You are what you read.


I dont know about you but I love reading and it has a been a
massive part of my life.

Reading is self education.
Self eduacation is the best education. ; )
You can never read to many books, but you can certainly read
to few.
And a book you DONT read is a book that CANT help you.

While a child we learn to read, then we read to learn.
Sadly alot of people leave school and think they never have
to read a book again.

"I aint got time to read" is something I hear all to often.
Reading is not some time wasting effort, reading is a necessity
to grow.
When you eat you feed your body, when you read you feed
your mind.

Read as much as you can for your growth.

Try to read a book a week, at least a thin one to start with.
In one year you have read at least 50 books.. how can you NOT
gain from that? :^)

The leaders are readers.

Take care.

Direct mail.


Here in the uk there is a program on the tv called
"Brassed off Britain", the program covers issues that "brass" people off.

Basically things that bother us, annoy us.

Among the things covered are "banks", "home improvements",
"mobiles", "new cars", "new homes", and others.

Services and consumables, etc.

Interesting to see just how things bother us and what things bother us as a nation.

I am not at ALL suprised by some of the things on the list of things that "brass" us off. ; )

What did suprise me was that Junk mail or direct mail to some was at the top of the pile.
And interestingly was also the fact that it was the mainly over 55 year old group of people that disliked junk mail so much.

I have to say looking at the junk I get through the door, alot of it is indeed aimed at the older generation.

Is direct mail really worth doing if your target is the older generation?
That depends on what you have to offer them.
But what a tough market to win over using direct mail.

One more good reason to utilise a website to reach your market.
Instead of trying to "sell" with your direct mailings, just try to divert people to your website.
And now more than ever the older generation are getting online.

I would be interested in the difference between the uk and the usa regarding things like this.
How different the conversion rates would be for each country,
using direct mail.
How different the "customers" react to the mail.

The program tells me we dont like to be "sold" to. :^)

Tell not sell.

Thats what you need to do with direct mail.
:^)

Individuality.


I have absolutely no doubt most of you have heard of it being important to your chances of success.
At least important to getting people to KNOW you for being "different", for being "you".

Today I notice another great example of the importance of individuality in business.
How many of you as I am are subscribers to various list of various marketers and "gurus".

Il bet many of you are, and for good reasons too.. we can learn alot from these people and what to do, but we can also learnt what NOT to do.

Without mentioning it some of you will guess just what I refer to, because maybe you have noticed it too.
So what am I talking about?

Email marketing..

Email marketing is a great tool for an online business, as many of the "gurus" say "the money is in the list"..
So just how valuable is that list to them?

My guess is that email marketing provides a significant proportion to their income, else they wouldnt be doing it..
;^)

But have you as I have, noticed the amount of ezines with the same sales pitch copied and pasted into the email, all promoting the same thing using the same wording?

Its not all of them, as some utilise their own style of writing that their own list will recognise and appreciate and respond to.
They have kept the individuality. : )

I dont know how YOU perceive this but I for one feel it takes some of the credibility they have built up away.
More often than not these very marketers have mentioned previously the importance of individuality in their ezines.

So I was suprised to see it myself.

There are occasions where it is best to use the templates available as they often inform and presell better than the ezine owners could do themselves.

This situation makes me feel that the ezine owners are not even taking into consideration the readers of the ezines, and just how many of them stop to think of how many different list the readers are subscribers to.

Do they really want to send an email so similar to half a dozen others promoting the same thing in the same words.
How can the readers feel like the marketers are being informed help to them, if they see the same emails from various people.

The actual program or software any email promotes may be great, but the way it gets promoted has an overall effect on its success.
I mean after the first three emails with the same wording it
had the effect of "not again" on me.

The few that were individual were more informative as to what it meant to me, the reader. : )

Individuality is YOUR biggest asset.

Utilise it.

Take care.

A daily dose.


I have decided that I am going to try to post everyday now.
Why?

If we stop and listen to our heads, aint there an awful lot going on up there.. ; )
Therefore I feel its best to get things written down that I can share, that way I de-clutter my head.

I dont know where all my readers are, but here in the south uk, we have had some fantastic weather, and most of us Brits like to make the most of it. :^)

I had a great long weekend with my sons, and we had some great laughs, playing football, etc.
It all makes me realise the very best things in life cost us nothing, yet.....are worth everything.
The smiles on our childrens faces, and the joy they bring is absolutely priceless.
Any of you that are parents will know exactly how I feel.

What price can we put on that?

I have my sons every weekend, so the perceived value of my weekend is very high, the two best days of the week without a doubt.

At the ice cream van, someone remarked "Kids know the price of everything, but not the value of anything."

Is that true?
Not to me its not.

My sons value my time with them as highly as I do, and no price can be put on that, they know it as well as I do.

They also know that the value of a cool ice cream on a hot day
is worth far more than a pound coin.

An item for sale has a price, one for all..
Yet value is to each of us very different.

Value is always percieved, never bought.

What price value?