Hi. I’m in Cuba.

OK, I’m not in Cuba. I’m several days away from being in Cuba. But by the time you read this, I will be in Cuba. How is that possible? Because the internet is magic.

Anyway, I thought I’d give you a little list of fun things to read.

Blast from the past, before I did this shit for a living

Read my first ever sales page, written while I was under the influence of cold medication and sleeping pills, in response to someone calling me a snake oil salesman. (Pay special attention to the story of how IttyBiz came to be and the last line.)

Warning! Cute Jack photos ahead!

Read my ode to Jack. (More on how IttyBiz came to be.)

In other Jack news, I present Jack Quotes Of The Week: Read More

I assume that if you are reading this, you want to know how to get new Twitter followers.

I also assume — In order to sleep at night and to keep my Non-Asshole Marketing Commission membership card — that you’re not reading about how to get more Twitter followers because you are a jerk, but because you legitimately don’t get it.

I finally assume that you are sick and tired of hearing people tell you “social media isn’t about the numbers” and you feel that you are enough of a grownup to make up your mind about whether it is or is not about the numbers in your situation.

Having said all that, we’ll move on, shall we? Read More

This article is by artist and designer Amy Crook, who I should have had writing here years ago.

I was talking to the magnificent Ashley Sinclair the other day, and one of the things she remarked on was that I had an unusual amount of clarity about my businesses — I know what I do and what I don’t do, what my assets are and where my boundaries lie.

So how did I get from there — from that sense that I had so much to offer but I didn’t know what or to whom or for how much — to where I am now?

Practice makes perfect.

I was in BNI, a networking group, for a while that required us to give a 30-second “infomercial” (what you would probably call an elevator speech if you’re not in BNI) about our businesses. We were encouraged to mix it up, say something interesting, tell a very short client story or have some sort of special going on every week. So every week I had to stand up and say, “Hi, I’m Amy Crook with Not Dead Yet Studios, and I…” Read More

I got into an interesting conversation with Jamie last night about the issue of financial cushions and day jobs. It seems like everybody has a number in their head of how much money they need to quit their job. I would say the median number I hear is around $30,000. (It should be noted here that I started with $400, and I had to borrow it.)

What I find is interesting about this is that often, they have absolutely no idea how they came up with the figure.

There’s a kind of logic, I guess, if by “logic” we mean “linear but not particularly logical.” It’s like, “Well, I make $40,000 now. I probably don’t need all of that because I’m pretty sure some of that is work related costs. And I could cut down some. Plus there’s probably get some tax write offs by having a home office. So I’d need maybe $30,000 a year. I guess I’d need about half a year’s salary to be comfortable getting started, so that’s $15,000. And I’ll have business start up costs, so let’s double that and call it thirty grand.” Read More

I talk to a lot of people in a lot of different lines of work. One of the most consistent problems I see in would-be ittybiz owners — whether they’re selling ebooks online, plumbing services from their basement, hats in a bricks and mortar store or gloves in an Etsy shop — is the total lack of consideration for what their customers actually want.

The “should we make and sell this?” question is answered — if you can call it an answer — by saying, “You know what would be AWESOME?!?!”

Awesome for you, or awesome for them?

A good friend of mine was about to make their first ebook. It was on Obscure And Academic But Still Fairly Interesting Topic X. It didn’t have much to do with what was going on in his existing business, but he knew a lot about the topic and was passionately convinced that it would seriously help those who read it. Read More