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What have I done in 2008 (not 2009), that really impacted my business - either at a core profit level, or a core efficiency level. Here’s my Top three things I’ve done that have had a huge effect on my business. If you’re starting a business, or growing your business, these might make a big difference!

1) Apple, Gmail, and the Ultimate Shift in my tools and resources…

Ever seen those Apple commercials? Ever wonder if maybe they were right? 2008 was the year of the Apple, and while I still use my PC for certain things, my switch to Apple, and Apple products, proved hugely beneficial to my business!

I can get into specifics about why Apple versus PC, and why, and what tools I use on each, but I’ll save that for a longer, specific post. Suffice it to say, this was a huge time saver, and my business works better on Apple. now have 3 Imacs, 2 Powerbooks … and no headache.

2) Gmail and Google’s paid suite of business tools.

I may live to regret this, but since I was on PC, I used Outlook. Outlook is a horrible program, but I was so stuck in it. So many years wasted… so many emails lost…

Outlook is… quite possibly, the devil.

With my switch to Mac, I made the switch to Gmail, which was very difficult, laborious, and to my way of thinking, a waste of time. Yet, no single thing has catapulted me in productivity than switching to Gmail, and Google Docs, spreadsheets, etc…

Yes, I may live to regret this, putting so much faith into one company, but the paid version (pay the paltry $50 per person), is amazing beneficial to me, my employees, my company, and our productivity.

They simply work, and they work anywhere.  I can travel, and be completely connected to my business. Does anyone still actually use Outlook? I feel like I was a late adopter of Gmail, but it has catapulted me to a better Internet Lifestyle (work and play together).

3) Focus on fewer sites…

We have hundreds of websites. Yes, hundreds. Sometimes it feels like even more!

In 2008, we trimmed it down. Fewer, larger sites were the word of the day, and guess what? It’s working! Follow our lead … this is the wave of the future.

Ever notice how hard it’s getting to rank in Google? Yep - big sites win. Focussed sites win. I’m not saying the ocassional sales letter site can’t garner an easy 20-100k, but if you’re around for the long run - think big, and think, single or small group of sites.

What about link farms? Blog Farms? Etc…  Been there, done that!

Save those for the people whom want to work harder than you do!  You simple won’t need them if you work on creating a big site, with big content, and big community. That’s a fact!

What’s your top 3-5 business changers? What have you done in your business to blow up your productivity or bottom line? We’re getting our 2009 list ready, but would love to get your thoughts and insights first.

What are your game changers?

Well, I am in three big niches, but the only one to really talk about today is Dance. The others are not widely known, or public, so people can’t readily discover them, but in dance, and salsa dance in particular, I’ve clearly made my participation in the niche known.

In fact, I dominate it.  Dominate is a big word, I know, but … it fits. In every metric that matters, I absolutely crush everyone around me.  I would say… I’m likley 10x larger than my nearest competitor, That’s a big discrepancy. You’d think I’d be happy about that wouldn’t you? Guess what! I’m not. I have very few whom I can actually partner with. 

It’s not even that hard for me to dominate. I should have to work harder to do what I do. I am willing to work harder to do it. Hell, I even want to work harder to do it. But in this niche, it’s doubtful that I’ll have to - for many reasons. If I had competitors, on any level, I’d have partners. I don’t actually believe in competition as a bad thing. Sure, I suppose it’s not great to lose a competition, but in my heart of hearts, I am simply not a competitive person. I like to win, sure, but I don’t seek out competition for the sake of it. I seek out…partners!  I want partners. I want people in my niche that I can work with. I want people that want to make a difference.

First, as in all my niches, people seem to have no grasp of exactly how big we are, what we do, and how we do it, and they simply aren’t inquisitive enough to ask.  I can’t even remember the last time we were approached for any kind of partnership or deal. That’s both a good and bad thing from a business perspective. I’ve been able to be the major and completely dominant player in one of my niches (and a major player in the other two), without anyone actually knowing about it. Isn’t that incredible? If you don’t know why that’s important, that’s ok, we’ll get into that later, but regardless, isn’t it interesting that people don’t know who I am, nor what I do, nor try to reverse engineer my business?  I mean… this is big business, you think people would try to do that huh? You think they’d simply want to partner with it, be part of it, come along for the ride… but no. Nothing!

Once again, I’m not saying this to gloat. Once again, quite the opposite. I’ve often been bummed and dissapointed at the lack of professionalism in this specific market, and the typical artistic disdain for all things "business".  It’s ironic that all too often, that disdain, turns into shoddy products, and ripping off their own customers. I’ve often yearned (yes, yearned) for other people whom might raise the bar, whom I might work with, whom were similarly motivated to do great things.

It’s hard to find people passionate about things. Really, anything! Passion is hard to find. Passion with a desire for business is a harder thing to find. And passion in business that is not motivated out of greed, or the singular desire to make money, is damn nigh impossible. Unfortunately, I fall into that group. Sure, I’m motivated by money, but I’m far more motivated by a desire to reach people, to improve lives, to actually leave a positive mark on society and people’s day to day existence. Perhaps that’s why I can still do what I do…

Yes, every now and then people popped up. There was even one Yanik Silver follower whom did some really great things, and whom I admired and helped me up-my-game. However, he’s long since left the niche. Moved on to greener pastures? Perhaps. However, one or two people out of hundreds, if not thousands, of people that are in the niche? That’s a small percentage is it not?

And guess what? It applies to other niches as well.  Yep! It’s both part of my success and a reason for my personal failure, that I haven’t created more competition for myself, started more people on the road to success, created competitors so that I might partner with them.If you’ve read the MarketingCrazy into, you hear me briefly touch on it. It’s part of the reasons I am entering my new niche - the marketing niche, and the business building niche. See, I can even publicly state my next niche, I am certain in my ability to be a major player. However, whether that translates into a known player, or simply a powerful one, remains to be seen.

Am I crazy? Will I be a victim of my own success? Will I create a young apprentice who’ll then rise up and take me down (ok, too many Star Wars episodes).

Why Do I dominate my Niche(s): Because no one else cares to, and those that might, either do not have the skills they need, or do not have the correct motivations to last.  I’m going to fix that shortly … or at least give people the ability to fix it themselves. My question is - how many will rise to the challenge, even when it’s handed to them?

Why Do I have no Real Competition: In business, especially small, niche based business, you better be fast, agile, and belive in partnerships. That’s the way to growth. I am a big believer in the JV. In my other niches, it is the prime reason for my greatest successes. In the dance niche, it barely exists (affiliates obviously not included).

So, here I sit at the Underground Online Seminar. I’ve been hear a few times now, and this is by far my favorite conference currently in the Internet Marketing and Biz Building space.  It’s fantastic this year! I met the CEO of Zappos (billion dollar online shoe company), and he’s a great guy. Totally down to earth! Behind me now is Dr. Mercola (of Mercola.com), and around every turn are amazing masters of the internet, and their individual industries. 



I’ve had some great meetings already, and frankly, it’s simply very motivational to be around so many successful people (and yes, there are also people here whom are just getting started). Everyone is great.



Yet, this year, something is different! Not really in the event itself (which is top notch), but in myself. As I’ve spent the first part of this year traveling and, currently, am about to leave to Eastern Europe (Prague, Budapest, Poland…), I’m simply feeling a bit detached. Not really detached, but rather, I’m really/truly living the "internet lifestyle", in that I’m traveling and living off internet businesses (really well).  The people here, while many are wealthier, few are simply roaming the world traveling after setting up their business.

Yes, life is cool fo rme, but I have to admit, I’m feeling like a slacker… I’m going to get back to work this summer. Not because I have to, but because I want to.



Make no mistake. These guys are motivated workers! They aren’t talkers, they are do-ers. As I consider myself, they don’t just talk the talk, but they walk-the-walk. They are out there succeeding, doing that which they want to do.  Right now though, I am living off my success, and perhaps, taking too much time off.



Or at least that’s the way it feels when I’m surrounded by all these titans of business. My business, though large, is dwarfed by many people here. More inspirational though, is that coming here gives you a roadmap of what to do to grow your business (perhaps a never ending task). It’s hard not to just run back home and continue growing. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s hard to keep traveling the world, living adventure after adventure.



I know, I can hear your collective sigh out there, and I won’t dwell on this too much. It’s a balance. The point is, once you put in the work to this type of business, the type of business I am going to teach you how to create, you not only control the way you work, and when you work, and how you work, but also how long you vacation for. If it’s six months, like me, then so be it - but for me, this conference has re-inspired me to get back to work….



and the minute I return from Eastern Europe, that’s exactly what I’ll do, and you’ll likely be the beneficiary of it.



So, the seminar, now the morning of the second day, is well on it’s way. There are some fantastic speakers coming on, including the CEO of headsets.com, in a keynote. I’m simply amazed by the cool mix of "real" businesses, with internet marketing businesses that are present. I’m running into just about everyone around here, I can’t believe it.



Well, the CEO of headset.com just spoke, and he was absolutely great. Funny, yet with a fair amount of proven, good content. Right now, it’s a panel of the big guys, explaining how to get 1000 optins a month (very simple), but they’ve actually hit on such simple concepts. Yep, even I’m learning something.  Great stuff - and so doable!

Oh, and of course, let me leave you with some actionable content. What have I treally learned. The basics are back! Beware of the internet launch. Yes, things are changing, but the basics from two years ago still control. Yes, video is incredibly hot (and getting hotter), just look at me. However, the fundamental underlying business is sitll easily understandable.

Get or make a product, perfect your sales process, get optins…and the #1 secret everyone sweeps under the rug? Buy the freakin’ traffic!  Yeh, there’ are other options (affiliates, JVs, etc…), but this is the way to jumpstart success.

Anyway, enough talk, very cool conference. Hope all is well! More soon.
Keep it Crazy-
MC

PS - See the post below for the link to see some snippets from the seminar, and get DVDs or sign up for the next one.