• How to Get Out of your Personal Comfort Zone

    February 13, 2009 // No Comments »

    Did you know we all have a "personal comfort zone "?

    According to Wikipedia, "Comfort Zone " is:

    A limited set of behaviors and environments that a person can engage in without becoming anxious…

    It is set of environments and behaviors with which one is comfortable, without creating a sense of risk .

    One very critical act that every online entrepreneur must take is getting our of his or her "comfort zone ".

    Being in your "comfort zone" entails your contentment with doing the things that you’ve always done before.  Instead of taking risks, those who hang out in the comfort zone tend to avoid risk.

    Now of course taking risks is not just doing something completely wild.  Entrepreneurs who get out of their comfort zone take calculated risk.

    Getting out of the comfort zone entails pushing aside any fear of failure or success that you might have and taking "out of the ordinary" action to achieve your goals.

    How to Get Out of Your Personal Comfort Zone

    The more you get out of your comfort zone, the more you realize that your uncomfortable zone becomes your comfort zone.  It’s all a matter of personal and business growth, and if you’ve been a reader of my blog for sometime, you know I equate to be one and the same. :-)

    So how do you get out of your personal comfort zone?

    Here are a few tips to help you:

    1) List a few things you want to do but haven’t gotten around to doing (this is the "I’ve been meaning to do list").

    2) Write down why you have not completed each task (often times this will either be a fear of the outcome or a fear of what others might think of you).

    3) Write down 1-3 action steps you can take to get past the fear.

    4) Ask yourself what’s the best thing that can happen if you do take action and accomplish that goal.

    5) Take small steps towards achieving that goal.

    The key is to realize that although you might have a fear of something that does not mean you should let that fear rule you.  Take small action steps towards that goal and you will soon start to realize that it was a lot easier than you thought to get out of that personal comfort zone.

    Leon Li has a great post on the dangers of staying in your comfort zone .  It’s a quick read and provides a cool analogy on the importance of always reaching to grow out of your zone.

    Something to think about:

    What one thing have you been putting off this week or month?  Write the action plan according to the outline above and take small steps towards reaching that goal.

    What have you done to get out of a comfortable situation? How did it help you grow?  Let us know!

    I appreciate you!

    Dali Burgado

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    Posted in Habits of Entrepreneurs, Personal Development & Home Business, mindset

    3 Characteristics of a Successful Entrepreneur

    January 30, 2009 // No Comments »

    There are many characteristics an entrepreneur must possess in order to thrive.

    Today we’ll focus on three major ones.

    I. The Successful Entrepreneur Makes Quick Decisions:

    In order to excel as an online entrepreneur, you must make quick decisions and move forward.  You must decide that you will be the best at what you do.

    Every day you make countless decisions that affect your productivity.  You must decide what you will work on and if your tasks will be a productive or counterproductive use of your time.

    Sometimes, personal challenges affect our focus and drive.

    Just a few days ago I was in a personal challenge slump and did not find I could focus or stay productive as a result.  Thankfully, I told myself, "Dali, you cannot let your personal challenges take you off course.  You’ve got to get back to it and complete all the things you know you must do in order to excel."

    If you’ve followed - or just know me- you’ll probably notice that I’m very proactive and productive.  Yet, it wasn’t until I made the decision to move on in spite of my challenges that I began to regain focus and get my productivity groove back.  The last two weeks have been incredibly productive for me because I made the decision not to let my personal circumstances tear me down.

    II. The Successful Entrepreneur Takes Extreme Measures

    You must take extreme measures and do what no one else won’t in order to have the success that most don’t.  Sounds like the mindset of an ambitious online entrepreneur?!

    Today I sat and did some major keyword research for a new niche blog I’m creating. I realize that in total, I  invested (not spent) about 3 hours of my time doing the tedious, yet critical steps any successful online entrepreneur must take in order to thrive and dominate any niche.   Yes, my friends, it’s a long time…and yes I could outsource, but sometimes you just love to be a control freak (lol).

    When you take the extra steps to outshine "competition" you ensure that you are more visible to your target market, and that pays dividends!

    III. Takes Full Responsibility for Failures & Successes

    Too often many of us feel the need to blame others for our failures and don’t look in the mirror and see that we are the causes of all our failures and successes.  We can blame others as much as we want, but remember that we can’t control circumstances outside ourselves, but we can control how we react to external circumstances.

    What other attributes do you feel are critical to the success of an entrepreneur?

    For some really cool inspiration check out an interview with Party Plan Pat courtesy of the Traveling Saleswoman.  While most of you may not be in the Home party plan business, this interview will definitely serve as some major inspiration as to what is possible when you have the mindset of an entrepreneur.

    In fact, I’ve decided to begin an interview series with successful online entrepreneurs soon, and will be having Party Plan Pat as a guest really soon.  Stay tuned…

    As always, I appreciate you!

    Dali Burgado

    Posted in Habits of Entrepreneurs

    Permission Based Email Marketing Case Study

    November 29, 2008 // No Comments »

    As the marketing fanatic that I am, I dissect blogs and websites on a daily basis and keep an eye on how I would improve upon them as a marketer.  Within the last few days I have been looking at permission based email marketing strategies to improve my own list-building efforts.

    I thought I’d share some valuable insight on permission email marketing here and engage you in the conversation of email marketing best practices .

    When I am scouring the web and stumble across good blogs and websites, I look at it from the perspective of a consumer who wants something special…something that is rare and unique…

    If you’re familiar with Seth Godin, marketing guru, you’ll know that he’s passionate about teaching marketers how to transform their businesses by being remarkable.  If you’ve read his "Purple Cow " book you know what I mean.  Let’s see which of the following three email marketing strategies wins the "Purple Cow" award.

    I’ve selected three examples from the web to dissect the verbiage.  Let’s see which optin form creates the most urge to subscribe in a reader.  Let’s get into the customers’ mindset here and get to dissecting…

    Example #1

    The following example comes from a blog and was inline text (a form directly stationary on a site).

    Valuable FREE Information

    Sign up for my Regular "Insights" and get over $100 in INSTANT Bonuses!

    Name

    Email

    Your emails will NEVER be sold or used by anyone else.

    In this example we have no idea what we are going to really get.  The First sentence "Valuable Free Information" does nothing to entice a person to optin.  There is neither any indication of perceived value here nor any indication of what types of emails the person opting in would receive.

    Also, who cares about receiving "insights."  This is plain boring.  The $100 Instant Bonus sounds nice, but this verbiage is not compelling enough for me to opt in.

    The "submit" field above "improve my results" sounds good, but what kind of results is this email marketer referring to?

    The only good thing I see here is that the person mentions the subscribers email will never be sold or used by anyone else.

    This optin email marketing strategy is a "no go."

    Example #2

    Most people visiting ­­­­Our Site join our Free ____Newsletter
    - I would like you to do so as well.

    Every week get tips addressing important issues, such as:

    • A
    • B
    • C

      Sign-up and start receiving your ____ Tips now!

      Name:

      Email:

    This example was a "pop up" email and automatically turned on the "oh no" look on Dali (lol).  Just the subject line "I would like you to do so as well."  A prospect would not care about what the email marketer wants them to do unless the site owner established the value in the prospect taking action.

    It would be much better to have a headline quickly peaking the subscriber’s interest and then establishing some value - explain why the person should opt in.  This email marketer could have done that in the bullet points, but unless the headline really appeals to the potential client, I don’t see anyone opting in here.

    How about you?

    Example #3

    The following was also a pop up optin form:

    "Email List Name" - A Different Kind of Email List

    Get the email newsletter that isn’t an email newsletter. ______ is more like getting short emails from your friends .  2 or 3 times a week, I have cool links and short bits of behind-the-scenes advice on _________, _____________-, ____________. Basically, it’s great stuff you’ll never see on the blog.

    Subscribe now and get a 38-minute audio download of _____________ !

    And yes, I will sell you stuff from time to time (what did you think, LOL). If you’re not comfortable with that, don’t sign up.

    Sign up now:

    Email:

    Your address will never be shared or sold. You will only see this message once.

    Right from the beginning of this optin form the email marketer speaks directly to the prospect who is tired of the likes of the optin forms discussed above.  This person already says "hey there, this is ‘a different kind of email list."

    This form also tells the subscriber exactly what they can anticipate.   The email marketer also mentions the information is "behind the scenes information" that cannot be accessed on the site.  This invokes a sense of loss and desire to get information that is scarce and "secret."  This pushes some buttons.

    Additionally, there is a pretty cool free gift - an audio tutorial of "38 minutes."  This number "38" sparks curiosity and also is not the run of the mill free e-book or "free tips" free gift lure you normally see in op tin forms.

    The email marketer even puts some personality and humor into the form by being straightforward that the person will receive sales offers from time to time "what did you think."

    I actually opted into this email list right away.

    This one definitely wins the "Purple Cow" award.  Whaddya say?

    Any other pointers out there on optin/permission based email marketing?

    Looking forward to hearing your feedback!

    Your Partner in Online Marketing Success,

    Dali Burgado

    Posted in Remarkable Marketing