Archive for March, 2008

1. Yesterday The Age of Conversation bum rush went well with the book peaking at #262 overall and #36 in Books > Business & Investing. I’ll have to ask Chris why they scheduled it for a weekend…
2. AoC 2k8 has been unveiled and includes a stellar lineup of authors and the overall theme “Why Don’t They Get It?” As an added twist the 275 (yes, two hundred seventy-five) authors will be cordoned off into 8 sub-sections. I’ve claimed my spot in the “Accidental Marketer” section. Look for me to share how teaching and marketing are two sides to the same coin. And remember the proceeds are going to Variety the Children’s Charity.
3. As an interesting side effect of participating in this project I’m now considered more “popular” by Technorati. It is just like in high school when the freaks and geeks (like me) would gain some social legitimacy by the “cool kids” saying nice things about them. By way of sharing the love and loving the sharing the full list of cool kids authors is below.
4. I’d love to connect with you, especially if you’re on the list below. My social networking drug site of choice is Facebook. (Point of fb etiquette: if you send me a friend request please include a note to tell me how you found me!)

Without further ado — The Age of Conversation 2008 “Why Don’t They Get It?” authors list:
Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

If you’ve missed it so far head on over to FreshPeel to find out about the rush. We are rocketing “The Age of Conversation” up the charts at Amazon Saturday March 29, 2008.

There are several reasons to do this Amazon rush, the most important of which is to increase exposure for the book because proceeds go to Variety the Children’s Charity.

To do my part and increase sales I am offering an “ethical bribe” if you purchase at least one copy Saturday. I still have a few open slots for our latest online course. We just started, which means you can still participate in the live portions of the course.

To take advantage of this offer and help the kids:

1. Buy AoC at Amazon Saturday, March 29, 2008
2. Head over to AoC.LifeLoveAndLearning.com
3. Submit your name, email, and Amazon receipt number
4. Instantly join the 5-week online course “Language Patterns for Resilience”

And just to make this weekend fully Conversant: watch for more info about the 2008 volume of The Age of Conversation that I will be co-authoring (with 274 of my “closest friends”!).

Here is the low down on several different aspects of becoming a best-selling author that I’ve been observing recently.

1. Motivation – Rise of the Author
   Joyner presents explicitly as a futurist and explains some of the factors that have lead us to where we are and how volatile the situation is for becoming a best-selling print author.
   He also extends a challenge that inspired my writing contest video (still sounds strange). While I was not on the list of winners I did manage to get an “honorable mention”.
2. Guidance – Conversations with Bestselling Authors
   If you have been inspired by RotA and are looking for some guidance on becoming a bestselling author yourself check out this audio program (with transcripts) of several authors’ attainment of the bestseller moniker. (I hear rumor that the only way to get MJ’s Bestseller Blueprint at the moment is by way of this program…)
3. Acknowledgment – FeBeNe
   If you aren’t ready to write your own book this might be a baby step towards bestseller status. Paulie Sabol and Ben Mack are sharing their “3 Simple Steps To Never Ending Profits” in the context of Guerrilla Information Marketing – the book with Jay Conrad Levinson that is targeting NYT bestseller list in January 2009. Ignoring the awesome content in the FeBeNe coaching you can take advantage of one of their bonuses to gain authority by association — you will be acknowledged in the book they are taking to NYT bestseller status. And you’ll spend about $30,000 less to do it than Paulie did a few years ago. Either way, go listen to their interview with the original guerrilla marketer JCL.
4. Collaboration – Upping the Downside
   Maybe you want more than the acknowledgment but you don’t want to shoulder the burden of authoring and marketing your bestseller on your own. A collaborative effort can get your book on the Amazon bestseller list like Upping the Downside did last Friday. Does it take the 20 years of experience that were poured into this book? No, but it will take as much resilience as you can muster. Go check out the book to boost that resilience and while you’re doing that watch the process they used to get their bestseller status.
5. Coordination – The Age of Conversation
   So maybe you’re not ready to submit a chapter length essay to a book like Upping the Downside. Think like you’re on the Internet: lots of people contributing a little bit each. The Age of Conversation is exactly that. Drew and Gavin collected one page from each of a hundred authors and created AoC. The interesting twist is that the proceeds are all going to Variety the Children’s Charity. And in the spirit of Conversation there is a “social media bum rush” planned to push AoC into bestseller status on March 29 (like Upping the Downside did on pi day, March 14). This gives you a chance to observe in real time the effects of concentrated effort since you’ll be on Amazon buying a copy of the book on March 29 anyway.
6. More Mass Collaboration and Coordination – The Age of Conversation 2008
   If you are not among the 275 authors involved in this year’s AoC volume you can still live vicariously through me. I will keep you abreast of what is happening as Gavin and Drew draw together AoC2k8. And you can bet your buttons I’ll be putting to good use all of what I’m learning from MJ (Mark Joyner), MJ (Mike Jay) and this month’s AoC bum rush in order to push AoC2k8 as high up the charts as I can. And that is truly win-win-win — I (and 274 others) become bestseller, you get great content on “Why Don’t People Get It?”, and the kids get the proceeds!

What was keeping you from attaining goals like being a bestselling author?

I’ve always been a fan of personality tests, mostly for entertainment purposes. Occasionally a test like the Kolbe A will reveal aspects that I hadn’t noticed before. More often I confirm things I already knew about myself such as when I played with the Myers-Briggs test enough to toggle my Introvert/Extrovert by changing one answer that could go either way. Beyond the fun of identifying myself as an ambi-vert (how many ANTP’s do you know?!) these tests can give some useful insight into how to play to our strengths.

Take various ideas like Gallup’s strength-based development, a world of uncertain economic outlook, and a healthy dose of slack. Mix in the brain pan of a professional’s professional. Marinade for 10,000 hours of business and executive coaching. Toss with essays from eleven authors. Pour into the metaphoric mold of professional resilience. Serve Upping the Downside warm.

What I have typically been missing in the past is the next step, the application of this new knowledge to affect my behaviors. While I wouldn’t quite consider Upping the Downside to be a personality test it does encourage self-reflection around the 64 core concepts and more importantly it guides and encourages changes in your systems and network rather than attempting to change your personality.

I’ve been working my way through a pre-release copy and am consistently impressed by the depth of the chosen metaphor of professional resilience. The book is split into two distinct, yet interrelated, sections. The first section is a collection of essays from eleven other authors on the topic of professional resilience. The second section is Mike Jay spiraling us deeper into the rabbit hole of self-reflection — all the while maintaining the focus on resilience and how to develop it while maintaining our own identity, talents, and strengths.

So what is resilience? Resilience is the ability to continue in the face of unexpected challenges. This is different than planning for every eventuality by virtue of the unexpected aspect. One of the keys presented in Upping the Downside is slack, and not the lackadaisical avoidance of responsibility popularized by the Church of the Subgenius. Jay presents the concept of slack in more of an engineering frame: the difference between the level at which a system is operating and its current maximum operational capacity. If you are running near your maximum capability then you don’t have much slack left in order to respond to unexpected situations. And the more efficiently a system performs the more likely there will be enough slack to respond appropriately.

I have not yet reached the full depths of my own resilience rabbit hole, especially considering this is a lifelong mindset change rather than a single event. Even with only having made it through five of the eight sections in the survey I have identified several areas of improvement in my own systems — not my self. I’m quite excited to fully experience working within my strengths and talents. I’ve already begun developing the systems and networks to shore-up the areas that are not my strength or talent.

How much slack do you have in your life?
Where could you use more support in order to live your life more fully?

Oh! I barely remembered. The book is launching on March 14 and there will be bonuses and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities available. For more information check out the Upping the Downside membership area which has a special report based around the book and a ton of great resources for resilience. As I understand it the membership is only free until the book launch, so check that out soon, maybe even right now!