Famous in Your Field: Treat growing your fame like a boss.

Growing your fame platform…it’s thrilling to fantasize about big wins.

Do you dream of your Wall Street Journal hedcut, next to the article documenting your meteoric rise to the top of your industry? Have you practiced your elated, yet shocked expression when your name is announced as this year’s standout star in your professional
organization?

Want a tool that’ll get you out of fantasy land and propel you toward victory? (Warning: It’s not “fancy.”)

It starts with treating your path to fame like a business. 

Here’s the skinny: getting speaking gigs, publishing articles and being mentioned in the media is just like making sales. First, you cultivate leads, then, you convert a percentage of those leads into sales.

And if you want results, you do the same with your platform as an expert.

1. Start by getting clear on your goals.

• Do you want to speak four times a year or every other week?
• Will you publish articles once in a blue moon or one per month?
• Media mentions – how many do you want?

2. Break it down.

If your goal is to speak at least once a month at an event, then each week, you’ll need to research new organizations or events, reach out to them and offer your services. If your “hit ratio” (the percentage of speaking engagements you land, divided by the number of speaking engagements you pursue) is 10%, then you know that you’ll need to pursue at least two or three speaking opportunities every week.

3.  Track it. Every day or every week.

The best way to accelerate your success is to keep a fame leaderboard for yourself.

Make it super simple! Use a spreadsheet or handwrite it on a piece of paper. Write down the fame-building elements that you want to pursue. Here are a few ideas:

Daily or weekly leaderboard

• Reporter outreach
• Blogger outreach
• Speaking engagements pursued
• Speaking engagements delivered
• Articles/posts published
• Media mentions

You may have different metrics you want to track. Whatever you do, don’t forget to include the biggest, baddest of all: sales.

The reason keeping a weekly snapshot is so effective is that you march steadily toward your goals. Your snapshot forces you to focus and to devote time to fame building activities every week.

Without this forced focus, it can be too easy to leave these items on your “when I get to it” list. No action, no traction.

Your Fame Boosting Assignment:

Start today! Write down the 3-7 activities you’ll track on your leaderboard. Schedule a time each day or week in your calendar that you’ll look at your leaderboard. And then do it. Like a boss.

Fame tip: add your opt in to your LinkedIn profile

New to The VIP List? Then you might not know that I loooove LinkedIn.

Honestly, I think that it’s the most effective social network for building your business as a leader and expert.

Today I’m rolling out a stealth play that you can use to grow your list of email or blog subscribers using LinkedIn.

Add your email opt in to your LinkedIn profile.

LinkedIn gives you the ability to add and edit different sections on your profile, including a section called Projects. Few LinkedIn users feature projects on their profiles at all, let alone use it gain fans for their business.

Here’s how to make it happen:

1. Go to your LinkedIn profile. At the menu, click on Profile > Edit Profile.

2. If you don’t already have the section titled Projects on your profile, you’ll see a menu of new sections to add to your profile, displayed on the right part of the screen.

(Hint: Look for the big “Recommended for You” headline with arrow.)

If you already have the Projects section on your profile, you’ll go directly to that section and click on the Add+ button.

3. Follow the prompts.

Answer the series of questions that LinkedIn asks to create a clickable headline for your “project.” This might be your newsletter title, or your irresistible free offer.

Because it’s not obvious that the title is a link, give people an extra call to action to click, like I did:

Voila! Super easy, right?

Now you’re using more of your web “real estate” to gain subscribers to your valuable and fantastic content. Well done, you!

Famous in Your Field: 8 tips for great TV interviews

Last month I scored a fantastic interview with a former producer. Roshanda Pratt spent 10 years as a television news producer in a top 20 market in the fast-paced world of 24-hour news channels.

She crammed our conversation with the inside scoop on who does what in the newsroom, how stories make it onto news programs, and the must-have factors that make a story air-time worthy. (Get it here if you missed it.)

Now, we’ll dig into her best advice to give great television interviews.

You did it! You scored an interview on the television news. Once you’ve texted your mom, your BFF and that frenemy you love to one-up, panic sets in…

“What will I say?”

“What if I goof it up?”

Keep cool, my soon-to-be-famous in your field friend. With a few pointers and a bit of prep, you’ll make a fan of the interviewer and have a spectacular clip to share with all your clients and prospects.

1. Preparation is paramount

You’ll up your chances of delivering a killer performance if you prepare. (I know that there are a few people who say that they perform better without rehearsals, but because I’ve never seen the prepared versions, I’m just not buying it.)

Roshanda advises, “Before the interview, figure out who within your organization can communicate the story? Are they prepared for the camera?”

Whether that’s you or someone else in your organization, make sure that person is well coached. You can expect to spend several hours preparing for your few minutes in front of the camera. (Don’t worry, once you’ve got a few interviews under your belt, it gets easier and takes less prep time.)

2. Know the format

First, it helps to understand the framework of the television news programs. The producer – the person who researched and writes the news stories that anchors read on the air – spends eight hours vetting news, culling sources and distilling stories into a 30 minute show.

The average story on the news is only 2 minutes long. You’ll likely only appear on the air for 20 seconds or less.

Here’s Roshanda’s advice: “Do your research!” Go to the show’s website and watch a few stories. See how they’re structured, listen to the “experts” who are featured. How do they communicate? What kind of language do they use?

3. Know your goal

Before your big moment in the spotlight, think about your goal for this interview and how you can make your goal fit into the objective of the news program, which is to educate, engage or entertain its viewers.

Next, get clear on the one to three big ideas that you want to convey. What is essential that the viewer understand about your topic?

Invest time and energy in planning what you want to say and most importantly how you’ll say it.

Frame your remarks like headlines. Give the conclusion first, briefly and directly, and back it with facts or “proof point.”

Bonus points if you can give advice that’s surprising or counter intuitive. It holds the viewer’s attention and makes them want to know more.

4. Face the reporter

Being interviewed for television can be nerve-wracking. Show that you’re a pro by looking at the reporter, not the camera, while you’re talking.

5. Speak in sound bites

Because your entire story may only be two minutes long, you’ve got to pack a punch with your words. You must be concise. Passion for your topic is essential to create great energy on camera, but if you let your passion possess you and ramble, you won’t be invited back.

Reporters are looking for “experts” who can speak in sound bites. Sound bites are those short audio or video clips used to promote or tease an upcoming story or show.

Creating stellar sound bites is all about choosing a few words that convey the strongest possible meanings in nine seconds or less. (Yep, nine seconds.)

Roshanda called these “Twitter updates for TV.”

Derek Halpern, founder of the popular online marketing psychology website SocialTriggers.com is a master at delivering his advice in catchy phrases.

Derek on making money with an online business: “You don’t need new ingredients, you just need a new recipe.”

Derek on whether he believes “the customer is always right”:

“I take pleasure in banning people from my site. Every second you waste fretting over a hater is a second you could spend making a loyal customer happy.” (Notice how his advice is counter to the “do whatever it takes to make the customer happy” conventional wisdom?)

6. Finish strong

Make sure your sound bites end with your vocal tone in a downstroke. Think of it as making a statement, not asking a question.

7. Wait your turn

During the interview you’ll probably be excited to share your message or advice. Whatever you do, don’t talk over the interviewer’s question. Wait until the reporter is finished, then begin your answer.

8. Give ‘em what they want

Sometimes during an interview, the reporter will ask the same question in a different way.

Unless you’re on to represent a controversial issue, you can relax – the reporter isn’t trying to trip you up. What the interviewer really wants is a great sound bite and your previous answer didn’t deliver. Smile and say it another way.

Your fame boosting assignment:

Start preparing for your media interviews this week. No worries if you haven’t scored any yet. Being able to use compelling sound bites is a skill that will make you stand out in a presentation situation, a networking event or while leading a meeting.

Craft three sound bites about your area of expertise, your industry or the topic you represent. Here’s one of mine that I often use in presentations, “Being an expert is more about PR than PhD.”

Smile, superstar! You’re ready for the spotlight.

Speak at industry conferences

Want to boost your profile?

Grab the attention of your target audience, in non-salesy way that
showcases you as the expert they need to make their businesses or lives better?

Jump onto the stage.

Speaking is one of the pillars of becoming Famous in Your Field.  As a marketing tool, you can’t beat it.

Speaking to an audience of ideal prospects lets you shorten your selling cycle – the length of time it takes for a prospect to become aware of you, know what you offer, believe that you’re credible and to hire you.

And speaking at industry conferences can catapult you from unknown wanna-be to must-have business partner in only 90 minutes! It’s so effective because speaking accelerates the “getting to know you” stage, so that you can establish expertise, trust and likeability in one interaction.

Here’s the catch: most professional conferences have a long lead time for speaker selection, so if you want to see your name in the program, you’ve got to start now.

1. Find industry, professional and trade conferences.

• Subscribe to a conference database. These will allow you to search for events based on industry, location, size and date.
• Visit sites that list conferences. Here are several:
  • AllConferences.com – general interest
  • ConferenceAlerts.com – academic events around the globe
  • CurrentPartnering.com – pharma and biotech conferences
• Google search terms that cover your industry AND “conference.”
• Scan industry trade magazines and their websites. Many will have an Events page in the publication and section on their websites.

2. Keep track with a spreadsheet.

Each conference will have it’s own date, theme, topics covered,  deadlines and process for speaker submissions. To seize these opportunities, you’ll need a tracking system.

In your spreadsheet, include the name of the conference, when it’s taking place, when the speaker submission deadline is, guidelines and protocols for speaking submissions, contact information, conference URL and a bit of background information about each conference.

3. Review and update biweekly or weekly.

Most conferences publish a “Call for Speakers” or “Call for Presentations” six months to one year before the event. These windows to accept speaking proposals may be open for as long as six weeks or as little as two weeks, so check the websites of your coveted events frequently or you’ll miss out!

4. Customize your speaker proposal.

Industry conferences are not events that welcome a canned “talk.” Organizers are looking for topics that fit the theme of the conference and offer new insight.

Most conferences have a strict speaker submission process, although each one is different. Some conferences require a very detailed speaker submission. Others may want a brief abstract with learning objectives.

Creating a top-tier speaking proposal takes work! Be sure to allow yourself enough time to review the event, it’s focus, the speaking requirements and then to craft your masterpiece to meet the guidelines.

Your fame boosting assignment:

If you’re ready to elevate your game, start speaking at industry conferences. This week, make a spreadsheet of ten conferences in your field. Find the websites and record the dates, then keep watch for the Calls for Speakers to open. We’re waiting for you, guru!

Upload your blog posts to Slideshare

You probably already share your blog posts on Facebook and Twitter.

But are you overlooking another site?

One with 60 million visitors a month?

A site that gets five times the traffic from business owners as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn?

It’s Slideshare, baby!

You can use Slideshare to demonstrate your expertise on a topic or start a movement by sharing presentations, videos, ebooks, or graphics that educate or inspire your target audience.

Why not share your blog posts, too? Make it part of your “everywhere” fame strategy.

Slideshare is a fabulous tool for expanding your online footprint (more of that Google real estate!)

It boosts traffic and generates links to your website. Because Slideshare automatically creates a transcript that appears right below the slides for every presentation you upload, it’s a great SEO (search engine optimization) boost for those keywords you want to “own.”

Best of all, it’s monkey-simple:

1. Save your blog post as a pdf.

2. Upload it to Slideshare.net.

3. Pop the top on your favorite beverage and kick back, ’cause you’re done.

Your fame boosting assignment:

Create a free account on Slideshare.net. Each time you publish a blog post, save it as a .pdf and upload it to Slideshare. Use Slideshare’s sharing buttons to share the love on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Lewis Howes: broke to multi-million dollar business owner in less than 3 years

In 2008, Lewis Howes was an unemployed 25 year old, sleeping on his sister’s couch and eating her macaroni and cheese.

Fast forward to today: million dollar man Howes is running three companies, publishing books, bouncing between New York and LA, playing on the U.S. Men’s National Handball team and turning down roles as hunky love-starved bachelors on network reality shows.

The timeframe from couch surfing to internet millionaire?

Less than three years.

[Click the cover image to the read the article in ASPIRE magazine.]

Here’s a quick survey of the main properties in the Howes empire:

• Inspired Marketing, LLC where he and partner Sean Malarkey create and market online educational programs for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
• SportsNetworker, a social media marketing resource that helps people break into the business of sports.
• Sports Executives Association, a membership site that offers training and exclusive networking opportunities to professionals in the sports industry.
• Books – LinkedWorking and the Ultimate Webinar Marketing Guide, with more on the horizon.
• Speaking – Howes commands five figure speaking fees and turns down more gigs than he accepts.

Lewis Howes’ hockey-stick trajectory from broke to multimillion-dollar business owner started in an unlikely place: LinkedIn, the social networking site for business professionals. During his six-month stint on his sister’s sofa, recovering from a career ending football injury, Lewis became one of the world’s foremost authorities on LinkedIn.

So, how did Howes, who calls himself a “lifestyle entrepreneur,” create a multimillion dollar work-from-anywhere empire in three years, while so many “lifestyle entrepreneurs” struggle to pay rent? He credits his dramatic rise to three specific ideas:

1. No fear of huge success or huge failure.

“I’m not worried about whether something might not work. I’ll try anything.”

Howes parlayed his sports training discipline to the business world, where he focused single-mindedly on achieving his goals, not whether his ideas might fail. This “all out” effort trumps half-hearted over-thinking any day.

“My biggest fear is being average. I want to go full speed ahead with everything I take on.”

Hustle played a big role in the speed and scale of Howes’ success. While other online marketers were producing a webinar a month, Howes gave four to seven free training webinars every week. At the end of each webinar, he’d offer his LinkedIn training course to the 500 to 1000 participants.

“I’ve applied everything I know about performance, discipline, and excellence in sports to building my businesses today.”

2.  Building quality relationships.

With early experiences like an introduction to internet marketing guru Joel Comm turning into a $6K+ webinar , Howes knows the right person can shorten your learning curve or create life-changing opportunities for you.

His approach: become friends with people before they make it big. Research them; find out their interests and connections. Offer them something for free. “The more you give to people, the more they’re willing to reciprocate.”

“I’d rather build friendships than business relationships because business relationships will do some things for you, but friends will do anything for you.”

3. Inspiring and influencing people to take action toward their goals.

Videos of Howes as a football player show him challenging and cajoling team members, making them laugh and celebrating every success, no matter how minor.  

He’s taking that energy, drive and joie de vive and building a massive following beyond the world of online marketing. He’s speaking at conferences and hosting meet ups across the country. A few months ago, Howes spoke at the White House, as one of the 2012 Empact100, spotlighting the top companies in the U.S. run by entrepreneurs age 30 and under.

Howes army wants you

What’s next for Lewis Howes? Don’t look for him to rest anytime soon. This just-turned 30 year old wants to be a household name.

“I’m trying to build a bigger platform for myself. More leverage, more influence so that I can serve more people.”

The platform is growing: Lewis is writing for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, has almost 100,000 followers on Twitter and is working on a TV show (just not one focused on his love life.)

It keeps going. In 2013, he kicked off a podcast called The School of Greatness to share “inspiring stories from the most brilliant business minds, world class athletes and influential celebrities on the planet.”

“I want to succeed until my eyes bleed.”

Your fame boosting assignment:

This week, take a page from Lewis’ success manual. Find one activity in your business and turn up the volume. Scale it 10x and see what kind of results you get. Your cover story is just around the corner!

Admit it. You’ve watched a news story

on a business or seen someone

offering advice as an expert and

thought to yourself,

“how did she get to be featured on TV?

That should be me!”

Calm down, tiger. It can be you.

You’ve just need to know what kinds of stories make the media pant with anticipation and deliver them.

And I’ve got the scoop for you.

Through the magic of social media, I hooked up with a media expert and then convinced her to spill her secrets on what the media loves in a news story.

First, a little about our news insider, Roshanda.

Roshanda Pratt is President and Lead Consultant at R.E.P. Communications Network, LLC. R.E.P. is a media relations and consulting firm based in the Southeast, consisting of a team of professionals who creatively partner with businesses to build their REPutation in media, marketing, branding, professional development and training.

Here’s why you should tune in…

Roshanda Pratt, former TV producer

Roshanda spent 10 years as a television news producer in a top 20 market in the fast-paced world of 24-hour news channels. This girl’s got the lowdown on what it takes to grab the media’s attention and get your message on the air.

In this post, I’m going to share Roshanda’s tips on getting media coverage.

Q: We’re all familiar with the anchors who sit in the studio, announcing news stories to the camera. Then there are the reporters in the field, reporting on stories. Tell us about your role – what does a producer do?

A: In the TV news world, the producer helps gather the news and writes the news stories that the anchors read on air. It’s an intense job – the producer spends eight hours a day to create a 30-minute newscast.

The assignment editor is the hub of the newsroom. He or she fields the incoming phone calls, evaluates story pitches, reviews press releases, listens to police scanners and communicates with personal sources.

Knowing the right person to contact about your story idea is the first step to being covered. Target the assignment editor, the producer and sometimes reporters.

Q. A daily show needs an endless supply of stories to feed the hungry news cycle. How did you come up with story ideas? What were your usual “go to” sources?

A: Every news station has a morning meeting to brainstorm and evaluate potential stories. Here are the most common sources:

• Press releases – yep, press releases. (Unless they’re too long. Two pages or more? Forget it. Your news has just become some editor’s scratch pad.)
• Newspapers – what stories are in the paper and how can they be adapted to television?
• Sources – pitches called into the news room, police scanners, insiders with juicy information.
• Competition – what are the other news stations covering? Can we improve on a story? Give it a different angle?
• National stories – what’s happening in the national news and how can we localize it?

Q. Here are Famous in Your Field, we want to share our life-changing ideas and information with the world. If a business professional thinks he or she has a great idea for a story, what should they do to get it on the news?

A. Think about the benefit. How would your story impact your community? First, remember that television is a mass media. Your story has to have broad, not narrow appeal.

Second, television is a visual medium. What’s the visual value of your story? Do you have a product that we can show on camera? A video? Great images? Can you do a demonstration? To attract the interest of an assignment editor or producer, think about how you can make your story visual.

And finally, if you can’t make your story visual, consider that television might not be where you belong. Perhaps your place is in print!

Your fame boosting assignment:

This week, develop one story idea or pitch. Give it the TV news test: does it have broad appeal? Can you make it visual?

Now, get ready for your close-up, superstar.

When you’re an icon, you have fans in high places.

Not your boss. The Boss.

Bruuuuuuuce Springsteen.

Icon of the music world.

What can you learn about business from a music legend?

How about how to outsell, outlast, add heat to the seats and love every frickin’ minute of it.

Read on, friends.

1. Get to the woodshed

We all have a secret fantasy that we’ll burst onto the scene, be immediately asked to keynote a major conference or have clients seek us out, saying the magic words, “I’ll pay any fee.”

Reality check:

The road to conference keynotes and six-figure clients is paved with sweat.

And even what seems like a big opportunity is sometimes wasted, when you don’t have the ability to capitalize on it.

Bruce knew this.

Early in his career, back in 1972, he opened for the then platinum selling group, Chicago, at the artist’s pinnacle, Madison Square Garden. Dream come true, right?

Wrong.

It was a disaster. The crowd was indifferent. Nothing he could do onstage broke through their passivity. He swore off playing at big venues.

“It was time to woodshed, time to build an audience through constant, intense performance in clubs, small theatres, and university gyms.”

Constant, intense performance. That’s how you build an audience.

Put it into action:

Speak, anytime you get the chance, anywhere that’ll have you.

Write. Articles, blog posts, ebooks.

Offer your insights to media outlets. Over and over again.

2. Always be creating

According to a knockout profile of Bruce Springsteen (Bruce Springsteen at sixty-two) in the New Yorker, at an age where compatriots like the Rolling Stones go on tour, drag out their string of hits and cash the checks, Bruce is writing songs, crafting new albums after 47 years in the business.

“He continues to evolve as an artist, filling one spiral notebook after another with ideas, quotations, questions, clippings, and, ultimately, new songs.”

Put it into action:

Make jotting down ideas and inspiration a daily habit. Go old school with a spiral notebook, record audio notes on your iPhone, or track in Evernote.

3. Get your inspiration from a wide variety of sources

Too, too many companies and service providers have relegated themselves to the echo chamber of their industry. Coaches speak coaching language in their marketing, and universally offer their services as “programs and packages.”

Professional service firms (attorneys, CPAs, consultants, engineers, architects and the like) are myopic in most of their business practices. They market the same way, offer services the same way and charge the same way.

These echo chamber dwellers could take a page from Bruce’s brand book. He doesn’t look to his fellow rock and roll singer-songwriters for his inspiration.

“…Springsteen quotes from Irish rebel songs, Dust Bowl ballads, Civil War tunes, and chain-gang chants.”

Put it into action:

Seeking innovation in a vacuum isn’t easy. Pick two industries outside your own and scour them regularly for ideas that you can steal.

4. Do You

All around us there are blueprints and systems that promise to be plug and play. There are also people who, when you see and hear, you recognize

“I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” ~Jon Landau, 1974.

that they are only parroting others.

For long-time guitarist “Little Steven” Van Zandt, Bruce’s intensity was a lure. He recognized in Springsteen a drive to create original work.

In the band’s early days, Van Zandt said, you were judged by how well you could copy songs off the radio and play them, chord for chord, note for note:

“Bruce was never good at it. He had a weird ear. He would hear different chords, but he could never hear the right chords. When you have that ability or inability, you immediately become more original. Well, in the long run, guess what: in the long run, original wins.”

Put it into action:

Look at one aspect of your business where you’re doing something because “that’s how it’s done in my industry.”

It might be offering prospects a free consultation, meeting for get-to-know-you lunches, offering three packages or submitting proposals.

Take just one of those and invent a way to do it differently (and not doing it counts!)

Your fame boosting assignment:

Pick one of these four business secrets and put it into action this week. ‘Cause you’re an icon in the making.

Turn your signature into an autograph with expert articles

Want a credibility boost with an ages-long shelf life?

Contribute an expert article to a magazine or trade journal.

Magazine and trade journal editors around the world are HOWLING for articles to fill their pages every month. (Or week. Or quarter. You get the idea.)

They continually seek out content from experts to help improve the lives, businesses and industries of their readers.

Have that “But I don’t know enough to be published!” thought looping through your brain?

Send it packing.

Your information and perspective is valuable. If you rated your own expertise in your field at a 6 of 10, remember that there are thousands of people at a level 2 who would love to learn what you know.

Think about things you know that you wish you’d known earlier. How can you help someone else shorten their learning curve?

Leap out of the echo chamber!

Do not limit yourself to only YOUR industry’s trade journals and magazines.

If you’re a marketer at an engineering firm, don’t target only engineering magazines. Who are the people who buy your services? Brainstorm the types of publications they would read.

An interior designer? Sure, there are magazines devoted to design, but think of all the readers of lifestyle magazines, business magazines and industry specific publications who could use a few tips to improve aesthetics or functionality in their workplace.

In fact, with a little tweaking, you can repackage the same basic tips into articles in magazines across several industries. For example, your time-saving social media marketing tips can help attorneys, real estate agents, and massage therapists.

Want a fantastic resource to get you started?

Check out the Yahoo News and Media Directory.

You can search for publications by format:

• Magazines
• Newspapers
• Journals
• Blogs
• Podcasts
• Columns and columnists

Or you can search by industry or topic, like:

• Business to Business
• College and University
• Health
• Real Estate
• Technology

When you find one that fits, drill down to the individual publication’s website. Check out the editorial calendar – the annual calendar of topics the magazine will cover, by month. Many websites also display the editor’s contact information and submission guidelines.

Your fame boosting assignment:

This week, scan the directory and make a list of 7-10 magazines or journals that you’ll target to publish an expert article. Send a pitch (a short description of the article you’d like to write.) Then, grab your sunnies and bask in the glow of expertdom coming your way.

You’ve been blogging for a while now.

4 places to find new blog and article topics

And you’re fresh out of ideas.

You feel like it’s all been said.

Or, you want to start blogging or writing articles or making videos to catch your ideal client’s attention and position you as the leader and expert in your field.

Either way, you need a blast of new ideas to spark your content creating fire.

And I’ve got ‘em.

Here are four quick and easy ways to find topics to write about:

1. Ask people.

Potential Famous in Your Fielders suffer from “authority-itis” You know, when you spend so much time deep, deep in the weeds of your topic. You talk about it, learn even more about it, and practice it, 24×7.

You start taking what you know for granted. You get caught up in the echo chamber. (You’re in real danger if you spend a lot of time reading blogs and articles from your heroes, mentors and colleagues. )

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “everybody already knows that…”, you might be suffering from authority-itis.

Hold on, tiger! There’s a super easy cure. Step away from your computer. Get back in touch with your ideal clients and what he or she really wants and needs.

Go, interact with clients. Rub shoulders. Ask questions.

If you need a boost, I’ve got three simple questions to use to get to know your clients on a deep, emotional level.

2. Ask Google.

No surprise here! Google, the font of so much internet goodness is also an endless source of ideas for your blogs, articles and videos.

First, type your industry, profession or niche into the search bar. Pay special attention to Google’s suggestions. The phrases that pop up in that box are the most popular searches that match the words you typed.(Hint: they’re what people are looking for most.)

 
Bada-boom! Now, you’ve got half a dozen questions to answer on your topic.

For bonus points, click on one of the topics from the search bar, then check out any additional results at the bottom of the webpage, too. (They don’t show up for every search, though.)

3. Ask YouTube

YouTube is the 3rd largest search engine. People – including your ideal client – are typing questions into YouTube to find answers. Just like Google, pay attention to suggested searches.

4. Ask Quora

Wondering what people want to know about your area of expertise? Check out Quora.com!

Quora is a question and answer site created by two guys from Facebook. All the Qs and As are provided by its community of users and are organized by topic.

Browse Quora by topic and get an idea of the kinds of questions people are asking. (Warning! Quora can be highly addictive. With real-life answers to questions like, “what it’s really like to work at Facebook? and “who’s the most badass computer programmer ever?” and “what’s it like to meet Steve Jobs?” provided by people with firsthand experience, you could lose months of your life on the site. )

Your fame boosting assignment

This week, try one of these sources for content ideas. Make a list of topics and then create some amazing stuff! We all need that magic locked up inside your brain.