Shared Visions Unlimited

Creation ~ Marketing ~ Publishing

Author: Greg Dixon (Page 2 of 2)

Capture Your Family Stories While You Still Can ~ Story Productions

December 9, 2024 /
Grandparents with Cat

The holiday season is a great time to celebrate with family and friends. It is also a good time to capture stories at family gatherings.

Some of the people at the table this year may not be able to share their stories next year.

Some will fall ill.

Some will die.

And you may never meet in person again.

You can capture the stories of your loved ones with nothing more than your SmartPhone, which has great photo, video, and audio recording capabilities.

Take Lots of Photos

Family events are a great time to take photos.

You can include the following types of photos:

  • Group Photos
  • Individual Photos
  • Personal Items On Walls
  • Photos in Albums

Shoot Video

Your SmartPhone is an amazing good video recorder. The AI built in to the newer phones will optimize the video for the lighting and sound conditions.

Some of the videos you can capture include:

  • Fun Family Activities
  • Round Table Stories
  • Individual Stories (you may need to prompt for specific stories)

Record Audio With The Phone

The Voice Memo or similar app on your SmartPhone is a great way to record stories that can be less intimidating than video.

You can hold the phone or put it on a pillow or cloth between you and the speaker.

Th pillow isolates the phone from table vibrations and also can reduce som of the ambient room noise.

Ask questions and encourage your family members to tell their stories.

Remote Recording with Zoom or StreamYard

You can record remote session applications like Zoom and StreamYard if you are not in the same city.

Questions to Consider

Here are some possible questions to ask:

  • The most interesting story that you know about
  • A story they want to share
  • Romances
  • Marriages
  • About their career
  • Favourite hobby.
  • Most interesting experience
  • Funniest experience
  • Time in the service
  • Anything you think they want to talk about

Storing

Photos can be uploaded to sites like Google Photos or Google Drive to collect the photos. videos, audio recordings, notes, and related documents.

This is the most important thing to do as you collect the media.

Organization

You can create folders on Google Drive to start organizing the media for sharing and using for Story Productions

You can name the folders something that makes sense to you.

Here is a sample:

  • Aunt Martha Miles
    • Notes
    • Videos
      • Early Days
      • Wedding
      • Adventures
      • …
    • Photos
      • Category 1
      • Category 2
    • Audio Recordings
    • Document

Story Productions

When you are ready, you can assemble the photos, video, audio, and notes into media for sharing.

I have created presentations in the following forms:

  • Print Book
  • eBook
  • FlipBook
  • Video clips
  • Audio
  • Slide presentations for weddings, anniversaries, and memmorials.
  • Multimedia Digital Experience Edition
  • Website
  • Blog post
  • Social media posts.
  • …

Story Production Tools

I use a lot of tools, including PhotoShop (images), FinalCut Pro (video), ClarityScribe (transcription, AI writing), Atticus (writing, print and eBook formatting), Heyzine (flipbooks), Kartra (membership portals, email, video hosting), WordPress (websites), and others to create Multimedia Story Productions.

Greg Dixon Is Available to Help

I am available to help coach you through the collection of the stories and crafting them into story productions.

I am working on a book and video training sessions.

Stay Tuned!

Your Tree of Success for Life and Marketing

December 5, 2024 /
Your Tree of Success for Marketinng and Sales

I came across a Tree of Life mediation video on YouTube and realized that the image provides a visual representation of my approach to marketing.

A real tree is a true miracle of creation and life that transcends human description, including poetry and sacred texts. The discussion here is limited to symbolic analogies.

First, let me share my appreciation for the Tree of Life symbol, such as this Celtic-inspired AI image provided by satheeshsankaran on Pixabay.

Tree of Life by satheeshsankaran on Pixabay

The Roots

The roots connect with Earth and all life on Earth.

Years ago I visited the Theosophical Society Headquarters in Adyar, India. The centre has many original manuscripts and artifacts from all religions and philosophies in the world.

The had a tree in the garden that was a sapling from the Bodhi tree where Siddhartha achieved Enlightenment.

I sensed that the tree was still connected to the original tree through the earth and through a spiritual connection.

The roots in all trees help the tree withstand the weather, provide a base, and provide nutrients.

Marketing Analogy

The roots can be the base that sustains your business, including your education, experience, and your network of connections.

Your mailing list, professional connections, business systems, and support network all support you like the roots of a tree.

Build Strong Roots To Thrive.

The Trunk

The trunk in the Tree of Life represents Strength and Unity.

Marketing Analogy

You can see the trunk as representing you and your business. Your strengths. Your processes. Your unique offers.

The Branches and Leaves

The branches and leaves of a living tree reach out to collect energy from the sun and perform many gas exchanges and chemical processes that enable the tree to thrive.

And without the oxygen created by trees and plants, we would not be here.

Symbolically, the leaves and branches could represent reaching out for knowledge and experiences.

The tree branches can also represent past and future family relations or our evolutionary tree.

Marketing Analogy

The branches and leaves of the tree can represent the connections of you and your business to other people and businesses.

Also your public face and active marketing campaigns.

The 7 Essential Elements of Sales Success come into play here:

  1. Your Golden Offer
  2. Compelling Offer Presentation
  3. Effective Online Profiles
  4. Searchable Articles and Posts
  5. Contact Capture
  6. Engagement
  7. Expansion

Networking, advertising, speaking, and public relations are all ways to expand your reach into the world, like the branches and leaves of a tree.

The Golden Circle

The golden Celtic circle that unifies and connects all of the components of the tree in a continuous strand.

Perfection ~ Unity ~ Connection ~ Divinity ~ Flow

The perfect model for your life and business.

Greg Dixon can help you implement your Tree of Success.

7 Essential Elements For Sales Success

November 18, 2024 /
7 Essential Elements For Sales Success

Do you want better sales than what you are getting now?

Is there room to improve in these 7 elements of your marketing?

1) You Offer Something People Need Or Want

Are you presenting an offer that people will seek and buy?

It is much easier if your products and services solve a problem or fill a desire.

You may need to adjust or change your offer to appeal.

2) Compelling Offer Presentation

Do you have a landing page that presents your offer in a way that compels the visitor to say, ‘This is for me!’ and take action?

Make sure your offer page is effective before sending people there to buy.

3) Effective Online Profiles

Do your LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and other profiles reflect you and your offers in a magnetic way?

Do you have easy links to your offers from your profile?

Small improvements can have a big impact.

4) Searchable Articles and Posts with Links to Your Offers

One of the keys to online sales success is to be well-listed in the search engines so that people can find your offers.

Posting often with topics related to your offer will build your authority and increase the likelihood that they will find your solution.

You will ALWAYS have links to your offer or next step in everything you post. Right?

Otherwise, as the Bruce Springsteen song goes, you are just dancing in the dark.

5) Capture Contact Information

One of the most effective marketing tools you can use is list building.

Some people will take months or years to decide to become your client or customer.

Entice them to join your mailing list when they visit your landing page so you can keep them engaged.

6) Engage Your Contacts Regularly

Send emails, publish posts, and create video clips regularly to keep your leads engaged.

You do not always need to be selling, though much of the content can be related to your offers with links for them to learn more and consider buying.

7) Expand Your Reach and Engagement

There are many ways to expand your reach to get in front of potential customers and clients such as:

  • Attending Networking Events
  • Being a Guest Speaker
  • Paid Advertising
  • Press Releases
  • Offering Webinars
  • Creating Challenges or Summits
  • Offer a Course
  • Publish a Book
  • Have a Podcast
  • …

Have fun exploring!

My Special Offer

I can help you improve your marketing presence in all areas described above within an affordable monthly retainer.

We review where you are now and add or improve the elements for your sales success.

Setting Up the All My Relations Book Website

October 30, 2024 /
Setting Up the All My Relations Book Website

Greg Dixon set up a website at https://allmyrelationsbook.com/ for writing and publishing the content for the book as part of his publishing adventure.

Here are the steps:

  • Registered the domain name on Namecheap.
  • Set up the WordPress site on Cloudways (you can host anywhere, and platforms like Wix would also work for this).
  • Connected the domain name.
  • Added key plugins.
  • Wrote home page.
  • Started and ‘chapter’ blog.
  • Submitted to Google Search Console.

Now I need to write a lot!

Do you want to join the adventure with your own book?

Writing Live With Greg Dixon ~ A Book Creation Adventure

October 27, 2024 /
Writing Live With Greg Dixon ~ Book Creation Adventure

Join me for an adventure as I write and publish a book called All My Relations over the next month.

I will broadcast regularly to demonstrate the steps and progress.

Here is the basic plan:

  1. Create Google Drive folders for the project.
  2. Add notes to the folders.
  3. Start filling out a Book Manuscript Template.
  4. Register a domain and start a WordPress website for the book.
  5. Write and share the chapters on the website.
  6. Do a few editing rounds.
  7. Format the book for print and eBook publishing through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.
  8. Publish on Amazon.
  9. Run a marketing campaign.

Starting With Google Drive Folders

I create folders for the following:

  • Book Notes
  • Book Manuscript
  • Book Covers
  • Book Images
  • Video Clips
  • Book Planning

Creating a Book Website

I register a domain name and create a WordPress website on Cloudways.

The home page will introduce the book and provide a working table of contents.

Writing and Publishing Chapters

Over time, I will write the chapters in Google Drive and publish as blog posts on the website.

More steps coming as the project progresses.

Do You Want to Join the Adventure?

You are welcome to follow along with what I am doing online with your own book project.

If you want my help with creating the Google Drive folders, setting up a website, and cheering you through the process, sign up for my most affordable retainer at $88 per month. I provide everything you need.

Publishing an Existing Book

You can apply the publishing steps to a book you already have.

Consider Creating a Website as a Publishing Destination for Your Book

October 26, 2024 /

Emphasizing the Unlimited part of Shared Visions Unlimited Publishing, I encourage and help you to publish your book in multiple formats on multiple platforms, including:

  • Printed Book and eBook through Amazon and IngramSpark
    Put your book out far and wide forever and possibly make some money.
  • FlipBook
    Easy distribution and support for multimedia elements. Help people, build authority, and increase influence.
  • Digital Experience Edition
    Secure multimedia portal for your book content and support material. Great potential for direct sales.
  • Audiobook
    A market for those who prefer to listen.
  • Video Versions
    Illustrated readings, training, …

Today, I suggest adding a blogging website to the mix and possibly starting by writing and publishing your book on a blogging website.

Why You Would Consider Publishing Your Book As A Website

This is for you if your reasons to write and publish a book are along these lines:

  • You have joy in the creating and writing process itself.
  • You have insights or stories you want to share with the world.
  • You want to increase your authority and influence.
  • You may want to use a book as a lead magnet for your products and services.
  • You want to engage your readers with your content and get feedback to improve the print book.
  • You collaborate with an editor or writing coach.

This is not for you if you are a perfectionist who
wants everything perfect before sharing.

I build high-performing and search-engine-optimized WordPress sites for marketing and various other purposes. Here is why this approach can work for your book and why I am going to use this approach for my own books:

  • WordPress provides a great platform for writing and collaborating on posts and articles.
  • Attention to Search Engine Optimization and submitting to Google Search Console can boost your search presence.
  • The pages can have rich multimedia content and links to related resources.
  • WordPress provides a good search function for the site itself. This is fabulously useful.
  • The Google Translate plugin can translate the site instantly. I still think this is amazing! Check out the language selector at the bottom-right of this window.
  • You can invite feedback and comments for your content as you go.
  • Sharing to social media platforms is easy.
  • Linking back from social media platforms and YouTube is easy.

Writing Live and Testing Content

I have a few books in mind: The First Book of Lazy, All My Relations, Adventures in Moving, and The Golden Publishing Sales Machine.

I will create a website and start writing at least one of those books live soon.

Here is the plan:

  1. Register a domain name with the working book title.
  2. Create a website with key plugins, including Yoast SEO, Google Site Kit, and Ultimate Blocks.
  3. Create a home page with a book description and a working outline of topics.
  4. Write the first chapter.
  5. Submit the site to Google Search Console for indexing.
  6. Write a chapter regularly. I will aim for at least three a week.
  7. Post a link to each chapter on social media.
  8. Consider doing a broadcast for each chapter.

I use Grammarly to keep my writing somewhat under control!

If I get readers and interest, I will combine and publish in some or all formats such as a print book, eBook, flipbook, audiobook, and Digital Experience Edition.

At the very least, I will have fun writing and publishing the chapters:-)

Want to try it for your book?

Let’s chat about the possibilities.

Greg Dixon, Chief Cheerleader
Shared Visions Unlimited Publishing

Writing, Formatting, and Proofing Your Books with Atticus and Heyzine

September 3, 2024 /

The main service I provide for our book publishing is formatting the manuscript for print book and eBook publishing with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and IngramSpark.

The tool I use for that is Attiticus at atticus.io.

Formatting

Atticus supports all popular book trim sizes like 6 x 9 inches.

It includes many book themes that can be customized in many ways.

The platform provides good previews of the formatting of the eBook on various devices and the print format.

Writing

Usually, the manuscripts from our clients come in Microsoft Word format that is imported into Atticus for formatting.

Atticus provides a great writing platform for writing and editing books.

Each book section and chapter is treated as a separate block, which makes restructuring your book a matter of dragging the section up or down on the list on the left panel.

The formatting within each section or chapter is highly style-driven in the sense that all headings and all paragraph styles will be the same across the entire book.

This is a good practice that will frustrate style hackers who want to vary fonts, styles, and colors paragraph by paragraph.

I use Grammarly for writing style and correctness. Other writing tools could work for you within Atticus.

Proofing

Atticus outputs a PDF file optimized for uploading for printing. This file represents the book formatting with high accuracy.

We have been sending the PDF to authors and editors for feedback. Adobe does support review comments, though it is awkward.

My current practice is to use the PDF to create a flipbook with Heyzine at https://heyzine.com/.

The flipbook provides a great presentation of the formatting and can be the preferred way to share books where your intention is to share rather than make sales of the book. Like a lead magnet:-)

There are dozens of flipbook creators. Heyzine is easy to use, offers a lot with the free plan, and the paid plans are inexpensive. Heyzine can also publish multimedia magazines.

Want help with your publishing journey? Let’s chat!

Greg Dixon, Chief Enabler for Your Dream Projects

June 8, 2024 /
Greg Dixon, Chief Enabler

There is a reason why the word “Unlimited” is in the company name Shared Visions Unlimited Publishing.

There are a only few things I haven’t experienced or done in this lifetime, like giving birth. Including past lives, then not much at all.

That is reflected in the range of projects I have done over the decades.

My business card most accurately could say,

Does Stuff

Most of what I have done is on my YouTube Channel.

Chief Enabler

Puddle Splashing

I have a lot of skills and tools to enable implementation many different things.

I also can be an enabler of both good and bad habits:-)

As the driver for a group of students, I probably should of been telling the girls to not run through the big puddle.

Instead, I am in the puddle too!

Not growing up any time soon.

Shared Visions Unlimited Publishing

My main company focuses on helping people publish and market books, online courses, memberships, and story productions, often collaborating with Betty Withrow.

Betty is a writer, writing coach, and ghostwriter in Monterey County, California.

Sometime it seems like we are publishing a book a week. We encourage authors to consider creating courses and multimedia programs related to their books.

I teach and offer an approach to publishing called The Golden Publishing Sales Machine.

Total Traffic and Conversion

Betty Withrow and I collaborate with Roy Dickan, John Waller, and others to provide comprehensive marketing for businesses and entrepreneurs.

Our current clients include the dental practice and real estate investing niches, though we can help most businesses.

Some Past Projects

Almost all of the following projects started with someone, asking :

‘I want to do X, can you help?’

Many times I was able to help.

  • “How to Coach Baseball to Kids” video course for Rocket Norton.
  • Websites for various promotions and companies (hundreds). Many of those I inherited from people who stopped returning calls to my client or never completed the project.
  • Online assessment systems for Human Resources (decades, millions of dollars).
  • Driver for Rocket Norton’s Town Car Service. I am now once removed from every major actor from the last forty years).
  • Also once removed from most top musicians, copywriters, and marketers in the world.
  • Many theatre and concert promotions.
  • Cancer benefit concerts.
  • Art in the Garden and other arts events in North Vancouver.
  • Urban Farming projects.
  • Food Rescue projects, including video productions.
  • Capturing and publishing personal stories.
  • Video capture of events and keynote presentations.
  • Many online courses and membership programs.
  • Quirky music videos done for fun with zero budgets.
  • Doing video interviews of pioneers in the Natural Health Industry.
  • Helping authors publish their books. Rocket Norton’s Lost In Space was the first one decades ago. Sometimes it seems like Betty Withrow and I and I are submitting a book a week for print and electronic publishing.
  • Online Summits.
  • Music concerts where I helped organize, provided sound, did multi-track audio recordings, and recorded with multiple video cameras.
    Much of that is on my YouTube channel.
  • Hundreds of hours of video of Unity services, including Unity of Vancouver and Unity of Nashville.
  • A video documentary for Lynn Valley United Church.
  • Travel articles, photography, and videos.
  • Technical documentation.
  • Software design and engineering.
  • Organized and showed in Art Exhibitions.
  • Drove through the Grand Canyon in a snowstorm (there is a story there!)
  • …

Everything is Figureoutable

Although I have done and learned a tremendous amount of things, I would make a LOT of money if I got paid for what I did not know.

I have joked that the name for that is Consulting.

My main superpower is that I am a Zen Master of search and can read and understand things quickly.

As Marie Forleo’s mother liked to say, Everything Is Figureoutable.

The book is good. Check it out on Amazon.

What is Your Dream Project?

What do you want to manifest into the world?

I may be able to help or point you in the right direction.

Let’s talk about your dream projects.

Let’s Start With Publishing Your Book

June 3, 2024 /
Book images ~ Start With A Book

Do you have ideas for one or more books or books under construction?

I can help you through the book journey from idea to publishing to marketing.

Let’s Get Your Book Published!

What kind of book do you want to publish:

  • Biography
  • Memoirs
  • Short Stories
  • Novels
  • How-To Books
  • Books for Lead Magnets
  • Travel
  • Children’s Books
  • …

Let’s get started!

No matter where you are in your book journey, we can help including:

  • Clarifying the Book Focus
  • Organizing Content
  • Developmental Editing
  • Copy Editing
  • Manuscript Preparation
  • Book Formatting
  • Book Cover Design
  • Book Submission
  • Marketing

My Golden Offer for this is $388 per month until done.

If your book is nearly ready to publish in one month, a one-month retainer could get the job done.

Or we can add other components of the Golden Publishing Sales Machine.

Or start the next book.

Your choice.

You can book a meeting with us on the pricing page.

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