Sunday, October 01, 2006

San Diego Chiropractic

I am an athelete, or perhaps i have been fooling myself into continuing to think so for the past few years. As a wanna be athelete, I have been playing basketball, volleyball, swimming and running pretty hard for the past few years.

I noticed however, that even though i was a district level sprinter in my earlier days, I have morphed into somewhat of a plodder anytime i put my big feet to the pavement.

A few weeks ago, I even ran a half marathon, in which other runners could sometimes hear my flat feet coming before they even saw me.

Well about 2 weeks ago, i went to see a chiropractor. Nothing in particular was aching, shaking out of the ordinary -- i happened to get a special free visit coupon so figured might as well go have a look and see what the chiropractor has to say.

The first session at the chiropractors took about 45 minutes. 30 minutes of filling out forms, and 10 minutes in talking and evaluating and 5 minutes of correcting some errors.

Yeah, i said, nothing was wrong initially, but by the end of the session, I could see that my pelvis was in truth uneven and needed correcting, i was putting 13 pounds extra pressure on my right foot, and one of my shoulders was 2 inches higher than the other.

Ok, i had no idea so many things could be wrong, and quite truthfully, apart from my bumbling gait while running, i was still playing sports competitively without problems.

I have now had several sessions with the chiropractor and after about 3 weeks this is what i have to report.

While running, i am no longer running as a fat flat footed sloth, I am now a fat but quite elegent and fast, yes very fast runner again ! Yippee, who would have thought?

Secondly, my weight which was hovering around the 260 mark - yes even with exercising like 2-3 mile swims daily - well that weight is now down to 250 and this is without exercising - yeah, i have gotten lazy again, but will start up soon again.

And of course, i have a much stronger awareness of when I am twisting my spine or bending over while working.

Chiropractic and chiropractors
were for people who have headaches, backaches and other kinds of pains - yes, like the rest of the world this is exactly what I thought.

Duhh, so wrong, so wrong.

If you are in the san diego area and looking to see if you have any unknown problems that you want to take a proactive stance on, check out the San Diego Chiropractor network in San Diego

The above group of chiropractors have offices all over san diego, from oceanside all the way down to San Ysidro so there is bound to be one near you. You Can check their chiropractic map here I know this cause some of my closest friends, mostly atheletes in san diego, swear by this group.

Marathon runners do a heck of a lot of traveling, and they all know the value of a bottle of ibubufren and a race concious chiropractor immediately before a race.


If you are in toronto, Canada, my friend Dr. Jamie Garvie is a wonder.
And if you are in Barrie, Ontario, my friend Dr. Angie is competent, warm and will end every session with a wonderful hug.

Live large, my friends.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Optin Pages - What's the big deal with optin anyway?

Optin Pages. Who needs them?

An earlier blog on this site went into the pros and cons of autoresponders in terms of what they are, what they do, and how they can be used to increase revenue. Read Autoresponders for profit

Unfortunately, that article did not address where the mystery prospective customers come from. Those who will be sent email as part of the autoresponder series.

Let's look at offline and then online sources.

Offline sources of optin clients
Do you currently run a retail business? Perhaps a hair salon, mechanics garage or lawn care service where people walk in the door and request quotes or more information?

If so, you already have the modus de operandi for collecting valuable emails. We won't go into the why you should do this, because that was covered in the blogs on "autoresponders for profit"

Simply make an offer to those who come into your place of business as a swap for their business card / email address.

A bowl of business cards with a free draw for a trip somewhere will usually do the trick.

Don't forget tradeshows, walking around a tradeshow and any other opportunity like business opportunity meetings.

Online sources of Optin customers

We will cover this in the next blog

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Friday, April 28, 2006

Internet Merchant Accounts - Who needs it ?

Who needs an internet merchant account? Well perhaps you do, particularly if you are going to try to make a bundle of money online.

Or do you? Whole groups of people are swearing on Paypal, so can you use this instead?

There are groups like clickbank.com and paypal.com who appear to be able to take transactions for you, the rumour of Google entering this marketplace has also created a stir.

Anyway, why would one need an online or internet merchant account?


Merchant accounts and processing gateways are Internet services that enable online processing of credit cards. Online merchant accounts are variations of the traditional credit card processing used by retail stores and phone order houses. A business must qualify for merchant account; each provider has a different set of requirements.

So, why can't Paypal alone, which is internationally recognized and used by millions, fill the gap for you?

For some it might, but for most itsimply can't.

There may be 78 million or more users who have access to Paypal and who may or may not have any funds in their paypal account but lets not overly dwell on this latter point.

Of the 700 million users who surf the internet, depending on your native language or demographics it is quite likely that only 1 in 10 have a paypal account and of that number perhaps less than 35% are maintaining a sizable balance in their paypal accounts.

Why, would we presume this? Because if Paypal accounts are used in a similar way to credit card accounts, there is rarely ever a positive balance on a credit card - in fact, this phrase written on any media even sounds a little strange.


What this means to you as a marketer who uses only PayPal as their merchant account gateway is that for every 10 potential customers that are seriously interested in your product, perhaps less than 1 will actually buy though there was interest on the part of 10.

This example is not scientific and there are other ways of collecting money online such as online checks, however they all have the same types of problems as PayPal, in that, at this time, relying exclusively on those services can cut off a large part of your market.

So, why do you need an internet merchant account?

Between Visa and MasterCharge the credit card industry has spent Billions of dollars in brand name recognition and has managed to get a very significant number of the 6-700 Million online browsing population to accept one or more of their cards.

Even those that don't have a credit card will attempt to either borrow one or use a Visa or MasterCard Debit Card which provides much the same service.

Of course, there are other credit card issuers too such as Amex and Switch.

So an internet merchant account becomes a necessity as this will be your primary gateway to the majority of your customer base.

Get an inexpensive Internet Merchant account here, and start pulling in money from your friends right away - lol.

P.S.
To its credit, Paypal does have an internal facility wherein a non paypal user can use a Visa or MasterCard to pay for a purchase, however this facility is not always clear to a user, and all too frequently its a user's perception that really counts.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Good Toronto Limousines hard to Find

Not usually the type of material that I cover in my blogs but sometimes something happens that really pisses you off and you figure - gosh I just have to blog on this.

Two months ago, some friends and myself were on one of those new Limousine buses. You know the type with the seriously high headroom, 32 inch video screens and the surround systems that resonate throughout your body.

The vehicle was emmaculately designed and engineered and it was almost like a home on wheels with the ability to carry a dozen people easily.

Unlike other 44 foot elongated limousines that one finds in Toronto, this one had a higher ceiling which meant oddly enough that one could talk at a reasonable level and be heard by others that were 20+ feet away.

Try that in the average 6 foot high stretched buses !

Anyway, we started off near the toronto airport, picked up a few more revelers and continued on into the concord area where there were a few clubs.

Now here is where the story gets really weird. The driver got impatient and left 3 of us at one of the clubs. He just drove off. Did he not do a head count? Should he have done a head count?

Yep, a little upset, we were, at the turn of events.

Anyway, it was mid week, one of us surfed google and found a company who had the new Krystal 12 foot high limousines and since it was mid-week, we got a wheel of a deal - sorry, not allowed to mention the price it was that good.

The company that came up on the google search was called enchantedlimo.com and I have to say that for us, their toronto limousine service was just what the doctor ordered.

Can find this article under

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Limousine services to die for...

Friday, March 10, 2006

AutoResponders For Cash

Recently, I blogged about the usefulness of an Autoresponder series in terms of a sustained increase of revenue to a business.

I promised to come back with more examples of exactly how and why an autoresponder series should be used.

Let's suppose, hypothetically that you sell large printed pictures of movie stars, and that you give your clients a 7 day preview of nice triple sized thumbnails online.

Your client makes contact with you and pays a refundable 3.95. The contact that your client made with your online system, automatically put that client into a 7 day autoresponder series that looks like this.

Day 1: Thank you letter

Day 1: Official looking professional invoice w/ $0 amount, branding exercise

Day 1: Warm personal mesg from a named representative, with instructions for access to even more thumbnails.

Day 2: Personalized email from your Representative, access to even more thumbnails, info on upcoming star studded events that quarter. 40% discounted offer if sale is completed in 24 hrs.

Day 3: Personalized pop quizz, some free goodies, even more thumbnails and a reminder that the 40% off has been discontinued, but they can get product for 25% off if they commit in next 24hrs:

Day 4: Notice that they are more than half way thru the Trial process. Personalized Offer to help with any problems, short list of benefits and offer now at 15% off.

Day 5: Personalized letter, more free goodies, offer now at 10%. Some information to overcome any percieved objections on shipping, comparative pricing, warranties, etc.

Day 6: Personalized letter with notice that Trial is about to end. More industry info, some free goodies. One more offer, this time for a yearly subscription at 25% off that is good only until tomorrow.

Day 7: Personalized letter. Cover any objections not covered already. Outline benefits, let them know kindly that the 25% off annual is not available anymore, but that they can get 15% off of the annual with a commitment now.

Day 14: Offer client cloaked affiliate links to other similar but reputable services. Be objective about their strengths and weaknesses and where each service is most appropriate to be used.

Will be back with examples of post sales use of the autoresponder.

I think you get the idea now.



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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Autoresponder Series - Increase Your Earnings Magically !

Can Autoresponders Increase Your Earnings?

First, what is an Autoresponder ?

1) A tool that generates those useless "I am on vacation message, pls try later" msgs.
2) Automatic responder on a cell phone with ring tones.
3) Door Bell that automatically responds with voice msg during a ring.
4) A 911 emergency msg that can save your life.
5) Don't be daft - None of the above.


Answer: scroll down







.

.


According to Google
A program that usually resides on a server, an autoresponder can send automatic replies to people who send emails to a particular email address.


However in the future, responses of 2,3 or 4 might all well have some validity ( just my opinion - definately not fact ).

So, Answer 1 is somewhat correct - though most jaded... lol.

Ok so, we have established that autoresponders can be used to send an email message to a specific user based on some event.

There are Autoresponders and there are Email Broadcast tools.

But for the purpose of this article let us just look at Autoresponders.

What else can be done with an autoresponder?

Why does google claim to have 2.2 million results for the keyword "autoresponder" ?

The short answer is that people are making a significant amount of increased earnings from the use of autoresponders, and wherever someone is making a lot of money, there will be someone else trying to sell the opportunity.

So, exactly how is this done?

How do people make money off of autoresponders?

Let's assume for the moment that you have a website selling widgets.
You have done the math and figured out that for every 1000 unique visitors per month, you earn 1,000 dollars. So, thats exactly 1 dollar per visitor.

Like most others, who were not born wealthy, you would like to increase the earnings to perhaps 2 dollars per visitor.

You already have a compelling offer on the site that gives away a free 1 hour of consultation (worth $100) to every 1,000th visitor but they must sign up to take advantage of the offer.

Here is where the power of the autoresponder shines. A Forrester report was just one of many, that claim that users now need to be exposed to a product from 7-12 times before making the purchase decision - particularly for non-trivial purchases.


So What's a girl to do ?

You set up a series of 12 dedicated Autoresponder msgs that each cover every possible objection that the user may have, from pricing, to widget color, to shipping, to widget size, to widget longevity, to your guarantee, etc., etc.

Day 1 -The user signs up for the offer
Day 1 - User gets their first autoresponder congrats msg from you w/ money back guarantee
Day 2 - User gets 2nd autoresponder msg with a focus on Pricing issues
Day 3 - User gets 3rd autoresponder msg with a focus on widget size issues
Day 4 - User gets 4th autoresponder msg with a focus on widget texture
Day 5 - User gets 5th autoresponder msg with a focus on Shipping issues
Day 6 - User purchases and is automatically* taken off of the autoresponder series
Day 7 - You realize there is a sale and manually take user off of the autoresponder series
Day 7 - Switch "sold user" to a different set of autoresponders that thank them for the sale and show them how to get the most out of the widget that they just bought.
Day 7 - Continue to email the "unsold user" and overcome objections.
Day 8 - No Sale, stop emailing potential customer and wait until next week.
Day 14 - Move to a once a week schedule and continue to feed user legitimate information with very soft sales motivation.


End Result of the Autoresponder mailout... ?


Studies have shown an increase in sales from 100 -400%.

Some are claiming even higher. There is a gentleman who shall remain un-named ( protect the innocent lol ) who claims increases of over 2,000% percent.


So, where can you get an autoresponder from?


You could download a free version but its highly unlikely that it would do everything that i mentioned above without some serious programming. Feel up to getting into some code today?

Or, you could use one of the major online services like Aweber or Getresponse or 1Shoppingcart.com


Is it possible to get an Autoresponder from an ISP or your shopping cart vendor?


Yes, you can, and no you can not. Both ISP's and most shopping cart vendors have single use autoresponders. In other words, an automatic msg declaring that you are on holiday until next Monday.

But getting a programmable autoresponder is usually the domain of the 3 aforementioned services above - aweber, getresponse and 1Shoppingcart.com

1Shoppingcart.com however is somewhat unique amongst even these three hosted asp services in that 1Shoppingcart.com has the inherent ability to switch the autoresponder series based on an actual sale.


Switching Autoresponder Series

At this time, I have not seen this switchable option in Aweber or Getresponse but that's not to say that they are not in the process of implementing this very important autoresponder switching feature, since a marketers choice will always be to stop what could be annoying sales mesgs as soon as the customer has committed.

Another great product in this genre is ConstantContact.com but that product is less suited for pre-sales processes and most or best suited for the post sales process when newsletters and special event broadcasts are required.

Above, I showed just one example of an Autoresponders Series.

There are many more, stay tuned.


Where can you get these from?

Get regular hosted autoresponders from:

1Shoppingcart.com
aweber.com
getresponse.com

Get great newsletter templates from

constantcontact.com

Get Integrated Programmable Autoresponders Series from:

At the moment, 1shoppingcart is only one mentioned that can automatically switch the autoresponder series based on an event such as a sale.

1Shoppingcart.com


Next, we will have a more indepth look at how others use Autoresponders, particularly Autoresponder series.


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Friday, March 03, 2006

Anxiety And Panic Attacks




Anxiety And Panic Attacks

These attacks are experienced by an astonishing 6% of the population and an attack can take the form of
  • pressure on the chest,
  • inability to breathe properly or at all,
  • tingling in the limbs or extremities
  • Pain in the chest
  • Dizziness spells that reinforce the panic
  • Overwhelming feeling that something dire is about to happen

The fact that 6% of the population suffers from these types of panic attacks means that you are not alone. Probably in your workplace there are people sitting quite close to you, who also have the same feelings to a greater or lesser extent.

The feelings associated with Anxiety Panic attacks are not simply in the head of the suffer, they are real and cause real physiological problems if allowed to continue.

Yesterday, i mentioned that Charles Linden had a linden Methodology used to solve anxiety panic attacks.

Today, we will look at Joe Barry, who also appears to have had similar anxiety panic attacks for 30 years. He was also able to overcome these problems and in time, was able to articulate and teach over 7,000 other people how to also easily overcome anxiety panic attacks.




Joe says, "I am not talking about just eliminating panic attacks but also getting your general anxiety level right back down to zero without the use of any medication or relaxation techniques."




read about his story and cure here...

Linden Method - Problematic Amygdala & Anxiety Panic Attacks


Linden Method

The other day, i created a post relating to the Linden Method.

Linden is no doctor - actually he does not claim to be. His is one of just a handful of sites that make any claims to being able to aid those who suffer from acute anxiety and stress related problems that create real physical symptoms.

I found the following on Linden's site...

There’s no secret, every single anxiety disorder, panic attack, phobia, OCD & PTSD sufferer on this planet has a condition that is caused and perpetuated by the same single thing; this thing is called the Amygdala, it’s a small almond shaped organ in the brain, this fact has been known for many years and is common knowledge amongst scientists world over. No matter how bad your symptoms are, no matter how long you have had anxiety disorder, this tiny organ is 100% responsible. IT is the cause of your anxiety; not stress, bereavement or life circumstances…they are just the triggers for the anxiety.

So you might ask, ‘why is the Linden Method the answer?’…good question…it’s the answer because, by a twist of fate, I created a program that undoes the changes that have been made in the Amygdala…FACT! No other therapeutic practice that I know has the same dramatic affect.

A Psychologist analyzed my method over Christmas this year; and her conclusion? That The Linden Method was, in fact, THE most powerful therapeutic device she had ever come across.

read more ...

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Acute Anxiety and Stress - The Linden Method

There are a significant number of people who suffer from acute anxiety related stress that manifest as Panic attacks.

You will know if you are amongst the number of people that suffer from this because you would have experienced one or more of the following:

  • A Racing Heart
  • Chest Pain
  • Palpitations
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Headaches
  • Sweats
  • Bowel Troubles
  • Nausea
  • General Fatigue
  • Dizziness
  • Insomnia
  • Butterflies in the Stomach
  • Difficulty swallowing

Even more horrifying is that you may be one of 20 million americans who additionally suffer from one or more of the following:
  • Constant fear or impending doom
  • Depression
  • Agoraphobia
  • Sudden Panic
  • Irritability
  • Social Nervousness
  • Feelings Like You Are Going Mad Or Losing Control
  • Feeling Alone And Out Of Place
  • Believing That There Is No Hope Of Normality
  • Social Phobia
  • Disturbing Dreams And Thoughts
It is said that, to suffer from many of these is like feeling a constant pressure on one's chest area or a sinking feeling in the pit of one's stomach and in some cases much worse.



The internet has a number of sites that offer possible solutions. One of these sites is written by a gentleman, who against all odds, remarkably enough, actually cured himself.

Not content with this, he then went on to mentor others and within a short period of time was having his methodology verified and tested by the medical community.

You may have heard of Charles Linden. His methodology is being called the Linden Method and has found credibility with a large number of professional practitioners.


Charle's story is so remarkable, I will let him tell it. He does a much better job than i do.

Check it out here.





I wrote this article from my laptop as I was cruising around in my favorite toronto limousine service.