Many of you have asked about my health challenges after I mentioned briefly that health problems were forcing me to reconsider priorities for 2013.
This is a highly personal message so I will be brief. If you are not interested in my personal situation, and how it effects my business, feel free to skip this short post.
To make a long story short, I have recently developed some serious (but not life threatening) symptoms that must be taken seriously. They revolve mostly around hard to control blood pressure and stress.
Just two weeks ago my doctor told me, in no uncertain terms, to cut back or face the consequences.
I want to say very clearly that I know that many of you suffer from much more serious situations than those I just described. Many have lost loved ones, suffer with ongoing pain and illness and more.
We pray for our readers and members every day. You are always in our thoughts.
I know too that many of you are struggling to make money online – to build a real business that can create freedom for you and your family.
It’s never been more important to have your own online business than right now.
Without being political it is clear that many of our leaders are letting us down. In the U.S. and elsewhere, very real people are suffering because our elected leaders lack the courage to act beyond their own interests.
It’s no surprise to you that the economy is a mess. You knew that already.
My read of the landscape is this – not much is going to change in the next few years. It might get a little worse or a little better but now is the time to take your destiny into your own hands.
Now is the time to take your destiny into your own hands!
The decisions you make (and that I make) in 2013 may be the most important of our lives from a business perspective.
This is why I am re-prioritizing my business.
I WANT TO BE CLEAR – I AM NOT RETIRING OR QUITTING OR SELLING MY BUSINESS. JUST CUTTING BACK ON CERTAIN ACTIVITIES.
I want you to be encouraged.
Let me share what I believe with all my heart. Based on working online full time since 1999 I believe this …
- There is still more opportunity on the Internet than has ever existed before.
- You did not miss the rush.
- The door of opportunity is open just as wide as it ever was before.
- It is not too late for you to make your fortune online.
Success is waiting for those who are willing to take the right actions in 2013 and beyond.
I have been thinking and praying about what needs to happen in 2013 for months now. I always plan carefully in the last quarter of the year.
What happened in that time regarding my health sealed the decisions I was moving toward in my thinking time.
I am placing notices in my membership areas about these changes.
These notices will inform members about what is changing and how these changes will benefit them.
Please understand that my objective is crystal clear … to serve members better. Period.
At the same time, I must take care of my own health.
If I were to continue at the pace of 2012 there would be serious consequences for my health. And that would mean we all lose.
- Members would lose.
- I would lose.
- And my family would lose.
I can’t let that happen.
So, here are my priorities for 2013 and beyond. In some cases I am reaffirming my long-held practices. In some cases I am making changes based on my health situation.
Focus on quality
There has never been more information overload than exists today. “Too much information” and confusion are the top complaints by those who struggle online
So my focus will remain on quality, not quantity.
Although I have written many books, own membership sites and blogs, my threshold for publishing information has always been that the information must be proven by my own testing, must be actionable by non-professional marketers and must be affordable.
Those will remain my criteria moving forward.
Focus on results
The information I share in 2013 will continue to be based on my own testing and results. If something works, you will learn about it. If something has failed, you will hear about that too so you can be armed with real world knowledge.
Members will naturally get more information than blog readers but everyone will benefit from the rigorous testing of both products and marketing methods we will use in 2013.
Reach new and bigger audiences
One of my goals is to share my Common Sense approaches with more people. This means working with affiliates of course, but it means reaching more people on my own as well.
In that light I will be putting an increased focus on two areas – Kindle books and the Apple Newsstand. If you read my email regularly you already know about my focus on Kindle.
There are three reasons for focusing on these two platforms in my view.
- Content creators can reach the largest audience possible (a truly global audience) on these platforms.
- Amazon and Apple do much of the work of promotion once your high-quality work is on their platform.
- You can offer resources for less money using these platforms.
The economies of scale work in the favor of the content creator on Amazon and Apple which means customers win with much lower prices. A classic win-win.
I will be keeping you updated as I move forward in these areas.
Responding to customer’s needs
My driving passion has always been to help members. This has been true since the day I bought the Directory of Ezines (DOE) many years ago.
For a long time now that has meant one-on-one access to me. But those days are now over for a while.
While I will not be offering personal one-on-one consulting anymore, I will be serving my customers in these ways.
We have more staff to serve you.
You might know Hope from our support desk. But you might not know that we have a person working every day to update the DOE.
The DOE site is reviewed and updated every week. That includes all the ezine listings and more.
This is true for Follow Up Selling Systems too.
And it will be true if I decide to open any more membership sites in the coming years.
Our sites are now, and will continue to be, completely up to date.
Hope will be the point person in support.
She will answer most tickets, as she does now, and pass on to me those that need my personal attention. Others work in support as well but structuring it this way ensures the best support for you.
Not doing the personal consulting will free me up to create more high-quality resources for members.
For example, I want to do many more member-only webinars but the consulting questions prevent that.
Many, if not most, of the consulting questions I get can be better handled in a webinar than an individual email.
And by focusing on resources like webinars and teleseminars all members will have access to the answers, while the identity of the questioner will remain private.
This will be much more efficient and effective than answering questions one-on-one.
I believe these changes will be a win-win.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have comments please leave them below. I will read each one, as I always have done, as time allows
If you have suggestions as to health matters please visit my support center and leave them there.
Hope will ensure I get them and I will be able to take my time to check them out.
I do appreciate you and wish you all the best!
