For this first time ever I am going to take a short hiatus from my blog. I will return on Monday with new questions and posts. I have posted something every day for nearly 3 years and I need a break. I hope everyone has a great weekend and Ill see you Monday.
Danny
Good morning all from Athens Ga! I only have one quick thought for the day…
I’ve always had it in my mind that I would never let anyone out work me. Someone might have more experience, they may have more resources, but they will never out hustle me.
Sometimes you have to commit yourself to out-hustling those around you.
Have a great Thursday!
Danny
We are back from our weekend in New York and all went well. The bride and groom are off to their honeymoon and the wedding went without a hitch. We always have a wonderful time in NY and the wedding excitement just added to the experience. Our flight got back yesterday late afternoon and after a round of laundry, unpacking and repacking, I am back on the road this morning! Quick turn-around for me.
This week I will be in Athens, Ga to conduct some training with sales executives from across the southeast. I’ll be working with my mentor this week which will be nice. It isn’t often that he and I get to train reps together.
With that said, I hope you have a great week. Remember to hug your loved ones and spend quality time with them! Have a wonderful Tuesday.
Danny
Evelina made a dish the other night using quinoa that was fairly simple and tasted great! She added mixed vegetables, black beans, raw spinach, raw kale and soy sauce to some quinoa and cooked it up like fried rice in a pan.
It tasted very good and was incredibly healthy. No measuring necessary, just add to your liking. The tricky part was learning how to cook quinoa the proper way.
I know reblogging bugs the crap out of a few of you so I am apologizing in advance for the assault on your email inbox. I have to get caught up today on some reblogging so I am going to machine gun blast out a lot today. Sorry if it upsets a few.
Danny
What Do You Do When Faced With a Big Decision?
Having options is supposed to be a great thing, right?! But having options can create headaches as well, especially when an option presents itself unexpectedly. And even more so when a great opportunity arises, but you are content in your current situation!
So what is one to do?
Any time I am presented with a big decision I tend to obsess for a short period of time and then I get to work on due diligence. My first step is to mention the idea to my wife and get her gut reaction. If her initial reaction is 100% negative I would probably not pursue or commit much time to consideration. If her initial response is to ask questions then I begin step 2.
My second action is to make a pros and cons list. I will make a couple lists, one for my current situation and one for the new opportunity. This helps me weigh the opportunity versus current situation and assess whether it is worth considering. The big question for me revolves around the idea of changing. Do I feel like changing to this new thing or do I want to stay where am I doing what I’m doing?
The third thing I do is assess the risk. If I were to take part in anything new in my life, what is the worst case scenario? If this new thing were not to work out, what could happen negatively. Could I end up homeless? Could I lose my life? Would I have to start over and rebuild? The possibilities could be endless, but honestly there aren’t too many decisions that are truly life-and-death. So for me, risk assessment has to do with security, safety and progress. Will this new opportunity compromise the security of my family? Will it put me or my family in harm’s way? And will this new thing hinder or help our progress?
Fourth for me, I will bring these facts and thoughts back to Evelina and we will talk on a deeper level. At this point the decision-making process becomes less objective and more subjective.
The last step is to ask myself if this new project “feels” right. It is difficult to put into words what feeling right means. It is a gut intuition. If the decision doesn’t feel right then I run in the opposite direction. If it does feel right AND I have gone through the process of due diligence then we move forward and consider saying “yes”.
Sometimes good opportunities happen at the wrong time and sometimes the timing is perfect. I think the key is keeping your mind open to all possibilities. Remember, there was a moment when Bill Gates could have said “No thanks, I’m not interested.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be the guy who says no to a possible life-changing opportunity!
Have a safe and happy Wednesday!
Danny
Do You Think It Is Time For Me To Build an Ark?
Hurricane Florence dumped over 12 inches of rain on us in a 24 hour period, but we are alive and well. Flooding in our area was minimal and we only lost 1 tree, which surprised me. In all my life I have never experienced rain quite like that and I hope I never do again.
The storm has moved north of Charlotte leaving us with a slight chance of thunderstorms this afternoon. My coworkers and friends in Wilmington and New Bern are not so fortunate. It is still raining there and flood waters have cut both cities off from rescue workers. I hope everyone is safe.
In some ways I think we would have been better off with the powerful winds of a fast-moving hurricane than the rains associated with a storm only moving 5 mph. The rain has been simply devastating for North Carolina. Fayetteville, Kinston, Jacksonville, New Bern and Wilmington are all experiencing flooding.
I did not get a chance to build my ark before the storm decided to move north so maybe next time. Please have a safe Monday and considering donating water and supplies to help these good people.
Danny
Quite a few people have emailed asking if Evelina and I were safe so I thought I’d post a quick update.
It is still raining heavy and steady. The winds are picking up considerably at around 25 mph. We have not had damage nor have we lost power (knock on wood), but the creeks and drains are all maxed out and I fear flooding is inevitable.
This morning I drove to our local bakery and decided to explore a bit to see how the rest of town looks. The roads are passable, but I can see that changing by tomorrow. I’ve never seen this much rain for such as extended period of time.
Monday and Tuesday will reveal a lot as the water from the mountains fill the remainder of the waterways.
For now all is well and hope you are safe in your part of the world.
Danny
Why Should Anyone Care About Your Blog Posts?
On occasion I’ll get someone email me and ask how to get more eyes on their posts. The common belief is that if more people see my posts, then they will view and more views will create more buzz and buzz will get me followers. I disagree completely and here’s why…
The concept of mass exposure is an old idea. In the old days companies had limited avenues through which to deliver their message-newspaper, radio, television, etc. The marketing concept was to throw a giant blanket over a gigantic population base and see what results might come. The other change in message delivery relates to the expectation of the recipients. Today’s consumer is much more educated and more inundated with content. The online world is flooded with too many messages from so many sources to the point that people have become somewhat blind to any messages at all.
Today’s marketing is different and bloggers must think differently. In today’s market the focus is on relevancy and until you understand this key you will continue to struggle. If a message is not relevant to the population, then people simply will not care. If people don’t care, then they will not buy your message; they will not consume your product. And it is this fact that most bloggers miss.
The truth is you don’t need the masses of asses. You need specific followers who care about the types of topics of which you write. If you write about being a vegetarian, then your ideal reader is going to be someone who is already a vegetarian or someone who is considering becoming a vegetarian. Carnivores who are dead-set in their ways might read a single article, but they are probably not going to return each day to read your content. So maybe a more strategic and effective plan will be to find other vegetarians.
This might seem like common sense, but I see this common failure in thinking everyday in business. Business owners who want more customers think they need everyone and this is false. They need the right “ones” as I like to say. You need loyalty not one-time purchases. You want people who return time after time to consume what it is that you are selling.
And it is the same with a blog. Ask yourself, “Who is the person who is more apt to return each day to read what it is that I write?”. Once you find that person then you need to find more of those types and build a loyal tribe. If you produce quality content and put it in front of the right types of people, then you will have the highest likelihood of converting them into following you. If they are not, then you have to judge your content.
Remember, people engage because they believe the same things you believe.
Some have also asked me about my tribe. My tribe is made up of bloggers who are looking to connect with others so I created a “hub” where people on WordPress could meet others and possibly connect in order to grow their page. It is a mutually symbiotic relationship. A sub-set of my tribe is made up of people who are interested in growing personally and professionally which is why I post about my personal experiences of reaching my goals. I seek out people interested in personal growth. I have followers I’ve met via other personal development blogs. I have followers who found me through personal growth pages on Facebook. And I have followers who discovered my page via my SEO tactics on search engines.
The change in ideology needed is understanding your ideal audience which means you must get specific, not general. Why would you spend your time advertising home owner’s insurance to people who do not own homes versus advertising to people who currently own a home? The easier and more likely conversion is to current home owners. Does anything I’m saying make sense?
A wrestling blog will be comprised mainly of people who enjoy wrestling. A knitting blog will be comprised of people who are interested in knitting. A cooking blog will be comprised mainly of people who enjoy cooking and recipes.
You can spend all of your energy trying to get people who don’t care to care. And the risk is that those people might never care and you will be left with an empty energy tank. Why not find people who are already interested in what it is that interests you and then connect?
Just a thought…
Danny
These Are Just a Few of the Pet Peeves I Hate…
I try not to use the word hate, but in this instance it is accurate because it is aimed at actions not people. At any rate, here are a few of my pet peeves…
These are a few of my pet peeves. Leave me some of your peeves in the comments.
Danny
