There are three main components to keep in mind when you're building your Portable Empire:

1. Building your list
2. Building your relationship with your list
3. Making products and selling them to your list, and through Joint-Venture and affiliate arrangements, to the universe.

Let's talk about choosing your niche.

One of the things I love about internet marketing is the relationships I have with people all over the globe. It's a lot like traveling, but I get to stay in sunny Texas and "talk" to subscribers and customers who are shoveling snow in Michigan, sitting around a wood stove in the black forest of Germany, or braving the wind and rain in London.

I'm fascinated by the various ways that people live- aren't you?

If Wimberley, Texas were to be hit by a major snowstorm that required shoveling snow, it would be a major disaster.

You hear it all the time, don't you? "I've got this great idea for an e-book, I just don't know how to write it." Or, I've been working on my e-book for months and I just can't seem to finish it."

I've talked to potential authors who have spent years struggling to write their first e-book!

What if I could show you how to write an interesting and valuable e-book instantly and effortlessly? Would you be interested?

One of my favorite images in American Literature is the young Tom Sawyer, who was commanded to white-wash a fence.

Is there a name for the opposite of "the Midas Touch?" I'm not talking about brakes and mufflers, here. I'm talking about the king who had the disturbing experience of having everything he touched turn to gold.

In the end, it wasn't all that great-

I've just gone through a week-long period where everything I touched, metaphorically speaking, turned into poop.

Last Monday, I attended a birthday party for a musician/studio-owner friend of mine. The party was held at a fairly rowdy honky-tonk in historic Gruene, Texas.

There was bar-b-que, chips and hot sauce, and adult beverages. The focus of the party was a free-for-all jam session.

Who else, but musicians, gets together and "works" for fun? I'm trying to imagine a bunch of accountants, getting together over bar-b-que and beer, with spreadsheets and green visors.

Betsy (my domestic partner) and I were just talking about the difference between how things feel when you're in the "gold zone" and how they feel when you're not.

Julia Cameron calls it the "Vein of Gold," and wrote a great book about it. Athletes call it "the zone."
Let's call it the "Gold Zone."

She was reminding me of the months right before I got serious about internet marketing.

Another e-book generating idea that is actually as old as graduate school, but the internet makes it practical. It's called "research."

The word "research" brings back memories of confusion and frustration for me. Have they found the sadist that came up with the Dewey decimal system and strung him up yet? I never did understand it.

Google, on the other hand, I understand.

You know, once you start looking, there are lessons everywhere.

This morning, I was taking my son, Patrick, to school. We were listening to the Beatles- Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Patrick's in the process of making demos in his bedroom recording studio, which provides me with steady "proud daddy" moments.

Anyway, we were talking about the Beatles.

What's your "money thermostat" set to?

Interesting question, huh?

At last Thursday's MasterMind meeting, Dr. Joe Vitale passed out copies of "The Millionaire Mind" by T. Harv Eker.

It's really making me look at my beliefs about money.

Ol' T. Harv makes the case that everybody has a money thermostat that governs how much money we allow ourselves to make.

Over at my forum we've been talking about "un-framing."

I think it's very, very powerful.

What is "un-framing?"

Well, it's like the old saying- "if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."

What's a frame? That's the point of view, or the set of filters, through which you see the world.

You can learn a lot by listening. Recently, I interviewed Craig Perrine for a project about list marketing.

Craig spent a lot of time talking about knowing who you are, and knowing who your readers are.

It's important to be real. If you have a firm grasp on who you are- as a marketer, copywriter, author, or musician- you can speak with your authentic voice.