About Bright Ideas
Bright Ideas is a blog and a podcast run by Trent Dyrsmid – a father, husband, and serial entrepreneur.
Here on Bright Ideas, you can expect to learn how to build a sustainable online business from proven entrepreneurs from all walks of life.
Thanks for taking a moment to learn more about me and my blog. I’m honored to have you here.
Before I tell you about what my blog will do for you, I want to make sure you understand how I make decisions about my business(es) so that you can determine if I’m the right guy for you to learn from.
The goal of my online business(es) has never been only to maximize my income. Instead, my goal has always been to maximize my income without negatively impacting my family life, my integrity, or my lifestyle.
If my goal resonates with you, then you are in the right place.
I have been an entrepreneur since 2001 and have started 4 businesses. The first one was sold for seven figures.The second one is this blog. The third was shut down after four years due to the success of the fourth one – my eCommerce company.
Despite all this business experience, I want to be the first one to tell you that I don’t have all the answers. That is why I interview other entrepreneurs on my podcast. You (and I) can learn a lot from them and I encourage you to do exactly that.
I’d also like you to know that as of today, this blog, while profitable, is not my primary source of income.
Unlike many “gurus” that can only earn money online by teaching people how to make money online, I actually run a multi-million dollar eCommerce business that I have talked extensively about in my test lab.
Here on Bright Ideas, you will find hundreds of podcast interviews with other entrepreneurs, plus a wide variety of other helpful articles and videos.
All will have one theme in common – how to build an online business.
When it comes to creating the lifestyle of your dreams, I believe that an online business is THE way to go.
Whenever I produce a new episode of my podcast, my primary goal is to get my guest to share as many “golden nuggets” as possible (a golden nugget is an idea that you can implement in your business today).
Over the years that I have been producing my podcast, I have interviewed a large number of very smart folks, so I strongly encourage you to have a look through the archives. If you take the time to comb through some of my older episodes, I promise you that you’ll uncover some pretty awesome stuff!
For the first 198 episodes of my podcast, I focused on interviewing B2B marketing professionals and market agency owners, largely because I was one of them and I thoroughly enjoyed talking about content marketing with my peers.
These days the guests on my show are all entrepreneurs that come from a wide range of backgrounds and business models – and eCommerce is definitely a part of that.
Kind Words From Notable Guests
If you are looking to increase your knowledge of content marketing and marketing automation, listening to the Bright Ideas podcast is a very good use of your time. Trent’s past guests include some of the brightest minds I know of in our industry and the knowledge that they share on his show is absolutely priceless.
Trent is a great interviewer. He quickly gets his guests to open up and share highly insightful and practical marketing advice. I suggest you check out his great podcast.
When it comes to helping marketers learn more about content marketing and marketing automation, the Bright Ideas podcast has featured some of the industry’s finest. Many of Trent’s past guests are the types of people that are sought after speakers at the leading conferences in our industry – and these are people worth listening to.
WARNING: Not all online business models are sustainable
Back in 2010 when I started to learn about how to build an online business, I fell prey to the gurus that were selling get rich quick schemes because I didn’t have enough experience to know any better.
I don’t want you to make the same mistake.
When it comes to creating an online business, in my opinion, there are two basic types of business models. You can make money from either:
- Taking advantage of the latest traffic generation gimmick
- Creating massive value for others
Traffic Generation Gimmicks
Back in 2012, I (and many others) were using gray-hat link building techniques to trick Google into ranking our websites. When Google released the Penguin update, anyone using these techniques was essentially put out of business overnight.
This is NOT the kind of business you want to build. Despite what the gurus might tell you, any business that relies on the latest traffic generation gimmick is NOT sustainable.
If you want traffic, you must create high-quality content and then promote that content to attract eyeballs.
Create Value for Others
The only way (that I know of) to create an online business that can last 5 to 10 years or more, is to create a massive amount of value for other people.
You can create value by solving problems (like my eCommerce company does), or you can create a business that provides valuable information (like the content on this blog) that is tied to a brand of some kind (your personal brand).
Here on Bright Ideas, the only type of business model that I (or my guests) will discuss is #2. If you are looking for a get-rich-quick business, you’re in the wrong place.
You are who you hang out with
If you want to become successful, you need to hang out with people who have similar goals, values, and desires.
I have built this site for people just like you, and I strongly encourage you to become a member of the Bright Ideas community by becoming a subscriber.
When you do, you’ll get an invitation to our Facebook group, as well as receive notifications of new podcast episodes and invitations to member-only online events.
Become a member right now. You’ll be glad you did.
