Jared Dees's Blog: The Latest from Jared Dees, page 29

Should I build a website for the launch of my book?

In the past I advised authors to buy the domain name of the title of their book so they could build a website for the launch and for book resources. As an alternative to the domain name, authors could always buy some variation of the title plus “book” as many other authors have done.

One reason for this is that when you are interviewed about your book or giving a talk about the book, you can give a simple and memorable domain name for it. People can go there to learn more about the book, get...

How to Make Money Today

Make something complicated simple.

Fast food is complicated when you are on the road with hungry kids and no food in the car. McDonalds makes a meal simple.

Million dollar software with hundreds of features is complicated, too. Companies often hire a consultant to help simplify and utilize that technology to its best capacity.

Employees serve in complicated systems to solve someone’s complicated problem.

An entrepreneur creates a simple system to solve a complicated problem. As their system g...

How to Help Kids Develop Lifelong Passions

Read or listen to artists talk about what inspired them as children to love their work and most of the time they will talk about an experience of something or someone that sparked that inspiration. They were interested in something like writing or drawing, but then they encountered a work of art that made something click in their minds and hearts. They then set out on a lifelong journey to become like the artist that inspired them.

Angela Duckworth makes this observation about the transition...

Don’t Launch on a Long Weekend

I’ve tried to launch two books during long weekends (Memorial Day and Labor Day) and it brought on a lot of problems.

I tried to launch an online course this weekend and, again, ran into a lot of problems.

There are too many emails and questions to answer.

Something always goes wrong with technology.

There aren’t people to talk to at other companies because they are on vacation.

Plus, you are on vacation too.

Note to self: Don’t launch on a long weekend.

The post Don’t Launch on a Long Weeken...

Our Little Free Library

Last weekend I finally installed our Little Free Library in our front yard. It has been such a great experience so far.

Last summer, our kids raised money to offset the cost of the library by almost daily lemonade stands. People in the neighborhood were very, very generous. You would be surprised how many times they received a $4.50 or $9.50 tip for a small, $0.50 cup of lemonade!

Now that the library is installed, we see many people of the neighborhood stop on their walks either as adults or...

Fear of the Complicated

The fear of the complicated stems from the fear of the unknown.

There is a lot of fear around the new GDPR laws affecting online businesses.

I have to admit that until I sat down to read a few articles, I was overwhelmed. The law is complicated. I was afraid because I didn’t know enough about it yet.

I can’t say that I am 100% clear on what it all means and, as a result, I still have some fear about what should be doing differently online.

When we encounter something that is complicated, we t...

How Robert Mankoff Finally Found Success as an Artist

Robert Mankoff was rejected by The New Yorker 2,000 times between 1974 and 1977.

He drew 2,000 cartoons during those three years and but didn’t stop drawing or submitting his work to the magazine.

Finally, one of his cartoons was accepted. Then they accepted another one and another until he was invited to become a regular contributor. Twenty years later he became the cartoon editor for the magazine.

How did he finally find success?

Mankoff’s story is profiled in Angela Duckworth’s book, Grit....

Picking Ideas Faster

I spent the last five minutes and sixteen seconds trying to pick the right idea to write about this morning. I typically spend 10-20 minutes writing these posts about what I’m learning so that five minutes was wasted time.

I had these idea ideas in my head:

Angela Duckworth’s expansion on the Warren Buffet goal-setting system A comment that James Altucher and Mark Manson discussed on a podcast about having a hobby Austin Kleon’s post about picking ideas based on what you want to learn rather...

A Hierarchy of Goals

In chapter 4 of Grit, Angela Duckworth introduces the idea of a hierarchy of goals.

She describes three levels of goals.

Imagine a pyramid with one goal at the top, three mid-level goals, and seven low-level goals.

The low-level goals “exist merely as a means to ends.”

“The higher the goal, the more it’s an end in itself, and the less it’s merely a means to an end.”

Here is the example she uses:

Low-level goal: Getting out the door by 8:00 a.m. Mid-level goal: Arrive to work on time. High-le...

My End-of-the-Day Routine: The Daily Review

During the last fifteen minutes of the day I go through a routine to help me decompress and plan ahead for tomorrow. These fifteen minutes are probably the #1 reason I am as productive and happy as I am each day.

For the last year or so, this has been the checklist I follow during my Daily Review:

Gratitude – I write down three things that happened that I am thankful for. This creates a great list of responses for the question, “How was your day?” It also gives credit to God for the good thi...