“What is gradually emerging is that the leading edge of my own development is deepening and clarifying my relationship with my wife, Rebekah.  This is an awesome yet shocking realization – awesome in terms of [...]]]>

Two days ago I wrote major post to the polyphasic sleep blog (which is where I put my thoughts-in-formation), excerpted below:

“What is gradually emerging is that the leading edge of my own development is deepening and clarifying my relationship with my wife, Rebekah.  This is an awesome yet shocking realization – awesome in terms of the possibilities, and shocking in that this had not been obvious to me before.  In my usual masculine, goal-oriented, single-pointed consciousness, bulldozer style of being, I have been speeding forward without great awareness or concern for the people around me and their needs.  Perhaps this was developmentally appropriate and timely – and I can hardly complain about the results – but the time has come to get this handled.  It may also be possible that “getting this handled” is a masculine problem-solving approach towards a situation that is likely to be a lifetime of work – oh lucky me to have such an interesting problem to solve, as the problem of relating lovingly and deeply and powerfully all the time to the person with whom I have chosen to share my life (and my business!).”

This is classic Morehouse philosophy.  Interesting how I’ve come full-circle here.

In addition I want to report some very big wins:

• We have two trial residents at Trellis right now, with a third expected next weekend.  All of them very cool people.  This is pretty wild, and it gets intense as we try and put on a good show for trial residents.  It’s a major production, but well worth it – having new people here generally ups everyone’s level of fun and attention.  I also just completed a major upgrade to  the Trellis House website.  We are on the map now and we aren’t going away.
• I wrote the skeleton website for my new internet marketing and social media consulting company over the weekend, Everyman Marketing, including two good articles – check out the lead article Why traditional website publishing is dead (and why you should use Wordpress or similar CMS instead).  Also my Project Mojave group (internet business development group) has started in earnest and I have two very committed members (PS: It’s not too late to join!)
• I am coaching one-on-one with Saniel Bonder, who is an effin’ genius
• And, I have two other high-power developmental groups going, plus one in formation:  I have a half-hour weekday Mastermind call with two friends that has been amazing; I have a group of friends from Shalom Mountain exploring awakening within Waking Down in Mutuality; and we are starting a 4-part course here at Trellis in a few weeks called Conscious Eating that I am very excited about.  I am also very excited about Mark Hyman’s book The Ultramind Solution, which is about how nutrition and self-care affects our cognitive capacity and resilience.  This is so right-on for me right now.

And yet I continue to be challenged by my caffeine addiction, relationship with Rebekah, juggling time and money, worries and anxieties about the future, etc…  Same old, same old. Why is life so complicated?

But my situation is by no means unusual.  Half the people I know are in some kind of major crisis or life transition right now…

Half the people that I am working with these days are struggling in some way – to support their families, find their passion, relate creatively and compassionately to their partners, deal with health issues… Situations that are almost surreal abound, magical encounters and synchronicities are commonplace, many of us can barely tell what is up and what is down, and virtually all of us are worried about something or other.  It would not be too much to say that life as we know it is getting turned upside down.

By comparison with what I am seeing all around me, in fact, my own life occurs as “a walk through the tulips”.  I am living my dream and I have my Beloved, after all – what could be better?

“Love and work… work and love, that’s all there is.”

– Sigmund Freud

So here is my inspirational quote for the day:

“Don’t worry, you are going to be alright.”

– Marc Beneteau

I know that of which I speak.

I made an offer in yesterday’s post to join me in this course I am taking called “Project Mojave”.  This is a course for creating an internet business that will generate $4k/mth in product or service sales within 12 weeks.  I don’t do anything alone these days unless I have to, and so [...]]]>

The basic offer

I made an offer in yesterday’s post to join me in this course I am taking called “Project Mojave”.  This is a course for creating an internet business that will generate $4k/mth in product or service sales within 12 weeks.  I don’t do anything alone these days unless I have to, and so I am putting together a small group to take the course with me and to support each other.  I am offering my internet expertise for free to everyone in the group, plus access to my outsourcing network, plus a weekly Mastermind group.  “Internet expertise” means that I will tell you what to do, and guide you if necessary, in creating your website, mailing list, shopping cart, etc.  All you need to do is write your content and carry on the other activities within the course (market research,testing, promotion etc), and I ask in exchange is that you review any products that I will create during this time.  My products are probably going to be training videos on website development and marketing a business online, so I don’t think that aspect should be too painful for you .  The course costs $97/mth and this is going to be my main business project over the summer.  I have put aside 20-25 hours a week for it.  You won’t need to put aside as much time as that, but it is a serious commitment, and I do not recommend you join if you don’t have at least 5-10 hours to put into it weekly.  I cannot send you a link to the course as registration closed last Friday, but I have copied the curriculum below.  If you want to join, please reply to this mail, we’ll setup a brief time to chat to make sure that this is what you want, and then I will send you the registration link.

Is this another “Internet marketing course”?

Yes.  I happen to believe that 99% of “internet marketing courses” are cr@p.  But here is why I think this one is different.  Most of these courses teach (or suggest) that you can create a product, put up a website, do a little search-engine optimization (SEO) or pay-per-click (PPC), and start raking in the bucks.  In my estimation, however, about 10% of these projects ever make any money at all, and 1% generate a living wage.  And so, yes, to intend to create a product that will generate $4k/mth after 12 weeks is quite ambitious.  Which is why I want you to understand the following before you begin:

• Creating a product (downloadable ebook or training video) is an extremely valuable addition to any kind of service business.  It establishes your credibility, brings you customers, and helps you build your mailing list.  If you are starting “cold”, it’s unlikely you can make a product that will generate $4k/mth in pure product sales in 12 weeks.  However, if you are using your product in order to “pre-sell” your services, the chances that this will be worth your while financially are much, much greater.  Many of us have expertise which we have acquired over the years that people would pay for, and it’s more valuable for us to sell it as a product rather than a service, since selling product does not require incremental use of our time.  Furthermore, current technology allows for very rapid product development through PC-based video software etc.  It could take as a little as a week to actually make the product.  What takes up most of the time is brainstorming, market research and promotion.  Plus our own education of course.
• These projects typically fail for one or more of several reasons.  The first reason is that people “put the cart before the horse”, they develop a product before knowing if there is a market for it.  Market research and testing are fundamental (and ongoing) aspects of the process, and the course explain how to do this.  The second reason they fail is that people lack information (which is compounded, as I say, by the plethora of “get rich quick” courses of this nature).  I personally think, however, that the major reason is that people are unable or unwilling to put in the time that it takes, they quickly get discouraged, and/or don’t feel passionate enough about themselves or their product.  Again, the course addresses this problem.  I am of the firm conviction that all projects undertaken with love in your heart (ie., with a higher purpose in mind) succeed.  They don’t always make money, but they always bring you something precious, even if it’s “just” an education.  This is my goal in launching this project.

How did  “Project Mojave” get started?

One of the reasons that I feel so confident in believing that you are going to get value from this course, is that I feel a lot of synergy with the main author.  His name is Clay Collins, and he got his start by authoring a popular blog called The Growing Life.  He started writing about people’s passion to have lives of deeper meaning and purposes by “liberating” themselves from their regular (boring) jobs, and he attracted quite a following.  In fact, he became one of the most popular bloggers on the subject of personal productivity and alternative lifestyles, not quite a Steve Pavlina or Zen Habits, but in the same league.  Eventually, he turned his attention to the financial aspect of “liberation”.  To be perfectly honest,  I was extremely skeptical of his new direction, as I thought he was just going to turn into another “internet marketing guru” (scam artist), and I told him so directly at the time.  But so far, he seems to have maintained his integrity and he has been extremely courteous and available in any personal contacts we have had.  He has also added some pretty high-power people to the faculty, such as well-known social networking blogger and consultant Laura Roeder.  All faculty are available for phone consults at no additional charge.  I believe that Project Mojave is going to become a serious competitor to the most popular internet marketing and SEO course available (StomperNet), since it’s about 1/8 of the cost and, in my opinion, better (since it addresses the human challenges of building an internet business and not just the technical aspects).

So without further ado here is the course curriculum

If you want to join me, simply respond to this mail and we’ll take it from there.

Find Your Market or Niche (Weeks 1-4)

Understand How Freedom Businesses Work

• The “Freedom Business” Blueprint
• The Month 1 Roadmap
• 5 Online Business Realities (That No One Talks About)

Find and Test Markets

• Finding and Brainstorming Markets, Part 1
• Finding and Brainstorming Markets, Part 2
• Internet Business Intelligence 101
• Keyword Research on Roids
• How to Legally Steal (Draw Inspiration From) Other People’s Markets and Niches

Select a Specific Need You Will Address

• The Three Essential Ingredients of a Freedom Business Product or Market

Create Your Information Product (Weeks 4-6)

• Understand How Rapid Product Creation Works
• Outline Your Product
• Conduct Research
• Create Your Product

Create Your Sales Process (Weeks 7-8)

• Develop “Freeline” Content
• Build Your List
• Build a Website
  • SEO Optimize
  • Social Media Optimize
• Write Your Sales Letter
• Begin Scouting Potential JVs

Make Your First Sale (Week 9)

• Form JV Partnerships
• Create an Affiliate Program
• Run PPC Campaigns
• Purchase Advertising
• Generate Social Media Traffic and Attention

Earn $134 in One Day (Weeks 10-12)

• Improve Your Sales Process
• Optimize Your PPC Campaigns
• More SEO Optimization
• Create an Exhaustive Social Media Campaign
• Add a Backend Product
• Create an Upsell
• Create your Auto-Responder Sequence

Supersize Your Business (Go from $4k/Month to $10k/Month)

Automate Your Business (Create a 20-hour Work Week)