I’m currently on a working vacation to Ireland with my wife. I have my MacBook with me, but it was imperative that I have easy Internet access while here.

Before leaving, I called up AT&T to see about using my USB data connection card overseas. I was on a $59/mo plan which gave me unlimited access while in the states, but would charge a fortune if used out of the country. They told me I could get on a plan for $139/mo that would give me better rates when out of the country.

The better rate was that I would have 100MB per month of out-of-country usage. Each additional megabyte would be charged at $5 per megabyte.

I used up the 100MB in just a few hours of not doing much more than browsing the web and checking email.

While visiting Galway, I went on the lookout for a cheaper alternative. It turns out a cell phone company called “3″ sells a pay-as-you-go data card where that costs 25 Euro (about $40) per month or 10Gigs of bandwidth, whichever comes first. The unit cost 99 Euro.

So I’m paying AT&T a surcharge of $80/mo to get 100MB of bandwidth while in the UK. But I was able to get a connection card from “3″ for $40/mo to get 10,000 MB of bandwidth while in the UK. That is 100x more bandwidth for half the price.

Not only that, but I had to sign up for a 1 year $139/mo contract with AT&T to get their international usage “deal” which I only needed for 2 months while traveling.

Moral of the story: you get better deals locally.

- Chris

A few years back I was really struggling with my job. I consistently felt like I wasn’t appreciated and that my talents and efforts were not being credited to me. I often complained to my wife about it. On one such occasion of particularly strong discouragement, my wife asked me something that has stuck with me (I think she heard it on the radio that day)…

She asked me if I knew what my great grandfather did for a living.

I had no idea.

She went on to remind me that my legacy and impact were not tied into my “career,” but instead dealt with the kind of person I am. This was tremendously encouraging.

Well, we left Phoenix this morning after spending 4 days with my grandparents who are nearing the end of their retirement there. It was a great time. My grandad has spent the past few years compiling the Crompton family tree. He showed me all his research. Most of it was very interesting.

I’m pretty sure he told me what his dad, my great grandfather, did for a living. But just a day or two later, I have forgotten.

But one thing I know… God has shown his grace on my family. Through all the virtue and sin of my lineage, here I am as God’s undeserving child. I am grateful. And when I start putting my faith in my “success” and my “career” I need to remember what is most important… what remains.

1 Corinthians 13:13

- Chris

I put some software in place on my Outsource Mastermind salesletter that will show the highest performing variations of the sales page more often. In this way I am automatically increasing the conversion rate of the offer.

There’s also a way customers can leave testimonials… and these testimonials are automatically tested for their affect on the conversion rate of the offer. One testimonial in particular is having an outstanding impact on my sales.

Here it is:
"Outsource Mastermind is off to a great start, providing tons of hands-on techniques you can implement in your business TODAY. I got a lot out of the Outsourcing Vendor Reviews, which saved me a ton of time by quickly highlighting the best available outsourcing resources. The Documentation Modules and Sample Procedures are super high quality, and I appreciate the use of video for FAST learning. Great job Chris, and keep up the great work!"

Dave Aron
Springfield, Missouri, USA
http://OutsourcingTactics.com

So if you visit my sales page for Outsource Mastermind, you’ll probably see that testimonial (even though there are 4 others people have left) since it has the biggest positive impact on the conversion rate.

A couple days ago I completed the Outsource Mastermind training program for the “founders” who got in a month or so ago. The conclusion of the multimedia training was the release of a reliable traffic generation process.

This process was documented with screen-captures and descriptions for every step so it can be handed off directly to outsource workers. Indeed — I’ve got one of my outsource workers performing this traffic generation procedure for me as I type this!

It actually took a week of back-and-forth correspondence with my virtual assistant and a couple hours of final editing on my part to get this procedure ready for delivery to the Outsource Mastermind.

That’s the thing with business procedures… they can sometimes be painful to set up. But there’s no greater feeling once they are documented and running on autopilot within your business.

And that’s what the founding members of the Outsource Mastermind will be experiencing each month as I deliver a new tested procedure they can implement immediately within their businesses.

The great news for you is that the Outsource Mastermind Community will be opening up for new members in just a few weeks.

If you want to stay in the know, please sign up here:
http://www.outsourcemastermind.com

- Chris Crompton

I heard about Twitter last fall when a tech geek friend of mine said I should sign up. I saw no point.

I laughed as another tech geek friend was posting “eating pie” from his cell phone to Twitter as he was eating pie at a church get-together.

How ridiculous to think anyone cares about the mundane details of our lives. Or so I thought…

http://www.twitter.com/crompton

Well, I got an iPhone the other day and have been looking for cool things to do with it, so I decided to join Twitter.

It’s still early, but I think I’ve been won over!

What is cool is to get glimpses into the “real life” stuff of people I know only online… and many people I only know by name.

You can “follow” the twitter posts of anyone you want.

Then I started thinking how cool it would be to be follow the happenings of people on my list. Sure, I don’t *know* most of you personally — but if you’re reading this we’ve got a lot in common.

You can follow my twitter posts at:
http://www.twitter.com/crompton

Once you’re logged in with your own Twitter account, just go to the page above and click the “Follow” link under my picture to follow my posts. I’ll be notified and then will do the same for your posts so I can keep updated on what is going on with you.

Sure, it might be a place to feel self-important. But the potential for that is overshadowed by the coolness of being able to keep up with people so easily and get to know each other.

- Chris

P.S. I’ll almost certainly be posting some *insider* stuff to Twitter about my upcoming release of the Outsource Mastermind in May. To stay in the know, follow me.

Ever want to find out the secret projects the big name marketers are working on?

I recently found a tool that can often tell you just that…

Most people use shared hosting for their sites. with shared hosting, multiple site are sharing the same server and same IP address.

Even people on a dedicated server will often have multiple sites sharing the same IP address.

Here is a site that will tell you all other sites sharing the same IP address as a given domain:

http://www.myipneighbors.com/

Some things to keep in mind…

1. If someone is on a shared server, there will likely be other businesses (and their sites) sharing the server as well. So just because other sites come up as being on the same IP address doesn’t mean they are owned by the same person

2. If someone has a dedicated IP address, theirs will be the only site at that IP — so the tool won’t tell you much.

3. This tool is mainly designed to tell you who else is on your shared server — so put in your own domain name and satisfy your curiosity.

Of course, I like to use this for competitive research. I can often see what other projects a competitor has in the works. So the takeaway is that if you want to keep a new project a secret, get a dedicated IP address for it!

- Chris

Have you seen those “Save A Sale” type of popups people have been using more and more lately?

You know, the ones that stop you from closing the window and open up a chat window where a representative offers a discount on your purchase.

Did you know most all of those are automated? I came across one a couple months back and just *had* to have it for my site. I found a link to the script and learned the company making the script takes a percentage of each sale they “save”.

They basically act as your affiliate. Also, you had to already be selling a certain amount of dollars per month before they would commit to work with you.

I said, “No Thanks”, too many restrictions and too much money!

I discovered a product today that was a no-brainer. A one-time fee (that is extremely low) and I could have an even better script for my site AND I DON’T HAVE TO PAY COMMISSIONS ON THE SAVED SALES!

I purchased it immediately and am going through the training videos now.

Virtual Smart Agent

I’ll be uploading this script to a couple of my sales pages next week and I have no doubt it will increase sales.

Get Virtual Smart Agent.

- Chris

It is encouraging to see the number of people who have expressed interest in the Outsource Mastermind Community by signing up for the Priority Notification list over the past week.

This morning I put up a < 2 min presentation highlighting another key component. Check it out!

http://www.outsourcemastermind.com/blog

I’m far from a pro at making these presentations… I’m much more at home using screen-capture to document procedures for my outsourcers than I am doing this “sales presentation” thing.

But I think you’ll be quite interested in the upcoming Outsource Mastermind Community. It launches in a week — Tuesday, March 18th.

Find out more.

- Chris

I just released a new report today entitled “10 Outsourcing Mistakes.”

This complimentary report is available here:
http://www.outsourcingmistakes.com

- Chris

You can wrap a lot of knowledge up into a tool. The tool can be hard-wired to follow the best business process. It can be automated to perform the work in minutes that would otherwise take hours.

A tool lessens the work required, for sure, but it still comes with 2 main requirements of its own…

1. You must learn to use the tool.
2. You must use the tool.

Both of these require time. How much time? Perhaps 30 minutes for step 1 and 5 minutes for step 2. This is the case with my tool for article mareketing called the Content Spooling Network.

When you consider that the alternative is hours for both steps without the tool, the tool looks like a no brainer.

But two obstacles remain even when using a tool to get things done when in business for yourself…

1. Time — there’s just not enough of it.
2. Attention. Even when you have the time, oftentimes you simply don’t have the attention. While the 10 minutes may easily exist in your day, your attention cannot handle one more thing. Or you don’t have the attention, but do the task anyway — to dismal results and eroding happiness.

This is why many people procrastinate. They don’t have the will to draw their attention to one more thing (out of fear or whatever). So how do we overcome this?

Again, there are 2 ways to overcome the lack of attention.

1. Get a coach.
2. Outsource the task and/or use of the tool.

Sure, given the links above, you can see that I’ve got this handled for article marketing. If you are a member of the Content Spooling Network, you likely do too.

But there’s a lot more to a successful business than article marketing. Keep an eye out for how I plan to be of help for the rest of the puzzle.

- Chris Crompton

Tags: content spooling network, outsource, outsourcing, small business, marketing, article marketing