I’ve been paying attention to most of what he has been saying for a few years and I’ve learned a lot in the process.

Today, on his blog, he writes:

Make money: not by building an internet company, but by using the net as a tool to create value and get paid. Use the internet as a tool, not as an end. Do it when you are part of a big organization or do it as a soloist. The dramatic leverage of the net more than overcomes the downs of the current economy.

The essence is this: connect.

Then he goes on to explain 10 ways to connect the disconnected.

Obviously, it’s not an exhaustive list, but it’s a good springboard for thinking about how you can add value by helping people make connections.

You can read the entire article on Seth’s blog: How to make money using the Internet

So, how can you help connect people and make money doing it?

Act on your dream!

JD

Is there a solution?

Today, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this subject, because the ability to add AWeber subscription forms to my Squidoo lenses is very important to my plans for next year.

I don’t believe there are any unsolvable technical problems stopping these two companies from working together.

It is very easy to add active AWeber subscription forms on other sites. They provide two easy-to-use methods: Javascript and HTML forms. You can see an example of the HTML version of a subscription form on every page of this site, right below my photo in the right column. You can see an example of the javascript version of a sign-up form on the Subscribe page on this site.

In both cases, I accomplished what I wanted in just a few minutes.

Unfortunately, I’ve been looking for a way to do this simple task on my Squidoo lenses for months. I thought I found a solution last week, and it worked very well, but it is being killed by Squidoo.

I just created a new lens with an open letter to Tom Kulzer, CEO and founder of AWeber.com, and Seth Godin, Founder of Squidoo.com, asking if they can find a way to work together to make it possible for us to do something that I believe will have a relatively easy solution. I also emailed each of them and invited them to view the lens.

You are invited to come read the lens and express your opinions:

Can AWeber and Squidoo Work Together?

Perhaps this isn’t a technical problem. Maybe it’s just a lack of motivation on the part of both companies to develop a solution. I don’t know.

Tom and Seth, I hope you’ll find a way to make this happen.

While it may not be important to the vast majority of Squidoo lensmasters, it is important to some of us – possibly many of us. I believe it may be important to many AWeber customers.

I’ve added a couple of polls to the lens and I invite everyone who reads this to come and voice your opinions and help spread the word to others who may want to combine the power of the services AWeber and Squidoo provide.

Act on your dream!

JD

He has now opened it for another round of participants.

You can get the information on his blog in this post: Are you in the tribe?

He has an interesting way to qualify new members and to keep out the tire-kickers.

I followed the steps a couple of days ago and was invited to join the Triiibe. (Yes, that’s three “i”s in the name. He has an interesting explanation, in that it takes at least three people to become a group, and that the domain he wanted was already taken.)

The Triiibe is hosted on Ning.com, a site that I really like and which hosts my Squidoo Marketing community. (If you use Squidoo as part of your marketing mix, you’re invited to join us there.)

When I made it into Triiibe, I found almost 1,000 other people interested in the same topics I am, which include leadership, tribe building, marketing, and so forth.

I’m trying to catch up on some of the conversations and I’ve met some interesting new people and was happy to see some of my friends there, too.

Seth is on to something here, and if you’re interested, don’t let pre-purchasing his next book stop you from joining the Triiibe.

Act on your dream!

JD

That isn’t the part of the article that caught my attention, however.

Towards the bottom of the article is a section called How to build a tribe and it describes succinctly some of what I’ve been trying to do over the last few months.

I’m going to take the liberty to quote from this section, and I heartily recommend that you go and read Squidoo two point oh!

Here’s what Seth said about building a tribe:

How to Build a Tribe

If you want a tribe, you need to earn one. You earn one by being the best in the world at what you do, by sharing generously, by being clear and clean and transparent and easy to work with. The masterpiece lenses on Squidoo have organically generated a following. You can too.

The only way we can make that happen, all of it, is to be open, to give you tools and to trust you. The current generation of the best Squidoo pages–the ones that rank high, get traffic and generate income–are the sort of thing that you want to visit, follow, and be part of.

It’s not particularly difficult to imagine the benefits that you’ll get when you have a tribe of people who like each other and trust you. When you have a blog and a Squidoo lens and a Facebook group and a network of people waiting to hear from you. That’s your tribe. You–and your ideas–are the glue, the magnetic attraction, the purpose. Now it’s time to sync them all up.

So that’s where we are, and that’s where we’re going.

If you run a small business or a charity or work on a major brand or are a stay at home mom, your entire world changes once you have a tribe to lead. A group of people who want to interact with each other and with you to discover new ideas and to contribute what they know.

I’m doing my best to follow this model and look forward to seeing how it all comes together over time.

Thanks for the mental image of building a tribe, Seth.

Act on your dream!

JD