Today is a Saturday and I really was looking forward to it.  The business has been crazy and I think we started 14 new divorce cases.  I know, good for me, bad for everyone else.  I hear it all the time…. And I agree.

But I really needed at least a day to be with my family.  So I made big plans to go to Vegas for the weekend, on a Friday night at about 4 p.m.  Did you know plane tickets are $250 per person each way when you book same day?  $1000.00 just to get there and back?

At that rate, I won’t have any money to lose!!!

So instead, we slept in until 8 a.m., took our son to Air Soft, some place called, “Warped Ops” in Castaic and then had breakfast at a place called Mikes Diner.

We then went to get a 15 minute massage at the mall and then went to Salt Creek for a cocktail and glass of wine before we saw Sicario which was a pretty good movie.  Tomorrow we are going to see The Martian

Right now, though, I am sitting in my dining room watching American Sniper with Chris Kyle portrayed by Bradley Cooper.

Weird.  Just watched the part of the movie where they showed 9/11 and the planes crashing into the World Trade Center towers.  I say weird because watching scenes like that can take you right back to where you were the day that happened.

The weather is a little cooler by about 10 degrees and in Santa Clarita right now, that means it is 90 degrees instead of 100 and I’ll take it.

I was counting on the cooler weather and had a screen door put on our front door so we could open the door when it does cool down. Good planning, because it is open now and there is an awesome breeze blowing through and I can finally turn of the air, even if it is just for half a day.

The kids are out of the house and the wife is upstairs and the dog is taking a nap.  So just some quite time for me to reflect on the day and write a few words.

Enjoy your weekend.

So cool actually.  You just don’t know what is coming next.

I am at home, my wife is at work in LA and it is 8:30 p.m.  My daughter is a Sophomore at College of the Canyons and headed for a UC or State College.  And it looks like she will be going to San Diego.  Funny, that is where my brothers both live and one went to college there.

She really likes Anthropology and my brother, Todd, has his degree in Anthropology and is a teacher in San Diego.  So I hooked her up with a conversation with my brother.

I say it is cool, because I can still remember taking my daughter to preschool at the same school that is less than 1/2 mile from our house.  And here we are 18 years later, and having an educated conversation about college.

I am seriously at the point where I wished I had invested 18 years ago in our children’s education.  Looking like her school is going to run us about $30,000 per year on the low end and this is just one of two children we have.

We hired a college planner to help us with all of this, hoping that he can find some grants or extra money.

Funny that when you are in your prime earning years that that is when your kids are going to college.  I am not saying it pays to be poor, but sure seems there are more handouts for everyone but us.

I shouldn’t complain.  I should be grateful we are in a position to handle this. We are not rich by any means, but live fairly frugally, but it couldn’t hurt to be investing in our retirement instead of paying $30k a year in tuition.

Seriously, I drive a 2002 Ford Expedition with no air conditioning and has 220,000 miles.

Anyways, I think the goal is to set the next generation ahead of where we are.

I like these more personal posts because I can rant and just talk (or write) as things come to me.  I told my kids that this is my diary and they will be able to hear what I think, not only in this blog, but my spoken word in my videos and podcasts.

Wait, sorry, here is my entrepreneurial mind at work. What about a  business that helps people to use video and  podcasts instead of the old school written word.  I think there is something there.

The short story with this post is that is was really cool for my daughter to come up to me with all the paperwork she had received at the college regarding the different colleges she is interested in.

Pretty cool to be a father, I guess is what I am saying.

Here is a photo of us both working. I think she is studying.

I really am sorry about all the political references.  But is seems that is all that is on TV these days.

Anyway, (my wife says the correct term is “Anyhow”), but Anyway, i just heard a comment on the news that said, ” As as politician, you need to “appear” genuine”.

Wait, can you use double, quotes?  Whatever..

But, for me that stood out.  “APPEAR GENUINE”?

To put on an appearance, doesn’t that mean to fake being genuine?

Okay, the point of this is that I, ME, Tim Blankenship am genuine in everything I do.  I am just me being be.  Good or bad.  Like me or hate me.  It is not for me to decide.

I just emailed a long time friend of mine, Connor MacIvor who does real estate here in Santa Clarita.  And who taught me much of what I know about online marketing…

I said, “Hey, Connor!, I just found out something interesting.  I have written over 1,300 articles, recorded over 800 videos and podcasts, and the only thing people are talking about is my camping trip.”

What I am referring to is the fact that my wife encouraged me to write about our family and just random stuff.  Even how I mow our lawn.

The funny thing is that more people relate to my personal blog that the infinite amount of amazing information I have written about divorce…. laugh out loud.

Anyways, I wrote about this more in the article previous to this.

I was just interesting to come across the mainstream media saying politicians need to “appear genuine”.

Just be genuine.  That is how i am.

Tim

This is a bit of an offshoot to the article prior to this where we talked about Stephen Colbert and his guests, but in watching the end of the interview with Joe Biden, I was a bit taken aback.

Forget about political views and all.  Because for me, I vote for the person, not the party. But my point is that I has written how I had drank the punch and was interested in Donald Trump and Ben Carson then…

Then, I watched this show with Joe Biden.  He is just so relatable…

People are attracted to people who they can relate too.  I can only imagine that the information I have put out on our blogs, videos and podcast relate to some people.

To others they don’t.

And that is fine…

What I wanted to say here, is that people relate to relatable people.  People want to connect in some way with the people they vote for and for the people they do business with.

That is why, at the urging of my wife, I have started just writing… Not about how to get divorced, but about me, my family, things I am interested in, etc.

Want to know the funny thing?

As of this article, I have written over 1,300 articles.  And I get all types of feedback from my articles about how to get divorced in California and other helpful information.

But I only started writing these more personal articles about a month ago.

And do you want to know what people ask me about on the phone or in person?

Yep, my personal “Tim’s personal Blog” articles where i just talk about my family, friends, things I have done, etc.

Shoot, the other day, I wrote an article about How I mow My Lawn and people called me and said, “Oh, I read the article about your lawn”, or ” I read the article about “ How the Santa Clarita Magazine allowed an attorney to take advantage of you”

People relate.  And I found it fascinating to learn that people, while they likely read and article, watched a video, or listened to a podcast about divorce, the most comments I get when someone calls me is about my personal posts.

Powerful.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Tim

I am not a fan of late night.  Not because I don’t like comedy, but because I am usually in bed by 8 p.m.

But I had a renewed interest when news of David Letterman aired.  I thought of all the good shows I missed.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not staying up late. I am recording them and watching them either on the weekends or when I get home from the office.

But it has taken some time to come to find him funny.  I am now watching the 5th installment, and I think I finally find him funny.  It is like when you try a new movie series, it takes time to buy into the character.

Anyways, tonight I am watching Stephen Colbert and he has Joe Biden and the Uber Exec., Travis Kalanick, which I am interested in seeing.  But, before he gets to them, there is much fun made at the Presidential candidates such as Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Rick Perry.

Don’t hate me or love me, but I think I have had drank the punch, because right now I am liking Donald Trump.  We’ll see what happens.

(as a side note, after watching the first Republican Debate, I liked both Trump and Carson.  So different.  Interesting that they are both polling well)

But the reason I brought up Donald Trump is that, if anything, he is an amazing marketer.  Whether you love him or hate him, you are talking about him, and that just promotes him more.

I bring this up because, as a business person and marketer, I find it interesting that someone, … What do the call him?… a non establishment guy?…, can lead the polls.

Maybe I need to be more political and just tell it how it is.  I think I do that though, in my own way.  I mean, I do put out tons of content on how to handle your divorce, and the “Tim’s personal blog” is more of just a way of ranting and writing freely off the top of my head.

Anyways, I don’t want this to be a political rant, just a way to speak my mind is all.

Back to Stephen Colbert and his guests.

Talk to you soon.  Tim

 

 

I could not let the grass go without being mowed another day.  I had been waiting for a cooler day to mow the lawn, but that day has not come.

So today, I got out early and fired up the lawnmower and took care of business.  I have always enjoyed mowing the lawn, not so much the work, but making it look good. Nobody can seem to do it the way I like to have it look.

I have even been able to keep it green, despite the drought and watering restrictions now down to 2 days per week.

Want to know the secret?

2 things that have helped.

First, I read that if you mow without the bag and allow the trimmings to remain on the lawn that it will act as mulch and help to keep the water from evaporating.

Second, I raised the height on my mower at least a full inch, if not more, to allow the grass to grow much taller.  Again, to help keep the water from evaporating.

While most of my neighbors keep their lawns very short, they are mostly yellowing. They ask me and I tell them the 2 things I have done, but most of them have a lawn company so they don’t have any control over this.

Now aside from having to do a little grocery shopping, I have the day to myself….. Which I will probably spend, as I am now, in my home office getting my marketing done for the week so when I am at work Monday thru Friday I can focus on my clients.

A Great Window Cleaning Company

I should mention that yesterday, Saturday, I had a window cleaning company come out to clean our windows.  They did a great job and wanted to give them a mention here. The company I used is See Spot Go Window Cleaning.  They have a great Facebook presence and while I did not need them for the last few months, they were top of mind when I needed my windows cleaned.  Here is their number. (661) 295-3967. I also wrote a quick review on Facebook.

 

And I am flying solo again this week.  My wife is traveling out of town again for work. Our kids mostly take care of themselves, but I do have to take my son to school and to tutoring every day which really cuts into my work schedule.  Knowing this in advance, I did go in and work for a few hours on SaturdayBut nothing really changes other than that.  I do most of the cooking around here, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Have a good Sunday.

Tim

I had to laugh. I met with a client the other day in my office and as I always ask, “how did you hear about us?”

He says, ” I saw you everywhere!”

So here is how he explained it.

He said he was first referred to us by a friend who had used our service.  Then he looked us up online and said he found us everywhere.  He found our blog, videos, podcast, awesome reviews and even read several of my articles.

I have to admit that it is pretty cool to do this whole online marketing thing.  Online marketing really provided freedom in advertising.

What I tell my wife is that writing all the articles and recording all the videos and podcasts does two things.

It either makes you like me or hate me.

Why would I say that?

Well, you know that we all make assumptions about people before we ever meet them. And we can’t help it.

For instance, I can look at someone and know everything about them and whether I will like them or hate them.

Of course, I am wrong every time.  But you get what I am talking about here.

When people read my articles, watch my videos or listen to my podcast, they make a decision.

The decide if they like me or hate me.

The people who, in that split second, decide they don’t like me, will never call me.

And I am okay with that!

Why? Because they won’t waste my time by calling me.

Now, on the other hand. The people who do like me, call me, and we have instant rapport.

See where I am going with this.

Try to get that from some written magazine article.

Tim

 

 

The last 2 weeks have been super crazy busy for new business.  It happens every year after the kids have gone back to school.  I wrote an article about this in the past.

This is why you are seeing about 2 weeks since I have last wrote.

I have been so busy, I have been working morning to night and even on the weekends. Holidays mean nothing anymore.  In fact, I was working just this past labor day.  Clients even commented on email saying they received an email from my on Monday.

In fact, I am writing this very post on a Saturday afternoon.

What I wanted to write about here is about how great it is to know how to advertise on the internet. I am not talking about paid advertising, but just the fact of having the ability to write a blog post, record my voice on a podcast or record a video.

This last 2 weeks, while meeting clients, my blog, videos and podcast came up.  People kept commenting that they had read an article, watched a video or listened to my podcast.

While I know that I gain clients by the information I post, I sometimes cringe when people say they read, watched or listened to a particular piece of information I posted.

I mean I know people consume the information I create, it is just interesting to hear when people comment on it in the flesh.

When I write or record my videos or audio, I do so with the mentality that nobody is going to read or watch them.  I guess this is my way of being able to just turn on the camera, hit record and say what comes out of my mouth.

I mean I do have a plan of what I want to say, I just don’t write a script or practice.  Everything is just one take. And if I make a mistake, I will actually correct myself on the video and just keep going.

I think people like the rawness of what I do.

Anyways, the other point I wanted to make is that by having learned how to market my business online through a variety of different ways, It also gives me the freedom to get rid of unnecessary offline marketing methods.

When I first started this business 5 years ago, it was purely via blog posts and video that I marketed myself.  And I did well.

Then, after about a year, I started doing more traditional marketing by adverting in magazines and mailers.

But what I found is that the return on investment was just not the same with offline marketing.

When i first started, I would literally write 10 articles a day on my blog and record as many videos as I could and upload them to my blog and Youtube.

This cost me nothing but my time. (which of course is valuable) but not when you don’t have clients.

But over the years, I realized I was spending about $5,000 per month on offline advertising.  It started with just one magazine and then another, but somehow that became $5,000 per month in advertising costs.

The problem with this is that I was not getting at least $5,000 in return for the marketing dollars I was spending.

So this month, I cancelled all my offline advertising.

And I went back to the grass roots marketing that worked early on.  Online marketing.

Guess how much I spend on online advertising? (aside from google adwords)

ZERO.  Yep, zero, all it costs is my time, because I am the one that creates, uploads, records and does all the work. Yes, it took reading and learning how to do this over a period of several years, but it is now the most cost effective marketing strategy.

Besides the money issue, I also wanted to talk about the freedom online advertising gives you.

But instead of making this a super long post, I am going to write a separate article all together about this issue.

Talk to you tomorrow. (or in about 15 minutes)

Tim