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Create Your Email List And Share Your Passion!

I started out the new year with the bright yellow book sitting on top of my to-read pile. I bought the book last year, and I’m glad, Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days, finally made it into my hands. I dove straight into Chris Guillebeau’s book, and when I’m on the road or out for a run, I’ve been focused on catching up on the many Side Hustle School podcast episodes. The episodes are about 10 minutes long, and every episode I listen to holds a nugget of inspiration for me.

Within the first few days of reading the book, I started a new side hustle and started rethinking the direction of this website. I have several more businesses I’m planning to incubate over the next several weeks and I’m super excited to help my family and friends start side hustles of their own.

One thing I love about the new year is the feeling of a clean slate. There are so many possibilities and so many opportunities to create! Another thing I love about new beginnings is the desire to get back to basics. With my new business(es) to create and website(s) to share I started thinking about the basics of marketing.

When I think of business marketing, social media immediately jumps to the forefront of my mind. Of course, there are also business cards for the face to face networking encounters and the print ads, radio spots and billboards for some of the larger marketing projects I’m coordinating this year.

When I get to my desk, one of the FIRST things I do is check my email inbox. I sort through what needs to be taken care of now, and what I can take care of in the afternoon when I handle the bulk of my email correspondence. It’s kind of funny that the main way I communicate with my clients, vendors and partners is through the medium I often overlook in my marketing toolbox, especially when email is the one I use most often.

There is nothing wrong with accumulating your followers on social media platforms. In fact, I think that’s a key ingredient in the marketing recipe. Just be aware that since you’re using another company’s system, you are also at their mercy. Algorithms can change and your followers might not see all the content you want to share with them, because of tweaks your favorite social media company might make to their code.

You OWN your email list, so treat it like gold. I read this sentiment often in various articles, and NOW it makes even more sense to me. Most everyone in the world has an email address, and an email address can be the direct link connecting you straight to a member of your audience. Treat your audience with respect and give them the best content possible.

If an email list is so valuable, why did I take so long to start creating one? Well, for me, I know it’s very easy to get distracted by the allure of social media. It works great when everyone is plugged in, but now I’m seeing more and more of my friends and colleagues shifting away from social media, or at least spending less time than they did on those sites in the past.

Yes, new communication tools like SLACK might be coming to the fore, (and if you haven’t heard of SLACK, I’m sure you’ll start seeing more of it this year). Just this week though, I had several people ask me to send them an email regarding some future events I was hosting. Email isn’t as dead as I thought it was, in fact, I’m seeing a resurgence in its daily use.

Now, how do I collect email addresses for my precious email list? There are quite a few options available on the market, and I sifted through many of them weighing the pros & cons. I decided that Constant Contact would be my primary email management system. I can easily add an email signup box by adding a widget to my website. In fact, a “short code” on this wordpress site, created the sign-up box below.

Please join my email list to stay up to date on upcoming events. Thank you for joining. I appreciate your support.

I really do value your support and I promise to respect your inbox.

Now, that I have a new email address in my management system, what do I do with it? Well, remember that axiom, treat others as you would like to be treated? Never flood their email box with junk. One of the key reasons I chose Constant Contact was because of the beautiful email templates I can easily create. These emails stand out from the boring ones and when I use the newsletter format, I can link to articles seamlessly from the email to the web content I’d like to share.

I hope you enjoy the newsletters I send you using Constant Contact, and when you’re ready to start building your email list, give Constant Contact a try and let me know what you think. Wishing you the best 2019 has to offer!

Cheers!

TofuAlan

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Farewell To, The Floor, My Favorite Place To Dance For The Past 10 Years!

The Floor Improv Night - www.TofuAlan.net

Most people dread Mondays! I totally understand. As a kid, on Sunday nights, it felt as if there was a dark, stormy cloud looming over my head, preparing to eclipse the sun and the weekend fun… Unless it was a summer vacation day, then Sundays were just another day linking to a HAPPY Monday of frivolity and adventure.

THE FLOOR, was my favorite dance event of the month. It usually took place on the 3rd Monday of the month and it was a like a summer vacation day in the middle of my work month. I missed many Monday night dance events at THE FLOOR over the past 10 years, but I attended more than I missed.

It was akin to summer camp, where I made new friends and I was sure to see many of my favorite people. THE FLOOR, was COMMUNITY. THE FLOOR was FAMILY. THE FLOOR was unbridled energy packed into a hot room full of LA’s most talented musicians and dancers expressing their art in many beautiful and compelling ways. THE FLOOR felt like HOME!

I love swing dancing! In fact, I want to swing dance every night of the week like I did when I first caught the dancing bug. Mondays were one of my normal swing dance nights, unless it was the 3rd Monday of the month, then I knew I would be going to THE FLOOR instead. Every once in a while I would pull a double header and go swing dancing, then leave that venue early to dance until the wee hours of morning at THE FLOOR.

Many of my friends wanted me to describe THE FLOOR and why I was so passionate about it. Usually, I would just invite them to see it and feel it for themselves. In a nutshell, it’s a musicians and dancers improvisation night. If you’re a musician, you sign up with the band leader and you’ll find out which set(s) you’ll be playing. If you’re a dancer, you express yourself in anyway the music moves you.

The music would morph and change as the musicians were added and moved around the stage. The tempo would speed up and slow down depending on the mood of the collective band. The flavor would alter slightly, or sometimes drastically, depending on various individual musicians’ proclivity towards a genre or style of music. Some people would say this was a recipe for disaster, but somehow it all worked out in gorgeous and mystifying ways.

The dancers would move and groove to the energy the band was creating, and in turn, the band would feed off the energy of the dancers. This would continue to feed back and forth and the energy in the room would continue to elevate with each note from the stage and every dance step on the floor. The joy which I felt could be seen reflected in the smiles of everyone present.

When the band took a break, the DJ’s kept the room moving and grooving. Whether the band or the DJ was working the room, the dancers were there dancing the way they felt the music. It was amazing to see a room full of dancers strutting their stuff as the music filled them with energy. Depending where you looked, there might be a jam circle with a couple dancing the tango followed by Lindy Hoppers throwing air. Or a salsa dancer working the shines, followed by a tap dancer accenting the beats. There were no rules at THE FLOOR, except to dance!

In the words of Jennifer Lopez:

 
"If you go hard, you gotta get on the floor...
If you're a party freak ,then step on the floor...
If you're an animal, then tear up the floor...
Break a sweat on the floor...
Yeah we work on the floor !

Carolina Cerisola and Sascha Escandon brought an idea to Los Angeles which was incubated, nourished and flourished over the past 10 years. I am forever thankful to have crossed paths with both of you and this beautiful experiment. I am forever grateful for every person I met at THE FLOOR and the many friends I have danced with there. I wish you both the best, and if there’s an anniversary or special event for THE FLOOR, I’ll be there with my dance shoes ready to dance, dance, dance!

If you want to experience THE FLOOR for the last time, it will be held at: Los Globos, 3040 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90026 on Monday, January 21, 2019 from 9 PM – 2 AM. Here’s the Facebook Event Link. I hope to see you there!

Cheers!

TofuAlan

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Done Is Better Than Perfect

This has been an exciting week for me! It’s the 2nd week of the new year and I’m still (mostly) on point with my 2019 goals and intentions. I’ve read and made my bed daily. I’ve hiked Inspiration Point twice and I’ll probably go again this weekend. My daily steps need some help, but I did log in 24,000+ steps yesterday while swing dancing at Lindy Groove in Pasadena, CA.

I have been voraciously consuming the podcasts from Side Hustle School and I ONLY have 582 more to go until I listen to all the past episodes. Today, while listening to episode 588, Chris Guillebeau mentioned a quote which electrified me. The quote was: “Done, is Better Than Perfect.” A quick google search and the quote has been attributed to, Sheryl Sandberg.

Done, is better than perfect, really resonated with me. As a perfectionist there are many times I find myself frozen when I’m so close to completing my goal or project. Ever since I was a child, I would have a paralyzing fear of not doing my work perfectly. This has been an issue for me my whole life, but when I heard the quote today, I suddenly felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

Currently, I have about 20-25 work projects which need to be completed this month and I was feeling overwhelmed with the amount of time I would need to complete everything perfectly. When I applied the quote to my work, I suddenly realized I could still do Grade A work without the pressure of making it Grade A+ work.

I do amazing work! I’m really good at what I do. That’s not just an idle boast. Because of my perfectionist upbringing, I have really honed my skills over the years. One thing I am very aware of though, is that the time needed to bring a project from great to perfect can be an additional 30-35% of additional time.

Many times, I would look at the competing work in my industry and I was baffled at the projects which would pass inspection. If you compared my projects to similar projects done by someone else, you can definitely see the difference. When my “competition” was getting hired for more work than I was, I was profoundly, perplexed. I questioned one of my long time clients about why I wasn’t being hired as often. He said, “because all I need is a quick sketch, and you’re trying to create a photorealistic oil painting worthy of a classical master.”

In my effort to, “just get it done,” I’m happy to say that I had an idea for a “Side Hustle with my buddy Frank. We were talking about it last year, and I decided to just make things happen. I stayed up late one night and built a prototype for our website with some sample products I thought we could market. Now, to select a handful of products we will actually be selling on our website.

It feels good to have it DONE. Well, in reality, the website is nowhere near perfection, but it’s created and just needs to be refined over the next year. Normally, I would have wanted it to be be perfect before I let it go live. I know I am a work in progress, but I see the value in getting the job done instead of getting the job done PERFECTLY!

Best of luck to getting your work DONE this year. I’m excited to work on www.FrankAndAlan.com this month and to completing at least 15 of my other projects over the next 2 weeks.

Cheers!

TofuAlan

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My 1st Recommended Book for the New Year and My Craving for Another Side Hustle

Last year I purchased several books which I didn’t get to read, so they are on the top of my reading stack for this new year. The top 2 items on most people’s resolutions are to make more money and to improve their health. With this in mind, I decided my first book of 2019 would be, Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days, written by, Chris Guillebeau.

Chris Guillebeau, may be my kindred spirit. I love the idea of creating multiple side hustles for myself, as well as helping others to create their own. What is a side hustle anyway? As I understand it, it’s a side project which you are passionate about, which you can do alongside your EXISTING job, to earn extra money.

If you have a great idea, and the right skills, and perfect timing, it’s very possible that your side hustle income can eventually surpass the income of your regular job. Imagine that. Then you can decide what you want to do from there. This is what I call a great problem to have.

Imagine reading the Side Hustle book this month and transforming your idea(s) into a new side hustle which can earn you an additional stream of income next month and beyond. I’ve already cracked open the book and I’m already super excited for this years possibilities. Keep your journal or notebook handy, because once you start the exercises in the book, your creativity may surprise you. Make sure to capture all of those ideas on paper before they disappear.

Before I even started reading the book, I started delving into the Side Hustle School podcasts. They are entertaining and chock full of puns to keep you smiling or groaning (with utter delight). Each episode features an example of someone who turned their idea into a successful side hustle. The examples are varied and I find them inspiring. Not only because regular people created spectacular results, but because each and every side hustle example is fertile soil for a new potential side hustle idea which could be perfect for you and your skills.

I’m already filled many pages in my side hustle notebook with useful ideas and tips which may save me time, heartache and money. Here’s my challenge to you! Start listening to the podcasts, (they are FREE), invest in the Side Hustle Book and lets create a new side hustle this month which will stimulate your creativity, change the world for the better and fatten your wallet.

Cheers to your success!

TofuAlan

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Wishes Come True, It’s All Relative and We Bid Farewell To 2018!

It’s hard to believe that it’s already the last day of the year. It seems like just yesterday I was writing my new goals after hiking to the top of Inspiration Point. Note to self, dust off your hiking shoes and get ready for the beautiful view from Inspiration Point TWICE this week.

As I look back on the year, there were a lot of great things which happened. I met some fantastic new friends, I reconnected with friends from my past, I read a lot more books than I did in 2017, The Burrito Project expanded across California in 5 major cities and I was able to launch several new businesses.

On the flip side, there are quite a few things with LOTS of room for improvement this year. While managing 5 seperate businesses, I felt bombarded by phone calls, email & texts which were seriously limiting my productive work time during the day. I thought outsourcing all of the communication to someone else was the answer, but it created more problems.

In an attempt to wean myself off social media, my phone and almost all electronic communication, I attempted to have my assistant(s) return my emails and phone calls for me, but too much fell through the cracks. I ended up creating more issues with my clients and friends due to non communication which could have easily been prevented with a simple phone call.

A new business coach recommended creating boundaries with a time schedule for when I returned phone calls, texts, emails and participated in social media. I’m excited to put this tactic to the test this year, so expect to hear from me more consistently. It’s difficult to give that personal touch when it’s not me giving that personal touch. I guess sometimes I need to learn things the hard way.

It’s all relative, so beware when you compare yourself to other people. I like to have an idea of what’s going on around me, but I prefer to focus within, versus without. One of the reasons I like setting goals is to see how I measure up to my past performance and accomplishments. I’ve always liked setting goals which make me stretch, but I also sprinkle in some simple goals just for fun.

Some of my simple goals are making my bed, reading for 30 minutes a day and spending 15 minutes a day organizing something in my bedroom or office. One of my goals which I need to actively work on to complete is reaching 20,000 steps per day with my fitbit.

Some friends tell me I should set my daily goal to 6,000 or 8,000 so I’m guaranteed to hit it everyday. Although I’d love to hit my personal target EVERYDAY, and that is my continued goal for 2019, I’d much rather miss my target goal of 20,000 steps and settle for 16,000+ steps. For comparison, my friend is completing his/her goal everyday, while I only hit my goal a few times a week. Now, when you compare actual steps for the week, I’m usually in the lead. I’m twice my friends size, so maybe I should be hitting 25,000 steps per day. It’s all relative! =)

If you’ve had a chat with me this past year, you probably know I love cryptocurrencies and will chat crypto almost anytime and anywhere. I was analyzing the market in 2017 and I officially entered the market in January 2018. I made my first purchase of bitcoin on CoinBase and while I was waiting for my bank transfer to go though, BTC dropped from $15,500 to under $12,000 in the 7 days it took before the transaction was complete. That was the perfect introduction to the volatile world of cryptocurrencies for me. Wow!

Despite that almost 25% drop in BTC value, I was even more curious and started mining bitcoin, dash & ethereum. Among my fellow crypto enthusiasts, we would talk about missing the opportunity to buy BTC at prices below $10,000. Well, as luck would have it, bitcoin has been below $4,000 for most of December 2018. I guess wishes really do come true. Thank you Santa for the HUGE sale on BTC. These low prices have more than made up for the high prices I paid earlier in the year! Yes, bitcoin is about 20% of what it was a year ago in December 2017, but for comparison, BTC is 4 times HIGHER now in December 2018, than it was in December 2016. I guess everything really IS relative. 😉

Mining is no longer profitable with the price of BTC so low, but trading has been very nice to me. It just goes to show, when one door closes, another door opens. I’m excited to be trading bitcoin and etherium over the next year and look forward to turning on those mining rigs again when the price rises to a profitable level.

As we bid farewell to 2018, I hope you learned a lot this year and can apply your new knowledge to the next 365 days and beyond. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Cheers,

TofuAlan

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Leaders Are Readers

I think I first heard the phrase, “Leaders are Readers” when I was a teenager. I didn’t think much about it, except that I liked that the phrase rhymed.

I loved to read so it wasn’t much of a stretch to read more books, but maybe just an encouragement to read different types of books. Summer was my favorite time of year because with my extra time, I could bury my nose in all my favorite summer reads and maybe add a few new ones after finishing my favorites. I always had a copy of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with me on summer vacations and I loved to peruse the libraries of the cabins we stayed in or the shelves of books whenever and whenever I would see them.

Libraries were fascinating to me. The ability to travel in time or to far flung places just by cracking open a book. Both my parents would take me to the public library as a child. I loved the smell of books, the rows and rows of tall domino like shelves stuffed with all sizes of books and periodicals, and the reverent quietness which most people had at the library. The hushed whispers and the rustle of turning pages felt like church to me.

My Uncle Jimmy loved to read too and I remember how excited he was to share his growing library of books on tape. He lived 12+ hours away from me and he listened to lots and lots of books while driving. I thought listening to books was interesting, but I loved the tactile connection I had to the pages when I was reading a book. Years passed and soon my friends started using a Kindle (or other electronic device) to read. I still loved reading with a physical book in my hand, so I never adopted the new technology.

As I started working more and more, I found I had less and less time to read. I read several books a week as a kid and now I was lucky to squeeze in a few books a year. I was driving a lot more for work and as much as I resisted it, I started listening to Audio Books. To be honest it felt like I was cheating, and I often felt like I should go read the physical book later when I had the chance, but those chances were hard to find. I finally embraced this NEW way of “reading” and I’ve been excited to add more book titles to my audio book list.

I recently discovered that I could get audiobooks from my local library and depending on the app I used, I could borrow up to 15 books a month for FREE! Audiobooks easily led me to various podcasts (which took me years to finally adopt) and now I’m a voracious listener. It’s standard for me to have an audiobook or podcast on and I usually only pause it when I’m writing or if I have company.

I heard a lecture by, Jim Kwik, the brain and learning expert, and he said leaders  and CEOs read 4 to 6 books a month. At the time that I heard that I was reading 4 to 6 books a year if I was lucky. He broke down the time needed to read an average book and for most books, 45 minutes a day of reading will do the trick. With an average reading speed of 200 words per minute and the average book containing 64,000 words, with less than an hour a day of reading I knew I could get back on track to reading a book a week.

There are so many skills I need to learn and improve on. If I’m to be a better leader for The Burrito Project and in my other businesses, I know I need to expand my thinking, mindset and knowledge. Books are magical! I can read a book in a week which is filled with lifelong knowledge and insight from an authority in their field. These life lessons and professional tips can be learned from a successful person who is willing to share their mishaps and gems of truth. Books can be a timesaver because the knowledge of a lifetime is condensed into a book which can be read in days. I’m great at making mistakes, but reading is a way to learn from other people’s mistakes and hopefully save myself some grief.

Last week, 5 new business books arrived in the mail. I’ve already finished one of the books and I started on the 2nd book this morning. On this Star Wars Day, I’m reaffirming my commitment to reading, expanding my consciousness and learning the skills I need to become a better human being, businessman, entrepreneur, speaker and leader in my community.

May the 4th be with you!

Cheers!

TofuAlan

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Earth Day, Spring Flowers and Beautiful Buzzing Bees

Thank you Google and Dr. Jane Goodall for the Earth Day google doodle message.

“It’s April 21st and everybody knows today is Earth Day
Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday to whoever’s being born..” These lyrics from, Dramarama, always echo through my head when this date is near.

It may be argued that the date of April 22nd is the actual official date of Earth Day, but I have no need to split hairs on this distinction and strive to live every day like “it’s 1999″…. Wait, sorry, that’s a different song! As much as possible, I strive to live everyday as Earth Day. Our everyday small choices can create a large impact over time.

I have been a vegetarian for over 2 decades and being a quiet vegan is my simple way of being kind to Mother Earth. I love that many people I know have adopted Meatless Mondays, a simple step creating diversity in their diet and making their meals intentionally and thoughtfully healthier. If you haven’t yet tried this with your family, here are 2 “green” facts I found interesting.

If everyone in the U.S. went meatless for just one day we would save 70 million gallons of gas–enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare.

If everyone in the U.S. ate no meat or cheese just 1 day a week for a year, it’s like not driving 91 billion miles – or taking 7.6 million cars off the road. (source: Environmental Working Group)

As a Southern California resident I understand our dependence on cars. Driving is a way of life ingrained in many of us who live here. If a change in my diet can help offset my driving miles, then I think of it as a small price to pay for the pollution I may be creating. I also try to limit my solo driving as much as possible and attempt to carpool when I can.

Whatever you do on this Earth Day, thank you for being mindful of your impact on our society and our global community at large.

I was visiting my dad earlier this week and when I walked up to his front door I was welcomed with a beautiful array of flowers. There were bright yellow daisies and a few noble purple ones decorating the garden.

Daisies and sunflowers always bring a smile to my face and can lift my spirits if I’m ever feeling low. Thank you Mother Earth for the joyous treat in my day.

Among the daisies were some buzzing bees. I have always been fond of bees. My first bee sting was in my adulthood and that was by accident. I stepped on a bee while enjoying a picnic in the park. I heard a podcast today about the importance of bees in the pollination of our food crops and the fact that it’s getting harder to do so because of the declining bee population every year.

I guess it’s appropriate on Earth Day to contemplate the symbiotic relationship of humanity with the earth and the impact we have on our planet and it’s ecosystems. It’s possible that our actions in decades past created an imbalance in our ecosystem through the extensive use of pesticides and fossil fuels. I love that there’s a social movement around the globe with greater importance placed on the preservation of the environment.

On this Earth Day I raise my glass to everyone who in their unique way is making a positive difference in our world. Thank you to the bees for their part in keeping us fed and to the flowers which bring sunshine and color into our lives.

Cheers!

TofuAlan

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Welcome Back, Tofu Alan!

I’m excited to be back online!

I have been thinking of blog posts to write about and I’m thrilled to share them with you. I have been doing more thinking and less doing. Today, I decided to stop my procrastination and just get started. I bought a hosting account at: www.BurritoProjectDomains.com, installed WordPress and the result is my first blog post on www.TofuAlan.net.

This will be a fun experiment as I write about experiences and adventures I have on a daily basis. I hope you find value in what I share and I hope to bring a smile to your life or at least provide some food for thought.

I look forward to getting to know you through your comments.

Cheers!

– TofuAlan –