Wake Up Cloud

60 Proven Ways to Generate Article Writing Ideas

Henri — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:20:49 +0000

Ever run out of ideas for topics to write about?

Of course you do, unless you have magic tricks up your sleeve, in which case, email me your secret.

The problem with building an online business is that you have to create content.

And sometimes creating all those blog posts, podcasts and sending out those newsletters can tap you dry.

However, worry not, because the 60 ways below will help you.

If not, you may want to resort to harder substances.

One of the interesting things is that most ideas are generated when you relax, or when you’re in an “altered state.”

Why do you think Thomas Edison took all those naps?

With that said, let’s dive into the idea bonanza, shall we?

Brainstorm. Also known as mind-mapping. Start with a topic you write in the middle of a piece of paper and write down related ideas. Something else I also like to do is to just start brainstorming related words and connections between words. Kind of like a form of freewriting.
Write Your Morning Pages. In the book The Artist’s Way, the author talks about writing your morning pages, which is basically dumping your thoughts on paper each morning to clear the debris. You can also do it online at 750 words.
Comments. Go through some of your old posts and look at the comments. You’ll inevitably see a pile of questions you can answer and expand upon. If your site is brand new, then you have my permission to visit other blogs and look at their comments.
Email. What are some of the most common emails you get? Even if you’re new, you probably have people asking you something about your topic. Take a quick look and see what you find.
Meditate. Sit, focus on your breathing and let your thoughts come and go. It’s not that you don’t have ideas or inspiration, it’s always there. You just have to let it in. I wrote about this here.
Read. You know those things called books? They are amazing creativity boosters. I keep a notepad near me at all times while reading. And don’t limit yourself to books in your market. Go crazy and read something you truly enjoy. In my case it’s sci-fi.
Focus. Instead of trying to cover everything in one article, focus on just one idea. If you have a cluster of ideas, create a series. The more focused your posts are, the easier they are to read, remember and share. Don’t overwhelm your readers. Instead, simplify.
Twitter Search. What questions are people asking? What problems are they facing? What do they like, don’t like? What’s trending, and what’s not?
Problems. What are some of the biggest problems your readers and customers face? What do they really struggle with that if you could help them would make a big difference in their lives? Write and solve those problems!
Fears. What are some of the biggest fears people have in your market? What are some of your biggest fears? Maybe you could share some of your stories of how you overcome some of your initial fears or how you didn’t but are still alive?
Movies. Take a break, and watch a movie that inspires you. Some of favorites are Rocky, Rambo and Star Wars. They don’t make movies like Rocky and Rambo anymore, although they do make Star Wars, which is cool.
Write. Yes, write. When you get into motion, you get inspired, and ideas sometimes pop up out of nowhere. If you’re completely stuck, just write whatever comes to your mind and you’ll get warmed up in no time.
Freewrite. There are many ways to freewrite. You can write (freely) about a specific topic, a problem, or even your lack of ideas for blog posts. Open up a document, start writing without censoring yourself and without stopping.
Magazines. Look at magazines. Not only are they great for headline ideas, but they give you a good idea of what people want to read. You may even find something you disagree with that you can write about. You just never know.
Exercise. Ever take a walk, jog, or swim, and come back feeling refreshed and energized? Of course you have. Ideas come when you relax, and exercise helps you do that. Plus, it’s good for you, so off you go!
Music. There’s something magical about really good music. Listen to some Iron Maiden, Ludovico Einaudi or Dire Straits, close your eyes and enjoy. If nothing happens after you do this, you may want to check your pulse. Also, your music preferences may differ.
Meaning. Write about what’s meaningful for you. Why do you do what you do? Why do you want to help people? Why did you start your business? Your readers and customers want to know.
Personal Stories. What’s a personal story you can share to motivate, entertain or educate your readers? Personal stories do well, because they’re honest.
Nature. There’s something about being out in nature. Take the time to take a stroll in the woods, or sit at a lake and listen to the birds tweet. Remember to bring something to record your ideas with (more on this below).
Blog Archives. When I run out of ideas, I often take a look at popular blogs and their archives. I look at their post headlines and I’m instantly struck by ideas for posts of my own.
Popular Posts. Another sneaky thing you can do is go to related blogs in your niche and look at their most popular posts. That should give you plenty of ideas. Write something with your own spin on it and watch your post fly.
YouTube. We already spend too much time on YouTube watching cute puppies and baby sloths taking a bath. Use that time to get ideas for your blog posts. Look at some of the most popular videos, and the (intelligent) comments left on them. Anything you could expand on, or cover on your blog?
Ask Friends. Friends have opinions. Sometimes too many. Ask them what they would like to know about your topic. Chances are many of your readers are wondering the same thing.
Ask Mentors. If you have a mentor or a coach, ask them what’s missing in your content. Any topic you could cover that you haven’t? It’s always easier for someone to look outside in.
Simplify. Don’t be afraid to cover the absolute basics. It doesn’t matter if others have covered the same topics, because you write from your unique perspective, and your readers want to hear from you, not from someone else.
Search Engines. You can set up Google Alerts in your market to receive updates on new articles, or you could use the search engines to find new blogs, new ideas, and new inspiration.
Pattern Interrupt. Do something out of the ordinary and interrupt your routine. When you’re stuck in your life, you can easily get stuck in your writing, and in your work. Do something out of the ordinary. Go skydiving, eat strawberries with butter, or enjoy a sauna.
Focus on the Mundane. Write about something so mundane that it’s rarely covered in your niche. Think about what an absolute beginner would have trouble with.
Yoga. Stretching relaxes your body, which relaxes your mind. When your mind is relaxed, you forget about the worries, fears and stresses of the day, and ideas happen. If you’re not into yoga, just stretch and breathe.
Quotes. Write a post around some of your favorite quotes. Or use quotes for a list post like I did with Bruce Lee.
Update. Revise and update some of your older posts or articles. Start with your most popular posts and articles. You could even write a follow-up to an old post that got a lot of attention. If you’re new, you can go to someone else’s blog and pretend to update one of their older posts (but don’t plagiarize, obviously).
Repurpose. If you’ve written ebooks, recorded podcasts, or created videos, you can turn those into blog posts. There’s nothing wrong with repurposing content. In fact, most of your readers will be thankful for it, because not everyone can or wants to watch videos or listen to podcasts.
Ask Your Readers. You know that your readers are waiting to share their opinion, right? Write an ‘Ask the Readers’ post and ask them something interesting. Make it something where you know there will be discussion.
Passion. What makes you come alive? When you write with passion, it shines through the computer screen. People know when you’re passionate, and when you’re not. Write about something in your niche that you’re passionate about. Maybe you don’t agree on something that’s common knowledge. Let the world know!
Drill Down. It’s easy to write in a generalized way, so go back and take a look at some of your older posts (or some popular posts from another blog) and see if you can’t drill down into one of the sub-topics covered in the post. If someone writes about 10 ways to do something, pick one of those ways and write an article about it. Go into depth and detail.
Chunk Up. Do the opposite from drilling down and go up. Instead of diving into great detail, give readers an overview of how something works in your niche. In short, go up, up, up.
Forums. You can eavesdrop on your potential customers in forums. Look at what questions they are asking, what answers they are getting, and how satisfied they are with those answers. Not all markets have great forums, but some do, and when they do, it’s like being in a candy store.
Find the Intersection. Find lessons in strange places, and write posts like “What Learning a New Language Can Teach You About Online Business,” and so on. Blend together topics that spark curiosity and get people to read your articles.
If You Could Start Over. What would you do differently if you could start over? Your readers want to hear about what you did, what you wish you did, and what you wouldn’t do again if you had the chance.
Biggest Mistakes. What are some of the biggest mistakes you see people make in your niche? What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made, or make constantly? Write a blog post on some of the biggest mistakes and how to avoid them.
How You Do Things. How do you do what you do? Believe it or not, people want to know. What does your day look like? How do you think? What do you do when problems arise?
Things You Used to Do. What have you done in the past but no longer do? And why not? Why did you change? Dive into the small details of your own life as it relates to your market and you’ll find a treasure trove of ideas.
Your Opinion. Share your opinion on something. Is there something that constantly bugs you in your niche? Tell people what you really think and take a stand. People want a leader who has opinions, even if they aren’t always right.
Tools. What tools do you use? Why do you use them? Go through your favorite ones, how you found them, why you decided to use them, and what you think about them. This works well in almost every market out there.
Review. What’s something you use that you can review? This is perfect for tools you have, and an opportunity to use an affiliate link (if appropriate) and earn some extra cash.
Debunk Myths. What are some of the common myths and lies that you can debunk? Do people think they can get rich quick, or become an overnight success? Cover some of those myths and debunk them once and for all.
Link Post. Link out to some of your favorite posts and articles online. Introduce your readers to some new blogs, websites and businesses. It’s hard to find good material, so even when you’re sending people away from your blog, they’ll thank you for it.
Best Of. Write a post linking to some of your best articles. New visitors rarely go through your old posts, so linking to them from time to time ensures that your goodies don’t go unnoticed, and helps new readers realize how awesome you are.
Negative to Positive. What’s a subject that’s constantly seen as negative? Take that subject and turn it into something positive. You don’t necessarily have to publish it, because just writing it will give your brain some exercise and get the ideas flowing.
Analytics. Look at your analytics, that’s to say, your traffic statistics, especially the ones coming from search engines. What keywords are people using to find your site? Look for words and phrases that you haven’t yet written about. It’s an easy way to increase traffic from search engines (and satisfy more readers).
Keyword Research. Use Google’s free keyword tool and explore some of the most popular searches relating to what you do. It’ll not only give you ideas, but help you, once again, increase traffic from search engines.
Interview. If you’re completely dry for blog topics, even after reading this, you can always interview an expert in your market, or several experts. Get them to cover a sub-topic each in your market. It gives you great content and it gives them publicity. It’s a win-win.
Free Coaching. Give away some free coaching or consulting to your readers. It’ll help you dive deeper into what they have trouble with and give you deeper insight. You could do this via email or via phone. Phone is better though. Don’t be shy.
Talk to Peers. Talk to other bloggers, business owners and entrepreneurs. When you listen to the problems and struggles they face, you’ll inevitably come up with a dozen ideas of your own, guaranteed.
Take a Shower. I prefer jumping in the sauna, but if you don’t have access to one, take a hot shower. It helps you relax, and as you may already know, a lot of people come up with their ideas in the shower. You might, too.
Pictures. We’re used to writing a post and then finding a picture, but what would happen if you did it the other way around? Take a picture that inspires you and write about it in a way that educates your readers.
Pay Attention. Life happens when you’re busy trying to come up with blog post topics, so pay attention what happens during the day and notice what thoughts come up. Be mindful.
Release Fears. What stops most people writing truly great stuff is fear. They’re afraid they’ll look dumb or that someone will criticize them. Remember, the people that mind don’t matter, and the people that matter don’t mind.
Record Your Ideas. Above all, constantly record your ideas. We’re walking idea machines, and if you aren’t capturing your ideas on your iPhone, a Dictaphone, or on a piece of paper when you get them, they’ll float off to someone else.
Take a Nap. If all else fails, just take a short 15-30 minute nap. At times I’m so exhausted from work that I need a quick reboot. Your brain may need one, too, after reading this article and all of these tips, so treat yourself and have a nap.

Those are all the ideas I have for you today.

I recommend you take a few of the tips above and try them right away.

Tuck the rest away for a rainy day, or try a new one every day.

The more you apply what you’ve just read, the more you will internalize and make it automatic.

Share, Print & Enjoy!

To make it easier for you to print and share this article, I’ve put it into PDF format which you can download below.

Please do share it freely, because there are people out there without article ideas, and it’s our duty to help them.

Right-Click Here and Choose Save-As to Download the PDF

How You Can Take Your Writing Further

If you’d like to use your writing skills for good and learn how to write for the web, I have great news for you.

I have a free email course where you learn some of the strategies I use day in and day out to build my online business.

And not only that, you’ll learn some of the biggest mistakes most people make when it comes to writing for the web (some of these are easily avoided when you know what they are).

If this sounds interesting to you, then I’d love to see you on the inside.

Is Your Writing Keeping You Poor?

Henri — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:46:55 +0000

Are you getting the results you want through your writing?

Is your writing helping you build your business, or are you pumping out thousands of words without bringing in more readers, customers, and ultimately, revenue?

Knowing what, why, or even how to write can be tough.

But the good news is that you don’t have to spit out life-altering prose to use your words to build your business.

At the same time, just filling pages with sentences is not enough. You have to know where you’re taking your readers.

You have to have a goal.

If you’re writing day in and day out without a plan, you need to keep reading this article.

Why Your Writing Keeps You Poor

The biggest reason why your writing keeps you poor is lack of focus.

If you want to build a business, you have to make money, and your writing should help you do that.

That doesn’t mean you start pushing out marketing messages all of a sudden. It just means that you have a content marketing strategy that helps build your expertise, likeability and authority.

I’m talking about a strategy that takes people by the hand and helps them move from readers to life-long customers.

The problem is that most of the people I come in touch with don’t have this, so they write, and write, and write, and don’t get results.

They are doing a lot of things right, but they still aren’t seeing the results they truly want, which often means revenue coming in the door.

3 Simple Things You Can Do

I like to be practical, so I focus on metrics that matter, which usually means either a growing email list, or more income coming in each month.

Although we have to be careful, because it’s easy to increase those two numbers while slowly destroying your business.

But that’s a topic for another time.

Let’s dive into how you can use your writing for good.

1. Listen

Listen to your readers and to the people in your market.

Put on your detective hat and explore some of the following questions.

What are they struggling with?
What do they want?
What do they secretly dream they could have?
What are their biggest fears?

Help people move toward their goals in an ethical and honest way, and they will come to trust and like you.

There’s no real secret to writing great content.

You don’t have to be a great writer, but you do need to help people solve their problems and make their life better in one way or another.

Solving problems can take you a long way, but you can go even further with a solid strategy.

2. Strategy

When I’m talking about strategy, I’m simply referring to where you’re taking your customers.

If you want to build a business, your writing should take people on a journey.

If you have an email newsletter (which I hope you do), then your articles should help people realize that there’s more goodies in store.

Your writing should help build trust and likability so you can build your business.

And it will naturally do that if you help people in some way. People are grateful for genuine help, so you really can’t go wrong there.

3. Test

Last, but not least, if you want to take your writing from blah to woo, you have to constantly tweak, experiment and improve.

You have to be willing to put your writing out there and observe the results.

Look at things like:

Are people responding to your writing?
How are they responding?
What actions are they taking?
Is revenue going up or down?

A typical response could be someone signing up to your email newsletter, buying a product, or even sharing something on social media.

The Bottom Line

If you aren’t getting the results you want, you need to keep experimenting.

Your writing should help you build your business. It should help you not only make more money, but also help more people.

It can be quite confusing, which is why I’ve put together a free email course for you.

A Free Online Course to Dramatically Improve Your Writing

I’ve put together a free email course called: Writing for the Web 101.

It’ll cover some of the most important fundamentals when it comes to writing great content that your readers will love.

If you feel like you’d like to take your writing to the next level, then sign-up now. It’s 100% free, and 100% magical.

How Following My Passion Changed My Life

Henri — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:20:46 +0000

Five years ago I was stuck in a prison constructed by my own hands.

I wanted to do what truly set my soul on fire, but I didn’t think I could.

I was miserable and slowly losing hope, but one day it all changed.

I stopped believing my lies.

I discontinued my subscription to negative thoughts.

And I began the journey.

The Change

I made the shift from waiting for something to taking matters into my own hands.

I went from coming up with reasons for why I couldn’t to saying “so what?”

I realized that I had been looking for permission to follow my passion. I was looking for people to tell me it was okay, and that it was all going to turn out fine.

But no one could give me the confirmation I was looking for, and I understood that it was never going to happen unless I dropped the need for outside approval.

The only approval I needed was from within.

Waiting wasn’t going to change anything, except make me older, so I decided to start.

I chose to stop saying no to my passion.

The Result

Making the decision to follow my passion changed my life slowly, but surely.

Once I took that first leap into the unknown, I realized I could follow my excitement. It was like a veil started lifting and I began catching glimpses of reality.

I didn’t have to wait for anything or anyone to give me permission. I didn’t have to seek outside approval, all I had to do was show up every day and put in the work.

All I had to do was start.

I followed my own sense of direction and I learned to trust myself. With each step, I discovered more and more of what I was capable of.

And I became aware of the fact that life can be enjoyed right now, even with all the perceived problems around me.

There’s uncertainty, fear, and worry, but I enjoy life more now, because I’m moving in the right direction. I feel more alive, and I’m excited to wake up in the morning.

And it all started with the decision to say hi to uncertainty.

The Path

Following my passion didn’t turn my life into a fairy tale. It didn’t change my life on the outside; instead it changed me on the inside.

It’s almost as if finding and following my passion wasn’t the end goal, but the process of getting there.

I now have more time to do what I love, and I’m more confident in following my heart.

At times it almost seems as if life lives itself. When I get out of the way, it’s like turning downstream and enjoying the ride.

It’s no longer such a struggle, because no matter how much I try to control life, things will still happen.

I’m still afraid. I still have problems. I still make mistakes, and everything goes on as normal, but at the same time, it doesn’t.

The Takeaway

If there’s anything I’ve learned during almost the last decade of making a living unconventionally, it is the fact that if I want to do something, I have to be willing to start before I’m ready.

You’ve probably been told to take action over and over again, but are you?

Or are you waiting for something?

If you aren’t getting the results you want then something needs to change.

10 Lies You’ve Been Told About Launching a Lifestyle Business Website

Henri — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:20:51 +0000

There are many things you’ve been told you need to do to launch your lifestyle business website.

And while most of those things are fantastic, they can hold you back from starting, because it’s too much information.

It’s overwhelming.

I prefer simplicity, so I focus on the 20% that provide 80% of the results.

It helps you minimize overwhelm and maximize results, because that’s what this is all about: helping you get your lifestyle business up and running.

So let’s have a look at some of the misconceptions when it comes to launching your website:

1. You Need an Original Idea

Yes, it’s all fine and good to have a great idea, but what if you can’t come up with something groundbreaking?

Then you just start.

When I started, I didn’t have an original idea, but I was so sick of not doing anything that I just took action.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

2. You Have to Be an Expert

Expertise comes from experience.

If you’ve done something, you already know more than many.

Remember, a fifth grader can teach a fourth grader some pretty cool stuff.

When you start, your knowledge grows and you improve. Refuse to let anything hold you back from doing what you truly want.

There’s no need to be the best in the world at what you do to run a lifestyle business.

It’s a good goal, but it should never hold you back.

3. You Can’t Make Mistakes

Experience comes from making mistakes and failing over and over again.

Before I made any money online, I stumbled around for several years making mistakes, wasting thousands, and thinking I’d never get anywhere.

Embrace mistakes for the teachers they are.

Yes, avoid making mistakes when possible, but don’t be afraid of making a few here and there, because that’s how you’ll learn.

4. Your Writing Has to Be Top-Notch

If you’d see some of my earliest articles, you’d be astonished at how bad my writing was back then.

I improved by writing, reading books, and then writing some more.

Your writing is what it is. If you write sci-fi books, your writing matters a great deal.

But we’re here to build a business, and writing is just a means for communication. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to get a message across and be valuable.

Start where you are with what you have, because the only way you will improve is through action.

5. You Need to Master Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is great.

It can help drive thousands of visitors to your site, but it often stops people from launching their lifestyle business website.

It can be quite complicated with all the numbers and tools, so I like to postpone it until later.

It’s still important, but not so important that you have to learn it right away.

I’ve built sites that get thousands of daily visitors through search engines, but I’ve also built Wake Up Cloud, which doesn’t focus much on SEO.

The bottom line is that you don’t have to get everything perfect to launch your site.

6. You Need a Great Design

I think design is critical to how people perceive you and your business, but if it’s holding you back, it can wait.

You can pay someone a few hundred bucks to get a very simple design. That’s enough.

Or you can use one of the free themes that come with WordPress, if you don’t want to invest in a premium theme like Thesis.

There are plenty of people running lifestyle businesses out there with very, very simple designs, so you don’t have to spend thousands to get it done.

7. You Need Widgets, Gadgets & Buttons

There are a lot of bells and whistles you can put on your site, but the more things you put up, the more distractions there are for your readers.

Your site should drive people to your newsletter, because that is where most of your income will come from. The money is in the list.

The more widgets, gadgets and buttons you have to distract from that, there more it will cost you in the long term.

The simpler your design, the easier for your readers to navigate, which means they’ll stay longer.

Keep things simple.

8. You Need to Be Technical

There’s this label that some people are technical while others aren’t.

Yes, some people grasp technical parts faster, but it’s because they’ve had a lot of practice.

You often hear people say that younger people are born computer savvy, but they’re savvy because they’ve been using computers for a long, long time

It comes down to how much time you’re willing to put in.

Yes, there are a few technical parts involved in launching your lifestyle business website (unless you pay someone), but the good news is that once you learn those things, you’re good to go.

There are a finite number of parts you have to learn how to do. It gets a lot easier after that.

9. It’ll Take Too Long

Launching your business website can take time if you focus on the wrong things.

And it can get complicated if you overwhelm yourself with tasks that you think you need to do.

As I said above, I like to keep things simple, because the simpler things are; the more likely you are to take action.

This is what I do in my workshops, and this is what helps people to take massive action.

When you know the 20% that get you 80% of the results, you can eliminate a lot of frustration, overwhelm, and fear.

This doesn’t mean you can build a business overnight, but it does mean that you can eliminate a lot of wasted time.

Building a business still takes work.

10. People Won’t Like You

If you want to get paid to do what you love, you have to put yourself out there.

That means that you run the risk of some people not liking you, or even criticizing you.

But remember that what people say is not a reflection of you. It’s a reflection of how they feel inside.

Some people are angry because they aren’t getting what they want from life, and they take it out on others by putting them down.

It makes them feel better temporarily.

In the end, you have to ask yourself if you’re going to let this stand in your way, or if you’re going to take action and get paid to do what you love.

Summary

There are a lot of things that can hold you back when doing something new.

You may believe you have to do something you really don’t.

But if something is stopping you from launching your lifestyle business website, then forget about it.

Everything does not have to be perfect from the get go.

All that matters is that you move forward one step at a time, one day at a time.

So, relax and enjoy the process.

7 Warning Signs That Your Lifestyle Business Might Fail

Henri — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:10:55 +0000

You’ve taken in a lot of information.

You’ve read articles, listened to podcasts, and maybe even taken courses.

Yet you’re still not quite sure what it takes to create a successful lifestyle business, are you?

In the beginning stages, confusion is the norm, because knowledge cannot replace experience.

I see my clients and customers make the same mistakes over and over again, so let’s have a look at what they are, shall we?

Vamonos!

1. You Don’t Have a Niche

If you’re building a house, you need a good foundation.

Building a lifestyle business is no different. Just because it’s online doesn’t mean you can skimp on the essentials.

You have to find the intersection between what you love to do, and what people are willing to pay for.

A niche doesn’t necessarily mean that you become an expert in a narrow area, such as growing bananas. You can also take people to a destination, like I do.

But you need to have these basic building blocks in place before you start.

This is what my Find Your Niche Workshop covers. It helps you cut through the fluff and make progress without overwhelm.

After you’ve got your niche, it’s time to get your website up and running.

2. Your Website Lacks the Essentials

Just starting a website or blog is not enough.

If you want to build a business, you have to have the right website elements in place.

You don’t need a lot of stuff when you start. No SEO, social media or fancy gadgets needed.

Those can come later. Right now, you have to focus on what truly matters.

This comes as a relief to many of my clients and customers, because it means less overwhelm and more action.

So what are the essential elements?

An about and contact page
A newsletter (I use Aweber)
A Newsletter sign-up page (like mine here)
A Newsletter sign-up incentive
5 solid blog posts
A clean, simple design (optional, but recommended)

That’s it.

If you’re still confused, I’ll be conducting a Business Website Essentials Workshop in mid-April (this month) that will help you do this step-by-step, so keep an eye out for that.

And that brings up another big problem: not having an email list.

3. You Don’t Have an Email List

The most important part of your lifestyle business is your email list.

It’s not enough to use feedburner for RSS and email subscribers. You don’t control those subscribers, and you cannot send them emails whenever you want.

There’s a big difference between feedburner and say, Aweber.

If you have nothing else on your website, you need an email list. And you need to get people on that list.

It’ll help you get to know your readers and their problems. It’ll help you create and launch products.

In short, it’ll help you build a lifestyle business.

If you need more tips, check out my email marketing 101 series.

4. Your Writing is Off

And, of course, you need to have great content on your blog and your newsletter, otherwise everything will fall into pieces.

I’m not talking about perfect writing here.

Writing for an online audience requires a certain structure and format.

You need to have a good great headline, opening paragraph, and your post has to be interesting.

Most articles I see are all over the place. They go on tangents. They aren’t proof-read. And they are, in short, not worthy of human eyeballs.

A great piece of content should be outlined, focused, and interesting.

As you write more and more, you’ll get better.

I’m not saying this to discourage you, but to help you become aware of how to write for the web.

But none of this matters if you don’t have people visiting your website.

5. You Use the Wrong Traffic Strategies

If you already have a blog or website, and it isn’t growing, something needs to change.

You have to be willing to experiment, because what works for me might not work for you.

I built Wake Up Cloud almost solely on guest posting, but in some niches guest posting doesn’t work.

In short, if you aren’t getting the results you want, you need to try something else. If you just say “Well, I’ve tried to start a business and it didn’t work,” then you don’t want this enough.

Building a lifestyle business takes determination.

You may not succeed on the first go, but you will if you keep going, experimenting, and learning.

Refuse to stop.

6. Your Products Are All About You

Creating products isn’t easy, but it isn’t all that hard, either.

If you create products YOU think are good, you’re going to be disappointed.

The easiest way to create your first series of products is to listen to your readers. Look at the questions they ask, the problems they run into, and listen to what they have to say.

This is why building an audience (and an email list) is so important. It gives you valuable research data that you can’t get anywhere else.

Every single one of the products I’ve created has come from problems my readers, customers and clients have.

It doesn’t have to be hard. There is a process you can follow.

But it still requires you to adapt that process into your life and business.

7. Your Marketing is … Not So Good

Last, but not least, in order to make money, you have to know how to sell.

Marketing doesn’t have to be sleazy. It all depends on how you use it.

I like to stay as honest as possible in my marketing. And if you’re reading this article, I think you want that, too.

Your readers won’t automatically flock to buy your products and services.

Think about all of the products you’ve never bought. Life gets in the way. You have to help people take action right away.

Start thinking about how you can market what you do better.

Think about the results people will get from your products, instead of telling them about how many pages your ebook is or how many workbooks they’ll get.

Learn, Experiment and Implement

As you can see, building a lifestyle business is a constant journey of growth.

You learn, experiment and implement.

If you don’t truly love what you do, then it’s not going to happen. The most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who are eager to learn more.

Yes, they’re scared, uncertain and uncomfortable, but they keep going.

Each mistake you make is a stepping stone to success.

Each failure is a learning experience.

Don’t avoid them. Embrace them, and you’ll be surprised at the results.

Take things one step at a time, and you’ll do just fine.

5 Things Learning a New Language Can Teach Us About Building an Online Business

Henri — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:26:43 +0000

Anyone can learn to speak a new language.

And anyone can learn to build a business around their passion.

It’s just a question of determination. Are you willing to put in the time to make it happen?

There are no shortcuts.

No secrets.

No magic formulas.

As I’ve played around with learning languages, I’ve gotten several insights to the business building process.

Funny how that works, isn’t it?

Let’s take a look at just a few of them.

1. Confusion

When you’re learning anything new, you’ll get confused.

It’s almost as if your whole brain needs to reorganize in order to absorb new information.

When I started French, I didn’t understand anything. Everything was a blur. And my head hurt after listening to French for just a few minutes.

But I knew from learning Spanish that it would all start to make sense if I kept going.

And I know from building a successful online business that the beginning stages are the most difficult.

This is true even now when I’ve reached a certain stage of success. Each time I learn something new, I get confused, but as I focus on taking one step at a time, it clears up.

I’ve realized that I can only do what I can do, so I don’t try to get things perfect. I still want to, but I try not to .

I just do one thing at a time. And it gets me through the confusion.

2. Initial Understanding

After awhile, the strangeness of the language lifts. I begin to understand words here and there. Movies are no longer a blur. I get the gist of things.

But then I bump into another hurdle. I realize how much I don’t know.

I compare myself to native speakers and want to give up. It seems like I have such a long way to go.

The same happened to me in the beginning of building my online business. And it still does from time to time.

I compare myself to others and think, “I could never do that.”

But I know I can. It’s just that I can’t imagine it, yet.

I know for a fact that if I take one step at a time. If I take action every day, I will succeed.

It may not be in the way others have succeeded, but it will be in the best way for me. And that is what truly matters.

3. Frustration

But even knowing this, I often become frustrated when I don’t make progress fast enough.

The same is true for business. I see this in clients and customers all the time. They want results now, but it’s not going to happen.

Don’t expect it to happen overnight, because in most cases it won’t.

Expect it to take anywhere from 12-36 months. Yes, one to three years.

I find strange relief in knowing that things take time. It means I don’t have to hurry. I can just enjoy the process and let it take the time it takes.

Most of our lives are spent on a journey somewhere, so you might as well enjoy where you are.

If not, you’ll probably be unhappy for the majority of your life.

Right now, my French isn’t good, but I’m getting better. I love exploring the language.

I don’t know how long I’ll keep going with French. Right now I just want to understand the language. I have no need to speak or write it.

I’m not worried about the future, because I’m just enjoying the journey.

4. Perseverance

I once read “You don’t learn a language, you get used to it,” over at All Japanese All the Time. And I 100% agree with that.

People try to force themselves to learn a language fast, when all it comes down to is letting your brain get used to it.

It takes time, work and perseverance.

When you’re learning to build an online business, you’re in a new world. You have to give yourself time to get used to everything.

Building a solid business takes time.

Let yourself relax. Take things one day at a time.

Don’t try to plan ahead if you can’t. You will figure things out when you take action. If you try to do it before that, you’ll freak out.

Whatever happens, you have to persevere if you want results.

5. Results

When you persevere, you get results.

It’s that simple. Really.

I’m not a genius. I’m just willing to put in the work to learn a new language, or build a business that supports my lifestyle.

I get frustrated, confused, and overwhelmed all the time, but I refuse to stop.

I say no to new things more often than I say yes. I know I have to stay focused if I want results.

The same holds true for you. But it all comes down to taking one step each day, even if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Anyone can learn a new language.

And anyone can build a business around their passion.

But not everyone is willing to put in the time.

Are you?

When You’re Afraid of Making Mistakes

Henri — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:05:52 +0000

If you make a mistake, you could ruin your chances of living the life you want.

One single mistake and you’re done.

It’s essential that you get everything perfect before you start.

Right?

Not really.

Somewhere along the way, we took a wrong turn. We learned to believe that mistakes are to be avoided like the plague.

We should be perfect in whatever we do. But you know what?

These beliefs are killing your progress. You should never be afraid of making mistakes.

If there’s anything you should be afraid of, it’s not making any mistakes at all, because it’s a sure-fire path to failure.

Why Making Mistakes Seems Scary

Anticipating mistakes and knowing what might go wrong is all fine and good. But when you lose control, it becomes a problem.

As human beings, we’re experts at tuning into potential threats.

However, when you’re building a business around your passion, you’re exploring new territory, which means you have no idea what to expect.

And that means that your internal radar will come up with threats that do not even exist.

Even worse, once you’ve come up with an imaginary threat, you tend to imagine what consequences it leads to if it would happen.

It all seems real, yet it has no bearing in reality.

Making mistakes seems scary because we create horrible scenarios in our head.

And it’s all thanks to the imaginary expectations we’ve set-up.

The Cold, Hard Truth About Making Mistakes

If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not experimenting enough, which means you’re not making as much progress as you could.

Building a business is a fascinating journey. It helps you create something that supports your lifestyle and helps you grow as a person.

Every day, there are new fears to face, new technology to learn, and new boundaries to destroy.

You’re not on this planet to succumb to your fears. You’re not made to hide in the closet when imaginary monsters lurk under the bed.

You’re here to face your fears and boldly go where you have not gone before. But you have to make an internal shift first.

You have to stop taking your excuses seriously.

That’s when things fall into place.

You can only do your best.

Take action.

And learn from your mistakes.

How to Take Bold Action

You can only do what you can do. Life is way too important to take seriously.

So what if you fail?

You’ll keep taking action until you succeed.

Your fear of making mistakes will probably never go away completely. It’s ingrained in us as human beings.

It’s normal.

It’s a sign that you actually care about the work you’re doing (or want to do). Taking action means embracing imperfection.

You’ll never learn everything.

You’ll never eliminate risk.

You’ll make plenty of mistakes.

But so what?

If you want to do what you love, then it’s time to stop giving away your power to your fears.

They are nothing without your consent.

It’s time to set sail for a new destination.

Destination: Relentless Determination

It’s time to make the shift from prisoner of your fears to relentlessly pursuing your dreams.

When you truly become sick of being controlled by your fears, you become relentless.

It happened to me, and it will happen to you.

It’s like in the movie, the Matrix. When Neo realizes he is The One. He suddenly sees the Matrix for what it is. He embraces his true power.

And that is exactly what happens when you reach relentless determination. No obstacle can stand in your way.

You’re too determined to let anything hold you back. You keep moving forward, no matter what.

If you don’t know where to start, you’ll learn.

If you’re afraid of putting yourself out there, you’ll do it anyway.

If you come up with excuses, so what?

The secret is that there is no secret.

There is just pure determination.

Do you want to do what you love more than stay where you are?

The Best Way to Do What You Love

Henri — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:26:49 +0000

I regularly receive emails from readers who want to know the best way to start doing work they love.

It’s a very common question, with a simple, yet uncomfortable answer.

If you’re honest with yourself, and ready to work hard, you’ll love the answer.

If you’re looking for shortcuts, you’ll keep on looking.

And this is the problem.

Most people are looking for guarantees and shortcuts.

And This is All Backwards

Many of the fears we have when it comes to doing work we love come from the assumption that we need to succeed right away.

We think failure is a lethal injection straight into our veins, but it’s quite the opposite.

Failure doesn’t mean death, it means growth. The more you fail, the more you learn, and the higher your chances of success.

You’ve learned to avoid mistakes at all cost, because teachers, parents, and society in general has told you that it’s bad.

But it’s time to change.

When you talk to people who do what they love, they’ll tell you stories of spectacular failures, mistakes, and times when they almost had an anxiety-induced heart attack.

It is through their trials and tribulations that they’ve gained enough experience to succeed. Not through trying to come up with one perfect idea.

The Best Way to Do What You Love

The best way to do what you love is to take one small step at a time.

This doesn’t mean you don’t plan or set goals. It means you focus on the next step you can take.

You avoid getting giving power to your fears, worries, and what ifs. Instead you focus on what you can do right now.

I did this when I started my lifestyle business. I was confused and scared most of the time, but I focused on the next step.

And with each step I took, another step revealed itself.

As time passed, things became easier, but I still have periods of anxiety and discomfort. That’s part of the process.

It’s not something to run away from, but something to embrace.

What many try to do is learn everything before they start. They think it’ll eliminate the fear and anxiety, but it often makes it worse.

The Problem With Trying to Learn Everything

The problem with trying to learn everything is that you don’t know what you need to learn before you start.

When you start, you run into real problems, which means you need to find real, focused solutions in order to make progress.

It’s like a video game; there’s always new problems to solve, and the more problems you solve, the more experience you gain, and the more your character grows.

The same is true for building a lifestyle business and doing what you love.

You can’t prepare for what’s to come. You can only start and do your best. You will face problems and it’s up to you to solve those problems.

Doing what you love requires courage, because you have to start before you’re ready.

Trying to learn everything doesn’t work, because you don’t know what everything is, and there always seems to be more you can learn.

So here’s what you need to do.

What You Need to Do, Right Now

You could sit there and dream about what could be, or you could actually start doing what you love.

There are a few essential shifts you need to make, especially if you’ve been stuck for months, or years thinking about taking action.

Here they are:

Believe in yourself. You can do work you love if you want to. There’s a reason you resonate with this article, and that is because deep down you know I’m telling the truth. The only person holding you back is you.
Become a problem solver. No one else can do this for you. They can help, but you have to take responsibility for taking action, facing problems and solving them. Until you do this, nothing happens. How long are you willing to wait?
Focus on what you can do. You can’t avoid failure, mistakes, or fear, so why even try? What you can do is your best. Even if you’re completely new to this right now, you can start somewhere. You’ll struggle a lot, but you’ll learn.

Anyone can do work they love.

There is no secret formula. The best way forward is through small, simple steps.

It’s time to let go of perfection and follow your heart.

If you truly want to do what you love, then start right away.

Do You Need Credentials to Build a Lifestyle Business?

Henri — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:39:30 +0000

You don’t need credentials to build a lifestyle business around your passion. You just need to know what you’re talking about.

Knowing what you’re talking about doesn’t mean being the best in the world.

It means being able to help people improve some part of their lives, no matter how small it is.

If you think you need credentials, you’re looking for outside permission to do what you love, and the only person that can give you permission is you.

It’s time to stop looking for permission or confirmation, and just start doing what you feel called to do.

If you’re passionate about a subject, you have knowledge, experience and you can teach people something that will help them.

People care about results, not letters after your name or diplomas on your wall.

Where Real Credentials Come From

Real credentials come from being passionate about what you do.

When you’re passionate about something, you can’t stop learning, which means you’re constantly improving.

You use your friends, family, and yourself as guinea pigs, so you can see what works and what doesn’t.

Real credentials come from producing positive results for people, which is what your readers and customers want.

But Will People Take You Seriously?

I don’t have an MBA, nor do I need one for what I do right now.

You seem to take me seriously, don’t you?

Why is that?

The answer to that is the same answer other people will have about the work you do.

My clients and customers are attracted to me because of what I know, and how I do things.

But life is never black and white. There are times when credentials help.

When Credentials Help

If you want to become a brain surgeon, I don’t recommend you use your family as guinea pigs.

But if you want to help people get in shape, you don’t need credentials.

Yes, being a certified personal trainer, wellness coach, or nutrition consultant helps, but they should never stop you from taking action.

When credentials help you improve, you’re naturally attracted to getting them, and when they don’t, the interest just isn’t there.

There’s no reason to wait.

You can start building an audience and a platform for your lifestyle business right now.

Building Your Platform

You see, you don’t need to be the best in the world to start producing content that helps people.

If you have no experience, you get experience along the way.

You never wait for perfection before you start, because it’s not going to happen.

If you’re passionate about fitness and nutrition, you probably know more about it than most people, which means you can help someone.

You can begin writing articles, recording podcasts, and even writing ebooks that help people get fit and healthy.

Yes, there are people out there who know more than you, but so what?

It’s time to forget all your excuses and just start.

People Who Started Without Credentials

Many others have gone before you.

And many of them have had bigger excuses than you have now, but they’ve taken action anyway, and that’s why they are successful today.

Here are just a few examples:

Benny Lewis travels the world and shows people how to learn a language in 3 months.
Leo Babauta teaches people how to live healthier and happier lives.
Steve Kamb teaches nerds how to become fit, strong, and healthy.
Darren Rowse has one of the biggest blogs in the world on digital photography.

None of the above people have official credentials, yet they have built successful businesses they’re passionate about.

And you know what?

So can you, but you have to take action.

The Art of Taking Action

It all comes down to how determined you are to keep moving forward when things get rough.

Are you letting your excuses grab control of your life, or are you pushing forward anyway?

The answer to the above question will determine your success.

In most cases, thinking you need credentials is another excuse. You can start your lifestyle business today.

Whatever excuse you have, forget about it, and just start.

Start today.

Start now.

Stop Waiting for an Original Idea

Henri — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:17:58 +0000

Do you believe you have to have an original idea to start a lifestyle business?

Or worse, do you think you have to be something you aren’t in order to take action?

Well, you can breathe a sigh of relief, because you don’t need either of those to create a business that supports your lifestyle.

What I do here at Wake Up Cloud isn’t amazingly original, but I am passionate, and I inject my myself into what I do.

I tell my story and I share my experiences.

A few years ago, I let the belief of an original idea hold me back.

I looked at successful entrepreneurs. They were smart, wise, and connected, while I wasn’t.

Or at least that’s what I thought.

So I did nothing for years, until I snapped

I had excuses that kept me from starting.

When I thought I wouldn’t have anything to offer, I was afraid that people wouldn’t like what I did.

When I looked at successful entrepreneurs in the niche I wanted to jump into, I saw only failure and impossibility.

These excuses seemed like facts instead of figments of my imagination.

They held me back until I realized I didn’t have to be perfect, or the best.

I only had to enjoy what I did, because from that enjoyment would come dedication, and from dedication, expertise.

Reaching the tipping point

One day I woke up and thought, “enough is enough. It’s time to start.”

I didn’t care whether or not I was original, or if I was going to succeed.

I knew that if I didn’t start now, I’d simply live another day in regret, and that wasn’t an option.

I had my doubts, fears, and worries, like anyone else.

I didn’t know what I was passionate about, but I did know what I was interested in.

I’d been stuck in my head for so long that I’d finally had enough.

It was time to take the first step

I focused on taking one step at a time.

I learned what I needed to learn as I went along, and it brought me here, to your computer screen on this fine day.

As I’ve taken one step at a time for over the last five years, I’ve realized that one of the keys to success is action.

Everyone has ideas and dreams, but very few do anything about it.

You don’t have to find the perfect niche, an original idea, or create a groundbreaking product.

Yes, it helps, but it rarely happens right away.

So, you have to ask yourself one important question.

What’s holding you back?

Are you looking for something to be other than what it is?

Maybe you think you’ll start when you have enough information, or enough time to build a lifestyle business, but it doesn’t work like that.

You don’t need anything other than what you’ve got.

When you take action, you learn, you grow, and you make progress.

You can spend years trapped in the search for an original idea, but it won’t get you anywhere.

The only thing that will make a difference is to take that first step, just like I did when I started.

It took me years to realize what needed to be done.

I can only hope that it doesn’t take as long for you.

Summary

I once thought I needed something I didn’t have to do what I wanted.

Now I don’t.

Now I just go ahead and do it, without the pesky middlemen.

I still have excuses and fears pop up when I expand and learn, but I keep taking action.

I keep moving forward one step at a time.

And if you want to start your own lifestyle business, you’ll have to do the same.

The 7 Keys to Finding the Perfect Niche for Your Lifestyle Business

Henri — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:02:43 +0000

Picking the right niche isn’t just about what you want.

If you want to build a thriving lifestyle business, you have to take into account what people are willing to pay for.

But even if you get that right, you aren’t guaranteed success, because it’s all too easy to blend into the noise.

You have to stand out from the crowd.

Also, you have to be willing to face your fears and keep going when the world around you seems to be falling into chaos.

It’s a lot of stuff, isn’t it?

The good news is that anyone can find the perfect niche and stand out from the crowd. It’s not a matter of if, but how.

The how is what we’ll cover in today’s article, and we’ll do that through the story of how one of my coaching clients did it.

His name is Dejan, and I’ve been working with him for what must be around six months now.

In the beginning, he didn’t know what he wanted. He was stuck, scared, and about to give up.

Sound familiar?

But we brainstormed, overcame fears, and kept moving forward. Now he’s taking massive action and getting results.

But how did he reach this stage?

And how did he find the intersection between passion and profitability?

And most important of all, can you do the same?

Let’s take a look.

1. Trial & Error

Like many, Dejan spent around three years stumbling around online. He wanted to start a lifestyle business, but he kept running into the wrong information.

He was scared to go after what he truly loved, because there was “too much” competition, and he wasn’t sure if he would have anything to say.

Besides, why would people listen to him when he wasn’t a superstar?

All of this kept him from finding a great niche.

But when he decided to take action, he bought one of my courses, and everything was flipped on its head.

Dejan realized that competition was good. It simply meant that people were spending money in his market, and that there were ample opportunities for guest posts and networking.

But how did he find his niche in the first place?

2. Brainstorm (+ Serendipity)

When Dejan looked at what he was interested in, he discovered that he’d always loved fitness, and especially building muscle.

He also started getting people asking him questions about fitness and building muscle, so he thought “there’s got to be even more people out there willing to pay for this knowledge.”

He’d always had a hard time putting on muscle. He is a hardgainer; a term used in fitness circles to describe someone who has a hard time putting on muscle.

Dejan had brainstormed before, but he had excuses and fears stand in the way, so he automatically dismissed his passion for fitness.

Many people do this, because they don’t believe they can go after what they truly want.

This doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want, because there has to be a demand for what you want to do.

3. Research Viability

When I worked with Dejan, we looked at if there was competition out there.

Were other people making money in the fitness market? If so, how?

Were they selling ebooks, courses, supplements, or something we hadn’t thought of?

The research we did was very simple. It doesn’t have to take more than a few days. It just has to be done right, so you don’t end up building your empire on quicksand.

But it isn’t enough to just research viability. Plenty of people start businesses in markets that are filled with potential, but they don’t stand out.

They blend into the noise and no one cares, so they fail.

4. Stand Out

In order to stand out, you have to determine who you help and what you help them with.

This is not something most people get right off the bat, so don’t try to get it perfect.

Look at it like a scientist. You’re creating and testing a hypothesis.

If you don’t get the response you want, you tweak your hypothesis and try again.

The problem is that most people don’t know when to tweak and when to keep going.

What Dejan and I did was zoom into the fitness market. What did he really want to do? Who did he really want to help?

And the answer came back: muscle building for hardgainers without the stress and struggle.

At this point, Dejan began to freak out a bit, which is very common, because he realized he could go after what he REALLY wanted.

5. Facing Fears

When you reach the point of going after what you truly want, it’s almost as if all your fears and worries make an appearance.

And they bring all their friends.

It’s easy to stop here and stay in your comfort zone. Life is pretty good where you are, right?

But deep down you know that that’s bullshit. You want something more, and it’s time to take action.

Some of Dejan’s fears were:

Fear that he won’t be able to succeed
Fear of wasting several years of his life if he failed
Fear of what other’s would think of his content

He created disaster scenarios in his head, which paralyzed and scared the living daylights out of him.

As I helped him through them, Dejan again realized that the fears were not the problem, and he proceeded to take action.

6. Small Steps

While writing this post, I talked to Dejan, and he said one of the most important things for him has been to take small steps every single day.

He’s not as focused on the end goal, although it’s still there.

Instead, he focuses on taking at least one small step every day, even if only means working on writing an article for 15 minutes.

All of those minutes add up.

No matter what, you have to keep moving forward.

It doesn’t matter what your excuses are, because if you let them control you, you’ll never get anywhere.

7. Flexibility

You’ve probably noticed that a large part of this article is about what comes after you find your niche.

That’s because finding a niche is often not the problem, it’s the excuses and fears that come up after.

You don’t need to find the perfect niche, nor do you need an original idea.

You just have to be willing to take action and be flexible.

It may seem like I’m contradicting the title of this post, but to me the perfect niche is completely imperfect.

I got to where I am today by taking action. I was never 100% sure of where I was going or what I was doing when I started.

You will face fears, run into obstacles, and freak out, but what it comes down to is taking one step at a time, just like Dejan is doing.

If you want to pay Dejan a visit, you can check him out at No Brainer Muscle. He’s got some amazing stuff going on there.

Key Takeaways

The first thing to keep in mind is that you will face obstacles.

To find your niche, you have to find the intersection between what you want to do, and what others are willing to pay for.

But that’s not enough, you have to stand out and focus on exactly who you help and what you help them with, otherwise you’ll blend into the noise.

You don’t need an original idea, and it doesn’t have to be perfect, but you do need to start.

Once you do, you’ll notice fears and excuses pop up. Keep going anyway, and like Dejan, remember to take small steps to build momentum.

33 Lessons Learned from 5 Years of Lifestyle Business

Henri — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:11:23 +0000

You never know how life (or business) will unfold.

That’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned since I began my journey just over five years ago.

Life is full of people wanting to wanting to predict the unpredictable, namely life.

I never thought I’d be where I am today.

I never thought I could make a living doing something I truly enjoyed.

But I’ve proved myself wrong, simply by taking one small step at a time, even when I doubted myself, and especially when fear came for a friendly visit.

In today’s post, I’ve written about some of the biggest lessons and insights during the last five years.

These include my failures, my successes, and my a-ha moments.

It all started in the beginning, like all stories do…

1. The Beginning

When you start building a lifestyle business, all your excuses and fears will suddenly pop up.

Most people surrender at this point and go back to a comfortable existence.

This is very normal, although unfortunate, because anyone can do this.

The secret is to keep going and know that you’ll come up against mind-ghosts.

2. Mind-Ghosts

Your mind will freak out, and you will want to quit at some point.

When you’re doing something new, like starting a lifestyle business, it’s not always going to be comfortable.

Expect your mind to come up with reasons why you should stop, and then keep going.

That’s what I did.

3. Passion

To get through all this, you need passion.

Passion is the fuel that gets you through the obstacles.

But as you and I both know, sometimes you don’t even know what your passion is, which is a huge problem, and it leads to analysis paralysis.

4. Analysis Paralysis

The problem is getting stuck in analysis paralysis.

And you’re not going to get out of it with more thinking.

The simple, yet scary solution is to take massive action, even if you don’t know what your passion is.

You have to do something, because when you do, you’ll make progress, and inch by inch, things get clearer.

5. Perfection

A big part of analysis paralysis is trying to get everything perfect before you start.

It’s not going to happen, so you might as well start now. You only need to know the next step.

Yes, you need a plan, but if you can’t get one, then do what you can. There are no rules to building a lifestyle business.

When I started, I knew I was going to get overwhelmed by too much stuff, so I joined a course, and followed the steps.

6. Stop the Research!

After a while, doing research is a form of procrastination.

You don’t have to know everything before you start. You only have to know enough to take the first step, and sometimes you won’t even know that.

Yes, you will make mistakes.

The only advice I’d give is to make more mistakes and fail more.

What are you afraid of?

7. Facing Fears

A big part of building a business is facing your fears.

Your fears about what others will think, of failing, and of breaking out from the status quo.

Doing what you love isn’t easy.

It’s new, scary, and uncertain, but it will ultimately lead to glory, if you keep moving forward, patiently.

8. Patience

Success doesn’t happen overnight. Not for most people.

It took me several years to learn the ropes, but you don’t have to go through that if you learn from someone who has already done what you want to do.

But it still takes time to build a business.

There are no quick fixes.

9. Quick-Fix Mentality

When I started, I had the get-rich quick disease.

It permeated every cell of my body. I wanted success and money easy and fast.

Then one day something clicked.

I realized I didn’t have to be a slave to that mindset, so I started following my heart, and the rest, as they say, is history.

But first I had to take full responsibility.

10. Responsibility

When you cure yourself of the get-rich quick disease, you realize that you have to take responsibility for your results.

It’s another scary step, but when you take it, you’ll feel a sense of excitement, because it means you are in control of your life.

If you want to build a lifestyle business, you can, but you have to make it happen.

No one else can do it for you.

11. Take Action

When you reach this stage, it’s time to take massive action.

Take whatever information you have, and take action.

Make as many mistakes as you can, and fail gloriously, because those failures are stepping stones to success.

When I stepped into action-mode, I started seeing massive results, and you will, too.

12. Information Overload

What you’ll quickly notice when you start taking action is all the advice out there.

It hits you like an avalanche and leaves you gasping for breath underneath all that information.

You need to build an email list, get traffic, and write great content. But it’s too much to take in all at once.

That’s why I like limiting my information diet. The best way to do this is to get a mentor, a coach, or join a course.

It guarantees great information and gives you the support you need.

13. Education

It’s funny how most people refuse to invest in any course or coaching, but then they expect to build a thriving business.

Sure, you can do it, but why re-invent the wheel?

Even when you aren’t spending money, you’re spending time. Time that you can never get back.

If you want great information, it’s going to cost some money, but it’ll save you plenty of time, and frustration.

14. Mistakes

But joining a course or program doesn’t make you exempt from making mistakes.

In fact, you don’t want that.

Mistakes are what will help you grow. As humans, we learn from mistakes, and we grow wiser through experimentation.

Throw your theories in the trash and take action.

15. Focus

And blind action isn’t much better.

You need to focus on one single thing if you want success.

Yes, you can blend your passions together, but that doesn’t mean you dilute your time between 17 different projects.

You can only do so much, and if you want speed, you’ll get it by focusing.

16. Excuses

You will ALWAYS have excuses, so expect them.

The good news is that you don’t have to listen to every single excuse you have.

This is something I discovered and it has helped me a lot. Excuses pop up all the time, but I keep going.

The excuses are mere alternatives. You say hi to them, and you keep going.

17. Comparing

The same holds for when you start comparing yourself to others; you just keep going.

I compared myself to big bloggers and online entrepreneurs before I started, and I still do.

It doesn’t work, because you’re comparing your inner world to someone’s outer world, and it’s distorted.

All you can do is look at the progress you’ve made, and then keep moving forward.

Always keep moving forward.

18. Spirituality

A certain amount of spirituality is necessary in our lives for us to be happy.

We are not just logical robots moving through life. There’s something more to us than just these bodies.

This doesn’t mean you have to believe in a god, just that you remember to nourish the inner part of you, and focus on what makes you happy.

19. Happiness

Building a lifestyle business comes down to happiness.

When you’re living the life you want, doing work you love, and you’re feeling good, you’re happy.

In the end, most people want be happy.

Everything else is a means to an end.

Remember that whatever you do, it has to take you closer to happiness, otherwise it’s useless.

20. Lifestyle Design

What kind of life do you want to live?

I mean really live. Not what others think you should live or what you think would be nice.

What do you REALLY want?

I love my freedom, and I get to spend my days doing what I want, which at the time means hanging out with my newborn son, Vincent, and learning a new language (Dutch).

21. Realistic

But you have to be realistic.

When you start your first lifestyle business, you have to do your research.

You can’t throw up a blog about fluffy cats and hope that it makes money.

You need a plan, a blueprint, and a strategy. Don’t fool yourself into anything else.

For a long time I did things “my way,” and it didn’t work.

22. Start NOW

But sometimes you have to be unrealistic, because your priority should be to take action, not getting things perfect.

Even if you don’t know what you want to do, or how you’re going to make it happen, there is ALWAYS something you can do.

There is always a step you can take, even if it means going in the wrong direction and making mistakes.

23. Consistency

It’s easy to be enthusiastic for the first three months.

Your determination will shine through when your enthusiasm starts waning, you start getting scared, and things don’t go your way.

This has happened countless times to me, and I’ve found that by just taking one step at a time, one day at a time, I get results.

And I get to do work I love.

Then people tell me that I’m lucky.

24. Relentlessness

It isn’t luck.

It’s relentlessness.

I refuse to give up and settle for mediocrity.

When I started, I had no clue about what I was doing, but I learned, and I kept learning until I got the results I wanted.

If an obstacle came up, I didn’t ask why things were hard, I asked how I can keep moving forward.

25. Feedback

When I asked how, the answer was often to get feedback; to get someone to help me along the path.

For me this means getting a coach or a mentor.

It’s invaluable to have someone looking over your shoulder and pointing out what you’re doing right, and what you’re doing wrong.

When you’re truly ready to move forward, interesting things happen.

26. Serendipity

When you take action, it’s almost as if the universe conspires to help you.

It doesn’t happen all at once, and it never seems to happen in the way you expect it to.

Sometimes it takes years to figure out what you want to do, and then something clicks and you wonder how you could’ve missed it.

But life is tricky that way.

27. The Game of Life

Life makes you laugh, it makes you cry, and everything in between.

It can fill you with bliss, and it can feel like someone just crushed your heart with a sledge hammer.

It’s a rollercoaster, and when you take it for what it is, it can be fun, but get too attached to the outcomes, and you suffer.

Because you simply can’t control what will happen, nor can you predict the future.

28. The Unknown

If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that I cannot know what will happen tomorrow.

I don’t have a crystal ball.

I could completely fail at what I’m doing and end up homeless, but so what?

All I can do is what I can do.

If I try to figure out how to stop “bad stuff” from happening in my lifestyle business, I’m going to end up in a padded room with a strait-jacket on.

29. Follow Your Heart

What can I do except follow my heart?

Not much.

Sometimes not even that is easy. It’s easy to get confused, scared, and not know what to do.

In those cases you do your best, and you follow what seems to be your heart.

30. Do Your Best

People worry about doing the right thing, but you can only do your best.

I’ve stopped worrying about being perfect, because I can only do what I do.

I’m not perfect, and I’ll never be, so I write the best article I can, I help my coaching clients as best I can, and I create the best courses and products I can.

31. Relax

We take life and building a business way too seriously, and it sucks the fun out of it.

Relax a bit and have fun.

Don’t worry so much about building the perfect business or about making mistakes.

Or being on the wrong or right path.

Just do your best.

32. Attitude

For me, this all comes down to attitude.

Most people complain, whine, and make excuses, but not you.

If you want something, you go for it. When you face obstacles, you blast through them. Sometimes it takes time, and sometimes it doesn’t.

But you don’t stop.

You never stop.

Be relentless about building a lifestyle business so you can live the life you truly want.

33. Possibility

You can do this.

Your life is in your hands.

It doesn’t matter what anyone tells you, because if you truly want to build a lifestyle business and reclaim control over your life, you can.

But the decision has to be made by you.

There are no magic pills, quick fixes or step-by-step systems.

All that really matters is how determined you are.

What’s Your Lesson?

Those are my lessons.

What are some of yours?

I’m curious. Leave your answer below.

If you don’t have a business, then share a lesson from your life, because business and life blend together.

It’s all the same.

And if you enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends!

Do You Know The 5 Essential Factors for Lifestyle Business Success?

Henri — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:13:33 +0000

Building a lifestyle business is like going to the gym.

You can’t read about working out and expect to become fit.

You have to learn what works, and what doesn’t, and then you have to actually do something.

In the beginning, it’s a struggle, because your body isn’t used to pushing itself.

But soon enough adaptation occurs and you have to up the pressure to make further progress.

The same is true in business.

It’s not about being smart, talented, or connected, although those things certainly help.

It’s about putting in the time to learn the right things, and then taking action.

You start out knowing nothing, but with each step, you get better, smarter, and faster, until finally you’ve built a lifestyle business.

But most people never make it and will never make it. Do you ever wonder why?

Why Do Most People Fail?

When I started out in 2006, I looked for the easy road to success.

I spent thousands on courses, programs, and coaching that got me nowhere.

When I was finally ready to work hard, I didn’t have the right information, so I kept spinning my wheels.

Eventually everything fell into place and I started seeing results, but it all came from my determination to succeed.

And that is what most people lack. They look for the quick and easy way out, and it’s not happening.

Building a lifestyle business comes down to blood, sweat and tears.

If you haven’t yet succeeded, then you keep going until you do.

But if you want to avoid wasting your time, you have to have the essential factors in place.

The 5 Essential Factors for Building a Successful Lifestyle Business

There are many factors that come into play when you want to build a profitable lifestyle business, but as I look back, I see five that stand out.

Building an online business around your passion is simple, but certainly not easy.

The people most likely to succeed are those that are determined to work hard and face their fears.

When that mindset shift happens in people, things take off like a NASA rocket launch.

The good news is that anyone can incorporate the five factors into their life.

So, let’s start with the first factor, which is right information.

Factor #1. Right Information

When you start out, you probably won’t have the right information, because it’s tough to distinguish the good from the bad.

If you go to the gym, and you don’t know what to do, you won’t see the same results as someone who knows exactly what to do, when, and how.

So, how do you get the right information?

You find someone who’s already done what you want to do. It could be a mentor, a coach, or even a training program.

After you’ve got the right information in place, it’s time to focus.

Factor #2. Focus

Focus means doing one thing at a time.

If you try to learn everything, you’re just going to overwhelm yourself.

It wasn’t until I decided to focus on ONE thing that I started seeing massive results.

Think light bulb versus a laser. That’s the kind of focus you’re after.

There’s no room to have ten different projects running. Pick one and do that until you succeed.

But focus is only the beginning. Nothing happens without doing something on a daily basis, which is why you have to have a daily practice.

Factor #3. Daily Practice

You don’t have to quit your day job to build your business.

You can learn how to build a lifestyle business in 2 hours a day or less.

The key lies in taking daily action. Even spending 30 minutes a day learning and implementing the right things can make a big difference.

Don’t put off starting your lifestyle business just because you can’t spend all day doing it.

Do something. Every. Single. Day.

But all of this is irrelevant if you don’t know if you’re on the right track.

Factor #4. Feedback

If you want to make rapid progress, you need feedback.

You need someone who can point out your mistakes, so you can course-correct.

Most people dabble on their own and wonder why they aren’t seeing results.

The reason is almost always the same: because they’ve been doing the wrong things, in the wrong way, and at the wrong time.

I had a coach when I played poker to make sure my game was constantly top-notch.

I had a coach when I built my first successful website.

And I have a coach today to keep me on track.

It’s the best investment you can make.

But even a coach cannot help you with the last factor, which underlies everything else.

Factor #5. Attitude

As Zig Ziglar puts it, “Your attitude determines your altitude.”

Your attitude is the fuel behind all the other requirements above.

When I started, I had a weak attitude. I wanted fast success, but after a few years of banging my head against a nice, shiny wall, my attitude shifted.

I’m not sure if it was from all the banging, but I’m glad it happened sooner rather than later

I had spent enough time in the kiddie pool.

It was time to get serious.

I am where I am today because of that attitude shift.

I have a successful online business that allows me the freedom to hang out with my newborn son and do whatever I want, which at this time is to learn Dutch, because my girlfriend is half Dutch.

You don’t have to be perfect to build a successful lifestyle business. You just have to have all the above factors in place, and you have to START.

Summary

Building a successful lifestyle business is like going to the gym.

You have to know what to do, when to do it, and how. Then you have to apply what you’ve learned over a period of time to see results.

And if you want to speed up your progress, having a coach never hurts.

I had no idea what I was doing when I started. I fell for the get-rich quick schemes, but I refused to give up, so here I am.

Remember the five essential factors to build a successful lifestyle business:

Right Information
Focus
Daily Practice
Feedback
Attitude

And above all, remember to take action. Every. Single. Day.

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t succeeded yet, because if you keep going, you will.

Action Steps

Your assignment for today is to implement one of the five factors into your life.

Answer the following questions:

Which one of the factors do I have the most trouble with?
How is it affecting my lifestyle business building?
What can I do to change it?
When will I do that?

It’s easy to put this off, but taking action now will get you moving closer to having more control and freedom over your life, so you can live life on your own terms.

How to Build a Lifestyle Business in 2 Hours a Day or Less

Henri — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:55:14 +0000

An excellent cake doesn’t happen by accident.

It’s carefully planned. Each ingredient goes in at the exact right time and in the exact right quantity.

A cake requires planning, and so does a lifestyle business.

However, what most people do is they try to bake a cake by throwing together random things, and then they wonder why they end up with a black ball that tastes like crap.

Even though building a business is not like following a recipe, it still requires planning, strategy, and goal setting.

Why Less Time is Better

You don’t have to quit your job to start your own online business.

The more time you have, the more time you’ll spend up messing around on trivial tasks.

It’s Parkinson’s law in action: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

Remember in school when you had a deadline on a paper. If you were like most people, you waited until the very end to get it done.

If you have two hours a day, a strategy, and a goal, you can focus on just high-value tasks.

If you do that, you’ll get more done than most full-time internet marketers.

But before you can get anything productive done, you have to know where you’re going.

Goal Settings + Planning = Focus

Do you know what you want?

If not, you’re not alone. Most people don’t know what they want at first.

But if you don’t know what you want, how will you know when you’ve arrived?

Do you want to make $1,000/month from your lifestyle business?

When you know what you want, you can break it down into milestones, and then into daily steps.

You know what happens then, right?

You can focus on the tasks that take you closer to your goal, instead of reading blogs, chatting on Twitter, and posting pictures on Facebook.

But Planning on This Scale RARELY Happens

Because it’s hard.

If you have a vague goal, at least you have a reason why you didn’t succeed.

If you want to build a lifestyle business, you have to have a goal, a strategy, and a plan.

In essence, you have to have a blueprint that helps you focus.

This doesn’t mean that you know every step, or even that a recipe for success exists.

It means you have a clear destination in mind, and you plan as best you can.

From there, you take action and deal with life.

“But What if just Writing an Article Takes Me Three Days?”

The more you write, the faster you’ll get.

When I started, I couldn’t write more than one article every few days.

Now I can get an article like this out in about 30-60 minutes.

If writing stops you, then create a podcast, make videos, or use a voice-to-text program like DragonNaturally speaking.

The only limits that exist are the ones you impose on yourself.

“Okay 2 Hours a Day, But How Many Years is it Going to Take?”

Here’s the thing, most people don’t make progress because they’re scared of doing the very things that have the biggest impact.

They procrastinate and look for the easy way. They look for a way to sneak under the radar and avoid the discomfort.

I tried to do that, and it took me a few years to realize that the more I faced my fears, the more results I got.

This isn’t easy, but if you’re sick of shortcuts and want real results, you can build a lifestyle business in less than two hours a day.

And everything you think is stopping you is just an excuse.

When you’re ready to take action, you’ll do whatever it takes.

Summary

Baking a delicious cake that melts like butter when you put in your mouth doesn’t happen by accident, and the same holds true for building your lifestyle business.

You need a blueprint.

And you need to know where you’re going. You need to know your end destination.

From there, you break down your goal into milestones and then daily steps.

Excuses will fall to the wayside when you’re determined enough to succeed.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re working, have kids, or don’t think you’re a good writer.

If you want to do this, you can, but you have to make the commitment.

Action Steps

Today’s assignment is simple: figure out what your goal is.

The goal should be practical, and specific, but it should also stretch you (i.e. make you slightly uncomfortable).

An example could be: Build a lifestyle business in 2012 that makes $500/month through turning my advice into products and services.

That’s not the best goal, but you get the gist. Write something down and tweak it as you go.

How to Structure an Irresistible Email Opt-In Page

Henri — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:04:33 +0000

Note: This is the fifth installment of the Email Marketing 101 series.

Airplanes are one of the safest ways to travel for a reason, the pilots utilize checklists and structure.

They have to, because without them, thousands of people would die each year.

And the same is true for writing an irresistible email opt-in page.

If you don’t follow structure, and if you don’t build the best opt-in page you can, you could miss out on thousands of extra subscribers every year.

If you miss just 5 a day, that adds up to 1,825 people per year.

Luckily, there is a simple structure great email opt-in pages follow.

The structure looks like this:

Headline
Benefits
Call to Action
Opt-In

And it all begins at the top of the page.

1. The Headline

The Unstream Newsletter by Jonathan Mead

The above screenshot is from the landing page for the newsletter over at Illuminated Mind by Jonathan Mead, where he helps people live and work on their own terms.

Take a look at his headline. It’s very simple, it grabs your attention, and it gets the job done.

The headline is the most important part of your opt-in page, because if it fails to grab attention, your visitor goes bye-bye.

Writing magnetic headlines comes with practice. The more you write, the better you get, and after while, you’ll just know when a headline feels right, kind of like being in touch with the force.

Most people write the headline in 5 minutes, but you’re smarter than that, aren’t you?

You’re going to spend at least half of the time on your headline, because you know that it is what will make or break your newsletter landing page.

2. The Benefits

I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Take a look at the landing page from I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi above.

He uses bullet points to grab your attention and get the benefits across quickly. I do the same on my email opt-in page.

When a potential subscriber lands on your opt-in page, they’re going to be focused on one thing and one thing only, and that is: what’s in it for me?

That’s where bullet points come in. They grab attention, fast.

If you write them correctly.

3. The Call to Action (CTA)

Smart Passive Income by Pat Flynn

Once you have around 3-5 powerful bullet points, it’s time to time for your call to action.

You can see a perfect example of a non-pushy call to action by Pat Flynn above on his landing page for eBooks the Smart Way.

A solid call to action gives instructions on what to do next.

The only rule for your call to action is that it has to be crystal clear. Tell people exactly what you want them to do next.

4. The Opt-In Form

The final step is to put an opt-in form below your call to action. It wouldn’t make much sense otherwise, would it?

And we don’t really need a screenshot for this one, do we?

If you use Aweber, or any high-quality email service provider, they’ll give you a simple code you can copy and paste onto your email opt-in page.

It doesn’t have to be fancy, just a simple form that captures name and email.

And that, my friend, is the basic structure of an irresistible landing page for your newsletter. Simple, isn’t it?

You can always add testimonials once you get them, but for now, stick to the basics.

Summary

Creating an irresistible opt-in page is not hard. It takes structure and hard work, but anyone can do it.

And the more you practice, the better you get.

Just follow this simple structure:

Headline
Benefits
Call to Action
Opt-In Form

Get it out there, test, and tweak.

Action Steps

If your opt-in page is, shall we say, less stellar, then look at my opt-in page and others around the web, and improve it.

Open a document, map out the main structure we talked about above and fill in the blanks.

Tell people why they should sign-up and what they get.

Keep it as simple as possible at first, and then add to it. This will minimize overwhelm and frustration.

Why Nobody is Signing Up to Your Email Newsletter (And What to Do About It)

Henri — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:09:25 +0000

Note: This is the fourth installment of the Email Marketing 101 series.

A few minutes after I sent out the email, sales began trickling in for my newest product.

Just a few days later I had over 100 sales and more coming in, and I knew I couldn’t have had the same amount of success without an email newsletter filled with people who were interested in what I have to say.

Building an email list is as important to a lifestyle business as proper nutrition is to your body. You can live without it (for a time), but you’ll struggle.

It used to be enough to tell people you had a newsletter to get them to sign-up, but those days are long gone.

If you want to have a successful newsletter, you need a strategy that gets people interested enough to subscribe.

Are there steps you can take to make that happen?

And why do newsletters fail in the first place?

Let’s explore those questions, shall we?

Why Your Newsletter Fails

Imagine you land on a blog you’ve never been to before. It has some interesting content but it doesn’t WOW you.

Then you see the newsletter opt-in form in the sidebar, and all it says is, “Join Our Newsletter for Exclusive Tips!”

Does it grab your attention?

Does it answer the question, “What’s in it for me?”

Nope, not really.

So, can you make your newsletter call to action so irresistible that people drool over it?

And if so, how?

How to Engineer the Drool Factor

Engineering interest (and drool) takes a bit more work than most are willing to put in, but it’s well worth it, because you want people to actually sign up to your newsletter, right?

In order to engineer interest, you have to give people something for their time and effort for signing up.

This could be a free 15-page report, a 20-minute audio podcast, a short video presentation, or even an email autoresponder series.

It doesn’t have to be big, but it has to be focused.

It has to solve ONE problem, and it has to do it quickly. It provides instant gratification, so people sign-up, consume, and want more.

What Does This Look Like in Reality?

It’s quite simple, really.

Create a specific gift you can give away to people when they sign-up to your newsletter.

Then communicate the benefits of that gift, so you make people want to sign-up to see what you’ve got.

If you deliver, and they consume your free gift, they’ll want more, because finding people who know what they’re doing is hard these days.

There’s too much information, and a lot of it is fluff, and if it isn’t fluff, it’s overwhelming, so keep it short and sweet.

Focus on One Specific Problem

The biggest email marketing mistake you can make is to create a sign-up bonus that is too broad.

What you want is to solve a very specific problem.

Don’t think writing, think writing viral headlines for blog posts.

Don’t think losing weight, think the 7 foods that pack on fat (and how to eliminate them from your life).

Keep it very, very simple.

Isn’t This Just a Marketing Trick?

Is it a trick if I tell you to come over for a delicious Swedish dinner, or is it just a friendly gesture?

Sure, giving people something in exchange for signing up to your newsletter can be used as a trick, but it can also be used in a positive way.

If you’re helping people, which I hope you are, it’s up to you to get people to sign-up, consume your stuff, and improve their life.

Summary

Let’s do a quick flashback to what we’ve just learned.

Most newsletters fail because there’s no reason to sign up. Don’t just tell people to sign-up, give them something specific that will help them right away.

But that isn’t enough, you also have to communicate the value of your free gift. It has to be specific, helpful, and quick to read.

It’s up to you to get people to sign-up and learn.

What Next?

The next step is simple.

Answer the following question:

What kind of gift could you create that solves one problem in your market and is relevant to your readers?

Think laser-specific, and think small.

You can always tweak it later, but for now, focus on taking action and getting it done.

5 Stupid Email Marketing Mistakes You Should Never Make

Henri — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:48:42 +0000

Note: This is the third installment of the Email Marketing 101 series.

When you were a baby, you made a lot of mistakes.

You learned to walk by falling over a gazillion times.

You hit your head, you cried, and you learned to be more careful, so your brain wouldn’t leak out.

You put things in your mouth. Some of it tasted good, while some didn’t.

We’re learning machines, yet most people avoid making mistakes. It isn’t fun, but it leads to success.

There are plenty of mistakes you can make in email marketing that can ruin your efforts.

The good news is that you don’t have to make them, at least not the biggest ones, because we’ll cover them right now.

1. Strategic Failure

When I started my email list for this blog, I had no goal for the list.

I had hopes, but no goals.

The best way to avoid strategic failure is to know where you’re taking your subscriber.

Imagine yourself as the captain of the ship.

You have to know where you’re setting sail.

Most email newsletters are in la-la land, because they have no idea what they ultimately want to accomplish.

When you sign-up to my list, you get a report on building a lifestyle business, and I follow up with excellent content on the same topic.

There’s a strategy in place.

2. Where’s the Cookie?

A cookie is what you give someone when they first sign-up to your email list.

In my case, it’s the lifestyle business report.

It entices people to sign-up, because it’s not enough to just say “Hey, sign-up for my newsletter, it’s pretty awesome.”

A cookie is usually short, and easy-to-digest. It gives a fresh subscriber instant gratification.

It’s not randomly thrown together. Even though it’s short, it has to be packed with value, because that is what delights subscribers.

And when you delight people, they want to hear more from you.

3. Landing Page Horror

A landing page is a page dedicated solely to getting you to sign-up to the newsletter.

It “sells” the free stuff.

A great landing page communicates how your cookie and newsletter can help.

We’ll go into more depth in a future installment on landing pages, but for now, keep it as short as possible, while communicating what people get and why they should care.

In short: what’s in it for them?

4. Where’s Your Personality?

Most email newsletters, like blogs, are bland and easily forgotten.

You can avoid blending into the noise by letting your personality shine through.

Your subscribers want to connect with a human being, not with a website or a logo.

You may be afraid of putting yourself out there, and that’s fine. But in the end you have to decide whether you want to let your fears, or other people, dictate your life.

The ball is always in your hands.

5. Following Rules

Following rules is a virus that infects every aspect of life. It sucks the life out of your soul.

Even though I write as if there are rules to email marketing, there aren’t.

There are merely guidelines, just like with everything else in life.

If an expert tells you to send a newsletter to your email list every day, and it feels like too much, don’t do it.

You don’t have to follow every single piece of advice.

We build a lifestyle business to do what we enjoy, not to create another way to follow someone else’s rules.

Summary

There are a lot of mistakes you can make in email marketing, but mistakes are what you learn from, so don’t go out of your way to avoid them.

You can significantly increase the profitability and receptivity of your newsletter by following these simple tips:

Have a goal for your newsletter
Create a cookie that fits in with that goal
Communicate what you have to offer with a landing page
Put your personality into what you do and express yourself (quirks and all)
Beware of letting yourself be governed by other people’s rules

And even though you don’t have to make all the mistakes a baby makes, you will still make them, because that’s how we learn.

Action Steps

Here’s what I want you to do next.

Pick one mistake and look at how it applies to what you’re doing.

Yes, just one.

Then ask yourself the following questions and write down the answers:

How does this apply to me?
What am I doing “wrong?”
What one thing could I improve from what I’ve just read?
How am I going to implement it?
When am I going to implement it?

Focus on one mistake and one improvement at a time.

How to Pick the Perfect Email Marketing Service Provider for Your Lifestyle Business

Henri — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:58:27 +0000

Note: This is the second installment of the Email Marketing 101 series.

Imagine for a moment that you’re in the process of cooking a delicious meal for a room of 500. You’re in the kitchen, and you’re creating some of your best stuff.

But then, uh oh.

The electricity runs out, you hear something explode in the oven, and a dog gets into the kitchen and eats up a big chunk of the main meal and a piece of the cake.

You could blame it all on luck, but you realize that it could’ve been prevented.

The same holds true for picking the best email marketing service provider.

Pick the wrong one, and you may end up with an incident.

Pick the right one, and you may end up saving yourself a lot of grief.

When you’re running a lifestyle business, you want everything to run smoothly, because the more you have to micro-manage the process, the less time you have to live life.

That’s why I don’t go shopping for the cheapest email marketing service provider. I find the best fit for me. This doesn’t mean I buy the most expensive, just something that works.

Many opt for cheaper solutions, but what they don’t realize is that the money they save they’ll make up for in wasted time and possibly other horrors, which we’ll go through in this article.

So, How Can You Circumvent Disaster?

First, you realize that cheaper isn’t always better. You have to take into account the whole picture, which means the big three:

1) High Deliverability, so your emails reach their destination.

2) Ease of Use, so you can get it on your website or blog quickly without frustration.

3) Support, just in case something goes wrong, you can get help fast.

Let’s look at each of these three factors in detail and see what they really mean, because just saying “look for high deliverability,” isn’t going to help you, is it?

How to Make Sure Your Emails Reach Their Destination

Great email marketing service providers make sure your email reaches its destination by having great relations with ISP’s or internet service providers, which means they ensure they aren’t banned or blocked by any ISP.

They have strict standards for what emails you are allowed to send out. You can’t spam people or go crazy, but you can give value and help.

If an email marketing provider allows someone to get away with shady behavior, it can affect everyone using the service, so a great provider will make sure only good stuff goes on and that everyone is happy with their service.

“Okay, I Got It. What About Ease of Use?”

Have you ever used a piece of software and given up in frustration because it just doesn’t make sense, and nothing seems to work? I’ve been there and done that, and it induces baldness, so I try to avoid it.

That’s why any provider you use has to be easy to navigate.

A great email marketing provider has to be intuitive to use in every aspect from putting a web form on your blog to creating emails that help you communicate with your subscribers.

It could even have a WordPress plugin that you can use to get things going with a few clicks.

And even if you run into trouble, you should have no trouble getting help.

Which Brings Us to Great Customer Service

I value companies with fantastic customer support.

I know I’ll run into trouble at some point, and I want someone to help me ASAP, so I don’t end up wasting time.

Sometimes I get stuck, and being able to email, call, or chat live with support is something I appreciate.

When you go for cheap options, it may seem smart in the short-term, but all the disadvantages add up.

That’s what I’ve found in my years of using different services online.

Is There a Service Provider That Has All of the Above?

Yes.

Now, obviously there are multiple email marketing service providers out there, so you’ll want to see what fits with you.

But when it comes to a hassle-free provider that delivers when it matters, I trust Aweber and have been using them since 2007 with great results and no problems.

If you want to save yourself shopping time, I recommend you go with them.

What If I Can’t Afford It?

Aweber costs $19 per month on their lowest tier at the time of writing this.

If you think it’s too much, you should reconsider what you’re doing, because when you’re clear about what you want to accomplish, you can make $19 or more easily.

You can write articles for others. You can put out a small product to your audience, or you can offer a group coaching program.

The only reason you wouldn’t want to invest the money is because you’re not ready to take real action.

If you’re not serious about building a lifestyle business, then any investment is too much.

Summary

A lot of things can go wrong with a poor email marketing service.

You can build a big list, but never have your emails reach their destination.

You can run into technical problems, which induce frustration and waste your time.

You can have trouble with customer support, and you’re left to figure things out on your own.

All of this can be avoided by doing your due diligence and finding a provider that fits what you want to do.

Remember, cheap isn’t always the best. We’re not here to save money. We’re here to build a lifestyle business that increases the freedom in our lives and gives us more control.

You want to serve that delicious meal you’ve created for your customers and not to the dog, right?

What’s Next

With all this information in your head, what now?

Well, now you sign-up to an email service provider, because starting with the next installment in this series, we’ll start looking at how to build your list and avoid some of the most common mistakes.

Your only step for today is to take action and find a provider you like.

That’s all.

See you soon!

What Email Marketing is and How it Helps You Build a Lifestyle Business

Henri — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 11:52:54 +0000

Note: This is the first installment of the Email Marketing 101 series.

When I started learning about online marketing in late 2006, I heard about email marketing and how important it was to build a list.

I heard about the “gurus” making thousands when they sent off an email to their list. It seemed great, but I could never figure out how I could apply the same principles without putting people off.

When I finally started this blog, I also started one of my first email lists, and my first emails were horrible. I made dozens and dozens of mistakes.

But it was through trial and error that I learned, and in this email marketing series, I’ll share some of what I’ve learned, so you can skip the learning curve.

Building a list is one of the most important things you can do when you’re building a lifestyle business. I can’t stress that enough, so I’ll say it again.

Building a list is one of the most important things you can do.

Most information out there on email marketing is overwhelming, because people aren’t good at presenting information, but this isn’t rocket science.

I’ll focus on the 20% that give you 80% of the results, but before I get ahead of myself, let’s look at what email marketing is and how it can help you build a lifestyle business.

What Exactly is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is simply the practice of building an email list, staying in touch with your readers, sending them great stuff, and making fantastic offers that solve their problems.

There’s nothing fancy about it.

You never spam people, because they can sign up or unsubscribe whenever they want.

It’s completely permission based.

7 Benefits of Using Email Marketing

What does email marketing have to do with building a lifestyle business and increasing the freedom in your life?

Quite a lot.

I resisted building a list for a long time, because I didn’t know what to do. Don’t fall into that trap, because it’ll end up costing you in the long-run.

1. Control

The first benefit is control. If you just use something like Feedburner to handle your blog subscriptions, your subscribers will get your blog posts but not much more.

With a list, you can send out a message whenever you want, and you have complete control over your list. It belongs to you. Not even Google can take it away.

2. Speed

If you have a launch coming up, or if you want to make a quick offer, you can have an email in the inbox of your readers within minutes.

Obviously, you should plan stuff, but if you want to send out a spur of the moment email or give people a Christmas gift, it comes in handy.

3. Automation

One of my favorite benefits of email marketing is the autoresponder, which is a tool that allows you to automate what emails your readers receive.

For example, when you join my email list and confirm your subscription, you instantly receive my free report, and after about a week, you receive a free teleseminar, and then more goodies if you stay on my list.

All this happens automatically. I can add a new message to the sequence and my subscribers keep getting good stuff from me.

4. Testing

When you have a list, and you use a great service provider like Aweber (I’ll talk about how to find the best email marketing service in the next installment of this series), you can see who opens your emails, how often they click on links, and so on.

It gives you invaluable data on what kind of content your readers like, what kind of links they click, and what kind of headlines resonate with them.

5. Cost

If you compare email marketing to traditional direct mail advertising, it’s amazingly cheap, but still many bloggers hold out, because they don’t want to invest.

And it’s one of the biggest mistakes they make.

A good email marketing service is usually around $19/month, and you get everything from support and autoresponders to in-depth analytics and easy-to-install WordPress plugins.

6. Long-Term Relationships

When people join your list, and you take care of them, it builds trust and you can build a long-term relationship with your readers.

Many of my readers have been on my list for over two years. Email is just a more intimate form of communication than someone reading your blog via an RSS feed.

If someone has a question, they can hit reply on my emails and I’ll get back to them within 24 hours.

7. Research

If you don’t know what your readers want, you can’t help them, and you won’t have a business.

You can’t create products and services in a vacuum, you have to listen, and email marketing gives you the perfect platform to do just that.

I often ask questions, send out surveys, and do other things to learn what’s going on with my subscribers, because I’m curious as to how I can make things better.

I’m sure there are many more benefits, and if I’ve left any out, feel free to let me know in the comments.

So, How Does It Support a Lifestyle Business?

If that big list of benefits above didn’t convince you, then I don’t know what will. Perhaps you should re-read it and see what happens?

Email marketing gives you the opportunity to treat your readers like VIP’s.

It helps you stay in touch with them and forge deeper, more meaningful connections.

And you can automate the process with an autoresponder. I don’t automate everything with my list, but I try to do it as much as possible, because it saves up time for me to develop more great content, products and services.

Building a lifestyle business is all about making a living while increasing the freedom in your life, and building a list is one vital component in that process.

When is the Best Time to Start a List?

You should have a list ready when you launch your blog.

If you’ve already launched, you should start planning what you can offer people as a bonus when they sign-up.

All of this may seem overwhelming, but don’t worry. I’ll go over the finer details in this series, and I’ll give you action steps you can take to eliminate overwhelm.

Information is useless unless you apply it, and my job is to help you take action, not just mindlessly consume more information.

Summary

Let’s wrap this post up, so you can remember what you’ve just read.

I started by telling you about my story with email marketing, and how I resisted it in the beginning. When I finally got into it, I made more mistakes than I’d care to admit, but I’m happy I finally took the leap.

It was a tough ride, but my list is what brings in the majority of my income.

Then we looked at the benefits of building your own list and how it helps you stay in touch with your readers, build long-term relationships, and figure out what people want, just to name a few things.

And as we began wrapping up, I told you about how using the right email service provider helps you automate the process, which is crucial when building a lifestyle business.

Last, but not least, you shouldn’t put off starting a list. Start one now. The only reason you’d put it off is because you’re not serious about building an online business, and if you want to keep it as a hobby, that’s cool with me.

There’s a lot more to come in this series, so remember to subscribe and claim your goodies. If you’re curious about what’s coming, you can see the list here.

Action Steps

Each article in this series will contain a series of action steps to give you clear guidance on what to do, when to do it, and how, so you can implement what you learn and see real results.

Today, there’s not much for you to do, but I’d still like you to think about how you can use email marketing in what you do.

If you don’t have a blog or website yet, you should start one right away and learn as you go.

There are no excuses.

Get to work!

How I Went From 0 to 1,012 Blog Subscribers in 101 Days

Henri — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 07:00:19 +0000

[Note: This post was originally published in March 17, 2010, but I have rewritten and revised it to add new details and insights. Enjoy.]

It took me 101 days to hit 1,012 subscribers. I did it by using a very simple strategy that was free from overwhelm and stress.

Most bloggers never get past the 1,000 subscriber mark, or create a profitable online business, not because they aren’t good, but because they are afraid to use the most effective tools available.

I worked hard during those 101 days, but I loved every second of it. Looking back, I can still see where I made mistakes, but making mistakes is not the problem, not taking action is.

If you can consistently take action, you will achieve your goals.

And the way to consistently have the fuel to take action is to find and follow your passion.

We all have something like this inside of us.

If you can find a topic you could die for, you’re on the right track. If someone had a gun to your head and you had to choose one topic to write about for the next few years, what would you choose?

1. Finding My Passion

In November 2009 I had been contemplating starting what would become Wake Up Cloud and following my true passion. In the early days I wrote mainly about personal development, but as people got wind of the fact that I made a living online, I started writing more about online business, and it evolved from there.

I wasn’t always clear about my passion. Earlier in 2009, I wanted to start a blog about health, personal development, and money. I jotted down some ideas, but I succumbed to my own excuses and never took action.

I went back to building websites that made money. I hoped that if I only had enough money, I could do what I loved. And on top of that, in early 2009, I was still playing poker, but it was slowly eroding my soul.

The money was good, but there’s more to life than money.

I wanted to do something else.

Around March-April of 2009 I stopped playing poker cold-turkey and haven’t played a hand of poker since. I forced myself to work on my website at the time and make it more profitable. While I wasn’t following my true passion, I was writing about topics I was interested in.

It was a step in the right direction.

During the months leading up to November 2009, I was constantly thinking about what I would want to write about. What did I do all day when I wasn’t working on my websites?

It was a slow process. The answer I kept getting was online business and personal development.

When the end of 2009 came, I had already built up a solid income stream from my websites that could keep me alive while I was learning how to blog. I realized that building any kind of income online would take a long time. I was okay with that, because I was going to write on a topic I was passionate about.

I was also very interested in natural health, but I knew I had to pick one main topic to be successful. I could always build a blog around natural health later on. I hesitated for a while, until one morning I had a dream that basically sent me the message “don’t wait, start NOW!”

I woke up confused. It was one of those dreams you just can’t seem to shake off. It was vivid in my mind and I took it as a kick in my ass to get started, so I did . . .

2. Modeling What Works

I credit my poker success to all the coaches I’ve had during the years. When I hired my first poker coach in early 2005, I instantly fell in love (not in the coach ). While it wasn’t cheap, it helped me improve my game tremendously.

I used the same strategy in blogging and online business. I remembered earlier that year that I had thought about hiring Chris Garrett. I didn’t think much of it at that time. One day, out of the blue, I received an e-mail from Chris where he announced he was opening his course, Authority Blogger.

To be honest, at that point I had been subscribed to Chris’ blog but I never read his articles, which is why what was about to happen was very weird. When I received that e-mail, I knew that this was what I wanted. When I looked through the offer I saw that Chris offered comprehensive e-mail support. I was sold.

I have never thought twice about finding a mentor and paying them for helping me. It helps me avoid common mistakes and most important of all, it helps me reach my goals at a much more rapid pace.

Would I have been able to reach 1,012 blog subscribers in 101 days without joining a course?

I highly doubt it.

As I started blogging, I had a lot of questions, which were answered rapidly by Chris and it helped me stay on course. I had the same problems as any new blogger would have. I wanted to chase every new shiny object that came across my path, but I knew that if I wanted to succeed, I had to stay focused.

3. Planning My Attack

Before I even started my blog, I thought about things like:

What did I want to achieve?
How did I want to achieve it?
Who was my target audience?
How often did I want to post?
How was I going to get traffic?
How was I going to keep readers interested?
Did I want to make money with my blog?
How was I going to produce a profit?

There are many more questions you should think about when you’re starting your blog. Naturally, all of these questions can be overwhelming to consider, which is why it’s good to have someone nearby who can help clear up confusion.

I already knew my passion, but I had a lot of work ahead of me to write out what I really wanted to achieve. It’s easy to ignore the planning process and jump right in, but going through and writing down your goals can bring a lot of clarity to your writing and business.

It’s not enough to start a blog. You have to know who you’re helping and what you’re helping them with. This is where most people fail.

And it’s something I overlooked in the beginning, which was a mistake, but I kept going, and that’s key. You won’t get this perfect right off the bat, but you have to keep going anyway.

I thought about who my ideal reader/customer was. It was someone I’d like to hang out with in real life, which meant they would be interested in weird stuff, and they would be determined to succeed.

After all this it was time to write down my strategy.

How was I going to get traffic?

I was going to guest post.

I didn’t know when I was going to write my first guest post. I just knew I wanted to do it.

It’s all well and good to get traffic, but how was I going to turn them into subscribers?

The best option was to use a sign-up incentive, which is basically a bribe you give people for signing up. This would help me get people on my e-mail list, which would help me engage the people that were serious about building an advice-based online business.

There are a lot of e-mail list services out there. I personally have used Aweber for several years and haven’t had problems with them. I recommend you do some comparisons do find a service that resonates with you, but if you want my recommendation, go with Aweber.

At this point I didn’t really know how I was going to help people by creating products and services.

What I did know was that there were a lot of people out there struggling with making a living online and following their passion. I was making it happen, and I had already helped a few people make money online, so I was confident I could lend a helping hand.

4. Executing My Strategy

Writing and planning is cool, but nothing happens until you take action. I knew what I wanted with my blog and I knew how I was going to achieve it. I have always hated planning, so I try to skip it every chance I get, but in this instance I really discovered how much clarity it can bring to whatever I am doing.

Just knowing what I was going to do and how I was going to do it gave me certainty and confidence to take massive action. I basically had everything written down, so I knew the steps I needed to take to make progress.

I was scared a lot of the time.

I was scared before I started my blog.

I was scared when I put my first blog post up.

I was scared when I wrote my first comment.

And I was scared when I submitted my first guest post to a big blog.

Those were the good old days, and I’ve since realized that there’s not much to be scared of. You take action, you keep going, and you push through the discomfort.

There’s a lot of information you can follow. There are thousands of blogs, courses, and training programs.

But which one of them is right for you?

And how do you even know they give you the best information?

That’s why I recommend you get a coach, and that’s why I have a coach even now when I have thousands of subscribers.

If you’re just starting out, chances are you will make a lot of mistakes, and you won’t make progress as fast as you want to. That’s normal. Expect it, and then take even more action.

Many of my coaching clients are worried about what other’s will think of them. I experienced that in the beginning, too, but then again, are you going to let that fear hold you back from building a business around your passions?

People will think what they think. There will always be people that are unhappy and take it out on you.

It’s not personal, so why care?

Do what you feel excited about and let other people wallow in misery if they want to.

The more passionate you are about a subject, the harder you’ll work and the higher chances are that you will succeed.

5. Guest Posting

After I got my first guest post published and saw the traffic it brought to my website, I was hooked. I recognized the power of guest blogging and I made guest posting my main strategy for getting traffic, links and subscribers to my blog.

It is one of the reasons why I have grown so fast. I haven’t kept track of all my guest posts, but during these 101 days, I wrote close to 50 guest posts on various blogs. Some brought me ten visitors while others brought me a thousand.

I started by guest posting on the smaller blogs, because I was a bit intimidated of having my writing on the bigger ones. Once I got comfortable writing more and more, I started approaching bigger blogs. After a while I realized that my fears were unfounded.

All the blog owners I got in touch with were incredibly friendly.

Here’s a tip if you’re starting out and want to grow fast: get over your fears and go for the biggest blogs, because that’s where you’ll get 80% of the results with 20% of the effort.

Stop tip-toeing around your fears and take them head on. They are just ideas in your head.

You don’t have to guest post on 50 blogs, you just need a few big ones and you’ll have 1,000 subscribers in half the time that I did it.

If you’re sitting there wondering why you aren’t getting traffic to your blog, it’s most likely because you aren’t putting in the work. I made my fears insignificant by having an important purpose and following my passion.

You can do the same.

6. Adapting to Circumstances

As with anything, your plan won’t be flawless. You will have to adapt your approach over and over again. When I had written for a few months, I realized that something was wrong. I felt bad writing and I got writer’s block.

When you get writer’s block, it’s usually because you’re focusing on you, instead of your readers.

You don’t have to come up with topics to write about, you just have to listen to your readers and clients.

What questions are they asking?

What are they struggling with?

Where do they get stuck, and why?

Just because your initial enthusiasm runs out doesn’t mean you should quit blogging. I see a lot of new, promising bloggers quit because of this.

They just don’t have the stamina to keep going.

This is not for everyone. To be honest, it seems like it’s not for most people, because they’re not ready to face their fears and take action when the going gets tough.

How did I deal with this?

I took things one day at a time. Sure, I felt overwhelmed and confused, but I kept doing what I could do.

One action every day will get you a lot further than letting your fears control your life, even if that action is in the wrong direction.

7. Staying Focused

One of the most obvious traits of successful blogs is their consistency. It takes time to build a blog readership, which means you have to be in it for the long haul.

When I first wrote this article, I wrote “I know I’m probably not going to make close to a living for at least a few years from this blog, which is fine by me, because I really like what I’m doing, whether I get paid or not.”

I said that mainly because I was deluding myself, but also because I was already making a living from my other websites, so life was good.

How was I deluding myself?

I was taking the easy road, because I wasn’t focused on my blog as a business. I just focused on writing and having fun. If you want a business, you have to sell stuff, and I wasn’t ready for that then.

It’s been a long journey, but I’ve come around. I’ve learned a lot, and that experience translates to my coaching clients, because I can help them shave years off their learning curve.

Don’t worry about making mistakes, because what matters it that you do something. I knew I wasn’t doing things optimally in the beginning, but I still kept going, because I had no other choice.

I refused to give up.

And that’s why you’re reading the second edition of this article.

So, what are you waiting for?

Whether you want to build a business or a popular blog, the time is now.

The stars will never align.

Photo Credit

Wake Up Cloud

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