When I released my book on Lead Generation, I decided to give a 100%, no hassle, money back guarantee to people who didn?t feel the content was worth their investment. No small print, no loopholes, no exclusions? you Don't like the book, you get your money back.

As you can imagine, an offer like this opens the door for people to take advantage of me? People who buy the book and, almost instantly, ask for their money back (for whatever reason).

You know, it is what it is? There will always be be people trying to ?beat the system? and I?m fine with that. If you're one of them, I wish you nothing but the best?

But I recently received an email that struck a nerve with me. It went as follows:

Initially I thought it was just a scammer trying to get something for nothing, but on second glance I think it might be something MUCH worse? A person who lives in a World of [BLANKS].

Do you know a person who lives in a World of [BLANKS]? See if you can complete any of these sentences:

• I didn?t make the sale because of _______.
• That really doesn?t apply to me because of _______.
• I would have more _______ if it wasn?t for _______.
• If it wasn?t for _______ , I would have _______.

• Shifting of blame
• Lack of accountability
• Excuses
• And any other thing except taking accountability!

The [BLANKS] are deadly to your success. If you spot someone using them, GET THE HELL AWAY! This is especially true if you are in sales.

Not where you want to be?where you'reALLY want to be? See the difference?

When you'reALLY want to be somewhere, you:

• Stop blaming everything/everybody else and you Start taking control of your life.
• Stop being defensive and you Start thinking of ways to move forward.
• Stop looking for shortcuts and you Start doing the hard work (or smart work) it takes to make your life easy!

To the sender of the email? I really hope I?m over-analyzing the situation and you simply wanted my book for ?free.? I can live with that because there is still a chance you will read the book and benefit from the contents. If you are a person who lives with [BLANKS]? I hope my $9.95 refund fills one in for you?

Stay Dry,

-Eric

?I Don't have the time to write.?

This is the excuse most salesmen give when asked why they aren?t taking advantage of the HUGE benefits that writing ? Social Media, Blogging and Newsletters ? can bring about. Writing = Authority?Do you have any?

FACT ? We all have 24 hours in a day. What's the difference between the people who can?t find the time to write and people who consistently publish awesome content and create killer brands???

Successful people utilize the time that other people waste. The most wasted time for Sales People?TRAVELING!

CAR: Spend a lot of time on the road? Carry a tape recorder with you and record yourself as you drive. You can record directly to most phones and email the audio to yourself for easy access and review. You will be able to edit the content before writing? so concentrate more on getting the thoughts out of your head, not on the order which they come out. There are also Voice-to-Text services/programs that allow you to receive a written transcription of the audio files.

PLANE: Airports and airplanes are a great place to work on your laptop. If you have a Wi-Fi connection you can directly access any Social Media site, blog, etc? If you Don't have internet access you can still get all your content ?on paper.? Just open a text file and WRITE ? you can publish the contents at a later time. Just like a voice recording, Don't worry about how your thoughts/ideas look on paper. You certainly Don't want to let a great idea slip away because you were focused on grammar or spelling!

INSIDER SECRET - Most people who write consistently are not sitting at their computer when their content is posted. There are programs that allow you to schedule the publishing of your content for future dates/times that you specify! It isn?t uncommon for writers to spend a few hours on the weekend and have the upcoming week?s posts entirely scheduled! This method allows you to spend the week gathering new content, not writing posts!

At the end of the day it's all about what works for you.

Questions, comments, ANSWERS??? Contact me at eric@roofyourworld.com

Stay Dry,

-Eric

PS - This was written while flying from Tampa to Miami. The flight is only 50 minutes but I used the time to write instead of looking through SkyMall Magazine or playing video games on an iPad!

Tile has stood the test of time when it comes to the types of materials that people choose to use. True the style or color of tile has changed, but the base of how the tile is created still remains the same. When a person decides to put tile and grout in their home they do so in order to provide their home with a nice appearance that will take little to no upkeep.

Tile is a great choice in flooring material, and it is true that you do not have anywhere near the upkeep that you do with wood or carpet. The carpet has to be cleaned on average every 6 months to a year and flooring will need to be refinished, cleaned, and shined. Tile tends to last a great deal of time and the upkeep of your tile and grout is minimal in comparison.

Tile is and never will be completely maintenance free. Tile will help a great deal with cutting down of the maintenance of your flooring, but it does require some maintenance in order to keep it looking attractive. Grout is extremely porous and therefore it can trap a great deal of germs and bacteria if it is not properly cleaned and sealed.

There are many ways that you can clean and seal your grout. Some have better results than others, and some last longer than others. Fortunately, now there is a new way to clean and seal your grout that will keep it looking like new for years to come. It will also prevent bacteria and other contaminants from getting into your grout.

Here is the breakdown for the new and innovative way to clean your tile:

There are many companies that will claim that their process is a maintenance free process, but unfortunately those simply do not exist. There is no way that you will be able to restore, clean, and reseal your tile and not have to do some sort of maintenance to it in order to keep it up. Well, you could always hire a maid to do it and then it would be maintenance free for your, but someone would still have to clean it.

The nice thing about having your tile sealed and restored is that you can get that new look without having to replace your tile. You will also be able to maintain your tile much more easily. Mopping, sweeping, or vacuuming on a regular basis will help to keep your tile in that new appearance for years to come. Since the grout is sealed you do not have to worry about contaminates and bacteria getting into it and causing an odor.

It is important to keep in mind that eventually your polymer seal will break down and you will have to bring in the company in order to refresh it. It is important to make sure that you are dealing with a company that offers a refresher option for you will eventually need it down the road.

Dear Builder's Engineer,

I know every small business is supposed to have a website but I have not taken the plunge yet. My business is down like everyone?s in this recession. Do you think a website really matters ? is it time I bit the bullet and put one up?

In a word, absolutely.

I?ve said it before and here it is again: In Any Business, Marketing Is Half. Or in the words of a grizzled colleague: ?Think of your business as a marketing company that just happens to provide construction services.?

Your customers are doing web searches. It is a well-documented fact that today's consumer does most of their shopping in front of a computer before setting foot in any store. Particularly for big purchases such as new homes, remodels, appliances and the like. Your competition has a huge leg up if they appear on a Google search and you do not. And even if your company doesn?t show up in the first few listings of a web search, you can bet that potential customers are asking past clients, associates, friends, and foes for your web address so they can check you out directly.

By the time this article is published I?ll have finished my 5th website. I?m not particularly proud that of that, considering my first one went up in 2000 ? that?s an average of one new website every 2.4 years. it's taken me some trial and error to figure out what type of site best suits my needs. That, and technology has changed so much in the first decade of this century that as soon as I had a site up, it was obsolete.

Now, however, it appears that website technology has leveled out somewhat. But more than that, there are companies who provide hosting and amazingly good website templates, cheap. In my case I just went from a custom made, difficult to modify, expensive to maintain site to a fully-templatized number from 3dCart.com (Volusion is another brand.). Even with my limited staff (mostly just me) we can modify and maintain the site ourselves simply and quickly. My site also has a built-in blog and a mass email handling system, both of which are critical features for what I do. Tech support is 24-7 and free. Not many years ago each of these features was a stand-alone service and a separate monthly bill. Now it's all combined and saves me a bundle.

The main purpose of my site is the sale of construction industry templates - a retail application. I need a robust shopping cart, but you'very well may not. Most construction industry folks need simply to display examples of their work, show off a few glowing testimonials, and provide contact information. That?s a duck. Web hosting companies such as Host Gator have many canned non-ecommerce templates free with their hosting service. And they provide free technical support.

I keep using the word, template. If you're in business to make profit this is a word you need a kung-fu grasp of. Templates are time savers, plain and simple. Their purpose is to provide a framework for repetitive tasks so that the user does very little from job to job. For example, when I was a framer back in the day I sometimes custom made roof trusses. The first step was to nail down a template, a.k.a., a jig, on the floor the exact outline of the truss shape. Then cutting the pieces and connecting them together was simple, not to mention each finished truss was exactly the same.

As another example, most computer users who write letters, memos, or reports have templates which contain the company logo, greeting, closing, date, and any other boilerplate verbiage that gets used time and again. A limited amount of body content is all that?s ever changed.

If you're a number cruncher you undoubtedly use spreadsheets. Here is another excellent application of templates. A spreadsheet effortlessly stores the math, graphs, help notes, images, etc. so that all the user does is change the input variables. Of all the templates I use and sell, these are the most massive time savers. I?ve written about this before.

Websit's have been around long enough that the industry has determined the best, most common types of sit's and have created templates of them. They have also simplified the user interface so that regular Joes can create basic sit's without any knowledge of HTML, Java, or any other programming language.

What about the cost? In my opinion, website marketing is the biggest bang for your marketing buck. My entire site, hosting, email ? everything, costs less than $50/month. There was no initial fee nor have I had to purchase a website consultant?s time. Okay, I?ve been through this drill a few times and sort of know what I?m doing. But even if you Don't you can still do a heck of a lot yourself with nothing more than a little ambition and a desire to learn.

Truth be told, when I decided to redo my site a few months ago, I installed my blinders and went down the same path as the four times previous ? I intended to hire a website consultant and spoon feed him my site?s content . But after I found out how simple the templates are, I didn?t do it. And boy am I glad. Here?s why:

* I saved several thousand dollars in consultant?s fees.

* I understand precisely what my site does and how. This is no small item. Most owners of websit's have a vague understanding at best of what their site does and does not do. When you create the whole thing you're forced to deeply understand your own marketing plan and its components.

* My time investment is about the same as if I?d hired a consultant because they only do exactly what you ask them ? They are not mind readers. So you not only have to provide the content ? ad copy, photos, testimonials, etc. - you also must proofread and check their work. Then, after They are done, you notice it could be better if this or that were different so you pay them to tweak and retweak. The meter runs and your teeth grind. I?ve been down that road enough times to assure you that even the best consultants are no better than your time spent with them.

* It forces you to learn something new ? always a beautiful thing.

* Upkeep and maintenance will actually get done because I?m the one doing it on my time, on my dime. I hesitate when I have to hire someone to do it for me.

If you're not a marketing expert, how are you supposed to know what to put on your site and what it'should look like? The answer is all around the internet and it's free: Borrow ideas from other sit's. In my case I wanted a simple, clean look with a construction feel. Sit's that influenced me include Apple, Mike Holmes, and Bob Vila. And it's not like I plagiarized; you?d be hard pressed to even guess my influences when you visit my website. Certain things on others? sit's you specifically choose not to emulate.

Certainly you Don't want to put up garbage. Bad marketing can be worse than none at all. If you're unsure, then by all means spend a few hundred bucks on a consultant. A word of warning, though. Website consultants are not necessarily marketing experts. My first web consultant, for example, thought flashy graphics and hard sell techniques were the way and wanted to bring that motif to my site. Yucch. Make sure your consultant is all about good looking, appropriate content. Check out many examples of their work and talk to past clients.

In summary a website is your window frame to the world. A good one is a must. You can build most, if not all of it yourself. Take advantage of any well-known hosting company?s templates and borrow ideas from sit's that you like. Make sure all content is grammatically correct, well written and proofread. And lastly, Don't hesitate to hire a proven professional if you're unsure of anything.

Let me give you 3 compelling reasons you should NOT create more pages for your website:

Google ranks web pages NOT web sit's. Let me repeat that - Google ranks web pages NOT web sit's. Every page you add to your web site creates a new opportunity for Google, Bing, and Yahoo to find you. If you're gearing up for a relaxing summer, creating more web pages can put a serious crimp on your plans! So, remember - if you're trying to stay anonymous, stop that office phone from ringing off the hook, and help your competitors grow their business, Don't write and publish more pages on your web site.

Enjoy the weather and I'll see you at the beach!!