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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…

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Press play to begin streaming the audio or right click the text link and choose save as or save link.

Download the MP3 [ 19 Minutes - 5 MB]

Yesterday I was sitting at my computer facing a few too many emails and a rather large list of things to do and I could already feel my head start to hurt.

So what did I do? - I went to the park!

I decided if I was going to continue working I would probably be in considerable head pain by the end of the day, so I dropped everything and went to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt-Cootha and hung out with the birds.

I had my iRiver MP3 player with me and was listening to some podcasts, which created a desire to make one of my own impromptu rambling podcasts. My little iRiver has a built-in microphone, so I was itching to see how good it was - and wow, I’m impressed. The audio quality is not bad I’m sure you will agree, though I hope you like the sound of birds in the background :-).

The podcast is a short one about a whole range of Internet business topics starting with social marketing, moving on to email lists and then finishing with a little note on keeping perspective.

Show Notes

1. Yaro talks about the recent Rich Schefren Attention Doctrine and StomperSMARTS launches
2. A look at how the Internet marketing focus is shifting to social marketing
3. How Yaro is using email lists with his blog to make money
4. Why it is important to focus on intrinsic values and not just money

Click Here to Download the MP3 [ 19 Minutes - 5 MB]

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It’s Monday morning in Australia and I’m about to have a group meeting at my house with my team to begin work on something new.

For most of my Internet business career I worked solo - and I really mean solo.

I built my website myself, created marketing materials like flyers and posters, promoted my websites, located and managed sponsors and provided customer and sales support. The only thing I didn’t do was actually provide the services, I had contractors do the editing when it came to BetterEdit.com my proofreading business and I had writers write the content on my first successful online venture, MTGParadise.com (although I did a lot of writing myself on that site too).

It’s amazing how far your enthusiasm and work ethic can take you in business. I’m proud of my achievements as a solo entrepreneur and I’m amazed at what I did manage to get done by myself. However after about 7 years of working without any support I realized that I couldn’t keep it up for ever, plus there was another pressing reason to get help - I had reached a ceiling point in my growth. Your business can only get so big if it’s just you doing the work.

With typical timing, it was around this time that Rich Schefren came to town with his first ground breaking report, the Internet Business Manifesto. I read Rich’s report and found myself agreeing with everything he said. I wasn’t exactly shocked by the revelation as some Internet marketers were when they first read the report. I knew I was working too hard and doing too much by myself, my problem was lack of action to change the situation.

Things finally did change in 2006. With my blogging business growing and my cashflow increasing I knew I could realistically outsource tasks to other people. With a looming trip overseas I decided I to do two things -

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Today I have a treat for you - Rich Schefren, my coach and mentor who helped me to restructure my business model to focus on what I really want to do and create significant freedoms in my life, has provided an original article for EJ readers covering the topic of the moment - attention.

This is an area that Rich has studied recently to a very significant degree and with the release of his Attention Age Doctrine Part 2 you can take advantage of his knowledge and foresight. No business owner should ignore this or you risk being ignored in your own marketplace.

You can download the Attention Age Doctrine by clicking here.

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Pour Yourself an Attention Cocktail

Some people call it the “cocktail party effect.” Others just call it rude.

We’re all familiar with the scenario. You’re at a party or business function and you are introduced to someone you truly admire.

Immediately following the introduction, as you say something remarkably intelligent that you had prepared precisely for this moment, you notice that the other person is not making eye contact.

Instead, she is looking over your shoulder at the next person she would like to meet. She is not giving you full attention. In fact, you’re lucky if she’s paying attention to you at all.

Rather than focus on you and your story, that person you really admire is just looking for a way out of the conversation so she can move on to the next, presumably more interesting, conversation partner.

And she may not even realize she is doing it.

This happens more often than you think. Attention is fleeting. So is cocktail party conversation.

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It’s been a long time coming, but Rich Schefren finally released his Attention Age Doctrine second installment.

You can get your copy for free by clicking here -

www.strategicprofits.com/doctrinenew/

As you may remember I wrote about the first part of this Doctrine back when it was released in July. The first report thoroughly delved into the world of information overload and highlighted how critical it is to find a way to cut through the noise and get attention.

Rich promised that the second part would provide solutions and recommendations for how to deal with the situation. It took him nearly six months to finally finish it and today he released part two.

The reason it took so long is Rich had a lot to say about this issue - in fact his draft version of the document was up to 300 pages at one point - but he’s cut it down to the most important bits in the final release and it’s now well under 100 pages.

How Will This Document Help You?

I was lucky enough to get a preview copy of the Doctrine part 2 a few days in advance and I read it from start to finish. I also briefly chatted to Rich on the phone about what he is doing.

I’ve been very excited about where Rich was going with his business focus because Rich really is a thought leader when it comes to business strategy. He sees what is going on in the marketplace and then produces reports to tell us about it.

Obviously he has products and seminars to sell as part of these report releases, but they are entirely optional - you can enjoy and learn from the lessons without spending a dime. If you want help and more advice along the same lines, you can join Rich’s program or attend a seminar or purchase one of his study packages. That’s exactly what I did after he released his first Internet Business Manifesto report - I joined his business coaching program after reading it (and I had no idea who he was before that!).

The reason why I am so excited about this new report is the heavy focus on the importance of Web 2.0 - social media, online communities and of course, my favorite topic - blogging.

The main reason you need to download this report, especially if you are a blogger, is to see how important you are and how vital what you write on your blog is to business.

Blogs Are The Focal Point

The Doctrine Part 2 highlights several case studies where the power of the web community has impacted business.

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