Another dose of common sense from Marlon

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  Be able to do the basics yourself -- even if you outsource
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Some people would say outsource everything.

And I believe I created the FIRST product that showed in detail
how to outsource on Elance. It was called Digital Product Creation
System. And I was doing this stuff WAY back before anyone even
knew what outsourcing meant.

And having a lot of experience, I will tell you that I still believe
you should be able to do the basics yourself.

Do you outsource?  Yes.  But if you can't do the basics yourself,
you'll be subject to having smoke blown up the nether regions of
your body by people who want to create a mystique around what they
do.

Let me give you an example:

A long time ago when Lisa worked for me and we were figuring out
graphic design, there was this particular way of doing a curved
sidebar that we really wanted to do.

We just could NOT figure out how to do it.

So we hired 3 people off of elance to do it for us.

None of the 3 did it right. One did it fairly well. But we never
used the design.

Today, I know HOW to do that effect in Photoshop. It takes 5
seconds.  You use the warp tool.  Grab.  Pull.  5 seconds.

But I spent $250 or more on the freelancers and didn't get
something that was decent.

People will try to pull the wool over your eyes. They'll try to
mystify processes, so they can be lazy, work slowly and
charge you a fortune for something simple.

Like one time someone told me they had to "put in the infrastructure."
I was like, "WHAT infrastructure?  Dude, there ain't no infrastructure."

I'm all for outsourcing.

But I still believe you need to know the basics.

For example, podcasting. A podcast is an mp3 file delivered via RSS.
Once you have Podpress installed on your blog, it's automatic.
Piece of cake.

The word "pod" comes from the idea that people can listen to the
audio on their IPOD.  The word "cast" gives the idea of broadcasting
your audio TO people's IPOD's.

That is where RSS comes into play.

Or how about header graphics.

Listen hither:  You CAN do basic graphics far easier than you think.
The initial fear of all the doodads on Photoshop or Photoshop
Elements is 100X worse than the reality.

It's FUN once you learn a very few simple basics that trip everyone
up.

I thought Design Dashboard was an awesome product. But I'm still
disappointed that some people "didn't get it" or still weren't able
to execute.

Mostly because we have a 20-minute overview video as a bonus that
somehow people missed.  So I'm gonna revisit this issue.

If you KNEW how simple and easy it was to do basic graphics, you'd
LAUGH in the face of people who tell you "Oh, you need to outsource
ALL your graphics."

Some?  Alright. But all?  Please.  I don't buy that.

You open Photoshop.  You set your canvass size to 650 pixels wide
x 150 pixels deep.  You create a little gradient.  Add some text.
Add a stroke.  Drop in a photo.

Done!

It can be THAT simple.

Now, will you still hire out your graphics to Design Guru Ryan,
Graphics Genie, GraphicsMaverics or any of the other highly talented
designers?

Sure.  Why not?  Their prices are reasonable.

It CAN be a trap to do everything yourself beyond a certain point.
Most people in the beginning have to learn to do things themselves
because they have more time than money.

But listen up. If you can't:

* Put up a podcast
* Install a blog
* Add a plugin
* Create a basic web graphic
* Insert a table in your html editor
* Upload a video to Youtube
* Shoot a Camtasia video (or CamStudio)
* Shoot some live video with decent lighting
* Add an autoresponder
* Add autoresponder opt-in form code to a web page

If you can't do ANY of that stuff, then you're going to need a full-
time employee/webmaster -- NOT a freelancer.

And even then, you're gonna be frustrated. 

I've been selling ebooks online by the thousands before most modern
day gurus even knew what an ebook was.

You are a creator.

You are a communicator.

Today is YOUR day because today you can create and communicate.

Let me know if this resonates with you. Let me know if you think I'm
full of it. Let me know if you see yourself as a creator. Let me
know what your hang-ups are in creating and communicating value.

Let me know how I can help you become more of who and what you are.
Or let me know if this is all too theoretical for you and all you
wanna know is how to find some plr and sell it.

Or whatever.

http://www.marlonsnews.com


I'm here to serve you.  The best I can.  With the skills and
knowledge I have.  I can't and won't promise to make you a
millionaire.

But I can promise to show you how to create value and communicate it
to people in the market for that value. And that's a noble, honest
living serving your fellow man.

Marketing is something we can be proud of.

We are all born creators. And born marketers.

This is our Born Identity.

Marlon

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Marlon Sanders is the author of "The Info Product Dashboard."
If you want to create your own info products, go to:
http://www.productdashboard.com