Soon we’ll be flying south for 2 weeks of holidays with more family and friends.

Normally when I travel, I take my notebook computer. But, I’m a minimalist (especially when travelling), and even a notebook seems too bulky for me. Unfortunately mobile devices aren’t the fastest to type on, so I reluctantly resort to taking my notebook when I travel. However, I’ve decided to try something new this holiday season.

Mobile Pro Blogging

If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you’ll know I’m all about being mobile. I like the feeling of freedom. After all, pro blogging and running an online business is all about the lifestyle.

Knowing my quest for being mobile and a minimalist, my wife purchased a new Android phone for me, as a Christmas gift (I usually use Apple devices). The phone came with a built in “voice to text” app, so I decided to give it a shot.

I was impressed!

So impressed actually, that I decided to dictate this entire blog post (well, 96% of it).

In fact, I’ve started doing all of my emails and text messaging by voice.

I’ve also added a new voice to text app to my phone, that’s even more accurate and over time learns my speech patterns for better performance.

This got me thinking. Technology is moving at such a fast pace that it really gives us small business owners a big advantage. For example, if you publish membership sites or any online content (and all of us should be producing online content), then anything that speeds up the product creation process is invaluable. Not only will it give us more time, (and we all know that time is our most valuable asset), but it can also speed up our cash flow.

Voice to text apps speed up typing by at least 5 times. This means you can create books, articles, blog posts a lot faster. Faster production times means faster to launch, more content and more virtual real estate.

So for this trip all I’m taking is my Android phone to run my business and do some mobile blogging.

It’s all about work flow and systems

I’m a big fan of setting up correct work flows and systems to run your business.

It allows you to make your business scaleable and outsourceable.

Voice to text is now becoming a part of my work flow. Not only that, but studies have found that you think better and clearer when moving around. A lot more of my posts will be done while walking around, away from my computer (it’s good exercise too… .

My voice to text work flow

So here’s my process.

1. Short bursts of information: Instead of trying to do long sections at a time I use short paragraphs and sentiences at a time. This allows me to think, because speaking is faster than typing – and I need time to gather my thoughts in-between.

2. I don’t worry about mistakes: My goal is to get the information downing quickly. I don’t want to break the creation process. I don’t worry about correcting mistakes, I just keep going. Tweaking and correcting is left for the next step. Research has shown that when you get content down quickly the creation process is even more effective. Even if you start off saying just about anything. It’s like warming up the engines and it gets the creative juices flowing.

3. Clean it up: Once I’ve dictated all of my ideas I then go back and tweak all of the content on the keyboard. I’ll restructure a few things, add formatting and correct any punctuation.

That’s it in a nutshell.

I remember years ago when I wrote one of my books and I used a similar method. I recorded my voice and interviews and then had an outsourcer transcribe it for me. The results were outstanding. The entire book was written within 2 weeks and became a top seller.

Tools

The app I use is called: FlexT9

It’s from the same developers who created the desktop dictation software called “Dragon Naturally Speaking.”

I dictated part of this post directly into WordPress and the rest of it was done into an email and then pasted here.

My next post will be on the road as I travel around. It will be another voice dictated blog post

All I can say is this sure beats typing.

I’d like to wish all of you a happy and exciting new year!

Do you blog? In most cases a blog is an untapped source of revenue and you may not even realize it. If you don’t blog, you should. In a minute I’ll explain in a nutshell how I make money from blogging, even though I’m not that good at blogging.

But first…

I have a New Year’s resolution – to blog more! And I’m excited about it.

I have to admit I’m not the most consistent blogger. Why? Usually because I get an OCD kinda focus on new projects I’m doing, and don’t do anything else. But things are about to change. Not only am I going to cover strategies for membership sites, blogging, Internet marketing, etc., but I’m also going to cover other business and lifestyle topics.

How do I make money blogging? It’s not the conventional methods that most bloggers attempt – sponsored advertising. My blogs have generated 6 figure revenues, by following 3 critical rules. I try to follow these rules for every blog post I publish.

Rule #1: To serve your readers

Your blog should give readers results or insights on the subject matter. That’s the definition of quality content. It doesn’t matter if you’re not the greatest or most entertaining writer. Give people results and “ah ha” moments and you’ll develop a fan base. Other sites and blogs will link to you. You won’t even have to beg.

Rule #2: Become an “Authority Site”

An authority site is site people come to for information. In other words, an expert’s advice or opinions. Don’t worry about the “expert” status. All you have to do is know more than the average person. If you’re passionate about your topic, you probably already know more just from the reading and research you’ve done. If you’re following rule #1, your site will automatically become an authority site.

Rule #3: Build relationships

Building relationships will build readership traffic and reader loyalty like you wouldn’t believe. And it’s not that hard to do. All you have to do is share experiences. Just share experiences – including personal experiences. In other words let people get to know you. People want to know what other people (especially experts are doing).

You know, 2 of my highest hit blog posts (on two different blogs) hardly even gave any advice on the topic, it was just an insight into my every day life. The first one was “Lifestyle of a membership site publisher”, which showed some photos of a 3 month vacation I took several years ago traveling around selected spots in the US and Australia with my family. The second one was when I made my famous oat bran diet pancakes on a Monday morning.

Keep in mind that this only works if you are following rule #1 most of the time. In most cases you can’t just show your daily life, readers only want to hear about your daily life when they have respect for your other content. Therefore your “personal” posts should be peppered throughout your “authority content.”

How I monetize my blogs and the principle of “1,000 true fans!”

So if I’m not using sponsored ads, how do I monetize my blog? I’m glad you asked. Here’s how it works…

You only need 1000 fans to earn a full time income! Unfortunately this won’t work so well if you’re relying on income from sponsored advertising (you’ll probably need a lot more than 1000). This concept was formalized by author Kevin Kelly and his article “1000 True Fans“. Kelly sums it up best…

“A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author – in other words, anyone producing works of art – needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

[It's fair to say a] True Fan spends at $100 per year [on one of your products]. If you have 1,000 fans that sums up to $100,000 per year, which minus some modest expenses, is a living for most folks. One thousand is a feasible number. You could count to 1,000. If you added one fan a day, it would take only three years. True Fanship is ‘do-able’. Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating.”

And there you have it! This is how I monetize my blogs and generate 6 figure revenues. You build a fan base, by honestly serving them and giving them results, their natural  inclination is to then want more results. You create a product to fill the void and offer it to your fan base. They’re happy and you’re happy.

Use your blog to create a fanship, and then offer valuable products. In other words your blog becomes your platform for other products. This doesn’t mean shameless self promotion and creating a blog that only sells products. If you follow rule #1, this will never happen to your blog.

——–

Afterthought: Just thought I’d mention that I’m not bashing sponsored advertising (like Adsense), I personally know and have interviewed people who make a lot of money from it. Heck, even I’ve made some money from it, but for most people the methods above will be easier to generate cash-flow. Not only that, but you can use these methods even if you decide to use sponsored advertising.
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