George Kao's Blog, page 38

Be aware of the values you’re being influenced into…

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation for Business

Observe the business experts you follow: notice the core message of their emails, social media, and websites… Are they trying to tempt you with big incomes and large followings? "Make 7 figures!” "Get one hundred thousand followers!” By selling wealth and fame, they are leading some people towards anxiety and depression. A business built on extrinsic (or external) motivations will eventually foster unhappiness. On the other hand, an authenti...

Organic Marketing vs. Conventional Marketing

Organic food is better for your health and the well-being of the environment, but usually costs more money. 

Similarly, organic marketing is better for your brand and the well-being of your audience, but usually costs more time and effort in the beginning.

This distinction was triggered by a message I received: I attended a local marketing meeting. The topic of "funnels" came up. The leader shared all the manipulative, FOMO, fear-based tactics out there. When I shared that I thought many were...

To be creative, should you "go with the flow" or schedule out your day?

What’s your relationship to “deadlines”? Do you work well by giving yourself due dates, or do you avoid it and prefer to “go with the flow”?

Either way can work. Understand your choice, and be accepting of whatever consequences occur as a result.

If you go with the flow, then be accepting that you may never meet your goals… that your goals may constantly change based on your internal whims, or other people’s external requests.

On the other hand, if you want to set a vision, have goals and achiev...

Just Create - No Perfection Allowed.

I’m 3 months into building a brand new audience (secret project). 

This is helping me relate better to those of you in the same situation.

If you missed my previous posts in this series:
Month 1 -- A Few Lessons In Growing A New Audience 
Month 2 -- Overcoming Procrastination in My New Venture

In month 3, here is what I’m learning now:1. Don’t worry about the offerings yet. Focus on audience building first.

I’m starting to dream about what I could offer my budding audience. It might be a membership...

How To Build An Audience From Scratch

Photo by @dayoldblues on Unsplash
Most articles on how to build a fanbase will cover tactics such as Facebook Ads, cross-promotions (joint ventures), and SEO (search engine optimization.)

I’ll share my thoughts on tactics, but the most important thing is this:

A true audience gives you their consistent attention.

That’s the kind of audience you want to build: a loyal following that has grown to count on you, and therefore, an audience that  you  can count on to engage with your content, share it fo...

Inviting a Speaker to a Telesummit? An Example of a Bad (but Typical) Invitation…

If you study “how to build an email list” you’ll almost certainly come across the strategy of hosting a telesummit. It is one of the fastest ways to build an email list. 

But it's often a terrible way to do it, because you’ll end up with an unresponsive list of subscribers, after spending incredible amounts of effort and time in creating the telesummit.

The following is an actual email I received yesterday (and you will, too, once you start getting some exposure).

This is the kind of message tem...

7 Success Factors for Authentic Content Marketing

To reach more people and make a deeper impact with your message, and ultimately grow your business, work on getting better at the following 7 factors.

Look at it as an audit of your content marketing process, and make time to gradually improve in each of these areas.Care

Without the attention of your audience, you’re just talking to yourself.

With their attention and care (which you earn by caring enough for them) you fulfill the mission of your business by serving them well.

The core task of car...

​The Tao of Content Productivity

Photo by Nik Shuliahin on Unsplash
I’m writing this on the day that my 3rd book is being launched. 

Some people wonder how I can get so much done, especially content, when I’m a 1-person team (haven’t had a virtual assistant for more than 6 months.)

In this post I'll explain the key factors to my productivity.

Here’s what I have on my plate:I run a 40-client Group Coaching program — 2 calls per week, and an active online group.18 One-to-One Clients — Most meet with me once per month, and I’m maxe...

Beware of the large and expensive business training programs...

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Over the years, I have seen a lot of people making this mistake -- buying into expensive business/marketing training/coaching programs.

In these programs, they're with a group of hundreds of other students, with high hopes that the energy of the program will somehow propel them toward success...

As someone who has sold such programs myself, and have partnered with dozens of others to sell these, I can tell you this:

These programs are highly profitable for the seller...

In Business, Focus on Rhythm rather than Timing

Photo from @evstyle on Unsplash
I often get questions related to "timing"...

“What is the right time to post on social media?”

“When should I launch my next program?”

Here’s what I say in response:

What is your rhythm, and are you following it?

Asking about “timing” means two possible things are going on:You have a fantasy that timing will make or break your social media visibility or product launch.You are tempted to use “timing” as an excuse to delay, for fear of rejection or disappointment.
Your...