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.

By Naomi Dunford - Apr 8, 2009 in Ask IttyBiz - 39 Comments
Add to del.icio.us  |  Digg This  |  StumbleUpon This

When I was a kid, starting around four or five, I used to occasionally dream that I lived in an animated bunny world. All of us bunnies lived happily together in a little utopian meadow. Nothing had a price, we just put all of our money into a pot.

Then whenever we wanted anything, we would go to this massive underground storehouse and it would just be there. (Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup featured heavily in the storehouse, by the way. It would appear that all bunnies share the same dietary preferences as myself, age four.)

We went to school and had jobs and stuff, we just didn’t have to deal with anything filthy like, you know, money. We all had matching outfits and spent a lot of time outdoors, working in the garden.

Years later, I told my brother about this recurring dream.

By Naomi Dunford - Mar 9, 2009 in Ask IttyBiz
Add to del.icio.us  |  Digg This  |  StumbleUpon This

DISCLAIMER: I don’t make one thin dime if you hire any of the people I recommend in this post.

”Dear Naomi,

I know about guest posting and comment strategies and social media, but everybody’s talking about those. How do I REALLY get traffic? How do YOU do it?”

I get this email a lot. Like, a lot. And I thought I’d take the time to answer it, and the dozens that are kinda sorta like it.

A good portion of the people who come to me for brainstorming or marketing consulting are people that are brand new to owning a business. They are still in the reconnaissance stages and figuring out what their plan of attack should be.

To these people, I thank you for sending me your money, but in future, you might be better off if you didn’t.

Nothing I come up with — and nothing any other marketing coach comes up with — is going to be any different from what you can figure out for yourself. We are not revolutionaries. We’re just creative.

When you’re first starting out, you don’t need creative. You need to get off your ass.

By Naomi Dunford - Dec 3, 2008 in Ask IttyBiz
Add to del.icio.us  |  Digg This  |  StumbleUpon This

Somebody I know who has a highly cool blog and home business in-the-making emailed me with a totally heartbreaking question. They emailed in response to When Your Loved Ones Want You To Fail. I thought the question (and hopefully answer) would help you guys, and the sender graciously allowed me to use the question anonymously in Ask IttyBiz.

“In short: it’s not about my little blog, it’s about the home business. You wrote a post about it – how to deal with uncooperative “loved ones”. But it is SO hard. I need help from people, b/c it’s a new biz, but sometimes it feels like strangers are a lot more helpful than friends are. Some people, whom I considered as friends, tend to disappear as soon as I ask them for something, even though I would have helped them if they had asked me for help.

By Naomi Dunford - May 20, 2008 in Ask IttyBiz - 50 Comments
Add to del.icio.us  |  Digg This  |  StumbleUpon This

Dave Conrey and his mom Michele Morgan of The Right Color have this question.

“My mom and I are wrestling with an issue regarding her home business. I know that you have your startup package for a set price, but what do you tell people once they sign up if they decide to go further? She’s got a complicated price breakdown and I’m trying to simplify it a bit. Figured you might have some insight.”

Ahh, pricing. Strikes fear in the hearts of entrepreneurs and freelancers everywhere. In other parts of the internet, abortion, politics, and religion are controversial topics. With work-from-home blogs, the babykillers hug it out with Dubya, we don’t care. Just don’t talk price.

By Naomi Dunford - Feb 21, 2008 in Ask IttyBiz - 50 Comments
Add to del.icio.us  |  Digg This  |  StumbleUpon This

Over the last week, three people have called the IttyBiz helpline — well, they emailed, but that doesn’t sound nearly as cool — asking how to increase the comments on their home business blogs. Since I have been blessed with the loudest and most prolific readers on the internet, I thought I’d take a stab at it.

***

Before you can get more commentors, you need to understand why people comment. Commentors can be split into three groups. Each of these groups has two subsets. Hence the title. Get it?

The Emoter:

The Emoter comments because you provoked an emotional reaction in him, and he wants to share it. You made him spit his gin out laughing or you made his eyes get misty. You shocked him. You scared him. You surprised him. Maybe he thought, “Holy shit, that’s GENIUS!” Basically you got him out of his drone-like existence for long enough to feel genuine human emotion and he feels the need to say something about it.

By Naomi Dunford - Jan 16, 2008 in Ask IttyBiz - 101 Comments
Add to del.icio.us  |  Digg This  |  StumbleUpon This

Kate, who I adore for reasons that extend beyond her enthusiasm that borders on the offensive, has a question.

“I currently work in IT Project Management (oh, the excitement! Ahem…) and I may soon have an opportunity to move into corporate communications. WOOHOO! This gets a WOOHOO because I really wanted to go into marketing but thought I wasn’t cool enough to major in it. (I know, I roll my eyes at me, too.)

Since I saw you used to work in Mega Company corporate communications, I thought maybe you could give me some inside scoop on what the job really is. This would be the communications department for the IT department that reports to the corporate communications folks.

By Naomi Dunford - Jan 5, 2008 in Ask IttyBiz - 10 Comments
Add to del.icio.us  |  Digg This  |  StumbleUpon This