Welcome to Chez Cliff!

Trisha started a 30-Day challenge on her blog which I accepted. Her challenge was to give something up. I decided to add something.

The gym.

Normally I shun exercise. As I find myself, climbing the age ladder into my mid-30’s, I start thinking about things like AARP and applying for Medicare. Maybe pushing some weight around would do my body good.

Week 3 has been reached. My arms can move once again which means I can wash my hair.

Nearly 4 years has passed since I went to a gym. On occasion my body has tried to incorporate some kind of exercise routine. Maybe a week or two here and there. Nothing long term.

Why?

I’m glad you asked.

First: the trainer informed me that I have ectomorphic body. At first, I thought this was some kind of super-power. Much to my chagrin, it simply means I could bench press a full-size SUV and not gain any bulk. Legally, I can’t gain any mass.

Second: When I put on a tank-top, I have an eery resemblance to Olive Oyl from Popeye fame.

Third: Protein shake. Weight Gainer 10000. Creatin does what? 1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight. No more than 10 grams of fat per day. Protein bar with 25 grams of protein. What kind of life is this?

If you’re saying to yourself “Self, Cliff lives in California. Isn’t everyone in perfect shape, running on the beach behind David Hasselholic and Pamela Anderboobs?”

You need to get out more.

One remarkable aspect which trumps everything: my head is a lot clearer. It’s easier to think and be creative.

Have a great weekend. Consider seriously getting out from behind your computer.

Progress is being made.

The free newsletter is finished. And the product has sailed past the 50% completion point.

The only thing that really is outstanding: What in the world do I call this beast?

My foray into the world of small business before didn’t seem to matter much with the name. Usually the others in the group worried about it while I was busy working on actually producing something.

The names of the businesses, in retrospect, were pretty stupid. CCC, TFR Incorporated, CPI, Seascape . . .

Now with all this talk about marketing, the realization hit that any name off the the public bathroom wall won’t suffice. Something memorable, something easy, something “brandable” . . . which I still don’t know what that means.

When looking at names, I’m wondering what to make of them.

Acura - sounds of precision, excellence
FourHourWorkWeek - A goal of objective to strive for, taking control of one’s life
Microsoft - something soft to blow my nose with

In my former life as an engineer, I learned companies exist which do nothing but come up with names for businesses and products. Sometimes costing upwards to $100,000. For a name! And this science involves people, infinitely smarter than I, to search for latin definitions of words and stitching something together the general populace can understand. And pronounce.

OK. $100,000 seems to not be in the budget. So, I asked Lord Google. Many articles exist, “How to name your business”. Their advice: don’t make it too generic, not too specific. Don’t make it hard to pronounce or too exotic or too simple.

Thanks for wasting my time. I could have written that article myself. DUH!!

The site shall be a resource for people, I can’t name it after a product. If the soul function were to sell Twinkies online, then possible names could be “TwinkiesOnline.com” or “TwinkieNinja.com”. This is simply not my case.

But this isn’t something which can be put off much longer. And it’s not something I want to launch with until I have it squared away. Launching with some kind of filler name won’t be good. Our marketing depends on people know where to go online. Changing mid-stream will not be an option.

So many great deals right now. I tried to get out and look at some houses. But the will-power to make it happen just isn’t there.

In talking with the Real Estate Agent (REA), I explained that my brain has turned to clay. Burn-out, fatigue, and all the problems from the previous rehab left a bad taste in my mouth. No toothpaste exists which can remove the grime. Some time was needed for recovery.

Perhaps a trip to Nepal, becoming a monk.

One day the phone rang. REA had a property for me to look at. It originally was purchased at $650,000. On the market as a short sale for $545,000. The house had already been rehabbed, no contractors required. Another Craftsmen Style Bungalow. It was worth a look.

He was right. The house was gorgeous. Two bedroom, one bath up front with a 1 bedroom, 1 bath behind. The yard was immaculate, very well maintained.

But that feeling hit my stomach. That same feeling that happens when I walk into the dentist office or McClownLand restaurant: YUCK.

But I did go take a look at it.

Next month I’ll see if I’m ready to take another bite at the apple.

With my new refrigerator being installed, an interesting memory surfaced.

A conversation, long since forgotten, came back and made me feel good. Once again, it’s a time travel episode at Chez Cliff.

Memory Lane

After first reading the RDPD books, Robert challenged the reader to increase their income level $200 that same day. The challenged was accepted.

My approach to this challenge was to examine in detail my expenses. No discernible spending pattern could be found however. It wasn’t the big ticket items. It was this line which repeated over and over again on my bank statement: “ATM Withdrawal”. Each withdrawl was $20 or $40. At the end of every month, over $600 had disappeared. Or $7200/year. Where did it go?

Food. Eating lunch at a cafe or having dinner at some low-cost dive.

Present Day

Much has changed since that time. One lesson learned: people hemorrhage cash by eating out. It’s not the $50 or $100 meals with $75 bottle of wine. That could play into it. But it’s the little meals, the little daily meals which eats away at the bottom line.

Based on my own data*, a table was built to show what the cost savings would be if Lunch and Dinner was prepared at home. Some could argue it is implausible to prepare every single meal at home. So I took some snapshots of what the cost savings would be if meals were prepared three, five and seven times a week.

My assumptions for cost savings are based spending $10/lunch/day and $20/dinner/day. If purchased daily, lunch would cost $3650/year and dinner $7300/year. Total: $10950

Part 2 of 2

From yesterday, the customer goes through different stages before they finally purchase a product. Today the first step between Suspect and Prospect will be broached.

To explain the theory behind this would not only bore you to tears but require me to become inebriated to the point where this article could not be finished. So I’ll explain through example.

My fictional online business idea: Sell Twinkies. Everything Twinkies. Twinkie shirts, Twinkie underoos, Twinkie Body Bags . . . we sell it all.

Start with Lord Google, the man with all the keys. Since nearly every homosapien uses his services this will be the place where we will focus on getting our message in front of our Suspects.

Millions of Twinkie websites exist. The trick: get the suspect doing the web search to (1) notice our ad (2) click on our ad. How do we do this?

“FREE”

Offer something for “FREE”. People love “FREE” stuff. But the offer must be something worthwhile. If we offered “Free poke in the eye with every purchase” then people will not click on the ad. Different examples of how to write up ads exist with Duct Tape Marketing and 4HWW.

My ad shall be a free educational newsletter. If valuable enough people will give up their email address. If they do, we have permission to start slowly marketing to them. Notice the word “marketing”, not “selling”. If the person’s email box is suddenly filled with “Buy our Twinkie Toothpaste” then your email may get deleted, reported as spam, and boogers flicked in your direction.

My inaugural, free newsletter shall be “Secrets of the Twinkie Diet Revealed! Free Report!” Armed with a great newsletter, the ad-campaign is launched.

Within the first week, nearly two thousand click-thru’s bring suspects onto the website. Two hundred give up their email for that newsletter thereby becoming Prospects.

It is feasible some Prospects will buy some products thereby becoming Clients. But that’s another topic. Those two hundred, we can start our marketing campaign.

For my real online business, the “Free Newsletter” will be used to gather the pool of Prospects.