I’m back at my same old place and going in too many places. Here are my random projects:
- Increase publicity - just generally. My profit centers are within TaxLoopholes (products and seminars) and Diane Kennedy’s Tax Services (tax firm). My goal here is to raise brand awareness.
Action: David (my son) has set up My Space and Facebook for me. It’s a good experience for him and he’s actively working on a goal of 10,000 friends.
Action: I started general architecture design for www.DianeKennedyCPA. com (not active). I’ve gotten some gentle (and not so gentle) nudges to get that site up ASAP. I agree. Hey, if anybody has sample pages of people’s sites that they like, could you post them here? I tend to just look at people I know (Mark Victor Hansen, John Hope Bryant…and apparently only people with 3 names as I look at my very short list)
Action: Important, not urgent (to use an old Stephen Covey term). I need to get my PR list updated and start sending out some info for interviews and articles.
- Marketing. More focussed marketing in my key areas;
Trust Sandwich - there are hundreds of REI clubs that need this information. I need to get some lists and start doing some selective marketing to them.
Less Tax for Docs - what other avenues are there for marketing to docs? How can I find more professionals that want to save lots of money on taxes in a no risk venture?
- Selling -
We’re in the summer doldrums right now. I know we’ll be slammed in Sept through the end of the year. How can I get people to get their strategies now so we have time to implement? ie…create a sense of urgency.
- Improving Return on Business Assets…in other words, using my underutilized business assets
What else do my customers, largely professional and small business owners, need? Most are going through their own economic downturns, so how can I help them make more money?
- Creating new products
I’ve got to get some new information out - for example, I used to recommend for “good” structures - LLC for real estate and S Corp or C Corp for Business. Today, I wouldn’t recommend any of them.
Foreclosure is a hot topic as well. What do investors in that area need?
What will be the pressing tax questions of 2008?
I feel like I have more questions than answers today. But, if I put them out, I know the answer always shows up.
June 22nd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Diane, I was just saying to my husband today that I get so many ideas and start research or some activity on so many new projects I feel like I never get much accomplished on any of them. Seems like we’re in similar situations. I’m trying to focus myself with the help of a new Mastermind group. Our first assignment is to write down everything we’re doing or want to do and prioritize them using the A, B, C system. Then we’re each going to pick the most important item in the A group and agree to help each other stay focussed on that item. I’m finding out that I really am a “free spirit” (a nicer term for ADD!) and I’m having trouble making myself create the list, never mind prioritize it.
But I know that I will accomplish more and actually see things through to completion if I do this. At least I’ll get an A item moved to the B list (at least temporarily) or will actually stay on it until it is complete.
So, which of the things that you have going on is your #1 A item? Is it one that you can work diligently on and finish? Or will it be one that you can make enough progress on that it moves to the B list for a while? With your energy and team maybe you can choose more than one A item to work on at a time, but your list is big and needs to be prioritized.
If it were my list I’d choose Selling as my #1 A list item. If you put your attention to that now you will improve your time management issues as well as create more immediate revenue. Just my opinion…
June 22nd, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Well, my multi-tasking just made my 2nd post disappear, so let me re-start!
I looked at your list again and would say that you need to simultaneously make the http://www.DianeKennedyCPA.com site a #1 A item - I know you can multi-task! Perfection here isn’t necessary, but David is already working on social networking and you need a central site to direct people to where all the different things you offer can be a sidebar.
Didn’t care for Mark Victor Hansen’s site - too much sales pitch for my taste. This is where people who don’t know much or anything about you are going to be directed so I think more about you personally and your goals and vision should take center stage. John Hope Bryant’s page had lots of white space and made you scroll down and down. Look at http://www.deepakchopra.com and http://www.stephencovey.com for sites that I like better.
June 22nd, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I like Stephen Covey’s front page pic and his books there.
I like his brag bio.
June 22nd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Whoa, I followed the links and discovered that the Deepak Chropa one I gave goes to a very, very different site than the one I Googled. I looked again and the site I wanted to direct you to is http://www.chopra.com - try looking at that one; I actually didn’t like the original link I sent you to!
June 22nd, 2008 at 9:02 pm
We’re looking at something for my son as well. We bought http://www.DavidKennedyCooley.com this past week. For sure he wants to do podcasting. I told him that’s fine but no saying how awful his parents are. He said he’s a teenager and that’s expected.
I think I’m going to make sure I have control of the site for awhile. LOL
June 22nd, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Maria Shriver’s–
http://www.firstlady.ca.gov/
June 22nd, 2008 at 9:58 pm
The Donald–
http://www.trump.com/
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:36 am
My goal this whole summer is to follow a schedule during the day. I just spent the last two hours doing everything but what I was going to do. I am terrible at that.
My goal is to resign from teaching before the school year starts. So somehow I have to replace my income. Today was the day I was going to put towards putting products together to market from my site. It must be the pressure because I can’t get to it. Maybe my mastermind group will help me with that.
I am on facebook and had a goal of getting 5000 friends which is their max. I just got my page disable because I was adding too fast.
I will plead my case and hope to get back on.
The joys of a Monday.
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:27 am
Mark,
Sorry about your Facebook. FYI, I posted some info about some social networking tele-calls (including Facebook) earlier today on the http://www.BusinesstoInvestment.com forum.
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:01 pm
>>..what other avenues are there for marketing to docs? How can I find more professionals that want to save lots of money on taxes in a no risk venture?<<
AMA is the largest physician group. Annual convention.
There’s AMA State Legislative Conf. in Phoenix Jan. 8-10, 2009. Wonder what that’s about.
Anyone who needs CEUs might be a target audience, even if they don’t necessarily get CEUs from your portion of the agenda. Speaker on CEU cruise? (There’s someone around who teaches people how to get cruise slots– now there’s a focused area.)
Specialized niches? (Top internet marketers? Young Presidents Org.? Yachting? Golfers? Polo players? Land developers? Top chefs? Inventors? Silicon valley? Immigrant wealth?
Teach to small groups and create a video product? I’ve seen some small group seminars recently.
One was held in a conference room that could only accomodate 25, so there was already the threat of scarcity as soon as the seminar was announced.
Another was offered at someone’s home with a similar small limit.
June 24th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Beta J, great ideas…I got excited about the “small limit seminar offered at someone’s home” - Diane’s past that, but I’m not! What a great idea! A friend told me a couple of years ago, “you really should do a seminar” and I just might call her and say “how many other associates in your field could we offer this to - I might be able to pull it off! And maybe even video tape it to put out on YouTube!
Diane, speaking of YouTube, have you ever thought about putting one of your weekly videos out there? Or, since you’re already filming, do a slightly different one for YouTube? Brian Tracy has a YouTube video. Then direct them to http://www.DianeKennedyCPA.com where they can find out about you and follow the link that fits their needs. I really like Beta J’s idea of the Young President’s Club…good audience.
June 25th, 2008 at 6:23 am
They let me back on to facebook. They said I was adding friends too fast. I asked them if they had a number of friends I could add but they wouldn’t commit to it.
They have me paranoid to add friends. They said they would shut me down for good if I do it again.
Pretty funny.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Mark,
This was on TaxLoopholes forum. Don’t know if you saw it.
“Pit Bull Marketing mentioned these tips to keep from getting zapped by Facebook: Don’t send too many messages in a short time frame. Send messages throughout the day. Don’t invite new friends without a personalized message. Don’t 100% cut and paste the same message.”
June 27th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Mark,
Regarding that goal to follow a schedule during the day …
Creative types really hit the wall when they try to perform during the perceived, acceptable hours of work and production. You might try working in rhythm with your “body clock”.
During which hours of the day or night do you find your mind most active? or least active? or you feel most creative? or you feel the need to zone out?
Try doing the tasks/action steps that require the most mental agility when your mind is naturally in its most active mode. Let yourself solve the problems when you feel the most creative. Maybe zone out time is a good time for you to catch up on your reading or recreational blogging.
My point: there are no time police for what you do at any given moment in your 24 hour day. So don’t fall into the trap of trying to fit into other peoples’ idea of the “perfect” schedule.
Maybe this is an idea you can use to solve that scheduling problem. If not, well, there’s always a solution, somewhere.