How to be indispensible and powerful

August 19th, 2011. Filed Under: Business Tips. Tags: , ,

“For 150 years, the key structural element of our society was that people who owned machines, the means of production, had all the power. But the means of production is now a laptop. I’m not saying that everyone needs to be an entrepreneur. What I’m saying is that the winners are the ones who are indispensable. How do you become indispensable? You do something unique with systems that belong to you as opposed to being a slave to somebody else’s system.”

- Seth Godin

Power used to be the machines you owned; now it’s your ideas.  Here’s how you can share your ideas with the world and reach more people than you ever imagined.
-Wally

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Getting schooled on price elasticity at the Mexican tienda

July 12th, 2011. Filed Under: Business, Business Tips, Internet Success. Tags: , , , , ,

A couple of weeks ago I took my car into the tire shop to
get the tires rotated.  Not wanting to sit around and
smell rubber for an hour, I decided to start walking
around and see what other shops were nearby.

After checking out some of the local options, I found a
Mexican tienda and decided to go in and see if they had
any Mexican Coca Cola.

This place was great, it was like taking a trip down south
of the border.  Nobody in there spoke any English, and
there were all sorts of genuine Mexican imports with brand
names that I didn’t recognize.

And sure enough…right there in the cooler, was Mexican
Coca Cola.

I don’t usually drink soft drinks, but Mexican Coke is the
exception.  It’s like Coke used to be in the old days in
America – served in a glass bottle and made with real
sugar from sugar cane, not corn syrup.  It has a bit of a
different feel on the tongue and takes me back to the old
days.

So I grabbed a Mexican Coke and an orange Fanta bottle out
of the cooler and headed over to the counter.

And then…I didn’t realize it at the time…I was about
to get a street style business lesson from the lady behind
the counter.

I approached the counter and realized that there had been
no price tags on the bottles.  Hmmm, I wonder how much
these things cost.

So I held up one bottle and asked, “how much for a
Coke?”.  She said one dollar.

Then I put two bottles down to pay.

She looks at me and says “Two bottles.  Three dollar.”

I smiled and chuckled to myself, thinking “Now that is
some serious price elasticity.”

It was awesome.

And though I could have haggled with her to get the price
back down to two dollars, I was so impressed by this deft
maneuver that I just handed her the three dollars and
smiled.

This old lady had sent a great reminder about how prices
can be set and changed on the fly – according to demand
and perception  – but only if you’ve set yourself up right
beforehand.

She had a sucker (me) thirsty for some hard to find
Mexican Coke…and she raised that price right away, once
she knew.  And I didn’t complain at all.  I was happy to
pay.

In today’s competitive environment, you have to stay agile
in your business so that you can pounce on your own
opportunities.  It’s important that you take advantage of
the natural price elasticity that happens every day so
that you get paid what you are worth when you’re
delivering your goods or services.

When you have someone who is thirsty for what you’ve got,
don’t hesitate to charge what you deserve and make everyone
happy in the process.

Go get ‘em.

-Wally

PS – Every day I’m getting closer and closer to unveiling
a really exciting project that I’ve been working on for
the last 9 months.  This thing is going to change the
way you do business forever.  Keep your eyes peeled for
some amazing information coming your way soon.  I’ll let
you know more about this in a few weeks.

PPS – There has been great response so far to the top
secret Internet Sales Success coaching program.  When
you’re looking to take your business – online or offline -
to the next level…or you feel stuck – this is for you.
Reply to this email and I’ll hook you up with an
application.

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The anecdote for too much speed

June 22nd, 2011. Filed Under: Business, Business Tips, Internet Success. Tags: , , , , , ,

Yesterday in the northern hemisphere it was the summer
solstice, the longest day of the year.

Each year when the day passes I am amazed at how the sun
is still setting well after 9pm and how the sun is
already up before 6am.  A good friend of mine said that
it’s a time to slow down, meditate, and take it easy.

So yesterday late in the day I took the dog on a long
barefoot walk and slowed down, and took it easy.

There’s a lesson here for business as well.

Things get very hectic oftentimes and you wake up, check
your email, get a million thoughts going through your
head and before you know it, you’ve lost the main
purpose of your day.

Instead of working on the project that really is going
to make a big difference in your life, you’ve found
yourself caught up in the minor items that are really
distractions at best – and are poisoning your business
at worst.

The antecdote is to slow down.  “Slow down to speed up”
I like to say.

Without the focus on your main purpose it’s bogus
anyway, so why not take it a bit slower and more focused
and see what happens.

When everyone around you is scattered and moving at a
zillion miles an hour, doing more of the same craziness
won’t get you where you’re headed.  Doing the opposite
will.

Members of my top secret Internet Sales Success coaching
program have been applying this secret and much more
over the last few months.  They’re getting great
results…and with less stress.

Find out if this is for you.  Reply to this post and
apply for this very limited and valuable program.

Slowing down and speeding up,
-Wally

PS – A couple days ago I spoke with a gentleman who has
been “stuck in the mud” for years and years.  Great
ideas never unleashed into the world where they can
really make a difference.  After our conversation he’s
taking action now and I look forward to seeing you take
action too.

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When to quit and when to keep going

May 18th, 2011. Filed Under: Business, Business Tips, Internet Success. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A couple of weeks ago I got a call from a good friend of mine,
informing me that it was time to pull the plug on a project that
we’d been working on together over  the last 1.5 years.

It was a project that had grown into hundreds of followers and
had the potential to very quickly grow into a $1 milli-on
business or more.  We had people coming out of the woodwork to
help us everywhere, and we even had a plan to launch this
nationwide in a very short time frame.

We were in the position to bring amazing resources together and
support growing businesses all over the world, and make a pretty
decent living at it too.

But, instead of going forward we pulled the plug.  We stopped.
We decided not to move forward.

And that’s what I want to talk with you about today.

Sometimes it is the right time to push through the tough times.

In fact, most of the time, once you’ve set your vision, and your
goal, and you reach a temporary roadblock – it’s the right thing
to do to keep pushing through the tough parts.

The tough parts are going to happen no matter what, that’s a
fact of life.  So you’ve got to be tough and keep moving through
when the going gets rough.

But sometimes you also have to know when to give up, and move on.

The reason why we both decided to move on from this project, was
a biggie.  And this is the key.

This project, even though it was a good business to be in – was
not in alignment with our goals.  It was not in alignment with
who each of us is as people.  And as a result, even though
everything looked good on paper – it was an energy drain and a
time suck.

When we ’d work on the project, we’d feel like we were moving
away from our goals – not toward them.  We’d feel like we were
taking away from bigger and better things that each of us could
contribute to the world.  And we’d feel drained when it came
time to go back to working towards our main goals.

At this point you might be wondering how we painted ourselves
into this corner, and this is another lesson from the front
lines that I’d like to share with you.

Here’s how…

When we began – none of those problems existed!

When we began, the project fit perfectly into our overall
goals.  We were in alignment.

As time went on though, things changed, and finally a “quit or
get serious” moment occurred, and it was time to make the
decision for real.

And the decision we made was to quit this particular p roject,
and get serious about being aligned even more with our
individual goals and plans.

In your own business, you might be facing a similar crossroads.

It wasn’t until we had quality, outside guidance that we were
able to make the right decision and see the forest for the
trees.

That’s why it’s so important to have a mentor, a coach, or a
colleague who can show you what you’re missing.  Your blind
spots become illuminated with the right relationship.

When you’re stuck in a rut, or know that you could realize your
dreams faster with the right guidance, that’s when the time is
to get a boost.  As they say, when the student is ready, the
teacher appears.

If this resonates with you right now, be sure to contact me
and apply for a spot in my top secret Internet Success
coaching group.  You’ll be glad you did.

Until next time,
-Wally

PS – I’ve been secretly working on some really big things and
I’m excited to share them with you in a few weeks.  We’re
talking a quantum leap in the ways that you can grow, and speed
up the path to your Internet Success.  Stay tuned…

http://wallythewebguy.com/

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Running like you were shot out of a cannon

January 12th, 2011. Filed Under: Business, Business Tips. Tags: , ,

When I was a senior in high school, I ran on the cross country team.  We had a foreign exchange student named David from Columbia who was chomping at the bit to get on the team and run with us.  Because of some weird red tape, he was able to practice with us but not join us when it was time to suit up and run in the actual meet.

So for a couple of months, David would run with us at practice, come to all the team dinners, and for all intents and purposes he was a complete member of the team.  Except that when it came time to race, he had to hold a clipboard on the side and cheer us along.

Finally, after months of practicing and running with us during the week, the red tape cleared.  Just in time for one, single, final race.

The races were set on courses 3.1 miles long (5k) and were usually done on various terrain through parks and trails.  This one was no exception.  The first mile or so took you across some fields, up and down and around a school building, and then to a long uphill.

David was super pumped when he got to the starting line that day.  It was a blue bird Saturday morning, a comfortable autumn day.  100s of kids lined up 50 yards wide and waited for the starting gun.  Our team was dressed in blue and lined up one behind the other.

The gun sounded.  We were off to the races.

David took off in a dead sprint.  It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before or since.

Here are hundreds of racers, starting off their journey, and way out in front…I’m talking 30, 40 yards, is David.  He’s not just beating the field.  He’s leaving everyone, everyone in the dust.

He was still leading on the first bend around the school.  Those of us on the team were saying stuff like “Oh my gawd, I can’t believe we’re gonna be champions because of this guy!”

We couldn’t believe what we were seeing.  Good racers from our team and other teams were struggling to keep up.  Things were good as he rounded that first bend.  Meanwhile, I ran and hoped to keep a decent pace going.

I figured that was the last I would see of David, and tried to settle into my run.

I was wrong…

Once I rounded the first bend around the school buildings and got to that big hill on the first mile marker, something had changed.

I looked ahead.  I saw David.

He was struggling.

No longer was he 50 yards in front of the competition.  The slow part of the group, where I ran, was coming upon him.

He was soaking wet with sweat.  His head was hunched slightly to one side.  He was wheezing.  And I think he was crying.

I remember finally catching up to him and trying to cheer him up.  “Good job, David.  Keep on pluggin’.”   But it was no use.  He had run a 400 Meter dash in a 5k race.  He was out of gas with a long way to go.

His life was going to be miserable.

We kept on running, and passed David.  Everyone did.  David had gone from first to worst in just a manner of minutes.

Finally, eventually, long behind most of the runners, came David.  He was devastated.  Embarrased.  Completely gassed.  But at least he finished.

As he crossed the finish line, the rest of us had already had plenty of time to take a break and hang out.  Our coach ran up to David and tried to console him in Spanish.  He cried some more.  It was a bummer to see.  But I think he learned a big thing that day, and hope we can too.

Often when the new year starts, it’s like getting shot out of a cannon.  You’re like David, going a million miles and hour towards your goals.  And you might reach some of those goals.

But a couple of weeks, or months in, and you’ve gotten a few of the small things checked off, and there are a few more small things on the list.  But you’ve forgotten the bigger goals – Your Objectives.

These are the things that will make things better in your life 5, 10, 20 years from now.  They might not be as obvious as the objectives – or as obvious as leading the pack of hundreds or runners while everyone is watching – but they are much more important.

David got his goal of winning the race.  For about 800 meters.  But he forgot the objective – to pace yourself and make it all 3.1 miles.  You can take your sprints when you get the chance, but they have to be timed correctly so that you don’t lose your energy.

But without the bigger picture of the objective, it’s all for naught.

I designed the Website Critique and Action Plan to make sure that you’re reaching YOUR objectives.  It’s a proven system to make sure that you are using the web and it’s technologies to make 2011 the best year you’ve ever had.

You can begin by clicking here:

http://wallythewebguy.com/services/website-critique-and-action-plan.html

Until next time,

-Wally

P.S. — About a year ago, my friend John called me up because his company wasn’t reaching their goals, or their objectives.  Now they’re setup with an automatic marketing system that is talking directly to hundreds of qualified buyers while he increases his book of business.  And he’s saving time and energy doing it.  It all started here, with a Website Critique and Action Plan:

http://wallythewebguy.com/services/website-critique-and-action-plan.html

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John Denver karaoke sparks Thai Killing Spree

September 2nd, 2010. Filed Under: Business Tips. Tags: , , ,

I awoke early this morning to find out that one of my favorite
singers had supposedly caused a killing spree.

The headline read:  “John Denver karaoke sparks Thai Killing Spree”.

It seems that in Thailand, John Denver’s “Country Roads” is an
immensely popular tune, and is very popular to sing again and
again in the karaoke parties and bars.  People who are on the
other side of the world, far far away from the mountains of
West Virginia are singing their hearts out to a tune sung by
a happy go lucky guy from middle America.

However one guy in Thailand did not share the same feelings
for John Denver, and finally had enough.

He warned his neighbors that if they kept singing their karaoke
– John Denver songs in particular – he would come down and blow
their heads off.

Hearing another lofty round of “Country Roads, take me home…”
he made good on the promise, walking down to his neighbors
house, and started shooting.  The rest is pretty gruesome.

There’s something to be learned from this strange and
unfortunate act.  Its about the power of passion.

And how it can cut both ways.

Passion is super important to instill in your customers.

And something that can be used again and again in your marketing.

It’s vitally important to instill passion in your customers.
And in fact, you don’t really want customers.
You want rabid, raving fans.  A worldwide fan base of rabid
followers, who will sing your tune to others, even when faced
with threats.

John Denver in the 1970s had all of these.

He was a cheesy down home guy with a positive, unwavering joy,
singing songs about nature and love.

Here’s a guy who was screaming “far out” long after it was cool
to do so.  And here’s a guy who was so loved by his fans that
he ended up selling out arena after arena, eventually even
having his own weekly show, singing with the Muppets, and
becoming a movie star.

And it all started with his own passion, playing his few songs
with a guitar.

By sharing this passion and joy with others, he became world
famous and got to share his talents with people worldwide, becoming
quite wealthy in the process.

But just because you create a huge group of stark raving mad fans,
doesn’t mean that you don’t create some enemies along the way.

For every person who I know that loves John Denver, I know
another who can’t stand the guy.

Including the crazy guy in Thailand.

To be successful, and instill passion in your fans, you have to
make a few enemies along the way.

In fact, if you haven’t made a few people mad along the way, you
probably aren’t instilling passion in anybody at all.

So be brave, and be yourself, and bring your passion to the table.

Don’t be afraid to break a couple eggs along the way to
making an omelet.

And when you do make the occasional enemy, make sure you stand
up, pat yourself on the back, and do what John Denver would do.
Stand up and yell “far out!”.

Until next time,
-Wally

P.S. – It’s really easy to bring your passion to the web every
day when you have your own Search Engine Optimized blog.
It’s the fastest way to get your unique voice out to the
entire world and build your rabid following.

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If A Tree Falls On Your House, Does Anybody Hear It?

May 14th, 2010. Filed Under: Business, Business Tips. Tags: ,

Two nights ago at about 4:15 in the morning, I was awoken by a loud thump and shaking house.  It was almost like the house was getting hit repeatedly by thunder.

Turns out, it practically was.

We have a giant cotton wood tree in the front yard, and it had been snowing a famous Colorado spring snow all night long.

Sure enough, a branch that was bigger than most standalone trees had fallen on the roof and then slid off into the front yard.  It barely missed our two cars.

Once everything had calmed down and I realized that no major damage had been done, I went back to bed to deal with the branches in the daylight.

Lucky for us, our house was built in the 60s – and whoever built this thing definitely knew what they were doing.  It’s a really solid, well built structure.

I haven’t had a chance to fully inspect for damage, but from the looks of it, if there is any it’s going to be minimal.

The timing on this has been pretty coincidental.

Just a few days before this happened I got a phone call from one of my customers who runs a very popular, high profile website.  We’re talking the type of website where he’s pulling in more traffic and more sales than most people make in 10 years.

He called me up and said “check out my blog…something just doesn’t look right”.  And sure enough, his blog had been hacked.

Just like when the tree came crashing down on the house the other night, it was time to spring into action.  Turns out that there have been a rash of hacked blogs recently, and his made the hit list.

So I dropped what I was doing and made sure to get him back up and running within a few hours.

The thing was – even though something challenging happened, his website was built on a solid foundation.  So when something bad happens, which it inevitably does from time to time, it’s a lot easier to fix when you have the right pieces in place already.

Just like the well built house.  Minimal damage, problem fixed in just a few hours.

Having the right relationship is key when you’re dealing with something as important as your primary channel to the world.

Here’s one guy who is really doing it right.

Until next time,

-Wally

P.S. – I’ve been working on a really exciting program the last few weeks that I’m going to tell you about soon.  If you’ve ever wanted to build your own website from scratch, you’re going to love it.

P.P.S. – Here are a bunch of folks who are doing it right.


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Discovering Subaru’s Sales secret on the solstice

December 21st, 2009. Filed Under: Business, Business Tips. Tags: , , , ,

This morning when I woke up, got to the office and checked my email, my good buddy Doug sent me something really interesting. He said that Subaru (the car company) had broken all of their sales records for the year.

In a year filled with horror stories of car companies going out of business, here’s something that you never hear about – a car company finishing the year with a record breaker.

Now I’m not surprised one bit.

My first car was a Subaru. My second car was a Subaru. Guess what I drive right now?

A Subaru.

But that’s not really the point. The point is that here’s a car company who is doing the BEST they’ve ever done, and standing tall while other huge names are falling (or being bailed out) around them.

It’s incredibly instructive for us as business owners.

The question becomes, what did they do to have their best year ever?

The secret is simpler than you might guess.

Did they ask for a ton of government handouts? No.
Did they give away the store with a bunch of discounts to customers? No.
Did they hand out huge incentives to their sales people? No.

Here’s all they did.

They asked their customers how they could improve. They asked their customers what they wanted. And then, get this – they gave it to them!

Often times, especially when we get busy, we find ourselves searching for a really incredible answer. But when you step back, the fog clears and the answers are incredibly simple.

Think if GM had followed this rule for the last 30 years. They’d probably be in a lot better shape, and we might even be able to drive a 2010 Pontiac around…

The great news is that you and I can begin to follow the simple rule of listening and then providing our customers what they want right now.

So to that end, I would love to hear from you. Just a quick note telling me what you’d like to learn more about in 2010 – and how I can help you succeed faster online.

Leave a message on the blog or shoot me an email.

Enjoy the solstice, and be sure to take a little quiet that you deserve.

Let’s all listen a little closer to our clients, and make 2010 a record breaker for us, together.

Onward and upward,
-Wally

P.S. – Stay tuned for some really cool changes on the Wally the Web Guy front in 2010. I’ve been working on a lot of really cool stuff that I haven’t told you about yet, that will give you access to more customers, increase your sales with less work, and much more…guaranteed.

P.P.S. – Be sure to shoot me a quick one liner about how I can serve you better next year. The Japanese secret of continuous improvement begins with a single keystroke.

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How something I learned in 3rd grade can double your income

August 25th, 2009. Filed Under: Business, Business Tips. Tags: , , ,

Yesterday I stepped off a plane, gathered my luggage, and found my way to my car – naturally parked at “Wally Park”.   As quick as I could, I drove myself to the nearest Village Inn to get a down home breakfast.  After a weekend of meeting with some of the top minds in the internet marketing world, I was starved.

To catch up on the world and most importantly the Denver Broncos, I picked up Monday’s newspaper.  For 75 cents, this thing was pretty thin.  I had to do a double take to make sure that I hadn’t missed getting the entire paper out of the bin.

But that’s how it is in the newspaper business these days.  They’re going out of business, and trying to cut costs by sticking it to the customer.  I’ll go out on a limb here and say that sticking it to the customer isn’t going to work.

As I sat there eating my eggs and hash browns, looking through my paper-thin paper, it didn’t take very long before I gave up and just switched to reading sports on the iPhone.  Ah, much better.  The stories are available at your fingertips, and easier to find.

This is where we’re headed.  Even the waitress was trying to figure out how to get an iPhone.

If you’re in business, you’ll need to become your own newspaper publisher to succeed.  People want to hear about what you’re up to, and what you can offer.

And there are 4 things that you absolutely must have on your website if you hope to succeed in getting your message out there.

If you do these 4 things right, you’ll not only have more customers knocking down the door.  You’ll have something much more powerful, magical, and super important.  You’ll have pre-qualified customers knocking down your door.

No more tire kickers, asking for that “free proposal”.  No more “hey, can I just buy you lunch and ask you a few questions”.

Instead…

You’ll be activating the law of attraction direct to your business, and guaranteeing that the best people for you to work with are finding you, and practically begging to work with you.

The 4 laws your website MUST follow if you ever hope to make a sale are a lot like 3rd grade show and tell:

1. Show what you provide for customers.
2. Tell what kind of customers you focus on and can serve best.
3. Show how your business is unique from others who provide the same product or service, so customers can decide if your solution is the right one for them.
4. Tell what your company stands for.

Get your personality out there.

People want to do business with other people.  Not a faceless corporation.

Show and tell.   It’s that simple.

Reach for the top,
-Wally

P.S. – Show me your website and I’ll tell you how you can double your income within a year.  For details, click here.

P.P.S. – “Anyone who wants to get serious about making money on the web or already has a website would be crazy not to hire you immediately. Feel free to pass on my contact info if they have any doubts about hiring you – I’ll tell them the straight scoop about “Wally the Web Guy”.”
- Sensei Harrison Huff
http://bullyproofkids.com
Sensei @ bullyproofkids.com

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You Probably Won’t Read This

June 23rd, 2009. Filed Under: Business Tips. Tags: , , ,

After some cross country travel and a return to Fort Collins,
I’m “back in the saddle” as they say up in Wyoming, and places
that wish they were Wyoming.

I recently discovered an important secret about the written
content that we’re putting on our websites that I want to share
with you as soon as I read it.  Like a lot of wisdom, it’s
almost too simple to be true, yet is true nonetheless.

It’s from Jakob Nielsen, who has long been regarded as the
internet’s first and foremost usability researcher.  In fact, he
found out this secret way back in 1997, when I was still
beginning college.

That’s the funny thing about the web though, the more things
change, the more they stay the same.  Reason why is something
that gets lost in all the technobabble – at the end of the day,
it’s still you talking to me.  (Or the other way around)

The thing about human communication is that it has developed
over 10,000 years, with the story being the most compelling and
memorable way to communicate.  Once the written form was
developed, the first major texts were all books of stories,
being passed down.  For instance, the Bible.

1997 is nothing when you compare it to 10,000 years, which puts
a little perspective on things.  So with all this important
communication occurring via sales letters, blog posts,
tweeterings, and what not, here’s what Jakob has to say about
what you put on your website:

“How Users Read on the Web: They don’t” – Jakob Nielsen, Web
Usability Expert

Which begs the question – why put such an effort into all this
writing when most people don’t read it anyway.

Well, it comes back to a fundamental of web design.  And that is
- who are you designing for.

On the first try, you might say “everyone who visits my
website”.  And that would be incorrect.

The beauty of the web is that you’re designing for a small
percentage of folks who REALLY want to be there.  And nobody
else.  So the rub is that the majority of visitors will find you
putrid, annoying, and want to leave immediately.  And they will
do that.

But for a small subsection of folks, they LOVE you.  Right
away.  That’s who you want to keep around.

The typical web visitor is in a hurry.  So they’ll scan your
text to find what they’re looking for.  They’ll scan headlines,
pictures, hyperlinks – and then if you’re giving them what they
want, they’ll go further.

That’s when the reading actually happens.

It’s just that you have to get it to happen.

That’s where proven design comes in.  It takes the words you
have on paper (or screen, in this case) and ensures that your
headlines grab the visitor and pull them in further.  It uses
the right fonts and color combinations to ensure that you’re
getting your point across.  And most importantly, it’s setup in
such a way that someone can easily find what they’re looking for
in record time.

Because another proven fact is that it typically takes at least
12 touches with a prospect before they begin to buy from you.

And if you’re not compelling on the first touch, there won’t be
11 more to go.

An incredibly simple and easy way to ensure that you’re website
stays compelling for the right people – that is, those who want
to send you money, is to get your design right.  Here’s a low
cost way to ensure that your website’s design is right the first
time, right out of the gate.

Stay compelling,
-Wally

P.S. — Shoot me an email if you’re interested in hearing details about the “Automatic Follow Up System” that I put in place for one of my star clients.  It’s so powerful that I’m not sure if I’m going to release the details into the public yet.  http://www.wallythewebguy.com/contact.htm

P.P.S. — Random buzz: I just found that Obama’s garden at the White House has bees, and being a beekeeper, that made me pretty happy.

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