202 karma · joined October 5, 2012
But to me there's nothing worse than someone whose only way of adding value is criticism something they weren't creative or proactive enough to do themselves.
By that I mean, for some of us, you get to the point where yes, you want the advantage of multiple locations - but you also want routine.
The problem is when you start traveling around enough, it gets harder and harder to "get it all" in one place.
For me the solution is, as one person mentioned (or rather, several) 1. establish a home base(s) 2. get second homes or rentals you've been to before in familiar places (you can get to know AirBnB landlords many of the have multiple homes) 3. coworking spots around the world 4. start connecting with nomad communities - like a diplomat, you'll start running into the same people over and over again - forums, private/paid communities 5. tap into your alumni abroad community (if you have one) 6. establish daily routines (for me, it's a morning call with several other location independent founders) 7. meet ups
Eventually you'll have a set up where you have say "home bases" in 2-3 countries/continents....places you can go back to sleep in your own bed, say Hi to the local butcher, grocer etc, read your own books.....
...then you can travel several times a year (conferences, random hot spots, etc) - for the excitement, because one starts to miss the thrill of traveling.
I definitely think though that multiple home bases + coworking spots + connecting with the location independent community + a codified daily routine is the way to go!
Anyone who can enjoy this life should be totally grateful for the options it affords one.
The biggest challenge I've found (someone tell me if you can relate) is that often I find myself hanging out with: 1. trust fund babies (born into having the time, income, location freedom) 2. retirees (have the time, income, location freedom but had to work for it) 3. people on welfare (have the time and often times the money too, lol) 4. location independent professionals/entrepreneurs (perfect match but still quite niche) ...in my age group. Man when you walk around during the day, outside of the traditional corporate/9-to-5 set up, that's rarefied air.
Someone who really establishes his/her community as the penultimate resource for connecting location independent founders and professionals with homes, coworking sports almost like a done-for-you social network, will be solving a huge problem.
Anyhoo, on a different note, the material on hybrid sales was most interesting.
I believe it was David (Skok) who mentioned how much adding just one additional touch balloons customer acquisition costs considerably.
http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/business-models/the-touchles...
IMHO, an unaccounted touch in the sales process is probably one of the hidden costs that harms new businesses the most. The fact is, many business owners just don't track these steps in their workflow or sales process (failing to understand that when they want to scale, they'll need to add more staff and HR costs considerably)
Also at the OP said, any thing that involves communicating with phone + manual work - things businesses are already doing - are opportunities (potentially)
"You lose a lot of traffic to people that directly type in the url." This is why you buy your own domain and only pay for traffic that goes to your domain. If needed (ex. the merchant starts giving you drama, the offer doesn't convert) - you replace it with a redirect.
You use other people's offers to test traffic sources, email sequences, landers. Then once you get it right you build your own products. People have been doing it for years.
I'd like to refer 2 resources. One is Dr. Robert Maurer's "The Kaizen Way: One Small Step Can Change Your Life".
This book is about how you can bypass the fear mechanisms of the brain, which cause procrastination and failure.
The second is "The Winner Effect" by Ian H. Robertson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlxCN1aCa2M
Both of these books are grounded in research and not "rah rah" feel good stuff. With regard to Dr, Robert Maurer's Book "The Kaizen Way". I'm a living case study. Through direct application of his theories in less than 4 months I accomplished something that I had been "thinking" about doing for 8 years.
Totally ground-breaking. I'd also recommend Darren Hardy's "The Compound Effect" and Jeff Olsson's "The Slight Edge".
All these books are about understanding how the brain works and using it more effectively to get results - THAT STICK AND LAST.
If I had to throw another one in it would be Charles Duhigg's "Habits". It's been said that up to 50% of our daily actions are habits - things we do without thinking about it. That included "how" we think. Right now if you see yourself as a "failure" you're going to have to work to alter that. You have the mindset and daily habits of a "failure". So you have to literally program in the habits and mindset of a "winner". You could try a gazillion things right but if you miss that, it will be all for naught.
Good luck!
...About 2 months ago, I invested about 60-80 tangible labor hours into understanding this. Why? Because of setting really 'big' goals that I knew required doing things differently.
I compiled a list of experts in excel, went to youtube for lectures, went to Amazon for books. I have a list if anyone's interested. A few: Check out these videos and Audios by Dr. Robert Maurer, Dike Drummond, Dr. Glenn Livingston and Dr. BJ Fogg and Neuro scientist turned startup founder Ryan Levesque:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQurEc7HRt0&list=UUU24alR...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWUDV6xJRPc
http://www.rocketmemory.com/articles/kaizen-mind-trick
http://www.payperclicksearchmarketing.com/obliterate-procras...
Pass it along! The more fellow entrepreneurs understand that fear is not weakness but a natural neurological reaction to change, the better off we will all be.
In 1 month, I've been more productive than the past 10 months - and it's going to stick too. (Grew my audience by 30%, found a business partner even though I'd been through a few before, finished another project I had been "thinking" about for 1 year - the list of results from putting the research into action is too numerous to mention).
PS The Kaizen Way by Dr. Robert Maurer is one of the best, best, best books ever showing how to avoid the procrastination that is created by the brain in reaction to the amygdala's safeguards against change (i.e. fear).
There are are some serious folks there who ask really thought-provoking questions ;)
Congrats.... "Boldness has genius, power and magic in it..." - Goethe
This is the concept of early customers as stakeholders.
You can be upfront with people by saying, "Hey, I've looked into your needs and painful problems and I really want to serve you. I want to build this solution. But it costs money. Here's an example (show mark up) of what I have in mind. If I get x number of people to buy now, I'll build it. You can even get lifetime access (or some substantially reduced price) for taken on the risk and believing in me".
I think all those people who discount this method of serving customers are letting their fear of rejection get hold of them.
It's okay!
Fear is a natural reaction of the lizard brain; there's nothing to be afraid of.
But those of us that have tried this method and have seen how willing people are to work with you to build a solution (if your "heart" is in the right place, i.e. to serve them), know it works.
Seth Godin has a talk about "shipping on time" and just getting it out there to let the market decide (that's totally worth seeing).
(From ForaTV's channel, "Overcoming The Lizard Brain" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqozprFZ_38 )
When people value something, they WANT to exchange money. Why? Because they want to take possession of it.
Exchanging money for value on a deep, primal level satisfies this urge.
Not only that, often times people say they want a solution but it's not what they really want. And often times, people are clueless.
But when they exchange money for value, you have a clear indication of just that - what they value.
This is the kind of stuff that a growth hacker really gets. The way I see it, in the B2B market, outside of Hubspot, very few companies are doing this as a solid lead generation and lead conversion strategy.
I've taken to using private Skype rooms a lot (which is an underutilized resource and, incidentally, can be monetized for niche markets)
First of all friend (may I call you that?), please chilax. No need to be flabbergasted.
A couple of points I'd like to make. To begin with, in my belief system, as the owner of an asset, you (me or WHOMEVER), has the right to do with that asset whatever you wish.
If you buy something - for whatever intention - I have no right to project my beliefs about what is or isn't appropriate use for YOUR PRIVATE PROPERTY.
As an example, if you were to buy a plot of land (whatever your intention), does someone have the right to say, "you're not adding value to society" because you don't develop it?
I'm a firm believer that if a person doesn't know or appreciate the value of something, they are not the best owner of it.
But that's another issue.
Imagine this. You and I both have an equal amount of free time per week - say 20 extra hours to do what we so desire.
I decide to play online scrabble, write random HN posts and yell at the screen when people get answers wrong on Jeopardy.
You on the other hand, decide to use your time doing other things. You spend hours: -reading through scientific journals (a good source of emerging technologies and future generic domain names that will be popular) -analyzing data from keyword research tools -charting data you found on DNSalesPrice.com
etc etc After putting in the work, you find and invest in a small portfolio of domain names.
Now, one day I read The Lean Startup and decide I want to have a go at this thing called a "start up".
Doing whatever research I so decide, I think up a domain name.
Now, it turns out that the domain name has been registered.
By whom?
By none other than you.
So, I send an email and ask you to quote me a price.
When I get an email from you quoting a price that's in my mind at an "outrageous markup" - I start blasting you on forums.
Forget the fact that: a) neither of us had some kind of unfair advantage. You decided to put in the work it takes to find and acquire these assets - I on the other hand decided to enjoy my leisure time
b) Another party comes along who sees the value in your "outrageous markup" and happily pays you. Not only that, they turn the investment they made into the asset they bought from you into a 25+% ROI (or more....far better than the stock market, wouldn't you agree?)
c) They also substantially lower their customer acquisition costs via their media buys with the right strategic domain investment (content on this relationship here - http://www.ozdomainer.com/domain-names-podcast-episode-19-wi... 15:30 difference between good domain and a bad one is [approx] 4 to 1)
One could go on, but I'll stop here.
I find it shocking when people blame other people for "extortion" for making smart business decisions that, had they had either the foresight or the work ethic, they could also have done.
It's one thing if one fraudulently stole someone's domain then demanded they pay you for its return. Bu when one party takes on the inherent risk involved in ANY kind of investment - then have others lambast them for doing so?
That I can't understand. Having said that, I'll end with a favorite quote of mine (paraphrased Emerson) - "I may not agree with what you say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it".
So rather than post an emotional response, why not engage that no doubt massive neocortex of yours and investigate. I give it to you to decide. And of course I'm being snarky here, it's a shortcoming of mine ;)
On a different note, this firm has good research on the matter http://www.fairwindspartners.com/Why-It-Matters/FAQs/ (NB: I'm not affiliated in any way)
Shoot for an optin rate ~45.1% at least (if this is hard straight out the box, just have 1 data field, i.e. email address not name+email address)
Profit hack: consider a funnel like this:
squeeze page-->immediate redirect = sales page-->sales page thank you has something like PayWithATweet.com on it...offer a bonus for a social share.
Good luck!
Domain investments are a proper alternative asset class and many people (some of whom have gone to the best schools in the world) are active players.
Renting quality generics is a good way to go these days as well. Frank Schilling's portfolio collectively pulls more traffic per month than Twitter but he's still managed to largely stay under the radar screen....