You might think that people and businesses want to know more about social media and that they get hung up on technical issues. That may be true, but with a recent survey, it’s clear that what you want more than anything else is to connect to your people and fight fear, and all the other crazy emotions that come with starting or growing something online.

I want to know more. These numbers are great and very informative, but they don’t tell your story. Let’s talk about what you want and what you need to get started. Do you have time for a phone call? 

I’m scheduling free 1:1 calls all of next week to find out how I can help you. It might be with The Goodblog Project, or something completely different, but with your story, I can make honest recommendations.

Read more here or simply email me the best time for us to chat. It’s that easy. The course begins May 6th and I will be offering a money back guarantee for new members that take me up on a free phone call before getting started.  If you are curious and you want to talk about the course contents, how it can help you, or gentle payment plans, let’s have a 15 minute free phone call so you can ask questions and determine if this is the right course at the right time for you. Learn more about how we can connect here or email me bemorewithless@gmail.com to start the conversation.

P.S. If you are worried that you don’t have anything to say, or that your story/project/blog/business isn’t important, please set up the call anyway. It’s important.

Thanks to your awesome feedback, I am more excited than ever before to help you …

• start a blog
• grow an existing blog
• remind you how amazing you are
• figure out how your blog can support a business or turn you into a creative entrepreneur
• connect with great people who care about their work
• understand the nuts and bolts of blogging
• help people
• work through fear, hesitation, and creative blocks, find focus and learn to do work you love

The Goodblog Project – May 6th

Everyone that joins this virtual blogging workshop will receive

• access to the private Facebook group
• heavily discounted (optional) 1:1 consulting
• 4 weekly course modules …

Week 1: Subscribers & Content

• Subscribers: How and Why
• Focus Your Content & Develop an Editorial Calendar
• Fight Your Fear: You are Good Enough: audio recording
• Add Value with Comments: audio recording
• Anatomy of a Goodblogger: Tammy Strobel
• How to Grow Gracefully
• Where to Find Creative Motivation and Inspiration
• Share Freely: audio recording
• Recorded Webinar: Vulnerability and Why it Matters
• What’s in a Name, the importance of your headlines: audio recording

Week 2: Social Media

• Less Media, More Social: audio recording
• Rules of Digital Engagement
• Fight Your Fear: Publish, Ship, Get it Out: audio recording
• Show Me The Money (how to earn)
• This is No Accident: grow on purpose
• Social Media Options and Approach
• A Quick Note on Growth: audio recording
• Anatomy of a Goodblogger: Jenny
• Recorded Webinar: How to Sell without Selling Your Soul
• Google+ for Business: Overview + Challenge
• Recorded Webinar: Stripping Down to the Essentials
• Your Platform is Made by People: audio recording

Week 3: Collaborate

• Guest Post and Grow (How and Where)
• Five Simple Rules of Business: audio recording
• Joint Ventures
• Survey Your Readers: How to create a survey
• Network and Connect: audio recording
• The Anatomy of a Goodblogger: Joshua Becker
• Help Each Other: audio recording
• Awesome resources to support your work
• Recorded Webinar: Partnerships and Guest Posting
• Recorded Webinar: Focus and Direction

Week 4: Product Development

• How to Write and Publish an ebook
• A Launch in Action (a behind the scenes look at a course creation and delivery)
• Pricing: How much should I charge: audio recording
• Kill it on Kindle (with specific details about my Kindle approach and results)
• Fight Your Fear: Ask for Money: audio recording
• Repurpose and Restructure for New Life in Your Product: audio recording
• Anatomy of A Good Blogger: Karol Gajda
• Simple Marketing Plan
• When You Freak Out (and you will)
• Create an Easy Paypal Button
• Weekly Webinar Recorded: Course Review and More on Money
• Weekly Webinar Recorded: Carving Out Time to Reach the Right People
• Thank You Video

In addition to the course material, each week will include a music mix to inspire you, a movement activity to help you physically and creatively, homework and creative writing assignments. There will also be at least one live webinar for Q & A. The timing of the webinar will be based on member availability and if necessary there will be two to accommodate different schedules.

If you are ready to get started …

Purchase Option A: if you are ready to move forward with your current blog or Option B: if you want to start a blog, move to self hosting or migrate your existing blog, take advantage of free hosting through the end of 2013 and enjoy a technical refresher.

A. Goodblog Virtual Workshop – $399

If you’ve been been blogging for 5 minutes or 5 years and are ready to be more intentional about your blogging efforts, develop a platform, sharpen your skills and grow, learn and earn …

B. Goodblog Virtual Workshop + GoodStart Blog Setup $599

Includes everything detailed above, plus a starter-program (described below) that’s custom-tailored to help new bloggers (and any blogger that wants to start something new) hit the ground running.

• 30-minute phone or Skype brainstorming session for domain name, tagline or content
• WordPress + a selection of premium themes
• Security enhancements to help protect your blog from hackers
• An automated backup plugin
• Pre-installed plugins to help you implement the advice in the Goodblog Project
• Training videos to teach you the basics of WordPress
• Free Blog hosting through the end of 2013 ($60/year thereafter)
• 30-minute phone or Skype consultation to discuss any technical questions you have

Design services or further customizations are available for an additional fee.

*All new blogs and most blog migrations will be eligible for the GoodStart Blog Setup and if there are special circumstances or additional costs, we will work together to figure out the best way to move forward.

Include 1:1 Consulting

If you want to add more personalized attention, add a consulting program and let me dig in and help you work through the technical, the emotional, the logistics, the hype, the fear and the joy that comes from growing a blog. As a Goodblog Project course member, you’ll receive an invitation to add 1:1 phone or Skype consultations + weekly email support programs for $75 per hour/week when you sign up for option A or B above.

Additional consulting is not mandatory for the course, but available if you would like it.

The course begins May 6th and I will be offering a money back guarantee for new members that take me up on a free phone call before getting started.  If you are curious and you want to talk about the course contents, how it can help you, or gentle payment plans, let’s have a 15 minute free phone call so you can ask questions and determine if this is the right course at the right time for you. Learn more about how we can connect here or email me bemorewithless@gmail.com to start the conversation.

Join me for the next session and read more about how to do work you love.

I want this to be the most powerful one yet, so I need to know exactly what you want. I’ll be inviting back all prior course members so you have an opportunity to connect with them AND even though the live sessions won’t continue, you’ll have access to me through the private Facebook group through the end of 2013. (and probably longer)

I want to customize this next session to best meet your needs and because my mind reading skills are terrible, I am just going to ask…

What do you want?

Please respond to this brief 5 question survey. The answers are anonymous unless you add your contact information, so whether you’ve been considering The Goodblog Project for months, or are just hearing about it for the first time, feel free to tell me exactly what you want.

Feel free to skip the survey and email me directly too! bemorewithless at gmail dot com.

The next (last) session begins on May 6th!

P.S. Here is the survey link again.

It takes two baby! (at least two)

I want to hear your voice! Who are you? Where do you live? What do you love to do? What do you do? What do you want to do? Do you have a blog? What’s it called? What do you love or hate about what you do? Are you stuck? Frustrated? Elated? Scared? What is your favorite kind of pie? What else do you want me to know about you?

Say Hi!

Email me: bemorewithless @ gmail dot com. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling. Edit less, write more. I won’t share a thing you say without your permission and I will respond to your email … in a friendly, “Hi, you are awesome for responding.” kind of way, not in a “I am going to add your email address to my mailing list and stalk you.” kind of way.

Let’s get to know each other and make the time we spend together more meaningful.

You can design a blog with shiny plugins, pop ups for better subscriber conversion, and a sidebar full of ads, but what really matters is that you deliver content that will help people.

You can create a launch that drips with anticipation, but what really matters is that your product is awesome and that you make something that people will enjoy and talk about.

Give your readers/clients/people/tribe what they want.

• Ease their pain
• Make them smile
• Connect
• Show them you care

If you don’t genuinely care, don’t bother, because it really matters.

If you don’t develop an engaged platform and a community that you care about, nothing else matters.

If you believe good health is good for business, build time into your work day to:

• eat real food
• rest
• stretch
• laugh
• move

If you work for yourself, make health a priority. If you have employees, give them permission and support to make health a priority.

Don’t save healthy habits for nights and weekends. They should be an integral part of your work day and business plan.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email.

P.S. There have been a few changes on the site. If you read via email or RSS, come on over and check out the new about page and learn more about how we can work together.

Sharing is the best way to:

• help your friends and community
• thank an artist or business
• make great connections

When you resist because you don’t think it matters, know that it does. Sharing helps communities grow. It brings ideas to life and helps people do work they love.

When you resist because you fear competition, remember that there is enough to go around. If you lift someone up, it doesn’t mean you take a step back.

When you resist because you think you can are in this alone, think about how much more fun things are when you share them with amazing people. We are all in this together.

Go on, share freely.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email.

P.S. There have been a few changes on the site. If you read via email or RSS, come on over and check out the new about page and learn more about how we can work together.

You can imagine how underwhelmed I was when I read this:

I was looking at your latest email newsletter, which I found on Twitter. I recently developed a free tool that I think can help you increase engagement in your email newsletter.

For example, I noticed your newsletter had 1 link, while the average newsletter has 31.4.

The problem isn’t that I received the email, but that people are falling for it. They are trying the free tools that aren’t free. They are spending time, energy and money learning how to send average newsletters with an average number of links and then spending even more time asking the wrong questions.

• What is the best time to send a newsletter?
• Where is the best place to include a link in a tweet?
• How many times should I post on Facebook in one day?

Ask different questions. Focus on what matters. Don’t be average.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email and connect with me on Twitter. 

Be brief with …

voicemail greeting
You do not need to include:

• I’m away from my phone (obviously)
• You’ve reached my cell phone (who cares?)

“Hi, this is ___________. Please leave a message.” will work.

voicemail message
This is a one-way conversation. Stick to the details and save the rest for the actual phone call.

email

• Reply All is rarely necessary. Use sparingly.
• When sending a mass email, use Bcc.
• Follow 5 rules for email sanity.

blog posts
Use the most important words and dump the rest or as Hemingway said, “write drunk, edit sober.”

social media
Say less and we will listen more closely.

Brevity and kindness are not mutually exclusive. Demonstrate your loving kindness by respecting the limited resources of time and attention.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email and connect with me on Twitter. 

Let 2013 be different.

• You will be scared, but do it anyway.
• You will be vulnerable, but do it anyway.
• You will lack confidence, but do it anyway.
• People will think you are weird, but do it anyway.
• Fear will rattle your nerves and uncertainty will try to stop you, but do it anyway.

Plans + ideas + fear + uncertainty = nothing

Plans + ideas + action = everything.

Do it anyway. It means everything.

———————–

Course update

The next session of The Goodblog Project begins on January 7th. Work with me and learn how to write, blog and connect more intentionally. If you are ready to grow, learn and earn in a very genuine, honest, fun way, read more here or sign up to receive more information. This will be the last session until May or September 2013.

If you want to see if the Goodblog Project is right for you, email me: bemorewithless at gmail dot com.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to receive future posts via email and connect with me on Twitter.