That would totally rock and I’m sure you have a whole bunch of cases like this.

Except, you know, possibly by a beluga or something. But they had YEARS of evolution to come up with that frame, and they have the water-buoyancy thing going for them. If you could float all the time, I wouldn’t worry so much, but the only thing I think I could convince you to swim in is a giant vat of Ben & Jerry’s.

(for those of you not in on this, Naomi is fat)

(not really. But I tell her she is)

(yes, of course she tells me too. What kind of sick relationship do you think we have?)

(neither am I fat, before Fatty McIttybizrunner here says anything)

Also, I want you to provide me with more ebooks. Because I like them, that’s why.

There are a ton of great ideas here. I’d love to see some kind of more formal mastermind group structure within the SpeakEasy, where we can find (or be assigned, depending on our interests/needs) 4 to 5 committed, like-minded folks to encourage and inspire us, with you checking in with us occasionally to see if we have questions. I’m with Amber that the content in the SpeakEasy has felt a bit sparse, but I’m holding on to my membership because I’m confident that you’ll get your sea legs back under you and the whole thing will rock as much as your info products and blog do. :)

I’m a big fan of audio or text, but not so much video, unless it’s the kind of video I can listen to without watching, in which case, hey, it’s audio. And as a part-time champion of accessibility for learners with disabilities, I’m a big fan of having both audio and text.

I, too, would like to be in the IttyBiz 1000. I just saw the budget numbers for the university teaching center where I work, and it doesn’t look like we’ll be around much longer.

All my best,

Leslie

I hope vacation was great! I’m not sure I can add much to the awesome comments you have already received but I’ll share my thoughts.

1) The thing I appreciate about you is your ability to cut through the BS in the world and focus on what really matters. It is why I subscribe to your RSS feed and your e-mail newsletter, and it is why I buy your stuff.

2) Articles like “What to do when you are scared shitless”, and “When You Feel Like A Raging Failure” are awesome. Some days we know we can be ninjas but some days we have doubts. Those articles help us know we aren’t alone and inspire us. More please.

3) I got to the IttyBiz party late and have done things in an arguably backwards order — I started with MFNP first, then did OBS quickly so I could come to Summer Camp. I hesitated to take MFNP first because I worried that it was a 201+ type course but I decided that I would benefit from hearing tweaks so I could avoid making the mistakes in the first place. I’m glad I did it. I’ll take anything you will offer regarding best practices.

4) I’d like to know more about the realities of running an online business. Examples:
* In Summer Camp, you mentioned that being out of the corporate world is hard at times because you can feel isolated. Good tip. I knew that but it was still good to hear it out loud.
* If you have multiple sites (IttyBiz, MFNP, etc.), how much does that complicate administrative life (such as WordPress, Aweber, CRM, etc.) What can I do about it?
* WordPress tips?
* AWeber tips?
* What would you do differently if you started over today?

5) I love interviews. In fact, I just heard an interview with you the other day on some other site.

6) I like transcripts with audio. When I am really trying to learn and focus, I read and highlight. But the audio’s reinforce the lessons for me, and I pick up different things from them. I agree with Genevieve that they definitely need to be high quality because the world is a noisy place when I’m driving to Corporate America. I’m not a video fan but that’s just me (and is greatly influenced by crappy bandwidth at my house.)

7) I also agree with Genevieve when she said, “I loved how you and Sonia’s personalities worked together on MFNP. More of you and Sonia!” Separately, the two of you are very good. Together, the two of you are awesome! You complement each other tremendously. You should both think about that.

8) I have purposely avoided Sonia’s chocolate cream pie as I don’t need any more dessert temptations, but what the heck, do you have any good dessert recipes? :) How about an IttyBiz recipe exchange? :)

Thanks for everything you do. It matters!

Mike
p.s. Save me a place in the IttyBiz 1000. I will make it. Note: Just having the IttyBiz 1000 as a destination encourages me. Thanks for that.

I first thought this idea was a joke in my head, but then I started to think about it more.

What if you took 3 of your ittybiz ‘clients’ (a “first-step-er” a “first-year-er” and a “seasoned-pro”) and gave them some advice over the course of a few weeks or so and had someone film you while you did it. You could serialise it and we could could watch the ups and downs unfold week by week.

That way we could see the difference in advice/strategy between someone starting out with an ittybiz and people who are more experienced. We could also see exactly what works with real results, and also, maybe, some things that don’t go to plan and how to deal with them.

Maybe I’m just thinking WAY out of the box…

I know that you need to serve who your clients are, but sometimes I feel like I’m not among them. Yes, I do have a one-person business AND I work from home BUT I’m not a life coach/web designer/etsy/etc. Sometimes it seems so catered to them that I feel like I need to get with the program and BECOME a life coach, just to keep up.

At my core, that’s not what my stuff is really about. My stuff is more about little web apps that people can use. I do want to keep it small and non-corporate, but it’s not quite the same as being a personality. More like Kawasaki to Alltop (founder, promotional, but not -the- brand) rather than Naomi to IttyBiz. I guess it would be nice to see more content applied to that type of business.

As far as content- I’m a newbie so I love the 101 type series. One of the things I most appreciate about you is how you break down the big marketing concepts into things I feel like I can actually do. And then you send me a little email telling me to get off my ass and do it. And because it’s one little thing, most of the time I actually do it. And then I feel great because I’m actually doing something instead of sitting around with my head up my ass because I don’t know what to do… Are you getting the picture here? It’s all about moving from head spinning to DOING…

And if you’re still screening for candidates for the beginner series- send me an application!

Thank you, Naomi!