Wearable computer provides ’sixth sense’ information
Wow! Future Technology Looks Incredible
How would you like to be able to walk up to anyone or anything and immediately have access to extensive knowledge of that person or thing? Sound impossible? Watch the video below and be amazed.
Basically it’s a wearable, intuitive. sixth sense device that gives the wearer immediate information.
- what toilet paper should you buy?
- the latest news
- is the person you’re talking to “wanted”?
- is your flight on time?
The entrepreneurial advantages of such a device would be incredible.
- current news / trends anytime, anywhere
- immediately know who you’re dealing with
- mindmap your idea anywhere
- unlimited potential
Keep this on your radar – you’ll see it again.!
Shoulder Rehab device heads to St. Louis and Upgrade your Blog with the WPAU Plugin
I’ve been busy, busy, busy (this is my very weak attempt to excuse my lack of posting here at soupornuts.com).
The Rotater is attracting international attention. Two highly respected physicians from the U.K. have contacted us about our shoulder rehab and stretching device and have expressed an interest in distributing the Rotater in the U.K. One of theses physicians ( a distinguished orthopedic surgeon who specializes in shoulder injuries ) has ordered a Rotater for testing and evaluation. We are very excited.
The Rotater Guys go to the NATA conference in St. Louis
(photo used courtesy of merfam)
Scott Kay and I will be in St. Louis ( June 17–21 ) at the America’s Center Convention Center (booth #2242) for the National Athletic Trainer’s Association’s annual convention to demonstrate and answer questions about our shoulder rehab and stretching device – the Rotater. This should be another great opportunity for us to make the sporting world aware of the benefits of stretching your shoulder with the Rotater.
Scott unveiled a very crude prototype of the Rotater at the 2006 NATA annual conference in Atlanta. This initial showing was a viability test for the Rotater. The response of these sports professionals was beyond our wildest dreams and provided the motivation for refining the design, producing a mold and proceeding to mass production.
If you’re coming to the NATA convention or live in the St. Louis area, then please stop by booth #2242 and say hi. I’d love to meet you.
(this is me and Scott at the ACSM conference in Indianapolis)
WordPress Automatic Uprgrade Plugin Saves “Shoulder Performance & Rehab”
After returning from Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago, I started having problems with Blogjet / Wordpress – but only on our blog – Shoulder Performance & Rehab. I sent an inquiry to the support staff at Blogjet ( I love Blogjet and they have very good customer service ) and was informed that I needed to upgrade my WordPress software. Sadly, I was running version 2.02 and had been putting off this dreaded task.
I have done some research into the WordPress Automatic Upgrade Plugin in the past, but was never really convinced that something terrible wouldn’t go wrong and cause me to lose everything. Now I had no choice.
- I down-loaded the WPAU
- I uploaded it to my plugins folder as directed
- I activated the plugin
- WPAU walked me through the entire procedure
- Everything worked perfectly
Ten minutes and I’m done. It was simple, filled with instructions and explanations. If you’ve been putting off a badly needed upgrade, don’t wait any longer. Down-load the plugin and get it over with.
Soupornuts.com is next on the upgrade agenda – if I can just make time to do it.
Joint Mechanix to Demo Shoulder Rehab Tool in Indianapolis
(photo courtesy of saschapohflepp)
Our Shoulder Rehab Device will be at the ACSM Annual Conference
The Rotater and I will be in Indianapolis this week (May 28–31) at the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual conference. The ACSM is the world’s premier sports medicine and exercise science organization.
The ACSM mission statement:
The American College of Sports Medicine promotes and integrates scientific research, education, and practical applications of sports medicine and exercise science to maintain and enhance physical performance, fitness, health, and quality of life.
If you’re anywhere near Indianapolis this week, then please stop at the Rotater booth and say hi. I’d love to hear from you.
Advertisers: Please interupt me so I can actively ignore you!
Have you ever run into an acquaintance at a grocery store or restuarant and while trying to have a conversation with them, either their child or your child is constantly tugging at your hand while repeating “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy” as a way to get your attention? It’s frustrating, but something that you have to put up with. I don’t owe advertisers the same consideration.
(photo courtesy of alessandro pucci)
Hey Television Marketeers: Your days are numbered!
Have you noticed how many commercials there are on television? Is it just me or does they seem to be more frequent – if that is possible? I don’t watch much tv, but what little I do watch seems to interupt the commercials.
How long can this last? With the growth and development of the web, I believe that the current model for advertising on tv is headed for the trashcan. If things don’t change, then people will get their entertainment elsewhere – someplace where they give their permission to hear a sales pitch.
What’s the Point?
If you have a website that markets anything (if you have a website, then you are marketing something, whether it is a product or your ideas), then please pay attention to the following suggestions. Though I can’t speak for eveyone, I believe that a large number of people will agree with me.
- Get rid of your annoying popups that ask me to subscribe to your free newletter or special report – just place it somewhere on your site and I’ll find it – if I want to find it! You don’t have my permission to assault me with ads that block the view of the article that I came to your site to read. Yes, it is your site to do with as you wish, the problem is that I (and many others) won’t be back to see it. By the way, the “catch me if you can” ads that dance across the screen are hard to catch, so I just click on the little “x” in the top right hand corner of the page. Works every time.
- I don’t want or need a flash presentation – I’m sure that some “hotshot” web designer told that it was the latest and greatest thing, but it just slows me down. The web is all about speed, speed, speed. Give it to me quick and dirty. I don’t really care about you – I’m doing research for me!
- If it looks like an ad, then I’m probably not going to read it. Sorry, but I want information. Help me and I’m more likely to help you. Make stopping at your website worth my time.
- Having my email address does not give you permission to bombard me with your “Special Offers” – please use my email information wisely. If I didn’t request it, then I probably don’t want it and I’m not going to open any email that I don’t recognize. P.S. – If everybody would stop opening email from senders that they don’t recognize, then they (spammers) would be forced to stop wasting the time it takes to send them out.
The Take Home Message for Marketers
I realize that you’ve got a job to do. Just understand that the old model of marketing doesn’t fit for the internet. On the internet, it’s all about giving you my permission to present me with your marketing message.
Post current information that is clear and understandable – then I’m much more likely to stay around and look at your other stuff.
(photo courtesy of Tub Gurnard)
I am much more likely to buy something when I’m happy!
How to increase your blog or website effectiveness with Websitegrader.com
If you have a blog, then you probably spend a lot of time thinking about:
- your next post
- how to best convey your message
- where you will find sources for visual images
- how you can get more traffic
How to get more traffic
Okay, I’m not going to give you a list of things that you can do to increase your exposure or tell you how to get other people to link to your blog or web-site.
I’m going to tell you to visit Websitegrader. Simply input your url (or any url), scroll down to the bottom and click on the “generate report” button. Websitegrader.com will run a series of diagnostics that analyze your blog/website for:
- On-page SEO – which includes things like number of keywords (and why you don’t need more than ten), header summary, image summary, interior page analysis and readability level
- Off-page SEO – domain info, google page rank, google indexed pages, date google last crawled your site, links
- much more – you’ll be amazed at how much info they can provide you about your blog and how to make it more marketable
- free – that’s right, it’s free
My initial results sucked!
The first time that I ran soupornuts.com and therotater.com was pretty sad. I think that I scored a 79/100 for soupornuts.com and 63/100 for therotater.com. The beauty of Websitegrader.com is that they tell you what you can do to correct the problem.
For example, after I found out how low my sites were scoring, I got busy. I would make changes and check again. Pretty soon, I was scoring in the 90’s for both sites.
I ran soupornuts.com through just prior to beginning this post to see where I stood. I was surprised to see a score of 88/100. After a quick check, I saw that three of the images on my page did not have alt tags. I quickly corrected those and ran websitegrader again. Poof – 92/100!
I just ran therotater.com and it scored 92/100 as well.
More tools and information
Websitegrader.com can also check your site to see how it is grading for your keywords and how it compares against your competitors. And they have a great blog.
No matter how many times you use this service, it cost nothing and provides you with invaluable information. Give it a shot – you won’t be disappointed.
Success is in the little details
I am a detail guy – they are important to me. Maybe it’s because I used to restore, build and paint custom cars. People (especially relatives) would see the car that I happened to be working on at the time and ask me how much I would charge them to paint their cars. They were always “surprised” by what seemed to them, to be an exorbitant amount. The reality is that I was probably a little low.
(photo by starmist1)
Your attention to “little” details is revealing
People think that a great paint job is in how well you apply the paint – they are wrong. Don’t misunderstand me, applying the paint is important, but it’s only important if all the preceding steps to having a great paint job have been properly done.
It doesn’t matter how well you apply the paint if:
- all the dents and dings have not been removed
- the underlying primer coats have not been sanded to “baby butt” smoothness
- you have used chemicals that are not compatible
My point is that people judge you by your attention to the details.
Crappy customer service is the result of poor attention to detail
The Rotater is rolling. On February 11, the Birmingham News ran an article entitled “Industrial Mechanic invents tool to improve shoulder mobility, finds niche in athletics”. This article drove massive traffic to the Rotater website and our blog, Shoulder Performance & Rehab and resulted in a huge number of orders for the Rotater.
Great – right? Yes and no! The traffic and orders were great – our blog crashing was not. I wrote about it in “The Good Stuff, the Bad Stuff and the Other Stuff”. Well, guess what? It happened again, twice this week. At least this time, I did not spend two days trying to figure out what the problem was.
I called customer service and waited on hold for about an hour. I didn’t get too worked up, because I put the phone on speaker and spent the time searching for a new host.
When someone finally answered the phone, I told her the problem expecting it to be corrected right away – I was in for a fight. This company’s situation is so bad, that they have resorted to having a “front line” person screen technical support issues. Essentially her job was to find out what I wanted and then she would prioritize and have technical support get back in touch with me.
I told her that this solution was not acceptable.
- She stalled – I didn’t budge.
- I asked to speak to her boss. He/she was not there.
- I asked to speak with technical support – they were busy.
- I asked to speak to “anyone” other than her – she put me on hold.
- I threatened to change hosts – technical support came on the phone.
The Rotater article is picked up on the newswire
The article that I mentioned above, was picked up by the Ann Arbor News and ran this week under a different title – “Rotater Cuff Injuries Inspire Invention”. (I have not been able to find a link to the article, but I have seen a copy of the article.)
The result – more traffic, more orders and more down-time for the blog. My problem is that I don’t want to alert our current hosting service to this third assault on our blog, because they informed me when I had it reset the second time, that if it happened a third time – they would suspend our account. Because we are exclusively a web-based business, this would put us “out of business”.
Solution: Pay attention to the “little” details
I have found a new host and am in the process of moving our website and blog. It is slow, tedious, time-consuming and scary, but hopefully all will be finished by this weekend.
I started this post talking about “attention to detail”. People noticed my paint jobs as a result of my attention to the details. Your success or lack of success is the result of your attention to the details. Let me try to explain.
The Rotater is a marvelous shoulder rehabilitation and stretching device – invented by an industrial mechanic – with a very southern accent. Not exactly where you would expect a revolutionary piece of medical / athletic training equipment to come from. But when people come to our website, they don’t see a bunch of hype.
- We tell them what the Rotater does
- We show a video demonstrating how the Rotater works
- We provide links to exercises that they can down-load and show to their doctors and therapists
- We provide real testimonials of real people, real doctors, real athletes / trainers and real physical therapists
- We include links to publications who are noticing the Rotater ( we’ve been in business since August 2007 and have been published eight times – and more is to come)
People who visit the Rotater website don’t know me or Scott, so we’re very careful to pay attention to the details:
- We answer every email – as quickly as possible
- We return phone calls – every time
- We deal with any issues – right away
- We don’t try to sell to every person – the Rotater won’t help everyone
- If someone is not happy – we refund their money (out of thousands, we have had two Rotaters returned)
People learn about you because of your attention to detail. Here is the take home message – There are no small details, everything counts and someone is paying attention to how you handle every situation.
It’s the small stuff that has the greatest return on you investment. Make it a point to pay attention to the details – Hey it works for Nordstrom (they are legendary for customer service) and it’ll work for you.
Don’t allow negative thinking to stop you
(photo courtesy of Madeira)
NO!
It’s a word that we all hate to hear. In fact we hate it so much that we will usually avoid putting ourselves into a position of having to hear this negative response. The result?
- We don’t ask for a raise.
- We don’t ask the pretty girl for a date.
- We don’t close the sale.
- We don’t ask a possible mentor for his/her help.
- We don’t get what we want.
The Problem of “No”
We are in the habit of taking a negative response (“NO”) personally and therefore, we tend to imagine all the the possible motivations behind the respondent’s answer. For example:
1. We didn’t get the raise, so we immediately begin to imagine all the possible causes:
- The Boss doesn’t like me.
- The Boss is a jerk.
- The Boss thinks that I am inept.
- The Boss doesn’t respect me nor my efforts.
Please notice that I wrote “imagine” all the possible causes. Our minds go to work trying to explain why we did not get what we want. The reality may be, and usually is, far different.
- There may not be any room in the budget for your raise.
- You may not have demonstrated to your boss your worthiness for a raise.
The result of your negative thinking
Because so many people hate to hear “NO”, we don’t ask for what we want. The result is that we don’t get what we want. And it’s all because of “imagined” motivations rather than actual responses.
Please notice that when you ask for something and don’t get it – You are no worse off than you were before you asked.
- If the Boss doesn’t give you the raise, he doesn’t also say, “By the way, we are going to cut your pay”. You still have the same level of compensation as before.
- If the pretty girl does not go out with you, then that doesn’t mean that the next one won’t either.
- If the sales prospect says “No”, then you still have your product to sell to the next customer.
When you ask for something, you have nothing to lose. The key is to not take a negative response personally.
Ways to overcome negative thinking
2. Spot your negative thinking habits
3. Don’t believe everything you think
4. Top 10 ways to think positively
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it also creates millionaires
I’d like to take credit for finding the video below, but I can’t. I was reading Michael Werner’s article entitled The Riskiest Thing That You Can Ever Do Is Play-It-Safe and he had a link to this video of Seth Godin, the marketing guru.
If you have never heard of Seth, then it will be worth your time to visit his blog. He is unique and his views will change and/or challenge everything you thought that you knew about the world of marketing (it doesn’t matter if you have a product, a service or a blog – most of his knowledge will apply).
After you appetite has been whetted, I encourage you to visit your local bookstore or your online source and buy some of his books. I have read several of them and plan on doing reviews about them at a later date. They are great, by the way.
The point is – Seth will make you think! Which leads to questions. Which leads to ideas. Which leads to….a greater awareness of your role in everything.
Watch the video.
Underdogs and entrepreneurs have “great hearts”
We all love stories about underdogs. This is how you can explain why movies like “Rocky”, “Rudy”, and “Hoosiers” do so well at the box office. There is something very inspiring about watching the “little guy” overcome adversity and go on to make a great showing of himself or herself. It is pure motivation!
I am inspired because the underdog has the one trait that cannot be taught – heart! This quality reveals itself in the following ways:
1. Underdogs and entrepreneurs are willing to do whatever is necessary.
Like the underdog, entrepreneurs understand that their success is a directly related to the amount of time they spend learning, training and developing their skills. Entrepreneurs know that in order for them to succeed, they alone are responsible. They do not wish to and cannot “pass the buck”.
- We (entrepreneurs) like to create. But creation is just a small part of the process of becoming successful. Most people can create, but few ever follow through with their ideas. In my experience, almost everyone has had a great idea. However, the comfort of mediocrity, the stability of the status quo or the fear of the unknown keeps so many people in their rut, that most of these great ideas never see the light of day.
- Entrepreneurs are devoted to learning. We do the research. We know that in order to succeed, we must arm ourselves with as much knowledge about our prospective business or idea as possible. This is a necessity because we are likely to have to explain to investors:
- what our idea is
- what the market outlook for our business or idea is
- whether any competitors exist and what their market share is
- why our idea is better than our competitors
- what our competitive advantage is
- If no business model exists for our new idea, we are willing to develop one. I am faced with this quandary right now. I am involved in the development of a great and unique idea. However, because it is unique, we have to develop a plan to implement it. The answers don’t just fall out of the sky. You have to work long hours, but you understand this and this willingness to do whatever is necessary is what coaches like to call having a “great heart”.
2. Underdogs and entrepreneurs don’t quit.
Like the underdog, entrepreneurs refuse to quit before acquiring their goals. Quitting is not in us. I have always been involved in athletics and as a result, I am a highly competitive person. It is part of who I am. In high school, I played football on a team that was not championship quality. Consequently, we lost more games than we won. I could see heads drop and eyes glaze over late it the games when we were behind. That was my first experience with people who did not have the heart of a champion. It was then and is now, an unfathomable idea to me. How do you just quit?
- Quitting becomes habit forming. My parents explained to me at an early age that quitting was not an option. If I signed up to participate in some event or sport then I was expected to fulfill my obligation. This quality was further instilled in me by my father who was a drill instructor in the Army. After I reached the age of about ten, during the summer months when I was out of school, my father would sometimes let me go to work with him. He would let me participate in physical training right beside grown men. I loved every minute of it. It was also the first time that I ever witnessed someone giving up during training. I did not like it then and I don’t like it now!
- Quitting sets a bad example. My daughters watch me. They want to know about Daddy’s “businesses”. They are almost five and seven. If I quit, what does that show my daughters?
- It’s O.K. to quit if things get hard?
- That I am frivolous and don’t take my obligations / commitments seriously?
Underdogs and entrepreneurs know that quitting never leads to winning. Don’t quit.
3. Underdogs and entrepreneurs believe that they can win.
I have a hard time explaining this concept to some people. There is this feeling that overcomes me and lets me know that I will accomplish any goal that I have set for myself. If you have read the book “The Secret”, then you have some kind of idea of what I am trying to say.
- I know that people and events are conspiring to help me reach my goals.
- I know deep inside that I am and I will be successful in all my endeavors. This self knowledge is an inner confidence that is not based on what I can do, but on what I am and that by believing in myself and others, my success is a foregone conclusion.
- I know that I attract to myself the things necessary for my success. If I need something, it will reveal itself to me.
- I know that I am a small part of a greater plan and I am willing to shoulder my part of the load.
- I know that I am successful and I will continue to be successful as long as I keep my priorities on helping others reach their goals.
Underdogs and entrepreneurs have great hearts. They are willing and able to work hard, they never, ever quit, and they know that their efforts will be rewarded. Be an underdog. Overcome your obstacles and reach your successes.
High income potential in a field in which you are already an expert – SALES
High Income Potential
Have you ever thought of trying to make your living by selling? If you are very good, your income potential is unlimited. But, you must have thick skin. That means that you must have little or no fear of failure and you must be able to absorb rejection without taking it personally.
Everyone is a salesman
Few realize it, but everyone is a salesperson. That’s right. Everybody is selling something. Does that sound like a broad statement to you? It is a fact that is so obvious we tend to overlook it. Want proof? Consider these examples:
- A suitor tries to sell himself and his attributes to his potential bride.
- A wife sells her husband on the idea of taking a Disney vacation before the children become too old and are no longer impressed by the magic.
- A teen tries to sell his/her parents on the idea of going to a party that “all the kids are going to.”
- A teacher sells his/her students on the need to and the joys of learning.
- Bosses sell increased production, higher efficiency, fewer accidents and less scrap.
- Preachers sell religion.
- Bankers and credit card companies sell money.
- Entrepreneurs sell ideas, products and services.
Everybody is selling something to somebody. It’s called the art or science of persuasion. You are trying to persuade someone to:
- believe in you
- believe in something you can do
- believe in something you can provide
- believe in something that you believe in
Ways to increase your persuasive ability:
- Believe in yourself. This is the number one prerequisite for selling anything. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one will believe in you. Without a strong faith in yourself, you lack conviction. Without conviction, you will not be taken seriously.
- Believe in what you are selling. This is implies that you must have a good working knowledge of your product. There are very few people who cannot recognize B.S. when they hear it. If you don’t believe in your product, you will not be able to convince anyone else to believe in it.
- Create a pleasant atmosphere. Don’t be pushy. No one likes to be sold. Simply speak plainly in laymen’s terms. Describe the product or service, make the benefits known and explain why they need it.
I’m sure that there are more or better techniques, but this is my short list of no pressure persuasion tips and these seem to work for me.
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