One of my bootcampers impressed me this week with a quite brilliant idea: she’s carving out one day a week to focus on her book, and on that day she puts an out-of-office autoresponse on her email. But instead of a generic ‘I’ll get back to you tomorrow’ message, she took the opportunity to explain […]
Continue readingToday’s blog is over at BookMachine: https://bookmachine.org/2017/02/22/jvs-affiliates-better-together/. It’s a fact of life – of my life certainly, and I’m pretty sure yours too – that you can’t do everything on your own. Sometimes you need to bring specific skills and experience into the business by recruiting, sometimes you need to partner with another company, such as […]
Continue readingWe’ve just been to see the Lego Batman movie. It is absolutely brilliant, and full of clever details that fly straight over the heads of kids to provide a knowing chuckle for their parents. Alfred wears a grey Batman suit at the end (‘I miss the 60s’) and there’s a nod to the comic-book convention […]
Continue readingToday is Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year, allegedly. Not on this site. Today we’re celebrating two brilliant new books officially published by Practical Inspiration Publishing. The first is by Maria Hocking, a transformational coach with an incredible personal story. Here’s what readers are saying about Strip Naked and Re-Dress with Happiness: How […]
Continue readingWhen I interviewed Michael E. Gerber for the podcast on Tuesday, I went into the conversation better prepared than almost any other interview I’ve ever done. Not only had I read the book (it’s a short, readable book, my favourite kind) but I’d listened to an audio trailer while I was fixing lunch the day […]
Continue reading…don’t just ask them. If you REALLY want to know if an idea has legs, the best way isn’t to ask people if they’d buy it, it’s to see if they DO buy it when they’re given the opportunity. This is an audacious technique, but Nicholas Lovell used it to great effect when he had […]
Continue readingI’ve had several emails this morning from businesses with a similar formula: I’m so thankful for you, you are my reason for living, let me show you how grateful I am by offering you this special price on my product. I do get that business is business and Black Friday is a thing. I do. […]
Continue readingThis evening I’m speaking at a Byte the Book event in London on how to sell more books in non-traditional channels. One of the areas I’ll be focusing on is direct sales: my business authors have their own platform, they’re already selling services and in some cases products to their customers direct from their own […]
Continue reading‘Can I talk to you about podcasting?’ I’ve spoken to at least 6 people over the last month or so who are interested in setting up their own podcast and wondering what’s involved and, crucially, whether it’s worth it for them. I can’t tell them that, of course, but here’s what I say: First of […]
Continue readingI heard today about a company doing some really typical 21st-century business stuff. The founder noticed a gap in the market for a healthier version of a popular processed food, tapping into the current interest in clean living, exercise and healthy eating. He collaborated with an established partner to get his new product off the […]
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