Petey's
Pipeline E-zine
Issue #21
December 19, 2005
Contents
Business
First Interview with Kendall
Summerhawk
Random Ramblings and Miscellaneous Musings
Taking Stock of Numbers
Write Thinking Placing Punctuation
Marks & Quotation Marks
Business
First (Editorial)
In
lieu of an editorial, this issue features an interview with
Kendall Summerhawk, who graciously consented to answer our questions
and thereby share some of her knowledge and wisdom about running
an on-line business.
Petey
Interviews Kendall Summerhawk
Shortly
before last summer began, my friend, Tom LeBlanc, of Home-
Entrepreneurs.com, asked me if I'd be interested in taking
an 8-week on-line writing course. He'd just signed up and thought
I might be interested in doing the same. I asked a few questions,
to get some basic background info, and told Tom I'd get back
to him.
A
visit to Kendall
Summerhawk's Web site was enough to convince me that her
Webwise Writing Course was a course worth taking. No extravagant
claims that her course could turn me into a best-selling author.
No empty promises that I, too, could win a Pulitzer Prize. No
unrealistic expectations that I could land on The
New York Times' Bestseller
List within a month. Nope, none of that! What I saw was a confident
statement (implied) that if I took the course and applied the
techniques she taught I could create a client-capturing Web
site. Hey, what person with a commercial Web site can resist
a temptation like that?
The
following day I called Tom back and told him to count me in.
About two weeks later, participating students found themselves
dialed into a conference call, where Kendall introduced herself
to them, and they to her. This orientation session gave promise
to my preconceived notion that it was going to be an interesting
eight weeks.
At
this point, let me emphasize that Kendall's Website Wisdom Writing
Course won't teach you the fundamental mechanics of writing,
nor is it intended to. Her course is about what material you
need to have on any given page of your Web site, how to structure
it, how to display it. If I had to use just one word to describe
what Kendall's course is all about, that word would be "presentation."
If
you need to learn how to write, you'll be better served by browsing
Powell's Books
for a low-cost used book that teaches the basics of good writing.
Writing fundamentals haven't changed in over a hundred years,
nor are they likely to anytime soon. But, if you're truly serious
about creating better Web pages with which to entice your Web
site's visitors, Kendall has the wherewithal to show you how
it's done.
Without
further delay, Perfect Text (Petey) presents an exclusive Petey's
Pipeline interview with the wizard of Web site wisdom, Website
Wisdom Writing's own Kendall Summerhawk.
Petey:
Your involvement with desktop computers began in the early '80s,
did it not? Was your involvement with computers curiosity-driven,
or did employment or educational circumstances demand your involvement?
Summerhawk: I was a waitress and looking for something
that would be challenging, fun, and get me away from the cruelty
of restaurant managers! I took two community courses: one in
accounting and the other in computers. The computer class was
so much fun! I understood the concepts of how disk drives work,
memory, and all the other stuff that you had to know back then.
After that class, I enrolled in a technical college and graduated
with a two-year degree in computer science and a 4.0 grade average.
Petey: Microsoft Windows™ was a quantum leap ahead
of MS-DOS, although somewhat predictable (based on what Apple
had done, earlier). But did you ever, in your wildest dreams,
envision anything like the Internet?
Summerhawk:
I didn't. But the first time I heard of it and saw it, I was
hooked.
Petey: How long did it take you to realize that the Internet
was a vast resource of untapped potential, and when did you
start using the Internet as a business medium?
Summerhawk:
I am considered an "early adopter" of the Internet,
although at the time, I didn't realize it myself. I just knew
that I loved Web sites, and the idea of creating a way to communicate
with people, free of any time or geographic restrictions. That
seemed really neat to me. With my technology background, it
was easy to combine coaching and I began to sell products off
of my Web site early in my business. I've been selling products
off my site since 2001. I'm glad I did because now making and
selling information products is a piece of cake for me.
Petey: What was your first Internet business? Was it
a profitable business and if so, how long did it take for it
to become profitable? If not, why not?
Summerhawk:
My first Internet business is my only one—me! I sell a
variety of information products and coaching programs from my
site. Product sales were profitable within four months. What
made the difference from piddly sales to great sales was packing
my individual products into a "Kit."
Petey:
What big challenges did you face, and what were the biggest
obstacles you had to overcome as you started your first on-line
business?
Summerhawk:
Figuring out what people want. That is the #1 challenge!
Petey: Experience is a great teacher, but I've always
found an advantage in learning from other people's mistakes.
In regards to your own on-line business, what would you do differently
if you had to start from scratch and do it all over again?
Summerhawk:
Ask more questions of my audience. When I started, I had an
idea and just went ahead and made a series of products. Now
I do it completely in reverse. I find out what people are struggling
with in my area of expertise, then create a product to solve
that problem. The other area I would do VERY differently is
get search engine ranking early on.
Petey:
Having both the benefit of past experiences and the knowledge
of present-day trends, practices and results, how would you
rate the degree of difficulty for a newbie 'Netrepreneur starting
an on-line business now compared to when you started your first
on-line venture?
Summerhawk:
It's more difficult in some ways, now, and easier in others.
It's harder to get ranking, yet it's super easy to create products.
There are so many helpful tools available these days, that there
is no excuse not to make and sell an information product for
a niche market.
Petey:
In your opinion, what is the single most important thing that
'Netrepreneurs can do to promote their Web sites?
Summerhawk:
Write articles.
Petey: In what ways have running a successful Internet
business changed your life? Have you encountered any downsides,
and do you have any regrets?
Summerhawk:
No regrets at all! I love being an Internet marketer. It is
fascinating, always changing, and easy to experiment with so
that keeps me intrigued every day. Sometimes it is overwhelming
but at times like those, I just stick with what I know.
Petey:
Do you have any predictions about what lies in store for 'Netrepreneurs?
What do you see happening, in terms of Internet commerce, over
the next decade?
Summerhawk:
My prediction is that anyone who can mass produce a product
that offers complete customization for the customer will be
a gazillionaire. For example: customized postage stamps. Very
cool idea!
Petey:
Any closing thoughts you'd like to share?
Summerhawk:
The number one thing any Internet marketer needs to know how
to do is write compelling sales copy! This is not an option
because words are the way to reach people's hearts and minds.
I also think it's vital to use audio and video, if you can,
to add dimension and a human touch to your Web site. I love
coaching, teaching, and mentoring business owners to write their
own client-capturing Web site copy in my course Website Wisdom
Writing. You can learn all about it at www.KendallSummerHawk.com.
Thank
you, Kendall, for your candid interview. Petey (Perfect Text)
and Petey's Pipeline E-zine wish you the best of luck and continued
success in all your endeavors.
Copyright
© 2005 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
Random
Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings
Taking Stock of Numbers
by Phil Hanson
Can
we agree that overpopulation is an immediate threat that requires
immediate attention? Are there ways to address the population
problem without generating blind opposition and reactionary
backlash? In answer to both questions, probably not.
Many
people have religious convictions that prevent them from recognizing
factual evidence as the truth. Things that they can experience
with their own senses lack relevance or meaning if those things
conflict with their religious beliefs. God is their creator,
their salvation, and their scapegoat when things go horribly
wrong.
Then,
there are those who can't bring themselves to challenge the
status quo or step out of bounds for any reason. These good
sheeple do what their corporate masters tell them to do, believe
what their government tells them to believe, and the rest of
the world be damned. Why develop critical thinking skills if
you can get someone else to do your thinking for you?
And
what about those who have an economic stake in population growth?
To them, people are economic units, each to be exploited for
profit or rendered persona non grata, as the situation demands.
A growing economy needs more people in order to sustain the
growth.
As
long as people are useful as producers and consumers (both of
which generate profits to fuel the greed machine), they are
assigned a role in the economic hierarchy and allowed to share
in the bounty of the commonwealth. But when people are unable
to produce and can't afford to consume, they're cast aside and
quickly forgotten.
The
thing proponents of an ever-expanding economy don't seem to
get, though, is that the very idea of an ever-expanding economy
is incapable of realization. There is only a limited amount
of resources and a finite amount of land. Additional population
requires more housing, more energy, more fresh water, more food,
more jobs, more infrastructure—more of everything that's
already in short supply. It simply can't be done and still maintain
anything that remotely resembles quality of life.
We
can let natural forces take care of the population problem for
us, in which case there'll be lots of unpleasantness to contend
with and no guarantees that anyone will survive. We can wage
global and domestic wars, in which case there'll be even more
unpleasantness and still no guarantees of survival for anyone.
If
population reduction is the primary justification for war, then
biological weapons will be the logical choice of weapons for
modern armies to use against large civilian populations. They
have the potential to maximize the death toll while causing
the least amount of damage to property and infrastructure.
Or,
we could do the sensible thing and restrict population growth
by implementing strict population control strategies as a matter
of policy. We could start by funding low-cost birth control
and abortion, and removing financial incentives for having children.
If welfare mothers lost the ability to raise the amount of their
monthly welfare checks by having children, they'd be less likely
to have them, particularly if they had access to affordable
birth control. If married couples got a full tax exemption for
their first child, half an exemption for their second child
and no exemptions for subsequent children, perhaps they'd be
less inclined to have large families.
A
more drastic measure would be to enforce mandatory reversible
sterilization for everyone, with people earning the right to
reproduce through a process of sex education, parenting and
family planning classes. The ability to support a child might
also be a determining factor in who becomes a parent and who
doesn't.
A
lottery system in which a predetermined number of annual winners
are granted reproductive rights is also a possibility. Of course,
entry into the lottery would be conditional, and lottery winners
would be subject to rules that limit future participation.
There
are many tactics and strategies that can be applied to align
population numbers with sustainability. We don't have to resort
to violence and mayhem to achieve realistic population goals.
Conscientious applications of modern medical technology (as
opposed to widespread use of modern military technology), combined
with natural attrition, allow a gradual reduction of population
numbers without suffering the brutality and bloodshed of military
action, or the harsh "cause and effect" of environmental
extremes.
Preventing
disasters has always seemed like a better alternative than dealing
with them afterward. The window of opportunity for dealing with
the largest man-made disaster in human history is about to close.
We can, and must, act soon.
If we fail to act, if we instead do nothing, then Armageddon
becomes self-fulfilling prophecy. And that, I'm afraid, is a
scenario in which there are no winners.
Copyright
© 2005 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
Write
Thinking
Placement
of Punctuation Marks in Relation to Quotation Marks
Commas
and periods are always placed inside of closing quotation mark.
