Y’all have seen me go through all sorts of diets. My standup comedy routine mocked my recent juice fast, and now I’m eating about 180 Grams of protein a day, no carbs, no fruit, no dairy.  Just meat, veggies, eggs, and a ton of leafy green veggies.

On my birthday, I was the only one who didn’t have cake nor booze.

It was on a Friday… On Sundays however… I am encouraged to binge on carbs for an hour…. So

Austin is known for its food… and one of  the things it’s known for are its trailers.  You have various Trailer Parks — these chromed out Aerostream diners…. you can get all sorts of great food in them.  Hitting the trailers is one of my favorite Austin activities actually.

The quality is usually surprising.  You can get anything from Crepes, to donuts, to Thai, to Vegetarian, to gourmet ice cream, to bratwurst and more….

Last week for my binge I had:

• Chilli dusted fries
• Fried Pickles
• A chicken cone
• A shrimp cone
• Brownie and Ice-cream
• 3 Cupcakes from Hey Cupcake

(which was my 1st Austin trailer)

So here’s the video of this week’s battle:

Big lesson?  Try to look around and figure out how big something is before you order a ton of it.

So… when’s the last time you ate yourself to the point of wanting to vomit?

My very 1st stand-up routine ever!

This has been a lifelong pattern (with many different punchlines.. it’s not always about the Rabbi), I entertain people everywhere I go, and then I get asked if I do standup, and I just shyly say no. But I never actually had a good reason why!

My older brother’s yelled at me before for injecting humor into every conversation… even the serious ones. I can’t help it.

I remember when I was in high school, there was a comedy club that opened up about 2 miles from my school, and they offered comedy courses, and I thought of going… but didn’t.

I’ve never taken a step to do this officially, and I’m guessing it’s just because of a fear. I can’t say exactly what the voices in my head were saying, but they were chatting up a storm. I’m guessing it was something along these lines:

And that sucks! Because I like making people laugh more than I like sex!

I can listen to comedy all day long (inlcuding on bathroom breaks), and yet doing standup comedy was never officially on my bucket list… That’s how much I was afraid of it.

So at the end of October I’m at this party in San Diego (Oh heck- I’ll give full credit– I’m at the after party for The Internet Marketing Party – which has connected me with so many people) and I turn something that someone says into a joke…

“That’s what I’m talking about!” an angry voice booms behind me. I turn around, and Joshua Pellicier is standing there. “You’re being funny again. You’re always funny. You were funny at the mastermind. You’re hillarious on Facebook. Your blog is funny. Every time I see you, you’re funny!”

“Uhhh… thanks bro!”

“No man… this is what you need to do! You ARE funny. This WordPress thing… it’s great that that’s going well for you, but THIS is what you need to be doing! This is what you were put on the planet for!”

I thanked him again… being modest (and I’m generally not modest), but he went on and on for what felt like 20 straight minutes (It was probably 5 straight minutes of talking where I had no reply) about how I need to do comedy– standup, movies, tv shows, etc…

So I said “Ok… I’ll do it.”

Since I always keep my word, I also posted it on Twitter/Facebook, so it’s official.

I still had a bunch to do in Cali, so I didn’t have time to mess with comedy. Then when I got back to Austin, life happened… so I didn’t have time to mess with that… but… when I had posted on Social Media I said “towards the end of this month” (November). I still had no clue what clubs to go to, or what one does to perform.

One of the other things I wanted to do when I was back in Austin was get practicing on my public speaking, so I also said I’d sign up for Toast Masters.

I Skype my friend Kathryn and ask what she thinks of toastmasters… her reply? That she’s actually researching a bunch of toastmasters for a blog post she’s posting the next day.

Not only was she ahead of me on the research (as in, she already had all the local ones sorted into which ones are near), but she found this one: Toastmasters Laughing Matters – a Toastmasters chapter that has an emphasis on humor.

As far as I was concerned, there were no other Toastmasters chapters in the universe… this little bit of serendipity (which is how many of my decisions are made) led me to find my Toastmasters chapter… which was meeting the next day. Easy decision!

I went, told many jokes, and during Table Topics, I told a funny story about my 1st time at a gay club (visiting my older gay brother) and having some hot chick come and make out with me (yes, she was female… not a tranny!) I also told them I was going to do standup this month. Turns out that many of them have done standup, and they told me which clubs have open-mic on which nights. So.. I signed up.

How I get things done traditionally (as compared to talk about them) is make it real… sign up for something… get paid to complete something… whatever… so long as there’s a deadline, and someone other than me.

So, I let everyone know that on Sunday I’m going to do my 1st standup comedy ever… the letting know being done publicly on Facebook of course.

This Toastmasters actually has a stand up comedy session as well as the regular presentations, so I signed up to be the stand up act for Thursday… and I wrote my act that day.

I memorized my 3 minute act in the car within an hour, and when I performed it to that crowd, the reaction was great. I was hooked.

When Sunday came around, more than 20 of my friends showed up. About 1/3 of the audience was my friends… including some people that never make it out in public! I was really humbled.

The video below is my act. Let me just fill you in on some of the other things that happened just before I went up…

So, this one guy says he’s been meaning to do some “Crowd work” so he is going to do some… He walks to the edge of the stage, leans towards the closest couple to the stage and says “So, why are you here tonight?”

The guy from the couple takes the microphone and says “I’m here to see Ori Bengal… the funniest man in this room!” It was my friend Bryant Jones, and that poor comedian lost all his momentum for his act… he had no reply to Bryant, and even when he went back to his notes, you could see he was demoralized.

As this happened, I blushed and scooched (had to look up how to spell that) down in my seat as everyone laughed at Bryant’s reply. I whispered to my buddy “Wow.. no pressure or anything!”

The next comedian up takes the stage and starts off “Who is this Whory, funniest guy in the room? I already don’t like you!”

So… now the intro will make more sense to you And with that… here’s me popping my comedy cherry (Also, I was the only clean act of the night, and one of very few that didn’t require notes on the stage).

I want to point out though, that it’s easy to quote motivational speakers, or speak up on the topics of passion, “Yeah! Do what you love! Confront your fears!” – but I don’t just tell you that… I’m taking my own advice.

As far as comedy goes, my family hasn’t been all that supportive. My parents have told me that I don’t have to be the class clown. My older brother has frowned at me for always trying to be funny, and has interrupted my jokes on many times, to spare people a punchline he suspected (not always accurately) would be inappropriate. My younger brother just groans and makes it sound like torture…. however, when I posted on Facebook that I’m going to do comedy, he said “Way to go!” and gave me permission to use his life story (which would definitely make for some interesting comedy… but that’s another blog post).

I just emailed them that I was doing this, and that was that. I wrote about this kind of thing recently in Have no regrets, don’t listen to people! Other people don’t know your passions. They don’t know what you can really do if you really wanted to.

I can actually see doing this as a career. I’m not worried about if it pays or not (what Mom and Dad would bring up if I said “Ok.. I’m going to be a comedian!”)… it’s just something I can see myself doing morning to night. Wow… picture it.. making people laugh every day.

My friend Kate put on a Robin Williams DVD the other day for me, and I imagined what it would be like to perform for over 3,000 people at a time.

So… there you have it… I knocked out a bucket-list item that was so freaky for me that I never even bothered to put it on my bucket-list. I plan on doing it again and again… The hypothetical plan is to do this 3 or 4 times a week with the same act, and then a new act the next week… rinse and repeat.

Why? Because I listened to interviews with Jerry Seinfeld, and I listened to Steve Martin’s Autobiography (Kathryn gifted it to me when I announced that I was going to do this) — and it seems both of them attribute their massive success to non-stop repetition… just keep at it. So, that’s what I’m signing up for.

So what’d you think of my 1st time up?
Got anything you want to do that you’ve been scared to, but should confront?

Don't have regrets

Regrets are a bitch. You never hear about old people on their death bed saying “I sure wish I spent more time at the office” it’s always stuff about “Wish I traveled the world, like I wanted”  “Wish I worked less, and spent more time with my family”  “Wish I took up guitar playing”.

So why the hell do we listen to people when they tell us what we need to do (or worse, not do)?

I don’t know if Jimmy Hendrix’s parents said “Jimmy, why do you keep playing with that guitar?  There’s so many other people that are in the guitar business.”

If they had though, would he have quit?

I love my parents.  They love me.  I am clear on the fact that they just want me to be taken care of should anything happen to them. It is often well meaning friends and family that end up crushing our dreams.

When I started couch surfing, they were cool about it.  At the end of one year, they said “So, what are you going to go do now?”  Silly me gave my next destination.

We had words.

They thought it was just a phase, and I would only do it for a year.  That was not the case.  I was very happy couch surfing:  traveling, meeting amazing new people, learning new skills, seeing new things, taking cool photos, telling my story….  They saw it as pointless.

This year, I visited them in February, for 3 weeks.  I was working on a project from morning to night every day (I only took 3 breaks to join them for dinner during those 3 weeks).

I did consulting… and I like to pace when I consult (bloodflow to the brain, more ideas, I’m sharper, I process information better– plus by not being in front of my computer, I can’t get distracted by all the moving items on my screen), thus I had it on speaker phone, and my parents got to hear some of the projects.

One day, we’re having coffee, and they say “Wow Ori, we’re so proud of you.  You work so hard.  Your strategy is so solid.  You’re consulting for big experts, and they’re calling you up for help.  Your network is so diverse and influential.  This is so much better than your first year, when all you did was travel around and look for stupid adventures.”

I was instantly furious. Everything is possible because of my stupid adventures.

I have people that go up to me at conferences “Oh my god, is that Bull Poker video real?” – now everyone else wants to know what Bull Poker is, and I have many introductions just from that.

I’ve met the entire network of everyone through my couch surfing — my friends, my mentors, my role models…. if I wasn’t couch surfing, they’d be just people I read about…. instead, I get to spent time with them, be friends with them, do business with them, and learn from them.

I’ve spent thousands of hours on the road listening to audio books, because I was going around looking for adventures.

Would any of this have been possible if I listened to them and quit couch surfing after one year?   Not likely.  I’d be settled down and miserable somewhere.

So, my gripe is that everything that they’re proud of, has happened because I specifically did not listen to them. I followed my own passion, and pursued my vision for my life… not their vision for my life.

Look… the bottom line is that you know your potential and passions… others don’t.  They can only base everything on their experiences.

If you’re having opposition to an idea, that means you’re on the right track!  Stay on it!
Caveat: Do your research, and be smart about things…

When people tell you that you can’t do something… it’s often projection, and they mean that they couldn’t do that.

If you want to break a guiness world record for something… do it!

If you want to quit your job, or drop out of school, because you want to do something else that will make you happier… go for it! (See above caveat)

If you want to go on American Idol, you should go for it.

If you want to make a new search engine to rival Google, or a social media network that beats Facebook…. go for it!

You may flop, and crash and burn… but at least you tried! If you don’t ask, the answer is always no!

I’m going to do my first stand-up comedy performance this week.  Do I care if I get a single laugh?  Not so much.  I’m just thrilled to confront my fear, and finally do this.

I was born to make people laugh   So many times at parties, or conversations, I’d break out the jokes, and would get asked “Do you do stand up?”  My response was always a modest “pffft… no… ”

I never had a good reason.  I never tried.

Until now. Now I’m doing the things I want to, and I’m willing to do the work.

So… I’ve been drawing every day for at least 30 minutes.

If  you do ANYTHING for 5 years, you’ll be rock-solid at it (In my case, couch surfing).

I think the image at at the top really captures this.  Everyone remembers this scene:

Which of course led to:

In this case, you could say that it’s about deception and mind-tricks rather than just crappy advice from someone who didn’t know that storm-troopers dreams and passions…. and you’d probably be right.

However, the storm-trooper wanted to capture the droids, then someone gave him bad advice, and he believed it!

“You do not want to couch surf- you want to settle down and get a good job”  — uhhhh….  Yeah, that would have sucked if I listened.

Garry Vaynerchuk always spoke about how you have to hustle.  If you want to get something done, then sacrifice your time or social life…. but get it done.  Sleep less. Don’t watch television. Don’t play angry birds. Do what you’re passionate about!

These days, I’m not going to sleep if I haven’t spent at least 30 minutes drawing.

My death bed will be surrounded with cool photos and videos from my many adventures… I’ll be like that old chick in Titanic (who was so hot when she was younger)- that made sure to live her life after she survived that ship, and watched Leonardo Di Caprio plunge to a freezing death.

Well… once she got out of therapy for that, she started having a badass life.  She flew planes, and rode horses, and… I can’t remember the movie that well.

The thing I told my parents so often is that “At least I’m happy!  I’m doing these things now, while I am able.  I’m not waiting till I’m 60 to retire, and THEN see the world, when I can barely walk.  I don’t think it would end well if I tried playing Bull Poker when I’m retired.”

Don’t make excuses!  Don’t rationalize away the things that you really want to do!  Just start somewhere, and keep the momentum going!  Start now! You really have no excuses. You can find everything on the internet (books, courses, mentors), so you can learn any skill.

So… what is it that you always wanted to do? What would you be really upset if you hadn’t done it when you were capable?

Nothing could be farther from the truth. EVERYTHING has been going on.

SOME of the things (I don’t know that I could list them all)…

I’ve had a few amazing relationships (though, they were short lived, but I learned a lot about relationships, and myself).

I’ve run a tough mudder (obstacle course- 11 miles, lots of mud, 29 obstacles, lots of bruises and laughs).

I got a ukulele. I’ve committed to doing my 1st stand up comedy performance this month. I’ve fully launched a new business that I’ve been working on since February.

I did Halloween at the Playboy Mansion. I saw Steel Panther in concert. I helped raise money to for a child with rare bone cancer. I went to pubcon & blogworld. I had 2 different tires blow up while I was driving at high speed.

Inspired by one of my all time favorite movies, “Limitless”,  I even got a haircut following my recent successes.

Life’s been doing what it does best…. teaching, changing, and challenging.

You know, January 1st, at 2pm EST, I will have been couchsurfing a full 5 years.

I’m extremely grateful for all the experiences.  I’m extremely grateful for the people.  I’ve gotten to absolutely transform my life.

In fact, while I’m still looking for my dream gal, other than that, I’ve gotten basically everything I want in life.  This means I actually have a good ending for my book, thus… I’ll be working hard on that finally.

I’m grateful for you — – because without the people that have read my blog, the people that have interacted with me through real life and social media, I wouldn’t be here.

Not everyone is in the United States.  Not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving.  Gorging yourself on massive quantities of food does not mean that you’re aware of what your’e grateful for.

Just a reminder, one of the keys to happiness is to be grateful.  Even when things are bad, there’s always good in your life, whether it’s good friends, or good books, or a nice meal you can have, or a joke you can remember, or your health.

There’s always something good going on, even in a giant shitstorm….  If you really want to be happy, make a list daily of 10 things you’re grateful for.

Another life lesson towards happines that I was reminded of yesterday is to not care what other people think of you. This girl took me to an improv troupe performance, and these people were being so goofy…. no person in their right mind would be comfortable doing this in front of people….

They had such a blast, and so did the audience.  So… do whatever you want to, and don’t worry about what people think. In hind sight, that’s what I did with Couch Surfing!

Anyways– I’ve got a lot to write about… and I’ll spend a lot of time doing that…. so you’ll hear a lot more from me.

I look forward to sharing what’s new, and I’m grateful for you!

I replied “You speak truth! The things I’ve learned have been really deep life changing lessons… and I stumbled across them without having to do something really stupid and painful for once ”

There’s so much to say — and so much to blog about.  I can’t believe the stuff that happened “inside” while I’ve been here.  I can’t believe 2.5 months has gone by already.

I can’t believe that I haven’t had a car in that long, and haven’t noticed.

I got a plane to catch, but I thought I’d share a photo I took of my last sunset — 1/2 a mile from where I was staying.

Aloha!  Big blog post coming next week about Hawaii.

p.s. click on the picture to see it in more detail.

I thought the reply was something that anyone can benefit from, regardless of age or occupation, so I’m posting it on my blog.  I suggest you share this- someone will appreciate it.

It’s a patented multi-step process that took me years to perfect, but I’ll share it with you, ’cause you seem cool.

Step 1: Wake up

Step 2: Stretch

Step 3: Look in the mirror (optional) – and ask yourself “What do I feel like doing today?”

Step 4: Do that

Step 5: Did you like it?

Step 6: If yes, figure out how to make money off of it.

The bottom line is that people are full of shit. The people that say you’re supposed to go to school, get a degree, then have a career for 40 years doing that… are all miserable. Most people hate their life. They go to work, go home, watch TV, go to sleep. *vomit*

You can make money doing ANYTHING. If you’ve studied marketing, then that’s wonderful… now apply it to something other than “how to make money online” — you can help a local business get traffic, help improve their copy and design, and voila… now they make more $ than before. Get testimonial & get percentages. Or take friends that make stuff, and help them sell it online. MLM’s a biatch… I despise it… but I know many multi-millionaires from it… I’m just pouty ’cause I didn’t make money when I tried it before knowing marketing.

Think about branding. Think about marketing. Think about PR. It’s all about spin. how do you position something.

Perfect example- http://www.littlemissmatched.com/

What happens?

Little girls start going to school and showing off their mismatched socks… it becomes cool. Now everyone wants mismatched socks. They have hundreds of prints. You buy… you get what they send you… you show it off to your friends, and y’all compare.

Show me someone else (other than Hanes or Gold-Toe) that’s made millions off of socks… and at $9 per sale.

Get it? THAT is marketing. Not just making sales letters.

Great skill to have… but it’s just a tool… like a pencil. You can do anything with it. You can draw, you can stab someone, you can keep a door open, you can use it as a hole-puncher, you can set it on fire, you can play pencil-peg (a game where you keep hitting each other’s pencil until one of them breaks — lame… but as more interesting than my 7th grade science teacher).

Using Copywriting you can increase someone’s sales, control people’s behavior, make yourself seem more personable, make someone’s day, make someone out to be the bad guy, help a cause… the possibilities are endless.

When people talk of “Hackers” they generally are misusing the term. I think a hacker is someone that understands how something- or pieces of something – works, and then find other uses for it. In this regard, I am a hacker. So… learn skills, combine them, and do what other people aren’t doing.

Might I point out something? You asked “how you knew what you wanted to do with your life?” and then went on to speak about having no idea what you want to do career wise. Are the two the same?

So often when I ask people about who they are, they tell me what they do.

Sad.

You are so much more. You are your hobbies, your passions, your interests, your friends, your experiences, your hopes, your dreams, your failures, your successes, and so much more.

If someone asks me what I do, I say that I travel the world completely based on who’s couch I’m crashing on next… meeting incredible people, seeing incredible sights, learning about myself and the world, taking great pictures, helping people, solving problems, and telling many bad jokes.

Their response is usually a small delay, followed by “Uhhh… how do you pay traveling like that?” “Oh.. that… well, it depends on what I’m in the mood for, but… I do business coaching, business consulting, life coaching, photography, videography, video editing, motion graphics, 3d animation, print design, copywriting, pay per click advertising, search engine optimization, and a bunch of other things… how much time do you have? Or… better yet, why don’t you tell me what the biggest challenge you have in your business or life is, and I’ll come up with the proper solution for you?” (For a few references check out http://CouchSurfingOri.com/services)

Did you notice the difference between who I am, and what I do?

The two overlap… sure… helping people requires skills… photography’s in both. Both depend on my creativity and voracious appetite for learning… but… we are so much more than our jobs!

Now then… As a child, what did you want to be when you grow up? What are the things that when you do them, the entire day flies by, and people have to remind you to take breaks and eat? What are the things that when you watch them on Television (or Youtube/Hulu / movies / etc) you are on the edge of your seat, and find your pupils slightly dilating, perhaps you are slightly licking your lips?

One last tip- meet as many people as you can. Ask them about what they are passionate about, and ask WHY they are interested in those things. What do they enjoy the most. What sucks. Why did they end up doing this, as compared to the things they’ve done before. What is involved in doing this thing? Can you watch? — Maybe Google / Youtube it when you get home…. You’ll quickly find out what fascinates you.

Remember… money is just a means to keep on living… the more you have, the more you can do, sure… but… people who work at McDonald’s are in it because they need money. I doubt they are really THAT passionate about feeding Type 2 Diabetes to the people, while inhaling grease particles, or that they love the uniform that much. Then you got your millionaires in high stress jobs that hate themselves, and have no time with their significant others.

Then… you got the people that don’t make that much money, but do what they love…let’s call them artists. Read the book Flow, and watch the movie or read the book The Peaceful Warrior.

I think I’m going to repurpose this answer into a blog post, because I think many people can benefit from the answer.

Buying cough syrup would be simpler, but Terra said this will probably cure me in about 12 hours.

Terra’s site is Time and Truffles

We met at a U2 concert in New Delhi, India. You were walking backwards & stopped to light my cigarette w/ your Elvis Zippo. We became instant friends. You were Indian and I was American. You loved to take advantage of my ignorance and told me that chai was some magical potion that would make me feel like I was flying. You took me to your chai walla and bought me a glass. My head spun and I fell into your arms, your dirty fingers to my lips. “Shhhhhh…,” you whispered, “here comes a dragon.”

Will serendipity ever show an end?  I think and hope not.  You see, just recently, over the past two months, I’ve mentioned to a few friends that I’d love to get into writing short stories.  Just random ones… maybe make a form that people can submit raw ideas… like what you do with an improv troupe…. and I’d flesh out the story.  Only an hour or two a day.

This was a wonderful opportunity.  How we met immediately came to me, and this was my response:

I don’t remember being Indian… I thought it was in Spain… when I was wearing my rainbow bright socks, and a sweatband while rollerskating (yeah… quads) the wrong way while everyone else was running from the bulls…. you threw down a massive chain of salami links from the 2nd story, and swung me to safety. When I finished climbing through the window, I took my skates off, caught by breath, and jumped on you in gratitude… which was when the aged floor crumbled under the combined weight, and we fell through into the marshmallow fluff factory below. A sticky situation indeed. The rest of the evening was spent drinking good Spanish wine, enjoying pleasant conversation about our mutual world travels, and trying to remove the remaining fluff.

Lisa and I became fast friends… speaking in our first conversation as if we’ve been friends forever. Many personal topics were broached.  Many personal questions were asked.  Many stories of world travels were shared.

For those people out there who try to differentiate between Social Media, and the real world.. I urge you not to.  Sure, you can do certain things in person that you can’t do over the web… but the people out there– they are your friends, your lovers, your clients, your audience, your believers, your community.  And you can always meet up in person later.

Are there memorable people that you’ve connected with instantly through Facebook?

Silly, right? Crappy acting, and the concept– “Yeah… like someone’s going to break into my house and set up a computer store in my living room just so I can pick out which one I want. Are they going to clean up afterwards?”

But I thought I realized I had to share it, because the concept is NOT that ridiculous! In fact, it’s important for your business.

No, I don’t mean you should get a Windows 7 PC, it’s not about that at all.

There are three sides to this:
1)If Erika came home, and found a PC store in her living room, and a camera crew, she’d probably freak out. If her boyfriend wasn’t home, then she’d probably have kicked the commercial host in the nuts, maced him, and then called the cops.

When someone approaches you at a party, or event, and says hi, and then asks what you do, and you then start shoving your product or services down their throat, you are doing just this. You are alienating them.

I’ve noticed that so many people when asked about who they are, always start off with what they do… sometimes that’s all they talk about. Trust me, there’s more to you than your job or your business.

If you can’t think of stuff to say to people, I recommend going to Amazon or Google and looking up ways to start a conversation. There are tons of books that give you thousands of topics.

That is also another reason to pursue the things that make you happy. If you talk about volunteering, music you like, places you’ve traveled, interesting individuals you’ve met, crazy adventures, people will want to hear more, and eventually they’ll ask about your business. Trust me on this one…. with all my crazy adventure stories, I get peoples’ attention, and despite their curiosity, I make sure to ask plenty of questions about them. Eventually they always want to know what I do.

When you ask questions about them, make sure they are not the same questions that everyone else asked. My good friend David Gonzalez asks a question that really makes people think: What makes you happy?

2) If you follow Gary Vaynerchuk (and if you don’t, you should — his insights on business are really refreshing), you’ll realize that this is the direction that things are going.

In a few years, you’ll say on Twitter that you’re thinking of some new running shoes, and 10 packages will show up at your door, with companies hoping that you choose their shoes.

In the future, you’re going to have to engage people on their own turf. You’re going to have to make it so easy for them to buy that they don’t even need to go to your store, or website. You’ll have to chase them, not the other way around.

Start thinking about that. What are some things you can do with your business right now to make it so that the service makes them fall in love with you, and not want to go elsewhere– even if you’re not the cheapest.

I highly recommend you study Tony Hsieh (one of my couches) and what he’s done with Zappos

3) How’s your website laid out? When this girl walked in, there was no mistaking that she walked into a computer store.

Also, all the makes and models were within a small area, so she didn’t have to get lost walking around. She could play with all of them, and compare them next to each other.

Does your website make it easy to know right away what it is for? Do you make it easy to understand what you do? If you have multiple products or services, do you make it easy to know which one is right for your visitor? Do you have live chat, or at least very fast support so that people can know that they are getting the perfect product for them… as compared to having to guess?

Is the person who’s handling the support or chat knowledgable?

I used to work at CompUSA back in the day… and I kind of hated it. While I had been building computers since 6th grade from scratch, and knew everything about what made a computer awesome for what tasks…. most of the staff were total idiots when it came to computers. They would recommend a computer completely based on which manufacturer’s rep came in and offered the biggest bonuses and incentives for selling theirs.

When I go into a store to pick out a computer (or any product), and so many of them are so similar, and the sales person is just reading the same descriptions that I was… rather than knowing something about…. I get pissed off!

I can read, thank you.

This brings us to another point that I can not emphasize enough– feature versus benefits.

You need to know who your audience is, and you need to tell them why your product is good for them. This is the benefit, not the feature.

They don’t care how many transistors and capacitors and wires it has.. they care that it solves their problem.

The best example to date is the Apple Ipod. They didn’t talk about Fraunhofer compression, or MP3, or what was metal, or how many cables and software you needed…. they just said “A thousand songs in the palm of your hand!” THAT is something that people can understand.

So, don’t break into peoples’ homes. I don’t think it’s a good marketing tool. However, do be interesting and interested, do provide the best service possible, do make it easy to choose, and do use benefits instead of features.

Hit play, sit back, enjoy, and of course, leave a comment to let me know what you thought.