I’m out of the office today, Monday September 28. I will return on
Tuesday, September 29.

–
Meredith Eisenberg
Twitter: @meredithe
Facebook: http://facebook.com/mereditheisenberg

Note: I’m only checking e-mails a few times a day — so if it’s urgent
- http://awayfind.com/meredith

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I am beginning to think that the "answer" to the mommy wars is starting your own business.  Many of the other mothers I talk to are astounded that I manage to make a nearly full-time income working from home on the Internet.  My virtual assistant business gives me a rich professional life and a chance to work with dynamic coaches who help their clients make huge strides in their lives. 

Most of the people I talk to just don’t know where to start.  Reading Carrie Lauth’s new book Full Time Money is like having 17 successful work at home moms in your living room… wiling to give you candid advice about what really works in the online world.  The stories are both inspirational and very educational.   I got some great tips to pass on to clients and for building my online business.   Give it a read — and let me know what you think.

What is your best tip for online success?

Yes, I admit it… I was an Apprentice junkie — at least when Carolyn and George were on the show.  I’m not a big Ivanka fan… Anyway, I was just a bit sad when Donald got fired from his own show.  Now, there is something even better — not on TV — on the Internet.

I caught the first episode of The Next Internet Millionaire a few days ago.  Good stuff.  Twelve contestants are vying for a chance to do a joint venture with Joel Comm.  One of the things that I like the best is that the cast is real (and impressive).  Each week the teams get to learn from an Internet guru and do a task.  One team wins — the other goes to the commplex and a team member gets eliminated.  I can’t tell you exactly what that means without spoiling the episode — but suffice it to say that nobody gets seriously injured.

I think it will be very interesting to see how successful the show becomes.  What do you think?

I’m currently readig Seth Grodin’s book the Purple Cow.  Interesting premise, but my question is — would you really be more likely to buy milk from a purple cow?  Yes, you would notice the cow, but would you sell more milk?   Yes,  we do live in an age that is permeated by advertising. Products are pitched in movies, on eggshells, in bathroom stalls… you need to do something to stand out.   The good news is that, thanks to the Internet, it is easier than ever very small businesses (even solopreneurs) to stand out from the crowd. 

Traditionally, marketers have followed a marketing checklist of 5 Ps (there actually are thousands of Ps — some are publicity, promotion, product, packaging, product..).  Here iis my proposal for 5 Ps for Solopreneurs

Partnership — you can’t do it all yourself.  The best ideas come from the synergy of working together.  Also, small business owners tend to take the weight of the world on their shoulders by doing everything themselves. Nobody is good at everything — find people who can do the things you can’t.

People – The way to stand out on the Internet is to forge relationshps with people.  The more people like you, the more they will buy. Seth Grodin was right — people are relying more an more on word of mouth and personal networks to make buying decisions.  The good news is that there are millions of ways to develop relationships with people on the Internet.

Product — It is easier than ever to reach people and geographical boundaries are mattering less and less.  I live in New Mexico… all of my clients are on the East Coast.  The downside to this is that competition is fierce no matter where you live.  If your product isn’t great — you won’t last long.

Promotion — To stand out, you need to be constantly promoting your product.  Not only through sales letters and autoresponders, but through active networking online and off.

Permission — CAN-Spam aside,  you need to have permission to market to people.  I don’t know anyone who buys from spammers.  You get permission and grow your list by developing products and promotion strategies in partnership with other people.

Anyone have an Ps to add?

I am currently in the throes of an excellent group coaching program led by Mike Kemski, the very bright guy behind Banabu. (If you ever get a chance to to work with Mike — jump on it– the experience has been life changing for me.   ratMIke has had his share of success on the Internet — he is part of the cyber-brat pack of infopreneurs that are raking in millions on the net.  He recently made a very important point — none of the people making millions on the Net is doing it by themselves.  They have partners and support staff.  Mike sums it up pretty well  "it is far better to get 10% of a million dollar deal than to make $10,000 by your own efforts (I should be so lucky — someday). 

One way to quickly get a partner is to hire a virtual assistant.  My clients always say that they feel that their business moves much faster when they have a "partner" to help them brainstorm ideas and to help keep them moving.  VAs do high quality work — but they also provide momentum.   This article in the Las Vegas Business shows how many smart entrepreneurs are benefiting from the partnership opportunties available to them from a VA.   I really enjoy my VA work because it allows me to *get inside* my clients’ businesses and creatively help them to grow. I love to see what happens when they start working with me as a partner.  The best part is that I have a few clients so I am always learning and growing.

What kind of partnerships do you have in your business?

http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2007/08/03/opinion/columnists/guest/iq_15752521.txt

For a long time, it was like having an unlimited credit card — when you reached your limit someone paid the bill and gave you a higher limit… last night my 3+ year long e-mail storage binge had to come to an end.  I finally ran out of space in my gmail account.  Yes, it is amazing I had over 20,000 messages in my box and I was using almost 3 gig of space.  It turns out my timing was good,  Google generously offered to double my space to 6 gig for $20 a year (a pittance) but I decided that what I really needed was to clean house.

In the space of about an hour I want from 20,000 messages to around 5,000  (39% of the storage limit) by:

1. Deleting 3 years worth of old work emails (I don’t work there anymore and live in a different state) that I forwarded to gmail because I had a very stingy corporate email storage limit.

2.  Searching for yahoo, finding and deleting most of my mailing list messages.

3. Searching for and deleting other mailing list messages (especially the ones that email several times a day — yikes!)

As fate would have it, a blog entry from Amy at Contentious inspired me to do even more.  She recently cleaned out her inbox using GTD wizard Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero method.  So, I took another hour and winnowed through the emails — deleting some, and archiving most (I use GTD as a back up brain/filing system — it has saved my tush numerous times — why would I purposely forget anything?).

I suppose it’s a matter of balance — the need to save space vs. the need to save information.  For right now, I’m working on deleting things that I know I don’t need (like flylady reminders to clear my house hotspots — she’lll send it again (and again).  Somehow I think she might approve of this whole electronic housecleaning effort…

Anyone have a good system for taming your e-beast?