Yeah… it’s been a while.

Boy do I owe you an explanation!  No posts… no updates… no love at all.

Allow me to catch you up…

I’ve successfully created a Membership site (WPTrainingVideos.com)  that offers, as you might imagine, free WordPress training videos.  I’ve learned quite a bit.

How to record video.  How to create sales pages.  How to create opt-in forms.  How to build a list.  How to market that list.  How to build a community.  And much… MUCH more.

Am I sitting on the beach, sipping Margaritas and sunning myself?  Heck no.

But I’m am making money and the site is profitable each and every month.

I’ll be tinkering with a new model to tweak things now and that brings me to a couple of final points…

1.  What’s on my plate: MyFirst100 will be soon be switching to the same model as WPTrainingVideos.com. I’ll be building a course to help people learn the basics of IM, and yes… it’ll be free.  I’m also building out StudentStudySkills.com and planning that for my first ClickBank product (fingers crossed!).

2.  What keeps most people from succeeding is simple… they never start.

Even the biggest sites around… started somewhere.

Don’t believe me… take a look for yourself.

Week in Review: Mike Hill, Andy Jenkins, SEOMoz, Social Fresh & Search Engine Roundtable

There are a TON of great sites out there. This video is a quick summary of some of the sites I came across and why I thought the pages were worth visiting.

You’ll find the links to the sites underneath the video. Thanks again for watching and if you found this post helpful, please like, share, tweet and help to spread the word!

Here are the links mentioned in the video…

Mike Hills Blog – Great Video About Failure

Andy Jenkins – Viral Video Marketing Techniques From the Video Boss

SEOMoz – Project Management Tips for Marketing Teams (Whiteboard Friday)

SocialFresh – Top 25 Blogworld Expo NY Takeaways

SocialFresh – How to Stop Drowning in Social Share Buttons

SEO Roundtable – Google on Spelling Mistakes On Community Sites

How I Setup My Home Studio/Office [VIDEO]

The wife and I moved to Austin, TX only days ago and the furniture just arrived.  I’ve spent the day unpacking and building out the home studio/office and thought a tour would be in order.  Actually, I recently saw a video of Ryan Deiss giving a tour of his office (and home office) and thought… “Why the hell not?”

This is a pretty similar setup to what I had in New York and I’ll be using this studio for all training, podcasts, voiceovers and video production.

As you’ll see in the video, I’ve tried to keep everything as organized as possible and *most* things have a purpose.  OK… only some things have a purpose.  I’ve still got a bit of work to do (like go through those office supplies!).

I’m not sure if you’ll catch it, but for those astute viewers who notice my desk has no drawers… it’s only because I have yet to find them in all the boxes.  (They’ve got to be around here somewhere.)

Enjoy the tour (the studio will never be this clean again!) and if I can answer any questions please let me know.  Otherwise, would you mind leaving a comment and help spread the word with a tweet, like or share?

Stay tuned… stay connected…

-Mercer

(Watch How I Setup My Home Studio/Office on YouTube)

Taking the Leap Into Microbusiness [VIDEO]

It’s been a little while since I’ve done a good “state of my world” video post.  Here’s the headine…

I’m taking the leap into microbusiness!

The video will explain in detail… suffice it to say I’ve put a long term plan into action and now it’s time to take the leap!

I would also like to thank you, dear reader!  You’ve been helping me by leaving comments, sharing & liking on Facebook and helping to tweet the word on Twitter.  You’ve asked me questions through Facebook, Twitter and email and it’s been my honor to help where I could.

I’ve started my flight… and the next couple of months are my runway before I lift off the ground to fly… or… well… let’s just focus on flying!

(Watch Taking the Leap Into Microbusiness on YouTube)

And as always… thank you for your comments, tweets, likes and shares!

Chris Farrell and The Beginner’s Mind

I had the very much anticipated pleasure of meeting with Chris Farrell earlier today.  For those who aren’t aware, Chris Farrel is not only an internet marketing mentor of mine… he’s a cut above.  I’ve never met anyone as polite, genuine and authentic as he is.  One glimpse at any of his free training videos and you’ll agree!

In my discussion with Chris I was simply amazed at how good he was at “The Beginner’s Mind.”  Ever heard of that?  The Beginner’s Mind?

At it’s simplest, the Beginner’s Mind is maintaining the ability to constantly see everything as new… to view the world for the first time (no matter how many times you’ve seen it).  It’s a great trait and it’s yet another trait that I noticed in my meeting with Chris Farrell… one I plan to adopt.

What does the Beginner’s Mind have to do with Internet Marketing?

Keeping a fresh state of mind will keep you involved.  It will keep you new.  It will keep you on the edge of what works and, most importantly… it will help you connect with your audience.

For example:

I’m currently producing a series of free WordPress training videos.  I’ve targeted them to someone who is just starting out… or so I thought!  After a few seconds of viewing these videos Chris Farrell is able to ask a series of questions I hadn’t thought of answering… and all because he was deeper in the Beginner’s Mind than I was.  He could see the video as if he was learning it for the first time.  He could formulate questions as if he was seeing it for the first time.  He could connect with my target audience better.

And there’s your benefit.  The Beginner’s Mind will allow you to connect to your audience.

If you are developing products, selling services, anything having to do with marketing… the Beginner’s Mind will allow you a connection to your audience and it’s that connection that will allow you to engage them on deeper levels.

Greater levels of engagement will bring greater results for your business.

What are your thoughts?  Have you had similar experiences?

(Watch Thank You Chris Farrell on YouTube)

If you are interested in developing your internet marketing skills, I do recommend you visit ChrisFarrellMembership.com.  Chris offers an amazing amount of free content and I encourage you to join his list.  He’s not a spammer.  Full Disclosure: If you do click to learn more about Chris Farrell through this post and eventually join his membership site he’ll throw me a few bucks in return.  If this makes you uncomfortable in any way just type the website in and you’ll keep that from happening.  It won’t cost you less… but it’ll keep me from my Venti Mocha!

Seriously though… however you decide to learn more about Chris Farrell… do it.  It’s important and what he offers will help you.