I just completed a long overdue reply to a comment on my Simple GTD & Evernote System post.  Part of the reply was about how I use GTD with both Gmail and Evernote.  I figure that it is probably easier to detail the steps of how I use it to ‘Get Things Done’.

Here is what you will need:

• Gmail
• Labs features – superstars and multiple inboxes
• Sam Adams ‘Blackberry Witbier’ (optional, but highly recommended)

Admittedly, my first attempt at using stars in Gmail was a failure.  I hadn’t decided what the star meant to me.  Was it a reminder of something to do later?  Something cool that I wanted to archive?  In reality, it was all that and more.  They had lost their clean edges – much like a fridge with a recipe (reference material) and a phone number (was that somebody I was supposed to call?).  Eventually you stop paying attention to everything there and just eat.

In March I implemented the ‘Super Nick Email System’ after watching Nicholas Holland present at Ignite Nashville.  He had clarified a few spots for me and it all made sense in a blinding flash.  Watch the ‘Super Nick Email System‘ is on Youtube here.

This is what I ended up with:

By using the ‘multiple inboxes’ I now have a TO-DO folder, a READ & REVIEW folder, a WAITING FOR folder and finally the INBOX.  As you can see from the picture, my inbox is empty.

Here are the steps to setup all the features to make this work.

1. Click ‘Settings’ in the top right of Gmail
2. Click the Labs tab and enable ‘Multiple Inboxes’ and ‘Superstars’ and save changes.

Multiple inboxes setup:

1. Click the Multiplex Inboxes tab
2. Enter the following information so that each inbox is filtered
   Panel 0:   has:red-bang
   Panel 1:   has:purple-question OR is:starred -(has:red-bang) -(has:yellow-bang) -(has:green-check) -(has:blue-info)
   Panel 2:   has:green-check
3. Choose the layout, Right-side of the inbox, Above or Below the inbox.   I am using ABOVE the inbox.
4. 

Superstars Setup:

1. Simply drag and drop the stars into this order.  You’ll notice a blue ‘i’ star.  This is experimental and not being covered right now.
2. Save changes.



Multiple Inboxes & Superstars In Action:

1. Email arrives and I either process in my web browser window, or via my Gmail Android phone app.  BTW, I have keyboard shortcuts turned on for faster processing.
2. If the email is something that I want to read later, or review for action items, I star it.  If I know that it is going to be a TO-DO, I will click the Star two times.  If it is something I am WAITING FOR, it gets 3 clicks.
3. From my mobile phone it makes a yellow star only.  So, I end up with a bunch of items in my READ & REVIEW folder when I process from my phone.
4. All emails, whether starred or not, gets archived which leaves my INBOX empty.  This is critical for my sanity so that I don’t keep re-reading those emails.
5. If I processed from my mobile phone, I will go through my READ & REVIEW for TO-DO items and update the star to the red exclamation point.
6. Once I no longer want the email showing up (ie: I have read it or acted upon it), I uncheck the star and since it is already archived, it disappears from my viewable window.

That is pretty much it.  I think the most complicated portion is the filters for the multiple inboxes.  However, since that is just a copy and paste since I have provided them above, I think you should be able to implement this within just a few minutes.

Let me know your thoughts about how you Get Things Done with Gmail.

By Jimmy D. Brown
Did you know that other people “warm up” your customers for you with their “big product launches”?

And, did you further know, that a huge opportunity for you to create sales for YOUR product or a product you promote as an affiliate can be the result?

If, that is, you “borrow” the buzz that other people are generating.

Imagine this scenario…

Mr. Marketer creates a new $2,000 product.  He “launches” it with his friends.  Everyone on the forums is talking about it.  Every email sent out within the marketplace has something to say about it.  Bloggers are raving.  The whole industry is buzzing about the new launch.

The average conversion rate is 2%.  And that’s not on $2,000 products.  But, let’s assume that Mr. Marketer is the best in the biz.  And he can generate something obscene like 25% conversion rate on a $2,000 offer (which, by the way, ain’t likely to happen).

IF that were to happen, the flipside is this:  75% DON’T BUY. 

In other words, for every 100 visitors to the “launch” site, 75 of them walk away without buying.

Were they uninterested?  If that’s the case, they likely wouldn’t have visited the site in the first place.

In the majority of the cases, they $2,000 price tag was out of their reach.  Not in the budget.  Don’t have the money.  Been there, done that … didn’t have the cash to buy the t-shirt!

So, what can we learn from this?

We can learn…

* These 75 out of every 100 who don’t buy are probably interested to some degree.

* These 75 out of every 100 have heard all of the buzz and have been “presold” on the premise of the product.

* These 75 out of every 100 are strong candidates to buy a lower-priced, related alternative.

That’s where YOU come into the picture.

You “borrow” the buzz that’s been generated for the big product being launched by talked about by everyone as you promote a lower-priced, related alternative!

Here’s how you do it…

1. Look for high-dollar launches in your market.

The first step is to keep your eye on the pulse of your market.  Whenever a major new product is being launched, get busy.  You’ll usually know days, if not weeks, in advance because that’s how launches work:  they do a lot of “pre” build-up work to get people salivating for the eventual launch.  Keep your eyes out for anything new in the works.

2. Promote a low-cost alternative.

It doesn’t matter if you write a quick 10-15 page report, promote your own existing product that is related or grab an affiliate link to some other existing product or service.  It doesn’t really matter WHERE you obtain this lower-priced alternative.  The important thing is that you find one.  It needs to be related to the topic of the big product being launched.  It can be related either (a) by teaching a similar concept, or (b) teaching a portion of the big product’s concept.

3. Write a mailing that explains the two options.

You’ll want to write a mailing to send to your subscribers or to post at your blog.  This mailing needs to contain three important elements…

- Content that presells.  Share some meaty nuggets related to the offer you are ultimately going to promote to set the table.

- A small blurb about big launch with your link. Mention the “major” launch briefly.  Describe it’s benefits and use an affiliate link of yours to point to the offer.  Mention that it’s only drawback is “price”.  Express that many people can’t afford it.

- A stronger promotion for your option.  Then, really hit home with this “lower-priced, related alternative”.  Let them know the benefits are similar at a fraction of the cost.  Be sure to point out that it’s priced for everyone — especially those who feel “left out” of the big budget launch because they can’t afford it.

Then, it’s just a matter of getting that mailing out to your subscribers. 

Let’s look at what you have in place as a result of this strategy…

* You have two promotions:  a minor one for the same “major” launch everyone else is promoting, and a “major” one for the lower-priced, related alternative.

* You have “borrowed buzz”.  Everyone in the marketplace is warming up prospects with all of their “talk” about the importance of the subject matter of the “big product launch”.  They are primed and ready to buy … something!

* You have a spike in sales coming. 

This is a wonderful strategy for getting extra sales.

Remember, there are always a whole lot more people who DON’T buy the product being offered in the “launch”, than those who do!  You’ve got a huge pool of prospects in the 75-98% of people who don’t buy the $2,000 offer.  Many of them WILL buy a lower-priced, related alternative.

So, the only thing left for you to do is get started.

And if you’ve like a shortcut, let me show you a quick way to do it TODAY.

You  have almost certainly seen that Product Launch Formula 3.0 (PLF3) has launched this week.  Everyone is talking about it. While there are a lot of different strategies and ideas involved in a “launch”, the backbone is the same…

*** Other people send you the majority of your traffic.

It’s obviously a very *HOT* topic right now.  People are scrambling to pay BIG BUCKS for the course.

But…

Do you think everyone can afford it?

What about the tens of thousands of internet marketers who can’t afford it, but who ARE INTERESTED in the subject?

What a shame to let them sit by without getting any sales from them! 

But, don’t worry — you CAN get sales from them!  Here’s how…

You offer them something for PENNIES on the dollar that provides the same end result:  other people sending them traffic for their products and services!

A few days ago Jimmy D. Brown announced a resale rights offer for his SalesArmySecrets.com course.

All the details are at BUZZ MARKETING

There are still licenses available for YOU to grab in order to sell a low-cost alternative to the high-dollar “launch” product that everyone is jabbering about.

***BUT IT GETS BETTER — FREE PLR to $20 Report! ***

Jimmy wrote a report several months ago which he briefly made available to one of his membership sites.  It’s entitled “How To Get R.I.C.H. With Your Own Affiliate Program”.

(It was pulled after a month and is no longer available anywhere.)

The report is 21 meaty pages in itself, but it also strongly promotes the Sales Army Secrets course at the end.

When you order one of the remaining licenses for Sales Army Secrets, Jimmy is going to give you (no cost!) a free PLR license to the special report!

You can sell the report for $20, give it away, do whatever you want with it (as long as you don’t misrepresent it or mention Jimmy in reference to it)…

…while using the endorsement at the close of the report to promote YOUR COPY of Sales Army Secrets!

It’s a ready-made marketing report to get people to buy Sales Army Secrets from you!  You can sell Sales Army Secrets for $97 per order and keep 100% of every sale!

Here’s what you need to do…

1. Order the Sales Army Secrets resale rights license at BUZZ MARKETING

2. Register and open a ticket at Jimmy’s support center at http://www.Infoprofitshare.com and provide his staff with a copy of your receipt.

Within 24 hours someone will send you the download information for this special Free PLR offer.

That’s it!

Get one while it lasts…
BUZZ MARKETING

There’s only ONE catch…

This special offer is for the next 3 days only.  On Friday, July 2nd at 10PM CDT, Jimmy is shutting down the license offer and this Free PLR offer.  They will no longer be available.  Officially “retired” at that point.

Grab yours now:  BUZZ MARKETING

Then you can quickly “borrow the buzz” of those promoting PLF3!

I had to share this from a Dan Kennedy blog post a few weeks ago.   In this post, Kennedy describes 4 steps to creating an irresistible offer for your marketing pieces.

Here are four:

1. The offer must be clear. People must be able to understand it instantly. Confused people do not respond. For example, half off is better than 50% off and a lot better than 35% or even 60% off. People have difficulty understanding percentages. Two for one is usually better than half off.
2. The offer must be a good value. It has to be understood as a good value. That’s why percentage off coupons doesn’t usually work well. People get suspicious. They think as soon as they see I have coupons they’ll just raise the price to recover the discount. Percentage off coupons work well where there are known published prices.
3. The offer should involve either a discount or a premium or preferably both. Sometimes premiums work much better than discounts. A premium is something you give away as a free gift to someone who comes in or who makes a purchase. For many years, Bill Glazer, President of Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle operated two of the most successful menswear stores in the country. He meticulously tracked results of all his offers and found that by adding a premium, he averaged a 30% increase in response.
4. There should be a logical reason for the offer. If you discount or give something away without an explanation you create skepticism and suspicion. People have been told all their lives there’s no such thing as a free lunch. You have to explain. We’re doing this to introduce ourselves to the neighborhood as an introductory offer in celebration of opening our new store, as an anniversary sale, a clearance sale, customer appreciation week. Just about any explanation will do but there needs to be an explanation.

Make sure you add the GKIC Insiders Circle Blog to your feed reader immediately.

I’ve been doing some local internet marketing for the past few months with a mix of success. There have been a slew of products recently launched targeting this niche, including Mike Koenig’s Main Street Marketing Machine which sold out at $3,000.

The other day I came across an email from Russell Brunson revealing the Local Marketing Myth that so many people have been sold on.  I agree with Russell that this is controversial information when it comes to debunking the ease by which people are generating local marketing clients.

We have recently started employing an idea very similar to Brunson’s at Online Marketing Edge and will be incorporating more from his program.  It validates that we are on the right path to exploding this market.

I encourage you to explode your local niche markets with Russell Brunson and discover the truth behind local internet marketing.

If you have been impressed by ANIMOTO [affiliate link] videos and the quality that they can do, you will be BLOWN AWAY by these KILLER SALES VIDEOS [affiliate link]. Check out the rest of their sample templates at their main sales. I am sure you will be blown away like I was.

As a follow-up to my original, #1 Google Ranked posting of Evernote & GTD I have made a quick slide show to cover the system… in just 60 seconds. Enjoy!

Simple GTD & Evernote System Quick Overview

It is that time of year… the annual march towards a new set of goals and resolutions. For most people they don’t stick. For a vital few, they seemingly get everything they want in life. What is the difference? I think Darren Hardy, the Publisher of Success Magazine has nailed it. I recently purchased his book and wanted to share it with you

Here is an excerpt from his page:

We all have the ability to achieve the seemingly impossible!

How? The key is properly inciting your creative power, revving up your inner drive and channeling your focus over a sustained period of time.
Based on 20+ years of refined study, practice, and execution, Design Your Best Year Ever outlines the specific plan that SUCCESS magazine Publisher Darren Hardy developed for himself, synthesizing hundreds of books, seminars, trials, errors, and victories into the best and proven strategies on how to design, execute, stick to, and achieve big goals.
Learn the insights that can alter your future!

Learn to avoid the fatal mistake most make in setting goals. You might be setting yourself up to fail, even before you get started.
Go from goal setting to goal achieving. Discover the “magic factor” that makes the big difference in obtaining your goals.
Find out how to invoke your creative power to attract the people, circumstances, resources and guidance you need to achieve your wildly ambitious goals.

The eBook download will be made available immediately upon purchase.

It’s a simple and easy-to-execute formula, yet incredibly powerful and effective in moving you toward achieving your dreams. Now is the ideal time to begin refining the most important life-skill there is—one that will design and create your Best Year Ever!

To Get It Click Here!

The Law of Saving

By: Brian Tracy

Financial freedom comes to the person who saves ten percent or more of his income throughout his lifetime.

One of the smartest things that you can ever do for yourself is to develop the habit of saving part of your salary, every single paycheck. Individuals, families and even societies are stable and prosperous to the degree to which they have high savings rates. Savings today are what guarantee the security and the possibilities of tomorrow.

Start With Yourself
The first corollary of the Law of Saving comes from the book The Richest Man in Babylon by George Classon. It is to “Pay yourself first.”

Begin today to save ten percent of your earnings, off the top, and never touch it. This is your fund for long-term financial accumulation and you never use it for any other reason except to assure your financial future.

Develop New Habits Regarding Money
The remarkable thing is that when you pay yourself first, and force yourself to live on the other ninety percent, you will soon become accustomed to it. You are a creature of habit. When you regularly put away ten percent of your earnings, you soon become comfortable living on the other ninety percent. Many people start by saving ten percent of their income and then graduate to saving fifteen percent, twenty percent, and even more. And their financial lives change dramatically as a result. So will yours.

Take Every Advantage
The second corollary of the Law of Saving says, “Take advantage of tax deferred savings and investment plans.” Because of high and even multiple tax rates, money that is saved or invested without being taxed accumulates at a rate of 30% to 40% faster than money that is subject to taxation. Self-made millionaires, according to Dr Thomas Stanley’s book The Millionaire Next Door, are almost obsessive about accumulating their funds in assets such as real estate, self owned businesses and equities that increase in value without triggering tax liabilities.

Invest in company pension and retirement plans, 401(k) plans, IRA’s, Keough Plans, Roth IRA’s, Education Investment Accounts, stock option programs and whatever else has been approved by the IRS for long term financial accumulation. Make every dollar count!

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to apply this law immediately:

First, begin today to put away ten percent of your earnings. Set up a special account for this purpose and treat your contributions to this account with the same respect that you do your rent or mortgage payments each month.

Second, become a lifelong student of money. Read the best books, take courses and subscribe to the most helpful magazines. Know what you are doing so you can always make intelligent decisions when you invest your funds.

How Can You Attract More Wealth and Abundance?
We are now surrounded by more wealth than at any time in our history. The real question is how do YOU gain this abundance? Brian Tracy can show you how! Become a money magnet, immediately increase your income and learn wealth building secrets. Get the knowledge you need to make your financial future an outstanding one with The Unbreakable Laws of Money Package. Click here to get yours today!

Have you found your business has become a chore?  Has it become boring?  Have you lost that lovin’ feeling?

I am working on a new project and NEED YOUR HELP!

Anybody who takes the time to answer these 3 questions, I will be entering into a drawing for $50 Gift Certificate…

1. If you could ask the best, most successful people in your field of business any questions, what would they be?
2. As an entrepreneur, what keeps you up at night?  What do you find yourself constantly thinking about?
3. What are the bottlenecks in your business?  Where are you spending TOO much time and getting TOO little results?

Enter your comments in fields below. We’ll be announcing the winner in a couple days on a LIVE USTREAM program (details to be announced soon).

Are you a Collective Soul fan?  I am for a couple reasons.  Let me explain.

Late last night while listening to my hometown radio station (97.7 HTZFM) I heard Pauly Morris, their program director, talking about the concerts coming to the area (the area in this case is Southern Ontario / Toronto / Buffalo, NY). What caught my attention was that the AC/DC concert had not sold out, but the Collective Soul concert had.  As a lifelong AC/DC fan I made a seemingly innocuous comment as follows:

Well… it wasn’t so innocuous.  The band was listening and replied via a RETWEET of my comment which put it out to a follower-base of nearly 24,000 people who promptly started to @reply. You see, COLLECTIVE SOUL has fans. Raving Fans in fact. Here is just a snippit of those @replies:

And it went on like that for the next several hours.   I did finally redeem myself in the eyes of these fans, and Collective Soul who were great.   Check out my twitter history if you want to see the fun: http://twitter.com/darrencrawford

They have a great tribe and active fans which is clearly an attributing factor to them selling out their venues weeks in advance (besides some kickass music).  They follow their fans back, they reply and retweet stories and are genuinely interested in what is going on in their fan base.  I’ve never seen them in concert before, but I will be sure to check them out the next time they are any where near Nashville.

Great work guys! Keep it up!

~ A new raving Collective Soul fan.