Working At Home Technofarts

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Working At Home Technofarts

I’m trying to create a new word for seniors who are computer savvy. Are we Geeksters? Senior Netizens? Maybe Techn-old-Farts?

I do believe I’m part of a new generation of oldsters who can geek it up with the grandkids and maybe even “out-Twit” them on occasion.

It wasn’t always that way. In fact, I was probably late to the game. I got my first laptop in 1995, just in time to write and format my doctorate dissertation. Boy, would that have been rough going with a typewriter.

But for nine years, I was relatively techno-phobic, using only bare essentials like email. Blogging changed everything for me in 2004.

Now I’m one of the savvy ones. I make my living online, with words I write. People buy my articles,  ebooks, and services online, money goes into my bank account, and it all happens seamlessly, automatically, while I snooze on the patio.

But it’s not that easy or simple either. I spend a lot of hours online so that people can find me, see what I have to offer, then “click and buy.”

I know enough HTML code to update my web pages myself without going through a web guy. I’ve been writing on several blogs since 2004 which made me a pioneer of sorts. I’m branded as The Blog Squad, and people hire me to help fix their blogs and make their Web marketing better.

Other experts ask me to contribute chapters in their books, usually about my area of expertise, content marketing. I also teach what I know to groups of entrepreneurs in teleseminars, all virtually. The best thing about all this is, I do it all from the comfort of our beautiful home in Ajijic.

I’m not bragging, I’m amazed that this has happened at all. I was someone who was called a techno-idiot five years ago. I figured web programmers held the secret keys to online wizardry. Now my husband asks me about Internet things…ha!

I didn’t get that much smarter, but online tools and systems have gotten easier for us non-techie folks. If you think computers and software programs are scary, maybe you haven’t given it a good try lately.

I use Facebook, Twitter, and post videos on YouTube. I have three main websites, both of them on blogging platforms which makes it easy for me to update and make changes. Using a blogging platform instead of traditional website programs also means that what I write on the Web gets indexed quickly by the search engines. I’m easily “findable” online. Just “google” me, you’ll see.

I have a powerful shopping cart system called KickStartCart.com, which organizes my email marketing campaigns, and the database list of opt-in email addresses of people who want to hear from me.

I use a voice-over-Internet phone system called Packet8 which gives me a US telephone number and a flat fee for services. It’s not perfect, but for running a business, it lets people call me just as if I were in the States.

For delivering teleseminars (virtual training over the phone), I use FreeTeleconferencing.com, a system that allows hundreds of people to call in on a bridge line at the same time. It makes recordings of my classes. I can either give or sell these audio MP3 files to others who missed the class.

I use MyKnowledgeGenie.com to create ebooks (digital books) and training manuals. It’s easy to use and almost free.

I use Typepad.com for most of my blogs and a Wordpress Streamline Theme for two of my other business blogs. I pay Typepad /month and can have unlimited blogs on that account.

We use one of our blogs privately for staying in touch with family, and for posting photos. You can get a smaller account with Typepad for only /month, and for that you can have three blogs.

Another blogging platform is called Blogger, and it’s entirely free. I don’t recommend using it for business purposes, but other than that it’s just fine. Many friends I know just want a place on the Web where they can write and express themselves.

None of these systems costs much and many are free (YouTube, 12SecondsTV, Wordpress, FreeTeleconferencing.com, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn).

The biggest cost in running my business is the shopping cart, KickStartCart, which runs /month. But it’s well-worth it in terms of organizing my database, email campaigns, digital downloads, and client purchases. It’s connected to my merchant bank for easy payments online.

If you had a little home business, you could use PayPal or Google Checkout and avoid the higher costs of a comprehensive ecommerce system.

I talk to many people who’ve retired down here who have 40-50 years of expertise in their heads. Many are bored and would love to open a “little business online.” But they haven’t a clue where to begin.

It’s not rocket science but you do have to take it step-by-step and learn a few new skills. The key is not to get overwhelmed and not to spend a ton of money buying into some Internet guru’s get-rich-quick-on-the-Internet program. There are plenty of scam artists and a few reputable and experienced experts. All of them want your money. Heck, so do I!

The secret key is knowing that there’s plenty of free information available and you need to read and study this first. Then ask someone for help if you need it, and ask someone you really trust because they’ve given you free information generously.

Here are a few of my basic steps for opening up a little online biz:

1. Think it through before you start

2. What problem do you solve?

3. Who will be your target audience?

4. What are the benefits to these people if they buy from you or hire your services?

5. What products and services do you have to offer?

6. What is your product funnel: free, free for email, token fee, big ticket items?

7. How will you collect email addresses? (hint: a good shopping cart system)

8. How will you brand yourself?

9. What domain name(s) can you obtain?

10. Create your cornerstone content, core values message, and background story (bio)

11. Create your blog

12. Create your accounts on several social networking sites: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube

13. Connect your blog posts to automatically feed to these other accounts

14. Learn to post pictures, audio files, and video clips on your blog

15. Create digitally downloadable information pieces, special reports, ebooks, white papers (this will help you build up your email marketing database list)

16. Post on your blog (write short relevant articles 2-3 times a week). This will help you get found in the search engine indexing, and will create trusting relationships with readers.

How This Came About

When my husband and I decided to move here in 2003, we sold everything and closed down a couple of businesses. I quit my consulting job as a psychologist. I only kept business that I could do online and over the phone.

One was writing newsletters for executive coaches. The other was training psychologists over the phone to become executive coaches. Eventually, I closed out the coach training program to concentrate on ghost writing and formatting newsletters for people.

What I discovered was nothing short of brilliant. You can save a tremendous amount of time, energy and expenses when you work from home. You don’t have to get into a car and drive anywhere, you don’t even have to get dressed. You cut your work stress in half because you’re in charge of your time and productivity.

At the time, I had a brochure-style website and that was it. It hardly got any traffic. I had to wait days to get a response from the web guy every time I wanted to add something or make a change. It was frustrating, and futile, because I wasn’t seeing new visitors, I wasn’t getting found by prospects who needed my services.

Blogging Changed My Life

I was sitting at home trying to get a hold of my web guy by email and I was mad as hell. A simple change on a website shouldn’t take two days. Bored, frustrated and mad, I opened up an email from a well-known marketer.

She said, “Every business should have a blog, and any idiot can set up a blog and start blogging in under an hour.”

It was Sept. 4, 2004, and that email was a pivotal moment in my life. Techno-phobic as I was at the time, I was mad enough to take up the challenge as “any idiot.” I went to Typepad.com, set up a free trial account and started publishing my thoughts on the Internet in under an hour. I was floored at how easy it was.

Fast-forward to 2006, as I’m coming out of the Lake Chapala Society, a woman stops me on the street and exclaims, “Hey, I know you, aren’t you The Blog Squad?”  In two years time, the power of blogging and branding gave me enough online visibility to be recognized by a stranger on the street who had been reading my blogs. She told me I helped her get started with her own blog here in Ajijic.

That’s the best feedback I can hear. I remember how much I struggled for years trying to get my online business efforts to pay off. If I can help someone save time, money, and energy and get found through blogging and online systems, I’m happy.

I invite you to visit my blogs, read them, subscribe to them if that interests you to learn about online marketing for small businesses. You can even leave me a comment and say hello!

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