So what the heck is going on with this blogcasting site? One day there's tons of audio content, next day - ZERO.
Life is never ending constant change and if you're smart, improvement is BIG part of the menu. Anthony Robbins calls it CANI - Constant aand Never Ending Improvement. Funnily enough, Mike's been hanging with Anthony since early this spring, becoming a Platinum Partner. Smart Move on his part to be sure, to re-invest in himself with the # 1 self improvement Guru of the 20th and 21st century.
Imagine if you'd gotten a chance to hang with Napoleon Hill. We've told Mike we will be joining him and Anthony Robbins in Namale soon. That's the island thaat Anthony Robbins owns and whwre he holds many of his "Mastery Level" courses. Not soon enough for me, but soon. In the meantime, Heidi and I will see Anthony Robbins in Atlanta for four days…that's the event where yopu do the firewalk - But I disgress…
Don't worry, all that great audio content is coming back soon…and then some. we have a lot in the vault.
In the meantime, you can still download the current episodes in iTunes and all other podcast directories. The podcast will be returning here soon. The next new "remote location recording episodes" have been produced and will arrive here soon…
Here's the inside scoop about what's happening with the Podcast With Mike BlogCast site: We're testing the wide array of new plug-in's with this site. Kudo's to Jack Humphrey at Authority Site Central for the leading pioneering research conducted in Web 2.0 tactics, Effective harnessing of the Word Press Blogging Blogging Platform to build Authority Sites, Social Networking Strategies. We can't wait to harness the amazing potential of the systems that support this blogging platform, and reporting on its results.
You'll notice that Mike was at the Authority Site Summit recently, all as part of a six week road trip, which of course is a very smart move from our perspective. And to be sure, many of you have probably read his most recent posts on selling "the easy button" and his "retirement from the speaking platform / platform selling.
Change is the only constant in the universe.
Mike's "retirement announcement" comes as no surprise - His travel schedule has been a extremely grueling one for three years. And Heidi and I only saw the tip of the iceberg during our "internet marketing fieldtrip of 2006-2007…"
Somewhat like Mike, we have been on the road, making many, many firm friendships, connections, creating opportunities, deal making. We have had the greatest advantages in over 18 trips since September 2006 to meet with Mike and just about every other major internet marketer. As a result, we have gained an extreme amount of CLARITY about this marketspace in a very short amount of time; the systems required; the fusion of those systems into new applications that haven't even been attempted yet.
And what we want to do inside and outside of this market space.
We've had an opportunity of a lifetime to hang with Mike and many other major marketers at conferences, cruises, dinners, events, bars and so much more. We probably have acquired more hours of video, and interviews with major marketers than one could reasonably assemble so quickly any other way.
Archiving and logging it all has been a HUGE challenge. Re-purposing it all will be fun, and…extremely profitable.
The pre-pre launch of Podcast Marketing Center, has been all about forming relationships by giving our new friends an opportunity to know, like and trust us.
For example, Jeff Walker's Product Launch Formula has been instrumental in planning how we'd meet and connect with marketers like Mike. It is one of the finest programs ion the market. And Jeff Walker is such a sweet guy. We've had several opportunities to meet one on one at conferences, and score an invite to his last workshop as a result. We really like Jeff a lot and highly recommend him.
In fact one of the podcast episodes is all about Product Launches.
It's been a lot of fun, but at some point you have to come home and get to work. We thought we had last March, but the invites kept coming to attend events, and with some of the names inviting us, you just don't say no…
FINALLY though we are home, almost. We're off to California to meet with Alex Mandossian, Podcast Academy and for Podcast Expo in Ontario, California. Jeff Johnson in Detroit (only 3 hours away from our offices) the weekend after we go to Atlanta to see Anthony Robbins for four days . I am REALLY excited about seeing what Jeff is up to. He is a "traffic genius", and this is an area we are heavily exploring, as part of our systems.
But I'm debating, do I go for the entire weekend, when I have an opportunity to go for one day. I'm itching to get the work done…BUT I know that what Jeff is teaching at this workshop is very much in line with where we are going with our systems development. The reason I hesitate next up in November is Anthony Robbins for 4 days in Atlanta. And then in December it John Childers for our first training. John offered Heidi and I so sweet a deal at TIMME II, after I told him as much as we wanted to take his training, we couldn't responsibly fit it in for almost a year…Then we have a speaking gig in LA on podcasting in February 08 as we begin the Beta Test of our course and of course our podcasting software which is in development.
We just got back from Denver for Jeff Walker's workshop in June, and already it's almost October…see how this goes. One thing leads to another.
So we can REALLY relate to what Mike is saying about being extremely focused and effective in the office. But we can easily relate to the work that has gone in to get us this far along the road as we work towards launching our Beta Testing of our first software offering, tentatively early this November. Like Mike, I know that our time on the road is slowing down in 2008, while we complete our systems and work on our agenda for PMC's launches.
We are testing our ideas in an offline market currently in which we have an offline legal services business. We're restructuring it for on-line, and working towards divesting the offline services for a 7 figure exit strategy. All thanks to a recommendation by Mike to enroll in Rich Schefren's program. That recommendation led to a mastermind call with Rich, a week ago Friday which I set up for our "Schefren Mastermind group" affectionately known as T-Dot.
I just finished the simplified design for it, after spending weeks on the full blown suite of podcast software products and how they integrate together.
Now we are building the necessary systems to launch our vision of multi-media marketing in the 21st century, and how best to go about helping those who are beginning their journey, both inside this marketspace, but even more exciting, those outside of internet marketing.
There have been a few hiccups along the way, as we have sorted through outsourcing & systems design, but that's been more a matter of sorting out what any outsourcing team's strengths truly are. We've had the good fortune to hook up recently with one of the most talented programmers on the East Coast for our web programming needs; and to sort out what our first outsourcing teams real strengths are.
What a whirlwind of a journey! But being able to meet, and observe with some of the finest marketing minds on the planet, capturing a lot of it for posterity in audio and/or video has been nothing short of amazing. There is nothing like the road to accelerate your growth. There is nothing like the road to slow it down…
I know of only one other more determined road warrior than us in the last year - Simon Leung, who one year ago sat a few seats away at TIMME II, with a burning ambition to speak at the next TIMME, which became WIMME. Heidi and I are very proud of him - he made it happen. He was a speaker at WIMME just a few days ago.
And there lies the key lesson: Don't let anyone tell you can't do it, just go and make it happen. That's what we did to meet all these marketers, camera and recording gear in hand, like guerilla interviewers…
You've got to make it happen folks - It takes an intense desire and focus to succeed and overcome all challenges and obstacles. And we've had a few that could have ended our journey in a heartbeat. But we were very, very determined. Extremely creative, flexible and patient when necessary, willing to lend a hand, for example at JV Alert in Orlando when the cold snap meant Ken MacArthur was short one videographer.
Though we'd been invited, I spent the entire event behind the camera, except for a few stolen moments at StomperNet.
And that's how it is done, one relationship at a time - For the last 14 months ours has been education and relationships. We lost a partner in the process, but gained dozens of new and infinitely better business relationships that are just beginning to bear fruit. These last rounds on the road in 2007 will bookend and end this chapter of growth for us.
Mike has been a HUGE part of that growth, and we are eternally grateful for the opportunity he's given us to work with him, the knowledge and friendship he has shared. He's one of the most giving people we've met on the road. Attending as a VIP to the 7 Figure Business Workshop in February was nothing short of amazing.
To go from being unknowns at the beginning of TIMME II, to having people cheer at the end of the event when our photo's went up, to podcasting with Mike, being on his VIP list, attending his cruise last January, and taking that and utilizing what he taught us, parlaying it into new opportunities with several major marketers would never have happened if we'd been timid. After Jeff Johnston's event we will have attended over 22 events in 14 months.
That's almost 2 events a month - all while running an offline business. Not easy. but it can be done. It's not been perfect, but neither is life. You just keep moving forward the best way you know how.
So go for it! Don't expect miracles overnight, the bigger the dream, the deeper your foundation must go into the ground to support it.
We have a very tight-knit community within the internet marketing space; you will meet some of the greatest people you'd ever want to know. But you've got to get invested in the game, put some skin in. Not everything you do will work, but when it does, it is really something to behold.
One HUGE opportunity is that which lies outside of the internet marketing community. Heidi and I have been closely
watching the developments within our community over the last 14 months. Watching it mature and begin to move outside of the Business To Business model within our own community is a natural evolution.
And a necessary one as this space becomes more competitive.
These insights have had an evolving impact on our thinking as we work on defining our "Blue Ocean Strategy" to claim our marketing space. we have the great fortune of having learned from the best and brightest minds while we are in start-up. Its an enviable position to be in, as we transition from the offline business world to the on-line one. We've been given a rare glimpse into separating the wheat from the chaff in building systems, and as a result 2008 is looking really, really good for The Podcast Marketing Center as we begin testing systems against one another.
We're currently in the process of building a team of stars to integrate several cutting edge teleseminar / podcasting, traffic, list building, sales processes and CRM systems so we can create our own version of the "Easy Button", cloned systems that just need "easy content" based on networking and licensing.
We are also working on software to make podcasting a complete no-brainer for the "non-techies" out there. And we are also working on a new tagging product that incorporates the best research available today on multi-media SEO strategies. We can't wait to share what we've learned.
Plus a few new ideas for Podcast With Mike - stay tuned.
Danny Guspie - Executive Producer / Co-Host
PodcastWithMike
Podcast With Mike is a production of
