With Freemind, organize your business and your life…

I’m organizationally challenged.

It doesn’t appear that way to friends and colleagues until people get to know me when I reveal “my process” – or lack thereof. Then, they are totally shocked.

The problem is that I don’t think like most people. My mind jumps from thing to thing. I think if they’d known what Attention Deficit Disorder was when I was growing up, I would have been diagnosed. Years ago, I realized that if I didn’t have some method for collecting my thoughts in a non-linear way, I’d lose the ideas. It’s all about the good and bad ideas, right?

As a freelance writer and photographer years ago, I captured ideas on 3×5 cards and kept them in a drawer until I had time to work on them. Often, I couldn’t find the cards, so the ideas were lost.

Freemind software tutorial from Bob The Teacher Jenkins — Traffic Mindmap top level hierarchy

Then someone told me about mindmapping software. “Mindmapping! What a ridiculous concept,” I thought. “How can someone map their mind – and in my case, who would want to.”

Little did I know that mindmapping software would become one of my prime success secrets. But choosing the right mindmapping software can be very tricky and expensive if you’re not careful.

With many mindpmapping software tools available, you can spend anywhere from $47 to $497 on tools such as:

iMindMap
Creately
Inspiration
MAPMYself
MindGenius
MindJet
MindManager
XMind Pro

The key is to get the tool that you need. And if you don’t need something fancy, Freemind – an open source, free mindmapping tool may be exactly what you need.

Mindmapping is not the best descriptor of this tool. Capturing brainstorm is more accurate. Without a tool to structure and focus my tasks, I’m flailing at different things all day because I’m constantly brainstorming.

The central benefit of a mindmap is speed and spontaneity. A mindmap reflects what you think about a single topic, which can focus brainstorming into actionable ideas.

With Freemind, I jot down thoughts, projects, ideas, tasks and rearrange them into coherent step-by-step processes as they gel. Now, I use it for all kinds of activities like:

Personal coaching with my clients: I use it real time to work with clients via a webinar so that we organize and build out the goals and actions live so the client understands exactly what needs to happen before the next session.
Product creation: I outline features of a software or information product before I create it in a Freemind mindmap. Then I have a basic prototype that I can share with my own coach to get additional input.
Process improvement: Everything is a process. Going to the grocery is a process. Some processes need diagrammed and immproved. For example, creating a workshop like the Niche Affiliate Marketing System consists of multiple processes. I mapped each of those in Freemind.

Since I began using Freemind, I have made thousands of dollars both in the corporate world and in my internet business because mindmapping has become my first step. For example, every product I’ve created starts as a mindmap diagram. Each NAMS workshop is a mindmap first.

Every corporate project can exist first as a mindmap. And every person on my corporate team now uses Freemind to “think” outloud.

So, why haven’t I created a product to teach you how to use Freemind (a free mindmapping tool, remember) effectively. The answer is simple: Bob The Teacher Jenkins has already done that.

If you don’t know Bob, he’s a great teacher. In fact, he was a classroom teacher for years until he realized he could teach more people using the Internet to deliver his lesson plans. Lucky for you and me, he’s teaching more than junior high history now.

That’s why I invited him to be an instructor at the Niche Affiliate Marketing Workshop in Atlanta.

I went through his training even though I’d been using Freemind for years (and thought I was pretty good at it). Man! I’m glad I did! He showed me tips and tricks that really extended my use of Freemind.

Now, I’m even faster and more efficient in capturing my ideas, but more importantly, I can find those ideas and work on them at will.

So, discover how to use Freemind mindmapping software to make sense of what goes on in your head and improve your productivity at the same time. You’ll be glad you did.

Outsourcing can make you drunk with power!

By David Perdew 1 Comment

Are you thinking about outsourcing your stuff?

You should be. I outsource everything…almost. Really! I’ve got a new twitter membership site that I’ve been working on since May. I outsourced it twice. The first time goes into my horror story file. And the second time goes into the “if-you-need-it-done-right-it’s-going-to-cost-you” file. But it was worth it too…

You get what you pay for is a pretty good maxim to live by. I love a bargain, but sometimes you just gotta suck it up and pay the professional.

But that’s not the point of this post. This is the point.

The number one question I get from people about outsourcing is this: What kind of things do you outsource? Well, I don’t outsource anything that has to do with my wife. Nobody else buys the presents or takes her to dinner for me. I don’t outsource anything with my kids, unless sending birthday gifts via Visa gift cards counts as outsourced gifting. If so, guilty as charged.

A coaching student of mine sent this link to a Moth storyteller who may have taken outsourcing a bit too far. I loved it and thought you might too… Warning – he says the “F” word twice. But it’s funny…

What does Memorial Day mean to you?

By David Perdew Leave a Comment

I hope you’re doing well and looking forward to a beautiful weekend.

It’s Memorial Day weekend here in the U.S. – usually recognized as the first true hint of summer. When I was a kid growing up in Indiana, it meant fun times ahead.

School was out or soon to be – always worth celebrating.

The public swimming pool in my hometown would open on this weekend and I’d beg my parents to drive me into town so I could meet my friends there – and please, don’t make me take my little brothers, I’d beg.

Boy Scout camp would be in just a few weeks – the two weeks in the woods with my troop seemed like an eternity away from home, but I had so much fun…even with the poison ivy and the chiggers.

And summer baseball – my first love – was in full swing until August when it got so hot, that my wool blend uniform hung on me like a wet blanket. The ball got heavier and heavier as the innings wore on until it felt like throwing a 10-pound weight to the catcher.

The Memorial Day weekend was topped off with a ceremony at the public cemetery where veterans, bent and graying, stood at attention, saluting as a bugler played played taps in honor of those soldiers and sailors who’d fallen in battle years before just as it has been celebrated since the first Memorial Day after the Civil War in 1868.

That part of the weekend took a back seat to the fun I was anticipating as a skinny 12-year old. But my dad – a veteran – dragged the family to the cemetery regularly. I stood quietly and patiently. And after the ringing of the bugle wafted through the trees bringing tears and memories to all, we all walked away solemnly.

Today, Memorial Day means much more to me than just having a good long weekend sharing barbecue with family and friends.

I’m a veteran too – 3 years, 8 months and 13 days in the Air Force during the Vietnam war, although I never traveled beyond Germany in my tour of duty.

When I fly from my home in Alabama to Seattle regularly for business, soldiers returning home for good or for two weeks relief from a tour in Iraq surround me. Often the flight attendants ask that we let them off first when we arrive. Always…always, they are escorted off with gratitude and applause.

While driving into town this morning, I was listening to our new President Barack Obama giving a commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. As he spoke of the new crop of ensigns and lieutenants who had committed their lives to our defense and national service to ensure peace first and national security, he said that they had chosen a life of sacrifice that most Americans can’t imagine.

I got tears in my eyes.

I wasn’t overcome with emotion by the speech nor the man although I admire him greatly, but the sacrifice…and my two boys.

Ryan and Matt in uniform

Matt, 31, is serving his 11th year of service, now stationed in Alaska as a full-time member of the Alaska Air National Guard where he transferred to pursue a commission after 10 years in the U.S. Air Force.

Ryan, 29, is in his third year as a Naval petty officer on a submarine at sea hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean most of the time.

These are my boys – the same boys who celebrated past Memorial Days long ago with soccer tournaments, baseball games and outings to the movie theater for the first of many summer blockbusters with their dad.

These are the same boys who, at times, made me wonder if they’d ever grow up to become responsible contributing citizens; the same boys that brought pride and joy with their sensitivity and devotion to friends, family and each other.

And now they serve selflessly to protect us in any troubling situation – domestic or foreign.

Am I proud? You bet. Never more proud, never more devoted.

So, if you need to remember why we celebrate Memorial Day in this country, think of my boys – Matt and Ryan.

If you served, thank you.

If your father or mother served, hug them.

If you are in another country and you serve the cause of peace worldwide, thank you.

And if you want to share that gratitude with your friends and family, feel free to forward link to them.

Peace & Prosperity!

David Perdew

Discover how to create a social networking site on Twubs.com instantly!

With Freemind, organize your business and your life…