Ravi's Rants

It was more than 8 years ago – in May 2010 – that I quit my last and final “job”. I’ve been a full-time entrepreneur ever since. But looking back at it now, it certainly wasn’t easy getting there. It only took me 10 years of working nights & weekends, and getting a side-business running…

[UPDATE: Contest is over. Answer revealed here.] MYSTERY: Guess what I’m trying to highlight in the picture? And win a prize even if you guess wrong. The Amazon prize is: The actual answer to the question!! (something from the picture). So reply and enter to win the free prize at Forum.Subscribeme.fm ANSWER REVEALED: https://forum.subscribeme.fm/t/contest-guess-what-im-trying-to-highlight-in-this-picture/81 . #contest…

Yeah, I know, clickbaity claim 🙂 But no, radio is not actually dead. Getting there, but it is technically still alive, and not doing too well. I got 6 months of free Satellite radio with a car I bought recently. If I was in the car for a total of, say, 50 hours over the…

If your want your neighbors to start mowing their lawn and cleaning their backyard… for planes to fly over you… and all the kids in the area to start playing outside… then just get in front of your microphone and hit record… and see how your entire neighborhood magically comes alive! . #podcaster #podcasting #podcasterproblems…

Disneyland’s “Fast Pass” is not very fast. Should’ve been “So Dang Slow” Pass ? Disney is leaving millions of dollars on the table by blowing this. Universal’s “Front of Line” is much better. Check out my episode at SubscribeMe.fm (listen below) where I explain why your business is better off doing what Universal is doing…

Waiting in a long line to watch Guardians. My boy Ro is inside, chilling with his nachos & cheese waiting for them to start letting folks in. Guess what I’m doing while waiting? Listening to a podcast, of course!

What is not Tracked, cannot be Measured. What is not Measured, cannot be Optimized. Regular folks track NOTHING. High performers track EVERYTHING. It’s totally fine to be in the middle, and improve as you go. But you gotta start somewhere. Watch my next few posts on how to track some important things at work and…

Wish I could be like him. This photo always lifts up my spirits and the awesome song “I’ve got a pocketful of sunshine” (Natasha Bedingfield) starts playing in my head. And my mood is instantly elevated. He is a male dog named Vanilla (don’t ask) – the world’s happiest, kindest, sweetest, gentlest, shyest, most loving…

Podcasting is one of the greatest things ever invented. I personally believe that when it comes to the ability to connect with people on a deeper, personal level, Audio is second only to Video. And with all the ways already invented every day to interrupt, annoy and distract people – TV, Netflix, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter,…

DOGPOO: Do Once Get Paid Only Once. DOSAA: Do Once Sell Again & Again. You cannot build a long-term profitable online business selling one-time products. You need to create recurring products and subscriptions. I have packed my 21 years of experience selling online, into a podcast on how to create membership sites, online courses and…

Super-excited to record the upcoming episode of my podcast: “Message, Photo, Call-to-Action: My Content Cross-Posting Funnel“. Check it out at SubscribeMe.fm.

How Your Online Course Can Be Better Than Disneyland So recently, along with my family, I visited Disney California Adventure. And a few months ago, in December 2016, during the holiday break, my family and I went to Universal Studios. Now, I live in San Diego, which is about 1.5 hours from Anaheim, which is…

Flash-back to 2009: I still have a day job. I am like Clark Kent. I slog away at my job – a highly paid one – during the day. Feels like my cubicle is made of Kryptonite – saps me of my life energy. I take the New York city subway to get to Grand…

Yes, there is such a thing as “Creating Too Much Content”. When what you’re doing is not having enough impact, the solution is not to go and create more of what you’re already doing. If your podcast isn’t growing, the answer is not simply to create more episodes. If your YouTube channel isn’t growing, the…

Here’s my basic content automation funnel at this time: Every time I post here on Instagram, a bunch of events get triggered, and my content gets auto-posted on to various platforms – some for external use, some for my own archiving. And here’s the cool tablet from Wacom that I used, to hand-draw the flowchart:…

So I wore a LeBron James jersey to the movies yesterday. Why? Cuz I wanted to show LBJ – and my team – some PDA. Nobody paid me to do that. Oh, and LBJ is getting paid tens of millions of dollars a year to play basketball, so it’s not like he’s doing it for…

One of the most popular meme-dudes of all time, I think. Created 4 years ago. This guy may no longer be a big deal, but DAP still is…

#inception #picwithinpic #teleprompter #marketing #videomarketing #shinynewtoy #selfievideo #comingsoon #videostudio #studio #studiosetup

Fantastic, cute li’ll mini tripod to hold your phone when doing FaceTime, Facebook Live and very ergonomic even for just reading or parking on your desk. Check it out here. #joby #jobygorillapod #tripod #tripodmini #jobygriptight #videomarketing #facebooklive #facetime #amazonprime #toolsofthetrade #videogear #videotools #gearhead #inception

No, that’s not a Karate Chop – that’s supposed to be a “Princess Wave”. Moral of the story: What it looks like, could easily be very different from what you actually intended it to look like. Intention alone is not enough – you need to follow up with great execution too! #karate #princess #princesswave #audreyhepburn…

It’s not even the awesome 78 deg. weather. It is the 12,412 miles… in 7 years! < 5 miles per day, basically picking up the kids after school… with the top down! #lifestyleentrepreneur #workfromhome #livingthedream #unemployable #sandiegosunshine #digitalaccesspass #blessed

VR gaming is awesome. But probably still 10-15 years away from being able to take a virtual vacay, virtual visit to the doctor, or virtually visiting with a loved one. For now, happy to settle for some fun and games. Blessed to be alive, active and (self) aware during this incredible era of technological and…

When you make a t-shirt for ur podcast or website, if you have mid-section flubber (like me) and don’t have washboard abs (like me), then make sure the image and text are not too big and don’t extend too much to the top or the sides. Smaller makes it easier to read and understand. #tshirtdesign…

Is Political Correctness overrated? Have we gotten over-sensitive as a people? This picture was taken for my 1st anniversary of my podcast that I launched in Sept 2015. I had posted this on my web site. And last month, when I sent out an email to my list with a blog post that had this…

  My new app is now live in the App Store! My podcast SubscribeMe.fm is the main screen. And it has 4 other screens: My Facebook Page for my show, About page, Upload screen to send me audio, pictures & video feedback right from your phone, and a Contact-me page. Please check it out and…

Was just interviewed on a podcast for immigrant entrepreneurs. Brought back so many great memories. And some bad ones (like being fired from two jobs for being the most unemployable man on earth, and having to restart my Greencard process each time). But I constantly remind myself to always focus on my blessings and discard…

Tickets: $1600. Drive time: 6 hours. Gas: $50. Food: $100. Seeing LeBron James take the night off for the one game we get to see him every year? Heartbreaking. But as LBJ super fans, we get it. It’s all about getting another one for #theland #sadbuthopeful #cavsclippers #striveforgreatness #gocavs #staplescenter @kingjames @cavs

#getoutandrun #rainorshine #mybestbud #pushthrough #hardestpartisstarting #getseasieronceyougetgoing

Recently, I wrote a post as an avid podcast listener, and a podcaster myself (my podcast SubscribeMe.fm turns 1 year old in just a few weeks!) I first submitted it on Reddit.com, and it was promptly deleted by an auto-moderator. I woke up next morning, to see a huge number of responses, including some nasty…

I just launched my new book… Subscribe Me: Making, Marketing & Monetizing Online Digital Content with Membership Sites, Online Courses and Subscriptions For a limited time, you can get it for free at SubscribeMeBook.com I call it the “Free with Five Friends” offer. My book is also available on Amazon Kindle at SubscribeMeBook.com/amazon/ My podcast…

I’m already up to 8 podcast episodes of my show “Subscribe Me“. Episode 1: Making, Marketing & Monetizing Your Digital Content Episode 2: DOGPOO vs DOSAA, Apple’s New Membership Model, How To Get Ripped To Shreds On SharkTank & Trolling My Own Indian Accent Episode 3: $1.5 Billion for a Membership Site? Membership Site Dream…

A Post of FIRSTs My podcast auction ended last night (September 19th at the stroke of midnight). Congrats to Dan Hollings? from AmazoWorks.com on becoming the FIRST-EVER winner of the FIRST-EVER online auction selling the FIRST-EVER ad spot on the FIRST-EVER podcast by a FIRST-TIME-EVER podcaster (me)! AmazoWorks is a tool resource for Amazon Sellers…

I am super excited to announce the upcoming launch of my brand new podcast, called “Subscribe Me”. The show’s web site is at SubscribeMe.fm. I can’t wait to share with you everything I’ve learned about the making, marketing and monetizing of your digital content, using membership sites and recurring subscriptions. This podcast is going to…

Don’t let anyone tell you “Who the heck is going to read your book?” And don’t you ever wonder “Who on earth will read what I write?” If you’ve been waiting for a sign from above, then this is it. Now go create something great! Share this if you care. P.S: The first line is…

Here’s an old blog post that I wrote in March, 2006. I had a job back then. The passion I had back then inspires me when I read it myself. It was that passion that eventually led to the creation of Digital Access Pass. If you still have a job, hope you get inspired at least…

For creating membership content, where you may be dripping the content over time, content that you may be selling as parts of different “products” or “memberships” (like for eg. content that you want to be available to your Gold and Platinum members, but not Silver members) and for almost all general purposes, create your content…

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…

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…

Just when I thought that I was one of the most “web savvy” and “tech savvy” people on earth, who could never be tricked into downloading anything that would infect my computer… BAM! My laptop gets infected by what’s come to be known as the “Google Redirection Virus”. The symptoms are very obvious… You do…

“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…

… 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,…

What a remarkable way to market your services through a viral video like this. This is way too funny!

Inspiration from (friendly) spam I received in my email…. Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983… From the world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: “Why did God have to select you…

Oh, I’m very much a Hunter! But being a Gemini, I do have a kind of split-personality. So, occasionally I chill out and become a “Farmer”. Not for too long though 🙂

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,…

NOTE: WordPress is right for you, only if you want to actually launch your membership site some day, make money from your site, and do not wish to spend an insane amount of time creating and maintaining it, and only if you do not wish to spend hundreds (or thousands) of dollars outsourcing the creation…

A Lightbox is a piece of JavaScript used to display images and videos in an ‘overlay’. Basically, a user can click on an image to either have the image – or a video – magnified in a Lightbox window. It is usually accompanied by the use of a dark background, usually a dimming of the…

I almost purchased this product when it was originally launched at $997 (I think). But I’m glad I didn’t back then, because now I got it for free. Well, almost free. Paid $15.95 S&H. But I think this is a great strategy though. Charge enough for Shipping & Handling to cover the cost of your…

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…

I’ve been a fan of Guy Kawasaki for a while now. Not a fan-boi type, but still admired him enough to call myself a “fan”. I follow him on Twitter, read his blog occasionally, and love to watch his videos as he is a great presenter and speaker who adds a lot of humor and…

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,…

I believe it is critically important to have role models, teachers, mentors, gurus, leaders, spiritual guides – from whom we can draw courage, inspiration, enlightenment, guidance – in times of need at various stages of our life. So here’s a short list of my role models, who have all tremendously inspired me, taught me, and…

Did you know that the incredibly famous Nike “Swoosh” logo was created by a graphic design student desperate to pay for a dress for an upcoming party, for a stunning total of $35 (at $2/hour)? I watched a Nike documentary recently, where they interviewed  Philip Knight (one of Nike’s Founders), “His Airness” Michael Jordan, and…

Found this discount coupon online. Gives you $50 off all accounts (1-yr, 2-yr, etc) at DreamHost. Here’s the coupon code to use: WST10609 – Ravi

Seth Godin writes about his revolutionary program, the 6 Month MBA. Very inspring. A must-read.

The difference is pretty simple, actually 🙂 Quit Smoking Simple: We all know the health benefits of not smoking. Quit smoking, live longer. But Not Easy: The actual act of quitting is really hard. Losing Weight Simple: Do it and you will look good, feel good, and have more energy But Not Easy: Working out…

I have a friend whose main purpose in life is to find deals and bargains and cut costs. He once spent several weeks filling out an insane number of really long forms and processing rebate information, for a mail-in rebate promotion for a laptop. And he purchased that crappy, low-end laptop because that was the…

Yup, sometimes it is easier “done” than “said”. Just go do it… http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/05/can-you-change-everything.html

I started Techiiies.tv as a fun project, and I’m pretty confident that YouTube would run out of storage space before I run out of ideas for creating techiiie videos. Oh, and by the way, if you’re wondering about the weird spelling of Techiiies, it was of course because the name “Techies” (with the single “i”)…

Here’s the email I received earlier today, notifying me of the change to Amazon’s Affiliate Commissions policies. Relevant portion is highlighted below. We’re writing to let you know about a change to the Amazon Associates Program. After careful review of how we are investing our advertising resources, we have made the decision to no longer…

Incredibly exciting, inspiring, and motivational video. 50% of the credit goes to the music and the “style” of presentation.

I use Amazon S3 to host my business videos. S3 offers incredible performance, unlimited storage, and is extremely affordable. Another Purple Cow from Amazon. Plus it looks a lot more professional than hosting your business videos on a crowded social video site with user generated videos and ads surrounding it. Amazon S3 for video hosting.…

You probably know about my book, “No Business Like E-Business”, that sells on Amazon. I have also developed this really powerful Membership Software, whose primary “Claim to Fame” is that it can “drip” content little by little on a list, much like an email autoresponder drips emails. So, I had this rather brilliant idea 🙂…

WARNING: SHOCKING LANGUAGE FROM CUSTOMER BELOW Ok, so maybe the title was a little dramatic, but still, I didn’t know I was *this* awesome at marketing 🙂 Over the weekend, when I thought of giving away my best-selling book on Amazon for free on the book’s blog, I never imagined that my copy writing style…

This is turning into a “Seth Godin Week” at RavisRants.com. But if you’re like me, you can’t get enough of what Seth has to say. So enjoy… ‘curiosity’ from Nic Askew on Vimeo.

What does Seth think about the Facebooks and Twitters?

The first web page I ever designed was in 1995, for a buddy who wanted to impress his girlfriend on her birthday. So, I ended up publishing a (what was then popular) “Java Applet” thingamajig, on a free site called Geocities (Y! bought it later). It created this rotating cube that had a different picture…

Amazon currently has 17,338,442 books available for sale. Of those 17 million, my book is currently ranked at 20,969. Which means my book is ranked at 0.1% of all books on Amazon. 0.1% means high up among the top 1% of all books. These numbers mean not much more than a pat on the back.…

No, I did not just time-travel back to 1995. Frames have always been considered a bad idea… Bad for SEO. Bad if you’re using JavaScript. Bad if want to use DHTML. Bad for bookmarking. Bad for passing around links. But here’s probably one of the few (or only?) remaining uses for frames (this is where…

DAP v2.0 is out now. Very excited. Stuffed with really cool features. We now have a new WordPress plugin with a pretty slick name (at least I think so :-), called “LiveLinks“. It makes your blog appear “alive” – as in, show different content to different folks (members, non-members, those who just joined, those who…

Excellent interview by Charlie Rose. And the discussion about monetizing FaceBook is very interesting. And a cool thing about Google Video (not to be confused with YouTube) is that you get a link right on the page, to download the video (iPod/iPhone friendly). So load up for offline viewing at the gym or on the…

Something amazing happened today: A customer paid money and purchased a ‘monthly’ subscription to one of my sites. Ok, so maybe nothing spectacular about that. But now get this… I haven’t even launched that web site yet! Tons of spelling and grammatical errors on the page. I hadn’t even done a spell-check. Can’t remember publishing…

Last week, I searched YouTube (not Google) for how to “change wiper blades“, and watching a couple of the videos helped me change the wiper blades on my car in under 2 minutes (something I had been putting off for almost a year!) Here is an interesting article about the shift in the way people…

My favorite web host DreamHost is offering an *insane* deal… 2-year web hosting (normally $214) can now be purchased for just $21.48 – that’s almost a 90% discount. And I just got a new account (already have 3 accounts with them!) This is not an affiliate offer. This is just a coupon I found online,…

[Last updated: April 22, 2013] Ok, I promise not to brag too much… 😉 Here is a really cool typing test. I’m averaging a speed of about 104 words per minute (in 3 tries  – proof below 🙂 UPDATE: My latest score as of September 2, 2010 WooHoo! 119.12 words per minute! UPDATE: My latest…

Let’s say you found this incredible video on YouTube that you wish to share with your subscribers/friends/family. But you watched it already and say, the first 3 minutes is all garbage (or just plain boring). So how do you link to the video such that your viewers skip the 3 minutes and go directly to…

Until last night, I thought I was quite tech-savvy and very up-to-date with the latest and greatest in the web world. But I guess I was wrong 🙂 I started on a (brief) quest last month to add live-chat to some of my sites. After looking around, I couldn’t find a decent free solution. Of…

Yet another incredible presentation from Seth Godin. I can’t seem to get enough of what he talks about…

If you wish to follow me on Twitter, then I’ll be honored that you chose to do so. I’ll even send you a personal “thank you” note 🙂 But if you follow me expecting me to follow you back, that’s probably not going to happen. Many high-profile Twits (or Twitter’ers) do the Follow-Me-And-I’ll-Follow-You bit. That’s…

I launched my newest product (DAP) last night. So why did I decide to launch it on a Saturday evening, right in the middle of a long weekend (at least for most folks here in the US)? My first motivation for this was one of Seth’s posts about launches. “it doesn’t matter much how many…

Ok, I was being dramatic. Plus I’m straight 🙂 (and I think Seth is too). Last evening, I was fortunate to be a part of a private group that participated in Seth presentation for his new book, “Tribes” . The presentation was “remarkable!”, as Seth would’ve said himself. Filled with extraordinary images, and almost no…

Uncanny! I got “Presentation Zen” delivered in the mail last night from Amazon. And someone tweeted this Garr Reynolds video of “Authors at Google”…

We all know what turned out to be the answer to that question. So, here we go again: Do We Really Need Yet Another Browser? If it’s coming from Google, then it’s definitely worth checking out. It sends my brain tingling when I read this: Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously…

If you don’t know what a “Mashup” is, fret not. You’re now going to witness one of the greatest “mashup” tools ever developed… Full story: Introducing Ubiquity

“Twit” is no longer just a mean word 🙂 I signed up for Twitter a while ago. But I never “got it” – until recently – when I figured out the awesomeness of microblogging. Seth Godin wrote this on his blog: “My goal in creating this blog is to spread my ideas and keep me…

I’ve always talked to folks about having a sense of urgency in life. Because that’s how I operate. I look at the young & successful, and I feel like I’m 10 years behind. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing either. If you don’t have nowhere to go and nothing to achieve, then you…

Quite frequently, I am reminded of how we take certain things for granted, while it could be something completely new/interesting/educating/shocking for someone else. Using Google Alerts for competitive research is one such “thing”. During a chat with a friend the other day, I casually mentioned how I use Google Alerts to keep an eye on…

Performics > DoubleClick > Google Affiliate Network Google finally completed it’s DoubleClick Performics merger and started operations as the “Google Affiliate Network” on June 30th. They’re now accepting applications from Advertisers, and knowing Google’s famous processing lag time, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get an application in right away. I just did, and…

Awesome story. Just goes to show that if you have the will, and the skill, and some creativity, you can make money pretty much doing anything at all! Meet the iPod Doctor

Legendary Kannada film writer and director R.N. Jayagopal – my beloved father – passed away on May 19th, 2008 in Chennai. He was 72 years old. He was perfectly healthy – until two months ago. He went from being 100% to 0% – all in a matter of two months. Dad: All I wanted was…

Create a file called phpinfo.php Enter these few lines of code in it: (you can copy-paste from below): <?php phpinfo(); ?> Upload this to your root folder (where your home page (index.htm or index.html etc) lives. Access this script via the browser like this: http://www.YourSite.com/phpinfo.php You should see a nice page come up, with the…

I was recently in the market for an “e” fax solution. I looked at quite a few services. My basic requirements were these: Reliable Low cost (not necessarily free – because I wanted the service to be reliable and accountable) Didn’t need a local area code – anywhere was fine, as I don’t receive too…

[UPDATE: This script was free for a LONG time. Apparently, at some point, they made it not-free. FYI.] At my MyWebmasterInABox.com site, I used to run a forum powered by phpBB. But phpBB turned out to be one of the most poorly designed, least secure, web-based applications I have ever used. So, for the longest…

I’ve thought about selling my RSS Feed Publishing Script for a long time. And then one day, I just decided to give it away. All I want is for you to try out my free newsletter. You can leave any time. No questions asked. And you will never hear from me again. Your permission to…

If I had to pick just one blog, and could read only one blog for the rest of my life – including my own blog (the one you’re reading right now) – I would pick Seth Godin’s blog. Seth’s blog is (hyperbole alert) amazing, educational, informative, remarkable, mind-blowing, extraordinary, purple, eye-opening and goose-pimple-raising good. Seth’s…

It’s not really purple in color. But I did mean that it is Purple. Why? It’s because of the way it was successful in creating an entirely new industry of “athlete marketing” like never before. Because of how it created a frenzy among consumers. Because of the innovative ways Nike marketed it [for instance, they…

My question was very simple: I wanted to know how I could promote products using CPA (Cost Per Action) on the Google Network and allow publishers who have access to “AdSense Referrals” to promote my products by placing a piece of code on their web sites, and when someone clicked over to my web site…