Archive for November, 2009

I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t say to someone, “I’d love to be rich but I’d hate to be famous.”   I was bouncing around Youtube last night ( it’s just a thing I do right before I go to bed, don’t ask me why)  and I stumbled upon a clip by an online video business called Video Xposure.  It is basically a video posting business that follows big time stars like Jack Nicholson, Cate Blanchett or Jack Black and posts videos of them to services like Youtube all over the net.

It’s a scream, I gotta tell ya.   What could be  stupider than watching about a hundred morons with cameras of every kind running after Jack Black as he merely tries to ride his bicycle?  Here, check out this clip.

Man, I’d hate this kind of attention.  However, I must admit I did get a entertainment value out of watching this.  I’m not interested in Mr. Black, although I love his movies and I think he is a really talented actor, what I laughed my butt off about was the crowd of stupid idiots chasing him down the street.  Wowie-Kazowie that was really funny.  They are so stupid and obsessed that it kills me.

Of course, I couldn’t help but look at the links of other videos posted by similar companies on Youtube either.  There is just nothing funnier than watching Toby McGuire leap out of a car and blast the morons with every foul word imaginable because they were blocking his car.  He’s not just Spiderman, he’s Spider-MAN! Wow.  Or Lindsay Lohan trying to drink a cup of coffee at Starbucks, or Richard Drefruss trying to eat a Ruben sandwich.   Yep, I can’t live without this stuff. NOT!

Quite personally, I think the people that intrude like this are of the lowest order and I think that if you, dear reader, are actually paying to either watch or read this kind of crap then you ought to stop.  It is one thing to watch a video clip once in awhile for free, but it is pretty stupid to pay for it and allow these parasites to bother these people.

However having said all of that, there is something to be said for celebrity status if you are in business.  For one thing, if you have a niche or are popular in a particular area of expertise, then being well known is pretty cool.  It clearly establishes that you are an authority on your subject.  The cooking shows on the food channel are a great example of this.  I’m sure Paula Dean has profited from her celebrity status as well as Rachel Ray and others.  Also, big time entrepreneurs like Gene Simmons of KISS fame and George Foreman who really know how to license and parlay their status to make themselves even richer.  In the case of Simmons, he has licensed loads of products and different businesses that he is involved in to include products from his KISS franchise.  The celebrity status certainly has helped him in his endeavors.

There is a new book on the market that tries to show you how to become a celebrity in your own niche no matter what you are into.  I was at a local bookstore last night and I had a chance to read quite a bit of it before I put it on my wife’s Christmas list for ME.  The title of the book is Where’s My Fifteen Minutes? By Howard Bragman ( I hope the last name isn’t a pun) and it’s a book that can show you how to create an image or a brand for yourself utilizing public relations.

From what I could tell, anyone that wants to create a name for him or herself and establish themselves as an authority could use the advice in this book.  As we all know in marketing, branding is very important and image is everything.  As a matter of fact, I have actually seen people sell all sorts of products that were substandard even, but had great marketing behind them.  As we all know, creating a crappy service or product is not a good idea especially in the Internet  age, where word can get around very fast.  The movie industry has been whining about this a lot lately because you can go to Yahoo! Movies and check out the ratings by movie goers and critics alike to see whether or not the flick is worth paying $8.00 a head for.

Yet, if you have a great product or service and can utilize PR strategies like the one’s in Where’s My Fifteen Minutes then you can very quickly build a niche for yourself that can help you establish as an authority in a particular field.  Oh, and don’t worry about becoming a total expert on your subject because you can actually create that too.  I have a Website and blog on the subject of electric bikes and scooters called  ( get this) Electric Bikes-N-Scooters.

I am clearly not an expert on the subject although I have written and studied the matter enough about it in order to write articles related to electric bikes and electric scooters .  Also, I have had people that actually design the e-bikes come from States away to demonstrate their wares to me, because they have perceived me as an authority. Well, I have written extensively about them for the last 3 years, so whatever!

Before I wind up this little party, I want you to have a couple of hard and fast rules that you can use to get the paparazzi to chase you down the street of your expertise and get you some free PR.  Here ya go:

1. Write a blog, e-book, book or magazine article about your particular area of expertise.  If you ever get published, this will clearly establish you as an authority in your field.
2. Stay current on your chosen industry and be well informed.
3. Publish or produce research on your chosen field.
4. Push the envelope and challenge the current dogma.  This will really get you noticed.
5. Learn to write PR pieces and send them to local media.
6. Once you start to get any kind of a fan base, stay in touch with them through newsletters and email.  Your client/fan list is gold!

These are just a few ideas that will help you to get started on becoming the next Elvis in your own niche or realm. Thank-Ya…Thank-Ya very much.

Mark Elmo Ellis

www.EllistratedWebsites.com

Procrastination is a disease that I have.  I have to admit that I have gotten better at tackling this monkey on my head, but it hasn’t been very easy.  I have another blog that I write frequently, and I have really gotten behind on that one and now I’m starting another one which I’m sure some of you will find rather crazy.  Since I have my new website up and running, I had to get on the ball and get this started, otherwise that monkey will be sticking bananas in my ears too!

Anyway, I need to get started on this blog, because I have found that they do help SEO (Search Engine Optimization for all of you that are sick of acronyms) so that I can validate that I can 1. Create a sharp looking blog and 2. Begin to give you some information that you can use to create your own online presence.

Back to the procrastination thing for a second.

People overlook one of their most prescious commodities in life which is time. I went out shopping with my wife at 3 ahem on he dreaded “Black Friday” right after National Turkey Day and we could not believe the massive lines of people that were lined up down the street to get into a department store.  Not only were they lined up at an ungodly time of the morning, but they had been there since 11:00 PM on Thanksgiving Day just so they could be the first in line.  I told my wife that I wondered if these people ever added up their time to see if it was really worth waiting outside like this.  Fortunately for us, our whole shopping experience took 45 minutes.  We knew exactly what we wanted and we got in the check out pretty quick.

Time is something that people don’t really consider as a commodity.  If you are an entrepreneur, you always have to track your time to see whether or not something is worth doing.  As a matter of fact, there are many reasons people don’t get things done in a timely manner and one of them is the fact that most of the business owners I know, try to wear every hat they can in their business.  Result: overwhelmed, worn out, frustrated and then procrastination will set in because they have such a large load to bear that they can’t seem to move.

One thing you can do as a business owner is to either delegate out responsibilities to someone on your staff, or hire out work that you just can’t do for yourself.  Do you really think Donald Trump pours concrete or handles legal matters on some of the high profile and complex projects that he deals in?  I don’t think so.  If you are going to be an entrepreneur, you are going to have to know how to hire and delegate responsibilities or you will burn yourself out.

Here are a few tips on how to handle time more effectively and get more done:

1. Hire out work that you don’t like to do or can’t do yourself.  You can easily find people that can help you out on Google by searching there.
2. Delegate responsibilities to your staff.  After all, they should be reporting to you anyway. Right, boss?
3. Start planning your day by either planning the day before or at the beginning of the week.
4. Watch out for the time vampires! Don’t let losers waste your time with trivial stuff. Your time is way tool precious!
5. Read a couple of books on time management.  You can find a ton of ideas on how to manage your time better as well as resources as to where you can get planners calendars, etc. to help you on your quest to save your most precious commodity.

If you really want to follow a good model on how to manage your time, read a book or two on Ben Franklin. Franklin was a printer, politician, scientist, ambassador, publisher,architect of our postal and library systems, signer of the Declaration and Constitution and the list can go on and on.  One of the things that people don’t know about Franklin, is that he was also a master of time management.  Franklin made and utilized planners for his own personal use and as a matter of fact, the company Franklin-Conant that sells time planners and calendars have named their business after Ben.

Well, I hope that you didn’t thnk you wasted yourtime reading this blog posting today.  Pleasecontinue to tune in because I will be posting loads of ideas, tips and techniques that wil help both your offline and online business and life!

God Bless!

Mark