“Hotseat” call with M1000 Member #120 Jim Miotke
(AKA: The infamous “Hook Me Up Yo!” sessions from trips)
http://productiveandhappy.com/
April’s call started with Jim telling his story around the Maverick campfire. The steps in his life that led to his “big breakthrough” would scare anyone into entrepreneurship. However, the ghosts and ghouls in this campfire story aren’t the kind that go bump in the night. Rather, Jim talked about the psychological barriers that held him back from following his entrepreneurial calling through 26 jobs in the six years following his education at UC Berkley.
At one point, Jim decided to save money and buy a home, by moving into a 31-foot Airstream trailer with his wife, a cat, a bird and a horse — while flood waters rose around them. Literally canoeing to their car each morning, Jim knew he had not made the right decision.
Meanwhile, a good friend was working on her thesis, which focused on a new, emerging technology at the time: the Internet. This inspired Jim to apply his passion for photography to the web. Four years into it, he had developed a heavily trafficked website featuring photography tips, a photo uploader, and a judging system which allowed his growing community of enthusiasts to interact with each other.
Jim was offered a book deal, at which point he decided it was time to quit his job — but he needed a product. So he and his wife laid out a website system for photographers, to give them the ability to have a web presence. Thus, Betterphoto.com had become a viable business.
Jim took his community to the next level by offering photography courses online; and little did he know, he had jumped into the booming e-learning industry. He applied different distribution models to the photography workshop industry, offering the ability to connect to other photographers around the world — and watched it take off with 750% growth over the new few years. Now with 5 million unique visitors per year, 20,000 photos entered every month, seven books published, and an enthusiastic community of photographers, Jim has realized his dream of writing and focusing on his passion for business.
Then, about a year and a half ago, Jim received an EO email about Engage Today. With Tony Hsieh, Sir Richard Branson, Stephen Covey, and the Dalai Lama speaking… he went to the event. Surrounded by like-minded entrepreneurs, Jim’s eyes opened to a whole new world. And although he didn’t know it at the time, he was surrounded by Mavericks.
The past year and a half has been an incredible odyssey — one which opened his eyes to the fact that Jim is in fact part of the information marketing industry. He had no idea that he was not really in the photography business, until he met others using a similar business model. Then, for the first time, he understood he is one of the elite explorer-and-inventor business owners pushing the lean, mean profit machine of the Internet. With a focus on making BetterPhoto.com more profitable, Jim has since taken his business, evolving for 15 years, to new levels.
Now, Jim has started his next project: Productive and Happy, a new business to help budding entrepreneurs figure out how to maximize their use of time and focus. His action-based productivity tools help people break free from email imprisonment, so they can concentrate on what’s most important to bring personal and professional joy and fulfillment into their lives.
Officially in what he considers the “Pre-Pre launch” of Productive and Happy, Jim has filmed ten videos, set up four lead-capture sites, and is now emailing his BetterPhoto.com list to see how many photographers are interested in discovering new tools for focus, productivity and happiness. His aim is to build an initial list of 5,000 people, and partner up with a few great JVs who have fitting lists they could make money with.
So Mavericks: Jim welcomes your brilliant ideas!
Click here now to take a look at his site and tell Jim what suggestions and guidance you have. He’s interested to hear your thoughts on new lead-capture pages and videos he could create, as he ramps up to his official launch on June 27th.
Plus, contact Jim if you can introduce him to publishers he might be interested in, who may be interested in “JV-ing.” His goal is to contract potential JV partners and film four Pre-Launch videos soon… before his wife takes the video camera on her trip to Italy.
Email Jim with your ideas at: jim@productiveandhappy.com
Thanks Jim! And thanks Mavericks, for your awesome suggestions and connections to help rocket Productive and Happy into the stratosphere!
Take a look at his site now at: http://betterebiz.com/about7keys-2/
Contact Jim at: jim@productiveandhappy.com
