Long ago, in the way-back time, the great internet marketing guru and witch doctor Kevin Costner chanted hosannas and built a baseball diamond in his cornfield and proclaimed to the gods of Twitter and Facebook, “If you build it, they will come.” But then he directed Waterworld and The Postman, and the greater online nerd consortium realized that Costner didn’t know what he was talking about. Disillusioned, the masses turned instead to the teachings of that lady who played Danny DeVito’s mother in Throw Mama From the Train. And so it was done, a cane non magno saepe tenetur aper, Amen.

Here’s my point: Websites don’t draw traffic simply by existing. I’ve built websites for clients, and I’ll ask them, “How are you going to publicize the site?” When they tell me that they’ll just sort of play it by ear, I know they’re still following Costner’s strategy, hoping that now that it’s built, visitors will come as if by magic. And guess what? Only their current customers, who already know them by name, will find that website. For some businesses, that’s okay. For others, it’s deadly. Read More

If you haven’t been paying attention, I’ll get you up to speed. If you have been paying attention, you can skim through the next couple paragraphs.

I created something called the IttyBiz 1000 with the goal of getting 1000 people to quit their jobs this year. I also created the IttyBiz SpeakEasy, a membership program for people who want to take their ittybiz to the next level.

Since the IttyBiz 1000 is a sexy name and a sexy concept, it’s getting some press. Press begets emails from strangers.

Since the SpeakEasy includes daily emails telling people what to do with their ittybiz that very day (cozily named the Get Off Your Ass emails), that’s getting some action, too.

So, yeah. Lots of email at IttyBiz HQ lately. In the words of Jack, aged two and a half, “Holy Banoli.” Read More

This is Johnny’s latest post in his series of attempts to not fuck up Online Business School.

Last week, Naomi referred to my new Learn To Be Your Own VA educational website as being my “niche.” And truth: I dove into it this week as if it were my niche — like it was a primary business. I worked anew to distribute my free How to Launch a Blog in Under an Hour for Super Cheap, Even if You’re a Total Idiot e-book. I wrote more info for the site. I added widgets to my blog’s layout, created an RSS feed and an email signup, added Google Analytics, and had my first webinar yesterday.

Which probably leaves a lot of you thinking the same thing that occurred to you when you heard that David Hasselhoff is popular in Germany:

“Why?” Read More

Naomi’s Note: My mother has taken it upon herself to get all Catholic on my ass, so IttyBiz is out till Tuesday. In the meantime, read this piece of hippy dippy delight. I almost cried when I saw this in my inbox. Leonie is one of the most fun (and kinda stupidly rich) clients I have, and I worship her. Make sure to read till the end to get the Twitter version of this article.

Leonie Allan is a Goddess who does all kinds of hippy stuff including custom goddess artwork, oracle readings, retreats and e-courses. Mostly, she just likes helping people remember how amazing they are. She can be found at www.GoddessGuidebook.com.

I started working with Naomi in October last year. A month later, that-thing-I-did grew from a hobby into a business. A month after that, it got crazy busy. (Coincidence? I think not. More likely the combined kaboom of OBS lessons under my tooshee.) I got bucketloads more money – and I also worked out why businesses are busy-ness. Read More

One of the members of the IttyBiz SpeakEasy got in touch with a really heartfelt email on a topic that pretty much all of us deal with at one time or another. Or, you know, all the time.

What do I do with my life?

She didn’t phrase it like that, sure. It was a lot more painful than that. But it all really boils down to the same thing:

My time on Earth is short. What the fuck should I be doing with it and how will I know I’ve made the right choice?

Yeah, you get unlimited emails with me with your SpeakEasy membership, but you don’t get unlimited emails to GOD. I don’t think I have the best answer to this question, but I can give you what worked for me and has worked for a few of the people I’ve worked with. Hopefully some of my very clever readers will chime in with their advice in the comments. Read More