Word Press vs. Blogger, my thoughts!

Technorati Tags: Blogger,Word Press,University of Puerto Rico,Seth Godin,Darren Rowse,Mike Glaspie,John Chow,Blogging,Social Media,SEO,Business Strategy,Marketing,COBOL,Fortran,payroll,entrepreneur

A respected friend, and esteemed entrepreneur ask me why I keep my blog on the Blogger platform and not on Word Press. I have to admit, that I have asked myself the same question, specially after reading so many derogatory articles by fellow bloggers and entrepreneurs.

The common wisdom is that serious entrepreneurs will not give you the time of day if you host your website or your blog on a free platform, because they think that you might not be serious or are small potatoes.

Here are my reasons for using Blogger and MSN Office Live:

1. Well, I am small potatoes when compared to Seth Godin, Darren Rowse, Mike Glaspie, John Chow, and the likes. I am still in the process of making my fist few millions of dollars, so, I cut expenses, while at the same time producing the best product I possibly can.

2. I have always liked to challenge the system. Back in 1977, my old Fortran teacher told us that you could not create a Payroll in Fortran. When asked by my Special Projects teacher at the University of Puerto Rico to program something different, I did just that, I created Payroll in Fortran. It gave me a headache, but, what the heck, I proved my teachers wrong and got an “A” for originality.

3. If at least one person has being able to do something, and succeeded, that means that someone else, with determination and smarts, can do exactly the same thing.

4. Of the five platforms that I tried, three free and two paid, I like Blogger better (call it personal preference). I would like to change a few things on my blog, but right now I am way too busy, so I enjoy the ease of use.

5. I am sharing my experience free of charge. I do not do private consulting (yet), and even though I keep a few ads on my site, I make my living from my other day jobs. So, if someone does not want to read my blog because I am on Blogger, it really does not affect my bottom line.

I have read many really awful blogs in English and Spanish. I’m talking about orthographical, and grammatical mistakes galore. Yes, I still make some of those. And, in some blogs, the writer’s train of thought and logic is hard to follow, but I have found some incredible nuggets of wisdom here and there. Whether it is on SEO, or Business Strategy, or Social Media, or Marketing, or Blogging, I read almost every blog I can find, and learn from all of them. In my opinion, those who refuse to read a blog because it is published on a free platform, are denying hemselves valuable information. So, I will continue to use blogger, and most likely will continue to use MSN Office Live to host my sites. Word Press has more plugins, but I still like Blogger.

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Why do you want to be and entrepreneour?

For the money? Freedom (Braveheart comes to mind), dreams, hated your old boss? Why do you do it? Who knows? For some strange reason we love the challenge, and we insist on putting our necks on the line every day, or at least our wallets.

As an old Army recruiter, we were taught that people joined the military for five reasons: Money, Adventure, Education, Patriotism, or to Travel.

Oh heck there he goes again telling old war stories… LOL

Well, I did spent a lot of time in the Army, I might have learned a thing or two, and might as well share it with you all.

Lets condense review reasons and see what motivates most of us to become entrepreneurs.

Money is probably number one. Many of us would not get out of bed if we were not going to get paid. Money does not buy happiness, but it sure can help us provide for our families, and take us places where we can expand our horizons. In addition, money allows us to expand our business, and make more money. Ok, so it is a vicious cycle. I haven’t heard those who complaint about the rich people state that they ever got a job from someone who was broke, or that they were able to become debt free without making money first.

Adventure is a concept not usually associated with becoming an entrepreneur, but if you think about it, there is the excitement and the anticipation of planning the next business deal, and the adrenaline rush that comes from masterfully presenting your business proposal, and the ecstasy of succeeding where others failed. So the same emotions that we feel when we are entering uncharted territory are felt by the entrepreneur looking to seal the next deal.

Education is needed if you are going to succeed in business, whether formal (college) or informal (someone took you under his or her wing), unless you are willing to learn by failing, you will need to spend time sharpening the proverbial axe. Abraham Lincoln once said that if you had one hour to cut down a tree, you should spend the first 45 minutes sharpening the axe. Translation? Prepare yourself. Learn the art of persuasion, hypnotic selling, study the laws of the State where you will do business, learn about Internet Marketing, the sky is the limit.

Traveling is one of my favorite activities. I love meeting new people, new cultures. Today, the economy of the planet is a global economy, and unless you are just trying to open a street corner grocery store (nothing wrong with that) we have the potential of having a truly international business. So, if you really want to succeed, expand your horizons, learn to appreciate diversity, and get to know other cultures. So what if they speak funny, to them you speak funny too. In all my travels around the world, I found out that most people, in every culture, just want to feed their families, and be happy.

And patriotism; what can be more patriotic than to help stimulate the economy of your Nation by virtue of being a successful merchant or marketer. When the economy of a Nation grows, education follows soon after, jobs are created, health is improved, mortality rates decrease, and in many instances, a sense of National Pride is common among the citizens.

So why again do you work so hard to be an entrepreneur? Who knows, but whatever your reason, the ramifications are far reaching and the good that you achieve and spread makes us all better people.

Leverage, the key to success:

You want to be an extremely successful individual, don’t you?

I dare to bet that you have seeing many would be marketers, with incredible potential come and go, and for a long time, you have asked, how come so and so, with his or her powerful presence, knowledge, and drive, did not achieve the success that was there for the taking.

And you have asked yourself, maybe a few times, if he or she failed, then how can I expect to succeed?

The reality of the situation is that even though those would be successful MLM, or Social Media Stars, had the potential to succeed; sometimes they do not have the right tools to ensure success.

The purpose of any marketing campaign is to put a product or service in front of many sets of eyes, and convince them that such product or service will fill a very important need in their lives. The job of the marketer is to ensure that this happens.

This premise seems simple enough, right?

Well, not really, it so happens that it fails to take into consideration a critical part of the equation, the prospective buyer.

Why would someone not buy this incredible product or service that I am promoting? Maybe:

a. They do not want it.
b. They do not want to buy from you. They do not trust you.
c. They do not have the money.
d. They do not need the product.

Ok, lets look at all of those, I could write a complete chapter on each of those, but lets limit our analysis to the basics.

a. They do not want your product. Most of the things that we buy on a daily basis, we do not really need. You did not need the house you just bought; you already had a roof over your head. And yet, you purchase that house. Once we see the house, the new car, the diamond ring, or someone shows them to us and explains their advantages; we can no longer live without that product or service. Appeal to their emotions, and they will become receptive to your message.

b. Your customer does not want to purchase from you, because they do not trust you. You either remind them of their brother in law, ex husband, ex wife, or they have being burned before, or heard that someone lost their shirt because they bought whatever it is that you are selling. Unless you develop credibility, and act and look professional, your sales record will not impress anyone. Start by becoming a real expert on your product, and while you are at it, make sure that you yourself would purchase that product or service; otherwise, your prospect will see that you do not believe in the product, so they will not buy from you.

c. They do not have the money. Lets face it, the economy is not doing that great and many people live paycheck to paycheck. So, unless you have a way to finance whatever it is you are selling, and you honestly believe that your customer’s life will be better off by purchasing your product or service, find a new customer.

e. I hate pushy salespeople. If they do not need your product or service, don’t sell it to them. They will appreciate your honesty, and you can probably get some referrals from them, and who knows, maybe, in the future, they might call you and get your item.

The bottom line is that not everybody will buy your product; but trust me, it is not personal.

Remember that your prospective customer is a human being, treat them with respect, not just like a prospect, or a future down line, and chances are, your sales stats or your recruiting average will improve.

Good managers and lousy ones too!

After spending twenty-two years in the U. S. Military, I can say that I have had my share of excellent leaders, and lousy ones too. I myself have learned by doing, which means, I have made plenty of mistakes. This experience translates to my civilian life. And as so, you can use it to save yourself some time, expedite your business, and improve the bottom line.

When you are an entrepreneur, is easy to forget that you are still a manager, of one, but never the less, a manager, a leader, you are leading yourself. Unfortunately, not everybody has the tools to be one, or have being taught how to do it.

People tend to admire those who appear to obtain the loyalty of others, and are followed by all. But many are just looking at someone’s charisma, and thinking that they are natural borne leaders. Charisma does not equal leadership skills. I have seeing the young strong, rugged, and impetuous novice “leader” fall flat on his or her face, because instead of learning to plan, and think about the consequences of each possible course of action, the intrepid novice rushes in for the kill, just to fail.

In combat, it is those leaders that get their troops killed, while more experienced leaders, come out unscathed, and their troops, have greater possibility to survive.

In business, it is the manager who rushes in, who unless lucky, will loose his or her shirt.

Observing good leaders, I realized that there are a few tactics that will make you a better leader, manager, or supervisor:

1. “Sharpen your Axe”, I think that it as Abraham Lincoln who said that given one hour to cut down a tree, he would spend forty five minutes sharpening his axe. Take time to prepare yourself, gather knowledge, get to know and understand your contacts, and customers, also your market. Know and trust your product. If you are into Internet marketing, ensure that you become an expert in Search Engine Optimization. And also, make sure that you take time to exercise, eat correctly, and get a proper amount of rest. You will function better.

2. Stay in control. My father once told me: in order to solve a problem, you need to look at it. That was his way of telling me that I needed to analyze the situation, and find the real cause of the problem. Once you find the real cause, you can find the real solution.

3. Time management. Someone was asked to help create a time management system. This gentleman came back an next day, he told the executive to write a list of everything that needed to be done. He also ask him to identify which was the critical task. Then, identify the second critical task, and so on. Next day, he was to do task number one until completion, then task number two, and so on. Whichever tasks could not be accomplished that same day, that was fine, they could be move to next day, and priorities re evaluated. But the most critical tasks were accomplished every single day. Do the same.

4. Know your people, and their characteristics. Know their strengths and weaknesses; that way, you can use your team more efficiently.

5. Respect your team. You will only be respected when you respect others first. Take care of your team, and your team will take care of you. We call that “Leading from the front”. It is incredibly hard to lead from the rear; you are then only pushing your team, not leading, and nobody likes to be pushed. It is those who care for the team, lead by example, and are willing to go the extra mile, who distinguish themselves as leaders.

So in retrospect, make sure that you take time to sharpen the axe, stay in control so you can have a clear and accurate view of the situation at hand, mange your time, know your people and use them according to their skills, and make sure that you respect your team, and that your team respects you.

Let me know what you think.