Crazy Dad Life - Building Online in the Off Hours Entrepreneur | Social Media | Online Business | Parenting | Productivity

In this week’s episode of the Crazy Dad Life, I walk through the process I recently went through with wiring a side hustle site up with membership features.

You’ll learn…

Here are the 5 things I learned last week:

If you have something for the 5TIL, feel free to hit me on Twitter @JeffDStephens or contact me directly from the website.

The post CDL 049 – Using a Membership Site, and Repurposed Instagram Content, to Build Your Online Business appeared first on Crazy Dad Life.

Last week I talked about digging into the details. I provided 4 reasons you should pay attention to the details when you create and consume content.

This week I want to talk about our online journeys. In particular, I want to talk about how we should be sharing our journey with others. (Listen to the audio podcast by clicking on the play button)

Your story matters.

There is a lot to do when you are building an online platform. The number of tasks on your to-do list seem to only get longer with the passing of each day.

Are you constantly digging in and trying to accomplish everything on your to-do list in a vacuum? Are you working away in isolation, hiding away from the world until you have something to show?

You need to break out of those habits.

It is extremely important for you to involve others in your journey. This is one of the main reasons why Masterminds are so popular, and productive. There is significant value when you engage with others who have a similar interest or passion for doing the work they love.

I get it. It’s natural for you to be defensive with your secret sauce. You don’t want other people to know what you are baking. You want to go into the lab and then have the big reveal later.

Or, maybe you are slightly embarrassed to admit what you are doing. Maybe you are scared people will not understand. Maybe they will laugh at you.

I’m going to share with you 8 convincing reasons why you should start to share your online journey with those around you.

Let’s dig into it.

Perhaps the biggest thing you can do by talking about your journey is to inspire others. Let people know what you are doing and maybe they will be sparked to do something they love.

Let your friends and co-workers know what you have going on. Tell them about your side project and explain what it is. You may be surprised at the level of interest and inspiration you may cause.

Also, don’t forget about your kids. Let them know what you are working on. Not only will you receive fresh and unfiltered feedback but you might be inspiring the next internet mogul.

You will work hard as an entrepreneur. There is no doubt about that. Much of that work will go unnoticed by those around you. Even those that are seen as the most successful in the industry are labeled as “lucky”. People don’t understand the amount of work they put in to get to where they are.

By talking about your journey, you are letting people know that you are grinding every day trying to achieve something you are passionate about.

You are working damn hard, you should recognize and acknowledge it from time to time.

Holding yourself accountable is huge. This is another reason why Masterminds are so popular. If there is no one to report to every week or every month, then there is less motivation to accomplish what is on your to-do list.

When you share information about your online journey with others they will expect to see progress the next time you talk. You can not possibly see them again without accomplishing more, right?

Also, talking with others also serves as an impromptu status check for yourself. Many times the amount of work you complete goes unrecognized. By speaking to people about it you might just surprise yourself on all that you have done.

Some people keep their heads down and just work day after day at their current job. They know what they know and are just going along with what they are supposed to be doing.

Talking to them about your journey might just break them free from the monotony of their day-to-day schedule. Use your platform to help others awaken their inner creative.

Let them know what you are experiencing in the hopes that they may be able to pick up a few skills and do something for themselves.

People love stories and crave the opportunity to hear about new things. What you are building is most likely going to be new to them.

While blogging and internet business may be commonplace with the folks you interact with on a daily basis online, most people outside the online space have no clue what you are talking about.

You have the opportunity to expose someone to something new. Who doesn’t like to be around people that offer new topics and interests? Be that person.

Think about it. At parties, people get tired of the same old conversation. Find a way you can sum up your side hustle and drop it on people when you strike up a conversation. Get them to ask you to explain more.

For example, if someone asked me what I do for fun I could say, “I help busy parents build online.” That may pique their interest and lead to a series of follow up questions, starting with, “What the hell does that mean?”

Whether you know it or not, you are doing interesting work that many people just don’t understand. Embrace it!

People love to give opinions and offer their input. When you talk about your side business you will often get some feedback from others that may prove useful in the long run.

Not only can you receive official feedback from others, but you might even provide feedback unknowingly to yourself.

What does that mean?

When I was a coder, there were times when I had an issue with my code and could not solve my problem. When I would call a fellow developer over and I would start to talk about it, many times I would figure out what was wrong on my own. This happened simply by talking about it.

The pure exercise of verbalizing something can often serve as a springboard for a solution.

Talking about your entrepreneurial journey also provides an additional unintentional benefit. It markets your brand.

Each time you talk to one person about your side hustle, they may turn around and talk to someone else. Who better to represent your brand than you? Plus, every little bit of PR helps.

Take the time to talk to people about your project and hopefully you will gain some new members of your community.

Even better, you may gain a new customer if they are looking for what you are providing.

When people learn that you are doing all of this cool stuff, they may gain a new appreciation for you. They will look at you in a different light.

No longer do they see you as someone that just goes home and sits on the couch all night. They now know that you are crazy enough to try to build a side business while being a parent and holding down a full time job.

You will also come to be known as someone that is up on new technology. People will see you as a modern man, a renaissance man.

You understand the latest trends and are hip enough to not only know about social media and related industries, but you are actually a direct participant.

The next time you are in a group situation or find yourself around others, don’t be shy. Be proud of the work you are doing behind the scenes. Engage with others and start to reap some of the benefits I’ve laid out above.

Don’t be afraid that someone is going to steal your idea. Don’t think that you need to spend hours alone working on your side business for it to be successful. Find time to work with others and to talk about all of the wonderful work you are doing.

The post CDL 048 – 8 Reasons Why Your Story Matters appeared first on Crazy Dad Life.

On this week’s podcast, I dig into the importance of details. I share 4 reasons you need to pay attention to details when you create content and 4 reasons when you consume content.

As an added bonus, you can download the FREE Blog Detail Checklist by clicking on the button below.

Click Here to get the Blog Detail Checklist

This checklist gives you multiple items you need to check before you hit that publish button. Don’t drive your audience away due to silly mistakes and a lack of attention. Make sure you grab the checklist today!

Here are 4 key reasons why you need to pay attention to the details prior to publishing.

And 4 reasons you should look at the details when consuming content.

In this week’s 5TIL I discuss:

Again, don’t forget to grab your FREE Blog Detail Checklist by clicking on the big green button below.    

Click Here to get the Blog Detail Checklist

The post CDL 047 – Why You Need to Pay Attention to the Details in the Content You Create and the Content You Consume appeared first on Crazy Dad Life.

In this week’s episode of the Crazy Dad Life podcast I share 7 ways you can engage with influencers and maybe establish a true relationship going forward.

I also share my Michael Jordan story! (yes, he had me shook)

Here are 7 quick and easy approaches you can take if, and when, that major industry beast just so happens to send you a message.

It is natural to be a little freaked out and jittery when someone of influence actually realizes you are a live breathing human being.

First things first, calm down and realize they put their pants on the same way you do….hopefully.

Do not try to play the coy role or act like you are back in middle school and trying to be cool by waiting to call back the person interested in you.

You need to strike when the iron is hot and reach back as soon as possible.

Everyone loves an ego stroke. Do the right thing and recognize the work of that particular influencer.

Even if it is a competitor you should still recognize the value they bring to your shared market.

People love to be seen as someone that “knows people”. Ask them if there is someone you should know about or if they can connect you with anyone they think might align with your goals and vision.

This is obviously the Holy Grail when dealing with an influencer.

If you have the ability, or game, to get an influencer to actually work with you…*drops the mic*

One great strategy is to feed their audience to boost yours. What does that mean?

Do this, create a blog post about their product/service/brand. Let them know that you created the blog post and share the link with them. You have a pretty good chance that they will share it with their audience.

That should result in a nice little bump of visitors to your site and hopefully growth of your overall network.

Ok, so in the episode I mention that old Looney Tunes cartoon with the big dog and the little dog bouncing all around him. Well, I confused these two guys (Spike and Chester)

with this guy (Ralph)

So even if I reference Ralph in the episode, I really mean Chester. Do not be Chester. Do not annoy Spike all the time.

Try to keep your new budding relationship going without seeming like an overly indulgent annoying desperate fan boy.

In this week’s 5TIL I discuss…

Here are some other links I mentioned on the show.

The post CDL 046 – OMG! What Do You Do When an Influencer Reaches Out to You? appeared first on Crazy Dad Life.

In this week’s episode I update you on the latest happenings with one of my side hustles.

You’ll hear some of the organizational items we are working through, the status of our audience building efforts, and how we have been hosting live events using the WordPress EventEspresso plugin.

You will also hear our next steps and where we are planning on taking the business in the coming months.

All of this is to provide a behind the scenes look at a couple of guys standing up a business in our off hours. Hopefully you will learn something in these episodes and it will inspire you to move forward with whatever you have planned.

In this week’s 5TIL I cover:

The post CDL 045 – An Update on One of My Side Hustles appeared first on Crazy Dad Life.

Attending conferences can do wonders for your business and your personal network. But, if you are a busy parent, attending conferences can be costly and sometimes impossible due to schedule conflicts.

In the past year I have missed multiple conferences that I wanted to attend, including Podcast Movement, Dad2.0, and most recently New Media Expo.

Just because you can not attend a conference does not mean you can not receive value.

Here are several ways you can still gain tremendous benefit from live events, even if you are unable to be there in person.

You can also listen to this week’s podcast episode (above) where I dig deeper into each topic area.

Hashtags are the cheat codes for following anything online. Whether it is a major news story or the latest meme, hashtags provide a simple way to stay informed.

The same holds true for live events. If you are missing a conference, find the official hashtag associated with the show and start following the news on Twitter. Start to build a small list of hashtags relevant to the given conference and track them when you can.

For example, with New Media Expo I was able to follow much of the happenings simply by searching on Twitter for #NMX.

Many times conferences will let you know a particular hashtag to use so they can get the most engagement and perhaps gain trending status.

Once you have found information related to a conference hashtag, it is important to organize and collect it in a way that makes it easy to consume.

One particularly effective way to do this is to create a Twitter list for the event. For example, create a Twitter list called “New Media Expo 2015”.

Once you find people who are using the conference hashtag add them to your new list. This allows you to pull those folks out of your busy Twitter feed and place them in a container where you can follow the conversation easily.

Be selective with who you add to this list as many times spammers, trolls, and other internet scum will simply tag-along with the hashtag, providing no value.

Here is another hack for the Twitter list approach. Go out to the conference website and look up the speakers. Many times their Twitter handle will be listed. Add the speakers you find interesting to the same Twitter list.

Now you will be able to not only follow the conference attendees but you will also see what the speakers are talking about.

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of isolating the individuals engaged in the conference discussion is the ability to continue to follow their tweets after the conference ends. You now have a nice little location where you can pull up people who have a common thread related to the conference topic.

Many conferences will offer online experiences for those that can not attend in person. It will be up to you whether this option works for your particular learning style.

I recently had personal conflicts pop up that prevented me from attending New Media Expo. One good thing with conferences related to social media is the fact that they typically will bend over backwards in regard to customer service.

Here is what I did when I needed to discuss my options with conference organizers.

It was extremely easy to work with them and to come to a quick and easy resolution.

When choosing a Virtual Ticket option you do need to be careful.

I have had experiences in the past where some of the speakers’ materials were not available. Many times this is the result of the speaker not providing the information, but it still hurts nonetheless when you pay for the virtual pass.

Some shows may not offer a Virtual Ticket. In this case, reach out to the conference organizers and ask if they will be posting the materials on the website in the future.

It only takes a few minutes to write a polite email asking them if they will offer the materials. Even if they have no plans of doing so, you might get lucky and they may offer to send you the material from a particular session you are interested in.

You never know until you ask.

If you did not attend the virtual session and the conference was not able to fulfill your request for materials, go to the next step.

Reach out to the folks on your conference Twitter list and see if they would be willing to share. You could ask them for their feedback on the conference, which sessions they liked, and what they didn’t like about the show.

You could also ask if they would be willing to share their notes or maybe even jump on Skype for a quick discussion.

Additionally, you can reach out to speakers directly. Many speakers would love to share their materials. Just make sure you do not become a burden for them as their time is probably precious (like us all). Introduce yourself, quickly get to the point, and thank them for their consideration.

Again, you will never know unless you ask.

Two live video streaming services available today are perfect for occasions when you can not attend a conference in person. Both Periscope and Meerkat provide options when you want direct access to live happenings.

This was the case recently with New Media Expo.

One of the things I was looking forward to was Pat Flynn’s keynote. I attended the conference last year and thoroughly enjoyed his magic filled presentation related to moving your casual audience to raving fans.

So, I was bummed when I finally made the decision that I could not attend this year.

But, I was pleasantly surprised when Caleb Wojcik from DIYVideoGuy.com popped up on my phone.

The way Periscope works is that when someone you follow starts broadcasting you will receive an alert. This is exactly what happened. I received the alert that Caleb was at Pat Flynn’s keynote and I immediately jumped in.

I pulled up the app and the stream started. Caleb was sitting in the front row. I had direct access to the keynote as it was happening!

Even if no one you are following is broadcasting you can still do a quick search on Twitter to find someone in the global community that might be.

How do you find them? It is simple.

Go to Twitter and search for keywords such as “Periscope Live NMX” or “Live Meerkat NMX”. This will bring up a number of people who may be broadcasting live from the event. I love it!

Also, in this week’s podcast I discuss the following 5 things I learned this week.

If you have anything for the 5TIL, feel free to reach out on Twitter or send me an email.

The post CDL 044 – Will These Virtual Conference Hacks Change the Way You Approach Live Events? appeared first on Crazy Dad Life.

People always talk about taking your offline expertise and applying it in the online space. But, what if you flipped the script?

You can use all of the knowledge and skills you have gained building your online platform and apply it to your day job to become a well-rounded, highly respected, and desired employee.

In this week’s episode, you will hear how you can apply what you do online to your offline day job, and how it will benefit you personally and professionally.

Links Discussed:

The post CDL 043 – How to Use Your Online Skills to Rock Your Day Job appeared first on Crazy Dad Life.

Wrong.

I recently celebrated my first year of podcasting on February 24, 2014. Yeah me!!

I’ve learned a tremendous amount over that year. Some good things, and some bad. In this week’s episode I recap my year and let you know what to expect in your first year of podcasting.

Here are some things I’ve learned in my first year of podcasting

Also, in this week’s episode I discuss the following in the 5TIL

If you have something for the 5TIL, send me an email at [email protected].

The post CDL 042 – What to Expect in Your First Year of Podcasting appeared first on Crazy Dad Life.

Typically, when I post a new podcast episode I provide enough content that it could be considered a blog post. This week I did it a little different.

Earlier today I posted a new blog post called 10 Ways I Suck at Being an Entrepreneur. In this week’s podcast I expand on that content as well as cover the 5TIL and other announcements for the show.

In this week’s 5 Things I Learned (5TIL) this week I cover:

The post CDL 041 – 10 Ways I Suck at Being an Entrepreneur appeared first on Crazy Dad Life.

You are most likely sitting while you are reading this. Most people are when they are consuming content online. But, do you know the damage it is doing to your body when done for long periods of time? Unfortunately, sitting is slowly killing you.

A recent report from the World Health Organization outlined the following risks:

As you know, I cover topics across three main tenets of the modern man’s life; his family, his career, and his pursuit of a personal passion. Not every episode will focus on tactical advice and how-to build something online. Sometimes I talk about life in general.

This week’s podcast is one of those “life” episodes. In it, you will discover some of the negative health impacts from prolonged periods of sitting and find some ways to combat your bad habits.

As entrepreneurs, online business owners, and folks generally participating in the online space, this is common territory. We often spend long periods of time sitting in our chairs plugging away on our keyboards.

I’m particularly guilty of this. In fact, I double down and do it at work all day too. I spend countless hours at work sitting in my chair working on my computer only to head home and do it all over again.

I have to do better.

In this episode I share a few ways to start getting out of your seat and begin changing your health. This includes:

In this week’s 5TIL you’ll hear about…

As always, if you have something for the 5TIL, just hit me up on Twitter @JeffDStephens.

The post CDL 040 – Sitting is Slowly Killing You appeared first on Crazy Dad Life.