Have you ever felt like you’re being drawn and quartered and just haven’t come apart yet?

Yeah, I’m feelin’ kinda stressed around here. Trying to go in too many directions and not reaching any of the destinations.

That’s what happens if you try to do too many things that aren’t related to each other.

Having become addicted to downloading all the neat free offers and free trials, I’ve been going in too many directions for a while now.

It’s hard to resist email headlines like these:

“Last chance to download this free PDF report”
“Here’s your free report”
“Here’s your ready made income stream…”
“You can’t win without this…”
“Download this free video package”
“Did you pick up your free software?”
“This powerful report is just for you”
“This report / video/ course/ software/ ebook/ audio/ is just what you need”
“Open now if you like money”
“Download these products instantly”
“Get 2000 guaranteed visitors to your website today!”
“Have you tried this yet?”
“Grab this while you still can” or, “before it’s too late”
“Great freebie for you today”

And then there are the nifty catch words like, secret, incredible, sneaky, alarming, fun, deadline, before it’s too late, and
yes, even nifty is a great catch word.

I’m saving the headlines that make me click, for a “swipe file” of good subject lines, but I’m not the best test subject for this. I tend to be curious anyway, and it doesn’t take much to pique my interest.

And I’m not complaining about these email subject lines. They’re good. They got me to click on them. And they pretty much all have some great products. But are they related to what I’m doing? Or even to each other?

Mostly, not. And therein lies my dilemma.

It’s a funny thing about goals… you have to define them really well if you want one.

It’s time to read Alex’s modules again and get down to business… yet again.

How do you stay on track? How does anyone focus on only one subject when everything is so interesting?

I’d love to hear what you think!

This is going to be an experiment for me, as well as an attempt to share something of value with everyone.

First, this will be my first attempt at posting a video in here! If nothing shows up, I’ll cry, but if you see something, then you’ll know I lucked out.

Second, I thought this video was pretty helpful. It’s by my friend, Patric Chan, who coached me a couple years ago.

So, if I’ve embedded this video right, you’ll see as you watch it that it only shows the first five tips. Patric said he’s making another video with the last five tips, which I’ll put in here next time.

OK, here we go:

Watch for the next video! You can also visit his website at www.successtrace.com.

Oh boy, be careful what you wish for. And be careful how you visualize and focus on things…

I’ve been thinking strongly about how to make a few bucks this year, just to help me hold on while I create my ultimate success online.
I guess I’ve been thinking of that end result as too big to conquer first, and that I should do something “in the meantime” to survive while I put the elements together that will bring huge success.

This week I actually came into possession of a “buck.” A dog named Buck.

OK, you can laugh if you want to. I think it’s kinda funny myself. Maybe Buck the dog will be the push I needed, to get past the notion that the ultimate goal has to be secondary. It should be primary!

So, how did I actually end up with Buck the dog?

As part of my animal rescue work, it came to my attention that a swell dog was about to be put down because he had nowhere to go, and the shelter he was in needed the space. As is typical of shelters all over the U.S. (and probably in other countries as well), certain animals have the lowest chances of survival as they are usually the first to be killed. No one adopts them, and they can languish in a cage forever. So why bother?

Buck typifies that situation in every way: He’s black; not too big, but not small; he has no identification on him; he’s older; no owner can be found (meaning he was dumped to wander and make it on his own); to survive he was raiding trash cans; he looked sickly (thin from lack of food and care, matted hair, covered in ticks). Poor Buck was a sure candidate for the needle, all right. Who would want such a sorry looking old dog?

Well, I did. I knew he was a good dog inside but that his luck was almost completely run out, so I spoke up. After veterinary care and some recuperation time in a foster home, he became ready for his new home…. mine!

So now that I have my interim “buck” along the way to internet success, I can focus fully on that goal! (Did the universe just teach me a lesson? I prayed for “bucks” and got one!)

As a dedicated animal welfare activist and caretaker, I’ve noticed some parallels that can be drawn from that work, relating to what I’m trying to accomplish with my internet marketing efforts. It was only the other day that I realized the correlations, as I have kept these parts of my life very well separated. Now, I’m thinking, they aren’t that far apart after all. Here is how I came to realize it:

I started an animal shelter about 7 years ago and have rescued hundreds of dogs and close to 1,000 cats. Housing them has been an amazing experience that has taught me a lot about pet care, behavior and health, and how people influence those dynamics (good and bad). Working with that many animals has given me knowledge and expertise that has provided the content for several ebooks and many articles, not to mention, successful outcomes for most of the animals, because I paid attention to details, followed up on what worked best, and recorded my observations.

I hesitate to call any of it “experimentation” as that implies testing that necessarily allows a percentage of my “subjects” to suffer ill effects for comparison purposes.

However, it is correct to use the term to describe my non-scientific, trial and error, approach to determine best protocols to handle their various needs.

OK, now pay attention to this revelation, because it relates to marketing, too:

In time, I developed policies that most often ensured their best interests. For example, feeding the cats is a major endeavor, since they come from different backgrounds, with different ages, weights, breeds, health issues, environments and experiences with people and/or other animals. Often, these factors are unknown because there are no records.

With such enormous variety of background factors, it soon became obvious to me that cats are not finicky or picky, as people believe, but rather, cautious about anything that might compromise their safety and survival. Not allowing themselves to be forced into our notion of cooperation, which is only forced conformation to our convenience, is not picky… it’s individuality, a trait not generally appreciated by humans in regard to animals… and hardly to other humans.

Appetite may result from hunger, but it does not lead to consumption if the product is unfamiliar.

Just like their human counterparts, cats come to the table with many differences, though it will be necessary in a shelter to be fed foods they may not know. (Imagine you’re in Africa and have been offered a local delicacy that turns out to be sheep’s eyeballs. How eager are you to eat that? Even the common daily menu could include items you do not consider food, such as insects and grubs. You could lose a lot of weight in the process. have you ever watched that television show, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern?)

Finding an acceptable food puts a burden on the caretakers (the shelter) to meet a wide and largely unknown variety of appetites. Forcing all the cats to eat the same food may be a necessity for shelter survival, but occasionally it threatens the lives of individual cats with special needs. Unfortunately, we did lose 6 cats during the first 6 years the shelter was open.

When a cat cannot or will not eat, they die. Period. Why don’t they just eat the food in front of them, like a dog would? Perhaps this huge behavior difference can be attributed to totally different evolutionary paths, but it doesn’t matter. You can’t change a cat’s instincts. You can, however, train some cats to accept a new food, but it requires more time spent on one cat and takes away from the time needed for the rest. I do it anyway, as it is worth it if the cat makes it. But they don’t always last long enough to overcome their body’s reaction to fasting.

What keeps them from making the transition to a new food?

1. If they are depressed, they won’t eat. Cats are very emotional.
2. If the smell is unfamiliar, they may not realize it is food.
3. If they are physically unable to smell, as from an injury, they don’t recognize anything as food, even if it’s something they have always loved.

One cat we lost some years ago had been rescued from an abusive situation wherein a blow to the face damaged his sinuses. He had to breathe through his mouth and he never ate again. Veterinary care kept him going for about a week, but we could not afford the delicate surgery to repair his sinuses.

The other 5 cats died because they were in unfamiliar surroundings, out of their comfort zones, and missed their families. Nothing keeps these cats alive if they can’t transition to a new life and start eating.

Customers can be like that. While the results aren’t as dire, many people cannot or will not be convinced that they need your product or service. It is up to you to get in front of people who already know or can see your stuff has value. It is fruitless to spend inordinate amounts of time trying to make people want you, just like trying to make a cat eat new food.

Many marketers take the wrong approach… they are trying to “make a cat eat something” it doesn’t recognize as useful or desirable.

Clearly, the most difficult path is to create a product and then try to educate the public to create a market that wants it.

The more practical path, then, is to

1. Find hungry cats who already know that the “food” you have is exactly what they already wanted and have been looking for. Then give it to them.

2. Put them into a consumption frame of mind. This could mean giving them a treat to get their attention first (a free gift), then “permission” to go ahead and get the new product. Sometimes pets have been trained to stay away from an area and you have to let them know it’s OK to go there at your place. I’ve actually sat on the floor by a cat and cajoled and cooed to let them know it’s OK to eat the food, even when it’s familiar to them but the location is not. With people, you create this frame of mind with your “call to action.” Be clear, and firm if needed, by letting a customer know that yes, this is the right product, and this is the right time and place to buy it.

3. Once they know it’s OK and that you are the best person to get it from, they will gobble it up and come to you again later for more. Once satisfied, and now able to trust you, they will be willing to get other products from you, too.

Coo and cajole your cats, er, customers, and you will have devoted followers for many years.