I sure do enjoy magazine day. It’s probably the one piece of mail I look most forward to receiving besides the Victoria Secret Catalog. Well today my plan has backfired as I received FOUR magazines.

See, I have a hard time reading books. Not that I can’t read or understand big words (thank you word of the day toilet paper), it’s just that most books tend to be 15 chapters of the exact same idea or topic just written differently and repeating the same idea over and over and over and over. Reading some books are like listening to your buddy who tells really looooooong stories when it would have been just a as good and effective had he given you the cliff notes version.

I tend to grasp things quickly, get the point, and move on. With books, I guess you could say I loose patience which is why I recently decided to subscribe to some magazines. Magazines are perfect for me. The longest article at most is around 4 pages and they usually get right to the point. If something does not interest me, I move on to the next page likely coming across a topic that sparks my interest. From these short articles I grab nuggets that I can apply to my business and daily life. This is good.

So I go about subscribing to Inc., Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Mens Health, and This Old House, thinking that I will get to space out my reading material between deliveries. Well……that’s not the case, because today I received FOUR magazines in the mail. FOUR! How am I suppose to read four magazines this close together? I was planning on spacing them out by delivery dates and having plenty of time to read each one before the next was deliverd. It’s not like you can have THREE bright, colorful, and enticing magazines with catchy titles just sitting around your house and not open them (It’s kind of like beer, but in papper form, with words, and is less expensive).

Some would say to space them throughout your home by placing one in the bathroom, one in the office, and another in the living room, but that just gets weird and chances are I won’t read the entire magazine with this strategy. Hell, I’m looking at a SHOUT weekly that’s been sitting on my desk for the past week and I haven’t touched it.

Oh the humanity! I’m not sure how I’m going to handle this. Over and out.

It all started on Monday when she decided that she was going to paint the guest room. I kind of thought to myself, ok, we’ll see how long this goes and if she’s really serious. Sure enough she went to the garage and grabbed all the necessary equipment and began the task of painting our sweet intergalactic guest bedroom…..

……all while the entire time I sat on the couch, drank a beer and watched conference basketball tournaments. Not once, did she ask for help.

This has been going on for the entire week and I must say I could definitely get used to this! Not that I’m a pig or a rude, selfish, unwilling to help husband, but mainly because I enjoy not having to do ALL the home improvement projects. I do just about every project you can imagine, and my wife helps (when and as long as she wants) and I never judge or ask more from her. But it is REALLY nice, taking a break from home improvement projects for a bit and let someone else take the lead.

Having her posses the drive to start and complete a project without me has been awesome on a few different levels and I must say that I am grateful, proud, and a little buzzed (either from the beer or from my wife’s drive and independence).

The sessions are what you expect at just about any convention or summit but the real opportunity is between the sessions and speakers, the time where you get to meet and introduce yourself to hundreds if not thousands of like minded individuals.

I’ve been to my fair share of summits and conventions and by far, hands down, the biggest value you will gain happens between sessions and speakers, and most definitely once the summit is over (after parties, dinners, drinks, etc.) This is when the real value kicks in.

All those break out session are referenced and used as starting points, conversation starters. You just need to use your personal experience and thoughts to fill in the blanks. Also, do you ever wonder why alcohol is served at just about every convention or after party? It gets people talking, loosens them up, it brings a level of casual conversation to your environment. These casual conversations are when the real networking and partnerships begin.

I guess what I’m trying to say is if you ever get the opportunity to attend a summit, a convention, or any gathering related to your interests, DO IT. Yes, the speakers, breakouts, and workshops might be a bit watered down and sometimes you won’t need them, but the opportunity to network and talk with like minded individuals will be your biggest value.

Just think about how you got to where you are today. Who did you meet? Did they introduce you to someone who helped you along the way? Did that person introduce you to someone else? Did you meet someone who you both knew? Did that connection spark a lengthy conversation? Did that connection lead to a new partnership? A new deal?

Just think about all the people you have met in your life and how they may have helped you reach your goals. That wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t get out and talk, network, or even attend the occasional summit.

You see I work from my home office 7 days a week and usually only get out of the office around noon for a little workout and occasional grocery shopping. That means on a daily basis I get face time with my wife and dog and that’s just about it. To me, this is not a healthy way of living and can affect you personal life as well as your work.

So that is why I’ve decided to get out of the “office” and work from a new “office” for a couple of days. Get a new perspective on things. In a way it’s a little kick in the pants. It’s kind of like starting a new job, rearranging your living room or putting on a new pair of socks. It’s like breathing new life into an old project.

Whatever it is, it’s just what I needed. I feel good. I feel rejuvenated. Time to DO WORK.

The question however, is how do you grow? How do you get the exposure to land the big clients? After talking with a few family members and colleagues who hold top level positions it’s become apparent that magazine ads, web banner ads, cold calls, and marketing material will not get you in the door or even a look but what does work, is getting your business published.

The people you need to get your business in front of, top level executives, VP’s of Marketing, who ever it may be, read articles. If something catches their interest, they inquire. So why not get your business published in these same articles and get the exposure? Turns out you can through Help A Reporter Out.

Founded in 2008 by serial entrepreneur Peter Shankman, Help A Reporter Out (HARO) is one of the fastest-growing social media services in North America.

Every day, HARO brings nearly 30,000 reporters and bloggers, over 100,000 news sources and thousands of small businesses together to tell their stories, promote their brands and sell their products and services.

Since its inception, Two Cats and a Cup of Coffee under its mark HARO has published more than 75,000 journalist queries, has facilitated nearly 7,500,000 media pitches, and has marketed and promoted close to 1,500 brands to the media, small businesses and consumers.

HARO is entirely free to sources and reporters, and unlike a majority of social media services, is independently owned and funded and has been profitable since day one. In addition, HARO serves as a vital social networking resource for sources, reporters and advertisers who use the service at www.helpareporter.com.

“This part is very easy to explain. I was sitting at the Search Engine Strategies Conference thinking to myself how lucky I was to be getting all this great education.

Then I started breaking down the cost involved:

Conference: $1800 Flight: $400 Hotel: $1200 Food & Cabs: $400

I was spending almost $4000 to attend this conference.

I started looking around at the people at the conference. It was other professionals like me, big corporations, and a few small business owners that saved up their hard earned money to attend.
Then I started thinking. I needed THIS education YEARS ago. I needed THIS education when I was first starting.

Then I started thinking, how can I bring THIS education to people without them having to travel? How can I bring these speakers to that work at home mom who doesn’t have any money to travel? How can I bring these speakers to small business owners that can’t afford to go to these big conferences?

Then it hit me. The New Life Event.

An educational webinar weekend with these amazing speakers. Nobody has to leave their house. Nobody sells them anything. Just give them pure education from the best speakers in the industry.”

If you did not get a chance to attend the webinars this weekend, she will be posting all the recorded presentation in the weeks ahead. You can view them at www.newlifeevent.com.

I want to thank Shawna for the opportunity to speak and educate online companies about the power, the ease, and the effectiveness of Affiliate Marketing. Thanks Shawna!

Yes, this is my book collection.

Yes, it’s small.

I have a hard time reading books.

I can read online articles all day every day, but when it comes to taking time out of my day to read a book, I fall short.

Please be gentle.

In the early days of twitter there were some functionality issues like, what if I ran two twitter accounts? Is there any easier way to manage these without login in and logging out each time to post something new in each account? Early on – no. Today – yes and it’s called Hootsuite. I know there are a few others out there, but Hootsuite happens to be the one I enjoy best.

I can now manage both my Twitter accounts @bradsworldland and @marketliteaffiliates on one screen with all the features of regular Twitter and then some. This has been a savior of sorts in my online world where social media has become so important in connecting with others.  If you have multiple Twitter accounts and would like an easy way to manage these, I suggest HootSuite.

However, if you have other suggestions, I’m all ears.

So many times I talk about how things are what you make them. It’s totally up to you, to make things better in your life, but I do believe I have met my match. Winter. Yes, I’m sure I could move and never deal with winter again, but I enjoy Omaha and this is where we plan to stay. So with moving out of the question the next best thing I could come up with was to declare war on Winter.

That’s right, I’m going to make our little patio, where we spend so much of our time in the spring, summer, and fall, my little slice of Spring (heaven). With some 70+ continuous days of snow on the ground and more forecasted for today, I have had enough. I am determined to make our patio a Spring oasis and you’re all invited to come enjoy it with me.

I started yesterday by removing what remaining top layer snow there was, then spread some ice melt along the paths and frozen spots that don’t get much, if any sunlight during the winter. I will continue to eliminate all snow and ice on the patio until all precipitation is gone.  Once that is complete, I’m thinking about buying some fake flowers to place in pots around the patio until the ground thaws.

I will have my Spring 2010 and I think I just went mad.