Then I recommend you block out 9pm ET Tuesday, January 5 for a free, LIVE *webinar* top-gun marketer Yanik Silver and I are putting on called:

“Secrets of Maverick Entrepreneurs LIVE!”

http://lifetimemarketingsuccess.com/-maverick-secrets.html

I’m super excited about this free event because Yanik is introducing everyone to his own personal network of insider connections…

These individuals are a small, distinct group of self-made millionaires who make up Maverick Business Adventures(r).

Members ranging from well-known, ‘celebrity’ online pioneers & experts, INC 500 companies, multi-national manufacturers, heads of financial institutions to renowned experts, International real estate developers and restaurateurs.

We did an event similiar to this before and it was a smashing success.  This time we’ve got a handful of new Mavericks scheduled to come together Tuesday to share with you their thinking on the 3 ‘Maverick Success Pillars’:

• How to make more…
• How to have more fun…
• How to give more back…

Plus I’ll make sure he grills them on how they are adapting their businesses to maximize success in 2010 (get your pen and paper ready for the gems they’ll share)!

As an added bonus, Yanik will be sharing even more of his insights on how to increase your profits, your passion and purpose. The very same rules that have made him financially independent before the age of 31 starting with a silly idea at 3 o’clock in the morning.

(If you were on my Customer Appreciation webinar last week, you got to hear first-hand how dynamic and entertaining Yanik’s methods and philosophies are!)

Best part is, you don’t pay a dime to get on there (except for any long-distance charges like you would to Uncle Fritz in Wyoming).

You need to register right here to get sent the login access and telephone pin number:

http://lifetimemarketingsuccess.com/-maverick-secrets.html

Since there’s zero cost for this one-time-only event, and only 300 lines available I expect this will be completely booked in no time flat.

And don’t worry - it doesn’t matter what connection speed you have or even if you have a PC or Mac.

“See” you Tuesday,

Chris Zavadowski

P.S. - The last time we produced a content-packed free webinar like this, not only did attendees go bonkers for all the great strategies and ideas revealed, but it totally SOLD OUT.  Don’t delay in grabbing your spot today:

http://lifetimemarketingsuccess.com/-maverick-secrets.html

This MONDAY, December 21, 2009 at 9pm (ET), I’m hosting our second-annual (and totally FREE) Customer Appreciation VIP Holiday All-Content Event for our most valued customers and subscribers (that’s YOU!).

Check out the VIDEO message I posted for you here:
http://www.CustomerAppreciationWebinar.com

Last year’s sold out free event was such a huge mega-hit, and generated so much buzz and praise, we’re doing it all over again this year.

Featuring a *new* line-up of ALL-STAR marketing guests, you’ll walk away from this 100% CONTENT, NO-PITCH free event with instantly actionable techniques and tips to help you cash in with the latest online marketing techniques.

Plus - we’re donating to “Charity Water” for each person who merely signs up, so it’s win-win for everyone and supporting a wonderful cause.

By the end of this event, you’ll have a roadmap for your 2010 online prospecting and business gameplan, along with action items and cutting edge tools (many are totally FREE) to apply in your business!

Here’s the one tiny ‘catch’…

While this webinar is FREE (except for long distance charges) - there is room for ONLY 995 people on the webinar

Our sponsor, VoiceText.com has graciously donated 1000 lines for this special charity customer appreciation event, and my all-star guests and me take up 5 spots - so do NOT delay in registering for this FREE webinar and missing out on these actionable strategies.  (I hope we’ll blow past the 1,000 mark so I can scramble for more lines!)

Sign up here today while there’s still time:
http://www.CustomerAppreciationWebinar.com

See you Monday night!

Chris

P.S. - Wouldn’t you like to have your own autopilot systems in place for 2010 that help increase your sales, leads, profits and sign-ups…without rejection or the usual torturous prospecting methods?

Or learn the latest business strategies that the mega-successful are using every day to cash in online?

If so - sign up for this FREE holiday ALL-CONTENT, zero-sales webinar taking place Monday at 9:00pm (ET/New York City time) and find out how to make it happen. And remember…only 1000 spots exist. Don’t miss out and kick yourself later!

http://www.CustomerAppreciationWebinar.com

One of the big name heavyweights in marketing online has decided to leave the “guru” world, drastically change his business for 2010 and give away his $1,297 course…

http://www.lifetimemarketingsuccess.com/-7figure.html

To go out with a bang this holiday season, he’s decided to not only post a candid video explaining his shift, but he’s doing something even better for you as a gift…

He’s GIVING AWAY his most popular $1,297 home study course. (Which is actually all the DVD recordings from his $5,000/person sold out workshop.)

To kick things off now he’s giving you his favorite DVD from the entire sold out workshop and course: Stephen Pierce’s presentation on the exact steps he took to build a 7-figure business.

Just go to this page and put in your email address to get instant access:

http://www.lifetimemarketingsuccess.com/-7figure.html

There are no ‘catches’ or ‘tricks’. Even when he gives away the limited sets of the entire home study course later this week, there’s no forced continuity, no hidden charges, no forced trials or anything funky like that.

If you delay, you’ll miss out on this great freebie. I highly recommend you check this out right away.

Talk to you soon,

Chris

P.S. - Remember, he’s giving this away for FREE, but last time he actually sold the $1,297 course - he sold 2,500 copies in 7 days.  That means considering the extremely limited free sets he has available, they won’t last long.

Get in line for your free copy here:
http://www.lifetimemarketingsuccess.com/-7figure.html

(And yes, these are links I get paid on *only* if you decide to have him ship you the free copy when he launches it later this week.  But you don’t have to spend one single penny to watch the free $97 video he’s posted online!)

P.P.S. - I’m also working on putting together the 2nd Annual Customer Appreciation VIP Charity Event later this month - so keep an eye out for that.  Last year’s all-star free event filled up in a flash, and I’m sure this year will be no different.  Stay tuned!

Locker Door – And Broke Off Two Teeth Biting On It.”

You may recall a story like that from Dan Jenkins’ football novel, Semi-Tough. (Made into an okay movie.) The story is reportedly based on actual behavior of Howie Long when he was playing for the Oakland Raiders.

You now see a mild-mannered, pleasant Howie on the Sunday morning football show on FOX. That is not the Howie teammates and opponents saw on the field. There, they saw and encountered a man who hated to lose. In his newest novel, about the LPGA, The Franchise Babe, Jenkins again talks about the hate-to-lose element.

I find fewer and fewer people exhibiting this. In pro sports. In business.

Most are all too willing to accept losing and losses, to shrug them off, to end days without productive accomplishment, to miss sales, to let revenue escape, to let customers disappear, to bank excuses instead of money.

And as I said in the last article, you get what you accept.

I have always hated not doing well. Hate is, or is supposed to be a very strong word. Hate is dark and violent and intense. I mean it that way. I hate not doing well.

People interfering with my ability to do well, through negligence, incompetence, stupidity, have seen and felt my wrath. Like Howie, I have actually, physically injured myself – smashing fist into wall, steel file cabinet; kicking car fender repeatedly; etc. - in unchecked rage after screwing up badly.

When I set out in the A.M. with a To-Do List, I resist with every fiber of being, carrying an item on it over to the next day. I hate that.

When advertising, marketing or sales campaigns are slowed or sabotaged by peoples’ sloppy or careless implementation, I immediately begin scheming to rid my life of the culprits. I hate people who don’t hate things being f’d up.

I approve of the Oriental tradition of falling on one’s own sword when performing badly.

By normal standards, I suppose I am emotionally unstable or dysfunctional, and might be diagnosed as mentally ill, but then normal standards lead to normal results, which suck.

By the way, every doctor always expects me to have high blood pressure. I do not. I cause high blood pressure, I don’t have it.

Seems to me, if you don’t care deeply, passionately about getting whatever you’re doing right, done fast and on time, done in the way that produces best results, you ought to find something worth caring about to do – or find a way to do nothing at all.

If I had a team, I’d much rather have a Howie Long, and have to pry the damaged locker door from his hands and talk him out of the depths of rage, despair and depression over losing, than have a modern-day, laissez-faire, sh** happens, we’ll try to do better next time wimpus and struggle to talk him into performing.

When I look around the ranks of the rich, I see people like me who hate losing. When I look around everywhere else, I see loads of good losers.

At the moment, a lot of willing-to-accept-not-doing-well folks have been handed an extra supply of excuses – gas prices, real estate slump, Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, etc. – and many are unconsciously delighted to have them.

Be careful. Their mental illness is contagious.

——————————————

– By Dan S. Kennedy, serial entrepreneur, from-scratch multi-millionaire, speaker, consultant, coach, author of 13 books including the No B.S. series (NoBSBooks.com), and editor of The No B.S. Marketing Letter. FOR A SPECIAL FREE GIFT FROM DAN FOR YOU including newsletters, audio CD’s and more: visit:
www.FreeDanKennedyNewsletter.com

Webinars ARE the new teleseminars. (It seems like everyone  and their uncle has finally gotten onboard and started  doing them now for the last few years.) Which means they  are definitely NOT a passing fad.

In fact, we recently surveyed our customers and subscribers about webinars.

Get this…

Now out of those who have never presented a webinar (which is pretty much EVERYONE surveyed) 77.2% said they wanted to know HOW to do one!

Considering the survey told us every stumbling block and  webinar question you have, we’ve decided to put together a  series of totally free videos for you all about creating, producing and cashing in from webinars to sell more of YOUR  products and services.

In Video #1, we’ll share with you 3 quick and easy ways to get content for a kick-butt profitable webinar.

Be sure to leave us your feedback, too!

Talk to you soon,

Chris

P.S. - If you enjoy this video, be sure to sign up for our  upcoming “Insider Webinar Strategies v2.0″ LIVE, free  webinar happening Monday, October 12, 2009!

Go here to get a ticket to first-come, first-served  “Insider Webinar Strategies v2.0″ event:

http://www.webinarstrategies.com/freewebinar/

And stay tuned for more videos over the coming days!

Take it away Dan…

****

Why People Fail: The Complaint Department

“Every year back spring comes, with nasty little birds yapping their fool heads off and the ground all mucked up with plants.”

So said: (a) W.C. Fields or (b) Dorothy Parker or (c) Woody Allen.

Dorothy Parker, and if you haven’t read her, you’ve missed one of the most vicious biting wits and grand cynics of all time. When you visit NYC, you can stay at or have a drink at the Algonquin Hotel, home for years of Dorothy Parker’s famous roundtable, where literary lions met to drink and spar.

“You can be married and bored or single and lonely. Ain’t no happiness nowhere.”

So said: (a) Chris Rock or (b) Elizabeth Taylor or  (c) Ann Landers.  The correct answer is Chris Rock.

It just seems few people are really happy or even content with much.  We are all too eager to complain, myself included - and I stop myself often. Truth is, everybody does have something to complain about because no business, no career, no relationship, no one’s health, no life is ever free of problems, hassles, annoyances or disappointments for very long.

Having a lot of money helps but I doubt there’s enough money, period, to insulate somebody from things worthy of complaint. I certainly have been willing to spend any sum, have spent quite a bit, and brought in a dozen experts, technicians, people from the manufacturer to fix my fireplace but, after 5 years trying, I still have a gas fireplace that sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t, with no rhyme or reason. It’s not as worthy of complaint as, say, coming home from Iraq missing a leg. But it’s still worthy of complaint.

Right now, everybody’s continues to complain incessantly about gas prices - even though they pay more per gallon for bottled water and Starbucks, even though our prices are a bargain vs. other countries, even though we could easily go out less and cluster errands but don’t, and even though the economy’s booming in many places. Nuts.

Well, we’re never going to stop others or ourselves from complaining at times we should be celebrating and giving thanks. To a degree, our ever-restless dissatisfactions and complaints are the forces leading to invention, innovation and, in some cases, improvement.

But I would offer this observation, for whatever it’s worth - the most successful people I know keep more of their complaints to themselves than they air and operate in a broad, general way, happy and enthusiastic, “on fire” about what they are doing and where they are going.

I talk to a lot of people who complain about parts of their businesses, some of the work they must do. Charlie ‘Tremendous’ Jones says:

“If you can’t get excited about the miserable job you’ve got right now, you’ll never get a good job worth being excited about.”

I think that’s true hour by hour, day by day.

Certainly there are lots and lots of people who would follow you into your lucrative business if they could only do the pleasant tasks - like kids licking the crème filling out and discarding the rest of the cookie or cake. The reason there’s so little competition at the top levels of the prosperity pyramid in America is NOT barriers erected to keep riff-raff out and the elite small in number; it’s mostly because most people won’t get their hands filthy doing all the ugly tasks that are required in order to get to do the pleasant ones.

When I was speaking a lot, I got approached at least 1,000 times by people who wanted to be on stage and speak to thousands and make $100,000.00 in an hour or two…

I found none were eager to learn the craft, create and perfect a presentation; study the 100 or so speakers and stand-up comedians I pointed them to; go find inconsequential venues like local car dealership sales meetings and Chamber meetings to practice; to create their own business filling seats so they could prove they could sell from the platform before asking someone to give them a valuable slot; then develop marketing materials; relentlessly mail to people who might hire them; write books and articles and newsletters to create prominence.

And it doesn’t take long for most people to complain a lot about the endless hours in airports, the delayed or missed flights, the bad hotels, the bad food. Everybody’d love to be rich. Most people just aren’t willing to put up with all the crap you have to shovel and occasionally swallow for the privilege. In this life, you pick your place and the prices you will pay for admission - so you really have little right to complain about either.

So if this is one of those days, think twice before complaining. Because the secret of secrets that we know and never speak of is that our exceptional success and prosperity has only a little to do with all the things those wishing they had what we have think it does - with education or expertise or who-you-know or luck, etc.  What we know that we won’t speak of is it mostly has to do with a willingness to do a lot of things others can do but won’t.

With Independence Day just around the corner in the U.S. - it’s the perfect chance to think about *your* independence, regardless if you celebrate on July 4th or not. And for just that reason, I have 2 exciting things to share with you…

#1- ‘7 Keys to Achieving Your Personal Freedom as a Maverick Entrepreneur”

As you may recall, I’m Yanik Silver’s business partner in MaverickBusinessInsiders.com.  Well last weekend, Yanik and I got together to create an awesome new video detailing some of his best fundamental keys that have made him a millionaire online.  And we *just* released this fun new video!

Not only does he give you tons of excellent, actionable info but it’s pretty funny too. Wait til you see my special hat that he’s wearing and the cool behind-the-scenes footage of his place.

Check it out here:
Maverick Freedom Video

It’s 40+ minutes of awesome content without requiring an email or anything like that. Just check it out and see what you think.

#2 - ‘Freedom’ Video Contest Results

On that same page you can see the finalists in last week’s contest we sponsored all about ‘freedom’. There are some really incredible submissions and these are the 5 winners. Good stuff!

So take a few minutes to check it all out:
Maverick Freedom Video

Enjoy your 4th of July!

Chris Zavadowski

Truth be told, a lot of times marketers design their sites a certain way simply because that’s what everyone else is doing.  Instead of carefully making decisions for each element, it’s “monkey see, monkey do”. (Of course we’re all guilty of this at one point or another.)

Unfortunately, that can lead to a poorly performing website…and the worst part is you’d never know it!

Even if your site starts making sales, it’s not unusual
for a few simple tweaks to increase your profits by 100%-300%.

****
For example, did you know that by changing just THREE WORDS on your order link — one little tweak — you could bump up your conversions by 25% overnight?  (Don’t worry, I’ll give you the three words below!)
****

Well in recent months, 2 of my clever marketing friends, unhappy with the status quo, decided to dissect everything in their online sales processes, as well as the sales systems of the most successful sites online.

That means, they tested every tiny bit of the sales funnel: Wording. Graphics. Links. Buttons. Upsells. Downsells. Colors. And MUCH more…

They did this all to discover exactly what works best to get the maximum revenue from each customer and visitor, all while INCREASING customer satisfaction (and YOUR bank account) at the same time.

Some of their sales system tweaks are so ingenius and simple, I decided to put together a closed door, content-packed webinar to grill them on…

“The Five BIGGEST Mistakes People Make Trying to Sell ANYTHING Online (And *EXACTLY* How to Avoid Them)”

Good news is this kick-butt content is yours for FREE. Now you, too, can benefit from all their mad scientist testing!

Check out this hot webinar video here:
http://www.mlmblog.com/-5-biggest-mistakes.html

You’ll learn more about creating a winning online sales process in the next 30 minutes (for FREE!) than you would in the next 6 months of trial-and-error.

Wishing you the best,

Chris

P.S. - I can flat out guarantee if you skip this free video (and continue to make these five mistakes), you are surely losing money online and in your sales process.

Find out how to plug the holes right here:
http://www.mlmblog.com/-5-biggest-mistakes.html

P.P.S. - Even if you don’t have a site yet, this *definitely* applies to you! If you’re just starting out, here are the critical mistakes to avoid and specific things that shortcut your way to success.

Catch them all right here:
http://www.mlmblog.com/-5-biggest-mistakes.html

For those of you at Yanik Silver’s Underground Online Seminar, you know it’s always a first-class experience from beginning to end.  And this year was no exception.

But the best part of the event is the evening networking (read: hanging around the bar until late into the night).

This year when we came back from the speakers’ dinner on Sunday night, it was basically ‘last call’ for drinks at midnight.  (Washington, DC laws stink).   I egged on my good buddies Perry Belcher and Jimmy Sweeney who collectively ordered 150 beers for all of us. (Plus 20 more beers I got from the manager waaaaay past last call.)  Yes, one hundred seventy beers total. That way we could keep the party going all night.

Now if you’ve never seen 170 beers in one spot, it’s quite a site to behold.  Here’s a snapshot of the first 90 they brought out…

Unfortunately, a lot of the beers were just sitting there not getting touched.  So I thought back to my college days…and resurrected a tried and true drinking game: Power Hour.  Basically, you have one shot of beer each minute.  For an hour.

Normally it’s simple…except when people have been drinking for a few hours beforehand.  Needless to say we gave the hotel quite some entertainment that evening.  Here’s a picture of me calling out the next shot at this new Underground tradition…

And here’s what happens later in the evening…

Yes, that’s Perry Belcher with a pair of Speedo’s on his head, and an ice bucket on my head.  What’s a business without a lot of FUN mixed in too, right?

We had a blast (in fact - if you search Twitter you can see how many people were talking about Power Hour and/or cursing me the next day)! If you’re coming to the seminar next year let me know.  You’re officially invited to “Power Hour - Part Deux” on Sunday evening. 

Another awesome experience just happened a few days ago…

If you’ve been a student of mine for any length of time, you probably know how active I am in the arts — especially theater and music.  Each year, my company donates thousands to the arts around the country, particularly to the programs at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Well, as a perk this year, I was just invited to Senator Ted Kennedy’s birthday party at the Kennedy Center featuring stars from Bill Cosby to John Williams to Bernadette Peters to James Taylor.  This was one of the most fun evenings I’ve had in a looooong time.  Plus, as an added bonus, John McCain, the Vice President, and Michelle Obama were there too.  (Security was pretty nuts everywhere!)

Funny ending - Bill Cosby came out and remarked how off-key ‘Happy Birthday’ is usually sung everywhere, so he said we needed someone to set the proper key for us.  Then he said he fortunately just happened to have the best key-setter around…the President of the United States.  To our surprise, Obama himself came out onto the stage to lead everyone in Happy Birthday.

Fortunately, this evening didn’t have any political overtones (phew!) but was done for the sole purpose of honoring a man who has spent his entire life serving his country.

I had killer seats just 11 rows from the front, so here’s some bootlegged video I shot at the end of the evening you might find interesting…

Okay - that’s enough ‘FUN’ stuff for now. I’m off to Vegas next week, so I’m sure there will be more fun stories to share.

Now, onto the business part…

As your entrepreneurial life takes off, you’ll find your business slowly getting cluttered with repetitive, frustrating (and often time-wasting) tasks. It’s all too easy to lose hours a week - or hours a DAY - getting stuck on inefficient things, instead of pouring your energy into profit-producing activities.

Which means, it’s critical you recognize the “time vampires”, as Dan Kennedy calls them, and put an end to them once and for all. Streamline your business before they start cluttering your day.

That’s why I’m a *huge* fan of outsourcing these tasks to different tools and systems so you can have more fun (and time) in your life. So with “Organize Your Home Office Day” being celebrated again this week, I thought it would be the perfect time to share 3 more of my favorite kick-butt, time-saving tools with you.

Streamlining Tool #1:
Go Paperless with Your Own Virtual “Box”

Last year when my Dad’s cancer popped up, we quickly had a growing pile of doctors’ reports, test results, audio recordings from each appointment, pictures from each cycle, Flip videos and more.

The problem was, how the heck do we centralize everything?  Enter Box.net!

Instead of passing around thumb drives, emails and making endless copies of paper, I simply set up a family Box account.  Everything got centralized online, with secure, controlled access.  In fact, I now scan everything and ‘file’ it away online for easy reference.  Then just shred the hardcopy…and viola!  Less clutter!

Need to send a link to just one file?  That’s easy.  Want to share a whole directory?  No problem.  What about embedding pictures in a webpage that stream from Box.net. Super-simple.  In fact I now use it to collaborate with Yanik Silver on MaverickBusinessInsiders.com as well as my own internal company projects.

It’s hard to quickly describe how powerful and easy Box.net is for collaboration, but I highly encourage you to get an account and check it out yourself. I use and recommend the “Individual” Box.net account, but a totally free “Lite” account gives you 1GB of storage to get started.

Streamlining Tool #2:
Set-it-and-Forget-it Painless Backups

Let’s be honest, if you are truly running a business, you can’t afford to lose your data, emails, client records and more.  Plus you probably don’t want to lose any of your family photos, videos or personal memories.

For the longest time, I used external backup drives to create copies of all my files in case my main computer locked up or crashed.  But it was a pain in the butt to remember to backup!  Plus what happens if I had a fire, flood or theft?  I’d still end up losing everything.  Ouch!

That’s why I decided to go with a secure off-site backup solution that automatically backs up ALL my files, hard-drives and more…without me having to lift a finger.

I spent quite a while researching solutions and settled on Mozy. Just install the small little program (PC or Mac - doesn’t matter), and follow the setup instructions and you’re good to go.  It runs quietly in the background while you work or sleep.

If you ever need to restore anything, just call up Mozy to get DVDs with your files overnighted to you or hop online and you can instantly access any of your files.

Like the other tools I’m recommending, Mozy has a free level of service, but I recommend you get the yearly plan.  Heck - 2 years of UNLIMITED off-site storage for your computer is only around $100.  Well worth it to have all your files and data constantly backed up so you can sleep soundly each night!

Streamlining Tool #3:
Down and Dirty ‘Getting Started’ Time-Saver: ShortKeys

Do you find yourself repeating the same things over and over again in emails?

Do the math and you’ll see you’re losing days, if not weeks, each year typing the same thing. 10 emails a day x 2 minutes typing up a response x 5 days a week x 50 work weeks a year = over 83 hours spent typing up similar responses to customers, team members, vendors and more each year. That’s at least two FULL work weeks totally lost to email!

No doubt, you can find a better use of your time as a business owner than to be constantly repeating yourself. Fortunately there’s a way to stop typing the same thing over and over again…with predefined responses.

There are a few different ways to implement a predefined response system.  If you’re just starting out - you can simply use templates or stationary in your email program.  In my email client, Eudora, my first year online I used stationary templates to handle seminar follow-ups, login details, bonuses, etc.  As soon as I got an assistant, I handed the templates over to her.

Now that’s the ‘ghetto’ version. 

If you want a slicker, faster method I recommend a program called ShortKeys.  Essentially it’s a text replacement tool.  You create ShortKeys (phrases, words, etc.) in the program, along with the full response you want associated with them.

Then whenever you type the ShortKey *anywhere* in Windows, the program will instantly replace it with the full block of text associated with it.  So “.refund” could get replaced with your standard longer response.  There’s a free lite version of the software worth checking out.

(BONUS Tip: Once your business gets cranking, as soon as possible you’ll want to institute a web-based help desk and funnel every customer contact through there.  Not only can you set it up with predefined responses, but you can have a big team collaborating, provide a knowledgebase for your clients and provide much better service all around.  Check out our help desk at instantmlmsupport.com — the software I recommend to run it is at Kayako.com)

So there you have it - three (well four) new tools to streamline your life. Give them a try so you can spend less time bogged down in clutter and time-wasters, and more time making the $$$ and having fun in your business and life!

Please leave your thoughts below and also share some of YOUR favorite tools and tricks to cut back on the clutter and organize your life better. Help make this article even more useful!

- Chris

P.S. - If you enjoyed this post, please use the “ShareThis” link below to share it on Facebook with your friends, or Twitter about it to your followers.

Just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know about a few other fun ways I’d like to connect and interact directly with YOU using the latest online tools.

While some of my business colleagues have been calling “social networking” silly and a waste of time (you know, sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace), I’ve been using it for awhile to connect with long-lost friends, family, colleagues and more (I’ve even had a few ex-gfs find me, but we won’t go there…LOL).

But before I talk about that…

———————-
A WORD OF WARNING.
———————-

Don’t write these sites off yourself as something just for ‘kids’.  Believe it or not, the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is the “Over 35″ crowd.

And get this: By the end of this year, eMarketer estimates that a whopping 44.3% of the US Internet users will belong to social networks online.

In fact in other large, developed countries (such as Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, Denmark, Netherlands, etc.) the percentage of their population *already* using social networking is OVER 20% according to Social Media Tracker’s latest study.

What’s this all mean to you?

If you want to build your business online and truly connect with your audience, prospects and more…this is a totally free tool you should definitely be checking out.

That’s why in the past year or two I’ve started to connect even more with subscribers, clients and students.  It’s a way to build relationships and interactions (and friends) beyond just email newsletters and blog comments.

(Plus, as a side benefit, you can connect with MY friends and many of my top marketing buddies.  Who knows what types of new friendships you could make!)

So let’s ‘connect’ shall we?

Here are 2 main ways you can connect with me in the new Web 2.0 world:

1) TWITTER – It’s a form of micro-blogging limited to 140-character mini-updates. (Similar to the “status” feature on Facebook and Myspace if you know what they are).  It’s also the fastest growing social networking site.  In 2008 alone, it grew 343%!

Right now I’ve been using it for both personal updates along with a few business things, but if you want to see what I’m doing and “Follow” me on there, sign up for a free account.  It’s quick, painless and fun - and allows us to interact even more.

Here’s my Twitter page:
http://www.twitter.com/chriszavadowski

Just click the FOLLOW button on it.

(BEWARE: Considering you can send it updates from your cell phone, IM or the web, it can become addicting to use!)

2) FACEBOOK – I’ve been on Facebook for years now (I snuck in with my old Virginia Tech email address…long before FB was opened to the public…hehe).

Facebook is an amazing, fun way to connect with people…and find long-lost friends and relatives.  I’ve lost count of how many buddies I’ve “rediscovered”.  Plus with groups, fan pages, “walls”, unlimited picture hosting and more…you can do a great amount of business networking there also.

You can add me as a “friend” here:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=746371744

(Or search for “Chris Zavadowski”)

Be sure to add me on both sites — I look forward to interacting with you more.

Catch you on the flip side!

Chris

P.S. - My profiles on these sites are NOT all business. They are a hodgepodge of personal and just plain fun, too, So in case you ever wonder what’s going on in my world aside from when I update my blog or email - you can follow along!

http://www.twitter.com/chriszavadowski

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=746371744

P.P.S. - ComScore puts the worldwide growth rate for all social networking at 25% in the last year alone. Don’t get left in the dust of these important online tools. I encourage you to check them out today.