riddarhusetgal

This is something I am trying and...IT IS FUCKING WORKING!
I would be curious to see someone else try it and see how they fair.

NOTE: I JUST SKIMMED THIS, IT'S BLOODY LONG SO YOU HAVE TO DECIDE IF IT'S INTERESTING/INTRIGUING TO YOU....



....Try to be very careful about calculating EXACT ROI/Profit/Benefits from these actions, i.e. subtract out other factors.

It goes like this:


1) Hire one or several employees. If you don't have the money for that, try high school students, retirees, even get an "intern" whom you should tell
"I will write you a recommendation or serve as an employee reference if you work for me...."
-post on craig's list
-local colleges
-ask friends and family

(note: this may work with unemployed people too as you can tell them the experience on their resume will make them look more attractive to employees....I am just coming up with this as I think but honestly it is reasonable as the longer people have been unemployed some say the less "marketable" they are....if that doesn't work, offer some kinda profit share...)



When it comes to students, some schools even grant some kind of credit for "life experience" so you can tell them you're willing to fill out the paper work to make sure they get something tangible (besides cash if you don't have it) from the exchange...

OK, now you have your "help" - i.e. the brute physical worker


THE SECOND IMPORTANT PART:
Take ONE IDEA you read about from AT LEAST once a week on a WF Thread and IMPLEMENT IT. You can follow the "forum" best practices I used back in the day when I was a n00b (actually I still feel like a n00b it is all relative, but whatever). It goes like this:

a) use the advanced search to search for ideas from specific sections....
b) also, you can search for posts from specific people....
here's an example:

I won't name names...but when I want info on ppc, I go and look for thoughts, reflections, etc from xyz....
domains....abc
keyword research....123
php.....that person
random political, nonsensical bullshit -well too many to name, lol
automation....this person
I could break it down to "go to" knowledge sources for
social bookmarking
ppc add writing
directory link building....

the gist of it is that let's face it. this is a forum and alot of people talk alot of bullshit that's worth jack - hell we all do sometimes. however, if you can quickly skim through the weeds, you can get at what you want fast...


lol
You can identify the "right" people by perhaps looking at their rep points, or perhaps itrader points (not the best indicator, but when people are spending money it's usually for a reason....) and well, just use your judgment. One thing to do is try a suggestion or tool they talk about and if it works, then keep listening to them.

Ok, so now 1) you have your employee 2) you have suggestion....and 3) you have the the plan to implement it in a semi-automated fashion (i.e you just email/tell them - read over this thread and implement it....or, you just write a summary with directions to implement it..

I got this last bit from an ebook and I am not afraid to say it becuase if the shit works I don't care where I read it.

Basically the guy said "your job should be a knowledge worker". Your job should be to put together the vast amounts of information out there and decide, strategize, etc about how to use it. The big money comes from THINKING not DOING these days.

With outsourcing you can pay someone to "do" while you "think". With an international labor market and technology, the "doing" is getting cheaper and cheaper while the "thinking" is getting more and more "expensive".

So because both doing and thinking are important, the whole value of the plan is reducing the "search and acquisition costs" associated with finding good information (i.e there's so much good info centralized here it's easy to find), you can piggy back off of other's thinking and pay someone for the doing.

This week one of the things I implemented was:

-used clicktale which was recommended by mediastar100 (thanks dear -->
ClickTale Data )

-tweak a site based on some offline suggestions from a WF member (props to Bofu2u a real automation specialist - btw, where is that code Mr. Penis, lol)

Of course you may fall short of doing it every week, but if you do 1 a WEEK, that's 52 ideas that you have implemented that can really help you out.

Just some ideas.......

ps
also try [keyword] site:wickedfire.com if you are having a hard time finding stuff - the site's pretty well indexed!

Schedule for next week:

1) get some of these scripts tweaked and implemented
The WF PHP Functions War Chest

2) implement some ideas from a WF'ers blog that I've been ignoring for at least 3 months (hypocritical slacker I am....)

3) Surf for deals on Gilt.com given I've been paying too much for some stuff-- props to a new WF who offered an invite that I quickly jumpted on!

PPS

anyone else doing/done this in a 1-2-3 kind of way? I'd be curious to read....

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mediastar100

did you get clicktale rocking yet?

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You Bank Manager Thinks You Should Join $$ IMGRIND $$ ->> JOIN NOW

bb_wolfe

If you're a legitimate company, like have a small office and such, you can get away with unpaid interns. Give them a commission under the table, but let them dress however, happy hour Fridays at 4:30, etc.

I did this for my brick and mortar back in 2004 and it was the best spring of my career. One kid was a total geek who couldn't get a girlfriend to save his life but could code like crazy, and one girl was HOT 2 DEATH beautiful and loved to get sloshy drunk on Friday afternoons with me. We'd taxi it home around 10pm.

Moral of the story, I had 70+ hours of free labor each week, they got college credit for it, and I made mad bank. IF you can do that with someone (teach em PPC management or posting on facebook) you can easily pay them a livable salary and hopefully get some cheap experienced labor once they graduate.

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sitemap

How do you get them college credits? Who do you contact for get that set up?

thanks.

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all your serps are belong to us

MyOwnDemon

10pm? You rebel.

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chatmasta

To do next week:

Come up with your own damn ideas.

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droplister

What the shit is this shit. Shit.

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PhillipMarlow

LMAO

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Best Article I've ever read online

FatalError

Easier said than done.

teampl4y4

I personally don't like the "try everything, see what sticks" mentality. I also don't think any idea can be implemented in a week w/ a long term plan of success. That being said, cheap labor/free labor++.

premium

Rather than spinning the wheel again, why don't you focus on generating your own ideas? That ways, you will have better chances of getting some cash from Venture Capitalists and thus, you can actually go on and hire a better skilled labor force. Club this labor force with interns and students- you would have insanely burgeoning bank balance!

Gumby!

He lives in South Dakota, they roll up the sidewalks at 9:30

riddarhusetgal

Who is this silly child always on the look out for peer validation via nonsensical posts? You're an idiot you know that? Instead of taking good info and running with it, you start random threads that get you regularly blasted.

You want some insight into my "own ideas"?


Download 'em here - Fortune 500 companies have IMPLEMENTED THEM...

Home | The Corporate Executive Board (Nasdaq:EXBD)

They regularly paid $50,000+ a pop for people like me to come up with useful "best practices" back in the day when I still worked for the man...

Advice:
Learn to act more and talk less......

If you were smart you'd realize how much conversation goes on via PM and/or off line conversation and you'd be deadset on managing your social capital better.....

children - they should be seen and not heard...

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riddarhusetgal

Amen - but it CAN BE DONE. If you want to share some ideas on:

1) How to pick the right ideas
2) How to implement them - FAST

feel free to PM

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riddarhusetgal

You're not reading comprehensively. I have about 5 regular staff members. I know VC land - helped raise 8 figures for a firm backed by Summit Partners. If you mentioned VCs then I don't need to tell you whom Summit Partners are.

Read again.

Just take 1 idea from any of the random threads and implement in the next 7 days. You will see cash from it.

Don't talk, just implement it - I guarantee it.

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riddarhusetgal

Yes I did - thanks again, major props for that. I saw I needed to make some real changes to the visual appeal of one site because what I was thinking and what others were seeing wasn't gelling!!

What I did was make small incremental changes then see how it affected my bounce rate.

So far so good but I am not satisfied yet. I can say enough $$ came in from the changes I made due to clicktale that I paid for some contractors to do some things I was doing myself.

So, remind me to buy you virtual drink sometime.....

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rgordon83

Good call. Free interns are the best. I've had 3 people "intern" for me this summer. Basically they were friends of friends, or relatives of friends who asked me for a job. I said i didn't have one for them, but they can intern for me for free until they found a real job. Best move ever. I made them do all the tedious/boring stuff, and i taught them a few things while they were at it. All 3 actually went on to find "real jobs" a month or two later.

Looking for a new intern now....

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rgordon83

Also, on clicktale..

using clicktale has been one of the best choices/investments of anything i've done with internet marketing.

Here's an old "case study" i posted a while back:
Clicktale - Watch People interact with your sites

But i've found so many great things just by using it..

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teampl4y4

Money back guarantee?

Sticks79

Yes, 60 days!

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The Doctor

riddarhusetgal - This is a really good thread and contains so many of the thoughts that i've been having recently plus MANY more. You mentioned that when you want info on certain topics you look for posts by certain people, would you be willing to post some names? If you are not willing to post them on this thread is there any chance youcould PM me??

Thanks!!

PhillipMarlow

When did you break free of "the man" Riddar?

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memetic

You forgot to mention those people are regularly useless twats.

Ideas aren't worth shit. Also fuck you.

riddarhusetgal

You're a n00b. This is not how to grow your social capital here. Think more and talk shit less.

Good day.

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riddarhusetgal

...Hmmm not really my style the mentioning names part. But, you can PM me!

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memetic

Please, allow me to elaborate.

First of all, may I suggest that you glance leftwards and take note of our respective post counts. It should become apparent that I am not the one raising social capital here.

Now let's talk about "social capital". This phrase really rubs me the wrong way. Is it perhaps that you regard social relationships as a proxy of currency? I digress.

The title of this thread is "raping WF for profit". This is a quite awful choice of words for someone trying to raise "social capital". At the very start of your post you mention "if you don't have any money, ask friends and family". I suspect that you are fond of using people like that, trading them shiny trinkets for gold bullion. I certainly don't care for WF, however I'm sure other forum members are taking offense to your attitude.

"Ideas aren't worth shit. Also fuck you" is my fairly new auto-reply to "idea people". Since that offends you, you must be one of those people that deal in ideas.

To sum up, I was distracted half-way through writing this post by a very loud crash. I got up from my chair and poured myself a big glass of iced water. As I was enjoying my refreshment, I went out to the balcony to look at what sounded like two cars crashing into each other. I was pleased to find out that two cars had indeed met at the intersection near my house. Not only did they bump into each other, in some mysterious and magical way they managed to damage four other parked cars, one of those being on the opposite side of the road. Six damaged cars is what you get when you let women drive.

CitizenSmif

Hiring interns for free? People would really take a written recommendation for free labour? Wtf! I can't really see that happening in the UK..

droplister

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riddarhusetgal

As you like dear....

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riddarhusetgal

gonna check this out - thanks! See, if I had read your post years ago, I'd probably be as rich as you are!
lol

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VonDoogan

lol social capital
social capital lol

HarveyJ

Not to take sides here... but if ideas aren't worth shit, precisely what is the patent office still doing with its doors open?

Business methodologies can be patented by the way. Look at crap like Six Sigma.

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After 10,000 years I'm free!

guerilla

Government monopoly creates artificial scarcity. Patents are scarce and convey legal privilege. Hence, they are in high demand.

It doesn't matter online anymore. The cost of knowledge is trending towards zero. The application and dissemination of knowledge can always be monetized.

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Change Your Life
Twitter ^ YouTube

Thank you for your attentiveness,
the forward thrusters, engage on you busters,
I cut the mustard.

guerilla

Sound advice, you should follow it.

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Change Your Life
Twitter ^ YouTube

Thank you for your attentiveness,
the forward thrusters, engage on you busters,
I cut the mustard.

riddarhusetgal

Venture Capitalists Invest in People, Not Business Plans | Panel from AllBusiness.com

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Deliguy

Great post riddar!
It's good to see you making a thread with some helpful advice and trying to help others. I knew you had some use in ya

IDK if i'd agree with doing every MMO idea you read but the interns opportunity is a great one, and yeah it definitely helps having a brick n mortar. It also helps if you know some of the local college kids because they aren't always looking for something directly in their field. Most are looking for something that'll be easy, get them credit, give them plenty of time off for summer fun, and will give them a good reference in the end. In the past my office has cut deals with friends of ours at the college where they can just put in the minimal hours and we'll sign off on more which spread the word and we got so swarmed with ppl wanting to intern with us we have to turn down a lot because our office isn't big enough. It's a great way to get some bitch work done but i wouldn't give them projects to complete on their own unless you don't want those projects to be completed in the end and you want to get harassed a ton while they attempt to make them work.

A really great bitchwork job you can give them is to write articles for your sites. This works particularly well for journalism and communication majors who not only enjoy it and will put in more hours but can get a direct job experience and reference out of it. Plus interns are great because even though they can be a pain in the ass to manage you never have to fire them. You just tell them, "Look you're doing a shitty job. From now on just bring me a case of beer a week, we'll call it even, and I'll sign off on your papers so you don't have to show up anymore."

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PhillipMarlow

Exceeeellleeeent (twiddles fingers)

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Best Article I've ever read online

memetic

Not every country lets you patent business methodologies. Now in the US, it seems that the patent office is quite lenient when it comes to stupid shit, so patent trolls is what you get. I see why that might give people the impression that ideas are worth actual money.

deStone’s Blog What are Arbitrage Topspinners? Very Serious Business guys.

For an idea gal, you sure seem unable to come up with your own ideas. You even go as far as enticing certain people (with silly stuff like virtual assistants and crappy content writers) to post more ideas for you to leech. Anyway, I hope you are making more than $1/day now. Best of luck in your future endeavours.

Webferret

and this thread is what you get when you allow fucktards to post.

memetic

Not only am I a fucktard, I also suffer from erectile dysfunction, I'm broke and I'm a misogynist.

Edit: True story.

vinny lingo

And don't you ever change for anybody.

memetic

you know it vinny

riddarhusetgal

Tx. I'm actually serious as FUCK about this. I just dropped $150 today on more best practices Outsource Method - Get The Same Job Done Better, Cheaper & Faster - that I damn well will get my ROI on. Specifically, I want to know how to communicate with programmers better (esp. story boarding) and I figure the cost alone would save me in wasted labor costs due to my not being able to tell programmers EXACTLY WHAT THE HELL I WANT for instance - tons of other benefits as well like HR/hiring best practices, business processes management, etc.

The best part about the buy was that apparently people were complaining about how "expensive" it was. Which fills me with glee because that usually means people don't see the value of something and hence one can keep a competitive advantage.

Apparently the owners are going b2b after today and charging $1,000 basically for the same product.

BTW, not affiliated at all with the co. linked above....

This week I got my guy and girls working on other ideas too, sent out 2 JV proposals and got a kick ass offer for an asset I got at a steal - seems to be working quite well and all.....

props to nyanprooyen for sharing some imacros best practices over MSN today...


A quick note on hiring college students:
-try to make it a give and take - alot of students can get credit if you present some written documentation
-I wasn't advocating scam the college kids, just saying they are a cost effective and *relatively low risk bunch
- network - I fortunately was on the board of my old college and had/have access to administrators - if you are close with old college pals or have friends who are, contact them
-I now see the value of direct hires vs. outsourcing. it costs money and time to train people in your way. however, outsourcing is a start and is definitely better than doing it yourself


....hope this helps
RG

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Alejandro

People trying to flame this guy are dumb. I mean that literally, because you seem to be searching for a counterexample rather than getting the value out of what he is saying. Are you looking for some immutable philosophical bullshit, or to make your business? Make your choice and act accordingly.

For those that need help understanding, here's what it comes down to.

1. There is a set of ideas 1-100 that MAY improve your business depending on your PARTICULAR situation (niche, age, structure, relevant assets, etc.).
2. You don't know which of the 100 ideas WILL improve your business.
3. The only way to find out is do and test.

If we assume that each idea can improve your business by only 10%, and you are able to find the 10 ideas of the 100, that's ~60% compound increase in your business. Now I know some people don't get excited over 60%, but again, you don't seem to be getting it. This is not a 60% increase WITHIN his core activities, its a 60% BONUS from non core activities.

WHAT MAKES THIS IDEA REALLY INTELLIGENT IS THIS - He is using free interns. What this means is that he can implement very high risk ideas (10% success rate in the scenario I described) at nearly ZERO cost. Have you ever heard of a ZERO cost investment capable of 60% ROI? If so, please let me know. I would like to introduce you to a man named Warren Buffet. I am confident he would like to pay you hundreds of millions of dollars and I will probably get a "comfortable" head hunting commission to fund the rest of my life.

The people flaming this idea seam to be under the impression that he is taking away focus from mission critical tasks towards highly speculative tasks. NO! His fulltimers are still working on the same "core business," while he has the grunts working on speculative ideas.

Honestly, I think the main reason some people can't wrap their heads around this is that they've never worked with a team or a real "business" to speak of. They are self employed and of the self-employed mindset.

Break of the box friends.

+Rep for Riddar & Eli for useful follow up.

plrwithalex

Contact your local colleges and tell them you have intern positions available. It's a sweet exchange for both parties!