Sunday’s Random Rants 5-11
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What a great week. The sun has been shining for at least half the week and we haven’t received any snow. Yes, believe it or not, last night it snowed an hour from here. I swear this winter lasted about 7 months. I just wonder how the rest of the seasons fit into the year.
Happy Mothers Day
Face it, without mothers, none of us would be here. I would like to say and give a special thanks to my mother for surviving the Las Vegas heat in summer to put up with me. Thanks, Mom. I hope that I do not have to remind anyone to call or do something special, but just in case. What are you waiting for? Go now and do it.
Traveling
On Monday I will be traveling to the great state of California for a couple weeks where I am going to be helping out some family members. Before you start dreaming of the ocean and sand, I will remind you that I will be in the far north area of California near Mt. Shasta. I have been looking forward to my trip and visiting family. Hopefully I can post some nice pictures next week.
Tools
I finally caved and bought an MP3 player last week. In particular, a Sansa View. I recently did an interview and had the chance to record some of the conversation with a Sansa I borrowed. I was completely blown away by how well it recorded and sounded, not to mention all the other features included. I really wanted to get a decent digital voice recorder. I quickly realized they were about $100 and for a little more I could get a device that sounds just as good recording but also plays music and movies. It seemed like a no brainer.
Alexa
I shaved off 25k from my Alexa stats for this blog. That is a good thing. I really don’t know how much weight I give Alexa anymore. Alexa even admitted that in the last two years it was completely wrong in how it valued websites and now somehow magically it is better. In the end, is your blog expanding or contracting? Do you have more readers this month than last? Do you have more comments and linkbacks? That is what really matters.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Michael Marcil a man with a vision
This week I interviewed Michael Marcil, the founder and CEO of The Marcil Group, based in Fargo, ND. The Marcil Group is
primarily centered around the management of commercial and rental property in and around North Dakota. Other areas of involvement include construction, technology, capital investment, venture capital, restaurants and philanthropy.
I actually had about 20 some questions drawn up that I really thought would lead the interview. How wrong I was. I only asked a couple from memory, and the rest of the conversation took on a natural course of its own. Michael Marcil was recently named a winner of The Forum’s 20 under 40 award (local newspaper). A diverse panel gave the award out to recipients chosen as those who are making a difference in the Fargo community.
A majority of my conversation with Michael was focused on the unbelievably bright economic future North Dakota has and how that will transform the state’s citizens. In a time of uncertainty for the U.S. economy with the sub-prime housing mess and skyrocketing commodities such as oil and wheat, the only downside for North Dakota is its chilly winters. Just about everything else in the state will benefit greatly due to the rise in oil and food prices. Michael shared his love for all the different types of energy our state has the potential to produce and pictures North Dakota becoming the “Dubai of North America.” In case you didn’t know, North Dakota is very rich in agriculture, coal, oil and wind. Michael Marcil spent roughly 10 years in the dot com industry with his hand in a few projects like food.com and many, many more. Through consulting, he built up his management and development company extremely fast. So fast, that The Marcil Group has grown over 800% in three years. Not only that, but the company has been in positive cash flow every quarter since inception. It takes a man with a grand vision to grow and expand a company that fast. I have no reason to believe there is any slowing down in his future. The sky is the limit.
I have never before met someone who has openly endorsed the idea of promoting their competitors. I know this seems very counterproductive, but there is a genius behind it that most will fail to realize. Imagine that you own and operate a business in a town that is bursting at the seems. If you can garner some business even for your competitors, eventually you are able to leverage that flow of traffic to further your reach in that market. Essentially, you are making your competitors reliant upon your business more and more. Now that’s some unconventional marketing.
I enjoyed my time with Michael, and I can’t wait to see what he does in the future.
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Internet Business Guide by Marcus Hochstadt
Actually, this post was written by myself, but I know the title is fitting for this blog. Marcus Hochstadt has been working online since 2003 when his former company was downsized (see post here for 10 reason to quit your job). After his abrupt job less, he turned around and focused his talents as a sale manager towards niche marketing, video demonstrations and of course, his blog.
This is one of the few blogs I know simply exists because of his love for sharing information as well as networking with others. It truly makes a big difference to learn from another who is sharing for the sake of sharing vs. trying to earn money from me directly via sales or affiliate programs. I don’t even mind when he injects personal opinions and faults into his posts. Here is a quote from the post How to Save 2 Hours a Day.
Plan the next day the night before — Before going to bed, go over your daily planner for the next day. The mind is amazing at accomplishing goals, and while you’re sleeping it will be working everything out to save even more time and increase productivity. This 10th tip is well worth a separate post as it can give you another 2 hours per day. So stay tuned!
I love this tip and am glad he saved it for last spot on his list of 10 ways to save time. It is amazing how even spending just 5 minutes the night before collecting and organizing your next day’s thoughts will ultimately produce amazing results.
Even while searching his blog for past articles, I was amazed by some of the things I learned that I had never thought of before. For instance, you won’t find an RSS feed counter on his blog (Why I Do Not Use FeedBurner). There is a reason behind that, mostly related to the fact that at any one moment, that could all disappear. It had never really occurred to me that if FeedBurner did like my blog or my subscription base for some reason, it could simply shut it off. I think I would rather be safe than sorry. Maybe it’s time to explore the world of newsletters in addition to FeedBurner.
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Right NOW!
What can you do today or right now that will affect change on your blog or site? Can you get 5 links back to your blog today?
Can you gain 1 RSS reader or get an extra 100 visitors? Sure you can.
Remember, proven basics come before unproven success. It is easy to dream big, but the best way to reach those dreams is one step at a time. I remember thinking it was hard to get any extra visitors to my blog in a day. Now it is only a couple clicks and a post away. Set high and challenging goals for the long term and small accessible goals for the short term. Once the foundation is laid, the bricks and mortar will fall into place quite easily.
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