The Joys of Discipline – Day 22

I’m sitting at my desk and laughing out loud. I’ve got Joe Vitale & Pat O’Bryan’s new clearing audios playing on Itunes. I glanced over at the Itunes screen (I use dual monitors on my PC), I see and add for Janet Jackson’s new album. Want to guess the title?

Discipline.

Judging my Janet’s wardrobe, her ideas about the joy of discipline might differ from what I’ve been blogging about. 🙂

Anyhow, here we are at Day 22 of my 30-day experiment.

I have not seen the results I expected but there certainly have been some unexpected benefits.

I’ve managed to stick to the schedule for the most part. Bedtime at midnight has been tough but I think I’ve done fairly well. Getting up at 8 O’clock sharp has happened consistently. Well, except one night when Joe, Pat and Craig kept me out late. Even then I was up by 8:15.

Last night, I had to deviate from the schedule but I had a good excuse. See, I was up until 4 AM last night updating the sales letter for my EBook Mastermind class.

Joe Vitale had promised to mail for me today so I had to make sure all the I’s were dotted and the T’s crossed. This is why you, my loyal subscribers, are hearing about this class before Joe’s readers.

Trust me, you’re better off. You don’t want to read the kind of blog post I cook up at 4AM after being up since 8.

I hadn’t planned on offering this class again. In fact, when I offered it late last year, I said this would be the last time.

It’s not that I didn’t like teaching the class. It’s just that working with a group of 25-30 students takes a LOT of time. I’d have to hire people to help which would mean doubling the price of the class. And even then, hired hands rarely care as much as someone that’s got a stake in the business.

So, I decided to hang it up.

And then I got an intriguing email from two of my former students, Ann Collins and Ken King, who both live just up the road in Austin.

Ann and Ken wanted to know that if it’s true I wouldn’t be teaching the class anymore. They strongly felt a true need for a basic affordable course that gets people started in Internet marketing combined with the ability to ask someone questions and not get stuck on the little things that prevent them from moving forward. They wanted to know why and if it was about time and commitment. If so, they had a proposal for me.

They wondered if there was a way they could work with me so I could continue offering the class with their assistance and they offered several options for doing so.

I was quite intrigued and offered to meet them in Austin to discuss their ideas and offer a few of my own. They were both very excited that I was interested and we began brainstorming. They had several excellent suggestions and as the mastermind principle kicked in, I became very energized by the possibilities and we quickly agreed to work together as joint venture partners.

Ann and Ken have the unique vantage point of having been students in the class. So they know first-hand what works well as well as areas that need improvement. But don’t let the fact they were students fool you. Both Ann and Ken are experts in their own right.

Ann has 25 years of experience in the software development industry as a project manager. She isn’t the least bit intimidated by the tech side of things and her project management skills are going to take the class to a whole new level.

She’ll not only help improve my current systems but will be invaluable at helping you get your info product creation project organized to keep you on track.

Ken has experience teaching, coaching, mentoring and working with businesses of all sizes. He sold a successful marketing and sales training company focused on the high tech industry and sold it to focus on his passion for helping struggling entrepreneurs to succeed in their own business.

With Ken on board, we’ll have another experienced coach to help students every step of the way. He has experience in many areas I don’t. And Ken’s very good and writing and reviewing copy which is essential when it comes time to helping students get their sales letter and other materials written. He’ll make our team a lot stronger.

After that initial meeting, we started working on a plan. One thing we all knew from previous classes is that the students joining mastermind groups were far more effective than those that worked on their own.

In previous classes, I’ve offered direction as well as resources but let the students ultimately choose if they’d participate in a mastermind. That’s all changing now.

In the new class, students will be assigned to a mastermind group based on their schedule and level of experience. And the meetings will be facilitated by me, Ann or Ken. We’ll be there to keep everyone on track and keep the meetings running smoothly so students get the most out of them.

What’s most exciting for me in all of this is that having Ann and Ken on board frees me up to add new topics and resources to the class. New lessons will be added on social networking, using video, podcasting and much, much more. Plus, we’ll be able to continue to explore the most effective ways to help students succeed.

We officially opened the website for business this morning. Classes start in two weeks and, thanks to Joe Vitale’s mailing this morning, the available slots are filling up. Better click here to reserve your spot now before someone else gets it.

All the best,

Bill

P.S. I’m on my way to Albuquerque to speak at World Wellness Weekend with Deepak Chopra, Michael Franti and Marianne Williamson. If you’re in the area, please join me for my talk Saturday morning on Mastermind groups. Would also love to hook up for coffee with anyone in the area if time permits. Shoot me an email using the address on my contact page.