Book Review | I'm Just Sharing

Beyond Blogging

Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Dec 21, 2009

Okay, this is definitely something different for me, but different times call for different actions.

I’m on the ground floor of helping to market a brand new product; a J-V (joint venture) if you will. The product is called Beyond Blogging, and it’s a book that has interviews with some of the top money making bloggers of our time.

Now, here’s the thing. The book isn’t available until December 28th. Going to the links now gives you a chance to download a sypnosis of the book, which is pretty good. How do I know? Y’all know me. I’ve said that, except for some of my CJ banner ads, I’m not endorsing anything I haven’t seen. And one of the authors, Mike Cliff Jones, has given me a copy of the book to review up front so I can tell y’all about it. And you know it’s going to be in my words. Sure, they’ve created their own copy, but it’s not my style to use someone else’s words instead of my own on my blog. Nope; ain’t gonna happen. So, here’s a legitimate review; gotta love it!

The book is actually a compilation put together by two authors. One I’ve already mentioned; the other is Nathan Hangen. And this is a book; more than 160 pages worth of very good stuff. They’ve talked to some impressive names if you know anything about big time bloggers.

For instance, we have Gary Vaynerchuk, someone our friend Sire just found out about and had written that post about him, so he’s a big deal.

You’ve got Chris Brogan, who many people know as not only a big A-list blogger but an expert on social media as well. Chris also has a couple of books out there that some of you have seen.

You’ve got David Risley, someone who just came to our attention through an infamous post, once again, on Sire’s site (man, two mentions in my sales letter; is this guy living the life of Riley or what?). I have to admit that after reading his story and his bonafides in the book that I have a lot more respect for his accomplishments.

Of all things, they even got John Chow to sit down with them and discuss how he made his money online. For those of you who scoff at this guy, trust me, you need to pick up a couple of tips from him and how he’s done it, because this is a guy who really didn’t need money from the internet to be considered successful, and he did it anyway.

And there are a lot of other people inBeyond Blogging, for a total of 15 profiles. They all have a bit about their background, they get to tell their stories of success and failure, and how they see blogging and making money will go in the future. I have to say it’s a very good read, and I’m proud to have had the opportunity to not only read it, but to be an affiliate for it. And y’all get to let me see just what kind of marketer I can be, because I’m going to be following their time schedules in marketing this book, which means this isn’t the last post you’ll see on the book.

So, here’s what I’d love you to do for me now. Click on either the Beyond Blogging book, the link in the book name above, or the banner ad below. Go to the website and download the free pdf so you can see more of what the book is about in someone else’s words. There’s might be flashier than mine, but hey, it’s me! Anyway, go there, check it out, then stay tuned as I work with them for the hopefully successful launch on December 28th. I’ll also be adding the book to my sidebar to remind you of it, because I’ll be marketing it long after the launch. I think this book is quality stuff, and I know most of you will also. Have I ever lead any of you down the wrong path? And who among us hasn’t talked about wanting to make more money by blogging?

By the way, notice one very interesting thing, something I actually tried to do but couldn’t do because the domain name was always taken. Every one of the folks above has their own website in their own name. Something to think about, especially where this book is concerned. That’s the only hint you’re getting from me!

Product | 36 Comments

CSS In 24 Hours

Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Nov 3, 2008

Although some of my friends might not believe it, I’m not an uber computer geek by any means. I learn what I need to learn, then go about my business until it’s time to learn something else.

Back in 2003, when I needed to learn HTML pretty quickly, I used a program called PageTutor. The fact that I learned HTML in just about 3 hours is proof enough for me to recommend it to people even now if you need to learn it. However, when it came time to learn CSS (cascading stylesheets), I found PageTutor couldn’t quite get me there.

So, I went to my favorite bookstore, Barnes and Noble, and went through all the books there on CSS. And the one I came home with was a champ. It’s called CSS In 24 Hours, and this was just the book I needed to help me get over the hump.

Not only was it quick and easy to use, but he gives you the different codes to use with each step, and you can go online and download templates and other information to help you see what’s going on. The chapters are broken into “hours”, hence the title, but you know I went through it faster than 24 hours. The best thing about a book is that you can go back and look at things over and over if you need to, and with this book, finding everything is simple and easy. Of course, I will make a confession, that being that I never make any websites based on CSS alone. One day I will, but so far, since I’ve noticed how websites with total CSS seem to not always have the same formatting from browser to browser, sometimes even within versions of the same browser, I’ve decided to stick with the

attribute to at least keep the basic format stable.

Anyway, I recommend CSS In 24 Hours for anyone who needs to learn CSS in a hurry, and without much hassle.

CSS In 24 Hours
by Kynn Bartlett

Web Stuff | 3 Comments

Guy Kawasaki’s ‘Reality Check’

Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Oct 30, 2008

For once, I get to scoop the blogger nation; well, most of it anyway. As of right now, it’s the date of the official release of Guy Kawasaki’s new book Reality Check. You may be asking yourself how I get to scoop you if the book just came out. Because I read the book back in May as a test reader and early editor, and already had a copy of the book, though in an incomplete Word document form, and just today I received my free copy of the book in the mail; signed! I actually talked about it back then, when the only regular reader I had was Sire.

What’s the book about? In general, he covers it with his subheading: “The irreverent guide to outsmarting, outmanaging, and out-marketing your competition. Basically, it’s a business book, a start to finish book on how to run a business, how to present yourself in front of others, how to interview for the positions you want, and basically how to be successful.

Each chapter of the book begins with “The Reality, such as the Reality of Innovating, the Reality of Marketing, and the Reality of Competing, and quite often in those chapters he refers to an action as “The Art Of, such as the Art of Execution, the Art of Selling, and the Art of Firing, important if you’re ever going to be a leader in business, because, unfortunately, leaders often have to fire people.

He educates us with all of these items in the book with humor and stories, some of the stories his, some stories of others, and there are interviews throughout the book, short ones, with various people he’s known throughout his life. One thing I particularly liked about the book is that each chapter begins with a quote from a famous person. The quote beginning chapter 62, which was originally chapter 63, may upset a few people, but trust me, it fits with the theme of the chapter, that being the Top Ten Lies Of Partners.

It’s a very good book and a very good read, and it’s going to be a bestseller; trust me on this one. Guy’s a very smart and driven guy, and a man of his word. Buy this one; heck, if you’re going to buy it, buy it through me!