25 Things you Can learn from Naomi Dunford

1. Commenting is king.

Naomi spoke about commenting when she was featured as one of tomorrows star bloggers at North by East

Commenting. As a marketing consultant, and one whose client base consists of nearly 50% bloggers, I can say for a fact that there is no better activity when it comes to ROI. They say content is king? I’d say commenting is king.

I believe this has changed somewhat since twitter has grown in popularity, but commenting is still one of the best ways to get attention.  Like with all forms of communication, make sure to add value.

2. Follow up with emails

Later in the post, she said that

Contact is forged by the commenting, but relationships are forged by email, at least when it comes to blogging. Email. Get out there. Find out people’s kids names and dogs names and whether or not they hate their mother-in-law. Treat people like people, not just like bloggers. That gets you the loyalty. When you have the loyalty, you don’t need much else.

I have really learnt the power of this statement in the past month. All connections, and friendships, have been strengthened by the humble email. I've also been commended on how much I remember about people when I contact them. Naomi's advice of seeing people as, well, people is one definitely worth remembering.

3. Joint Venture with others for mutual success

In the past year, she has released products with Dave Navarro, Sonia Simone and Havi Brooks. This splits the workload but also exposes her brand to new audiences. I have seen this be really successful for multiple authors.

4. Make the leap before you’re totally ready.

Naomi talked about this in an interview on Yes To Me.

I read in a magazine once that you should never be 100% ready to have kids. If you think you’re 100% ready, you’re missing something. I think the same thing applies to business. If you wait until you’re 100% ready, you’ll be dead before you launch. Be 80% ready. Do the best you can and just go for it. If you wait too long, you lose your fire. If you lose your fire, your business will suck. If your business sucks, you’ll have to go back to your boring corporate job and prove your old boss right. You don’t want that, do you? Jump and the net will appear.

I don't think I'm ready for employment, or running a blog. Yet tomorrow I am going to meet a potential employer and will be launching this blog in 3 days. I am definitely not ready. But I am getting out there and pushing myself to see what I can really achieve.

5. Plan for overnight success

Later in the post, she said that

Growth came far, far faster than I was ready for. The small business books all tell you that 4 out of 5 businesses fail and to make contingency plans and blah blah blah. They don’t tell you that when you succeed, it’ll probably happen overnight and you’ll drown. Plan for that.

Naomi gave me this advice months before I launched this blog. I'm expecting growth to come faster - it always does - and am taking the action now in preparation. I am hoping this will make things a lot easier for me later in my career.

6. Segment your day

She also talked about segmenting her day

I didn’t segment my day. When you work online, there are so many things to do. Network. Fix your site. Respond to comments. Market yourself. Write guest posts. It was really overwhelming.

This is an issue that I am still struggling with, but I agree that its important. It gives my day more structure and allows me to get more done.

7. Start putting yourself in uncomfortable situations.

Naomi discussed this in an interview on Someday Syndrome

No matter what your cause is, start being aware of it. Start knowing exactly how bad the situation is. Read the books that make you want to close the cover. Watch the documentaries that tempt you to turn it off.
Find the courage to take big actions. And if you don’t have the courage, fake it. The courage will come.

I started putting myself in difficult situations early on. I went to tweetups when I secretly wanted to run home and cry. It was incredibly difficult and would make me freak out for days. But it got easier. I dealt with the fear. Certain tweetups have since become the social highlight of my month.

8. Only follow advice from people who have the life you want, not from people who have the life you have.

Naomi expanded on this in an interview on Work It Mom

They are not qualified to give you the advice you need.
Also, the advice that comes from loved ones is almost always antithetic to your goals. Because they know and love the old you, they give advice appropriate for the old you. You need advice for the new you.

I used to get into debates about what would work with blogging and my online business. Often, they weren't successful. I learned to accept their advice, but ignore it. You don't have to ditch people as friends - you just don't have to take everything they say as being relevant.

9. Surround yourserf with amazing people.

In this interview on Recession Proofing life, she mentioned the services of Charlie gilky and Dave Navarro

Charlie Gilkey is my creativity coach and I couldn't have put out one product without him -- I'd still be selling consulting for $75 an hour if it weren't for him. Dave Navarro is my launch coach and Online Business School wouldn't have been a tenth as successful as it was if he wasn't around.

I surrounded myself with amazing people early on. Some of these were top bloggers and some of these were people beginning their small business. each of them inspires me and I'd be honored to pay them for their help.

I definitely agree that Dave Navarro will make you a lot of money.

10. Don’t second guess yourself.

In an interview on Rock Your day, she said that

No effective decisions — especially not marketing decisions — were ever made by committee, even if the committee consists only of the two warring sides of your own brain.

I've stopped second guessing myself and have started to just take action. This has been difficult. Yet even when I failed, I still learned from the situation. This is more than what would have happened if I doubted myself and did nothing.

11. Keep redefining success until it becomes something you can achieve without outside influence.

Later in the interview, she said

Lots of people like to talk about goal setting, and that’s important. But it’s a tricky business, and it can become disheartening. The gurus of the world would have you think that if you just think or pray or work or network more, any goal can be achieved. That may be true, but it doesn’t take into consideration the casualties of that kind of an attitude. If you make success something less quantitative and more qualitative, you can’t fail. And if you know you can’t fail, you can be as confident as you want.

I'm fortunate to have achieved this before my blog had even launched. I know that outside influences can help, but I don't let goals continually rule my life. This is a fascinating interview and I highly recommend you read it.

12. Create a paid community for your regular buyers

Naomi did this with her speakeasy program. I joined immediately and have loved being part of it. It was an affordable way to learn from her and gave me the opportunity to purchase her products/services at a discount.

13. Provide some of the questions on the sales page (do this myself)

14. Have a section for recommendations for others in the industry

Naomi has a page on her blog called Ittybiz Approved Awesomeness. In this section, she recommends a number of web workers that can help people develop their business.

This is a useful way to support your community as it helps your readers find

15. Add a group of free guides

Naomi added 6 free marketing courses to her blog earlier this year. This is a fascinating idea. It means you can create mailing lists that are really targeted to a specific industry. I will now be doing this over the next couple of months.

16. Have a weekly guest posting slot/cast study

Naomi invited Johnny B Truant to guest post as a guinea pig for her Online Business School product. Johnny has gone on to earn a lot of money and become successful in high own right. This has benefited Naomi because she gets additional blog content as well as social proof for her consulting services.

17. Get personal when recommending affiliate products

Naomi did this in the post How To Make Your Blog Not Suck So Damn Much. It made me feel really connected to her on a personal level, and I wanted to choose her to be the person who gets the commission from my purchase. This can work against you if overused.

I also thought it was admirable that she donated double her commission to charity. It also helped to get extra attention to her post.

18. Take the Damn Tutorials

Naomi talked about this in her guest post on Remarkablogger

In Rock Band, in blogging, in business, and in pretty much every other facet of life, there are handy and free tutorials available to help you get started. Don't be a hero and say you'll figure it out on your own. You won't. OK, maybe you will, but you'll take about five years longer than you need to. Subscribe to Remarkablogger, Problogger, Copyblogger, Skelliewag, IttyBiz, and follow their — OK, our — advice. Honestly, we know what we're talking about. We wouldn't lie.

I took the damn tutorials and even bought several information products to save time. You can pick and choose what advice to apply to your own situation, but you should definitely research from the masters before starting a new project.

19. Always Remember Who Has the Power to Boo

Later in the post, she said that

The crowd is your boss. That's all there is to it. If you do not give the people what they want, they will leave. This doesn't make you a bad person or even a bad blogger, but it does mean you'll have a blog with no readers and a business with no, well, business.

This doesn't mean you have to change your entire business structure. You just have to ascertain whether its a select few who are booing, or your loyal readers.

20. Don’t get sidelined by fear.

In this post, Naomi talked about one of her old clients and her fear before launching her own ebook. She was scared of the following things:

• I’m scared that I don’t have a sales funnel. (
• I’m scared that people won’t pay for something they think they could get for free.
• I’m scared that I’m going to let my family down.

She has since been able to employ her family members, funnel her sales and earn a LOT of money each time she launches a product. I am so glad that she didn't listen to her fear. I've paid a lot of money to benefit from her experience.

21. Pay for a professional and consistent web design

Naomi wrote about this in her post about branding on a budget

The emphasis here is definitely on consistent. With the plethora of premium themes available, this can be had for less than $100. If you really suck at writing, get some copy written, but that’s not usually vital in every case.
Also, make sure that whatever image elements you have in place are stable across the board. Better to have the same shitty logo on every thing they see than something different here, there and everywhere.

I agree with this. I also think its worth spending $100 on a proven theme, rather than go for a $25 theme that has bad support.

22. Just work.

Naomi expanded this in her post where she answered the question of whether or not you really need a business coach.

When you’re first starting out, you don’t need creative. You need to get off your ass.
Unless you have a decent amount of start-up capital — and in “start-up capital” I include your own salary, as well as being able to pay service professionals and still have a marketing budget at the end — what you need is elbow grease. And I can’t give you that. No marketing coach can.

I learnt this after paying close to $1000 in information products. I realized that no product would give me the magic key to success and that I had to put the hard yards in myself. This was really difficult to accept but has definitely paid off.

23. Have a backup plan

Naomi wrote about this in her post on location independence.

First, figure out what you’ll do when any individual element of your great master plan goes wrong. What will you do if you drop your laptop in the pool? What will you do if someone breaks the internet? What about the phone? USB key gets crunched in a freak stiletto accident? All the Dora DVDs you brought for “child care” don’t work in a European machine? What’s your big plan, Einstein?

This is something I'd definitely recommend otherwise you'll be causing yourself and your clients a whole lot of stress. It is also important to have backup plans for your income streams and try to diversify.

24. Find your Passion.

Naomi talked about this in her post How To Become Rich and Famous On The Internet In 5 Easy Steps

Find something you’re so passionate about that people think you’re alarming and kind of creepy.

I'm like this with a couple of hobbies. Only one I blog about - hiking. It may not be over interested to most people, but us hikers spend a lot of money on quality gear. Tapping into that market could be quite profitable.

I know that people think I'm odd for wanting to do solo walks for 2 months straight. But there are others who would be really intrigued be such content, and willing to pay for it.

25. Just because they’re not shopping doesn’t mean they’re not buying.

Naomi discussed this in her post about how to market for free. This means that just because they aren't searching specifically to buy something, doesn't meant they don't want it. They mightn't have thought about purchasing that product until they saw it featured on your site. This is useful to know about assessing the design and usability of your site.