I'm pleased to have Michael Stelzner as my guest on today's show. If you don't know who Michael is… well in the words of Ron Burgundy, he's “kind of a big deal.” Don't act like you're not impressed.
We'll get to Michael's interview in a few minutes, but first I want to tell you about the upcoming celebration, and a few other reasons to keep listening, such as…
- The most compressive goal-setting and tracking software I have found.
- The number 166.
- One of my NEW top Copywriting book recommedations.
- Now let's get on with it…
Announcements:
- Thanks to all who have left a review of the podcast in iTunes. This week I would like to thank: Kirk Bowman, Eric Dingler, “Lady J” Jevonnah Ellison.
- It looks like the one-day mastermind with me and 11 other people, where we make radical progress in your business… is on. You can get the full story here.
- Next week's show is number 100, and we will be devoting it exclusively to listener questions. I'm turning the microphone over to you.
Conferences where I will be attending and/or speaking:
- NAMS 11 February 7-9, 2014, Atlanta, GA
- Social Media Marketing World, March 26-28, 2014, San Diego, CA
- The Launch Conference, April 7-10, 2014, Orlando, FL
- JV Alert: The Perfect Game April 24-27, Denver, CO
- SCORRE Conference May 5-8, Orlando, FL
Tip Of The Week
I have been experimenting with a number of different goal-setting apps, and so far the most full-featured of the bunch is GoalsOnTrack.
Things I like about GoalsOnTrack:
- It has a great little iPhone app.
- It syncs my due dates with Google Calendar.
- It's hierarchical, so it works like an outline.
- I can track my goal, the purpose that drives the goal, the start and end dates… and most importantly, the habits and action plans needed to support the goal.
I do wish they offered a native iPad app, but other than those two points I love GoalsOnTrack.
Copywriting Corner
Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content
One of the problems I see in the world of copywriting and marketing today is a lack of original ideas. Look, folks, John Caples and David Ogilvy did not achieve their greatness by using somebody else's “swipe file”. 
They got their breakthrough ideas by dipping into a deeper well, where they probably found ideas swimming around that grew out of reading books (you remember those, stories like Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn, The Stand, Fahrenheit 451, Etc.?)
I suggest you dip into those wells for yourself.
The best copy, in my humble but accurate opinion, is between the covers of the best novels. But, I digress.
Would you like a shortcut to writing better copy?
This great book was recommended to me by my friend Andy Traub. In the book, Levy teaches a concept and technique he calls freewriting. His claim is that it helps you produce breakthrough ideas and solve problems in minutes. This book has literally changed my writing process. I'm using the freewriting technique to generate material for my blog posts, podcasts, books, seminars, and products.
What I was shocked to discover is that even if we consider ourselves creative, we tend to hold ourselves back. Inside each of us lives The Editor. Her job (yes, I'm afraid it's always a her) is to tell us that our writing is not perfect, that we need to go back and revise it, that we need to make sure we never sound stupid. Heaven forbid if anybody thought we were crazy.
What results from that kind of limiting belief is limited thinking. Careful thinking. Thinking that wants to make sure we fit in. Thinking that keeps us stuck.
Free writing, on the other hand, starts with you writing as fast as you can, for as long as you can, about something that's important to you and ignoring the standard rules of grammar and spelling and what you learned in English class and what your mother might think and what the Ladies' Society For Literary Decency might think.
I freewrote that last sentence. Notice that it was longer than most of my more controlled writing. It also, I think, had a little sparkle. I'm not going to polish it fix it, I'm going to leave it here as an example that perhaps will tease you into buying this book.
I've only scratched the surface of Levy's work. He has six big “secrets” that help render your Editor unconscious and let your genius run around for a while, naked and free. There are also a score of other exercises and techniques. And yes, he does teach you how to refine your free writing into something that you would share with somebody without fear or embarrassment.
Spiritual Foundations
2 hours.
That's the amount of time each week the average businessperson, manager, or entrepreneur spends inside of church. If you've done the math already you realize that there are only 168 hours in a week. That means that 166 hours are spent outside the church for most modern Christians.
There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, that's my point in this week's Spiritual Foundations. Jesus never told us, “go to church.” In fact, he said something quite opposite:
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Mark [16:15]
Most modern Christians act as if “ministry” is a job title that preachers have. But according to the Bible, the job of the preacher is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. The saints (that's you and me) are the ones doing the ministry.
As a minister in the marketplace, you are quite literally going “into all the world.”
In future episodes, we're going to focus a lot more intently on what it means to do marketplace ministry without being preachy or repulsive to other people. We're going to focus on how you show the love of Christ to others in such a way they are changed by it… they are changed by him.
For now, I leave you with something to think about. Just like Jesus, your meant to be out there, doing your father's business. So how's business?
Feature Segment: Social Media Marketing With Michael Stelzner
Michael Stelzner is the founder of Social Media Examiner, the world’s largest online social media magazine. Michael is also the author of the books Launch and Writing White Papers… and the man behind some large events, such as Social Media Marketing World (the most influential physical event in the industry, and I am thrilled to be speaking there next month), and Social Media Success Summit, the largest online conference. He is also host of the Social Media Marketing podcast show.
Get your tickets by clicking here.
What To Do Now
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Question: What are your big questions about how to monetize your message? Click here to leave your comments.