Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

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Posted: 02 Jul 2012 08:52 AM PDT

For many many years I went to conferences for one purpose- To get shit faced while meeting up with friends. I would fly in a couple days before and leave a couple days after.

7 years later , I now have 2 kids, a wife, and a “grown up” company to run.

I am now a lot more strategic about planning out what conferences to attend. I stay as little as needed. I usually arrive the morning the conference starts and leave the last day of the event (or even earlier sometimes).

I am always amazed at how unprepared people are for conferences. They always ask me things like: “Who should they talk to?” “What night events should they attend?”…. When what they really should be saying to me is, “Hey I am trying to do X who should I talk to” and depending on what X is I may or may not be able to help them.

With Leadscon coming up this year I thought I would share what I do.

“What do you need right now?”:

This is crucial. Take a strong look at what your doing and come up with 1 key thing. Do you need to buy more advertising? Are you looking for more affiliates? Are you looking for someone who specializes in data monetization? You are probably asking yourself, “Why just one key thing? I need help with a lot of stuff.” Well skippy trust me as you meet with people your conversations are going to massively digress into other things.

DO NOT be afraid to stop the conversation and say, “Hey that sounds really neat but, I have another meeting in 30 mins and really want to see if you can help me with X.”

The biggest asset at this conference you have is your time… so value it!

To quote the great Al Pachino in Heat – “Dont waste my motherfucking time!”

Do research:

Spend 10 minutes on the Leadscon website going over the Companies Attending, Speaker List, and Exibitors.

Write down the names of every company you feel is relevant to that 1 key thing that you need.

Prepare a hit list:

For companies attending, goto their website and find a contact who can schedule a meeting fo you with the appropriate person. Most companies send a LOT of their staff. If you can’t find an email other than support call the number on their website. If they are difficult to get ahold of odds are you don’t want to be in business with them anyway.
For exhibitors, try to arrange a meeting ahead of time so you can get past the booth babes/interns manning the booth. Worse case, just let them know what your doing now and you want to talk to someone about what they do. If they seem like dipshits ask to talk to an account manager or higher.
For speakers, go watch them speak. Sit in the front row. Pay attention when they speak. Take notes. Make eye contact. Laugh at their jokes. When they are finished be the first person to greet them on the way down. Let them know what a great job they did and ask how you can get ahold of them. DO NOT ask them right there your question that you need advice or help with. Since I have spoke at over 50 conferences, I can tell you I am unable to give much value to people in the minute I have to think about what they are doing. Instead, just ask them “what is a good number to reach them at?” (usually they will give you their card) and let them know you will be in touch. Then give them your card. I always lose business cards (I get hundreds at a conference) when they are given to me so that is why it’s important for you get theirs.

Also, make an alternative list if you jam pack your schedule. You still want to contact these companies to see if they will be attending and hope to meet up with!

Lube the deal:

Once you connect with someone ask them, “what they are doing later?” If you have a later meeting scheduled it will sometimes digress to the bar. Get a few drinks in people and you will be stunned at the amount of information they will disclose to you.

Most of the time they will give you some incredible inside information about other companies doing exactly what you are doing and their secrets.

Last year at Leadscon, I lubed a deal that literally turned into millions of dollars in profit for my company.

If you don’t drink or like to attend night events you are at a massive disadvantage. I have made so many relationships between the hours of 10pm and 2am. There is nothing like the bond formed at a strip club getting wasted until the wee hours of the morning. Many people here know what I am talking about. Especially ones making money with me

In Closing:

Don’t get frustrated when people flake out or if you just can’t connect with them. It happens. People’s cell phones go dead.. People were confused about the time. I have been on both sides of it. This is where your alternate contacts can come into play or you go back to the conference hall to listen to some talks.

You would be surprised sometimes people you missed when going over companies.It could potentially turn out to be something that makes a huge impact in your company.

Don’t leave any “Black Holes” while you are sitting around twiddling your thumbs. Execute!

If you have not yet registered for Leadscon coming up NYC 23 – 25 then jump on it. It’s an excellent event and if you follow my steps above I guarentee you will get 10x ROI on your ticket price.

Speaking of ticket price, Leadscon is offering ShoeMoney Readers almost half off of the regular price – Get the ShoeMoney Reader discount here. .

This discount runs out this Friday, July 6th. So, if you have not registered yet get on it!

Trying to increase your Google rank that is like no other?

Five Ways to Avoid Content-Writing Burn-Out - DailyBlogTips

Five Ways to Avoid Content-Writing Burn-Out

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 06:23 AM PDT

Have you ever sat down at your computer to write a blog post – and ended up staring blankly at the screen? Do you have days when the last thing you want to do is blog?

It's hard to keep on coming up with great blog content – and you might end up writing nothing for days, even weeks. Your readers won't be too impressed by yet another sudden silence, followed by "Sorry I haven't posted for so long…"

Luckily, there are a few great steps you can take to avoid burn-out, or to recover from it:

#1: Write Fewer Posts

If you're struggling to post on a daily basis, then don't – post once or twice a week instead. Most readers would much rather have two great posts a week than seven mediocre ones.

If you're really determined to keep posting on a daily basis, then you could shorten your posts, splitting any long ones into two parts. Bonus: this is a great way to keep readers coming back for more!

#2: Use Standard Structures

You don't need to reinvent the wheel every time you write a blog post. Standard structures or templates can make life much easier, because they give you a framework.

A few tried-and-tested structures include "how-to" posts (a series of steps teaching the reader how to carry out a task), list posts (numbered items), and round-up posts, where you link to great, recent information in your niche.

#3: Spend Time Coming Up With Ideas

Unless you find a blank page inherently inspiring, it's good blogging practice to come up with ideas before you need them. Sure, you'll have days when you wake up with a new idea in mind – but when you're feeling less inspired, you can turn to your list of ideas.

Try setting aside half an hour this week to brainstorm ideas for your blog. Once you get going, you might be surprised how many you can come up with.

#4: Write Guest Posts

This might seem like an odd tip for avoiding content burn-out – but writing guest posts can be a refreshing change of pace. They're also a great way to grow your readership and boost your SEO efforts.

By guest posting for different blogs in your niche, you'll be able to try shifting your writing voice, and you can tackle topics that might fall slightly outside your own blog's scope. Plus, seeing your work published on a big blog can be a huge confidence boost.

#5: Build Up a Stock of Posts

Once you get into a steady blogging rhythm, try to build up a stock of posts. That might mean that you publish two posts a week, for instance, but you write a third and keep it for a future date.

Once you have four or five posts in hand, you're covered for any emergencies – and you can take some time away from your blog, if you want. A week's break from writing can often be a great way to recover any lost motivation or enthusiasm.

So – those are my five tips, but I'm hoping you have some ideas to share too! What do you do to avoid (or recover from) content-writing burn-out? Let us know in the comments…

Ali Luke writes a weekly column on content creation for DailyBlogTips. She has several free blogging/writing ebooks (and other goodies!) available for download from her site, including Ten Powerful Ways to Make Your Blog Posts Stronger.

Original Post: Five Ways to Avoid Content-Writing Burn-Out

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