The holiday season is here and it’s the time of year when everyone is scrambling to the stores to get their last minute gift items. Personally, I pretty much avoid stores altogether. Nothing beats the convenience of shopping online. Amazon.com has their system so dialed in that last year I did all of my Christmas shopping the week before Christmas and had everything at my door step two days early. People stress to get out of the house by 4am on black Friday while I sleep in and get my gifts on December 23rd and wrap them on Chrismas Eve.
Don’t even get me started on Amazon’s wish list feature! Now I get to go through the whole gift registry process that I did for my wedding for every holiday. People never have to worry about getting the random gifts that they never wanted because they can now just tell everyone to check out their wish list! It’s pure genius.
Anyway… I’m sure there’s still some people out there who haven’t quite finished their Christmas shopping (like me) that are looking for some ideas. Obviously, I don’t have ideas for everyone but I can give you some cool ideas for the marketers and bloggers that you may know. (Or, in most scenarios, cool ideas to have “Santa” bring you.)
The Amazon Kindle
You can never stop learning. As a marketer and a blogger, I’m constantly reading and learning new techniques to up my game and to find inspiration for blog posts. I’ve built a massive collection of books over the years. Now I’m starting to get all of my books on Kindle instead. It makes it so easy to travel with tons of books without loading up my carry-on. Many people think that the iPad is better but I have to disagree. The iPad is cool but the Kindle does one thing and it does it better than anything else. On an iPad, you are basically looking at another computer monitor… This causes eye strain. The Kindle looks like actual ink on paper and never gets tiring on the eyes. iPads have a glossy screen, which causes reflection issues when trying to read in bright daylight. The Kindle has a matte screen and is readable on the brightest of days. However, the biggest thing that the Kindle has over the iPad is battery life. You iPad will get maybe 10 hours at its very best (but don’t count on it). The Kindle will go 30 days without needing a recharge! This makes it the perfect travel, reading companion. Once you have one, you’ll never understand how you lived without it.
Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera
This is the best pocket video camera on the market. If you want to always have a camera with you so that you can shoot quick videos on the fly, this is what you need. This little guy will shoot videos in full 1080p HD and it will also shoot at 60 frames per second. It has descent image stabilization and, best of all, it’s got a microphone input. I use my Zi8 on a daily basis and get compliments on the quality constantly. As of writing this, Amazon has these for under $100 (an absolute steal). Grab an extra memory card while your at it because one of the many benefits of the Zi8 over the Flip cameras is the ability to swap out memory cards, giving you practically unlimited storage capability if you carry a couple back-up cards.
Dragon Naturally Speaking
Have you ever wanted to create a blog post or write an article, sat down at your computer, and just couldn’t get your fingers moving to start typing? Sometimes you know how you want to say something but you just can’t seem to get out on the screen. Dragon Naturally Speaking allows you to speak while the software transcribes everything you say on to the screen. It works amazingly well too. The software learns your voice and how you say certain words over time and gets better and better at transcribing every time you use it. When I was in college, this software was a life-saver. It made the daunting task of writing essays seem fairly effortless. Now I use it to write blog posts and articles all the time. The cool thing is that it makes your posts sound very natural because they’re written how you talk and not how you type. Usually you’ll need to go back and do a little bit of editing and tweaking to get it just right but it sure works well and it really feels like you’re saving a lot of time. **Quick Tip** You can have Dragon Naturally Speaking running in the background of your computer while you’re making a screen capture video or while your doing a webcam video. The software will transcribe the audio in real time and you’ll have a bonus text version to compliment your video. **Quick Tip**
Presto Electronic Clock/Timer
I haven’t written my post on time management yet but, when I do, you’ll notice that this little gadget plays a big part of it. This is the exact timer that I have sitting on my desk right now. It’s got a clock, a stopwatch, and a countdown timer. It’s very basic but it does exactly what I need it to do. I find that when I’m working on a project, I do best when I’m constrained to deadlines. I use this little timer to self-impose deadlines on everything I do. This blog post, for example, I gave myself one hour to complete it. I’ve got my countdown timer going and when time runs out, I’m hitting the publish button. When you’re under that kind of pressure, you tend to get things done. I know that I’m going to hit publish, whether this article is done or not. I damn well better get it finished otherwise I’m going to get crap from people for having an incomplete blog post. Any business person who wants to accomplish anything needs to set time constraints on any project they begin. This is one of the key ideas behind proper time management.
These things will save your eyes. The Gunnar Optiks Computer Glasses are designed for people who stare at a computer for long periods of time. This is actually a product that is still on my own wish list. I don’t own a pair yet but I have a friend who does and he absolutely swears by them. For someone who stares at a computer screen for 8+ hours per day, something like this seems like an absolute necessity. All the reviews say that these are comfortable and the price has really come down on these things since I first started looking in to them a few months ago. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to buy a pair yet because they’re on my Amazon wish list and I’ve been forbidden to purchase anything until after Christmas. So… fingers crossed.
Recommended Books
Here’s a list of my current favorite books that would make excellent Christmas presents:
No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs is probably the best book on time management that I’ve ever read. It’s got great advice in it and I am an absolute raving fan of Dan Kennedy and pretty much every book he’s written. This book exemplifies his work and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend any of the other 13 books that he’s written and has for sale on Amazon. This is a must read for anyone who is serious about building a business and being efficient while doing it.
Influence by Robert Cialdini is one of the most informative books I’ve ever read. This book explains the exact reasons why people do what they do and how you can use that logic to get what you want. Every person who is trying to sell anything must read this book. It will really help you understand why certain wording and certain sales techniques are so effective. Humans are pre-wired to act a certain way. This book will explain how to tap in to that to get what you want out of them as well as how to prevent some of these techniques from working on you.
Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins is an absolute classic in my library. I refer back to it very very often and I can’t get enough of it. I’m a big believer in NLP and Anthony Robbins was the person who introduced the concepts to me. The power that the human brain posses is just unfathomable. NLP, and the techniques that Anthony teaches, really help you to tap in to more of what your brain is really capable of. This book has instant fixes for nagging problems in your life. You will learn how to be more confident and successful in business. Anyone who reads this book will have a better life because of it.
The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann is a great story. It tells the story of a man who is in a rut at work and, through meeting several new people, he completely turns his life around. The entire book is written as a fictional novel while, at the same time, explains a powerful concept about business and building strong connections with people. I’d almost like to say that this book explains how karma works although, good, proven practices tend to return good results. This book is really enjoyable to read and is one of the books that I’ve read cover to cover in one sitting. I just couldn’t put it down. When you’re down, you’ll put this book down feeling like you’ve just read a great story as well as learned a new concept that you can apply in your business immediately. This is an absolute must read!
I couldn’t make a list of my current favorite books without including The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss! This is probably on of my favorite books ever written. Tim does an absolutely amazing job at explaining exactly what steps he took to get out of a life he hated and in to a life where he travels the world, does the things he loves to do, and barely spends any time doing much work. Tim gives real world examples and resources that you can use immediately to get closer to your ideal lifestyle. There is absolutely no reason that anyone who wants to work for themselves should not read this book. You will find inspiration, amazing resources, and actionable ideas that you can use in your business immediately.
Do you have any other ideas for great gift ideas for marketers? What are you favorite books? Please share in the comments below. I’d love to hear your feedback. (Please no links to actual products. They won’t pass my spam filters).
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Great list, Matt! I love the glasses! I will definitely had to put that on my wish list too!
Merry Christmas! ~Norene