Vlogs, Wikis and Pods + Choose Success for Yourself
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NOW I KNOW YOU’VE HEARD ABOUT BLOGS…
You should have, you’re reading (and listening) to one now, and we’ve talked about blogs enough this past few posts. But what about a vlog, or a wiki, how about a pod?
In Solopod 3 we find out what these weird new terms mean to us as solo online entrepreneurs.
We also think about how your own success in life has nothing to do with luck, breeding or super-intelligence. It’s down to you making a simple choice.
All the best,
Dave.
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Written transcript from Solopod 3
Perhaps you’ve heard about blogs - the hottest communication story of last year. Commentators from Newsweek to the Wall Street Journal, from CNN to PBS have devoted time to the phenomenon. Blogs are just one of the new technologies that are changing the way politicians communicate with voters and businesses communicate with customers.
For marketers, these changes mean more direct interaction with customers and potential customers. By speaking and listening directly with the customer marketers are able to reduce the expense for public relations and advertising. Of course, these developments are worrying some in the pr and advertising industries, as well as the news media.
Many things about marketing communication won’t change, of course: you still need to have something to say. And the best way to apply all these technologies is still within a business niche. With that said, here are some of the other ways communication is changing:
1. Podcasting is the hottest idea on the internet. Starting in 2004, people began downloading homebrewed radio shows to their iPods. So instead of “broadcasts” they’re “podcasts”. Unlike streaming audio, podcasts require the file to be downloaded. The advantage of podcasts versus streaming is that you can take it with you when you’re not on the net. The disadvantage is that streaming audio is much easier for a customer to play at his or her computer. The solution is to do both - create an audio file for streaming, and an mp3 for podcasting. The same recording can be used for both.
2. A vlog is a video blog. Unlike podcasting, vlogging can refer to either streaming video or downloadable shows. Combined with the rapid development of internet video delivery, vlogging seems poised to take off. As with audio, you can prepare your video file in both streaming and downloadable formats. Also like audio, you can begin with very low-cost tools and work your way up to full blown professional equipment. Remember that people like good production quality, but they like watching something interesting even more.
3. Wikis are websites that are editable by the site users. Content becomes part of a dialogue among the users, instead of something fixed. This interaction can build strong communities, and produce large sites with enormous information. Up until recently, wikis have been difficult to use, and limited to techs. New approaches to wikis are making them easier to use, and reinforcing the next trend:
4. Social software. Community sites that encourage sharing and conversation are springing up in many areas. Photography and music have been drivers of this trend, in addition to political activism. Interaction builds community, and community is where the market is.
5. Almost all of these tools involve RSS, a technology for feeding information to people who want it. Unlike email, which is “pushed” by the sender, rss feeds have to be “pulled” by the user. While still not completely mainstream, rss is a rapidly growing delivery system.
For the small marketer, the price of reaching customers directly has dropped. Large corporations, though, are picking up on these technologies rapidly. To truly gain an edge, the small business person needs to develop a strategy for these channels before the big companies figure them out.
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You can choose success. Do you believe this? If you do not then you have chosen (yes chosen) a different route and success will not be a prominent feature! Success is about choosing what you want in life and taking the necessary steps to achieve that goal. Success is not stopping until you get there!
Read the last two sentences again. Easy to say but how do you get there? What are the choices made by the successful? What are they doing differently from everyone else?
Choose to remove whatever is holding you back. Has something happened in the past to affect your self esteem? Do you immediately have negative thoughts as soon as money and success come to mind? If you are not choosing success then it is likely that something is blocking your ability to change and follow a new path. To remove the block you must have focus. To have focus you must first have an all consuming dream of where you want to be. Only when you have defined that dream can you start to focus on it. Focus so intently that everything you do is done with your dream in mind. Only then can you move toward that dream.
Choose to live your success. Live your life as if you were successful, as if you had already achieved the goal that you are focusing on. When you are at work, visualize what your workplace will be like when you have reached your goal, and place yourself there. Sit at your desk as if you were running the multimillion dollar business that you are focusing on. When you get into your car, visualize what your dream car will be like and see yourself sitting in it. Visualize yourself driving away from your dream house. When you are in your home - look around it and see your new surroundings. Get inside the feeling - really be there.
The more you do this, the more your subconscious will think that you are successful and move you towards these things. Live your success expecting to realize it. Living it now is a practice run for when it comes to you. After all, you want to be prepared, don’t you?
Choose to believe in your success. What your conscious mind believes, your subconscious strives to achieve. Look around at your friends and acquaintances and ask yourself how many of them have unshakable belief in where they are going. Are they successful? Possibly not - they may be in a good job and have a nice life but they do not have the success factor. Perhaps you do know of someone with unshakable belief. They may not be successful now but they will be moving in the right direction. Watch that space….
Belief is the catalyst which takes the dream and turns the focus into a plan to get there. Never underestimate the power of belief.
Choose to be emotional about your success. Belief plus emotion are unstoppable. If you have utter belief then you will develop emotion. If you want something badly enough it is emotive. Maybe it is to get out of debt. If you have suffered the hardships of this situation you will feel everything to do with debt and money is charged with emotion. This is the reason behind so many ‘rags to riches’ stories. Sometimes only the most devastating of emotional circumstances are the catalyst for change and a move toward success instead of away from it.
You can choose success. Or you can choose to stay safe and do what you do now. Guess what - you will still be doing the same in ten years time. The question is - do you want to?
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