Internet Business Mastery: Business Development and Internet Marketing for the Web 2.0 Age » 4-Hour Workweek

The NEW Information Diet, part 2

Sterling (Jeremy Frandsen) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:57:39 +0000

In part 1, I talked about the problem with information addiction and overwhelm, you can find that post here.

In this post I’m going to talk about the exact process I got through to be highly effective and end information addiction.

What is the PURPOSE for gaining the knowledge?

I used to just pulling in massive knowledge just to have the knowledge. I would kid myself to think that the info was for later, for when I needed it, but it wasn’t true. I was just addicted to pulling in more info and not having to take action on it. I don’t do that now.

I must know the why, why do I need to read this? Why should I watch this? Why should I listen to this? Personally, I might choose to watch a TV show like Dexter, purely for entertainment value, but I’m very clear on what I am doing. I not longer get my entertainment out of reading 30 blog posts a day. I want my business to fulfill the use I have for it and my entertainment to be separate. As an info junkie there was no distinction.

The purpose of gaining knowledge, for me now, is to be able to make that knowledge actionable and is sure it is needed NOW.

The NOW focus

The first step in my process is to answer the question, “Is this knowledge something I need right now?”. I try to stay very clear on where I am in my business. I figure out, at all times, exactly where I am and what I need to know next.

An example as a beginner would be, if I didn’t have a website up, I wouldn’t be learning all I could about link building. Link building cannot happen UNTIL you have a site up. So, it would be an waste of time to learn about something like link building, since I couldn’t take action right away. The next bit of info I would need, in this example, is exactly what hosting I should use and what blog system I should use. So, I would dump the link building info into a file for LATER and I would focus on hosting and blog systems.

I skipped ahead in learning all the time. Before I had a site up I was an expert at traffic, because I read about it all the time. By the time I did have a site up much of the traffic info I had read was obsolete and therefor a total waste of time in learning.

If I start reading something and I realize I don’t need this yet, I quickly stop reading, which is hard as an info addict, and I file it for later. I follow the GTD system for filing.

If it is something I can use now, I go on the the second process.

Taking Action

Once I have figured out that a bit of information IS what I need next, I then have to ask if it is ACTIONABLE.

Now I want the knowledge if there can be an action attached to it. If at any time during the search I see that the info cannot be acted upon, I generally ditch the search and move on to the next question in the queue. Sometimes I realize that my question is 2 steps past the action I might need to take and then I switch my search to a more basic question.

I am no longer interested in having a bunch of info in my head that would just be used for sounding like a ‘know-it-all’, but not have any practical use for me. Like I said before, I would just search for knowledge for knowledge’s sake, like a junkie. I just had to have the next info hit.

I’m speaking mostly business here, but I have also taken this process to my personal info gathering as well. As much fun as it is to know some inane bit of info like, how many movies has Angelina Jolie been in, I’m less likely to gather that type of info personally, let alone in business, (like how many launches has Frank Kern made over 1 million dollars? Why would I need to know that…).

I want to have the ability to take action the moment I am done reading a new bit of info. That is the main goal for me now with processing information. In order to stay highly productive with my time I have to be able to have very specific steps of action to take after reading or watching a video or listening to an audio about info that is the next step in my business growth.

This process has lead to much less overwhelm and very quick gratification, because I can actually put to work the info I just gathered.

So, the process I use to stop being an info junkie is to be clear on my next step of action, find and process info on that next step, and quickly take action on the knowledge I just learned.

QUESTION: What process do you use to be more efficient and cut down on overwhelm in your info gathering?

Like I said before, I would just search for knowledge for knowledge’s sake, like a junkie. I just had to have the next info hit.

Thank you for subscribing to Internet Business Mastery feed. For instant access to your free audio gift and a risk-free trial of our proven step-by-step program for starting your own profitable internet business, please visit http://www.freeaudiogift.com.

The NEW Information Diet, part 1

Sterling (Jeremy Frandsen) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:41:59 +0000

Hi, I’m Sterling and I am an information addict.

(HI STERLING)

It’s been 6 years since I have watched a traditional news program, 5 years since I’ve watched an entertainment gossip show, 4 year since I’ve watched live television and nearly 3 weeks since I have read over 50 blogs a week, listened to all of the 25+ podcasts I was subscribed too, unsubscribed to the 30+ email newsletters, and stopped consuming info like it was going out of style. I have truly been more effective and more happy since this massive info dump.

I wrote the original Info Diet, part 1 post 3 years ago, and I thought it was time for an update and a process you can use to stop information overwhelm.

The original cause for this info dump was ‘The 4 Hour Work Week’ by Tim Ferriss. That book has been the second most influential book I have ever read, the first being the “6 Pillar of Self Esteem” by Nathanial Branden. ‘The 4 Hour Work Week’ helped me with a lot of mindset shifts, but one of them was how important my time was. I was working 12 hours per day, minimum, 7 days a week and I started to check on why that was. I found that the info diet cut that down considerably! I had been an info addict my entire life, until about 3 years ago. I talk more about that in the original Info Diet post, but here I wanted to talk about the upsides of that diet.

For the last 3 years I stayed to that info diet pretty much completely. From time to time I would go crazy with the podcasts or the internet marketing courses I didn’t need yet, but I actually stuck to it on the whole. What has come from it has been amazing.

Unclogging the Action drain

Before having a specific info diet process, I would start a topic, somehow get distracted by 3 or 10 or 23 other topics and never finish the first topic.

Being so distracted lead to complete lack of focus and of action, which was very frustrating. Processing information that way was also very overwhelming as the info would just keep coming and coming and I didn’t have any way to process how I was going to take that info in!

Once I decided to cut out the massive clog of information, I was able to make a process for bring in information. I was able to pick a few topics and completely focus on them from start to finish.

The Process

In the next part of this series I’m going to show you the exact process I go through to find and act on any info I’m looking for. My hope is that you will be able to use this process to cut down on the overwhelm of information flowing into your mind and then focus on the correct info that can be acted on.

Go to The NEW Information Diet, part 2

Question: Do you find yourself constantly rushing for one bit of knowledge to another without taking action? How have you found ways to stop that cycle?

On Lifestyle Design and Moving to Buenos Aires

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:07:01 +0000

Recently I mentioned on the podcast that my wife and I were moving to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Well we’ve finally arrived and are starting to feel settled in.

I want to say thank you to the dozens of people who emailed me with well-wishes for this new adventure in our life. It’s cool to feel connected to so many people through social media. In addition, I’ve had several people from Buenos Aires who listen to my podcasts who emailed me to meet up. That is a pretty amazing phenomenon to me.

I’ve had a number of people express interest as to why we chose to move abroad and specifically to Buenos Aires. So I wanted to post some information about our decision and how podcasting and internet business helped get us here.

Ever since Melanie and I got married we’ve wanted to live abroad. Employment, our previous rock band or school have always determined where we’ve lived until now (Salt Lake City followed by Manhattan).

When Melanie finished grad school last Spring, the possibilities were wide open to us. We had nothing tying us to NYC (other than friends and a bit of family of course). Even though we love NYC, now is the ideal time to live abroad since we still don’t have kids.

The main reason I got into internet business is because I can do it from anywhere. As long as I have an internet connection, I can create and publish online content. I can can connect with my community and work with my students/clients. This kind of freedom is a key element for me to have to feel fulfilled in life.

On Internet Business Mastery we encourage people to decide what they need for fulfillment in life and then to pursue it. One of my life pursuits is to provide information and encouragement to help others achieve the lifestyle of their choosing.

In the spirit of freedom of location, we started looking for a place to live abroad. Our first choice was Paris since I have lived their before and Melanie wants to learn French. Unfortunately the current conversion rates for the euro put a damper on that. We wanted to live in a country where the US dollar would go a long ways allowing us to really enjoy the experience there.

Reading the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss planted the bug in my ear about Buenos Aires, Argentina. We started our research and quickly realized why Tim likes it so much. In the end we chose Buenos Aires for several reasons.

We have a brother-in-law from Buenos Aires whose parents still live here.
We have a few Spanish speakers in our extended families now and thought it would be useful to learn the language.
Argentina is just a great country with lots of interesting things: plains, mountain, a city much like Paris, rain forests, huge waterfalls, etc.
Buenos Aires fits the urban lifestyle that we prefer right now.
The USD goes a long way here. Last weekend I had the best steak I’ve ever had for $8 USD. The subway is 30 cents USD per ride! Granted, this kind of currency leveraging requires that you have a means of making money in US dollars or something of equal or greater value. Internet business and my podcasts allow for that.
It has only snowed here once in the last 90 years.

We’ll see where things take us next. We plan to be here for the next several months.

Have you lived abroad? Where did you live? Where should Melanie and I live next?

Photo Credit: Crisfer

IBM 33 | Interview with Tim Ferriss, author of The Four-Hour Workweek

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:57:38 +0000

Download This Episode

In this episode of Internet Business Mastery, we play highlights from our interview with Tim Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Workweek. Earlier this year we had the opportunity to speak with Tim and ask him questions from the Internet Business Mastery community. He shared with us key insights such as:

An important factor you should look for in your target market
Why information marketing makes a great muse
What to do if you are working long hours and can’t seem to scale your business

Also, Sterling talks about lessons he’s learned from Dan Kennedy’s new DVD, The Phenomenon. Jay talks about hiring a full-time virtual assistant.

Items mentioned in this show include:

The Phenomenon, by Dan Kennedy
The Four Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss

If You Could Buy 5 More Hours for $25, Would You?

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 04:27:49 +0000

What small things in your life could you outsource cheaply and reclaim valuable bits of your time. My wife and I just found one and I’m kicking myself for not outsourcing it sooner—the laundry.

We live in Manhattan with no washer and dryer in our apartment (a common thing here). So doing laundry is always an ordeal. We probably spend at least five hours a month doing our laundry (total between the two of us).

For the first time today, we decided to check into pickup/delivery laundry services. To our surprise it wasn’t that expensive. We had it done for $22. It was beautiful. They picked it up in the morning, a few hours later it was done and everything folded and on hangers.

We figure all in all it will cost us $60/mo to have our laundry done for us. And here’s the kicker. That is only about $25 more than what we spend per month when we do it ourselves!

DUH! For only $25/month, I’ve reclaimed five hours. That’s only $5/hour. Just goes to show how we get tunnel vision and adopt the status quo overlooking simples improvement we could make to our lifestyle and business.

If someone offered to give you five more hours a month at a cost of only $5 per hour, wouldn’t you take it!? I’ll take that deal any day. Especially when I can make many, many times more than that with that time.

At least I was smart enough to have groceries delivered for the past two years.

Has anyone else come up with any ingenious improvements to save them time and improve their lifestyle?

Information Diet, Part 6

Sterling (Jeremy Frandsen) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:25:00 +0000

Taking ACTION:

There are two points I want to make in this final segment.

First, do everything you can to find a credible source.

I a truly amazed at how many books about making money on eBay there are out there. I read many of them and my other business partner Andrew Lock has read most. The thing we found is that most of the authors have never even SOLD on ebay, yet they write books about making money selling on eBay. It’s really criminal if you asked me, as I followed the advice in many of those books only to start my first eBay business and fail miserably after spending thousands of dollars on implementation and months of my life. I followed all the advice! Why didn’t it work?! Well, it’s like asking a 400 pound man how to have a 180 pound fit body.

Then, there are scam artists who may have done some business on eBay, but defrauded people and now teach about eBay business. There is one guy that is very popular right now that has been BANNED by eBay themselves! He can never use eBay again and has even been stopped from speaking at eBay Live. Is that who you would like to learn from?! Sadly, the guy is making a fortune selling ‘how to make money on eBay’ courses.

The point is to do what you can to find out if the source of your info is credible.

Second, it seems so obvious, but I must say it – TAKE ACTION! Really, in the end, the true value of most information is what you DO with it. Knowledge is only POTENTIAL power, action is the key to real power. It’s better to take the WRONG action then NO action at all.

“You will accomplish a lot more with movement then you will with motivation”

-Gary Halbert

So, to end of my Information Diet, I will summarize. I cut out the seemingly endless barrage of information I was bombarding myself with and opted for more precise, strategic knowledge related to what I need NOW. I added some much need mind rest and entertainment. Then, I have set myself to TAKE ACTION on the surgical info I receive, rather then just constantly allow a complete INFLOW of ideas and info.

Information Diet, Part 5

Sterling (Jeremy Frandsen) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:05:09 +0000

Entertainment:

I had my cable TV shut off over a year ago. Why? Two reasons.

First, I was crazy for channel surfing. I realized that I could go two hours without watching one single program all the way through. I suddenly realized I was like some lab rat starting at the screen, just fascinated by all the random pictures going by. It had to end.

Second, you can watch most show on the net now OR just get the DVD. I had been just watching the DVDs of most shows for some time, which cuts out commercial watching and gets rid of having to wait an entire week to see how Jack Bauer gets out of each cliffhanger episode ending.

Most shows can be watched online if you cannot wait till they come out on DVD. I watch the likes of Lost and Heroes all from the networks website.

TIP: One way to get a lot of TV show DVDs is to join Blockbuster.com. They had nearly all of the TV shows I wanted to watch and as of now, you can take a DVD you get in the mail to a Blockbuster store and swap it for a store DVD, giving you double the DVDs then the plan you have.

Here is just a snapshot of shows I enjoy:

Lost

Heroes

Battlestar Galactica ß Jay turned me on to this one, I would have never thought it was as good as it is

Boston Legal

Prison Break

HBO and Showtime have my FAVORITE shows. Nearly every original hour drama on those channels I love, though they are Rated R style show, to be warned… The tops are:

Rome

Deadwood

The Sopranos

Penn and Tellers BS!

To name a few…

Information Diet, Part 4

Sterling (Jeremy Frandsen) — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 20:12:48 +0000

Books:

This is one area I had to do some house cleaning on. Here was the list of books I was reading… all at the same time:

The Meme Machine by Susan Blackmore – book about memes and the study of mind viruses.

Virus of the Mind by Richard Brodie – book about memes and the study of mind viruses.

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins – fascinating book, a must read…

There was one other Mind Virus book that I cannot remember…

Now I am reading only one non-fiction at a time and adding a FICTION, gulp. I haven’t read a work of fiction for SO long I cannot even remember the last one! When I did read it I actually liked fantasy, so I decided to give that a try. Here are the TWO books I am reading now:

4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss – I’m on my second read through…

Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind – Highbrow knights and swords and wizard type book.

I have actually found it sort of hard to get into the fiction book. My mind works differently now, it is hard to shut off while reading, but I’m going to keep trying as I used to love reading fiction.

Information Diet, Part 3

Sterling (Jeremy Frandsen) — Thu, 31 May 2007 20:12:38 +0000

Magazines:

On we go. I was never really a big magazine reader. Back in my Hollywood days I would read Entertainment Weekly and Premier Magazine. Now, there are only two that I actually read:

Wired Magazine

Business 2.0

I actually scan them cover to cover, stopping to read only if my interest is really peaked.

Information Diet, Part 2

Sterling (Jeremy Frandsen) — Wed, 30 May 2007 16:09:06 +0000

Podcasting:

So, I just finished doing a bit of ‘spring cleaning’ in my iTunes podcast folder. I had 44 podcasts that I downloaded each week, now I have 12.

“44! How on earth did you listen to them all?!” You ask?

Here is what I use to do… I would listen while I made my meals, did mindless business stuff like WordPress changes or eBay auction template changes, while I drove any and everywhere, while I shopped, in line at the post office, riding my bike an hour + per day, during my late night walk, while getting ready to shower (not actually in the shower, thought I had considered looking for a waterproof case and earbuds), and any time I could have a bit of my attention on what I was listening too. I lived that way for the last year or so.

Not any more! Right now I’m on an info fast. 5 days without my normal information overload. I’m also purging my sources of info one at a time. Today is Podcasting.

From 44 podcasts to 12. Many of the 12 are not updated every day or even every week, so I hardly know what I am going to do with all that time to think?!

One key was to add more entertainment based podcast to let my mind rest and relax once and a while. I even added music to my ipod! Imagine that?! Before I never put music on it. The few people I know with iPods have NOTHING but music and I finally added music to it for the first time in 2 years.

The majority of my podcast use to be business and marketing related, now I added some info I need and some entertainment. Here is a quick and partial list just to give an idea of the change.

Couple for Business-

Podcasting Underground – Having several podcasts now I have to stay up to date with how that world works and Jason really is on the cutting edge of promoting your podcast.

Podcast Tools – Paul Colligan goes over some useful and simple tips for tweaking your podcast.

e-auction-air – Michael Donahue talks does a great job being the news around eBay, what is going on in the eBay community and what new eBay tools are out there. I usually look into the tools to see if I would use them in my eBay business or if I would suggest them to my eBay podcast listeners.

Couple for fun –

Never Not Funny – Jimmy Pardo and friends. This is a fantastic podcast that keeps me connected with the ‘hollywood world’. They talk about a lot of things my comedian friends do, BUT this is R rated so if you get offended easily, DON’T even thing about listening!

Real Time with Bill Maher – HBO TV show transformed into the podcast version. R-Rated.

Business Week Reports that Email is Clinically Addictive

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Wed, 30 May 2007 13:51:40 +0000

Looks like I’m cutting the email leash not a moment too soon. Take a look at this stunning quote from a recent Business Week article:

Scrolling through e-mail and punching out text messages fire up the dopamine-reward system, unleashing a pleasure-inducing hit that for an estimated 6% of Internet users has become clinically addictive, says University of Michigan psychology professor David Meyer.

Scary. But it makes sense. Emailers Anonymous anyone?

via The Lazy Business Owner (one blog that made it through my recent information diet cut)

Information Diet, Part 1

Sterling (Jeremy Frandsen) — Tue, 29 May 2007 16:34:42 +0000

Hi, I’m Sterling and I’m an information addict. (HI STERLING). It’s been 3 years since I have watched a news program, 2 years since I’ve watched an entertainment gossip show, 1 year since I’ve had cable television and nearly two weeks since I have read over 50 blogs a week, listened to all of the 25+ podcasts I’m subscribed too, unsubscribed to the 30+ email newsletters, took 5 books back to the library that I was reading simultaneously (all non-fiction), and stopped consuming info like it was going out of style. I feel like a 50 pound monkey is off my back.

The cause for this info dump was ‘The 4 Hour Work Week’ by Tim Ferriss. That book has been the second most influential book I have ever read. I have been an info addict my whole life. When I am into something I study it voraciously, to the point of obsession. I have never smoked, gotten drunk or done drugs, but I have been an info junkie nearly my entire life.

This obsessive behavior has an upside and a downside. The upside is that I gain a massive about of knowledge very quickly, the downside is that I have a pitiful lifestyle and very few ‘hobbies’. The other downside to taking in information that quickly is that you have very little chance of putting even half of the info to real use. Knowledge is only POTENTIAL power. Action is where knowledge becomes real power.

The goal for me now is not to consume a piece of information until I need it. I will not read about traffic generation until I am working on my traffic generation again. I will read no more about search engine optimization until, you guessed it, I’m doing more search engine optimization.

I turned on the radio in my car for the first time in… years. Usually I plug my iPod in and listen to various podcast on subjects from eBay to skepticality. It’s been long enough that the music I listened to in high school is now considered ‘adult contemporary’! I also realized that hip hop is not my cup of tea.

I’m going to now balance the info I bring in with the entertainment! I have been doing this for the last couple weeks and I thought I would share with you, in the next few blog posts, the list the information and entertainment I now consume.

Blog-a-mania!

I use google reader to sort through and read my blogs. I have more then 60 blogs in my reader, but I have started a ‘must read’ folder and here is what is in it:

ProBlogger Blog Tips – Darren Rowse is a top blogger that actually makes a fantastic living by blogging. I met Darren at Yanik Silvers Underground seminar in March. He is a very down to earth, friendly guy that is also very prolific. I get a lot of great tips from his blog.

Marketing What Works – Dean Hunt talks a lot about traffic and using social media to get lots of it. He also talks about mindset, which is a pet topic of mine. He has a very blunt, no BS style, which I enjoy

The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss – Tim has a very informative and entertaining blog about entrepreneurial lifestyle and more.

Jason Van Orden :: Podcast Consultant – Jason is my business partner, but I still read his blog and listen to his podcasts. I really like his writing style and way he delivers information and you will too!

Social Media Optimization – I love using and learning about social media optimization and here is a place I go to learn more.

BLATENT PLUG:

BTW, if you are into making money using eBay I have a podcast that I do with Andrew Lock called Renegade eBay Sellers, check it out!

I also run a blog called Dan Kennedy Says, with tips and advice from ultra-famous marketing expert Dan Kennedy.

Cutting the Email Leash Part 2: Tips for Overcoming Compulsive Email Distraction

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:35:57 +0000

Recently I wrote about my commitment to overcoming email addiction in order to be more productive and free up mental capacity for more important things. I wanted to give an update on how things are going.

My goal was to check only twice a day on weekdays and never first thing in the morning. Since writing that post I’ve not once checked my email first thing in the morning. This in of itself has been a great improvement. It was such a compulsive habit, but it really wasn’t a great start to the day. I find I get so much more momentum when I work on a solid business development task for the first hour or two of the day.

Checking only twice a day has worked out well. For the most part I’ve stuck to it. Early on I slipped up a couple times. One other exception is that I check when I am expecting an email from a client/customer or in an active email exchange with them to get an important task done. But the key here is to NOT get sucked into other email coming in if it is not one of your two two times of the day to look at and act on email. I just look for the customer email and read nothing else.
I’ve also been unsubscribing from any email newsletters that don’t have anything to do with what I am working on right now. If you can’t read it and act on it….ditch it. Too many newsletters becomes a distraction. Filing it as “To Read” is no good either. Let’s be honest. It’ll never get read. At most, I suggest you delete/archive it and know that you can use something like Google search later to find it if you need.

This leaves only a few email newsletters in my inbox:

A couple email newsletter from colleagues and competitors so I can keep tabs on what they are doing
Alice Seba’s Outsourcing Newsletter
Krishna De’s Biz Growth Newsletter (she also talks about outsourcing and productivity on occasion)

Can you tell what is on my mind most lately? I also handle RSS reading differently now, too. I’ll talk about that more in another post.

The effects on my mental capacity and productivity have been significant. At the end of the day, I feel better about what I got done. I focus better throughout the day. I get more momentum from the starting line by not checking email first. I typically check for the first time right after noon. I avoid nagging interruptions right before I go to bed by not reading email last thing at the end of the day. I don’t check email after 5PM-ish (6PM at the latest).

If this resonates with you, then I highly recommend reading Cutting the Email Leash Part 1 for the set of goals I set to get started. Here are a few more suggestions:

Take a serious look at where you get the most email and start cutting liberally (unsubscribe, tell people to handle problems themselves rather than come to you for everything, etc.) For each email, quickly ask yourself: “Do I really need to get this or can I cut this email source out?”
If you think you can’t do twice a day because you get too much email, then you need to cut down on how much email you get. You wouldn’t let someone reach into your pocket and take your cash, don’t let them reach into your inbox and take your time.
Apply filters to automatically delete or file emails that you need for later reference (by search) but don’t need to see when you get it
Install a good search program like Google Desktop search (or use GMail) so you can just delete liberally and know you can always search for something later
Realize you don’t have to reply to everything (this one is really hard for me and I am still working on it)
If something can be responded to in under two minutes, just do it and be done. If not, determine the next action that needs to be taken and stick it on a list.

Anyone else working on this? Let me know how it’s going. I can always use more tips.

IBM 27 | The 4-Hour Workweek

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Sat, 19 May 2007 18:34:03 +0000

Download This Episode

Recently Sterling met Tim Ferris, the author of The Four-Hour Work Week—little did he know how this would change his life.

We’ve both just finished reading Tim’s book and are now quivering with excitement about the much needed kick in the pants it gave us.

In this super-sized (to make up for the long wait) episode of Internet Business Mastery, we get excessively excited about Tim Ferris’ book. We talk about how we have both been reminded of a simple yet critical principle: define the lifestyle you want and let that determine how you work and do business. Don’t let your work/business define your lifestyle…or worse become your lifestyle!

In this episode we expose some bad habits that both of us have formed over the last couple years as entrepreneurs. We also reveal how we are planning on overcoming them.

In addition you’ll discover:

What a Caribbean Cruise taught Jay about taming the email beast
How Sterling hung out with the likes of Yanik Silver, Dan Kennedy and other millionaire behemoths
Why the next Internet Business Mastery company meeting will be in Fiji

Other items mentioned in this episode:

Cutting the Email Leash

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Wed, 09 May 2007 16:57:14 +0000

I’m far too addicted to my email. For someone who is trying to build a lifestyle of freedom through the internet, I give far too much time and attention to my email. I just got back from a 7-day cruise in The Caribbean (and now I’m addicted to scuba diving, too). Internet access on the cruise costs 0.50 a minute and adds up fast. After one night of that, I decided my email was just going to have to wait even if the world imploded as a result. Guess what…

…the world didn’t implode.

I can count on one hand the number of emails I received that really were so important that they needed quick attention. And that was out of 550 emails received (not including spam).

The epiphone: I spend to much time on email and give it way more attention than I should.

The goals for implementing a solution:

I will only check email twice a day now–once in the morning and once in the evening
I will only check my email once on Saturday and Sunday (working towards never checking on the weekend)
I will no longer check my email first thing when I wake up. I will only check it after doing a couple hours of productive work.
I have turned of all automatic email checking and notifications in Outlook. Email will only come in when I open Outlook and hit the Send/Receive button (which will only happen twice a day).

I am going to keep a log of this and I’ll report back next week on the blog to let you know how I am doing. Hold me accountable. I encourage you to join me. Thank goodness I don’t own a “Crack”-Berry. If you own one, I urge you to sell it and get a “run-o-the-mill” cell phone.

On another note, thanks for your patience in waiting for the next episode of the podcast. I’ve been traveling every weekend for speaking gigs or vacation and Sterling has been going to every seminar on the planet it seems and mingling with the likes of Dan Kennedy and other big dogs. We’ll have lots of good stuff to talk about. Stay tuned!

IBM 11 | Listener Questions Answered

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 21:02:18 +0000

Download This Episode

We promised to do a listener comment show and here it is. We get a lot of internet based business questions and we have mentioned that we would try to get around to answering them within the show. From time to time we will continue to answer some questions as a ‘Listener Comment’ show and other questions as an entire internet business mastery ‘topic’ show. As always, we appreciate your comments and questions. Keep them coming!