Jeanette Cates

May
6

Internet Marketing and Eating Compared

by Jeanette

In this video I share ways in which Internet Marketing is a lot like eating. Why would I do something like this video?

It was actually part of a challenge for a video course I was taking at the time. We had to do a full-face video that was related to our topic. It was definitely out of my comfort zone and took a lot of self-talk to do it.

But as with anything that is a challenge – it was worth it. It built my confidence muscle. It definitely helped me stand out from the crowd. And it was actually kinda fun!

Why am I sharing this with you now? Because a new version of this video course is starting this week. I’m going to be taking it and I’d LOVE to have you join me. So if video is something you’ve always wanted to do – or if you feel like you’re going to “have to” do it to keep up online, make it fun. And join us this week as we start the video course!

Now enjoy the show…

16 Categories : Online Presentations

May
5

Opportunity Knocks

by Jeanette

Some people believe that opportunity only knocks once. I believe that many opportunities knock over the years.

But there are times in your life when you recognize a unique opportunity that will only come once. When you hear that knocking – you either need to go for it – or let it go forever.

So it was in 1999 at the height of the Dot Com Bubble – when an opportunity for me to join an Internet Startup knocked on the door. It took me less than 24 hours to figure out that if I didn’t do it, I would regret it forever.

So I put my business on hold and went back to a J-O-B. The commute. The office politics. The long hours of a startup.

And the excitement!

Starting a company is FUN. There are lots of decisions to make. Procedures to establish. Staff to hire. Trade shows to attend. Briefings to give. If you love the implementation phase – it’s pure heaven!

Of course, it didn’t hurt that the company that I joined was an online learning company, focused on the education market. It was exactly in my comfort zone. And I felt good about what we were doing and how we did it.

I’ve never regretted that decision. But I also wasn’t sad when our funding source pulled the plug a year later. I was ready to get back to MY business. The sunlight coming in the window of my home office. No more Austin traffic. Setting my own hours. No office politics.

So what did I learn from my days in a Dot Com Startup?

1. Go for it! If you feel in your gut that this is something you really must do or want to do, then give it your all. Don’t hold back, trying to play it safe. Make it work.

2. Look not just at the opportunity, but at who is involved. In this case, I knew both the President and VP for whom I worked personally. I had worked with both of them when they were at Apple and I knew I could trust them as people, as well as their business judgment.

Better to pass on an opportunity than to go into with people you can’t trust. (I had that experience about 15 years before this. Bad news.)

3. Don’t confuse real opportunity with a scarcity sales tactic (this opportunity disappears at midnight; you’ll never see this offer again; get in on the bottom floor this week only) thinking it’s a one-time opportunity. Many people have spent thousands of dollars on products they didn’t need or use – just because they thought it was a disappearing opportunity.

Click here for an easy way to decide what to buy for your online business.

0 Categories : 15 Years Online

May
4

Outsourcing With Virtual Teams

by Jeanette

In 1998 I was contracted by Apple Computer to help create the Apple Learning Interchange or ALI as we referred to it. I was part of a team of Apple employees, contract programmers and my team tasked with developing this site from scratch.

A little about ALI. Apple wanted a place where K-12 teachers could find classroom resources online – and discuss learning plans. The challenge was there was no central database of great teaching resources. Google had not been invented yet. And most of the existing search engines included a lot of inappropriate material for the classroom.

I was the implementation person. It was my responsibility to be sure that what we dreamed up in the design meetings could actually get done. And I was the person responsible for making sure it DID get done!

So I hired a team of 15 content experts from across the country. Since we were going to be working online exclusively, I hired them via email. I figured if they couldn’t communicate well in an email, they weren’t going to be able to work with the team.

For two years we worked together virtually. Never once did we even have an audio conference! Long distance was still expensive and there were no telephone conference lines available to the public. But we pulled off a HUGE undertaking with my 15 content experts working virtually.

We had our first and only face-to-face meeting to celebrate the official opening of ALI – and conversation was awkward. Where we could talk for hours online, when face to face, there was nothing to say! It was a strange sensation. But one we all seemed to share.

Once ALI was launched I traveled the country working with model school districts to implement and evaluate the program. I even spent a week in Sweden, helping them implement the system district-wide.

It was a wonderful opportunity and a great learning experience. And it gave me the confidence to create Outsource Your Membership Site. While the product was originally geared toward membership sites only, it has evolved into a how-to blueprint for outsourcing. After all, I’ve had the experience!

And that’s exactly what you want to consider when you are deciding on which products to produce. What do YOU have experience in doing that others want to know about? Often it’s a task or skill that we take for granted. But when you hear others asking “how did you DO that?” – then you know it’s something you should turn into a product!

0 Categories : 15 Years Online

May
3

Online Learning Face To Face

by Jeanette

I finished my doctoral program with over 120 graduate hours. Only 60 of those were required to graduate, but I kept taking courses. After all, we were inventing educational technology during those years!

Every semester there would be new courses created and offered for the first time. And I’d stick around to take them. Eventually my husband said “Why don’t you finish your dissertation, then you can go back and keep taking courses for as long as you want?”

I thought it was a brilliant idea, so I wrote my dissertation over Spring Break, defended and graduated that spring.

Of course, I never went back to take any more courses. By then I was hired by the University of Texas to teach them!

I was also hired by several other groups to teach courses. The Higher Education Institute and Classroom Connect were two of those organizations.

Classroom Connect had a unique model. They held large multi-day conferences around the country for teachers. As an instructor for them I would teach two or three classes multiple times over the three days. Then we would do it again in another city.

Classroom Connect was also one of the first organizations to see that not all teachers could travel to one of their conferences. But they all wanted the information. So they started an Online University.

With a PhD in Instructional Design and my face-to-face teaching experience, as well as prior online learning experience, I was a logical choice to write and pilot some of their core courses.

I then leveraged that experience into creating the curriculum and core for the T.H.E Institute Online University.

Online Learning has been a core skill of mine for more than 20 years. So it was no surprise that I recently returned to my core – and released Design Your Online Course. It takes all of the academic principles I’ve used for years – and updated them into a Practical Model.

The key principle here is to recognize your core skills. And go back to them often. Not only does it feel good, but it’s also easier to create from your core. And the caliber of your products increases as you pull from your core.

2 Categories : 15 Years Online

May
2

First Products

by Jeanette

Do you love learning? I do! I love to learn things myself and I love to teach others how to do things as well. I have always been fascinated about HOW you teach someone to do something.

So it was no surprise when I became an Instructional Designer. As an Instructional Designer, I am trained to interview and observe an expert in order to determine HOW they do what they do.

Then it is my job to turn around and create quality instructional materials to teach someone else to do what the expert did – at the same level of competence. It involves creating systems of learning, as well as determining the best way to deliver the instruction.

I learned to create learning materials on demand by spending six years writing curriculum materials on a military contract. We were creating modules that were self-contained and shipped to the Navy at sea – so they had to be 100% stand-alone. We had to think through every pencil, ruler, staple – anything they might need to complete the assignments while at sea.

With six years of experience under my belt, it was easy to decide to go back to school and get my Masters in Adult Education – then just keep going for my PhD in Instructional Design.

When I went into business for myself, I quickly realized that I could turn my teaching experience and my instructional design skills into creating information products.

My first products were audio recordings of speeches I gave. I attached a microphone to my lapel and recorded into a portable audio cassette player as I spoke. Then I used my boom box to duplicate the audiotapes. With my color laser printer and Adobe Pagemaker, I created the inserts for the cassette tapes.

This was pretty slick in 1997!

And I was really on my way when I started creating “albums.” I ordered the plastic shells, designed the inserts, then bundled one or two tapes and a tips booklet into the albums. Wow! Another product!

Next I branched out into teaching on the phone. I paid for a moderated line from VoiceText here in Austin and taught a multiple part course. Using my Radio Shack parts, I tapped into my phone line and recorded it all on my high-end audio cassette recorder. Now I had a series of audio tapes.

The technology has changed, but the principles remain the same.

Start where you are. I was already speaking in front of audiences. Why not just go ahead and record it!
Maintain control and costs. I had a cassette recorder and a boom box for duplication. Sure, I could have “outsourced” it to a production house. But in those days there was no such thing as “on demand” publishing. You ordered 100 or 500 or 1,000 copies – hoped they’d sell. I preferred doing it in house and controlling costs.
Use your skills. I always recommend people start product creation with audio products. Why? Because we all can talk! It’s just a simple step to press the record button before you start. And nowadays you can provide a simple mp3 download – no need for a boom box to duplicate and no shipping needed.

When you’re ready to start where you are and create your first product, I recommend you start with First Audio Product.

0 Categories : 15 Years Online

May
1

Plan Your Freedom Day

by Jeanette

On May 15, 1997 I walked away from my full-time job and onto a plane for my first National Speakers Association workshop. That was my first full day of job-freedom.

This was not a last-minute decision. I had decided several months before that I was leaving on that day. My contract was set for renewal on June 1 and I didn’t want to sign the non-compete clause they were adding. Since I knew I wanted to attend that workshop, I knew that May 15 was it.

I also didn’t leave unprepared. I had already planned my next six months. I purchased five Macintosh laptops and five PC laptops, plus a server and an LCD Projector – while I still had a job to guarantee the purchase. The plan was to pack up, travel to a city, teach a workshop for teachers on How to Publish Your School Website for three days, then go to the next city.

I also didn’t leave without laying the groundwork for sales. With my employer’s permission (they were not going to teach anything that competed with my workshops), I made a list of every school district and teacher I had worked with in the prior four years.

So on May 15, I mailed hundreds of personal notes and invitations to attend one of my pre-scheduled workshops. I also invited them to contact me for consulting.

By the time I returned home after the weekend, I had business waiting for me. And that made all the difference!

Was it a lot of double-work to plan all of this and make all of the arrangements for multiple workshops, hotels, and events while I was still working full-time? Yes.

But I knew I didn’t want to wake up my first day of “freedom” and realize I had to get out there and invent a business! That was downright scary.

So are YOU planning your Freedom Day? If you are, you’ll want to get a copy of Plan Your Online Business. These are the very tools I use to plan and update my business today. I sure wish I had had them in 1997!

0 Categories : 15 Years Online

May
1

Celebrate!

by Jeanette

You are invited to join us as we celebrate 15 Years Online! It’s because of YOU my readers, subscribers, customers, and friends that this celebration is taking place. So Thank You!

Over the next 15 days I’ll be posting stories from the past years – along with lessons learned. And I look forward to adding your comments and lessons along with mine. Each of the special articles will be marked with 15 Years Online Banner.

If you’d like to add a congratulations or thank you message or testimonial – I’d LOVE to hear from you. Just click to leave a comment below or use our Audio Testimonial Line. Or if video is your preference, send me the link to your video! One way or another – I want to hear from YOU!

3 Categories : 15 Years Online

Author Archive for Jeanette – Page 2

Internet Marketing and Eating Compared

Opportunity Knocks

Outsourcing With Virtual Teams

Online Learning Face To Face

First Products

Plan Your Freedom Day

Celebrate!