Create Your Own Newspaper with Paper.li

A few days ago, I was wondering why my Twitter friends were always pointing me to their Paper.li site. I thought this was just another sort of blog like WordPress and Blogger. I was very curious what it’s all about so I decided to start doing some research.

I created an account for myself to test it out. I was amazed that you can create your own newspaper with Paper.li. It’s similar to Flipboard or Google Currents except that it’s an online news aggregation that makes it neat to read the latest news that you’re interested in. Paper.li uses your Twitter or Facebook account to generate news based on the tweets of people you’re following or shares of your friends.

Conveniently, Paper.li automatically categorizes the news in order to present it to you in a more organized manner. The categories include: the top stories, technology, business, education, art & entertainment, health and many more. Your Paper.li account is updated every 24 hours.

Overall, I found Paper.li very useful because you don’t even have to read the morning paper anymore. When I go to Paper.li, it already aggregates the news that I’m interested in. When you create your own newspaper with Paper.li, you can even share them to your friends if you have the same interests. Because of its usefulness, Paper.li may soon replace our traditional newspapers.

If you’re looking for a sample of what Paper.li is capable of doing, you might want to check out The Louie Sioco Daily, my very own Paper.li newspaper. I actually made it into my homepage so that when I open my browser first thing in the morning, I get to read interesting and useful news.

Before Paper.li, I used Google Reader as my online news aggregation, but it always leaves me with information overload. I like Paper.li better since it shows you more digestible news, and it’s visually appealing with since it shows you photos and a short description per headline.

I recommend you to try it out yourself. It may increase your productivity because you won’t have to keep on checking your Twitter or Facebook account for the latest news in your industry.

The New Age – Living for Your Freedom

As an Internet Marketer, I know that it sucks that your relatives or your friends don’t understand your situation. They don’t see the value in what you’re doing; they think that you should just go and get a job just like them. I know how it feels like that the people around you think that you’re just some lazy bum that spends his time in the computer all day.

What’s even worse is trying to explain to them how you can make the money. They think that it’s all just an illusion. They believe that it’s not possible.

Don’t waste you’re energy trying to please them, just leave them be. If they don’t have the same belief as you, don’t obsess about it.

My friend, you are now living in a different age where you can literally do anything you’re passionate about. The Internet has made it possible for you to start living for your freedom. It has made it easy for you to find other smart people who likes the same things as you. Your job now is to find those people, and provide value to them.

Internet Marketing is a huge goldmine that is waiting to be harvested by you. Forget those people who think otherwise; 10 years from now, they may only start to realize that they’re living in a new age. By that time, you would have been successful already, and ready to make your next big success.

You have the potential to thrive in anything you want to do. Start living your dreams and living for your freedom. You only live once so don’t waste it.

Stop Comparing Yourself to Others – The Marketer’s Dilemma

The Feeling of Unworthiness

Be honest, there are times that you’re guilty of comparing yourself to others. Don’t fret – others, like you and I do it from time to time. There will be times that you’re going to hear yourself saying:

“Seth Godin is a real genious! I can never be like that…”

“I wish I had the same mind as Tim Ferriss. But I don’t…”

“Frank Kern is a hell of a good marketer. But, I just know that I will never reach his level…”

“Holy cow! Mark Zuckerberg is a frickin’ genius for creating Facebook! I’m not gifted like him…”

“Steve Jobs is a legend! I wish I were as innovative and as influential as him…”

In the end, it just makes you sad thinking about it.

You Have Your Own Genius

Stop comparing yourself to others, you’re wasting your time. If you keep doing it, you’ll get jealous of their success. It will consume both your time and energy. And it will shift your focus away from more important things that you should be doing.

At times, you’ll feel insecure that you’re not as smart or as inspiring as other people. Maybe you’ll feel that you can’t write things that will be helpful to your readers, or maybe you’ll feel that you can’t speak about topics that will excite your audience.

Every person has their own story; each with different skills, talents, and experiences. You have your own genius, you just have to believe in yourself. I struggled with this myself, until I attended an event that made me discover how valuable you can be to other people. Here’s my story:

I attended a workshop about Money and Success. But before anything else, I’d like you to know that I’m an avid book reader; I’ve read books written by Robert Kiyosaki, T. Harv Eker, Michael Gerber, Gary Vaynercuk, and other alike. When the speaker started, I didn’t know what to expect.

While he was speaking, I noticed the similarities of his topics with the books that I have previously read. In fact, almost none of his content were original. The only thing original was how he presented it because he’s been doing it for more than 10 years already.

I wasn’t very impressed with what the speaker said, and I thought that I was robbed with what I paid for. I was wondering if the audience shared the same sentiments. As the speaker ended his talk, I was surprised that he had a standing ovation; everyone was saying that it was so inspiring.

This was going on in my head: “What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they read books? None of the things he said was original!”

It’s true, the audience didn’t read books. The topic was new to them.

I learned that what’s not useful to you may be useful to others. Since then, I’ve tried this theory. I tell people my stories, and I’m always surprised that they learn something new. I receive great feedback, and they tell me that I’m such a genius (even though I’m not a genius.)

So stop comparing yourself to others, it just isn’t worth it. Instead, use them as your inspiration; their success is living proof that you can also succeed in an industry like theirs if you’re passionate about it.

Do what you do best, and you’ll be a genius to others.

How to Avoid Getting Ripped Off

You’ve probably been ripped off more than once in your life. It could be from a crappy Internet Marketing course, a car salesman, or an outsourced provider. We all get ripped off by deceitful tactics of con artists and others alike. This is a guide to avoid getting ripped off by those people.

In order to avoid getting ripped off, you must think like a rip-off artist. Most of these rip-off artists are usually sales agents from various companies. They try to lie their way into your pockets.

Let me share with you an experience I had with a con artist sales agent. I remember a month ago when a man came to my retail shop. He told my staff that he was from the Bureau of Fire, and that he was going to inspect our fire extinguisher. The man said that our fire extinguisher was expired even though it won’t expire until after 2 years.

The man was very insistent, and he asked for my retail shop’s telephone number. After that he left the shop and told my staff that he’ll be calling us up. When I got to the shop, the man called up and asked to talk to me.

I talked to the man, and I was very suspicious with how our conversation went. These were the red flags that I found:

1. He never presented my staff any ID that proves that he’s from the Bureau of Fire.

2. He said that the fire extinguisher was already expired even though it wasn’t.

3. He wants me to buy a new fire extinguisher from his company.

4. You don’t have to buy new fire extinguishers, you can have them refilled by the same supplier to cut costs.

5. When asked what’s the name of his company that’s selling the fire extinguishers, the man always changes the topic

6. When I told him that I’m going to buy from my supplier, he told me that they’re selling fire extinguishers at a cheaper price.

In the end, I told the man that I bought a new fire extinguisher at home, and that I’ll just switch the one in my retail shop. He gave up, and never bothered us again. Now that’s a pretty good example of a con artist. I’m assuming that he’s a sales agent from a company that sells security equipment, and that he’s probably not performing well that’s why he’s trying to scam people.

How to Identify a Rip-Off Artist

There are many more examples, especially for car salesmen, but you probably already know about that. In order to help you identify these people, these are a few signs:

1. They love uneducated customers, especially those that know very little about their product.

2. They will be extremely nice to you, and will give you a bunch of compliments. But remember, their job is to help their boss and themselves, not you.

3. They normally observe if the person can afford what they are selling – they look at your bag, shoes, watch, jacket, jeans, and etc.

4. They want to buy your time – usually through a meeting.

5. They normally don’t ask questions answerable by YES or NO (ie. when would you like the service to be delivered?)

6. They always pretend that they don’t have the authority to make their own deals, but they rarely even bother the boss.

7. They will include additional items in your order, then they will ask you to remove what you don’t want

8. They will try to convince you that they haven’t reached their quota, and that they really need the commission

What to do to Avoid Getting Ripped Off

I know that it’s hard to resist especially if the person has made the sales talk. They will feed your mind with images, and they will trigger your emotions to buy. Here’s what you can do:

1. If you don’t want to buy the item, feel free to walk away. You don’t have any obligations to the sales agent.

2. Know your options, and know what you want. Don’t just believe what the salesman thinks what you want.

3. Read the contract carefully. They may hide certain details in the contract because they know that you won’t read them.

4. The salesman is not your friend. Therefore, don’t trust most of what he says.

5. Most of the time, the salesman won’t care about you if they already have your money. Don’t expect them to try to woo when they have already closed the deal.

6. Don’t show the salesman that you are in urgent need of the item. They will take advantage of you, and raise the price.

7. Don’t believe or feel guilty about the salesman. It’s a tactic they use to trigger the emotion of their prospect.

8. Don’t share too much information about yourself, especially anything related to financials because if they find out something about you, they’ll take advantage of it.

I hope that sharing my experience has helped you avoid getting ripped off. If you know other deceitful tactics of con artists or sales agents, feel free to share them below.

Give and You Shall Receive – How to Make People Reciprocate

A lot of people always ask me, “how do you make people reciprocate?” And I always tell them that you can’t forcefully make people reciprocate, BUT you can do something to influence it.

Unselling

The problem with most people is that they immediately try to sell something in their website. But people don’t want to be sold to, so if they detect that you’re only in it for the money, they will leave your site without any hesitation.

In order to make people reciprocate, you must willingly give them something first without asking for anything in return. Think of it as Christmas gift-giving where you give gifts to your friends without any catch. Cool thing about it is that 80% of the time, they return the favor.

Christmas Gifts

Let me share with you an experience I had with Christmas gift-giving that made me reciprocate.

Last Christmas, one of my friends dropped a gift for me in my house. I think it was around December 20 if I’m not mistaken. Nevertheless, I was very happy with the thought that my friend cared about me so much that he spent time shopping just to give me a gift for Christmas.

I felt obliged to return the favor even though my friend wasn’t expecting anything in return. I decided to go shopping the next day, and then bought my friend a gift that he’d probably like. I sent it over to his house, and he sent me text messages that he really appreciated the gift. Both of us had a merry Christmas

I noticed that almost everybody does the same thing. But I also noticed that I only bought gifts for people who gave me a gift first. I don’t normally buy Christmas presents but I make an exception if I receive a gift from the person.

Try it yourself. This coming Christmas season, send out gifts to all your friends in advance, and see which of them will return the favor. This will be our secret experiment. I’m assuming that 80% – 100% of them will give back something to you.

Free Stuff!

In Internet Marketing, the same concept applies. You have to willingly give people free and useful information. Give them a free gift when they sign up for your newsletter or give them a 30-day trial when they sign-up for a subscription. It’s a good idea to postpone monetizing your website later on. You have to build your goodwill first. It will payoff later on.

Instead of thinking of ways to make people reciprocate, why not influence it by giving away free stuff? I know it sounds simple, but it will go a long way.

Give and you shall receive.