Entrepreneurs-Journey.com

At the time I did this particular interview I didn’t realize it would become so cool, but Mert Erkal and the team at the new Bloghology blog magazine, which debuts at this weekend’s Blog World Expo conference in Las Vegas, decided to feature me on the front cover.

I’m honored to be featured and I thank head editor Mert for including me in this way, especially for the very first edition.

You can catch my short interview along with interviews with expert bloggers Chris Garret, Guy Kawasaki, John Cow, Garry Conn and Mani Karthik when you get your copy at the expo, or you can go right now and download the digital version from here (you will need to register to read the magazine in entirety) -

Bloghology Magazine Digital Version

The only thing I am disappointed about is that I could not make the expo. I had every intention of going but my new baby brother is coming (along with my dad) all the way from Spain for a brief visit this weekend. This will be the first chance I have to meet him and one of the rare opportunities we are in the same place since we live on opposite sides of the planet. Family before business I’m afraid!

Enjoy the magazine and the expo this weekend everyone!

[ Add Your Comment | 48 Comments ]

I’ve put together a new video of the footage from around the Vegas strip. In this video I take you for a walk down the main casino and hotel strip, showing all kinds of crazy sites and sounds.

The strip is obviously a very commercial area, probably one of the most commercial places in the entire USA.

Spending time in Vegas is like entering a different world, with airplanes flying low to land in the airport which was in the backyard of my hotel the MGM Grand (almost!). The lights and sounds and visual stimulation makes the place feel very surreal, like you have entered into a movie that features an entirely new theme every 100 meters or so.

There a few interesting observations to make when it came to marketing techniques that I took away and can relate to you now. Obviously a place as commercial as this has to be able to market themselves. Here’s some thoughts -

1. Vegas offers comparatively cheap hotel rates. Even the most fancy hotels can be booked for under a $100 a night if you search the web and you can go much lower than that if you stay at the hotels just off the strip. These are some of the most impressive hotels in the world (the MGM Grand is the second largest hotel in the world) and if you don’t drink or gamble it’s quite possible to have a “cheap” holiday in Vegas, especially if you just want to lounge around the pool and walk up and down the strip.

   As soon as you start spending money on shows or gambling or drinking, that’s when the cost tends to rise up. This is of course a deliberate technique - make the accommodation cheap to get people there and then trust that the will spend up big. There’s no many products that offer as good a profit margin as gambling, so the hotels are quite happy to let people stay cheap.

2. As I pointed out in the video, there’s evidence of social proof and other forms of proof all over Vegas. One casino had a “wall of winners” showing photos of all the normal everyday people who had struck it rich showing off their big checks. Some had even become new millionaires.

   This is a classic technique that creates excitement and most importantly - hope. The whole idea of gambling is to purchase just a little potential for winning big with every bet. It’s this hope that creates the excitement that keeps people gambling away more money, despite fully understanding how bad the odds are in most situations.

3. The whole marketing image Vegas has developed is one of decadence and uninhibited pleasures. The psychology means people who come to Vegas leave their usual self-imposed restrictions at home. It’s okay to eat bad, drink lots, gamble and sleep with strangers in Vegas because that’s what people do. This frame helps the businesses benefit financially since money is spent a lot more frivolously than usual.

In my next post I’ll have the video up from the Jeff Walker Mastermind, including some short interviews with the experts attending. The networking was by far the highlight for me and I think you will enjoy my behind the scenes take of such a high-level meeting of marketing minds.

As always, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed and follow my Twitter profile if you want the latest from Vegas.

Yaro Starak
Not Gambling

[ Add Your Comment | 12 Comments ]

Tonight I’m heading to the bright lights of Las Vegas and no, it’s not to gamble and drink since I don’t do either, although I do intend to see a Cirque Du Soleil show.

This is my first trip to Las Vegas and the main reason I’m heading there is for a special invite-only mastermind session with the top affiliates from the recent Product Launch Formula 2.0 release from Jeff Walker.

Normally I’m no where near the top of the affiliate standings but recently I’ve been able to get into the top 30ish area quite consistently, peaking at top 15 for StomperSMARTS and making the cut for the special invite to the mastermind with Jeff and his partners for the PLF 2.0 launch.

Here’s a list of some likely attendees in Vegas -

• Rich Schefren
• Tom Ham
• Mike Filsaime
• Tom Beal
• Joe Jablonski
• Ed Dale
• Colette Marshall
• Mark Widawer
• Brian Clark
• Willie Crawford
• Jeff Dedrick
• Tim Houston
• Michael Cheney
• John Carlton
• Stan Dahl
• Shawn Casey
• Ray Edwards
• Greg Poulos
• Dave Mizrachi

I’m looking forward to meeting some of these people in person, who I only know from names on websites and in emails.

Sedona and Chicago Next

After Vegas I’m renting a car and doing a road trip to Sedona for a brief holiday, then driving on to Phoenix for just long enough to catch a plane to Chicago. I’ve got a couple of days in Chicago then I’m back home to Toronto where I move into new house down at the beaches.

Throughout this trip I’ll have my trusty video camera and hopefully get a chance to do some more wandering entrepreneur posts, so stay tuned.

If you want to keep up with the latest details on this trip, make sure you subscribe to my Twitter feed.

[ Add Your Comment | 20 Comments ]

One of the biggest advantages of building an authority blog in your niche is you start to get the attention of the big players in your industry.

This is a HUGE advantage - In fact it can be the difference between operating your business in obscurity and struggling to convince anyone to promote your product, to becoming a big player yourself when you have A-list joint venture partners promoting your work.

If you don’t have an authority blog there really is only one other surefire way to get on the radar of the guys and girls with the big email lists and the big blogs - get in their face at an event.

You see this photo?

That was taken at Rich Schefren’s Strategic Profits event last year in February. It features Rich on the left, me in the middle and Mike Filsaime on the right.

If you don’t know these two guys, it doesn’t matter, but what does matter is the size of their email lists and influence. Rich just won the StomperSMARTS affiliate competition, so he sold more of that course as an affiliate than any other and it’s safe to say his email list is way over 150,000 people now - probably over 250,000.

Mike is known for his viral marketing power and his goal to build the largest email list. I have no idea how large his list is now, but I suspect it’s over 500,000 subscribers, which is insane, and he’s constantly in the top 10 of affiliates for the Internet marketing niche.

The reason I mention these two guys is that thanks to attending an event I put my face in their sphere of attention. Since then we have met again and spoken over email and on calls. To put it simply, these two guys are now willing to promote a product of mine assuming it is quality. Just having Mike and Rich on board as affiliates is enough to launch a business and these are two of the most valuable relationships I have.

It all started after attending an event.

Rich’s Next Event In Disney World in February

If you currently operate in the Internet marketing, business or social media industries then pay attention to this. Rich and his Strategic Profits business are putting on their next event coming up in February. It’s called “New Beginnings” and it’s in Disney World!

If you want a chance to meet some of the best of the best and begin relationships with people who could become A-List partners for your next launch, this is an event worth attending. You can check out the full details at -

http://www.strategicprofits.com/live1/

There are various levels of price, but you can get a ticket for under $1,600 if you just want to attend the main event for 2 1/2 days, February 24-26 2008.

Here’s the spiel I just received via email…

Read the rest of this entry >>

[ Add Your Comment | 14 Comments ]