The Creative Entrepreneur #3: The Creative Entrepreneur, #3

By Beth Ann Erickson

Marketing Made Easy.

It's one thing to create art for pleasure and quite another to make a living selling your creative endeavors. In this final installment of “The Creative Entrepreneur,” you'll get your hands on a treasure trove of information you can immediately use to get your creative career moving and grooving.

This volume covers these all important topics:
~  How to instantly connect with your audience and become an important part of their world.
~  How a simple 90 day experiment resulted in incredible unexpected results… and how you can use this information to create the career of your dreams.
~  Understand the strength of your audience's trance states and how to use them to your advantage.
~  This one activity will grow your business faster than any other.
~  Don’t make these newbie mistakes.
~  How to master the most lucrative tools in your marketing arsenal. Get these down and you'll pave the way to a long term career.
~  Understand the difference between communicating and blatant selling… and why this difference can make or break your sales efforts. (Hint: selling isn't your best choice.)
~  How to find the gift within each dashed expectation.

Beth Ann Erickson is a decades long freelancer (since 1995), publisher of Writing Etc., the free zine for Creative Entrepreneurs, copywriter, author, and Internet marketing expert. You can connect with her at FilbertPublishing.com.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Filbert Publishing
• Release date: Nov 10, 2016
• ISBN: 9781540171092

Book preview

The Creative Entrepreneur

Insider Secrets to Effective Shoestring Marketing, Managing a Winning Mindset, and Thriving in Any Economy

Volume 3

Beth Ann Erickson

Copyright 2010/2016 Beth Ann Erickson

All Rights Reserved

ISBN 978-1-932794-21-2

Published 2010/2016

Published by Filbert Publishing, 140 3rd Street, Kandiyohi, MN 56251, USA. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Table of Contents

Introduction to Volume III

Resolutions and Goals

A Swim in Corporate Pools

Marketing Illusion

Internet Marketing

The End is Near

E-Zine Marketing

More on E-mail

Great Expectations

Wowzer. Time is short

The end

Goodbye?

About Beth Ann Erickson

Introduction to Volume III

BITTERSWEET. IT’S THE only word I can use to describe this final installment of letters to my dear Creative Mindset Community.

If you recall, this project began as a grand experiment. I created a freelance community where we discussed our business, dealt with mindset issues, received audios, e-books, and a monthly letter.

This final book contains the conclusion of this grand experiment.

What began as an unrest, an uneasiness on my part grew into an experiment within an experiment. In other words, to better connect with my readership, I went ahead and jumped into a life changing 90 day adventure.

Everything is explained in the volume you now hold in your hands.

It’s eye opening, embarrassing, and its conclusion caught me by surprise. I hope you’ll enjoy every moment reading about it, because I sure enjoyed every moment living it.

To your wild success,

Beth

Letter #20

Resolutions and Goals

FROM: BETH ANN ERICKSON

A beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Kandiyohi, MN

Dear Friend and Subscriber,

Greetings from Kandiyohi!

Aye Carumba! I can't believe '09's upon us. Seems like yesterday I launched Filbert Publishing and began writing full time.

Where did the time go?

As 2008 drew to a close and '09 awakened, I hope you've taken a few moments to reflect on your writing life, your ultimate goal, your personal Polaris, where your muse wants to take you this new year.

If you haven't done this, I suggest you do so. And I mean now. Right now. This minute. Seriously. Put down these pages and stop to think about:

Where were you this time last year?

Compare that to where you are now.

Now, ponder where you want to be in one year time.

OK. Nuff said. Start thinking...

Keep on...

Little longer...

OK. I trust you took a moment to do this. If you haven't, slate a few moments to do this as soon as you're done reading, tonight before you go to bed, whenever works for you.

Better yet, grab a notebook and jot down your thoughts. That way you can pull out your notes on December 31 of '09 and take inventory.

Whether you write down your thoughts or not, just make sure you reflect on this. It's kinda important to reflect on where you've been, how much territory you've covered, and where you want to go. That way you'll have a much higher chance of staying on track in the year to come.

Enough lecture.

The Creative Mindset Community

I've got some cool stuff in mind for the coming year. First, Until further notice, I'm closing the community. You guys will be the only people receiving the print newsletter. Everyone who joins in the foreseeable future will receive an electronic version.

You guys will also receive every upcoming Filbert Publishing book free. Other folks won't. First up, we're releasing Billie William's Spice up Your Writing within the next month or so. Awesome book, BTW.

You'll also be the only folks in the Online Creative Mindset Community. I'm closing the community to newbies until further notice.

This means you'll also be the only folks in on the calls and you'll also have access to the call archives. Check the group listings for the URL to nab the MP3.

You'll also be the only group to receive the CDs as they're created.

So, why the changes?

Well, for starters, I really want to help you guys succeed. You'll not only receive top notch information in the newsletter, you'll also receive my direct guidance during our Round Table discussions (if you choose to tap into that resource) each month. You can also ask any question at any time either on the forum.

To be honest, to give that kind of support to a larger group than this is pretty much impossible. So to keep the information flowing while keeping my work load comfortable, I'm closing down new admissions to the group you're in and opening admissions to folks who'll subscribe to an e-version of the Creative Mindset Newsletter, and will receive only that aspect of the Creative Mindset experience.

Just an FYI.

Let's get on to more fun stuff, eh? Let's talk writing.

Chasing Rudie

Every night, the same scenario unfolds. Peder, my dear son, attempts to round up the dogs and get 'em to bed.

Jake's easy. He's such an old duffer, he actually looks forward to hitting the hay, especially during the winter. Just open any bedroom door and he's under the covers before you can say Wow... does he ever have short hair!

Rudie, on the other hand is a horse (or dog) of a different color. At a mere two years of age, she's got a lotta puppy blood flowing in those veins.

Peder knows she's gonna be a tough catch, and Rudie's memorized every minuscule detail of their nightly game.

It begins with him calling her name, her cocking her head and gazing at him defiantly. He calls again, a little louder while creeping toward her.

She thumps her little front paws into a perfect Downward Dog and they're off.

Peder laughs, lunges, yells, thumps the floor, skids across the kitchen, slides on area rugs trying to capture that wiggly little creature.

Meanwhile, Rudie dodges, weaves, circles, jets, leaps... does everything she can to remain two inches beyond his reach.

Drives him nuts. Rudie's having the time of her life.

The harder he tries to capture her, the less successful he is at nabbing that little girl.

One night, after watching this little escapade unfold, I asked Peder what he was doing.

I'm trying to catch the danged dog! he exclaimed laughing.

After two unsuccessful years of using this method to catch her, would you consider developing a new one?

Peder looked at me blankly. How 'bout trying something new, I said.

He nodded.

I suggested he stop chasing the dog. Pronto. Catch her eye, then begin a game of Peek-a-Boo.

After a few moments of that, escalate the game by peeking around corners, always capturing her gaze for just a second, then retreating. After she gets up to investigate, simply dash into the room you want her to go in and she'll follow. Guaranteed.

He didn't believe me, but gave it a whirl. One peek. Two. Peek around corners. By now the dog was beyond interested in this new game.

He raced into the bedroom with her hot on his heels.

Voila. Mission accomplished. Both were thrilled beyond words.

What does this have to do with you?

Everything.

Writers, when they're serious, work soooo hard. We push towards what we consider to be success. We query, write feverishly, try to avoid discouragement, slave... you get the drift.

And success often eludes us. Yet in my experience, once I let go, started having fun, allowed my intuition guide me towards my next step, my job became FUN. Success rolled in.

Everything became nearly effortless because I was truly enjoying myself.

It's such a paradox to consider that once you honestly let go of something, once you stop pursuing it with every breath you possess, once you allow yourself to simply be, the success you desired more quickly becomes a reality.

The work, I suppose, remains the same. You're still writing. You continue to market. But once you give up on predicting outcomes and begin to truly enjoy yourself, that's when the magic ignites.

And once that magic flows... WOW!

But how do let go and simply be.

I suppose it's a different process for each writer. Some people use music to get themselves back on track. Others meditate. Some read. Some study a religious text.

Whatever works for you, whatever puts you in touch with your intuition, your muse, this is what you can do to keep on track.

I suggest you master identifying and learning to listen to your intuitive nudges. You'll spare yourself a ton of grief and reap a far more enjoyable writing experience.

For example, I literally feel an intuitive nudge whenever a new query comes in.

This one's gonna be tough.

This person’s going to be needy.This author has no idea what they’re doing.

You'll like this person.

It's nearly black and white.

Those times I ignored that nudge, I've regretted it. Every. Single. Time.

The times I've listened to that inner voice, I've been more than thrilled with the results.

When I don’t, boy I’ve dealt with some heck-on-wheels situations for both me and