Let Your eBook Sell for You with a call to action

As per yesterdays post, I've updated my eBook with a call to action at the end. This is a critial point because without it I've left my readers hanging, and I want them to come back for more. If you want people to come back for more you have to tell them to do it (nicely).

The following is the final chapter of the eBook, the call to action. The formatting is a little messed up here, but you get idea. Keep in mind that there is nothing on this site that makes me any money at this point. These are links to other peoples things that I think could help my target market. Right now I'm just trying to provide value. The call to action is essentially "come back to my site". I need to get them to come first. The money part comes later.

Sidebar: I've also added a front and back cover to the booklet printout format to make it look more professional. I want this to be something I'm proud to put my name on after all.

<---- start of excerpt from eBook ---->
Staying on Top
Building on the Fundamentals

Now you understand the fundamentals of why business is organized the way it is. At this point you are probably thinking that this is all very elementary, and you’re right. It is very basic. It is also so fundamental that you can’t excel as a manager or business leader without it.

Addition and subtraction are very basic concepts. If you try to learn calculus without knowing how to add and subtract you are in for a very rough time. The only difference with learning how to run a business or manage a department is that we are very often not taught the fundamentals before taking on management and leadership roles. The problem compounds itself when the same people who were never taught the fundamentals of business go on to lead and train new managers. Large companies often end up with whole layers of middle management who don’t really understand what it’s all about. They run around doing what they’ve been directed to do without ever taking the time to understand why. You already have a leg up on many of them because you have taken the first step to understanding the “why” and not just the "how”.
So how do you turn this into something that makes a visible, practical difference in your life? You choose to continue to learn. At this point you can do one of two things.

Option 1: You can file this away as something learned and go back to your daily routine. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this if you are happy with where you are.

Option 2: You can look for ways to continue to learn including books, courses, seminars, mentors, and personal experience. Your choice of how to learn depends on how you like to learn and how much time you can dedicate to the task.

Take the initiative. Expand your mind. Expand your opportunities.

Continuing Education Options from Boundless Thinking

Boundless Thinking is dedicated to providing business learning materials for Engineers. Here’s a sample of what you can find at BoundlessThinking.com

Articles

• Tips and articles on business topics for Engineers (Eg. Business Basics, Financial Statements, Leadership Tactics, Time Management)

Free Boundless Thinking Business 101 newsletter: a combination of training material and news

Books

• eBooks


• Physical Books

Courses

• Links to on-line courses specific to business training


• Links to college and university programs

Visit BoundlessThinking.com and continue your education at your own pace.

<--- end of exerpt from eBook --->

You can get the whole thing from here if you like Business101forEngineers.com

My First Article: Welcome to Business 101 for Engineers

On Monday I layed out my to do list. If you go back and look, you will see I was working on planning 25 articles and writing 5.

Well yesterday I planned them all out and started writing the first one.
Today I finished it, and posted it to the web (business101-bt.blogspot.com)

It's written with the intention of getting people to come back looking for more articles in the future, and outlines the topics (the 25 or so articles) I plan to cover in the upcoming weeks. When all the articles are done, I will re-edit them all into an e-book and start trying to sell it on-line. Right now the focus is on getting the first 5 written. Once 5 are written, the focus will shift to driving traffic to this site and continuing to write at least one article a week.

On the main web site, BoundlessThinking.com I also added a link to this under Courses. I will promote this as a free on-line course while I continue to write it. You can post comments to the author and ask me any questions you want after you read any section.

That's it for today. In my new-found lifestyle of flexibility I am going to spend the rest of the day doing some much needed work around the house.

8 Steps to Starting a Business: my To Do List

Mar 16, 2006: I'm posting this the following monday, but here's what I did on friday.
First of all, I dug out my to do list and gave it a read. Then I wrote down the next 2 things I need to do on the back of a cracker box, and put it beside my PC (you could also use regular paper, cracker box is what I had handy)

I've decided to focus on the Buisiness for Engineers site first. Here's what the To Do list looks like now. This is a good template to follow.

1. Define your Target Market (Done)

• Engineers wanting to move into management

2. Research & validate the top needs of the chosen market (Done)

• Time Managment - lots of stuff available already (project managment resources)
• Responsibility without Authority - lots of stuff available on that (leadership by influence)
• Lack of Business Understanding - very few good resources (this is my chosen niche)

3. Create a Web Site (In Progress)

• Content Page (good enough to start driving traffic to, don't go too crazy here the objective is to get to market ASAP, not to get it perfect before you tell anyone about it)
• email Gathering page (I have an email newletter subscribe button, this should become a separate opt in page at some point)

4. Create Newsletter Content (In Progress)

• plan at least 25 articles
• write 5 of them

5. Create/Find Free Stuff - 3 Items (perhaps this step should be later)

• Excel templates may be a good place to start
• Good, screened articles could also be good
• Research professional looks - what makes something look professional?

6. Create a Budget and Deadline for Spending (Promotion & Content Generation)

• This is to force some action in this area, not get to it when I get to it.

7. Publish your Site

• Register a domain name (I may or may not keep it under BoundlessThinking.com)
• Find a web hosting service

8. Start promoting your site (this one still needs some flushing out when we get here)

• Re-read the five best way to get leads to a site (see Product Launch Tips.xls)
• Buy Advertising
• Go to newsgroups and talk about the issues
• Buy an Autoresponder to keep in touch with subscribers automatically
• Submit your newsletter content as articles on-line
• Do press releases online

Here's my complete To Do list as it stands today (an excel spreadsheet with this list and a little more detail, comments and tidbits on resources to help with upcoming stages)

As you can see we are working on steps 3 and 4 right now. 3 is almost done, it just needs a few tweeks. 4 needs to be organized so I am writing articles that matter to this niche market, not just things that interest me. That's what I'll be working on this week.

Daryl

One last thing, here's an archive of how the site looks today so we can look back and laugh later. Cheers.

Day 2: My Motivation and Starting Ideas

Like a lot of people I have been thinking about starting my own internet business for a while now with mainly the vague idea that an internet business would be a good thing to do.

Here's my motivation.
1) I want a business I can run from anywhere on the planet. If I want to spend 3 months in Brazil, then I want to be able to do it without taking extended leave from my business. (hmmm, sounds like an internet business)
2) I want to decide when I work - if its a nice day I think I should be allowed to go outside and work later in the evening. If the weather is crappy, then I can work during the day. (sounds like an internet business where I am the boss)
3) I want to learn. I want some practical experience in what really makes a business successful. I've worked for a big company and learned that only a very small percentage of the people have any real appreciation for what matters and what doesn't in terms of satisfying your customers and making money. You can only learn so much in that environment, I need a new learning platform (sounds like I want a small enough company to be able to touch and feel everything).
4) I want to be in control of my destiny. When I come up with something great, I want to benefit from it. When I screw up I want to know it and feel the impact of it (back to that learning thing). I think we all have the potential for greatness. Now I want to find it and prove it in myself.

I want a small, fully-owned, mobile business.

Here's my Plan
I have taken 2 months off work. I just came back from a month in Costa Rica to get work out of my head. March is now dedicated to figuring out how to start my internet empire and getting started.

Here are my 2 starting ideas:
1) There must be a way to leverage my existing expertise on the internet.
2) There must be a way to get started in something completely new.

How? I'm not sure yet, but I have a few ideas, I'll let you know what I come up with...

The Adventure Begins

Today, I am starting on a new adventure. I have decided to start 2 internet businesses:

Business 1:
I am going to build an on-line business based on my current expertise in business management. My objective is to author a book based on my experience, and sell it on-line.

Business 2:
A business with no product. With no experience whatsoever in this area I am undertaking an experiment in direct sales. The objective here is to start a business with no product of my own. I.E. I'm going to try and start-up a business by selling other peoples products.

What follows is a diary of my progress and failures. If you've ever wanted to hear what it takes to start up your own internet business from someone who isn't trying to sell you internet business startup services, this is for you.