Subscribe to TalkBiz News

Hi, there!

You are cordially invited to join our merry band of eventurers with my newsletter, TalkBiz News.

It's about doing business online, whether you're just getting into it or have been in the game for a decade or two.

Give me 3 minutes or so, and I'll make it worth your while.

....

I've been putting this little e-rag out since 1996. You might just find it handy. Profit-producing, even.

The slogan pretty much covers it:

News, reviews, and how-tos.
Rants, raves, and ramblings.
And maybe, just occasionally, a bit of humor.

They tell me I'm supposed to have lots of fancy graphics here, a video, and a short, compelling page that takes up no more than a single screen. But, given that my emails can occasionally get kind of long, that would feel like false advertising.

How long? Well, I once sent one out that topped 24 pages. It got rave reviews from all 7 people who read the whole thing. (Won't make that mistake again...)

Typically, they range from 400 to 2000 words. You'll find my thoughts on the e-biz news of the day, marketing tips, links to cool resources (free and paid), product reviews and recommendations, online security, and anything else I think you might find useful and/or profitable. Sometimes all in one issue.

And if you're really lucky, you could even get one of my famous rants. (I'm told they can be ... entertaining.)

How often? When I have something to say that I think is worth your time.

That can be once every few weeks or as often as 3 or 4 a week.

What I won't do is flood you with a bunch of mindless dreck and repetitive silliness just to stay on a schedule. You deserve better than that.

I will make you think from time to time, though. I'm told that's good, if you like that sort of thing.

If that's a problem, you may want to skip this one. Or not. The resources can be kind of cool, and I won't know if you skip the good stuff.

Did I mention it's free?

....

And of course I have the usual (also free) bonuses as an incentive to sign up. You knew that was coming, right?

These are all things I wrote myself, and some of it gets into areas you won't see a lot of people talking about. In ways you won't see a lot of people talking.

Like, for example, the last chapter of Million Dollar Copy.

That one got me some ... ummm... feedback. But it's true and its useful and it can make you an honest buck, so. There it is.

"Million Dollar Copy" (63 pg) is the first of the bonuses. It explores some serious concepts on writing copy that sells. Some of them are things I don't think I've ever seen anyone else in this business really talk about.

Things that can translate into real cash.

In the writing vein, you'll also get one of my favorites, "The Voice Report." It's a slim 23 pages, and it's all about finding your own unique voice as a writer. Any kind of writer.

Seriously, if you've even thought about writing for a living, or just want to improve your Facebook posts, you're gonna love this one. It can help you make your writing more compelling, interesting, and relatable.

Which often means more profitable.

If you're already a pro, well, even you might find a few handy nuggets in here.

And then there's "The Wombat Report," (11 pg) in which I prove that you can even make grammar cops an interesting topic. Still one of the funniest things I've ever written, if I do say so myself. And I do.

Along with the laughs, you may find a few useful bits that strike a little close to home. Hopefully in a way that helps you get past some of the most common roadblocks a lot of people face in creating something new.

To get past some of the other roadblocks, you're going to get a collected series of 4 articles from the newsletter, called "Why Johnny Can't Sell." (37 pg)

If you just don't like selling, or feel like it's "something dirty" or manipulative, this will disabuse you of those poverty-inducing prejudices right quick.

And to round that segment out, "The Key to Conversion." (15 pg)

This one looks at some specific aspects of making the sale that seem like common sense, and aren't all that common at all. The example I use to illustrate it is a 5-minute change to a single page that increased a friend's newsletter subscription rate by 1500%.

Yeah. 15 times as many sign-ups from the same traffic. It's so simple. And you may be missing it. And all those cool new people to connect with.

....

One of the less clever, and yet wildly practical, items is the "TalkBiz Resource Guide." That's 26 pages of useful tools and services, mostly free, that can help you make money, save money, save time ... and get more done.

This is a carefully curated list, including a lot of professional or prosumer grade software. I use many of these tools myself on a regular basis. It's just the good stuff.

....

For the ambitious folk in the crowd, there are 3 more items that might help you along your path to Online Empire.

The first are a set: The TalkBiz Goal-Getting Guide (29 pg) and the accompanying collection of worksheets (34 pg). The third is a stand-alone chapter pulled from my book, "Need to Know." It's called "Becoming Unstoppable."

I could write a whole monster salesletter on these 3, but that would be overkill for something free. Suffice to say, they combine to take a sometimes very different tack on getting what you want.

For example, they tear up the notion of willpower as a factor. At least in the usual way people think about that word.

Let's just say that if you use these, your odds go way up.

....

Then there are the Big Guns in this Box o' Christmas Goodies.

"Need to Know" (113 pg) is a book I wrote for my subscribers as a Christmas gift, lo, these many years ago. It's a mix of new content and items pulled from the newsletter archives. Any one of the chapters in that book could be turned into a paid product, and some probably should.

The "7 Things" (Chapter 2) is the basis for my PLANTS system. That one is worth the price of admission alone, even if the price were much higher than free.

If you use it.

For over 10 years that was the one and only "bonus" I gave people for signing up for the newsletter, and people asked me why I was over-delivering that way.

So, you know, pretty good stuff. Might be worth a few nickels to you.

The second biggie is "The Best of TalkBiz: Volume 1." (156 pg)

Just what it sounds like. My picks for some of the best business and marketing how-to, humor, and useful thought pieces from over 20 years of the newsletter. I kept it to 24 selections, so it wouldn't get too huge. Plus, I get bored reading my own stuff most of the time, so I quit with probably 300 pages still that could qualify.

Those will make it into volumes 2 and 3, if I ever get around to them.

Some chapters will make you laugh, and some will make you money. A few will make you think - really hard.

There you go. Around 500 pages of some of my best original content. (There's a little overlap, so an exact page count would be misleading.)

Why include so much for free?

Well, you test stuff. If it works the way I hope, I may leave these all here and keep giving them away. I may take some out, and I may go back to just "Need to Know."

For now, you get them all. Plus the newsletter. Don't forget the newsletter.

I'm hoping you're going to like it enough to tell a few people. And right now, I think folks can use all the help they can get.

Who knows? Maybe you'll even buy some of my paid stuff later. ;)

At any rate, it's here until at least New Year's Eve, 2020. After that, it could go away at any time. Or not. We'll see how it goes.

You know what to do.

And... welcome! I'll see you on the inside.

Enjoy!

Paul Myers
Your humble (yeah, right) editor