Here’s a great example of out of the box thinking.

A cool piece of marketing for you to realize, witness, and apply to your own business.

Here’s the back story.

About two years ago a friend of mine turned me on to a band called the Ryan Montbleau Band.

I can’t pigeon hole them into a certain type of music if I tried.

Anyway, I quickly became a fan and last year I drove 6 hours one way to catch them live in Dallas.

Then I blew off rescheduled a client meeting for the following day and headed to Austin to catch a second concert by these guys.

Yeah, I’m a fan.

Here’s where the marketing comes into play.

Ryan is releasing a new solo album and has setup a cool way to pay for it.

You can see what I’m talking about here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/ryanmontbleau

* There are a couple sample songs on there for you to listen to if you’re interested *

What he is doing is offering various things (from a digital download, to one of his hats, to going and partying with him and the band at his house) for sale to pay for the production and promotion of his latest album.

It’s totally genius (with a capital J).

Not only for Ryan, because he produces and promotes an album with zero debt on his part BUT also for the service he’s using.

You see Pledge Music get’s 15% of all donations.

Think about that for a second – 15% of everything.

Considering he’s at 23% towards his goal I bet he is trying to raise at least $20,000 to make this album – maybe even more.

That means for doing nothing more than hosting the pledge drive the company stands to make at least $3,000.

And Ryan is only one of hundreds of people who are using this service.

$3,000 x 100 plus artist = big money.

Now the company (and the band) only make money once the total amount of money is raised.

And I’m sure they have to do a little work but still – would you be willing to put in a few hours to make a few thousand dollars?

Here’s how it applies to you … how can you use this model to make money?

What if you registered a local domain and tried to help local bands raise money to make music?

So for me I’d register LocalLubbockMusicPledge.com or SupportLubbockMusic.com and offer the same services.

Get a couple of bands to promote this through their email list, website, Facebook, etc and the money start’s rolling in.

Get some press releases done at Fiverr.com for each band and promote them through a few press release services for SEO and backlinking.

Ideas starting to come into your mind?

Promote it through Craigslist, other local focused websites and before you know it people get to know about you and spend money with you.

I mean who wouldn’t support great music being made and you making a little money in the process???

Terrorist – that’s who

Anyway, I wanted to share this idea with you as it came to me in real time.

Did this work on me?

Totally.

I bought a private one hour concert from Ryan via skype (he couldn’t do the solo show here in Lubbock) along with some lyrics autographed and sent to me.

$350 later I did my part to help get his album out.

Which reminds me ….

I am going to have him do this private concert via GoToWebinar and I’d like to invite you as my guest to it.

All you have to do is this – go to his page and pledge some cash http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/ryanmontbleau

It looks like for $10 you get the digital download of the CD.

I don’t care about the amount you give.

Just that you give something.

AND I DON’T MAKE A DIME FROM THIS.

He doesn’t even know that I’m doing this – I just want to support a band I enjoy and give you the chance to hang with me at the concert.

I’ll make sure to record it and more importantly get you a copy of it.

Again I don’t make a dime from this – I just want to help this guy out.

Plus I get to support music being made.

It’s a win – win.

If you’re in – awesome.

If not – you’re a terrorist. KIDDING

I hope you take the idea I shared with it and think about how you can apply it to your own business.

Tim

PS: When you grab your copy of the CD (grab it here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/ryanmontbleau) for $10 just hit me up at my support desk (http://www.timothycastleman.com/help) and send me a copy of your payment. Once I get the concert setup for us I’ll get you the log in info.

Here is my open and honest review of James Jones Kindle Triangulation course.

To see our $3,000 worth of bonuses go here: http://www.timandtanner.com/kindle

One of my goals in 2012 is to reach out more to fellow marketers.

I’ll admit I’m doing it for selfish reasons.

See I’m looking for a group of marketers who do something really rare these days.

That is, they actually do what they teach.

It’s sad to admit it, but my guess is 90% of the people who teach internet marketing or offline marketing have never done it.

They simply follow a fad, learn a little bit about it, and puke on a page long enough to sell it to you.

I don’t blame them entirely.

I remember being told – “just buy 3 books on the subject, take the best stuff from each of them, and whamo you’re an expert.”

Lucky for me I never fell for that trap and have just stuck to teaching on topics I’m involved in on a daily basis.

It turns out – I’m not alone.

Today I had the pleasure of talking with Lisa Gergets, author of the Amazon Minisite MegaProfits course.

You can learn more about her course by clicking HERE

We talked a little business but I was more fascinated with her “story”.

It turns out she moved from sunny Chicago to the middle of no-where Wisconsin – population 624 people.

She’s so far out in the woods not even Survivorman or Bear Grylls could rescue her.

When I asked her why she had an interesting answer:

“This is where I want to be, my family wants to be, it’s perfect for us.”

The answer itself isn’t as interesting as the question behind it is …

What is your definition of success?

I mean I doubt you’ll see any big gurus shooting their State of the Internet address from a little farm in Wisconsin anytime soon.

Most gurus show a lifestyle full of fancy cars, expensive homes, and blinged out watches.

That works for them – but what works for you?

Here’s why I ask.

A week or so ago I paid for consulting time from Guru X.

When we were going over income figures he kept telling me “dude you need to make more money …”

I asked him why?

“Because it’s how the game is won and lost. He with the most cash wins.”

The problem is – he doesn’t get it.

I don’t measure success like he does.

Sure the money is great.

But that’s not as important as the following reason I do what I do:

Freedom.

No alarm clock.

No boss.

No To-Do list or TPS reports.

No company bull*&%# or annoying cubicle co-workers.

I bet I’m not alone in this thought.

In a recent survey I read, over 70% of the people who responded said they would actually take LESS money for MORE freedom.

At the end of the day – isn’t that what we’re really after.

More money is nice.

More freedom is awesome.

What about you?

Why are you doing either offline or online marketing?

What’s your definition of success?

Do you agree with my definition of success or am I just full of it?

Hit reply and let me know – I’d really be interested in hearing from you.

Talk soon & don’t forget to reply.

Tim

I’m trying out a new webcam in my messy office

Here’s how to set goals (aka New Years Resolutions) without stress or frustration.

Watch the video and leave your comments below

This week I had to do an incredibly frustrating exercise.

I had to list out my values.

The problem was – I didn’t have any.

No, no don’t get me wrong – I have values but I had never given them much thought.

Here’s the exercise I did …

First I had to list 3 people in my life that I respect and admire and hope to be like.

I wrote down James Jones, Brian Johnson, and Dan Kennedy.

I really had to think about why I liked these guys so much and what really made me respect and want to be like them.

The first thing that came to mind was the fact they actually do what they teach.

It’s a strange concept I know – but you’d be surprised at the number of people out there who have a great idea, an awesome theory, or assumption and run with it.

Sadly, we’ve both probably bought products from these people before and by the time you see what’s really going on it’s too late.

The next thing that popped up was that they were open to two sided relationships. That’s a fancy way of saying they were willing to help me grow my business, while I helped them grow theirs.

This year has taught me an important lesson when it comes to this. I’m tired of helping others grow their business only to be rejected when I ask for help.

Both Brian and James have gone out of their way to help me grow, give advice and suggestions and been open to promoting me if and when it made sense.

There were others who despite me promoting for them time and time again refused to help me. I couldn’t get phone calls returned, emails sent, etc.

It’s a part of life – but it’s not a part of life I want to mess with.

Number 3 on the list was adding value to the lives of others.

This one is a little hard to measure for sure but still important to me. It’s a double edge sword being a marketer and trying to add value so this one is a little more subjective than I’d like.

Number 4 is a funny one. See I think people perceive me as constantly being negative and have a pessimistic attitude towards life.

While I’m guilty of that more times than not the fact remains I like to surround myself with generally positive people.

We all have rough days, weeks, hell maybe even months – but if you’re life straight from the Jerry Springer show – I’m not interested in being in it.

The last two are kind of important but to be honest I feel like I dick even mentioning one of them.

See I’d like to surround myself with 6 & 7 figure earners. Problem is, I don’t know a ton of them.

Hell I’d struggle to even name a handful of guys (and ladies) who match the requirements above and fit the income level I’d like to work with.

My theory behind it is this – you are who you surround yourself with. I’ve got a buddy – a great guy. He’s a little cheap from time to time but overall he’d be there at 3am if I needed him.

He has some real winners as friends.

And by winners I mean losers.

Guys who frankly I have a hard time hanging out with and wouldn’t want in my life.

Because he holds on to them – he doesn’t have room in his life to grow and meet other – less screwed up – people.

I’m all for loyalty to a point – but after that point it’s time to move on. Remember, no one forces you to be friend or interact with people you don’t want to.

Just because they gave birth to you, or were born as a brother or sister doesn’t mean you owe them anything.

And the last thing I put on the list is a dream request.

It will never happen, it will always disappoint me, but I’m leaving it there anyway.

I want people who are more than JV partners.

I want friends.

People who I can call and shoot the shit with – and not just about business.

The other day I called James Jones for an important task – I needed to know how to beat the roof level on Plants vs. Zombies.

That thing was tough!

Lucky for me he had the solution (as he normally does when it comes to all things zombie related).

We must of talked for 30 minutes and the topic of business never came up once.

That’s what I want.

Someone who can help me crush it with a product launch or an idea – but more importantly – a friend who can tell me how to kill zombies or make the perfect margarita (thanks Brian – they’re amazing).

Here’s my recommendation.

Take 5 minutes and do the exercise.

Simply list 3 people you admire and think about the values they have that you would like to posses.

I don’t want this to come off as some I’m better than everyone else type deal.

This is simply a road map or even just an outline of people who you want in your life.

And just as importantly – the people who you don’t.

Take time and do the exercise now … I’ll just wait here til you’re done.

.

.

.

I’m waiting … go do the exercise.

.

.

.

Yep, still here.

.

.

.

Dude stop screwing around and get to work.

.

.

.

Ok I give up, go back to playing a game or something.

Talk soon.

Tim

PS: I value you. I thank you for being in my life and the lessons you teach me on a daily basis.

PPS: You rock

Most people think you need a ton of money to be successful when starting a new business.

While it helps, there are actually two powerful forces – that you already possess – that combined will provide you more money than you can imagine.

The first one of these forces is your mental capital.

Simply put this is everything that you have learned since birth.

A job, a specific skill, a talent, or even just a simple understanding.

Take a few minutes and answer the following questions…

1. What special skills do you have that you could apply to your current business or situation?

If you’re looking to do offline marketing, what skills that you already have, can you apply to getting clients.

Maybe you once had a sales job that taught you how to close prospects successfully.

Maybe you have some technical skills that allow you to make websites quickly and efficiently.

Or maybe you have some specific knowledge of SEO, Google Places, Reputation management,etc.

If you don’t have any specific skills yet, don’t worry.

There is plenty of ways for you to acquire that information – blog post, YouTube videos, books, course, consulting, and more.

The possibilities to acquire information are endless.

No matter what you decide just make sure that you put as much emphasis on actually using the information as you do acquiring.

Information without implementation (aka action) is worthless.

The second of these powerful forces is the one most people forgot or treat as an after thought.

That is your relationship capital – aka the people you know.

Most people screw this up.

In this ME FIRST society people are guilty of asking for something before giving.

That is a fatal flaw and can ruin your business.

One of the easiest ways to fix this problem is to serve someone else without expecting anything in return.

Recently, internet marketing legend Marlon Sanders hosted a webinar for my business partner and I.

I got several people emailing me asking me how I was able to get someone like Marlon to promote for my business.

The answer is simple – I promoted for him first.

I think Marlon has some awesome products – products that I have personally used and bought – so when the chance comes to offer them to my customers I rarely pass.

As a result of my constant promotion of Marlon I was able to get on his “radar” and eventually Marlon returned the favor.

More important that the promotion is the relationship.

I now consider Marlon a friend and someone I can reach out to for advice and insight for my business.

That would have NEVER been possible had I tried to use a ME FIRST attitude.

Here’s another question for you to answer …

1. Who are 5 people that you know that can help you move closer to your goal?

Don’t just think online only.

For instance there is a local hockey guy I know that I need to sit down with and pick his brain. He runs a retail business that allows him monthly trips to Las Vegas, a beautiful home, and a nice income.

It would be worth investing in that relationship for no other reason to learn how he built his business.

Now there are a few important things to remember when it comes to relationships.

One, not all relationships are created equal. Up until last month I was in a mastermind with 8 other successful online marketers.

Each one of them ran their own business and had different income and lifestyle goals.

But the truth was, I only considered a few of them my friends.

Truthfully, some of them wouldn’t even promote me (no matter how many times I promoted them).

While it sucks, the fact of the matter is only a few out of a hundred or so relationships ever really turn into a deep friendship.

That doesn’t mean I can’t seek advice and council from people who I consider acquaintance – it just means we’re not talking on a normal basis or having wings and beer together.

To them – it’s just business.

Second, you have to work on it. In the coming year I am actually going to set out time each day to build my relationships with others.

That means getting off the computer and contacting people I want to know via phone or Skype.

While not every relationship will be successful, the simple fact that I am planting the seeds in the garden will help when it comes “harvest time”.

One of the big reasons I was able to go from nothing to six figures was my relationships with other marketers.

They can offer advice, make introductions, open doors and so much more.

I really think relationships are the glue that can make or break your business (no matter what business it is).

Now if you want to get on the radar of some people but are starting at ground zero let me offer you some advice.

Pay to play.

That means become a customer of someone you eventually like to be “friends” or partners with.

This has yet to fail for me.

Long before Jason Fladlien promoted for me I was a customer.

I bought and used his product and achieved results.

When I did, I told him about them in the form of a testimonial.

Hell I bought one product for not other reason than I got 30 minutes of his time.

That’s where I planted the seed that came to harvest over a year later.

Here’s my promise to you … if you invest in these two areas in 2012 you will be successful.

Spend time figuring out your specialty and then learn about the people who can help you get to where you want to be.

Focus on skills and relationships and the money will come.

I don’t speak from some ivory tower, I speak for personal and direct experience.

A word of warning though – you cannot focus on one of these exclusively.

An awesome base of information without the ability to share it with anyone is just as bad as a world of friends with nothing to share with them.

Neglect one of these forces and the other suffers as well.

Well there you have it, the two powerful forces that once combined ensure financial success.

I wish you the best and look forward to hearing about your progress.

Watch the webinar replay

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Here’s my video review of Justin Wheeler’s Cloak and Track WordPress plugin.

I am going to use this for my affiliate marketing sites to ensure that my commissions do not get hijacked or stolen by anyone.

To learn more about the plugin and to see it in action (again) click here – CLICK ME