Board Meetings, Blog Disasters & Brilliant Reports

It’s been a very odd week – great fun in most places and one very scary bit!  I’ll tell you about that first….

Yesterday, all of our 1500 odd blog postings and thirty carefully crafted blog pages just simply disappeared from The Money Gym Blog!

I had hardly done anything on the blog yesterday, having been working with Judith on our Silver Elite infopage, and Steve was out playing golf on a rare day off.

I had uploaded a page and some photos to our server, not the blog, I’d approved a couple of comments, one of which was a bit random but nothing sinister looking, I’d added a video of Susan Boyle, from Britain’s Got Talent, to our blog posting about her “overnight success” and that was pretty much it.

Steve came home and we had a long discussion about something else, before he looked at the blog in passing, to find nothing there!  Well, we both completely freaked – how can it have happened?  He had just finished all the pages for the various levels of the new membership site, about 60 new members had joined this week, from the old site, and while all the members info was still there……….no posts or pages.

We both felt very ill for a little while, Steve at the idea of having to recreate all that work, and me at the idea that something I had done during the day had made it all go wrong.

This really was the worst disaster to happen to me in about 15 years online.

The weird thing was that when I looked to find a backup, which I do everytime we have to upgrade the Wordpress software, my entire blog directory was gone from my computer’s “Websites” folder.  I did have a computer crash recently but I managed to retreive all my websites folders from the backup, which I do online every day.

We swung into fix mode, with Steve concentrated on looking online to see if he could find anything about a virus or on the Wordpress forums.  I twittered the issue and that went onto Facebook, and by the morning, one of my Rich Schefren’s GPS classmates, Clay Franklin (@ClayFranklin), had come back with the idea of contacting our server, and seeing if they could restore our site from their last backup.

Which they did for the smallest sounding $15 I’ve every been happy to pay in my life.  But we still don’t know what happened!

Even more strange, our Clickbank page has suddenly been getting lots of traffic from a hoplink called fjautohits and a URL that looks very odd.  About 400 visits in the last week!  And we’ve sold an ebook a week for the last three weeks, when we have never sold a dicky bird via Clickbank before! We are now listed in the Marketplace whereas we haven’t sold enough to stay in there before.  We have a gravity listing and everything.  At this rate, we will sell five items on five different credit cards, and actually get paid by Clickbank!

As I say, very odd, because I actually started to read “Clickbank For Newbies” by Harvey Segal this week, and gave up in despair at how complicated it is (Clickbank, not Harvey’s book!)

On a lighter note, on Wednesday we headed into the depths of the country, to the Alexander House Hotel & Utopia Spa, for our Money Gym Quarterly Board Meeting – and let me tell you they are never boring!
Judith brought along her flip video to replace mine, which I broke on holiday, and Steve got a quick shot of the conference room, which was very grand (yet reasonably priced including lunch and wi-fi) and discovered that Flip Videos can zoom….did you know that?

We went over our plans for the rest of 2009 and 2010, and Judith asked some very pertinent questions about each of our projects

One of which, Silver Elite, is launching its pilot programme shortly – we are inviting any Money Gym Silver paying member of more than three months standing to participate, as well as anyone who bought more than one ticket to the Property Extravaganza.  The headline runs “If You Definitely, Positively Know That In Order To Succeed With Your Wealth Creation…You Need Your Hand Held, Your Bum Kicked & Absolutely Nowhere To Hide…” and it’s aimed at those who want more accountability but who can’t afford Gold yet.

Debbie Winterbourne, Gold For Christmas winner, did a three month update for our Google group and highlights include…here’s what she had to say…

First I have to say how much I have enjoyed these sessions. They have really opened my eyes as to how to run a profitable business. Here are some steps I have taken:

1. I now have seven bank accounts! They include a contingency fund, an odds and sods account and a catastrophe fund. I have separated out my income streams into (a) legal consultancy work (b) business at=2 0Quantum House (c) a property account for my buy to let and (4) my personal bank account. With Nicola’s help I have created spread sheets for each bank account which shows me at a glance, which ones are working well, and where I need to make adjustments; Also a big thank you to Eileen who visited Quantum House and showed me how to use spreadsheets!

2. Nicola has helped me do three Google adword campaigns comparing different keywords and adjusting budgets, so as to attract maximum traffic to my website;

3. I have done a thorough investigation into my beliefs, behaviours and attitudes about money. the main thing holding me back was fear of paperwork! With Nicola’s help I am streamlining my business, and although I need to spend time setting up the various systems, hopefully sooner or later, I won’t need to worry so much about excess paperwork; I also worked out my rack rate and am now more aware of what I should be charging in order to earn what I want;

4. We clarified that I needed a volunteer office manager to take care of organising the bookings of room at Quantum House. Initially I did not think it would be possible to find such a volunteer. But I gave it a go: put an ad on Gumtree and got six replies! I have now interviewed everyone. There were a couple of bad apples in the basket, but today I hired a wonderful woman who will be the office manager for two days a week starting tomorrow! I am really over the moon about this and would never have taken the action had not Nicola encouraged me that it would work! As a bonus my new office manager has a degree in marketing plus experience of event management and room bookings!

5. I have joined a couple of websites at Nicola’s suggestion to try to market the room for hire. I have had a few bookings already! Money Gym client Lucy also put me in touch with various TV companies who might need a room for their auditions at short notice. Thank you Lucy!

6. I have hired four virtual assistants who have really taken a load off my shoulders in terms of email marketing and data mining.

There’s plenty more, but I am really thrilled with progress so far.

Debbie Winterbourne
http://www.trainingroomforhire.com

On the rent2own front, I’ve been talking to one lady in Cyprus (came via Twitter) and one in Spain (via my Google Adwords campaign) who want to sell their villas, and who might be interested in doing that on a rent-to-own basis.  The legal situation in Cyprus seems a bit tragic though with many people not having access to their title deeds, and on a par with the Land Title Deed mess in the Malaga area of Spain (remember Antonio Banderas’s villa repossession?) so I don’t know….

My magnetic car signs are coming along and I’m looking forward to picking them up – they are leary in the best Rick Otton tradition, and really stand out.

Steve will be able to take them off, when he drives it, and then I can put them back on when I do.  I don’t care how daft I look, if it attracts potential vendors.

Movies, Mummys, Membership Magic, Motivation

I’m in a movie!  How exciting!  I had completely forgotten about it!  Yes, I know, how can you forget that you are in a movie?  Well, I did, honest.

It’s called The Change Series (#ChangeSeries on Twitter) and it’s launching online next week.  We are all hoping it will go viral like The Secret did.  Produced by a real live TV producer Steve McNamee in collaboration with Fitness Guru Scott Tousignant.   Another great thing that came out of the Marketer’s Cruise, the benefits of going on that just roll on and on.

One of our other Money Gym clients and cruisers is in it too, Jane Lewis and she looks great.  I look tired and fat, with a lazy eye, but I don’t talk too much rubbish so I’m happy!

Off to London tomorrow at o’dark ridiculous for my first day with a new software company who are bringing me in as an online marketing advisor.  Great product which has pretty much sold itself on referrals in it’s home country, but they need some help launching it here.  We have aleady identified some fantastic long tail key words that there is a healthy demand for, and not much competition, and we’ll be looking at the next steps tomorrow.

The Property Extravaganza is rolling along relentlessly – I think we will hit the halfway sold out mark over the weekend, so get your ticket now here.  Some great audio interviews up there to listen to gratis, and I turned the first 20 minutes of Anthony North, from the Big Issue, into a couple of videos for YouTube.

Talking of videos, I’ve made available a 22 minute segment of our Membership Club Magic workshop day, where I show the delegates how to monetise their membership sites, but the principles hold true for any website.  You can get to that video via the webinar signup page and it’s the page after the webinar page.

We have nearly finished the migration of our content onto our own new membership site, and now to move the members!  Then to create a membership site to stor the Membership Club Magic content and provide the marketing front end for the product – are we in danger of disappearing up our own proverbials?

I provided a review for a great new book called “SuperMummy : The Ultimate Mumpreneur Guide To Online Business Success” and it’s launched today on Amazon.

Mel McGee, author of “Supermummy: The Ultimate Mumpreneur’s Guide To Online Business Success” is officially launching her new book on Amazon.co.uk today and is giving away fantastic bonuses, including the complete “Mum Power Business Building Course” and lifetime membership at her site to celebrate.  Read more on the blog here >>>

It’s the second month of coaching Debbie Winterbourne, winner of “Gold For Christmas” competition and I’m enjoying it thoroughly.  She’s bright, motivated, and the owner of a lovely training & meeting room venue in the Euston area, called Quantum House, which you can hire for just £200 a day.  We are going to make some major changes to the website but in the meantime, here’s a picture of the main workshop space.

There is so much potential for her to make serious money with this place, then roll it out around London certainly.  Lucky for Debbie I used to run an empty space in Mayfair called The Music Room and so have loads of ideas….I’m trying not to overwhelm her at the moment LOL

Debbie is motivated for sure, she’s taking action on just about every suggestion I’m making and that makes my heart sing.  Because at the end of the day, it’s only Debbie that can do it for Debbie.  Someone left a message on my Twitter timeline saying “Can you make me a millionaire Nicola?”  and I had to reply “No, but you can!”.  Just about sums it up really.

And I’ve booked some recurring appointments in my Outlook to go to the gym, otherwise I never get around to it.  Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday mornings.

Always last on the list me!  But Mother’s Day coming up is reminding me to look after myself a bit better.

Have fun, we always do.

Nicola

Ready Fire Aim! Memberships, Marketing & Multimillions

It’s been a busy old week, what with the first draft of the Property Extravangza info page going live at http://www.themoneygym.com/events/property and the first flurry of bookings coming in.

We have decided that this event is in aid of The Big Issue, who help the homeless to help themselves, we have a great set of speakers, including Rick Otton as the keynote speaker, and Martin Roberts off the tele, property expert and star of Homes Under The Hammer. Judith has written a stonking bit of copy, quite inspired, and we are just waiting for photos of speakers, video testimonials of other events and suchlike. Then the page will really sing! http://www.martinroberts.co.uk/

I’ve just been watching Rick on national tv in Australia, walking folks through his whole “rent to own” system – they are really getting it there and the UK will follow behind. Only today on page 4 of “Property Today” which comes with my Worthing Advertiser, there is a big article about a new Rent To Own scheme launched in Littlehampton, on the back of the Government’s own “Rent To Buy Later” scheme.

On the same page, funnily enough, there is a property advertised with a “zacuzzi” in the bathroom….some little estate agent getting it totally wrong! Bless ‘um.

I started work with Debbie Winterbourne this week, winner of the “Gold For Christmas” competition – where she gets to work with me going through the Gold programme, then gets to hang out with us for life! We are doing one call a month where I cover the material module by module in the first half hour, via video webinar, then Debbie gets to ask general questions about what she’s just heard, then she goes off and does her homework, and comes back for a second call, where we explore her personal circumstances, and particular challenges around that module.

I had forgotten quite how bossy I was when coaching…..”directive coaching” it’s called. Phew! Must remember to ask more questions and issue less instructions. Debbie took it all in good part and she’s an action taker so right up my street. We need to do some work behind the scenes on both her websites as I can make an immediate difference there!

You can find out more about Debbie and her particular passion for deciphering the power of dreams here and if you need a nice but affordable workshop space in London, she owns Quantum House which you can find here

(some time later………..)

Lord I got totally distracted by Google Calender there – saw one embedded in Pat Lovell’s blog (Pat’s from GotAccess.com among other things and I met him on the cruise) and thought Wow! that would be great to keep my speaking gigs updated for the GP (general public LOL) and ended up embedding it to my blog, Ecademy account and all. You can view my peramulations around the world speaking here >>

Off to London this weekend for “Build Your Wealth” again, and I’m in Manchester for “Build Your Wealth” events – you can book here for just £7 for both days

Did you know, it’s over £70 on the train and takes 4 and a half hours, and it’s one hour on the plane and costs just under £100. Madness. Early start though! Which of the lovely boutique hotels to stay in, eh? Recommendations on an email…..

While in Manchester, I’m seeing an old Money Gym client for the day, to work with him to review his progress and plan for the next five years. Lovely man, really looking forward to it! I also joined a webinar this week with a software company who are thinking of taking me on as non-exec Marketing Consultant – I think I can bring a lot to the table as they come from the corporate world and while aware of internet marketing, are not yet quite aware of the power and speed of it, if you can just get your first ideal customer clearly in mind and communicate straight at them. This is going to be fun.

I hosted what turned out to be a very popular webinar to nearly 100 registered-in-advance “ideal customers” of the Money Gym the other night, quite on the spur of the moment, on membership sites. It suddenly occurred to me that it might be fun to test the whole idea of video broadcasting a powerpoint presentation, making an offer at the end, much like I do on stage. Yes, I know! It’s nothing new, used to do it lots years ago, but you forget things don’t you? I’m going to do more of it, and we did a “Google Analytics/Statistics Tracking” webinar with the Membership Club Magic bods this week as a bonus call. Great fun.

Busy but great fun.

Talking of the Membership Club Magic webinar, from Saturday the recording will be available to watch online again here - those videos take ages to edit, chop up and upload and nobody can get online while you upload them. Howls of rage echo from around the house when you try, as you hog all the supposed 8 meg bandwidth. Runescape gone! Pokerstars gone! Second Life gone! Skype gone! MSN gone! British Telecom…..8 Meg, my derrier.

Steve and I are on ANOTHER diet, this one being a healthy eating one, lots of delicious salads (and beans/pulses, no, don’t ask!), no wine or beer during the week and he even went for a run this week. It’s inspired by a book he’s reading called “Fat Bloke Slims (How I Lost 3 Stone” by Bruce Heron, who you may remember as D.C. Terry Perkins from The Bill. Actually I saw another diet (that’s me) but Steve’s made his mind up to lose weight now too. He does make the best salads and I’ve made some of my best lentil and garlic soup which we are having whenever Steve doesn’t want to cook.

And Judith proudly announced this week that she’s learned to play poker. She went into a game with her accountant and solicitor with 80p and came out with £1.22. Judith, have you not heard of a “fixed buy in tournament”? Even we don’t play cash games!! This sparked a debate about whether it would be appropriate to host a “Money Gym Texas Hold’em Tournament” after one of the Cashflow 101 games?

Hmmm, perhaps not!

And finally……….I’ve just finished Michael Masterson’s brilliant book “Ready Fire Aim” about how to take a company into the multi-millions and beyond. I enjoyed it so much I’m going right back to the beginning and I’m reading it again. Shot straight into my Top 10 Business Books of All Time!!

Membership Bootcamp Delegates!

We hosted our Money Gym Membership Bootcamp day in London on Friday. Everyone came with some niche ideas and went away with one (haven’t you!!) and a clear plan on how to monetise (monetize?) that niche, and 10 ways on how they were going to market that niche, depending on whether they were visually skilled, writers, or techies. Here’s the attendees and Mike the lovely cameraman, who was filming the day for us.

Hoxton Hotel Rocks Again!

I’m hanging out at the fabulous Hoxton Hotel, in London, EC1 after our Money Gym Membership Bootcamp “Fast Start” day, which is rapidly becoming my London home from home.

I can’t tell you how good (and how incredibly reasonable) this hotel is. I keep meeting people of all ages and nationalities in the lift who are grinning ear to ear and saying “this is a great hotel isn’t it?”.

I love a nice boutique hotel, don’t you?

It actually feels like a little unique village in the City – you really never feel like you need to leave, once you wheel your wearie lappie through the welcoming lobby.  The buzz of conversation of the trendy crowd of all ages (from teens to 70’s), mini shop, the amazing welcome from the reception staff, the real fires, the paper eagles, the amazing music…love it.

Up to the great rooms – perfectly formed with everything you need including spare pillows and towels, proper coffee bags, waiter’s friend bottle opener, self-proclaimed “Boring Sign No #5″, the little fridge with proper milk, mirrors where you need them, a glass shower with drencher and alternative shower if you don’t want to get your hair wet

“Well, it would be rude NOT to!!” said my 13 year old Pheobe said on first glance at the drencher, heading right in there……

And free wireless internet throughout the hotel, anyone?.

The Hoxton has the most comfy beds – soft but firm – and gorgeous bed linen which feels somehow feels more divine than any other, plus the brilliant and funky restaurant ruled with a rod of iron by Richard Moul (more about him later), to the live DJ in the bar who plays old rare groove on Fridays, funky disco house on Saturdays and jazz and all that laid back hip hop groove on Sundays.

What’s the significance of the Paper, Stone, Scissors pillows then?

And I’m loving the cashpoint machine and Evening Standard dispenser (free natch!).

They even do “stay for £1″ offers on the internet (see below for the website details).

Around the corner from Jamies “Fifteen” and the apparently amazing “Hoxton Apprentice” – where not just the chefs, but the whole staff are ex-homeless people.

What can I say about the Hoxton Hotel staff?

O man, the staff………..they are just SO GOOD.

(Even better than the Mediterranean Risotto (with feta, sun dried tomatoes and olives) I had tonight and the Pan Fried Sea Bass with Sweetcorn Chowder & rocket and parmesan salad, last night….pheweee)

The warm welcome at reception, the brilliant front of house people in the restaurant, the really hot but friendly bar staff through to my personal favourite, the Italian head waiter Mauro, who is so good he inspires his staff to try and beat him in terms of excellent service….they are all having such fun and it’s just awesome to watch.  They are “on stage” and they know it, and they perform like its the first night every night.

We have only been there three times since June, and when Mauro spotted me in the bar, he headed over from his busy restaurant and gave me a big hug…..how can he have remembered me when you think how many people they see a week?

The bigger question is…….How can a place get it so right?

I needed to know because I was blown away on our first visit, and I’m endlessly fascinated about why businesses survive, thrive or fail…….so I did some digging….and I didn’t have to dig far.

I’ve discovered the secret weapon of The Hoxton Bar & Grille……and his name is Richard Moul.

He looks about 12 (and I’m not kidding!), he is everwhere at once, his eyes are everywhere he is not, and he not only nutures that bar and restaurant like it is the love of his life, but he delivers food to the table too, when they are pushed, with joy and grace and an amazing smile.

I asked Richard about his staff hiring policy, and training schedule.

“I hire for personality and attitude and then train them up”.

Simple but devastatingly effective.

And very E-Myth.

I have to interview this man for my podcast as he’s got the most incredible story.  And he’s a whisky expert too.

The Hoxton Hotel – you rock. Again. And I’ll be back – very soon!

Wealth Coach Diaries – Nicola’s Week

Amazing Offers, Radio Waves & Outer Space

So who moved the Bank Holiday from the traditional last weekend in August to this weekend then? First I knew about it was when GMTV started wittering on about DIY for the Bank Holiday!

It’s been a weird week without the kids – this year I’m coping better because I’m getting out and about more – except NOT down the beach obviously!! I’m playing poker live around various venues in Sussex. For £12 a night, you get two games and your dinner and last night at the Montague was a great night all round, with a fine home-cooked Shepherds Pie with peas (yum) or chicken korma with rice.

Lee the landlord of The Montague is incredibly entrepreneurial, and is running a great pub there, with “cocktails & karaoke”, comedy and cabaret nights in addition to the biggest Texas Hold’em game in the area, up to four tables now. There’s two computers with fast internet connection, there are notices on the bar telling us who our bar staff are, and lockers to put your drink in if you need to go outside to smoke (not me!). Join The Montague’s “University of Poker” (M.U.O.P) Facebook group.

As a list building exercise, participating in the Wealth Giveaway was a great event for the Money Gym adding over 300 new people to the Money Gym MVS system. I’m hoping that many of those are internet marketers who will be interested in re-branding and giving away my free reports on their websites and blog.

I’ve had a frustrating week with technology, but we figured out why the admin area of the blog was running so slow – it was a rogue plugin. After deactivating them all, then reactivating them one by one, it’s now running along nicely. Having issues with my podcasts from Hipcast though, as soon as I post one, then go to change the category, the player disappears! I’m going to dig out Mike Stewart’s tutorials on podcasting direct from the blog later today.

New at The Money Gym is a great special offer for just £4.97, where we are bundling a great load of stuff, some audio including the first three chapters of the Money Gym book, as read by the author, four reports, the UK’s first Wealth Conference audio and a 30 day trial of the Money Gym Club site…..and folks are signing up in droves!

As I say, I’ve been recording the Audio version of The Money Gym book – listen to Chapter 1 here. I’m a reading kind of gal, but I know 30% of the population like to listen to stuff in the car or while exercising, so I’m working my way through the book, and the audio version will be available by next week as an option.

It’s made me realise that I need to rewrite it and update it - I’ve learned SO MUCH MORE since I wrote it. I think I will lose the “Day by Day” format too, and make it flow more. Must talk to Debs and Joe at Bookshaker about a relaunch…..”The Money Gym Revisited” here we come!

As part of the run up to the re-launch of the Money Gym Silver Club membership, I’ve been experimenting with some Blog Talk Radio shows. I’m veering between a “Smashy & Nicey” kind of voice, through to a “late night talk show” voice and it’s a struggle to talk normally. I’m having an issue with my headset making my voice very quiet too, but I’ll try holding the receiver today (for half an hour?) and see if that helps. Not quite brave enough to open the lines to phone in’s yet, but there is a chat facility….committed to doing a show every day till the end of next week, then I’ll swap to weekly, probably on a Wednesday at 1pm. Check it out

The sewing hobby is going well too – I’ve made two linen shirts for me, a pair of gingham short shorts for Phoebe, and cut out two nighties ready to sew this weekend. I’ve been listening to Frank Kern videos while I’m sewing so it’s not taking me totally away from the computer, but nearly!

I had lunch with Greg Ballard yesterday, and had a good old chinwag, catching up on all the news, and a look round their new offices, which used to be those of my accountant, Mark Nicholson from Spofforths. It was great to hear that, in spite of the credit crunch, Passive are still picking up lots of great bargains for their clients.

Steve is working his way diligently through John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0 which is excellent and very thorough.

Have fun, we always are!

Nicola

Nicola Cairncross

Wealth Coach, Author
Internet Strategist
Professional Speaker
Founder
The Money Gym Ltd

Email us to have Nicola speaking at YOUR event >>>

Jazz On A Sunday In Shoreham

Check this out…The legendary bass player Herbie Flowers teams up with young turk, genius jazz pianist Mark Edwards, for Herbie’s Jazz Breakfast at The Ropetackle Centre, Shoreham, West Sussex. Here they are joined by Marianne Hillier-Brook on percussion.

Herbie is actually playing the bass that he used for the opening notes of “Walk On The Wild Side” by Lou Reed, recorded at Trident Studios in London. In the audience was Ken Scott, visiting from the USA, who was the sound engineer at Trident, who Herbie had invited to hear Mark Edwards play. Awesome.

Herbie’s Jazz Breakfast is the first Sunday of every month 11am – 1pm (excluding August 2008). £7 including free coffee & croissant. Book here at The Ropetackle Centre website >>>

Sweatshop Conditions At Money Gym

My ex-business coach, Chris Barrow just posted a blog post entitled “How Can We Be Expected To Work In Such Conditions?” and really, I have to agree with him! http://tinyurl.com/5wvbbe

I woke up at 6.30 this morning to another day of glorious sunsine – and the beach just over the road.

I’m tempted to just get my swimsuit out and grab my iPod and catch some rays while listening to a bit of Rich Schefren and swotting up further on the Rent2Own concept – perfect for these market conditions and a great cashflow generator!  But no, I have to go to London today.

After getting ready in a leisurely fashion, Steve will drop me off at our sleepy little station, and I’ll enjoy a largely empty train direct to Victoria.

I’m off to go to lunch at The Ivy, with Judith and Sue, Money Gym member and winner of our Women Talk Money Challenge, notably the person who increased her income by the most ££ in just three months.  Sue managed £25,000 plus – marvellous!

We always like to make prizes for clients at the Money Gym things that Judith and I want to do!!  Later this afternoon, we will be joined by Peter Stanley, of “Property Made Simple” fame, who is down from Manchester, and a member of my now defunct first mastermind team.  Not seen Peter for ages.

Then it’s off to the Rex Cinema in Rupert St, Soho, to meet my sister and enjoy the book launch for Michelle Magorian’s new book. 

My opera singing sister Heather shared a house in Walthamstow with Michelle back in th 80’s – they were so poor in those days they literally had to break the ice in the loo due to NO CENTRAL HEATING!  Now Michelle is an acclaimed author with tomes including “Goodnight Mr Tom” starrring the late John Thaw in the film of, and she has a film deal sorted for the new book already.

Home again on the train, and as it will be a late night, I’ll have a lie in tomorrow, as I dont’ have to get up till the 11am Money Gym Wealth Surgery webinar for our Gold clients.

Why am I telling you all this?

Read more..