Where were you on 09/11/2001, do you remember?

I was in NY.

My wife Veena and I were both working for a company called Prodigy Communications. We had just joined a few months earlier.

That unfortunate day, I was earlier than usual to work. I was just settling down at my desk with a hot cup of coffee, when I heard a lot of murmuring, and I stood up to see many people suddenly rushing towards the staircase going downstairs.

I thought it was either a fire – or something had happened to someone at the premises. So I followed suit.

Going down the stairs, I saw people gathering in the big community hall where we usually had our all-hands meeting.

It was the first time I noticed that there was a a small TV in one corner of the room. And I saw everyone huddling around it.

I went closer and saw a building on fire. Smoke billowing out of it like crazy. It was the first tower.

Don’t remember feeling much at that time. It was just that terrible feeling when you see a tragic accident. They were saying a plane had crashed into one of the world trade buildings. No one knew it as an actual large, commercial plane – it looked more like a much smaller training-plane kind of accident. No casualties had yet been reported. Luckily, it was still early in the work day – so hopefully the offices were still not too full. “Hopefully, it isn’t going to be too bad”, we all nervously consoled ourselves.

And then as we all kept watching, the second plane hit. I don’t know if we actually saw the second plane, but that’s how I remember it.

And soon after, the first tower collapsed.

I heard a emotional male co-worker let out a blood curdling shriek in horror. That’s actually the first time when it really hit everyone that we were witnessing one of the greatest acts of terror ever carried out not just on US soil, but in our lifetimes too.

And then the second tower collapsed.

People were getting sick and passing out around me.

Some were sobbing uncontrollably.

Some were calling others to find out if their friends or loved ones were safe.

I don’t remember what happened the rest of the day after that – it’s all one big blur now.

Looking back to that day, and thinking about the events that unfolded, it still gives me goosebumps. I have a sickening knot in my stomach even as I write this. And I didn’t even know anyone among the 3,000 unfortunate souls who lost their lives on that fateful day.

I don’t know what it feels like to have lost a loved one to the tragedy. I can only imagine.

I was fortunate enough to not have lost anyone among my friends or loved ones on that day.

The closest I came to it, was finding out later that a close friend’s brother had been to the WTC buildings that morning. He couldn’t be reached immediately, and it was a nervous few hours for my friend, but he eventually turned out OK. He had already left the building by then, and he narrowly missed being part of the tragedy.

Even though 10 years passed since the tragedy, no year has had so much impact on my emotions or on my entire family, as it has this year.

As I sat with my wife and children and watched the various memorials and documentaries and interviews, we couldn’t help but thank the media for it.

I had never before felt the compelling need to write and share about that day, but today I’m doing so, thanks to the media that made us all remember why this day is so special, one to be remembered, one to be mourned, and one to be celebrated.

I guess I needed to wake up and remember the pain.

I needed to realize how fortunate I am – and how fortunate my family and friends are to have not lost anyone that day.

And I needed to appreciate the unimaginable suffering and pain that all the families who lost loved ones that day have endured for the last 10 years.

So I wanted to write this, to share my acknowledgment of the pain – and let the world know, that I have not forgotten.

And I will never forget what happened. Because it changed all of our lives in so many ways.

May God bless the souls of those who died on September 11, 2001, and bring peace to their families and loved ones.

- Ravi Jayagopal

PS: If you have a story of your own to share, please do so in the comments below.

About 4 years ago, when I decided to sign-up my kids for piano lessons, of course the first thing I did was to start thinking about which keyboard to buy.

I did extensive research online for keyboards: I did Google searches, visited an insane number of web sites, musician forums, read reviews on Amazon and other e-tailers, and even called up several music stores and asked for recommendations.

To make a long story short, it came down to two products: the Yamaha Motif XS and the Korg M3.

And I was really, really torn between the two, unable to make up my mind… until I saw this free video on YouTube…

Yup, literally one free video on Youtube sealed the deal for Yamaha, and they literally reached into my pocket and sucked $3,200 out of my credit card (it costs like $2500 now!)

So yes, video does help you sell better.

And actually, it’s not just about “selling”. Video basically helps you “persuade” and “close” better – regardless of what the goal is.

So video rocks whether you’re selling a product, building a brand, building a reputation, or simply trying to make a very cool viral video…

And creating such videos is a LOT simpler than you can imagine.

Andy Jenkins, a marketer whom I admire and am a big fan of, has released 3 spectacular videos that show you how easy it is to create videos that work.

Yes, the videos are free.

One thing I can guarantee you: If you’re not totally impressed by the production quality, humor, fast-paced and multiple-sensory-stimulating narration in the videos, then I will let you smack me silly and call me “Ravioli”

So click here to watch them all for free before they get taken down when the actual product launches in 2 days…

And don’t forget to leave a comment below about what you thought about this post (or Andy’s videos).

Cheers!

- Ravi Jayagopal

Seth Godin talks about attention deficit. And he also talks about attention surplus

And weirdly enough, they both conclude the same thing: No one is paying attention. Including yourself.

I’ve always been intrigued by the psychology of persuasion (yes, and am a big fan of the book by Cialdini too). And one of my favorite past-times is reading random stuff about “Ninja” copy-writing and persuasion and marketing techniques, as I’ve always been (and will be) a student of marketing.

And one of the techniques I love, is a NLP Technique called “Pattern Interrupt“.

This is where, you do something so different from the rest of your competition, that it completely throws your audience off-balance, and lowers their guard just enough for you to make your presence felt – and grab their attention for a few fleeting seconds (now what you do with that next is a completely different story).

This technique can be used in many aspects of life…

Stand out from other typical web sites…

…by say, offering a free report, without asking for their email address.

Stand out from the other males all vying for the attention of that beauty in the bar…

…by acting totally un-predictable, being a bad boy, and never being a “gentleman” (Eben Pagan, mega-marketer and super-nice dude, who runs DoubleYourDating under the pen-name David DeAngelo calls it the “Wuss” factor).

Stand out from the thousands of marketers crashing your prospect’s inbox with “offers”…

…by offering just honest-to-goodness, *awesome*, instantly usable, valuable content.

Stand out from your competitors…

…by putting your personal phone number on your web site.

Stand out from most other bloggers…

…by generously publishing outgoing links to all kinds of posts and pages and sites (like this blog post) without worrying about “losing your readers” (an awesome technique I learned from… you guessed it… Seth Godin )

But I digress…

Now you might have already heard about Roy H. Williams, the “Wizard Of Ads”, and one of my “Guru Drona’s” that I pay tribute to in my book.

Here’s an excerpt from his newsletter, that I eagerly wait for every Sunday midnight.

Here, he talks about asking people to volunteer ridiculous, over-the-top subject lines, and how he ties it to their marketing, in front of a live audience…

“The stagecraft begins when I ask everyone in the room to write a statement that would catch the ear of any person who overheard it. “The statement doesn’t have to make sense,” I say, “It just needs to be larger than life, evocative, difficult to ignore. The kind of statement that would make a passing stranger turn and say, ‘Huh?’”

I then ask 6 volunteers to bring their statements onto the stage. “I’m now going to craft real ads for real businesses using the statements written on those papers as the opening lines for the ads. Do I have any business owners in the room?” Six business owners take the stage. I randomly pair them up with the colorful statement-holders. I have no idea what businesses are on stage or what statements are written on those papers.

I owe Tom Robbins (not to be confused with Tony) for this little bit of stagecraft. In a magazine interview that accompanied the release of his novel, Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, Tom said, “Everything in the universe is connected, of course. It’s a matter of using imagination to discover the links, and language to expand and enliven them.”

“Business owner number one. Tell me about your business.”

“I have a plumbing company.”

“Name a profit center you’d like to improve.”

“I’d like to get more calls for our 24-hour emergency service.”

“Crazy person number one. What did you write on your paper?”

“I came home and the dog was bald.”

The room roars with laughter as I walk to the front of the stage and balance there – my toes hanging over the edge – as 2,000 people hold their breath.

“I came home and the dog was bald. I haven’t been that surprised since I woke up at 2AM to pee and stepped out of bed into an inch of water. Thank god Martindale Plumbing never goes to sleep. At 2AM they were just sittin’ there, hoping someone would call. They fixed the problem while I made coffee. Great guys. Thank god for Martindale Plumbing, 24 hours a day. But I still got no idea what to do with a bald dog.”

I started laughing so hard at 3:45 AM in the morning while reading this newsletter on my iphone, on my bed, getting ready to fall asleep, that I literally became wide awake, and couldn’t fall asleep for a 1/2 hour after that. That’s how much it tickled me, inspired me, and got my juices going.

Remember, it’s not just about writing something ridiculous, larger than life, and simply shocking for the sake of shocking. That usually ends up like a bad joke.

The key is to start your copy (email subject, blog post, book title) with something ridiculous, outrageous, and even shocking, and somehow tie it all together with your main story.

That’s when you make people laugh in a dark room at 3:45 AM in the morning and inspire them so much that they lose their sleep!

Oh, and don’t forget to go sign up for the free Monday Morning Memo, written by one of my favorite people in the world.

A Mini Headline/Subject-Line Challenge

Imagine you’re sending out an email to your list… something to do with your product (any product or service, or yourself).

I challenge you to come up with a “pattern interrupting” headline, and also tell us, if you would, how you would tie it in to your story…

Go on, give it a shot in the comments section below. No one’s reading my blog anyway

Cheers!

Awesome idea!

Know that thing that happens after you stare into the sun and then close your eyes? Know how you see a bright ring that then gradually fades away?

BMW came up with the same concept and created an ad that did that to viewers.

Now the idea itself is nothing groundbreaking. But what’s really cool is, that they actually did it, and now everyone’s talking about it.

I’m blogging about it.

And you’re reading about it.

And shortly you’re going to watch a video about it.

And then you’ll probably blog (or tweet, or facebook message) about it.

And thus the cycle starts all over again.

That’s the power in creating something “viral”. That’s the power of doing something that starts a conversation.

And that is what is cool about doing something like this.

Now go do something really cool yourself, somehow tie it to your product or service or brand. And see if you can get a conversation started about it.

“It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times”, wrote Charles Dickens.

That’s exactly how it has felt for the last couple of years.

On one hand, my wife’s father, and both my parents – all passed away in a span of 3 years, leaving our kids with no grandparents, and leaving us utterly devastated.

And on the other hand, my career has gone from good to Great to UNBELIEVABLE! (including the ALL CAPS & “exclamation point”). My wife and I both have been able to quit high-paying jobs, become full-time entrepreneurs, move to beautiful and pleasantly sunny San Diego, California. We work full time from home, we’re always there when the kids come home from school, we eat lunch together as a family every single day, we basically do whatever the heck we want, whenever we want – all while we grew our business by 1,000% (yup, one thousand percent) in less than 1.5 years.

So yes, it has been the best of times, and it has been the worst of times. A very big roller coaster ride.

And as the year comes to an end, I have been reflecting on where to go from here.

From a career perspective, I do have a best-selling book under my belt, a successful online business together with my wife, and am part of a wonderful community of customers, associates, partners, peers, and fans (yup, I apparently have some fans too!)

I am looking to take my personal brand to a new level this forthcoming year: I plan on doing more blogging, more speaking, more consulting and more coaching. And it was during this time that I happened upon a course called “Experts Academy” being promoted by a person named Brendon Burchard.

I was first introduced to Brendon’s products earlier this year when all of the big marketers in the industry were promoting his product. I received an email from at least 20 different people pitching his product “in my face”.

To be honest, I was a little turned off at that point. Plus I was in a different place in my life at that point, and did not give it further thought.

Over the months to follow, after the hype had died down and the launch had ended, I somehow kept running into Brendon’s videos, audio and other content from time to time, and the more I watched and absorbed his material, the more his brand grew on me. And I found the stuff he was teaching to be something not too many people taught (or taught like he did), very powerful and eye-opening – even for me, someone who has “been there, done that” in the online marketing world.

So this time around, when I found out that he’s re-opening the doors, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

I’m in a place right now where I am looking to actively and aggressively go into the “Expert” space, and launch more products in the coaching, consulting and seminar space.

This is exactly what the doctor ordered for me. And I have already decided to buy the course. Most people would consider it “expensive”, but for me, it’s going to be pretty “cheap”, because this is exactly what I’ve been wanting to learn, courses like this from someone who has proven themselves are rare to come by, genuinely good people like Brendon are even rarer, and the value I’m going to be getting from this is going to be so immense, that it is going to be the best gift I’ve bought myself in a long time.

Going by his free videos, his reputation, and his results, I predict this is going to be the product of the year. And if you could purchase just one thing over the next entire year, then let it be this one.

Even if you don’t buy the course, it would be crazy not to at least check out the bucket-loads of amazing free coaching that he’s giving away as part of this product launch. And as you watch each video, be sure to study the whole launch strategy – especially the “12 positioning tools” video that teaches how to market yourself as a a high-value, highly-paid expert starting starting today.

I have never, ever watched any “how-to” video for longer than 10-15 minutes at a time – ever. But I watched the first video which is like 45+ minutes long, in one sitting, completely mesmerized, furiously taking notes, while my brain was going so nuclear with all of the possibilities, that it could’ve probably powered my entire San Diego neighborhood!

Oh, and use this free FireFox plugin (one of my favorites) to download the launch videos, as even the free information is just too good to be skipped and forgotten. You will be watching them many times over, so make sure you save them to your computer for offline viewing.

- Ravi Jayagopal

P.S: So Where You At? What have you planned for 2011?
Do comment below.

PPS: Some of the links in this blog may result in an affiliate earning for this web site. We do not recommend products for the sake of earning a commission. Rather it’s the other way around. When we want to recommend something, we check if they have an affiliate program. If not, we recommend it anyway.

… and so does “music” – especially when it comes to just about any kind of video online.

When your mother admonished you when you were young for dressing like a bum to your first job interview, you probably didn’t realize how important “presentation” is. But you’ll be even more surprised how much it matters, after you see these videos.

Artifact 1:

An original video what will knock-your-socks off from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod. The video has been watched more than 11 million times (at the time of writing this).

And don’t miss watching it in full-screen mode.

Artifact 2:

Here’s a copycat video, with much different music, and a much different style. See if you can tell a difference in “impact”.

Artifact 3:

Completely different video, nothing to do with the above two – but simply had to include this in the conversation about using great editing and great music in an online video. And the beauty is, you could’ve done this too for your web site, with a not-very-expensive tool like Camtasia, but you didn’t . And neither have I

What a remarkable way to market your services through a viral video like this.

This is way too funny!

What’s the the most powerful feature of Twitter?

It’s definitely the ability to send an “@” reply to anyone on twitter – without their permission.

Now “great tools come with great responsibility” (yup, just made it up

Spam people on twitter, and you will get blocked, labeled a spammer, folks will hate on you, and word can spread very quickly. So obviously, you don’t want to spam folks and screw up your brand and reputation.

The “@” reply is so powerful that you can basically send a “tweet” to anyone who has an account on Twitter. Did you know that you can send a direct message to anyone from Bill Gates to Beyonce Knowles?

How cool is that?

Just remember, all “@ replies” can be seen publicly by everyone on Twitter.

But Twitter DMs (Direct Messages) are “private” tweets. They are seen only by the recipient. But before you can send someone a DM, they must be “following” you first.

Now there are Social Media experts who will tell you to simply “follow” everyone who follows you.

Now why would I want to do that? Just so that they can send me a DM?

Hey, if they must send me something in private, then it is probably important enough for them to go to my web site and send me an email. Or call me. Or @reply me and ask me for a way to contact me privately so we can take it offline. After all, if it’s that important, then I’m sure it deserves more than 140 characters.

And if I am following 17,541 people, then my twitter stream is going to be moving so dang fast, that it makes it practically worthless!

I only follow people, whose “tweets” I’m interested in.

I follow people because I want to know what they’re saying.

I want to know that they’re thinking.

I want to know what they’re reading, writing, selling, ranting about.

So to blindly follow everyone who follows you, makes no sense.

So here’s my take on this:

* Follow only those whose messages (and/or their timeliness) you’re interested in.
* Auto-DM’s and Auto-Follows are for spammers
* Feel free to use the @reply to butt-in to conversations in a relevant, non-spammy, non-commercial way
* Add meaning to a conversation, add value, and grow your network

Your impending “online rock star” status then can’t help but follow.

Do you sometimes bitch and complain and whine about your life?

If only your parents had given you the right education…

If only you were given your due recognition at work…

If only your family loved you…

If only you had more customers…

If only you had more people promoting your product…

If only you had a super-affiliate sending out emails to millions…

If only you knew how to write sales copy…

If only, if only, if only….

Here’s something that will help you stop bitching, and start counting your blessings.

Here’s how you “Work with what you’ve got”.

And trust me, you’ve already got a LOT!

The “3 Foot Giant”:

Life Without Limbs:

Once you’ve read this, also check out this post.

1 year ago, I launched a membership plugin for WordPress, called DigitalAccessPass (DAP).

It had some ground-breaking features – many firsts for its niche. Like “Content Dripping”, for example (I even coined a new word: ContentResponder .

Yesterday (October 11, 2009), DAP celebrated it’s 1st birthday!

Just some proof that with a lot of focus, hard work, persistence, passion, great customer service and a little bit of smarts, it is possible to create something a lot bigger than what was in your dreams

Click here to see how the birthday party went down…