Alex Jeffreys video competition – my first ever video!

I’ve done it!

After several days and hours of trying to get my head around making a video for Alex’s competition I’ve finally produced something. It’s not perfect by any means, but I have got it going!

My first attempt was far too wordy and long winded – even I got bored watching it! Lizzie told me so too!

So I cut out most of what I had said and tried to make it punchier.

I’ve got lots to learn like I think the microphone was too close and some of the page changes might be too quick, but I didn’t want to lose the viewers’ interest.

I’d be really grateful if you could let me know what you think about it.

By the way all the photos are my own except for the 2 obvious ones.

I just felt that it was important to show what is important to me and why I am taking this journey.

A couple of months ago I would never have thought that I would be doing this so I’m mighty glad of that kick up the backside that I have been given to get this done.

And thanks for all your encouraging remarks on my previous post about getting it going. I appreciate them all.

Perhaps now I can go and have a look at some of the other videos.

I know that Garry Parkes has a list of some of those that he has already found and Gaielle has made a more complete listing of them here.

Once I’ve got that sorted out I can resume my blog hopping both inside and outside this group – I have been a bit remiss of late!

I look forward to your candid and constructive comments on my first attempt.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=OeIt6MOANq0

I’ve got competition!

I haven’t posted for a week because I have been busy doing other things (like Tax Returns – due in the UK by 31st Jan or we get a £100 fine!)

But I’m going to have to up my work rate because I have competition!

Now I know that so many of the other F500 students are so much further ahead than I am, but I don’t really think that I am in competition with them.

In fact I have been quite clear in my comments here and on other blogs that it is important that we are ourselves and work at our own pace as long as we keep moving forward.

So why the concern now?

I know I have contributed to this because I have spent the past two evenings helping my daughter to get her Wordpress blog set up.

One of the best ways of cementing your own learning is to help someone else to do what you have learnt yourself.

I still used Dean Holland’s excellent eBook on how to set up your blog, but this time I was able to take several shortcuts through adding plugins, setting up a blogroll and editing posts because I have been doing them myself for the past seven weeks.

Yes there were things I couldn’t remember how to do and initially we set up the Wordpress blog and exported it to her own domain where we had to edit some of the things – like finding a new theme.

We also copied over a couple of posts and responses from a blog she had set up by herself on a free website. Some of those comments reflected the issues she had with her blog because she couldn’t do what she saw me doing, but she was delighted that the Gazz-Man (Gary Simpson) had come over and left her a message – she’s even added him to her list of Cool People (along with me of course!). A link to her blog is under blog links if you’d like to see what she is up to and leave her a comment.

But this has made me particularly aware of a couple of things.

I’ve just been over to Ian and Becky Carter’s blog and had a look at their video for the competition which I think really sets out what is important to them. Like so many people this is their first attempt (mine is still to come). But importantly, their motivation for taking this journey and following what Alex Jeffreys is teaching us so brilliantly, comes in the shape of Becky’s two sons (and they are cute!).

My children are a little older, but I see how important it is that we not only do our best in what we say to them, but also in letting them see what we do.

If they can see us working hard, learning, interacting with others and hopefully also benefitting financially, what better model is there for them to walk down the same path, hopefully to their own financial independence?

What do I want for my children (and I’m sure so many of you do for yours)?

For them to have a good, healthy and happy life. But also not to have to struggle financially as I saw my parents doing (though that gave me a good grounding in looking after my money) and as we have had to do for so long.

Our children are our future and I want to help them to be winners too. Yes, I’ve shown my daughter Gary’s latest post on 20 Big Differences between Winners and Losers. (I also showed her the responses to my comment there – thanks Gary!)

My professional life is spent working mainly with young people and I do get a buzz out of helping them to learn something they have not previously understood. Why should it be any different with my own children?

So the competition?

My daughter wants us to see who can make the most money from what we are doing. If I’m not careful she will quickly overtake me as young people are so quick to learn new things.

But in the same way that Ian and Becky are sharing their journey, I now have a companion on mine in my own home. I know that I have lots of companions in the F500, but it’s good to share face to face.

She’s asked me if she can do Alex’s course because she’s heard so much about it.

I’m sure that Alex will not mind if I let her see the videos. I will ask him, but I am certain that he is the sort of person who will be only too pleased to know that his teaching is already filtering down to the younger generation and hopefully setting her off on a path of financial independence she can eventually bring to her own family. After all he is a father too.

So my plan now?

To get off my backside so to speak and really plan out what I and we are going to do. My daughter has already said that she wants to help me with the video and I have some ideas that I want to get going on. So if I can get some peace and quiet for a little while tomorrow, I hope to work on it then.

Once I have made some plans I will share them here as I really think that it is helping me to be accountable to others.

And my next move?

To get the men in the household involved in what we are doing – four of us will be stronger than one or two.

Watch out! We may become a force to be reckoned with (if I have my way!)

Profit Pulling Project Newsletter Issue 2

Well it has arrived…

Garry Parkes has published the second edition of his Profit Pulling Newsletter and once again he (and his fellow contributors) have come up trumps. Check out his post about it at http://garryparkes.com/profit-pulling-project/profit-pulling-project-issue-2-live/

The great thing about this newsletter is that it is pulling together so much of the wealth of information that has been passed between all the students on Alex Jeffreys’ mentoring programme.

When I left a comment on Garry’s blog about this latest offering I said that I felt it was like having a multi- course banquet every day because there is so much in the way of great information and helpful suggestions and I just feel that I cannot take it in all at once.

But the great thing about this is that I know that I can go over to Garry’s site and he has not only these newsletters which distill the information for both newbies and experienced marketers in a helpful format, but also many useful resources.

In this issue there is information about getting onto your website through your cpanel, getting your email and uploading files.

Coleen Cook has written the first of a series of articles about ‘How to write Copy that will sell every time’. This first part is: Using an “Ad Campaign Measurement Sheet” to Measure your Success and suggests a way in which you can keep a record of how well your advertising is doing. A useful way of both making and saving money.

Bobby Winchell has written an article on Google Adwords: A Clever Testing Strategy which will help you when testing out a new campaign or niche to avoid the ‘Google slap’.

Gary Simpson aka ‘Gazz-Man’ writes in his usual no-nonsense style about not being an ‘excusiologist’. He is very forthright about the importance of getting on and doing something; about not wasting time. His outspoken style is excellent when it comes to getting you doing something and not making excuses.

Gary has an excellent style and I enjoy interacting on his blog with both him and other Alex Jeffreys’ students. I have also learnt a great deal from him and others on his site so do have a look at his blog by clicking on the link on the right of this post. He has some information that he will be bringing to us shortly through some special outside talent. I am really looking forward to that.

If you don’t want to be an excusiologist and want to move forward in your own journey to being a successful online marketer then you need to read this newletter and also the first issue that was published a couple of weeks ago. You can also sign up for future issues so do go to http://garryparkes.com/.

You owe it to yourself and your future.

A Dress and a Promise

It has been a few days since I last added a post here, but I haven’t just been putting my feet up as I have spent quite a few hours making a posh dress for my daughter to wear to a party.

What has that got to do with Internet Marketing?

Quite a lot.

I began this journey because I was looking for a way to earn money from home so that I could spend more time with my family.  I want to be around for them and support them as they move into and through their teenage years.

My daughter was excited about the possibility of wearing a posh dress to the party and spent some time looking on the internet. 

I told her that they were far too expensive and I could make her one  to measure and no-one else would have one exactly like hers.  She just had to choose the pattern and the material and in return I would get to show her how to go about making the dress, from reading the instructions, to carefully laying out the pattern, cutting it out, marking it up and sewing it up with all the different procedures that involved.

Some of those things she has been able to do with my help and guidance and although she has been slower than I would have been, she has had a part in this process.  Some of the things I have told her about and shown her, but I have had to do for her.

Some of the things I have found a little difficult because it is a while since I last did any dressmaking and have had to redo because I made a mistake.

So I see lots of similarities in this journey we are making. We need the help and support of those who have more experience to help us choose the right pattern and material for us.  We have to learn the processes required and sometimes we will need others to do things for us.

But ultimately it will be made to measure because it is ours, not anyone else’s.  We may make mistakes and have to go back and redo it and it probably won’t be perfect. 

But that is not what we are looking for.

When we go out in public we want to feel like a million dollars (we hope to make them too eventually!).  My daughter looked it and I’m sure she felt it. 

That’s what I want to feel too.  Pride in what I have achieved, however long it takes, but knowing that interwoven in what I have produced are the skills and knowledge of countless others who have been willing to help.  Thank you for that.

And the promise?

I promised my daughter that I would make this dress for her.  She was worried that it wouldn’t be finished in time.  We managed it with half and hour to spare.

Our priorities are important.  Let’s make sure that we get them right and be prepared to change them as we need to.

I have lots of promises to make about what I am going to do this year.

Some I have already posted on Gary Simpson’s and Garry Parkes’ blogs so that I am accountable to others. I will post other promises here another time, but for now I wanted you to know that we are all unique. We are crafting what fits us as individuals with support from so many others.  We just need to commit to something and carry it through even when things don’t go right.  In the end we can perhaps look and feel those million dollars (or at least some of them).