eSoup

Andy Interviews Seth Godin LIVE Thursday...And We're Invited!

Heads up y'all--I know we have some rabid Seth Godin fans in the house, so I wanted to let you know ASAP that Andy will be doing a LIVE interview with Seth on Thursday, June 21st at 2pm ET.

This is FREE by invitation only, and I'm inviting ya!

I think there is limited room on the call, so hop on over to the registration page to reserve a space pronto.

On the call, you will discover:       

• Why quitting may be the best thing you can do for your business (and your life)
• How to become the “best in the world” at what you do
• When to quit a project, relationship or idea and when to stick it out
• Why the best in the world quit all the time – and why you should too!

I'm excited--I just signed up and got the message "You're In!"  Hope to see you there!

Update: In case you missed the call, don't fret. They recorded it, so you can download it for free here and also get a special bonus offer. Hmmm, I wonder what it could be???

7 Bullet-Proof Tips for Budding Entrepreneurs (and a free e-book for new grads!)

  I'm Graduate..! 
  Originally uploaded by sheikha85

When you get out of school and are plunged into the "real world" it can be a bit overwhelming to say the least!

I know I was NOT looking forward to leaving school. This probably explains why I spent 8 years in college and switched majors 3 or 4 times!

My memories of my own awkward entry into the working world inspired me to jump at the chance when Drew McLellan invited me to contribute some friendly advice for new graduates for an e-book that he was compiling.

I'm happy to report that the e-book is ready, and it's even better than I thought it would be. You can download the free e-book at Drew's blog and read all the wonderful advice, including some tidbits from Seth Godin, Andy Wibbels, plus a ton of other savvy folks.

Here are some of my favorite words-o-wisdom from the e-book that I thought might inspire some future entrepreneurs:

1) Fail. Alot. By that I mean take a chance on the road less traveled even if that road takes you out of your comfort zone. Toby Bloomberg

2) Consider the option of NEVER getting a "real job". Self-employment may not be everyone's first best destiny, but you may not know until you try. It may seem safer to be employed by someone else, but I'd beg to differ. If you have it in you, do it. I'd rather see try and fail vs. never try. Douglas Mitchell

3) Start your own gig. Even if you're 12 years old, start a store on eBay. You'll learn just about everything you need to know about digital marketing by building an electronic storefront, doing permission-based email campaigns, writing a blog, etc....Folks that need brilliant marketers will beat down the door to get at you. After a while, you may decide you like that life. Or, more likely, you'll decide you'd rather be your own client. Seth Godin

4) If you have a choice between taking a job for money or because it is something you would really love to do, don't go for the money. If your work happens to be something you are passionate about, say something you'd consider doing even if they didn't pay you, then the money will follow eventually. And probably in much larger amounts than that other job could ever bring you. Chris Cree

5) Be passionate, but balance that with patience. Passionate people are in danger of being very frustrated and bitter if they don’t learn to manage their passion and focus it on positive results. Ann Michael

6) Relationships rule. It isn’t who you know. It isn’t what you know. It is who knows what you know and what you can do. Impress extroverts. Andy Wibbels

7) The absolute biggest thing I wish I knew when I was first starting out, is that you can create your own job if you don't see any that you like. That's what I did. If you're a bit of a risk taker and a maverick, you might find greater satisfaction outside of the traditional working work. Just think about what you enjoy doing and how you could possibly monetize your skills. Sharon Sarmiento

You can see all the new grad advice by downloading the free e-book at Drew's blog. A big thanks to Drew for putting this project together! 

"The Terminator" eZ-list Reborn

You can tell I lead a wild life--this is what I spent my weekend doing! To tell you the truth, Gavin Heaton and Becky Carroll did most of it, but I'm happy to be a worker bee on this very worthwhile project.

The Z-List, first put into motion by Mack Collier in late 2006 is a collection of lesser known blogs with great content that deserve to be shared with the world. It started out as just Marketing blogs, but as it gained steam and quickly spread thoughout the blogospere, excellent unknown blogs from other dimensions started making their way onto the list.

It sort of hit a dead end at Seth Godin's blog as the momentum somehow got re-directed towards Squidoo (I wonder how that happened!?), but this meme has the resiliency of The Terminator, and earlier this month it emerged from the debris of Squidoo, stronger, leaner, meaner and beefier than ever!

(BTW--I know Seth Godin is a good guy and did not intentionally try to re-direct the Z-List energy to Squidoo. It tickles me pink that he posted the list on his blog to begin with!:-))

Becky came up with the idea of categorizing the blogs for easier reading, and Gavin quickly jumped into action with getting that idea off the ground. I volunteered to help them visit each and every one of these blogs, and we came up with a 10 word description, category, author name and location for each blog. Whew! My head is still spinning...

Without further ado--here's the eZ-list Reborn:

Download Zlist-categorised.doc

Download zlist_by_category.xls

I'm not posting the Z-List table with categories on my blog because when I tried it looked really scrunched up and you couldn't read it anyway. So, here is the Z-List with just the hyperlinks to the blogs-- if you'd like to share it on your own blog, just copy and paste.

If you'd like to add a few of your own faves when you re-post this on your blog, please give us some details about the blog, what it's about, who is the author, yada, yada. It's amazingly helpful when trying to navigate this list.

Calico Monkey   Women, Art,   Life: Weaving It All Together     Woolgathering     World Blog Collection     Blogging Secret     Blogging to Fame     Blog-Op     Daily Blog Tips     Mike's Money Making   Mission     One Reader at a Time     Ruminate this site     SMogger Social Media Blog     SuccessCREEations     Successful Blog     Troy Worman's Blog     Copywriter's   Crucible     Copywriting   Tuneups     Dipping into the Blogpond     BrandSizzle     Own Your   Brand!     The Emerging Brand     The Engaging Brand     What is Brand?     Presentation Zen     Bob Sutton     Perspective     Ramblings from a Glass Half Full     Simplicity Mary’s Blog     Funny Business     Creative Think     The Copywriting   Maven     Brain Based Biz     Experienceology     QAQNA     Shut Up and Drink the   Kool-Aid!     MineThatData     Design Sojourn     aialone     Frozen Puck     Africa Unchained     Energy Blog     Movie Marketing Madness     gDiapers     Time to Budget     Soloride     Girls Swimsuits     Home Business Wiz     Working at Home on the Internet     Kristie   T     Asia Inspection Community     Employment Law Colorado     Leading Questions     Steve   Olson     Make   It Great!     You Already Know This   Stuff     HolyMama!     My Marrakesh     Gangster Sonny     Talking Story     AENDirect     Being Peter Kim     BizandBuzz     bizsolutionsplus     Blog   Till You Drop!     Branding & Marketing     Business Garden     Buzz Canuck     Buzzoodle     Christine   Kane     CKs Blog     Conversation Agent     converstations     CrapHammer     Customers Rock!     Diva Marketing     Dmitry Linkov     Drew's Marketing Minute     eSoup     Flooring the Consumer     Get   Shouty!     Golden Practices     Hee-Haw   Marketing     Hola! Oi! Hi!     Jeremy Latham’s Blog     John Wagner     Kinetic Ideas     Logic + Emotion     Marketing Hipster     Marketing Nirvana     Mindblob     Multi-Cult Classics     Nick Rice     On Influence & Automation     OTOInsights     Pardon My French     Pow! Right Between The   Eyes!     Purple Wren     Servant of Chaos     Shotgun Marketing Blog     Andy Wibbels     Tell Ten Friends     The Branding Blog     The Experience Curve     The Instigator Blog     The Marketing Minute     The   Viral Garden     Two Hat Marketing     Unconventional Thinking     Viaspire     Popcorn n Roses     Current World news     Choice   at Your Fingertips     Blogtrepreneur     Can I Make Big Money Online     Dosh Dosh     Internet Bazaar     Kumiko's Cash Quest     Million Dollar Experiment heads   Down Under     Quest to make money on the internet     Above Popular     Critical Fluff     Forged Euphoria     OrbitNow!     The Sartorialist     Bullshitobserver     New   Millenium PR     The New PR     Carpe Factum     Work, in Plain English     turned out     Evolution...not just a theory anymore     SEO Blog     Flee the Cube     Community Guy     A Free and Decent Blog Host     Billions With Zero Knowledge     Connected Internet     darrenbarefoot.com     Deepak     MapleLeaf 2.0     Scott Burkett's Pothole on the Infobahn     Small Surfaces     TechBuzz     Masey.com     Through the Lenses     Travel And Vacation On Blog     The Best Guides to eCommerce with   Favor     Web Metrics Guru     The Future of the Web     Social Media on the   fly     Asyuu @ Forest