“Most of us go around measuring our insides, by other people’s outsides…”
Rick Butts
Transparency.
How well do we let others see who we really are?
When you read my blog, can you see through my marketing, my elevator speech, my USP, and get an idea about the man?
More importantly, can we see you behind your subtitle, book title, or does every personal reference keep you cloaked behind your clever bi-line?
IE: If you have manufactured an online presence as anything that starts with “The _____” – might you phrase your visit to the boat show like this: “The _____ went to the boat show today and she just couldn’t believe how many…”
Hey, I know things move fast on the web – and that we have just a few moments to catch the eye of a first time visitor. So, I know I spend way too much of my time thinking about that moment.
More and more lately I’ve been thinking about you – you know how you are. You don’t read everything I write – especially a post plugging a product that you aren’t interested in. But, you do read a good deal of what gets posted here.
What if I told you that I’ve never made a million dollars in Internet marketing?
I created software and video tutorials that helped my customers make way more than that. But me, I think I’ve made about $350,000 online – and I have spent it all.
For the last 2 years I’ve survived financially from affiliate marketing and reviewing products, while being infinitely frustrated with the state of Internet marketing as is well documented here.
So by not really being in “the game” (aggressively squeezing names and mailing for the big launches) I’ve really not prospered anywhere near what I could have – and that is my own fault.
What if I told you that I sometimes struggle with depression, and to that end, I take a low dose anti-depressant every day that has changed my life?
Would you think me weak? Don’t we all want to believe that the thought leaders we buy into are strong, clear, decisive, and without weakness?
What if I told you that every single post on this blog was written and then published in the moment? I don’t have any idea what I’ll write tomorrow, or even if I’ll write anything, despte the fact that Jack Humphrey has made it clear that an Authority Site should post daily.
If you’ve been following me on Twitter or seen the last Ustream.TV show you know I announced that as a result of being totally dis-connected here in Denver I was selling my house and moving to Budapest, Hungary – and that I was going to do a daily show Mon-Thu.
The Eastern Europe thing is a whole ‘nother subject – and I soon realized the timing for me to commit to be anywhere at 3pm EST 4 days a week – while realtors are showing my crib – was nuts.
Okay, enough of the “what if’s” – I”ve worn that out.
Today I want you to know, most of all, that I really honor the fact that you are reading this now. More than you could possibly imagine – and more than I ever take the time to say.
And that, truly, I want in my heart of hearts, to make a difference in your life.
Beyond the way I sometimes slaughter grammar, syntax, punctuation (I’m still uncertain of the use of the apostrophe) I REALLY want to touch your heart and mind, encourage you, make you laugh, and provide some insight that provokes you to avoid mistakes, get motivated, and yes, have a better life.
To this end I’ve created like 50 headers for this blog – each with a different “bi-line” (which I’m vaguely certain I’m misspelling!)
Every attempt I’ve made to create one that is both clever and accurate seems insuffecient the moment it goes up. Can you relate?
I am not preaching at you to be more transparent. For all I know you have just the right touch in your visible image or are quite clear the whole thing. Good for you.
But, for me, it has been a struggle.
I’m working on 2 products I intend to let you know about in the next week. 1 is a special report on the behind the scenes stuff that made up the tremendously successful posts that got 240 comments and thousands of new visitors and subscribers to my blog.
The other a monetization strategy for niche bloggers that no one else has ever talked about.
The first one will be $10 – the second one I’m not sure yet. It will have camtasia videos and will be a lot more work.
These are the first products I’ve created in a very long time.
And what if I told you that while I am supremely confident that both of them will be worth a bazillion times what they cost – that I’m a Nervous Nellie about how to sell something to you after all my railing on how stuff gets marketed to the I.M. “gang.” Loved Mari Smith’s snort about that in the comments!
After writing “I Am Joe’s Email List” – I’m kind of on the hot seat, huh?
Thanks for reading today – I have no big finish, except to say that I hope you get that I care deeply about your success – not just financially – but about your insides, too.
Rick
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On the subject of transparency…
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On the subject of transparency… | Gareth Daine