOT topic right NOW!)
• A new product or service (When you offer something new, tell the world!)
• A new series of blog posts (Nicole should definitely announce the Expert Briefs series in a press release, don't you think?)
• A new partnership in your business (Yes, even if it is an affiliate partnership!)
• A free resource for a specific niche.

What every you do, don't leave out this unique marketing method that does double duty. After all, if you can write an article, you can do this too!

Connie Ragen Green of Huge Profits Tiny List says:

My favorite ‘old school' techniques for marketing my business include writing articles and submitting them to the article directories and hosting teleseminars to connect with my audience.

Article marketing gets a bad rap from people who feel like it's too ‘last year' to be worthwhile, but when I look at the stats for my business overall I always see that more than 50% of my new clients originally found me by reading one of my articles. Since 2007 I have written more than 1,600 short articles – about 400 words in length – and then re-purposed then into short reports, eBooks, online courses, and more. On EzineArticles alone, almost 650,000 people have now read these articles!

Webinars are gaining in popularity, but teleseminars make sense for a number of reasons. The technology is simpler, so anyone can dial in or listen through the webcast on their computer. When people hear your voice you become three-dimensional, and this really helps you to stand out from the crowd. You can also offer a replay to those who could not attend live, and sell these recordings later on as a product.

I recommend incorporating article marketing and teleseminars into your marketing mix for the next three months to see how well it will work for you, and then come back to this post and let Nicole and all of us know what results you experienced.

Mark Mason of MasonWorld.com says:

Forum signature marketing still works really well. If you are participating in forums in your niche with the idea of really helping people, you can build lots of backlinks and get clicks to your site through your signature from people who see that you are an authority with something to offer.

The great side benefit is that you can get lots of great ideas for blog posts by answering a question in detail in the forum and then recycling the answer for your audience on your blog.

Two killer tips for forum marketing:

1) Keep a swipe file containing answers to commonly answered questions. The same questions get asked over and over again in forums. Instead of being the jerk that says “use the search button”, just answer the question (and link to other threads where you have previously answered the same question in detail.”

2) Test a landing page with an offer specific to the forum in your signature. For example — “Learn The Five Critical Mistakes Every New Basket Weaver Makes and How To Avoid Them Like A Pro (secret link for BasketTalk forum subscribers).

3) Take killer content from your blog and re-purpose it for a forum post. Forums can rank well in the search engines, and that can be a good way to attack keywords in some cases.

The key to the whole thing is to remember that people in forums are generally there to get some help. To be effective, you need to be helping people there.

Susanne Myers of AffiliateTreasureChest.com says:

My favorite “old-school” thing is something I picked up recently in an Internet Marketing Newsletter. It's creating email mini courses and is working incredibly well for me. I've set up two of these in the past month, and both lists are steadily growing.

In each case I've taken a simple “how to” topic and broken it down into 7 steps. Each step is a daily email which is nothing more than a short explanation of how to do the step. I'm monetizing these ecourses with a strong affiliate offer on the thank you page and throughout the course. After the last lesson, I also send my list a pdf version of the course (again with affiliate links included and a recommended resources section).

I registered a domain name for the ecourse and set up a simple little optin form. I'm driving traffic to it via email, cross promotions with my other lists, my blog, article marketing and asking my subscribers to recommend the course to others. Each ecourse is steadily growing by a few subscribers a day without too much work from me.

Here's an example of one of my Email Mini Courses – Affiliate Fast Track.

Of course I'm also able to share additional content and affiliate offers with those lists from here on out. In other words, there's no reason to stop after the original 7 day ecourse. I'm finding that it's a lot easier to set up these ecourses in niches that I already have a presence in. This allows me to send traffic to it and start growing the list without having to reinvent the wheel.

Give it a try, it doesn't take more than a few hours to set up and you'll have a nice little extra stream of income.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Well, heck. They all took my answers. That's what I get for going last.

Let's see… the thing that I did years ago that still makes me money today would have to be ecourses and list building – as Ronnie and Susanne said.

Back in 2006, I set up this site: www.WebTrafficBasics.com. It still makes me money today.

And, the cool thing is that it's totally fluid. I can update the lessons and the messages whenever I want to promote new courses (or yank something if I find out that I no longer want to promote it). Plus it acts as a spider-web in that I can send people to any of my web properties each time a new lesson goes out. At this time, there are over 30 followup messages in that one sequence. I've done this in other niches — including my romance and cooking sites – with great success, as well. In fact, my romance list is bigger than my PLR list! If you can believe that. It blows my mind.

This is the reason why I sell PLR ecourses at EasyPLR.com.  Because they work! And, it's a set-it and forget-it type of income – which you've got to love!

I've been thinking of teaching this topic in one of my next courses. Any interest? Let me know!

Thanks for another great Expert Briefs, guys and gals!

Please let me know what your favorite “old school” method of marketing is. I'd love to hear what you think!

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

If you've missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

I am asked this question often and I think it's safe to say that it happens to everyone.

This week I asked our panel of experts …

When you're having a bad day or where you feel like throwing in the towel and just saying ‘screw it' what do you do to pick yourself back up and keep plugging along?

I think you'll find the answers this week interesting and hopefully motivating.

Denise Wakeman of Blog Squad Tips says:

Depending on how difficult the day is feeling for me, I do a couple of things;

1. Go to the gym or for a short run.
That almost always clears my head since I'm away from my desk/computer and focus on my body. A good workout will do wonders for my mental state.

2. If it's really bad, I contact my business mentor.
She can always talk me down from the “screw it” place and talk me back up to recognizing my gifts and how I serve others and that i am appreciated.

Between those two things, I can usually get myself back to work with a positive attitude.

Mark Mason of MasonWorld.com says:

OK — you are asking for the secret sauce now.

Seriously, I run into this problem all the time. Like a lot of internet marketers, I have a day job, a wife, four kids, a dog, a cat, two turtles (Pumble and Tumble) and five fish. I also have a house with a ton of chores. I usually don't work on internet marketing until after 10PM, and some days it is really easy just to “screw it” (Nicki's words) and go to bed (or watch old Law and Order re-runs).

When I feel that way, I use one of 2 strategies:

1. Instead of doing NOTHING, I pick something that I want to do that is not on my list of things that I need to do.
Check out some new software, read some blogs, do some fun social media work. Basically, I goof off on non-critical BUSINESS tasks. Stuff that I usually do not allow myself to do when I am focused on making real progress. Then at least I get SOMETHING done.

2. I work on my Motivational Monday series.
Now, many people think that I publish motivational blog posts just to help my readers. The truth is, they help me too. I intentionally started that series to help me stay motivated too.

Most of all, people need to remember that internet marketing is a marathon not a race. Pace yourself. To me, that means that it is actually OK to say “screw it” every now and then.

Lynette Chandler of TechBasedMarketing.com says:

Such a timely question because I was feeling so ready to throw in the towel last night. Thinking back to the last times I felt this way, here's what I did.

Let it go, do something else, or if it is late at night go to bed.
Sometimes a few hours will do the trick but sometimes it could be a day, two maybe a week. But that's the beauty of doing what we do. Take as long as you need. If however you are taking forever to find your fire again then something is seriously wrong and you'll probably want to do a re-evaluation of the business and direction you're heading.

Sometimes the point of frustration is more about an unpleasant task that has to be done.
The last time that happened to me, I wrote to my assistant and explained to her the issue, that I didn't want to do or think about it. The wonderful woman took the entire thing off my hands and let me move on again.

Talk.
I'm not a talker by nature but have found I really need someone to just talk things out with me from time to time with a few good friends in the business and also my husband. The last time I did this, I ended up with a new vision.

Lynn Terry of Clicknewz.com says:

I walk out the door and drive straight to McDonald's to pick up a job application. About halfway there, I realize how insane that is and turn around, then get back to work.

Seriously though, it happens to all of us. It could be an email that is totally deflating, or a nasty headache, but sometimes there are just days when you don't “feel it”.

If I have something specific scheduled, I take a deep breath (and maybe a short break or power walk) and then work my way through it. More often than not though, I don't – my schedule is very flexible. So in most cases I'll step away from the office and take a nice long nap or watch an engaging movie.

A big part of taking care of my business is taking care of myself.
I don't take that lightly, as I know all too well how burn-out or mental fatigue can affect my work. Fortunately with a flexible schedule I can work when I am at my best, and when I'm feeling inspired and creative. And otherwise nap and read and watch great movies.

Shannon Cherry of The Business Building Live Intensive says:

Usually it's more than just one bad day that makes me want to throw in the towel. It's a bad week. And when it's bad, all I want to do is tune out and tune into Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

For me, it's Buffy. For you, it could be playing on Facebook or cleaning the house. Whatever you do, it's avoidance. And it's a sign something is up.

So here's what I do:

1) Allow myself some time to detach.
Sometimes just having a break from it all can do wonders. I allow myself a half-day to do what I want. They key here is to set a time frame and keep it. Then get back to work.

2) I make a list.
Sometimes it's overwhelm that's got me paralyzed and turns a bad day into a bad week. Usually, this is something I do with a partner – either my husband or my accountability partner. That way I don't get caught up in the list (which I already have in my head anyway) and start getting it done. Once the list is made, I select the top three things that MUST get done today. The rest, as they say, is gravy!

3) I think about my WHY.
Why am I in business in the first place? What is the motivator behind all I do (the good, the bad and the yucky). For me, it's my girls. I want to be home when they are home. I want also have time to be their advocate, as they are on the Autism spectrum. So I need to make sure the time I am working is productive. I think of this… and get cracking.

Susanne Myers of AffiliateTreasureChest.com says:

As you well know Nicole, I have those days on a somewhat regular basis and you know what the first thing is I do.

Step One – Send an instant message to Nicole Dean

Sometimes all it takes is to hear a “poor baby” or get a virtual hug from someone who understands this biz, understands “you” and gets why that one nasty email you found in your inbox is ruining your entire day. That's why my first step is to instant message Nicole. She sets me straight and reminds me that I don't really want to go back to an office job.

Step Two – Work on something productive

Next, I try to work on a little something that makes me feel productive. If it results in some comments, sales or new signups, even better. I might write a quick article or blog post and publish it, send out an email, or turn some articles into a short report that I can give to my list.

Just making myself do something to grow my business is often enough to get me in a better mood.

Step Three – Look at how far I've come

If none of the above do the trick, I open Google Analytics, Clickbank, Aweber and my shopping cart and look at where I was at a year ago. Seeing how much more traffic I get now, how many more affiliate sales I am making and how much my list and customer base have grown is a great “pick-me-up”.

It may feel like I'm taking one step forward and 2 steps back, but the stats show that I am making progress.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Wow! I got a lot of responses this week – and I didn't even have to send a reminder saying “Hey guys… you gonna answer or what?” lol. This is obviously a hot topic.

Everyone has given great advice. So, I'll say “ditto” to all of my smart friends above.

Before I dive in with my answer, I'd like to, once again, say how amazing my friends are to be so transparent and honest in their answers. Instead of saying “oh, I never feel that way. I just sit on the beach and suck margaritas all day and my life is perfect” – they shared the honest truth.

YES. Some days are deflating.  Some days, you lose your mojo completely. Yes. Some days you question whether getting a job would *really* be a bad thing.

Goodness. This month, I got an email from someone who I thought was a friend (or decent acquaintance at the least) that felt like a punch in the gut. It was totally over the top. That royally sucked. (Before you ask, it's no one who you guys know from Expert Briefs. These ARE friends.)

Other things that can make me want to say “screw it” are…

• Technical snafus that roadblock me. These drive me bonkers.
• Spending time creating and sending an email or freebie that I think my people will LOVE and it tanks. (Yes, that happens.)
• Getting a refund request with the words “I don't mean to be mean but…” in it. (I can count the times on one hand that it happens, but I can personally remember every time it has in the years I've been online.)
• Creating a new product that people have been asking for – but they don't buy right away in the big numbers you thought they would.

Stuff like that can send you reeling.

It can make you question everything.

• Who you are.
• What you're doing.
• Why you're doing it.
• IF you're actually helping anyone.
• And, whether or not you should even bother.

Back to the drawing board, right?

Connect with Someone Who Understands.

The FIRST thing I do is always the same – I connect with someone who understands and knows me and who I trust.

I normally get on IM or Skype with Susanne, Melissa Ingold, or Ronnie Nijmeh, and get myself back on track. Sometimes I'll get on the phone with Lynn or Scott Tousignant but not often enough.

Reboot your Brain.

Then, I give myself permission to lick my wounds a bit and get away from the computer to “reboot” my brain and my emotions. I know that if I try to power through it – it's ineffective for me. I have to step away for awhile.

Some of the other things I do are similar to the others:

1. Spend time with the kids if they're home.
2. Go throw the ball for my Einstein puppy for awhile.
3. Go beat myself up at the gym.
4. Go on a walk.
5. Take a bike ride.
6. Read a book that's not work-related in any way shape or form.
7. Indulge in some TV time. (Normally the TV is off while I'm working.)
8. Take a nap.
9. Get a pedicure.
10. Walk around and clean the house.
11. Do some laundry.
12. Run errands.
13. Go outside and rake.
14. Clean my car.
15. Drive to the beach.
16. Ask my Joe to take me out to lunch.
17. Jump in the shower or bath. I swear there is something magical about the shower. I don't know if it's the steam or the sensory deprivation or what, but I get the best ideas in there.
18. Step outside by the pool with a piece of paper and pencil and start doodling until things make sense again.

Keep a Happy File.

I also keep a “happy file”.  I print nice emails that I get from people and keep them in one place so I can go back and read them when I need a pick me up.

I also mark the nice things that people say to or about me on Twitter.com as “favorites” so I can pull those up when I'm feeling down. Here's how it looks. You can do this, too. http://twitter.com/#!/NicoleDean/favorites

Take Time to See how Far You've Come.

One thing that I talked about in the Q&A this month at www.IncomeCPR.com is that I always recommend to my coaching clients that they set up a binder with their monthly stats in it. It's like Mark said, this business is like running a marathon. Oftentimes, you don't realize how far you've come until you take a moment to look behind you. And, like Susanne said, look back 6 months or a year – at your list size, your traffic, your income… and see just how far you've come. That always helps to spur me on.

Understand that it's NOT Just You.

Sometimes it feels like bad stuff only happens to you. It doesn't. Just for fun, here's podcast that I recorded back in April 2009, the day that my pedal fell off my bike WHILE I was riding it.  I know I laughed really loudly in this recording – I apologize to your ears in advance!

Poop Happens and Wrestling with Moths – mp3 file

As I always say yes, you will fall. And, yes, poop happens – even to the “successful”.

Dust off those britches and get back into the game.

Hugs,
Nicole Dean

Check out this Recommended Resource:

Rachel Rofe & Ronnie Nijmeh created a cool course called Time Management Tricks.

Check it out if you want more info on organizing your day so you can spend less time in front of your computer — and more time living life.

If you've missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

The topic for this week came from an email sent by my mother.

She's a bit verbose, but the gist is –

“Just because I'm at home during the day, my husband stopped doing chores.

How do you handle the chores at your home with your spouse – and how do you get it through his/her head that you're working (and therefore, not available) when you're at home?”

Here's her original question…

My dear Nicole,

I've enjoyed your last several Expert Briefs – the ones dealing with balancing family and work, and keeping a happy marriage going under the stress and rigors of building and maintaining a successful home-based business.

Since I am a WAHG (that's Gramma), I don't have the problem of shared responsibility for the kids. I'm past that stage, thank you very much. I'm sure you can get a quorum together and discuss that problem for weeks, if not months.

What I do have is a basic housekeeping problem. Okay, not that that is so terrible in this modern age, but I guess it's the attitude that I find most distressing. Here goes:

Why is it that when I quit my outside j-o-b, my Hubby quit doing housework of any kind? Now, this is a man who knows how to keep a house. He was a single Dad to his two kids, so he did all this stuff. We've been married almost 15 years and we've always shared all the cleaning. He still enjoys cooking, but the cleaning has come to a screeching halt. I didn't even notice right away. It took a few months for it to sink in. He used to run the vacuum around a bit and scrub the kitchen floor, but I see he hasn't done that at all for quite a while. He still does his own laundry, simply because he likes to. He works a lot of hours outside the house, so I'm thinking because I'm home, he thinks I'm H-O-M-E.

I think a light bulb went off over my head some time ago when I realized how often he called me during the day and said, “I'm sorry to bother you, but…” and then continued with some story about something that could definitely have waited until he got home. I started to see that he didn't really think I was “at work.” Then, I noticed he quit doing any housework. Does my dear Hubby not get that I'm at work all day and that to take time out to vacuum or scrub floors means I'm not making money? I don't expect him to do ALL the housework; I never did. We always shared it. The only thing that's changed is I'm working at home and he's quit cleaning.
Anyone else?

Thanks, Nicole and Experts for anything you can share on this topic.

Love,
Your Hard-Workin' Mom

Yep. She's a wordy one. Guess where I get it from? ;0

Let's see what our experts have to say,….

Mark Mason of MasonWorld.com says:

You know, a question like this is always more complicated than it seems. This seems like a WAHM work-life balance question, but I really see it as a fundamental relationship question. And, looking to me for relationship advice is not recommended (LOL).

But, since you asked…

My immediate response to Hard-Workin' Grandma (whom I have met and really like) would be to recommend a book for her and her hubby. It's called the 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman (http://www.5lovelanguages.com/). It is an easy read, and perfect to get Granny and her man on the same page about a lot of topics, including housework. It even comes in “special versions” — one for men, and a Christian version too.

Check it out. Buy hubby a copy too. It will be the best thing you can do for your marriage.

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of TechTamersAffiliates.com says:

What a wonderful question! I ran into this when I first started working from a home office. Not from my husband, but from friends and my children's parents. “Since you're home, would you mind…picking up the kids, watching my kids, receiving a package, letting the repairman in, etc.”

Here's how I solved it: I am not available for home maintenance from 10am to 7pm (my typical work hours). I can help you with that after that time, but I am working the rest of the time, even though I am physically in the house.

As for the home chores, I see two possibilities. Hire a maid or do them (very obviously) in the evening. It won't take long for him to recognize that instead of sitting down and relaxing in the evening you are doing housework that he previously did. And one mention of the “hire a maid” conversation and you will determine whether or not he believes you BOTH should get a break from housework or recognize that he's let the ball drop.

Finally, those pesky phone calls. Just don't answer the phone. When he asks why you didn't pick up, just tell him “I was working and couldn't be interrupted. I generally don't answer personal phone calls during work hours.” He'll get the message pretty quick.

Jeanette (celebrating my 18th year working from home!)

Kristen Eckstein of Finish Writing Your Book Fast: Book Writing for Procrastinators says:

Most of my peers think I'm spoiled, and they're right, I am. He was already the cook so doing the dishes came naturally for him. I handled the laundry, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, etc.

Then I went full-time with the business in 2009 and the first thing I realized was, that with the 90+ hours per week I was working getting our “baby” to some substantial growth meant something had to give, and give fast. I made a deal with Hubby. He'd keep up his end of the chores and I would hire housekeeping to come in and take over my part. After all, I told everyone when I was little the first thing I was going to do as a grownup was to “make lots of money and hire a cleaning lady!” Eventually Hubby had to take care of the laundry as well, because he ran out of..well… his “expert briefs.”

I don't think it's a coincidence that as soon as I outsourced my chores (vacuuming, picking up/organizing the house, bathrooms, etc.) my business income the following month tripled. No kidding!

It's more than the husband understanding that I work during the day. It was about finding a way everything could still get done, not overwhelm him (after all, he works for me on nights and weekends and has a full-time day job) and free me up to do what I do best – grow the business. As soon as he realized he could let go the control of having things around the house done by an outsider, he's found more things for them to do. And the laundry? Well, we're still working on getting him to give that up… For some reason he enjoys doing it. (I'll never understand why.)

And when the money rolls in and I give myself a bonus or a raise, he realizes just how valuable it is to have our housekeeping staff handling the tedious mundane tasks I dreaded doing.

Susanne Myers of AffiliateTreasureChest.com says:

Great question this week and something we've struggled with quite a bit over the years as well. For the past few years, my situation has been a little unique because my husband is working at home right along with me. One of the biggest problems we face is that with both of us home, the mess seems to accumulate even faster than before.

Here's what's been working for us (most of the time).

We each have assigned tasks or chores we do on a regularly basis. For example, hubby is in charge of laundry, while I cook most of our dinners.

If one of us is working on a time-intensive project, the other picks up the slack. Whenever possible we try not to schedule anything terribly time-consuming on the same day.

Where we run into trouble most weeks is tasks that we don't feel belong to one or the other (like cleaning the bathrooms or vacuuming the living room which neither one of us wants to claim).

The solution for us is to invite someone over… it gets both of us motivated to clean house – quickly.

My best advice is to communicate with your spouse … figure out who's in charge of what or come up with some deals like “If I clean the hall bathroom, will you vacuum and dust the living room?”.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Aye. Aye. Aye. I can get in trouble on so many levels here –with my mom, my step-dad, and my husband – all in one post.

First of all, you know I recommend the book that Mark mentioned. I have it at home, mom. You can borrow it.

I agree with Jeannette and Kristen, too. Getting a maid is a great idea – even if it's just once a month or every other week, and you alternate the cost. I love my cleaning people and they've been with me for 4 years now.  There's nothing like a top to bottom cleaning of your entire house in just a few hours. When I clean it myself, I'll have clean bathrooms or kitchen or living room, but never all three at the same time. When the cleaning duo comes – they leave me with a shiny new house every week. The hardest part is prepping for them to come – picking up stuff so they can clean. But, that keeps us accountable that the house WILL be spotless at least once each week.

As for those daily chores, do you guys have in writing who does what and when? As you know, mom, I have a daily list of activities that hubby and the kids do. And, now a weekly one, too, for the weekend. Obviously you're in my home several times each week, so you know it isn't a perfect system, but at least everyone knows his/her responsibilities. Until we had it in writing – it was too wishy washy.

Every morning, my Joe takes the kids to school, starts the coffee, empties the dishwasher, and makes me breakfast.  That routine is pretty good. Every week, on the cleaning day, he preps the house for the housekeepers to come. Obviously I help if he's sick or unable to for some reason, and am happy to on an average day, assuming my schedule isn't slammed during that time. Our evenings are another thing, as you know. lol. But mornings run pretty slick.

As for interruptions… you can't ignore phone calls from him in case there's an emergency so you're just going to have to ask him not to call unless it can't wait.  Maybe buy him a little notebook or something where he can jot things down – or make sure his next phone has texting or a voice recorder. He may just be afraid he'll forget – or knowing him, he's excited to tell you something. lol. Remind him there are times you can't call him at work, too, so he doesn't think it unfair.

Warmly,
Nik

If you've missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

This week I asked our panel of experts …

Do you Have a Bucket List? I know it's a depressing topic, but I'm finding that more Entrepreneurs seem to have them than Non-Entrepreneur types.

Lynette Chandler of TechBasedMarketing.com says:

I do not have a list per se, but one huge thing. And that's to travel with the entire family months at a time. Years ago, I read of a family who sold their home, moved into a much smaller place and purchased a sailboat. They spend about 9 – 10 months of the year sailing and only 1-3 months at ‘home'. When I read that, I said to myself “That's what I want to do”.

Other than my faith and our business, travel is the one of my major passion and certainly something I want to do before I go.

Mark Mason of MasonWorld.com says:

It's an interesting question, Nicole. And, an interesting movie as well.

In the movie “The Bucket List”, Carter (played by Morgan Freeman) talks about the death of his friend Edward. Near the end of the movie, he says

“Even now I still cannot understand the measure of a life, but I can tell you this. I know that when he died, his eyes were closed and his heart was open. And I'm pretty sure he was happy with his final resting place, because he was buried on the mountain. And that was against the law.”

That reminds me about how I feel about bucket lists. I don't really have one. I love today. I am just a happy reading a book in Dallas as I am eating dinner in Singapore or hiking in Yosemite.

I don't have a list — but I do want to be remembered as someone who helped people generously and with integrity in all things. I plan to die with an open heart (just like Edward).

Shannon Cherry of The Business Building Live Intensive says:

I don't have a bucket list. Nor do I want one. But before I explain why, let me let you in on a little secret.

I used to have one… in my twenties. And although a lady never reveals her age, I can tell you that was way before the movie “The Bucket List” and the craze du jour that followed – especially for entrepreneurs. You see, I was obsessed with reaching certain milestones in my life before the age of 30, including becoming a major TV network anchor, making a six figure income, traveling the world.

And did I do it? Yes, some of them. (Although I never did become the next Katie Couric.)

But I was miserable. Although I was crossing off things on my list left and right, I was empty.

And here's why:

Life is not a checklist of accomplishments or a to-do list (and many of you know how I love my to-do lists in my business!). You don't need to skydive or own a Ferrari to know you've achieved something in your life.

But you do need to LIVE and enjoy it. If you don't like something, work to change it. Be happy in the accomplishments you have made and will make.

Today, I have happiness, joy, success and love all around me. Why the hell do I need a list when I have that?

Connie Ragen Green of ConnieGreen.com says:

I finally do have a ‘bucket list', so I guess that means I am thinking more about accomplishing my goals while I am still alive. I lost my mother last month, so that has changed my thinking on this topic. Being able to spend these last few years helping her out was so special to both of us. She was 93, and I was able to provide her with everything she wanted and needed up until her last day on earth.

The more successful my business becomes, the more I value the people in my lives. The only reason I am enjoying the financial freedom and time freedom that comes with this online business is that it gives me more time and resources to share with those I love.

My extended family is spread out all over the world, and being able to visit them and have them visit me on a regular basis has enriched my life so much. We have been able to do more and see more than most people could do in several lifetimes. Just this past week I was in Georgia with part of my family. These are memories that we will all have forever.

The only things left on my list right now are to sing the national anthem at a baseball game and to jump out of a moving airplane. I'll let everyone know when that happens.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

I got one of those emails awhile back from my mom (www.RemarkableWrinklies.com) that gets sent around. It's the “bucket list”.

So today I decided to post it here.

You're supposed to mark an “X” next to the things you've done. I deleted some as they weren't really anything I'd want to do, personally.

Things I've done:

(X) Been to an Air Show. There used to be one that went right over our house when we lived in Oregon. We'd sit out in the cul-de-sac to watch it with the kids. I'd have to rearrange all of the cups in the shelves after it was done since they'd jiggle all over.

(X) Shot a gun – Yep. I love shooting things. I wouldn't shoot anything that's living, but I love shooting other things. Blowing up aerosol cans (so they could be taken to the dump and burned) used to be one of my stress-relievers.

(X) Archery – Yep. Love that, too.

(X) Ride a roller coaster.

(X ) Been to Las Vegas

( X)  Been to Mexico – Climbed the pyramids, went to the open air market, toured the Shrine of Guadalupe — all kinds of fun stuff.

(X) Take Belly Dance lessons. I am still no good after a year of lessons!  But it was fun.

( X)  Go spelunking – Been in caves in Oregon, Florida, and Tennessee so far.

( X ) Been to Florida – Currently Florida is home – since 2003.

( X ) Been on a plane (NOT a fan, although it's a necessary evil that I put up with – but I normally pop a Xanax before the plane takes off.)

( X ) Been on a cruise ship

( X ) Swam in the ocean – I live 5 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. We go quite often, but not often enough.

( X ) Been to a water park – Yep.

(X) Been to a Disney park.

( X ) Sang Karaoke – VERY poorly. Cleared out the entire bar. Granted it was morning, and there were Bloody Mary's involved, but it was not one of my finer moments. lol!

( X ) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose and elsewhere (Nearly on a daily basis.)

( X ) Caught a snowflake on your tongue – Grew up in Northern Wisconsin so yep.

( X ) Danced or played in the rain – Hasn't everyone?

( X ) Written a letter to Santa Claus

( X ) Watched the sunrise with someone

( X ) Gone snorkeling – Three times so far and I'm totally hooked. Once we saw seahorses and starfish, the other time was over a coral reef and there were Angel Fish everywhere. Amazing!

( X ) Gone ice skating –  Ice skating used to be part of gym class. The ice rink (outdoor) was a block from my elementary school.

( X ) Gone snow skiing. Yes. Both cross country and downhill.

( X ) Gone snowmobiling. Yep.

( X ) Gone snow-shoeing.  I guess we can determine that anything that start with “snow” – I've pretty much done.

( X ) Camped out under the stars – I lived at a camp one summer in a tent, so yes.

( X ) Been skinny dipping outdoors – Too many times to list here.

( X ) Been fishing – Not a big fan.

( X ) Been boating. (Sailboat, pontoon, speed boats, etc.)

( X ) Been water skiing – Again, very poorly. Not one of my better skills. I can be dragged around a lake in an inner tube, nicely, though.

(X) Been canoeing/kayaking – As often as I can

( X ) Been horse riding

(X) Ridden on a tractor – Didn't I say I grew up in Wisconsin? We had one just to plow the snow, even though we lived in the  middle of the forrest.

(X) Ridden on a horse-drawn carriage

(X) Been camping in a trailer/RV

(X) Done Jello Shots – Of course! I've made them on several occasions.

( X) Seen the Northern Lights

(X) Seen Mt. St. Helens

(X) Stood under a waterfall – One of my favorite things when we lived in Oregon was hiking the Silver Falls State Park.

(X) Visit a Renaissance fair. – I go as often as I can.

(X) Go to a Star Trek Convention. Yep. hee!

Things I have yet to do and plan to do ..

(  ) Sleep in a castle in Europe

(   ) Swim with dolphins

(  ) See manatees in the wild

(  ) See the Southern Cross

(   ) Gone to a drive-in movie

(  ) Write a book – (It's in the works)

( ) To travel to every state in the US

( ) To set foot on every continent.

My REAL Bucket List is to see each of the 7 Wonders of the World.

BUT…  when I started to research and plan I found out that there are several lists.  That's where it gets tricky… I'm going to have to live awhile.

• Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
• Seven Wonders of the Medieval World
• Seven Wonders of the modern world
• New Seven Wonders of the World
• USA Today's New Seven Wonders
• Seven Natural Wonders of the World
• Seven Wonders of the Underwater World
• Seven Wonders of the Industrial World

• Eighth Wonder of the World
• National Seven Wonders
  • Seven Wonders of Canada
  • Seven Wonders of Colombia
  • Seven Wonders of Poland
  • Seven Wonders of Portugal
  • Seven Wonders of Russia
  • Seven Wonders of Ukraine
  • Seven Wonders of Wales
• Seven Wonders of Fore (Fore Abbey, Ireland)
• Seven Blunders of the World—a list by Mahatma Gandhi

I'd better get packin'!

Would love it if you'd post your list on your blog, too, and then comment below.

Mine will be changing much in the coming weeks as I think about things I'd like to do. Can't believe I haven't done this sooner.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean