The average self-made millionaire in America works 59 hours per week - many work 70 or 80.

The average self-made millionaire in America works six days per week rather than the usual five.

So how does Tim Ferriss's #1 New York Times bestseller The 4-Hour Work Week fit into your 5-year plan to hit an annual goal of 6 or 7 figures?

It doesn't! It can't!

And any small business owner/entrepreneur who believes the 4-hour workweek is possible has bought into yet another version of the "easy is the new norm" fallacy which I've ranted about before.

Hold on...play along with me.

When [...]

Dudley Moore starred in the 1990 comedy film Crazy People about a burnt-out ad exec who gets fed up with the typical phony ad campaigns and all their hype.

So he decides to create ads that tell the brutally honest truth.

The offensive ads don’t go over well with his boss, and Moore’s character is committed to an asylum to “recover.”

While in therapy, his ads get printed by mistake and are a colossal success. In the wake of their success, he's hailed as a marketing genius along with his band of asylum mates who he enlists in the creative chaos.

Not unlike Dudley’s [...]

When was the last time you took a good, hard look at your website?

It's not enough to just have a website today. It's got make a bold statement of who you are... what you do... and what makes you different than your competitors.

It’s not an option.

Your business website is critical for credibility and customer contact.

But even more imperative is knowing what to look for in a web developer so that your site successfully functions the way it needs to be profitable.

Most likely you already have a website and are looking to either redesign or enhance it. Knowing the four types of [...]

Your website is your virtual business card and storefront.

And if you have a WordPress website - the preferred platform by all major search engines - you unfortunately have a bright red target on your back.

Like any other brick and mortar building, your online business is vulnerable to bad guys looking for an unlocked door or window into your WordPress site.

After gaining access, these evil hackers compromise your once-clean website and turn it into a bot (or zombie.) This newly recruited zombie is then welcomed into a botnet (or zombie army) with only one intent...

To find more unsecured WordPress sites that [...]

Anyone in business who claims they never want to quit is either not doing a whole lot...is clueless...or is just flat out lying.

As small business owners, we are presented with too-numerous-to-count opportunities to quit.

We enthusiastically sign on for things that soon make us feel like we are WAY in over our head.

The new email campaign you were sure you could finish by Friday...

The e-book some expert told you could be knocked out in a week...

The WordPress website you thought you could create yourself.

Dan Kennedy, one of the highest paid direct-response copywriters in America, tells this story:

"My father told me that [...]

The phone rings. You answer. The voice on the other end says, "Hey, Art, buddy. How are you doin'?"

You don't recognize the voice. He never identified himself - and now you're in an awkward position. Do you play along hoping you'll soon figure out who it is? Or do you embarrassingly ask, "Sorry - uh, who are you?"

It's the same thing when you get an email that has a "From" name and/or address that gives no clue as to who the sender is. Except ... most likely, you just delete it and run the risk of missing an important email.

For your [...]

Your email's CTA (call-to-action) is one of the most critical email marketing components to test because it's what generates leads and conversions!

The CTA is the equivalent of "asking for the sale" when you talk to a prospect on the phone or in person after a sales presentation.

You wouldn't dream of closing a critical call with "Great talking with you, Joe. Well, uh... have a good day."

No - you'd assume the sale. "So Joe, let's get you started. I'm going to ask for some information to get your Infusionsoft account set up. Ready?"  And I just keep going until Joe stops [...]

Invariably we get this question whenever we’re working with new clients on their marketing follow-up sequences:

“Is there a best time of day to send an email - and which day of the week gets the most opens?”

If there was one “best” answer, we’d all be inundated with emails on the same day and time … and most likely we’d throw up our hands and delete every one out of pure email overload.

A the risk of sounding like a broken record, “It depends on who your audience is.”

Just like there isn't a perfect email, there isn't a perfect time to send [...]

The perfect email...doesn't exist. Bummer.

There isn't one email prototype that everyone should replicate for best results. Every company's audience is different.

Everyone segments their leads different ways.

But with "split testing" you can find the perfect email for YOUR business.

Easy? No. One of the more sexy aspects of marketing? Nope. Profitable? You betcha!

So in the next few blog posts, we're going to hit all the email hot buttons that we get asked over and over. While we can't do your testing for you, we can tell you the types of things you absolutely need to test to get the BEST results for [...]

When you're in your teens and 20's, nobody thinks about the effects of tanning.

I remember in college... it was the week before finals and it was nothing to see tons of kids outside dorms trying to catch those early summer rays while cramming for tests.

In the 80's baby oil with iodine was the quickest way to get that coveted tan... and even better if you covered a piece of thick cardboard with foil to better target the sun's ray on your face. So essentially you were frying yourself!

And even now, it's nothing for kids to hit the tanning booths regularly. [...]