Tony Hsieh of Zappos

I just watched a video of Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos) talking about how he grew Zappos from a small start-up to a billion dollars in sales. Very interesting in that a lot of what he talked about my husband and I also did in growing our company from zero to a multi-million dollar business.

What I took away from this hour was that key principles are always what success comes down to - get those wrong and nothing seems to work.

One of the other things I took away from this video was Tony saying (paraphrasing here) "get out there and meet other business people, and not just those who you can find a business connection with." You never know what a conversation will yield, now or down the road. Or what golden nugget you'll get from someone outside of your industry.

And never stop learning...at the Q&A after Tony's talk Joe Polish stood up to ask a question. Now Joe Polish is an incredibly successful person himself, a person who knows Sir Richard Branson and Bill Clinton and any number of notable people, but here he was at this conference, learning and asking questions.

I'm going to a conference at the end of this month to see the Dalai Lama, Sir Richard Branson, Stephen Covey, Tony Hsieh, Frank Kern, Eben Pagen, and about 20 other notable speakers. http://bit.ly/3clfrr

I watch dozens of business oriented and self-development videos, but I find seeing and hearing people speak in-person is incredibly powerful. But any way you do it, keep on learning and growing.

Scam Warning From the IRS and State Scams

This is a reminder for everyone that the IRS NEVER uses e-mail to correspond with taxpayers. There are scams that use e-mail to make it appear that the IRS is requesting information from you - don't fall for them.

Here's a link to the IRS site that warns about one particular scam that is going around http://bit.ly/FVkIN - but it's not the only one. So spread the word and don't be caught.

And if you're a business owner be aware that there are several regular mail scams that happen regularly. They come in very official looking envelopes and look very "real" telling you that your Statement of Information for your state is due and to immediately fill out the form and remit $XXX - and many, many people get deceived and send the money.

Before you submit any form that you get in the mail, go on the State website and look to see what the real requirement is...in California it is a simple form and a $25 payment. I've seen bogus forms requesting $100 - almost $300 - Don't get caught!

Webinars - What You Need to Know

For anyone who does Webinars or is thinking about doing them here is some great information from Marketing Sherpa. If you haven't discovered them yet, check out their website...and do it often. They post a huge amount of information for FREE for a short period of time and then it goes into the archives that can only be accessed by members. And membership is very reasonable and worth it for serious marketers. Here's a chart that's from the archives on why webinar attendees bail...(with their full permission to distribute)

And this week they have a chart for creating a Webinar Timeline: http://bit.ly/24udQD It will be on their site for free until September 10th along with a variety of other information about Webinars, like -

How Email Series + Personalized Landing Page Lifted Webinar's ROI by 2000%

So if you're into marketing, click here and check out Marketing Sherpa's website.

There is so much great information available for free if you do a little searching. My information-aholic nature loves finding this stuff and putting it out there for everyone.

Two Unsettling Articles You Should Read

There are a couple of articles you should check out - both unsettling.

One is from Market Watch about the IRS and some states that are watching Social Media sites - "Taxman Turns to Social-Network Sites" http://bit.ly/dDmQX You better be careful what you Twitter or post to Facebook, and not just because it might embarrass you someday!

The other is about the details of the Credit Card Legislation that was passed in May. A recent blog post of mine gave you a link to read about the new rules credit card companies will have to abide by, but this link listed a provision in the bill that I hadn't noticed anywhere else:

-- Includes unrelated provision that would allow people to carry loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. http://bit.ly/EQZIz


Sure enough, H.R. 627: Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 was signed into law by the President with this provision in it:

(8) The Federal laws should make it clear that the second amendment rights of an individual at a unit of the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System should not be infringed.

(b) Protecting the Right of Individuals To Bear arms in Units of the National Park System and the National Wildlife Refuge System- The Secretary of the Interior shall not promulgate or enforce any regulation that prohibits an individual from possessing a firearm including an assembled or functional firearm in any unit of the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System if--

(1) the individual is not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing the firearm; and

(2) the possession of the firearm is in compliance with the law of the State in which the unit of the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System is located.

Now, I don't want to debate here whether one should be allowed to carry a loaded gun in a National Park, but I sure as heck want to debate whether these totally unrelated provisions should be allowed to be attached to bills in the first place.

Chase Upping Minimum Payments on Credit Cards

If you haven't had some credit card limits reduced or interest rates increased you're in the minority. But now the credit card companies (at least Chase Bank credit cards) have a new tactic.

It happened to me last month and to a friend this month. Now they are raising the minimum payment - mine went from 2% to 5% and since this is a card with one of those (long gone!) "2.9% interest until paid off" deals I long ago max'd it out by transferring higher balance cards to it. But now the minimum payment almost tripled!

Exactly the same thing happened to my friend, and they are both Chase issued credit cards. Interestingly they are reacting to objections differently...I was offered a 5-year payoff at my existing interest rate if I closed the account but my friend was not given that option.

A new law was passed regarding what a credit card company can and can't do, but a lot of the rules don't take effect until 2010 - so you can bet they will try to make whatever changes they can to your accounts before then. Click here for information: Credit Card Legislation

So read all of those pesky "Change in Terms" inserts or mailings from your credit cards and don't be taken off-guard.

Internet Marketing - Not as Difficult as You Might Expect

One of the things I've been doing (while not blogging!) is immersing myself in learning about Internet Marketing. You may know from reading some of my posts that I have good friends who are in retail, and worse yet, in a tourism niche. Obviously, they are having a difficult time of it in this economy.

So my initial research was to see if I could find ways of helping them by giving them a presence on the internet for some of the wonderful things they have in their store. They have a lot of beautiful jewelry...from sea glass pieces to opals and a line crafted in Paris, so I thought that might be a good place to start.

Wow, little did I know how much there was to learn - immersing myself quickly became drowning myself! But I'm finally getting a better understanding of it. Some of my posts will be about what I've learned.

Toward that end, if you ever wanted to start figuring out how to sell on the internet I have a totally FREE download for you to get started with. No opt-in (meaning you don't have to give me your e-mail address to get it), just an immediate download of an 85-page book called "Google AdWords Made Easy" by Brad Callen, a very well-known person in the internet marketing world. Honestly, don't even think about paying for AdWords until you get educated, because you can lose a lot of money quickly.

Just click here and you can download "Google AdWords Made Easy" right now.

I'm Baaaaaack!

Wow, I can't believe how long its been since I've written a new blog here! I'm sorry but life got in the way and I've been in the doldrums - I'm sure you know what I mean! Just haven't "felt" like writing. And, as I'm sure you'll also understand, as soon as I got in here and started writing again I began to wonder why I haven't been!

So, I'm back and excited with life again and ready to share it all with you again!

There's been so much going on in the world I may have a difficult time choosing what to write about...any suggestions? Just leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you!

And you can also follow me on Twitter - click on the top right or look for me - I'm @kdsm100

Mary