All right. Context is everything. I am reading “Do The Work!” by Steven Pressfield

Not enough? Research is not work. Revision is not work.

Thank you, Michael Reynolds, for recommending the book.

Can You Keep Up?

A common blog article topic usually comes forth on the InterTubes as “What to Write About When You Don’t Know What to Write About.,” or “How to Overcome Bloggers Block.” The most common suggestion I have seen is to keep a file or folder of ideas for future articles. When inspiration comes, write down as many topics or specific ideas as you can. Then, you’ll have numerous ideas for future dry spells.

You should definitely do that.

But to boost your output even more, I’m going to take a different angle on that idea today. This particular strategy takes some work, but the payoff is double, compared to the “idea bank.” I know you know I am hardly able to come to you as an “expert” in regularly updating one’s blog or other writing effort. However, I realized that I have used this technique occasionally, and will use it consistently in the months to come.

When you read my suggestion, you might object on the basis of the effort it takes. As Tony Scelzo, founder of Rainmakers, would say: It’s simple, but not easy.

It’s photography.

Already, I can hear six or seven of my 10 readers saying, “Give me a break! I’m not a photographer. And I’m not going to invest in a bunch of expensive equipment and take a 2-year course at my community college just so I can overcome writer’s block.”

Fine. You only have to make a very small purchase, and 70% of internet users (you) have already made it: A digital camera.

Shooting Mr. Obvious

“No kidding. I have to have a camera to take pictures. Thanks for the revelation, Mr. Obvious.”

That’s right. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. You don’t need a 20 megapixel DSLR from Canon or Nikon. ANY digital camera will do, even the camera in your phone. You just have to start using it with some intent, and have a little fun with it.

At this point, you’re wondering, “Are we going to talk about writing or taking pictures?”

Yes.

I shoot a lot of photos, in the business realm and as a hobby.

Running Out of Time? You May Need An Idea

Often, I’ll just scan through a number of my folders containing my photos, and an image will spark an idea for a blog post, or connect with a half-baked idea that never made it onto my blog. Now, I have a new blog post AND a great photo to go with it. Sometimes, the image is the perfect illustration for point. Other times, the image allows me to develop an analogy to help me drive home a point, or it forces me to refine my ideas to make the analogy work. The result: a much better post.

Start using that digital camera that you carry around as a visual scratchpad of your life and your business. Soon, you’ll have a bank of visual thought-starters. You’ll also have the images to support future ideas that come from other sources. In addition, when your readers tell you how great your images complement your articles, you can say, “Yeah, I don’t steal anything from Google Images. I shoot everything myself.” You are able to stay out of copyright infringement trouble, too.

Coming Soon:  Organizational tips to keep your idea-sparking images at your fingertips, suggestions for image-editing tools that are drop-dead easy to use, and alternative to shooting your own photos.

Do you need help with this? Suggestions on subject matter? Please leave your questions in the comments area below, and thanks for reading!

More content is coming soon, that fits one or more of the following categories:

• fun
• useful
• inspiring
• ridiculous

I just want you to know that I haven’t quit on my blog. I’ve been mighty busy with numerous projects (grateful to God for that), but haven’t spent any of my free time right here. Feel free to post any comment you like. (Please keep it clean.) Thanks for reading! –JR

Reload #2 from Marketing Mercenary

Are you stuck in a rut? Producing but not creating? Selling but not solving?

In this edition of Reload, I’ll share something that gave me a spark a while back, and is generating new business for me now: creating new products.

A while back, the gentleman that was my business coach challenged each person in his group to create a new product in two weeks. He also thought that, since I deal mainly in electronic media services, I should easily be able to create a range of new offerings: low-cost, mid-range, and premium.

I did it, and I sold one of the mid-range products for about $400 a short time later. It was my biggest single sale up to that time! Was it expensive to launch this new product line?

No! I purchased a hosting plan and put a simple website on-line for about $35 per quarter. I already had all the equipment and expertise I needed. And this “upgrade” helped bring in several new customers in the last couple of years.

Now, here’s the best part…

Currently, I haven’t developed a new product or service in a while. But, I have entered into a partnership with a very creative individual. He has originated several new products and services since our partnership began earlier this year. Am I coasting and letting him do all the heavy lifting? No. We brainstorm on how best to refine the new items, and I contribute my sales and customer service experience to cultivate and clarify how the products are brought to market.

I’m not saying that if you gain a new partner, you don’t have to come up with any new ideas of your own. But there just might be someone out there that can help YOU come up with strategies and solutions that will re-ignite your success. Right now, make a list of potential joint-venture partners that you can meet for lunch. Cook up some ideas that will help you…

• reach new customers
• explore higher price-points
• develop recurring monthly income instead of one-time sales
• develop one-time, easy sales instead of long-sales-cycle items
• re-kindle interest with customers that seem to have forgotten you

Go! Call a couple of people on that list, or send them an e-mail with your invitation. Go forth and break some rules – or perhaps – break some sales records!

[ My blog has been getting hundreds of hits for the schedule for area fireworks displays for the Indiana towns of Tipton, Greentown, Walton, Peru, Burlington and Kokomo. This tells me that the Internet marketing for the official sources of this information could use improvement. If your business or organization is in need of traditional or internet marketing assistance, please contact me: Marketing Mercenary (the About JR page of this blog), or via Best Property Marketing. ]

Thanks for visiting! Happy 4th of July, and God Bless America!

Tipton Indiana Fireworks

Our local paper, the Kokomo Tribune, posted the following times for area fireworks displays yet to happen for the 2011 Independence Day holiday. They are accurate in that I could not find any up-to-date sources that contradicted them, except for the Kokomo Tribune itself. I was able to confirm most of these dates via other sources. UPDATE: Kokomo fireworks were postponed due to weather. Please see red text below.

• Peru – At dusk Sunday at the town park

• Burlington – At dusk Sunday at Burlington Park

• Greentown – At dusk Monday at the Howard County fairgrounds.

• Tipton – 10:10 p.m. Sunday at Tipton County Fairgrounds.

• Walton – Monday at dusk, Walton town park.

• Kokomo – Friday, July 8, 10 PM at Foster Park
  

It’s our family tradition to enjoy the Tipton County fireworks. The Tipton display will reportedly add a substantial 35% more fireworks to their 20-minute “sky concert” display. Music is provided on the FM country station, WWKI.

Enjoy yourself, and BE SAFE! –JR

Mid-Week Reload #1

Welcome to the new “Mid-Week Reload!” Marketing Mercenary found the Monday Morning posts difficult to do “regularly,” so I’m moving the post to mid-week. In addition, I’m refocusing on articles that are hopefully helpful to your work, rather than topics that are merely interesting to discuss.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about all the rain we’ve had.  It’s quite evident that there are portions of some area farm fields in which the crops have been drown out. However, it’s also easy to see that the grass, trees, and the remaining crops are growing like mad!

What does this have to do with productivity?

It’s like this: The corn and bean fields have lost a few acres to the big puddles (some call them “ponds”). Yet the other areas in the fields look really great. Now, I know some of these dead areas are large enough to actually hurt the total yield, even considering the fact that the rest of the crop is doing great.

(This is where we get to the productivity part.)

You might think reading business books and blogs, listening to marketing CDs, and attending seminars is just too much – that your overall “yield” will suffer because of all the time it takes. Certainly a balance must be obtained regarding educational time vs. time at your desk or on the production floor, working. But, when you’re soaking your mind with a regular downpour of technical advice, motivational literature, and entrepreneurial inspiration,  your “productive time” will steadily become much more productive! Your high-yield crop of financial success can be obtained without taking up the entire “field” of your available days and nights.

What’s your favorite resource to enhance your productivity? Is it a blog? A magazine? The Bible? A pod-cast? Drop it in the comments below for the rest of us to try.

Don’t forget to click “subscribe” in the upper right of the home page. And, thanks for your time & energy.

Food For Thought

It’s Marketing Mercenary’s Monday Morning, and here’s what I’m chewing on.

I made a mistake. I called a client, and told her something. It could have caused her to rearrange her schedule. A short time later, I realized my mistake.

I could have saved face, and let it seem like I knew what I was doing. She would have had to scramble, possibly change other appointments, make child care arrangements…who knows. That would have kept me from admitting any problems with my habits and “systems.”

But, instead, I called again. I had to apologize for my mistake, and any inconvenience it might have already caused. As far as I know, I didn’t cause her any major problems.

This happened with a brand new client. Would this matter to you?

What would you have done? What if it had been much more major – what then?

Money-Making Ideas

In the context of yesterday’s storms and today’s rain, Marketing Mercenary suggests that you create an attention-getting promotion for you business today!
For example:

Rainy Day Specials

• Banks offer a bonus service or gift for opening a savings account – today only!
• Insurance agents offer a gift card or other incentive for purchasing home-owners insurance, or adding a flood insurance rider – today only!
• Department Stores offer a deep discount on boots (you know, not the high-heel kind – the utility kind)
• Realtors offer to help prospective client find a new home in a higher, drier area – OK, this may take longer than a day…
• Remodeling Companies offer a discount on shower enclosures and installation. Get it?
• Massage Therapists offer a discount to help alleviate the jangled nerves brought on by lightning and thunder and jumbled schedules. Offer discounts to FARMERS that are stressed out from waiting for the weather to clear – today only! Offer discounts to power company personnel that have worked overtime to help the public, clearing downed trees and power lines – OK, offer similar discounts all the time.

Clean-Up Specials

• Grocery Stores offer discounts on paper towels, floor cleaner, Lysol, etc. – anything needed to clean up muddy and water-damaged areas – today only!
• Car Washes or Detail Centers offer a two-for-the-price-of-one deal – today only!
• Disaster Recovery providers – OK, you’re pretty well set. Just sponsor the local radio weather forecasts for the rest of the Spring and Summer.
• Carpet Cleaning Services offer multi-room specials – through the weekend only!
• Landscaping companies offer clean-up specials, to remove debris from flower beds and other areas – through the weekend only! (You won’t be doing any mowing for a few days, anyway.)

I hope this got you thinking how you can help folks out, have a little fun, AND bring attention and revenue to your business in a good way. Be safe!

For help with any of these ideas, or with developing unique marketing tools and strategies for your business, contact the Marketing Mercenary!

Food For Thought

It’s Marketing Mercenary’s Monday Morning, and here’s what I’m chewing on.

Many, many times, you’ve heard people say, “You get out of it what you put into it.” It seems to be universally true. I think it’s most often used in terms of a civic organization or a self-improvement strategy – some effort to better one’s community or personal situation. I most recently heard it in terms of Rainmakers, one of the business networking groups to which I belong.

It seems that, in various situations, some frustrated folks might think, “I’m putting A LOT into it (whatever IT is), and not getting a lot out of it!”

In that case, it’s time to evaluate the quality of what you’re putting into “it.” You might be putting forth enough effort, but not putting the right kind of effort into “it.”

What do you think? Are there times when you made an adjustment in your efforts or attitude, and it made all the difference?