Rob Bell's Notes from a Yorkshire Internet Megalomaniac

Bimble-Gate

My use of the word ‘Bimbling’, when asked what I’d been doing this afternoon, earlier almost caused an intellectual ruckus when I was accused of inventing my own word by a friend who would not accept this as a valid description of my activity! After the initial disagreement over whether it’s a word or not, I took to the web for clarification!

An internet search reveals definitions in the Urban Dictionary and Wiktionary which confirmed my understanding of the definition of the word – To wander in a happy but slightly disengaged state, though with some harmless or ineffective intent – I had been doing exactly that online this afternoon!

He still wouldn’t accept it was a real world unless the Oxford Dictionary confirmed it – and the only free version of that I found online is the concise version – which doesn’t include it!

When two more friends arrived they were asked if they knew what bimbling was – one did and it’s a word he uses quite a bit.

The other, however, thought it was another new one of the multitude of social networks he often sees me using when he’s here! Anyone decides to set up a Web 2.0 app and calls it Bimbling – I want shares!

So we were no closer to achieving a majority decision… and we’re still not! So it’s time to ask you!

We agreed in the end to compromise and use the terms ‘coloquialism’ and regional dialect to describe it, but I wonder how far the term ‘bimbling’ reaches beyond my home city of Wakefield in the UK – do any of the foreign readers among you recognise it? Have you heard it before?

So what do you think – valid word (as per scrabble rules) or not? Add your comments below…

The Wisdom of Seth

“Thing is, most of the stuff you do online doesnt cost money” so begins a great post by Seth Godin about the leverage individuals have online… if they do it right and don’t spend too much time bimbling – my choice of words, not Seth’s!

I like Seth Godin, he seems to talk a lot of sense about modern marketing. I’ve ordered 3 of his books for Christmas! None of the bookshops near me stock him though – no call for business authors here in Wakefield apparently!!!

Ah well, over to Amazon we go!!!

Here are some of Seth Godin’s Books on Amazon.com:

Here are the same Seth Godin Books on Amazon.co.uk:

Last Shopping Weekend before Xmas, it was quiet in town this afternoon though. Everyone’s skint!

Rob

thanks to Elvis for providing today’s headline (although Mark James actually wrote the song!)

A few days working nose to the grindstone have resulted in lots of progress with various projects. One of the projects has given me some headaches though – as my intentions were called into question, very unnecessarily in my opinion.

Previous readers will know about my research project into Internet Marketing, where I’m asking people to submit their single biggest question about Internet Marketing at Ask Rob Bell

This is an important project to me, one I’ve already invested over 1 hundred hours in, so I was a little put out, as you might imagine, when it was suggested to me that it was a transparent trick to harvest email addresses – I mean, what the heck?!?!

I have several ways to increase my subscribers and get people onto my lists, several of which are working very very well, but the ‘Ask Rob Bell’ project is not one of them. I simply want to find out and understand what people in Internet Marketing actually want to know – and asked for email addresses so I could send a copy of the upcoming book to the people with the best questions.

So to allow people who don’t want to leave any contact details to submit their questions, I’ve started a version of the page that only requires the question – no other details needed. Anyone who uses this form won’t be able to get a copy of the book as I’ll have no email address to send it to, but it should make paranoid people feel safer about submitting their best question!

I’m aware of general themes and sub-niches within the industry, but I’m not a psychic – I wouldn’t ever presume to know what other people want to know without asking them first. It seems rather arrogant to think I know so much that I can tell people what they want to know without asking them – am I able to read minds or something?!?!?! Well actually… that’s a tale for another time!

A cornerstone of any successful marketing project has to involve research – without which, how can anyone hope to understand their market fully?

“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after” is a quote from J.R.R.Tolkien – author of the Hobbit and epic fantasy, The Lord of the Rings trilogy

I’m in the process of writing a new book, and I’d like to get some feedback from my readers -

What would you MOST like to know about Internet Marketing?

It’s obviously a very wide-ranging subject, and I want to be sure I’m providing my readers with the right subject matter, so there’s no better way than to ask all you fine, intelligent readers myself.

Visit my Ask Rob Bell page and submit your question, and I’ll give free copies of my book to the people who ask the best questions because you’re helping me to help you.

Don’t delay – Ask Away!

Your friend,

Rob Bell

10 years ago I was a very successful Marketing Manager, after studying Business Management at University then getting my Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing – I’d discovered the joys of marketing in my first year at Uni, and I knew it was something I wanted to pursue as a career – I had a very clear vision at this stage. After graduating I went on to work for some of the world’s top companies, marketing mainly technology products. I loved my work, and loved my play too – I was keen on sports, playing rugby league, rugby union and field hockey. I also found great pleasure in extreme sports – and could often be found performing aerial craziness.

Then, my life took a very unexpected turn when I destroyed 78% of my T8 vertebra in a fall on a BMX track. During the course of treatment I also discovered I had osteoporosis – quite unusual in a 29 year old male! As if this wasn’t enough, some time after I’d rehabilitated from the injury I took another bad fall – breaking my back again, also damaging my hip, rupturing my sacro-iliac joint and subsequently suffering sciatica, chronic back pain and a loss of mobility.

In probably the worst month of my life, I broke my back, got made redundant, lost my company car, my wife left me to go live back in New Zealand, I got evicted by my landlord from my cottage on the edge of a lake as her daughter wanted to move in, I had to give my beloved Old English, Mogul, away and I soon got into debt after losing my rather good salary. And oh, I had to move into a bedroom in my parents’ flat – not having lived them for some 12 years.

Losing my mobility was a very tough, bitter pill to swallow. Suddenly I could no longer play sports, and even simple walking became a struggle. I could get relief laid on my back, or sometimes that could be the most painful thing. For 3 years or so I became a virtual recluse, hardly leaving my flat at all, and eschewing any form of social life. I couldn’t sit in a chair for long periods of time, meaning I couldn’t work in an office, and manual work was not a realistic alternative due to my disability.

About 12 months ago, my obsession with computers branched out in a new direction – that of Internet Marketing, via a personal development programme that enabled me to finally break free of the shackles of depression.

As a Marketer, to discover I could earn a living from the comfort of my home with my existing skills, no matter how my physical handicap might restrict the things I can do was a true revelation – although I still to this day don’t understand why it took me so long to discover it, having been a computer addict since the age of 8 (my computer was a Sinclair ZX80, that’s all you could get back in 1980!). I could set my own hours, even work from bed if I needed to.

Even with my years of experience in Marketing, my beginning with IM was a very steep learning curve – there’s a world of difference between marketing with corporation budgets and marketing with virtually no finances at all, as I soon found out.

I took a 6 month hiatus earlier this year after the death of my Father, but am now back with a plan and a glint in my eye, keen to develop my online businesses to a whole new level. How I ended up doing the $100 Million Challenge is because of a well-timed call from one of Russell Brunson’s staff – although at the time I wasn’t ready to get back to the computer, it set the wheels in motion for my return – now I’m back, more determined than ever, and ready to excel – it’s about time, to be honest!

Best of luck to everyone else taking the $100 Million Challenge

Rob