Author: k

Heads Down And Working

When the world
becomes too much
of a tire fire
and I reach a point
where, emotionally,
I can’t handle
hearing about it,
I put my head down
and I work.

I throw myself
into business building.

I get sh*t done.

I work with focus.

I tune out the world
and I live the business.

That calms me.
It builds my confidence.
It makes me happy.

When I feel ready again,
I resurface
and I catch up.

Doers do.

When the world gets
too much for you
to take,
tune as much of it out
as possible
and do.

Get sh*t done.

Buying Equipment That Can Be Used For Any Business

I tend to build businesses
using very little initial funds
so I’m careful
about investing in equipment.

I’m extremely careful
about investing in equipment
that can only be used
for one specific business.

If I know I can use
that equipment
in multiple businesses,
I tend to invest in it
with less hesitation.

I have a small paper shredder
that I bought three decades ago,
for example.

I’ve used it
in dozens of my businesses.
And I still use it today.

I suspect, if I’m cash strapped,
I could sell it
for close to what
I originally paid for it.

It has been a great investment
for me.

Ask yourself
if you can use the piece
of equipment
in a variety of businesses.

If you can,
consider investing in it
(looking at the used options first).

Assume A Change In Leadership

My household is working
to install
solar this year.

Why this year?

Because the current government
provides HUGE incentives
to install solar.

And I can’t be certain
the current government
will remain in power.

I have to assume they won’t.

So I’m taking advantage
of all the programs
we currently have.

Assume your leadership
will change.

Ensure you maximize
your usage of current programs.

Your Goals ARE Important

The world is a f*cked up place
right now.

There’s talk of a world war.
The pandemic continues to disable
or kill
people around us.
There are fires and floods
and a gazillion other things
happening.

What is the point
of building our businesses?
Do those goals and other goals matter?

Yes, they matter.
They matter to US.

We’re building businesses
and working toward our goals
because that’s important to us.

That’s one of the ways we’re changing
the world for the better.

And we have some control
over
the building of our businesses
and the achieving of our goals.

We have very little control
over
the other sh*t that’s happening
in this world.

Your goals ARE important.
Allocate time and energy and other resources
to achieving them.

2024 Goal/Resolution Reminder

It is February 20th.
We’re approaching
the end of this short month.

Take action on
at least one
of your 2024 goals or resolutions.

The action can be big
or it can be small.

The important thing
is progression.

You’re moving toward
a goal that is important to you.

Take action on
a 2024 today.

Respect The Competition

I’ve talked about
how some business builders
are using AI
to ethically and legally
create many versions of the same book
and then sell those versions.

This activity,
of course,
decreases my book sales.
The market is being flooded
with books.
It is more challenging
for my books to be discovered.

I don’t LIKE the deluge
of AI books.

But I can still ADMIRE
the strategies
these book creators are using.

The competition
is valid competition
for a reason.
They’re doing something right.

Acknowledge that.
Respect them.
Learn from them.

Rewarding Behaviors

Yesterday,
I talked about how
AI business builders
are publishing
30 different versions
of the same book
under 30 different pen names.

You might be wondering
why this is now
more effective
sales-wise
than simply focusing on
1 book and 1 pen name.

It is because
Amazon’s algorithms
now focus almost entirely
on new releases
and they hide older books.

A new release
in the publishing world
is now
a release that is less than
7 days old.

This means publishing
at minimum
once a week
gains MANY more sales
than publishing
once every three months.

(Is it more profitable?
It is for the book creator
if they use
a low cost option
like AI.
Amazon, however,
incurs incremental costs
per book listing.)

Amazon’s algorithms
reward new releases.
They are getting a deluge
of new releases.

We get more
of whatever we reward.

Remember that
when you’re designing
incentives.

There IS A Solution

One of the big issues
with using AI
to produce books
is it requires existing books
to guide or train it.

Using those books
is copyright infringement.

That’s a HUGE legal
and ethical problem.

So some clever business builders
now pay for a ghostwriter
to write a novel.

Then they use THAT original story
to create
5, 10, 30 AI copies.

And they publish those stories
under 5, 10, 30 pen names.

The copyright problem
is solved.

Right now, you are likely
struggling with a problem.

Know that there likely IS
a solution
for that problem.

Continue searching for it.

Advice Is Early

When I talk here
about things like
the pandemic
or climate change
or shifts in the workforce,
I am almost always
early
with any advice
I give.

This is intentional.

Because making changes
in our businesses
takes time,
especially if we want
to make them
in the most resource efficient way.

There is no point
advising you
to prepare
for something
and giving you
no time to prepare.

The best advice
is advice
given early.

Don’t expect
events
to immediately occur.

How To Promote Yourself As A Helper

A book promoter reached out to me.
She told me
my covers were amazing
and asked what genres
I wrote in.

It was clearly
a mass reach out.
But the tactic
was extremely ineffective.

Because
if my covers truly were
amazing,
she shouldn’t need to ask
what genres
I wrote in.
That’s one of the goals
of a great cover.

And, as a book promoter,
she should know that.

Being a book promoter,
her job
is also to help a writer,
and decrease that writer’s workload.

Asking that writer questions
that could have been easily answered
by an Amazon search
isn’t decreasing that writer’s workload.
It is increasing it.

If your business seeks to help clients,
ensure your marketing helps them.
Or, at the very minimum,
doesn’t increase their workload.