best business practices of the most...

January 2008Volume 3, Issue 1

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BEST BUSINESS PRACTICES OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL INFO-MARKETERS AROUND THE WORLD

Building a Successful Info-Business, Her Way

2INFORMATION MARKETING INSIDERS’ JOURNAL JANUARY 2008

CHAIRMAN’S NOTE

January 2008Volume 3, Issue 1

Information MarketingAssociation

P.O. Box 14629Tallahassee, FL 32317-4629

Phone: 850/222-6000Fax: 850/222-6002

Web: www.Info-Marketing.org

Robert SkrobPresident

Dan KennedyChairman Emeritus

Bill GlazerChairman

Susan TrainorNewsletter Editor

Karen GrovesGraphic Designer

Info-Marketing Insiders’ Journal is published monthly by the

Information Marketing Association and delivered by mail. Subscriptions include full membership benefits in the IMA and cost just $99 monthly ($109 for international members).

Back issues are $99 each ($95 for members).Copyright © 2008

Information Marketing AssociationAll Rights Reserved

ALTHOUGH THE IMA BELIEVES THE CONTENT TO BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE AND CURRENT,

THE IMA MAKES NO WARRANTY AS TO THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR

CURRENCY OF THE CONTENT.

IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO VERIFY ANY INFORMATION BEFORE RELYING ON IT.

NONE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN SHOULD BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL ADVICE, NOR IS ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH

THE INFORMATION MARKETING ASSOCIATION ENGAGED IN THE PRACTICE OF LAW. IF YOU

NEED LEGAL ADVICE, PLEASE SEEK THE ADVICE OF INDEPENDENT LEGAL COUNSEL.

The Superman of Information Marketing

Bill Glazer, ChairmanInformation Marketing Associationwww.Info-Marketing.org

President and CEOGlazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle® LLCwww.DanKennedy.com

President and CEOBGS Marketing LLCwww.BGSMarketing.com

Unique Examples of Successful Info-Marketing Businesses

ISSN 1936-9905

Women are at a disadvantage, it’s true. Studies show that even women are less likely to believe a female expert, and the

same has been true of men for years.

However, many women choose to fight through the bias to create successful information marketing businesses. These businesses allow them flexibility. But it doesn’t come without work. There is still a lot of effort; it’s just that the work pays off more than for other opportunities.

In this issue of the Information Marketing Insiders’ Journal, we profile women who have created successful businesses in spite of the odds. Not only that, they succeeded by using uniquely feminine techniques. They used the same strategies as other info-marketers, but they applied them in different ways than you’d expect, had a man built the info-business. These examples are particularly important for all info-marketers to study. They aren’t like anything you’ve ever seen before.

Man or woman, the formula for building an information marketing business is the same. I outline it the Information Marketing A to Z Blueprint™ (www.InfoMarketingAtoZ.com) and The Official Get Rich Guide to Information Marketing (www.InfoMarketingBook.com.) It’s Quality Product + Quality Lead + Marketing Funnel + Risk Reversal + Continuity Income + What’s Next = Big $$$.

That said, there is room for every individual to apply this formula in a different way. In fact, it’s through the diverse examples that we prove the formula works and anyone can be successful. Get out your highlighter; you’ll learn a lot from these ambitious women.


FEATURES

Contents

The “wacky” world of some women info-marketers

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS REGULATORY ACTION4 Three Legal Issues to

Watch in 2008

UPCOMING EVENTS19 IMA Calendar

JOINT VENTURE OPPORTUNITIES20 It’s Time for You to “Cash

In” BIG On Your “Toll Booth” Position

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

22 Smoke and Flames on Thanksgiving

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Women Info-Marketers: Building a Business the Kinder, Gentler and HUGELY Effective WaySeveral women have a knack for turning out-of-the-ordinary topics into high six-figure information marketing business successes. They created their businesses with sound marketing principles and a lot of smart delegation.

A Corporate Trainer Grows Her Info-Business While Working for a BankMother of triplets uses her pregnancy bed rest mandate as the golden opportunity to create a new product for financial consultants targeting seniors.

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Beth Davis Carries Her Business Map in Her Hands The Glazer-Kennedy Information Marketer of the Year reveals how she created a successful info-business with a lot of hard work and persistence. While her message is unique, her info-marketing strategies are universal. Plus, an inside look at a $19,997.00 coaching program.

Teaching success through self hand analysis

7 Marketing/Product Creation Discoveries at the Direct Marketing Association TradeshowBill Glazer and I traveled to Chicago to attend the Direct Marketing Association tradeshow. Both of us came back with some good vendors for our marketing campaigns.

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During 2008, several issues are poised to have an impact on information marketers: do-not-mail legislation; the FTC’s privacy legislation; and the FTC’s business opportunity rule.

The outcome of these issues is uncertain, but whatever happens, these issues will impact the way info-marketers are able to do business.

Do Not MailIn a shortsighted attempt to pander to consumer

advocates and environmentalists, lawmakers in 15 states are considering state-run do-not-mail registries. These registries would be similar to the do-not-call registries run by the federal government and many states. Consumers could register their addresses in the database, and then direct mailers sending unsolicited mail would have to purchase the registry listing and scrub their lists to remove those addresses.

It is entirely likely that a statewide do-not-mail list will be enacted in 2008. This would require all info-marketers using direct mail in a particular state to purchase that state’s do-not-mail list and scrub those addresses from their lists.

The Information Marketing Association will monitor these do-not-mail proposals and alert you if a proposal poses a serious threat to your or your customers’ ability to use direct mail. In the meantime, clean your marketing lists and also teach anyone you can to use smart mailing policies—periodically cleaning mailing lists and allowing consumers to opt-out of marketing campaigns. Also, spread the word about the importance of direct mail and how it supports the postal system for the convenience of all consumers.

FTC Privacy LegislationThrough a series of public hearings on online privacy,

several consumer groups are advocating for the Federal Trade Commission to establish an online “do-not-track” list. Advertisers would be required to add a pop-up opt-out feature whenever consumer behavior is being tracked.

Three Legal Issues to Watch in 2008These discussions are still in the early stages, but

info-marketers who promote products through online affiliate campaigns have to watch for any new laws. This could prohibit affiliate tracking unless users are given an opportunity to “opt-out.” This would affect affiliates that you promote to your customers as well as affiliate arrangements that promote you.

The Federal Trade Commission and Congress have debated privacy legislation extensively in the last 15 months. The Information Marketing Association will monitor this issue closely and notify you if any “do-not-track” proposal is released.

FTC Business Opportunity RulesThe Federal Trade Commission has proposed the so-

called Business Opportunity Rule; however, its impact is far broader. This rule as proposed creates several new compliance issues for information marketers.

The rule requires extensive disclosures to all prospective buyers about earning claims as well as the names and full contact information for 10 customer references. If you don’t have 10 references, you’ll have to disclose that to each new prospective customer.

The IMA is in continual contact with the Federal Trade Commission. Its latest response is, “There is no current status; the FTC is still reviewing comments and will then determine what the next step will be.”

The next step, after the FTC reviews the comments it has received, could include the following: (1) The FTC could forget about this altogether; (2) it could publish another set of proposed rules; or (3) it could continue with the current rules by holding public hearings. The IMA will continue to follow this issue for our members.

Looking AheadAs we move into 2008, the info-marketing industry

faces several challenges. The IMA stands ready to communicate with lawmakers on behalf of the industry to defend our rights to provide help and resources to our customers.



INFO-MARKETER PROFILE

What do raw food, palm reading and “horse whispering for business”

have in common (besides being rather unusual niches)? They’re

each the foundation for successful information

marketing businesses launched and run by women.

Yes, the information marketing industry is still male dominated, but more and more women are not only putting their

toes in the water, they’re diving in with both feet—

and succeeding!—once they see how well an information

marketing business fits their personalities, desires and goals.

What most women want from running their own business

Women Info-Marketers: Building a Business the Kinder, Gentler and HUGELY Effective Way

is the opportunity to put their unique brand or creative spin on something, then to be paid well for helping others succeed in the field they specialize in. An information marketing business lends itself beautifully to these desires because of the endless variety of ways to offer coaching programs, platinum style programs, workshops, information products, CDs, home study courses, newsletters, membership programs, teleseminars, books and courses, just to name a few. Plus, the potential to make great money while enjoying an ideal lifestyle that offers plenty of freedom is particularly enticing for women, who often want to combine their desire to be successful in

business with personal goals that include family time and travel.

But an information marketing business also demands that women be willing to recognize and overcome some of the traditional roles and responsibilities that might otherwise hamper their road to success.

For example, my information marketing business is focused on coaching women business owners on how to create, market and sell information products and programs. To keep up with over 100-percent growth in the past year (plus exceed my financial goal of generating $500,000.00 in revenue in less than

continued on page 6

by Kendall SummerHawk

The information marketing industry is still male dominated, but more and more women are not only putting their toes in the water, they’re diving in with both feet—and succeeding!

PAGE 5 - JANUARY 2008


WOMEN INFO-MARKETERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

The ‘Wacky’ World of Some Women Info-Marketersby Kendall SummerHawk

Think YOUR niche is unusual? These women have a knack for turning out-of-the-ordinary topics into high six-figure information marketing business successes.

Beth Davis helps entrepreneurs determine their business niche from the map in the palms of their hands. As the “Hand Analyst,” Beth successfully combines scientific study with the metaphysical via her workshops and info products. Beth is a summa cum laude graduate from Dartmouth College. www.HandAnalyst.com

Karen Knowler has developed an impressive slate of information products and programs focused on the topic of eating raw food. She has appeared on British television and is a leading expert in improving your health by eating raw foods. www.TheRawFoodCoach.com

Nancy Marmolejo shows entrepreneurs how to stand out and get more business by positioning themselves as recognized experts. She coined the term “Sizzibility™,” which is when you add sizzle to your visibility. www.VivaVisibility.com


one year), I’ve had to relinquish the idea that I can take care of many of the traditional functions involved with running a busy household that includes my husband (and business partner), plus a menagerie of a dog, a cat and four horses. (The horses are also my “co-coaches” in one of my coaching programs for women business owners who want to leapfrog their business to a new level.)

Instead of spending my time grocery shopping, cleaning or running errands, I’m happily engaged in coaching clients, writing articles, creating new information products and programs or enjoying daily rides on my horses.

Delegating isn’t something many women are comfortable with at first. While men will often have the “I don’t need anyone else” mind set, women sabotage their success with the notion that “I should be able to do it all.”

I learned early on in my business about the importance of creating a topnotch team that is as passionate about supporting my business as I am about growing it. So, in addition to three online virtual assistants, a bookkeeper and a fulfillment person, I also have a personal business assistant who takes care of errands and other routine household chores. Each of my team members is a subcontractor, not an employee, leaving me free to increase their hours as needed. I aim to spend a minimum of 10 percent of my gross revenue each month on support. If I’m not, then I know I’m doing too many tasks myself, and it’s time to enlist the aid of more support.

Building a fast-growing information business can also be a balancing act for women with young children. Take my client Karen Knowler (www.TheRawFoodCoach.com), for example. Since launching

her information marketing business just one short year ago, Karen is already bringing in mid six-figures, due to the fast-growing interest of “green” living and lifestyle products. She is recognized worldwide as a leading expert in how to feel better and live healthier by eating raw food, yet often finds herself juggling her busy workshop, online sales and public appearance schedule with the needs of her highly energetic 5-year-old son.

Karen credits her ability to make both her business and her personal life work to two key things: staying focused on what she loves most about her business and letting go of perfection, a tip that is quite powerful for many other women business owners to model. Each of my clients gets coaching on one of my favorite strategies for success: “completion, not perfection.”

One of the other key challenges women information marketers face is learning how to not take things personally. This isn’t always as easy as it sounds because, by nature, women pour their hearts and invest a lot of caring and emotion into what they do. That works well when it comes to creating a business that is an authentic expression of their values, goals and passions, but it can be a stumbling block when a tough business decision, like letting go of an employee or standing firm on their price with a client, needs to be made. To successfully navigate sticky situations like these, women need to value themselves as much as, if not more than, the person they are interacting with.

One of my clients, recipient of the 2007 Information Marketer of the Year award, Beth Davis, a professional “hand analyst” (www.HandAnalyst.com) wisely puts it this way, “I’ve learned to not take things so personally. I admire this


quality in men I meet. Their attitude is ‘business is business.’ The benefit for me and my business has been learning how to merge my heart with my marketing, so I’m getting the work done but not turning myself into a man to do it.”

Beth brings up an important point that speaks to the heart of most women business owners. How does a woman blend her natural desire to build community and nurture others with the often cut-and-dried demands of marketing and selling?

One way my client Nancy Marmolejo, a multi-award winning marketing and visibility expert whose SpotlightU programs consistently sell out (www.VivaVisibility.com), artfully bridges the gap between feminine nurturing and masculine selling is to first learn everything she can about time-tested templates for writing sales copy, creating leads and selling information programs. Then, she replaces the actual sales copy and style with her fresh, inspiring brand of upbeat energy and sizzle.

Nancy says, “The voice of sales and copywriting tends to be very masculine, almost combative in some of the language used. Phrases like ‘annihilate/crush/destroy your competition’ don’t resonate for my core audience or me. So, as a woman in business, I have to trust my decisions to avoid violent language when I describe my services. I view this as a challenge because most of

the resources and examples available tend to veer toward the traditional male style. I have to hold the courage to follow my intuition and instinct, and it has never failed me yet. I think this is a very womanly approach.”

One of the skills many women excel at is multitasking, which is a gift when it comes to running an information marketing business. At any one point in time, I can be in the middle of marketing a new information product, designing a retreat for one of my Platinum Inner Circle groups (I currently run two Platinum groups, with a third set to launch in May 2008), writing my weekly marketing online newsletter or delivering an interview via teleseminar for someone else’s list.

Since I only work three and a half days a week, and not more than eight hours a day, I’ve learned how to implement quickly, which means expecting my team members to not only take care of their responsibilities, but also to contribute their insights and ideas. Once a woman business owner gets comfortable with the idea of asking for help, she discovers she actually loves creating a sense of shared values and community amongst her team.

While men are often focused exclusively on the bottom line, women have a more complex attitude toward business. Yes, they want to make great money, but what’s often even more important to them is

changing people’s lives. By investing in learning everything they can about information marketing, and then implementing their marketing with a woman’s gift for creating connection, building community and intimately understanding her audience, women marketers create the opportunity to excel at reaching their dreams by helping clients achieve theirs.

Joint Venture Opportunities

Kendall SummerHawk offers online and in-person membership coaching programs, plus info products for women entrepreneurs who want to create their own information marketing business.

One program even offers clients the opportunity to travel to Arizona, where both Kendall and her horses coach them on reaching new business goals. The horses “tell” the client where she needs to be more decisive and powerful by the way they respond and interact with the client in a series of exercises done from the ground in an arena. Kendall is known as the “Horse Whisperer for Business.”

Kendall can be reached at 520/577-6404. For a FREE copy of her special report, “How to Create Multiple Streams of Income in YOUR Business,” visit her site at www.KendallSummerHawk.com.

Beth (Davis) brings up an important point that speaks to the heart of most women business owners. How does a woman blend her natural desire to build community and nurture others with the often cut-and-dried demands of marketing and selling?


WOMEN INFO-MARKETERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5



Beth Davis has a unique mission in life: She trains people how to implement

their own life missions by reading and understanding their hands, commonly known as “palm reading” or hand analysis.

“In 1999, I started my business of doing one-on-one hand-analysis sessions,” Beth says. “I realized I could make more money doing that than working at my corporate job because people were willing to pay me $100.00 an hour. At the time, $100.00 was staggering to me—and it still is for a lot of people who don’t understand information marketing.” Today, Beth charges $497.00 per session and is poised to raise her rates.

Beth began her career in the corporate world of marketing. She worked for a museum design firm, and her job was to respond to leads, to help develop proposals and to pitch prospective clients. “I actually left that job,” Beth says, “because my boss wouldn’t let me work on commission. I was finding very lucrative multimillion dollar projects, and I said to my boss, ‘If you let me work purely on commission, you don’t even have to pay me a salary. Just let me work on commission for 5 percent.’ And he said, ‘Well, I can’t have you making more money than me.’ Then I said, ‘Well, I can’t work here anymore.’”

Actually, Beth used her presentation skills to pitch a well thought-out presentation with

Beth Davis Carries Her Business Map in Her HandsThe Glazer-Kennedy Information Marketer of the Year reveals the roadmap to success within your hands.

PAGE 9 - INSIDER’S JOURNAL

own. “This woman read my hands and basically told me that I would be doing what I’m doing now—that my life’s purpose was to be a successful business owner who inspires the masses.”

Beth started teaching hand analysis by phone in 2002. “My very first teleclass, I enrolled 10 people at $500.00 a person. I made $5,000.00 for this short teleclass, and I went, ‘Oh, hot diggity-dog. This works!’” Beth remembers. “A number of those people went on to become professional hand analysts as a result.”

As Beth continued to build her business, she subscribed to Alexandria Brown’s ezine (www.AlexandriaBrown.com). “I saw that every time Ali sent out an email, she made a bunch of money,” Beth says. “That intrigued me. And so I thought, ‘I gotta figure out how to take my website from a floating

graphics depicting her increasing responsibilities over time contrasted with her flat line of income growth with the company. “I said, ‘You see the discrepancy here?’ He laughed and said, ‘That was a really great presentation, but my answer’s no.’”

To add insult to injury, Beth’s boss added, “And you’ll be lucky if you’re making $40,000.00 a year in five years.”

That was all the motivation Beth needed to give her notice and open her own business. But how did marketing lead to hand analysis? Beth explains: “The hand reading was really a hobby. I had been very stuck in my own life, and a friend kept urging me to do this particular type of hand analysis. I told her I didn’t believe in that stuff and I didn’t want to do it … I was open minded, but it just seemed kind of ridiculous to me, honestly.”

All that changed for Beth when she went for a hand analysis of her continued on page 11


An Inside Look at a $19,997.00 Coaching Program for Women

This year, Beth Davis joined with Kailash Sozzani and Kendall SummerHawk to create the Tall Poppy Private Platinum Program. Here is a partial list of the services provided during this nine-month, $19,997.00 coaching program.

Day One: You spend your first day one-one-one with Kailash. She spends time talking with you, sensing your energy and true nature, and then creates a one-of-a-kind ColorEssence™ color palette and style for you. After a gourmet lunch, you go shopping together, so you experience the confidence and credibility you bring to yourself and your business when dressing in a way that authentically reflects who you truly are (clothing not included). You also receive a relaxing facial as part of your pampering.

Day Two, Morning: You meet with Beth, Kailash and Kendall together. Beth analyzes your hands (or gives you a fresh reading if you’ve had a session before). Kailash and Kendall are present for the session, so they can digest the information presented in order to assist your discoveries. Beth helps you understand your Life Purpose (core mission) and Life Lesson (core obstacle), so you continue to move forward with your Bold Goals. She then relates this information to your business’s products and services, so they reflect your true soul’s purpose.

Kendall then takes you through a Brand Archetype Assessment to determine your unique brand identity. After these profound and fun discovery processes, Beth, Kailash and Kendall team up with you to begin brainstorming the proper alignment of your Life Purpose with your Business Brand Archetype. At this stage, you begin to consider how to package your products and services. We break around 12:30 p.m. and have a scrumptious lunch together.

Day Two, Afternoon: After the previous discovery sessions, we head outside to the horse arena. Kendall takes over at this point, with Beth and Kailash assisting as observers and offering coaching support. The purpose of this afternoon session is to see how the rich information gathered in the previous sessions is reflected in your interactions with the horses. (There is no horse riding involved.)

Kendall gently and masterfully guides you into the center of your power and the heart and soul of your business. Because you are physically moving around the arena and interacting with the horses, what you learn here becomes part of your muscle memory, helping the profound insights you gain to “stick” long after you leave Tucson.

Day Three: In the morning, you continue your discovery with the horses. Then we break for a delicious lunch together. The afternoon is spent brainstorming with Beth, Kailash and Kendall in order to “fill in” your profit pyramid, so you go home with a clear picture of the products and services you can best offer your clients with the message-to-market match to support it all. You discover how your ColorEssence™, Life Purpose/Life Lesson and Brand Archetype weave into and out of everything you are, do and are becoming.

Day Three, Evening: We celebrate our illuminating journey together with a delicious meal at an exceptional, fine restaurant to give you a fond, departing taste of Tucson.

Ongoing Support: Once you are home, you receive private, one-on-one coaching support as part of your Tall Poppy Private Platinum Program as follows:

• Three half-hour telephone coaching sessions with Beth• Three half-hour telephone coaching sessions with Kailash• Three half-hour telephone coaching sessions with Kendall• Sessions must be used in the eight weeks following your TPPP experience. These sessions can be recorded at

your request.• Mid-year, you will receive a 90-minute group coaching call with our other TPPP clients.• Additional group calls may be added as needed.



SUCCESS WITHIN YOUR HANDS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

Create an Award Winning Info-Business Quicklyby Kendall SummerHawk

To create an award winning info-marketing business quickly, follow the Beth Davis formula:

1. Build your customer list with website opt-in forms, direct mail and networking/speaking events.

2. Continue communicating with your current customers by sending a weekly or bi-monthly newsletter—relationships are vital.

3. Survey your list to find out what customers want and then create products/services based on the data (www.SurveyMonkey.com is a simple tool to accomplish this).

4. Promote your products/services through special emails and teleclasses.

5. Enter contests that are relevant to your profession.

6. Seize every opportunity that aligns with your business message.

7. Implement, implement, implement!

Remember: If a “hand analyst” can succeed at information marketing, so can you!

brochure to another revenue stream for my business.’ I didn’t know how to do that. I knew I had the teleclasses, and I knew I could do hand readings by phone.”

The Internet was a natural solution for Beth because she was living in a very secluded area of the country. “I mean it was so remote, the nearest grocery store was an hour and 15 minutes away!” she laughs. “All I had was a telephone and a dial-up Internet connection.”

Beth began sending plain text emails to her list of 600 people, and it worked. People enrolled in her teleclasses and workshops, and that allowed her to sell more hand readings. It was also in 2002 that she began her coaching program. “I knew I had to make a continuity income,” she says, “and I was aware that I did have this skill as a coach. I knew I could help people get results. So I started up selling people into a six-month coaching program at the end of the hand readings. I was very clear that it was an up sell. I didn’t advertise the coaching anywhere because I didn’t want people contacting me about coaching. I wanted to choose who I worked with, so I never advertised it. Within six to eight months, I had a full practice.”

The next big step came in the summer of 2005, when Beth signed up for Alexandria Brown’s Online Success Blueprint Workshop. “I got home from the workshop, and I pretty much implemented everything she said to do,” Beth says. “I sent

out a survey to my list to see what my customers wanted most, and about 600 people responded. Half the people wanted to learn about their hand information as it related to their business, and the other half actually wanted to learn about the hand information itself.”

Then Beth hired a web designer to build her new website, www.HandAnalyst.com, with an opt-in box in the upper right corner of the web page—the place Ali told her to put it for the most opt-ins. Based on research Beth did on her target market, she decided to focus on women. The site offers a free report entitled, “The Five Massive Mistakes Spiritually-Oriented Women Make in Business (… and how to avoid them!).”

Beth’s first information product was a home study program called, “How To Read Your Own Hands: 5 Proven Steps To Bring More Health, Love and Money Into Your Life.” It teaches people the benefits of analyzing their own hands and sells for $247.00. “Those are most people’s physical considerations—health, love and money,” Beth says. “The title basically encompasses all of the responses I got on the survey. Half the group cares about experience and process. They don’t care about buying a bigger car or a flat screen TV. What they want is a really juicy soul-altering experience. And then there’s another group that’s very interested in the results and the bottom line.”

In just a few short years, Beth has built her list to 4,500, with about 1,700 of those in 1ShoppingCart. (She’s switching over to Infusion Soft this month and should have it rolling in the new year, with all of her client data in one place—much to her relief.) Of those 1,700, about half are new contacts she has gotten

In just a few short years, Beth has built her list to 4,500, with about 1,700 of those in 1ShoppingCart.


continued on page 12


SUCCESS WITHIN YOUR HANDS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

What Is Hand Analysis?Hand analysis is the 21st century incarnation of the best of ancient palmistry with the latest in scientific technology. Beth Davis, “The Hand Analyst,” and winner of the 2007-2008 Glazer-Kennedy Information Marketer of the Year award, started her business delivering readings via one-hour one-on-one sessions with her customers, but with a technological twist. Beth explains the process:

“Someone goes to my website and orders the session. My virtual assistant in Washington State gets the order, and she sends a printing kit to the client. The client makes handprints using the special, police-grade, oil-based ink sheets and then sends the prints to me. I let my assistant know I’ve got the prints, and she schedules the session. Then we have a phone session, which is digitally recorded, and the client gets an mp3 to keep.”

Using the Internet, Beth gets handprints from all over the world, including from China, Japan, Australia, Spain and, especially, Italy. “A lot of people in Italy like what I’m up to,” Beth smiles. “I don’t know why Italy’s so popular, but there you go.”

When Beth feels a connection with clients, she lets them know she can do one-on-one coaching to help them take their hand maps and translate them into successful businesses. “That’s my niche,” she says. “I can take the hand map and help that person determine their target market, their business niche, their products and services, their pricing—that’s really my forte. I show them how to market based on who they are. Everybody has a different marketing model they can follow. They don’t need to do everything. But they need to do those three or four things, marketing-wise, that sync up with their personality and their skill set.” Through hand analysis, Beth helps her clients determine their unique abilities, strengths and opportunities.

this year. She uses joint ventures with other info-marketers to build her list, and the opt-in box on her website also helps her capture email addresses. “For joint venture calls, we set up two opt-in pages, so we both advertise it to our lists,” Beth explains. “The people on my list sign up on my JV partner’s page, and the people on my partner’s list sign up on my page. So they get my people, and I get their people. I do one of these about every month, and every time, I get 80 to 100 new people.”

Beth also attends conferences that attract her niche group of spiritually oriented women to continually build her list. “I get at least 15 or 20 business cards, and then half of those people call me, or they come to one of my workshops. So just making myself available to my market has been brilliant,” Beth says. “I remember something Robert Skrob said at the afternoon session at the Info Summit that really stayed with me: ‘Even your very best customers at some point are gonna leave.’ I realized I have to focus on continuing to bring in clients because there will always be attrition.”

In addition to building her list, Beth is busy creating product. Her latest creation is still in development. She is holding a January workshop called “Palm-Posium: Mapping Your Success” (http://www.HandAnalyst.com/PalmPosium.html) that talks about “the business map in your hands.” The workshop will provide a seven-tabbed workbook called “My 7-Step Mapping Your Success System.” Beth describes her upcoming workshop: “It will cover seven different aspects of the hand as they relate to business, and people will leave the workshop with a business map to fulfill their business goals. However, the up sell at the special luncheon at the event will be for a Palm Posium Platinum Program in hand analysis that will cover all

the rest of the material. I want 20 people to enroll, and then, of course, there will be the master home study program that I sell for $3,000.00. It has everything about hand analysis that I could possibly think to teach in it.”

Beth plans a cruise out of San Diego for the Palm Posium Platinum Program, where they will have a “University at Sea,” in addition to two three-day meetings. All of the audio and video from the Palm Posium workshop and the Palm Posium Platinum Program will be converted into an online university membership website.

She is also planning more platform speaking with back of the room sales.

Her next live speaking event is at the Bridging Heart and Marketing Conference in Los Angeles, Feb. 22-24, www.BridgingHeartand Marketing.com.

Today, Beth is phasing out her one-on-one coaching and moving into group coaching with a Phenomenal Women Coaching Circle group of 10 to 12 members, each paying $11,997.00 a year.


Beth continues to do teleclasses and is interesting in cross-promoting with other info-marketers. Contact her at [email protected].




Valerie VanBooven, a registered nurse as well as a book author and an information

marketer, is in a nice place to be.

“I have 700 captive financial advisors who look to me for all of their marketing advice,” she explains.

A registered nurse advising financial advisors? It might seem unlikely, but it’s true.

In her role as a registered nurse and professional geriatric care manager, Valerie served as a private geriatric care nurse for many years. That led to doing a lot of professional speaking on long-term care. “Working with seniors has always been my first love,” she says.

Valerie took what she loves and turned it into a self-published book titled Aging Answers. “Its subtitle, ‘The Secrets to Successful Long Term Care Planning, Caregiving and Crisis Management,’ explains the book’s purpose,” she says. “It focuses on helping people find answers when they face a crisis with a senior loved one, and it can also help people who want to plan ahead for long-term care.”

This nurse turned book author didn’t get rich from book sales, but she did make money. More importantly, the book opened doors for her to do public speaking and to appear on radio and television

programs. During this time, Valerie “followed the whole Dan Kennedy thing,” as she puts it, so she knew the true value of the publicity she was receiving. She also knew she needed to do more than simply publish a second book.

“By the time I got around to publishing my second book, The Senior Solution, this year, I knew that along with the book I needed to have a marketing kit,” Valerie says. “I needed to prepare myself to become a much better info-marketer than I ever had been, and I was anxiously awaiting the Glazer-Kennedy Info-Marketing Summit because I needed to hear it and see it and see all the other folks in action.”

So Valerie created a product called The Senior Solution Marketing Kit and has been experimenting with her 700 captive financial advisors (yes, she truly is in a nice—make that great—place to be).

Valerie’s path to that great place began in 2002 when a financial advisor and an elder law attorney hired her to do their marketing as well as handle the care management side of their practices. “I had a good marketing budget to work with, so I decided we were gonna do this and do this right, so we took those practices and within 18 months they were both billing well over $2

million. Our success came because of consistency: the message matched the market,” Valerie explains.

Not long after that, a large bank in Baltimore, Md., hired Valerie to create the same success on a bigger

A Corporate Trainer Grows Her Info-Business While Working for a BankMother of triplets uses her pregnancy bed rest mandate as the golden opportunity to create a new product for financial consultants targeting seniors.


Valerie’s book, The Senior Solution, teaches families with seniors critical financial information and generates leads for financial planners utilizing her The Senior Solution Marketing Kit.


CORPORATE TRAINER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

scale. “I work for them to this day,” she says, “so that keeps the money rolling in.” Now Valerie travels about once a month to provide training for financial advisors in Las Vegas, Baltimore and Tampa.

During those training seminars, Valerie teaches financial advisors to differentiate their service products and to conduct effective marketing. In addition, she offers a Marketing Mentoring program and Mastermind group that follow many of the formulas and concepts she has gleaned from the Kennedy model.

Valerie VanBooven, RN, BSN, PGCM, teaches financial professionals that market to seniors how to create better marketing materials. Here is an example of a before and after ad makeover she created as part of an ad critique. These critiques provide content for her continuity programs and future products, plus help her customers implement the marketing techniques they are learning.

�

FREE�Seminar�for�SeniorsUnderstanding�Long�Term�Care�

WednesdayFebruary�16,�2007�

3�PM��4�PM��or��6�PM�–�7�PM�Holiday Inn- St. Peters, I-70 at Cave Springs

Attend this FREE seminar and discover how seniors and their family members can use federally regulated resource, allowing

them to stay home.

CALL TODAY FOR RESERVATIONS

1�800�555�5555�(Light�Refreshments�will�be�served.)�

The Senior Solution: A Family Guide to Keeping Seniors Home For Life!

We Cordially Invite You to Our

FREE SEMINAR Holiday Inn- St. Peters I-70 at Cave Springs

Attend this FREE seminar and discover how seniors and their family members can use federally regulated resource, allowing them

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ATTEND AND RECEIVE A FREE WINDOWS BASED CD OF THE PROGRAM, AND FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF

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Sponsored By:

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“These financial advisors have trusted me for several years to point them in the right direction, and I give them all the Dan Kennedy-like advice I possibly can,” Valerie says. “The first marketing kit I developed was for the financial professional who deals with seniors. It incorporates all of the things they need to talk to seniors about, which are long-term care, reverse mortgages and insurance. It also teaches financial advisors how to market themselves to seniors. My niche is ‘if you’re gonna market to the senior population, you

need to know how to do it well.’ You also have to make sure to include the seniors’ adult children in your marketing. If you don’t, then you’re gonna have a lot of backlash from those family members. You need to make sure everybody’s on board.”

Part of Valerie’s “good place to be” is the unique relationship she has with the bank. While she has her own separate info-marketing company, LPC Expert Publications, that markets her books and marketing kits, she shares revenue with the bank when any of the

Ad Makeovers Create Content for Members


BEFORE

AFTER


Valerie VanBooven, RN,

BSN, PGCM, wrote her

second book and developed

a marketing kit while she

was pregnant with triplets.

“I was on bed rest for three

months, and I had a lot

of time on my hands. The

only way to stay sane is to

do something; you can’t

lie around all the time and

do nothing. So making a

marketing kit was no big

deal. I had three months

to sit around and think

about what needed to be

in it. Being on bed rest

is definitely one of those

things that make you sit

and actually do something

productive on a laptop,”

Valerie laughs.

Pictured here with Valerie

are her husband, Charles

Whitsell, and their

children, Madeline Anne,

Sophia Belle and Samantha

Lee.

bank’s 700 independent financial advisors purchase her products or join her coaching group. “The bank spends money to bring those advisors through the door, and I spend my time teaching them how to do more business for the bank. I get to experiment with what works with these guys as far as email and other marketing, and the bank gives me the liberty to do that. The bank loves it because my training really does give their guys some good, refreshing ideas on how to get people in seminar seats and how to get them to write more business and get in front of more prospects. The bank is really a very forward-thinking organization,” Val says.

In addition to financial advisors who work in the senior market, Valerie is also beginning to work with other senior service providers, such as in-home care providers, assisted living facilities and nursing homes, on how to best market their services. Valerie explains, “Unfortunately, adult children of aging parents, that baby boomer population who’s dealing with this, they open up the yellow pages and they close their eyes and they point their finger at the biggest home care ad and they say, ‘These are the people I’m gonna use because they have the biggest ad.’ So the object of the game is to get the small provider to understand how to have an effective newspaper, postcard or yellow pages ad to get clients calling their phone number as opposed to the other guy.”

Because Valerie works within a niche that is heavily regulated, she has to use caution when marketing the Dan Kennedy way. “When you’re dealing with home care and federal regulations, you need to be a little more careful,” she explains. “You can’t give away gifts or free services, but the healthcare industry still needs to learn a better way to advertise their services. They have

dealt in platitudes like ‘we provide good service’ and other boring copy for so long that they don’t realize there’s a better way to attract a consumer and to keep them private pay longer. And that’s what all home care and assisted living and nursing homes want—they want the private pay client.”

So far, Valerie has conducted all of her marketing via email and the Internet, but she plans to venture into magazine advertising as well. “I’m just beginning to develop the home care, assisted living and nursing home niche, and I have every magazine that they all subscribe to, so the next step is to place ads in those magazines,” Val says, “But right now it’s all email and Internet. I write a lot of articles online, I have a blog and I’m on a lot of websites that they all read. I do talks for the National Private Duty Association, and the State of Wisconsin hires me, so I’ve gotten to know a lot of folks in the industry. They know who I am, and they like to read what I write.”

Valerie has established good relationships with home care provider franchises, such as Homestead and Right at Home, and she has been invited to speak at their conferences. “I know the owners and the leaders of these organizations, and they recommend my books and products, so it’s a really nice relationship,” she explains.


Valerie is interested in joint ventures with other info-marketers who may have lists of senior service providers such as home care, medical equipment or financial advisors that target the senior niche. She is also interested in offering other products and services to her lists. Send Valerie an email at [email protected] to express interest.



OPERATIONS

Bill Glazer and I traveled to Chicago to attend the Direct Marketing Association tradeshow. Both of us came back with some good vendors for our

marketing campaigns.

Here are some interesting discoveries I found at the show. All of these vendors are new to me. I’ve never used them before and cannot give you an endorsement. I’m just passing them along to you as a result of finding them at the DMA show.

1. Marketing CD Delivered for $1.00Great Lakes Media

Technology Inc. produces an audio CD, places it into a custom printed sleeve, puts your address on it, adds postage and puts it into the mail for $1.00. This price assumes a quantity of 50,000; however, the pricing is very good even on much shorter runs. You have the option of using audio CDs or DVDs, and they’ll work with you on the custom production of your sleeves. This is a powerful lead generation tool that looks like a postcard, costs a little more but delivers a full disk worth of audio or video sales content.

2. Google Radio/Print/TV AdsMany info-marketers use Google AdWords to generate

traffic to their websites. Through AdWords, you can purchase ads to direct people to your website that run when someone searches the Web using Google. Now Google is expanding its advertising offering to include radio ads, newspaper print ads and television commercials.

Radio can be a good media for info-marketers to generate leads from potential customers. Let’s say you

7 Marketing/Product Creation Discoveries at the Direct Marketing Association Tradeshowby Robert Skrob

are offering a real estate investing program. You record a 30-second radio ad, driving leads to a toll-free number or a website. You outline what you are willing to pay for the ad to air and list the demographics of the types of customers you are looking for, and Google does the rest.

Google works with radio stations around the country to sell your ad. When it airs, you receive a recording of your ad with the 30 seconds before and the 30 seconds after, so you can hear it in context, just like listeners did. Google gives you the tools to monitor the performance of those ads, so you can choose to bid for future placements.

1

With the “Media Direct” Sleeve, you can deliver an audio CD to customers or prospects for $1.00, all inclusive, in your customer’s hand, including production and postage.

2


RESOURCE:

Tim SchoonenbergSales and MarketingGreat Lakes Media Technology Inc.6501 W. Donges Bay Road, Mequon, WI 53092Website: www.GLMT.comPhone: 262/512-0100 Direct: 262/404-1282Email: [email protected]


The reps at the Google booth freely admitted that you can get cheaper rates by calling individual radio stations around the country. But it is expensive to hire someone or to do those calls yourself. Google makes it easy to test a radio campaign.

If it’s successful, and you plan to spend thousands of dollars, the time and effort to bring it in-house might be worth it. With Google, you can be on the radio or television nationwide tomorrow.

3. Customer SegmentationThe book Micro Trends,

authored by Mark J. Penn, segments the U.S. population into small groups, and then it gives you a couple of paragraphs about each group to help you understand its needs. There is an outline created by JWT Boom that focuses just on baby boomers. This is a great tool that any info-marketer could create as a product to offer to customers.

An advertising agency made itself into a boomer expert by creating descriptions for different baby boomer customer segments. Can you describe the segments your members sell to? These details will help you relate to your customers and make you into an expert.

3


RESOURCE:

Radio Ads: www.Google.com/ Adwords/AudioAds

Print Ads: www.Google.com/ Adwords/PrintAds

Television Ads: www.Google.com/ Adwords/TVads

RESOURCE:

Visit the “Market Segmentation” forum in the “Marketing” Discussion Forum on the IMA Membership Site to see the entire brochure.



then they deliver these mailings to post offices around the country. Then, normal postal carriers deliver your mailings on their regular routes. The cost: regular first class mail rates.

It’s not only quicker, but it also looks like a UPS Overnight package when it arrives in a person’s mailbox. Most recipients will draw the conclusion that the UPS driver left it in their mailbox. There is a minimum order of 5,000, and the company is accustomed to mailings of 15,000 or more.

5. Give Every Prospect a Custom URLThis company was

at the tradeshow to identify printers that want to purchase its Easy Personalized URLs to offer to their customers. However, they’ll help you find a printer if you find that you want to conduct a campaign using this technology.

This company helps printers create direct mail where every single recipient has his or her own custom Internet URL. This way, you know exactly which customers are responding to each marketing piece within a campaign. It’s as accurate as open rates and click-through rates common in email marketing.

When you give your printer your mailing list, your printer does the rest. Each marketing piece has its own URL. Then, Easy Personalized URLs provides the reporting to you.

6. Magazine Experience on InternetA company called ZMags.

com creates an online experience very similar to turning the pages of a magazine on the Internet. Basically, this is an upgrade on the ebook or PF file concept. Plus, it provides tracking, so you can get reports on customers that are interacting with your magazine or catalog.

This is a dynamic online product, and there’s no way I can do it justice here. If you are putting PDF files online on a membership site or in some other way, give this site a hard look: www.ZMags.com.

For instance, if you are selling to auto repair shops, you could segment their customers into young professionals with high mileage cars, successful businesspeople too busy for maintenance, widows that don’t understand car maintenance and even annual new car buyers that need little maintenance. I’m sure there are 20 to 30 different segments that any auto repair shop has to deal with.

For the sake of clarity, I’m not suggesting that the info-marketer outline the customers they face. I’m suggesting that the info-marketer segment the customers his customers face. This could be a new product, a seminar and newsletter content for years. Every marketing piece can be categorized by the market segment it is directed toward. This multiplies the number of ways you can help your members.

4. Deliver UPS Packages at USPS First Class Rates

It took a little while for me to understand this one. RST Marketing is a mailer that creates customized mailing pieces, complete with handwritten sticky notes and personalized letters.

Then, they insert those mailings into envelopes with the UPS logo on them. A brown UPS truck comes to RST Marketing to pick up your mailings, and

OPERATIONS continued from page 17

UPS will deliver your mail to local post offices, and the USPS will deliver to mailboxes, all at regular USPS first class mail rates.

4


RESOURCE:

Phone: 866/463-7671www.EasyPurl.com

RESOURCE:

www.ZMags.com

RESOURCE:

Keith KanodeRST Marketing1272 Corporate Park DriveForest, VA 24551Phone: 434/525-1028 Fax: 434/[email protected]


T.J. Rohleder; aka “THE $100-MILLION MAN,” is seeking JV partners to help him produce

his monthly marketing seminars. If you’re selling ANYTHNG that has to do with marketing and want the fastest, simplest and easiest way to develop a killer product that you could be selling to all of your clients for many years, then just drop T.J. a quick email message and start an online conversation with him. His private email address is [email protected].

All members of the Information Marketing Association are welcome to include items in the Info-marketing Industry Calendar. Send us a fax at 850/222-6002 including the dates, company name, meeting name, location and call to action for more information.

INFO-MARKETING INDUSTRY CALENDARJanuary 2, 2008 • Fort Collins, Colo.GKIC Northern Colorado Chapterwww.NoBSColorado.com

January 17, 2008 • 3:00 p.m., ESTChris Mullins’ Off-The-Cuff TeleClinicZero Resistance Selling Part 2At 3:00 p.m., EST, dial 641-715-3413 and enter access code 235912 #.www.GreatBottomLine.com

January 17-19, 2008 • Tucson, Ariz.The Hand Analyst’s “Palm-Posium: Mapping Your Success Workshop”www.HandAnalyst.com/palmposium.html

Starting February 21, 2008, for 10 weeksThursdays from 9:00-10:30 a.m., PST

Success Connections Virtual Team Building TeleBootcampwww.VirtualTeamBuildingTeleBootcamp.com/

February 22-24, 2008 • Los Angeles, Calif.“Bridging Heart and Marketing” Conferencewww.BridgingHeartandMarketing.com/invitation

February 2008 • Pleasant Grove, UtahCoaching Millions “Look Over My Shoulder” Business Field Trip With “The Head Coach of Coaching” Tim Paulson(Limited to 12 people)[email protected] or 801/796-0918

Feb. 22-24, 2008 • Las Vegas, Nev.Ron Caruthers’ How to Make Millions as a College Planner Bootcamp760/438-5232 fax

Mar. 29-30, 2008 • Cleveland, OhioRepair Shop Owners Success Summitwww.GreatResultsMarketing.com

June 5-8, 2007 • Orlando, Fla.Options University 2nd Annual Investor Superconferencewww.OptionsUniversity.com

7. Territory MapsI’ve received several

questions over the last couple of years from info-marketers looking for map solutions when selling exclusive territory coaching programs. I’ve recommended Microsoft MapPoint, and it seems to do a decent job. The only problem is, it requires some work to learn and master.

Here is a vendor you can outsource that to. They can create the maps by area (square miles), drive time (minutes), ZIP code or the number of businesses by SIC code or name. This gives you maximum flexibility as you create your programs, and they help you manage your territories.

Most info-marketers launch their coaching programs and, in the beginning, give large territories to sign up customers

Using a mapping consultant can help you design and align the territories you assign within your franchises or for your area exclusive coaching program members.

7


RESOURCE:

Theresa Bordas10 First StreetWellsboro, PA 16901Phone: 570/724-7355Fax: 570/724-7394www.GBBIS.com

quickly. As you begin to grow your business mapping, designing and aligning your territories will become more complicated.


JOINT-VENTURE OPPORTUNITIES

It’s Time for You to “Cash In” BIG On Your “Toll Booth” Position …Editor’s Note: The following are joint venture opportunities available with other Information Marketing Association members. The IMA provides this information as a FREE service to our members and does not endorse or approve any opportunity. Content is edited for space only. If you would like to submit a joint venture opportunity for the next IMA newsletter, you are welcome to email it to [email protected]. A complete joint venture opportunity listing is available on the member site at http://Members.Info-Marketing.org.

SELL A CREDIT RELATED PRODUCT? PLATFORM SALES FOR SEMINARSNick Cifonie has a unique

system that teaches the credit-challenged renter

“How to buy a property using someone else’s mortgage, in 60 days or less, regardless of credit, income or employment.” It targets the consumer market, not the investor market. The product uses audio, video, online forums and live conference calls to show them step-by-step how to find, negotiate and obtain a home of their own,

without having to get a mortgage. Nick is available for teleseminar and JV selling to an existing list, platform speaking/selling at your event or seminar teaching. As our list grows, we will also open up our list and allow others to sell their credit and/or mortgage related products to our list. Contact Nick at 815/836-4663 or [email protected], or get more detailed product information at www.NickCifonie.com.

Author of the Unfair Advantage Small Business Advertising Manual, Claude Whitacre

is available for free interviews, will write a free monthly column for your newsletter and will speak at your seminars for a product split. Retail and small business advertising. Email [email protected] or go to www.ClaudeWhitacre.com to see sample video.

Here’s How to Combine the Power of Exclusive Business Connections With True, Once-in-a-Lifetime Experiences You’ll Remember Forever

Attention, Successful Info-Marketers:

The Ultimate Baja Experience — Picture this — somewhere in the middle of the legendary Baja peninsula, you are racing down a twisting dirt road framed by massive cactuses, ocean vistas and a vivid panorama of sun above you. Ahead are miles of untamed trails, and somewhere your “regular” world is completely lost in a cloud of Baja dust. When you finally take a breather, you’re all smiles as you describe the driving experience of the day over a cold beer with your new friends. After another beer and during dinner, the talk gradually turns to business subjects. You’ve been thinking about a new idea for a long time, and after bouncing it off the group of successful entrepreneurs assembled—you get the breakthrough you’ve been looking for! This is what the Maverick Business Adventures™ exclusive Baja racing experience is all about ... and much more!

Do YOU Qualify to Join This Private Group?Yanik Silver, a serial Internet entrepreneur who has built several successful businesses online with zero employees

(except for his wife, Missy), has created a new club for entrepreneurs looking for once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

Time and open slots are limited.For all of the details, visit www.MaverickBusinessAdventures.com/Baja.


For information on advertising in the Marketplace, contact Scott at [email protected] or phone 850/222-6000.


PRESIDENT’S REPORT

For the second time in her life, my wife, Kory, volunteered to cook Thanksgiving dinner. She asked

me if it was O.K. to have Thanksgiving at our house. I guessed few would show up. If it was just a couple of people, I’d get to spend the day watching football without having to travel anywhere. Sounded good to me.

Turns out, Kory’s parents said, “Yes.” Plus two of her sisters and one of her brothers. My parents and grandmother came. Plus, spouses, nieces and nephews. All told, we expected 19 people.

Not a big deal, except Kory hates to cook. She doesn’t care to be any good at it. To her, it’s an ugly chore, right up there with doing laundry.

Kory’s parents arrived Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Her oldest sister, Kim, arrived Wednesday at about 8:00 p.m., with the turkey, still frozen solid. I didn’t know this, but it takes several days to thaw a turkey. Especially when it’s 21 pounds.

There were lots of suggestions on how to solve this problem: don’t worry about it and go to bed; put it in a tub of water; put it into the oven to cook overnight. Each person was adamant his or her suggestion was the right choice, and an argument broke out. Trying to bridge a compromise, I suggested that we put the turkey in a tub of water in the oven, and then go to bed.

For my trouble, I was given the task

Smoke and Flames on ThanksgivingI could hear that the generator was struggling to power the oven. But the temperature kept going up—225, 250, 275—so everything seemed O.K.

of wrestling the frozen turkey into a tub of cold water. I wasn’t allowed to go to bed until I pulled out the neck and giblets bag, which took hours. Kory told me she needed those things to simmer overnight for the gravy.

By 5:00 a.m., the bird was thawed, and by 5:50 a.m., with her father’s help, Kory had it stuffed, basted and in the oven to cook. Success! It was short-lived; things went terribly wrong.

At 7:30 a.m., the electricity went out. The first thing I thought was, “The oven doesn’t work without electricity.”

I sprang into action and called the electric company. But that got me nowhere because they had a recorded message saying they were experiencing a blackout for one-third of the city. So at least we weren’t the only ones without power on Thanksgiving Day.

There we were, in the dark, oven cooling off, turkey not cooking. Oh yes, I forgot to mention there was some disagreement about when we needed to begin cooking the turkey, so every minute mattered because it made someone’s point that we should have listened to him (or, more likely, her).

Although I wanted to go back to bed, I decided to break out the generator. (When the hurricanes kept coming to Florida a couple of years back, I decided to invest in a

generator.) It’s a big one, and it can run the refrigerators, television and even the air conditioner. I knew it wasn’t large enough to run the oven along with all that other stuff, but I wanted to give it a try to run the oven by itself. Perhaps if I ran only the oven, it would put out enough electricity to keep that turkey cooking.

I got everything hooked up and then switched off all of the breakers, except for the oven. I got the generator running and went inside. Not even the clock on the oven would come up. I discovered that the element that heats the oven is on a different circuit from the electronics that control the oven. So I had to go find the circuit for the electronics.

I turned on a couple of breakers and ended up turning on some lights and my television, but I also got the oven lights to come on. I set the oven for 350 degrees, and it started warming up again. My wife thanked me for my heroism and good wits. My kids were excited because they could watch TV. I had saved the day.

I could hear that the generator was struggling to power the oven. But the temperature kept going up—225, 250, 275—so everything seemed O.K.

My hero status didn’t last long. The oven shut off. There wasn’t enough power to keep it working, I guess. This meant there was a lot less electricity getting used; however, the generator didn’t decrease its output


right away. The lights got really bright, and a couple of the bulbs blew out. The generator was creating a power surge.

Suddenly, my DVD player and everything else in my home entertainment center started making hissing noises. I looked over and saw flames shooting out with a huge cloud of smelly, blue smoke.

I ran to unplug everything, including my 52 inch plasma television. Then I dashed outside and shut off all the circuits. I was so disappointed with myself. I had no idea what I’d done.

It had started out simple enough. But now I had several dead electronics, not sure how many, and, of course, one could be my television. I went from saving the day to facing an afternoon with all of my family, without a TV to watch football, and the reason none of us could watch TV was because I had blown it up that morning. I dreaded the afternoon of family harassment.

I also wondered if the generator had blown up the electronics in the oven. Was that why it shut off? So, even when the electricity came on, would the oven work? Had I ruined Thanksgiving? Since there was no electricity, I couldn’t assess the damage. I just had to sit there and wait, in the dark.

About an hour later, the electricity came back on. I cringed as I walked to the kitchen to see if the oven clock was working. Yes, it was. I pushed the buttons and turned the oven back on.

Moving on to the family room, I picked up the remote and tried to turn on the television. It came on; it was working. I have no idea why, but it wasn’t destroyed.

We got back to cooking the turkey,

and I just wanted to watch my television. I wanted to see for myself that everything was working. Also, I think I got a beer; it’s never too early.

Dinner was delicious. Kory did a great job. She did have help. It was a team effort, with about five people preparing different dishes. Of course, as everyone got there, they heard the entire generator story. All of them seemed to know there was no way the generator could operate the oven. That’s fine to know now, just a few hours too late. I had to go to Wal-Mart to replace several electronics, including my DVD player and surround sound unit.

The reason I’m telling you this is, you don’t have to flounder around in the dark within the information marketing business. The Information Marketing Association was created to prevent mistakes and wasted effort. Through your IMA membership, you get access to the online member discussion forum, Jump Start coaching calls and IMA Question and Answer service.

If you are looking for resources or information, vendors or other business issues, feel free to create posts at the IMA message board on the membership site, http://Members.Info-Marketing.org. This is an important shortcut for you to find vendors or resources that understand what you need, rather than having to train someone locally. Also, there is a ton of expertise within the membership; they’ve faced many of the same problems before.

The monthly Jump Start coaching programs are a terrific opportunity to get your specific questions answered. I host these calls, and there are usually six to eight questions. I also ask follow-up questions to assess exactly what each caller needs. Many

times these callers are beginners looking for details on how to get started. Other times, it’s experienced info-marketers looking for vendors or other resources. Whatever you need, these calls are there for you to call in and get answers.

In between calls, the IMA provides you with an “information concierge.” By posting a question at www.Info-Marketing.org/Question, you’ll receive an answer within 72 hours or less. These get used by a lot of very experienced info-marketers, so don’t be shy about asking your question. And to be honest, there are a lot of questions I can’t answer. I have to turn around and ask other info-marketers that have experience in the area. There was a member who needed a specific type of attorney; I’d never had that question before, so I didn’t have anyone in mind right away. By asking around, I identified a specialist. Just let me know what you need, and I’ll work hard to get you the answer.

Through the Information Marketing Association, you are tied to a community of people engaged in pursuing the same goal. Post questions to the member discussion board, call in to the Jump Start coaching calls or pose a question to me through the IMA Question service. We are here to help you avoid mistakes, to find the resources you need quickly and to implement with less time.

Don’t waste a lot of time or effort figuring things out, sometimes the hard way, when you can simply use the resources you have at hand. And don’t you worry, I’ll be referring out all of the generator related questions.

Through the Information Marketing Association, you are tied to a community of people engaged in pursuing the same goal.

The Information Marketing Association has quickly grown to represent the largest group of entrepreneurs who integrate seminars, publishing and coaching into their businesses. The IMA is your shortcut for access and notoriety within the info-marketing world. Within the Information Marketing Insiders’ Journal and the IMA Resource Directory on the membership website, you receive a direct link to the industry. There are three levels of exposure to meet your needs.

Platinum Partner Membership – Limited to 4 $997.00/month1. Monthly full-page ad in the IMA’s Information Marketing Insiders’ Journal.2. Twice a year Information Marketing Insiders’ Journal guest column providing educational content

and positioning you as the obvious expert. Article must be instructional and include several examples that are useful to members.

3. An expanded ad in the member vendor resource directory, including an up to 50-word description.

4. Unlimited referrals to members as they ask for solutions to their particular challenges.5. IMA Platinum Partner logo to use on your website and marketing materials.6. The 12 Exclusive Membership Benefits of the Information Marketing Association for Professional Members.

Gold Partner Membership – Limited to 6 $497.00/month1. Quarterly full-page ad plus a 2” x 4” ad in the Business Resources section in the other 8 months

of the IMA’s Information Marketing Insiders’ Journal. Or you may choose a monthly 1/4-page ad if you prefer.

2. An expanded ad in the member vendor resource directory, including an up to 25-word description.

3. IMA Gold Partner logo to use on your website and marketing materials.4. Unlimited referrals to members as they ask for solutions to their particular challenges.5. The 12 Exclusive Membership Benefits of the Information Marketing Association for Professional Members.

Silver Partner Membership – Limited to 16 $297.00/month1. Monthly 2” x 4” ad in the Business Resources section of the IMA’s Information Marketing Insiders’ Journal.2. An ad in the member vendor resource directory, including an up to 25-word description.3. Referrals to members as they ask for solutions to their particular challenges.4. The 12 Exclusive Membership Benefits of the Information Marketing Association for Professional Members.

How to Gain Maximum Exposure With Info-Marketers

Throughout the World

For more information on how you can reach the information marketing community, call Scott Francis at 850/222-6000.

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