Here’s an article that Gil Zeimer and  Norm Levin of Prime Road Marketing and Communications co-wrote about this great community swim team for ages 4 – 18. The photo caption is on page 7 with the article on pages 14-15. Norm shot all of the images.

Download the January 2010 Terra Linda Wind (PDF).

This article appeared in the September 2009 issue of Referral Success Magazine, September 2009 issue.

I don’t have an empty bottle of Château Mouton Rothschild Pauillac 1990 on my desk as I write this. But I am an expert in gauging the timeliness and quality of referrals that I both give and receive to my fellow BNI members.

For example, some referrals can be opened immediately and savored for the opportunity they present. Categorized by BNI as “5″ or “Hot” referrals, these almost always become a project that leads to closed business.

In fact, I just got a Hot referral from the former graphic designer of my BNI chapter, who has moved back to the east coast with her son to be closer to her family. She sent me an email 10 days ago with the subject line: “New Gig”. Today, I delivered the first draft of brochure copy for her technology client and have already received my retainer fee. So that was definitely a “5″,

Some referrals are “3″ or what I call “Luke Warm”. They might become a project in a week or a month. I keep these referral slips on my desk and go through the stack every few days and update my notes on them.

But some referrals are “1″ or “Tepid” and have to sit for a while in the dark in your cellar. Dormant, but not forgotten, you have to tend to them. You have to check in with the potential client periodically to ascertain their status. You have to constantly look at them in the light of day and see when they’re ready to yield their ripe fruit.

In other words . . . and again I swear I haven’t touched a drop of anything alcoholic while I’m writing this . . . some referrals are like a bottle of wine and have to be nurtured until they’re ready.

Case in point: I received a referral two years ago from the printer in my BNI Embarcadero chapter from one of his best clients. When I called her, she said she wasn’t ready to move forward yet with her project.

I checked back a month later. She still wasn’t ready.

A few months after that, she agreed to let me revise the content of her Website. I referred the task of revising her layout to my BNI Web designer and the client was very pleased with the new site, which I have updated for her since.

Four months later, the client handed me a huge editing and proofreading project. For that, I referred the client to the graphic designer of my BNI chapter who has worked with her for several years now.

So remember that all referrals aren’t ready for uncorking and savoring. Some have to sit on the shelf and mature.

This article appeared in the September 2009 issue of Referral Success Magazine.

About Gil Zeimer: When Gil’s not giving referrals, he’s writing websites, brochures, ads, newsletters, and more at www.zeimer.com.
© 2009 Zeimer’s Advertising Shoppe. All Rights Reserved.

Overall, these are the 10 most important ways you can improve your referrals:
1. Show up to BNI every week
2. Givers Gain — give referrals to get referrals
3. Listen to everyone’s infomercial because members should be specific in the referrals they’re requesting
4. Have a personalized Website — be the master of your own domain
5. Visit other chapters whenever possible, especially on Visitor’s Days
6. Sub at other chapters to line up reciprocal subs for yourself
7. Have more one-on-one dance cards
8. Step up to leadership
9. Take your MSP Training ASAP
10. And be active in your power group.

View the PowerPoint Presentation:

On November 2, 2008, the Marin Independent Journal featured a dozen “travel nightmare stories filled with cockroaches, sinking ships and the unexpected” by Ann Tatko-Peterson. My freelance copywriter story called “Where’s The Reef?” below was one of them…

WHERE’S THE REEF?
I became the poster child for Murphy’s Law at the great Barrier Reef. Four of my five planned dive days were canceled. Here;”s my history of horrors as I schlepped 50 lbs. of dive gear around Australia:

Day 1: High winds, no diving. From a small dive boat in Pt. Douglas (near Cairns).

Day 2: Took a high-speed catamaran to the Reef. Dove twice. Flooded my new underwater camera.

Day 3: A three-day cruise through the Reef’s islands was canceled the morning we were to board, despite receiving cables that their engine problems would be fixed. We took an 8-hour bus trip to Airlie Beach. Stayed in a one-star hotel.

Day 4: Took a ferry to Hamilton Island Resort, checked , heard that the Ferry we just took here had just left for diving at the Reef.

Day 5: Chartered a sea plane to dive at the Reef. A cruise ship passenger who was snorkeling from the Ferry had a heart attack and drowned, so I couldn’t dive there either, as all personnel were conducting an air and sea search. Another bummer!

I also had a three freelance copywriter articles published by Dive Pacific Magazine in New Zealand. The first was featured in their October/November 2008 issue. It’s called “Your Gear May Be Old, But Is It Safe?”. Read it here on the DNZ Website.

The second article appeared in Dive New Zealand Magazine’s December 2008/January 2009 issue. This one is a bit of a stretch for a diving magazine, but that’s why I’m proud to have placed it there. It’s called “Heavy Breathing on Half Dome —- And Other Ways To Stay In Shape For Diving.” A thumbnail of it is below. Download the article (pdf).

And the third article shown below is in the February/March 2009 issue. It’s called “The Day I Rode A Manta Ray: An Ecologically Incorrect Thing I’ll Never Do Again.” You can see a thumbnail of it below. Read the article (pdf).

Enjoy all of these freelance copywriter travel articles… and if you have a travel nightmare story, please use the Comments section to share it with me.

Strategic Alliances. Virtual Partnerships. Power Teams.

Whatever you call them, having a network of trusted allies is a critical component for any company’s long-term marketing success. And if you’re a small company, networking is absolutely essential for survival in troubled times like these.

Don’t Rely on The Kindness of Strangers.

Fortunately, I haven’t had to rely on the kindness of strangers to refer clients my way. After all, people you haven’t worked with before may have heard of you. But they certainly don’t know your strengths, your history or even your track record of deliverables.

Instead, over the past 25 years, I’mve relied on the cumulative strength of marketing through power teams to:

• Grow my advertising copywriting and consulting business
• Land bigger clients than I could have on my own
• Enhance my company’s visibility
• Help me solve extremely complex marketing problems through creative collaboration
• Enable me to present a virtual team to clients large and small who need the reassurance that I’m not a one-man band
• And create a pipeline for referrals for both myself and my network of senior level sales, business, design, Web, and direct marketing consultants

Join a Pack and Start a Power Team.

So if you’re tired of being a lone wolf, it’s time to join a pack. Start networking. Join a Business Network International chapter. Attend a B2B Power Exchange meeting in a city near you. Mix it up with people in your industry at a mixer lunch or dinner. Create a power team with complimentary business associates, as I’mve done with Erik and Rebecca at Your Marketing Lab.

What’s The First Step?

If you’re a bit shy and introverted, networking isn’t for everyone. But you can take the first step (and don’t worry, there aren’t 11 more) by asking an associate to join you for lunch or coffee to kick around a few ways you can help each other.

Think of ways you can work together – by referring possible clients or by contacting potential clients. Brainstorm about whom else you can ask to join your power team of like-minded consultants.

Then, schedule periodic follow-up meetings – try to do these in person rather than by phone or email. I’mve found that personal, face-to-face contact with the personal dimension is so much more effective in today’s world of email, texting, and voice messaging with phone tag.

How Much Can You Earn Through Power Teams?

By now you’re asking, what’s the bottom line? For me, one power team of a graphic designer, Web designer and printer through my BNI chapter is responsible for nearly 50% of my earnings annually. I also get referrals from a handful of other alliances. The total is approximately 90% of my gross revenues from networking.

Not bad for a few phone calls and lunches a week. Not bad at all.

Download a PDF of this article.

To receive more great articles like this one, please visit www.YourMarketingLab.com and sign up to receive SparksTM – a weekly dose of energy and insight from Your Marketing LabTM – delivered directly to your inbox.

By Gil Zeimer & Michael Tauber

You may have switched from incandescent bulbs to CFLs. You may want to “get off the grid” by installing super-efficient BIPV solar roof panels. You may even have purchased a tankless water heater.

But if you really want to know the best way to green your home, consult a LEED Accredited Professional. So I called Michael Tauber Architecture of San Francisco for advice.

Mr. Tauber suggested LEED for Homes, the national benchmark for a voluntary rating system that promotes the design and construction of high performance green homes, as developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.

To use less energy, water and natural resources, LEED uses these five categories as a roadmap to going green:

1) Indoor environmental quality —- Improve your indoor air quality by switching to products that are low emitters of VOCs (volatile organic compounds), such as low or zero VOC paint, wood finishes, sealants and cleaning products. Promote low-emitting carpets and furniture. Use wood alternatives or FSC-certified wood products for flooring and cabinetry materials, such as linoleum, recycled-content tile or non-VOC carpet.. Use only plywoods, and medium density fiberboards (MDF) that have no added urea formadehyde, a carcinogen. Try bamboo, cork, and eucalyptus flooring that are sustainable alternatives to traditional hardwoods and make sure the finishes are low VOC emitters.

2) Materials and resources —- Search for high-recycled materials with pre-consumer content sourced within 500 miles of your home vs. those shipped or flown across oceans with higher environmental impacts. Use larger windows that offer more natural light or a higher quality of glass. Strive to re-use materials in a new and creative way, such as barn siding for a ceiling.

3) Energy and atmosphere —- Purchase higher performing windows than single or dual pane, such as low E2 that reflect solar heat rather than letting it in. Buy photovoltaics with generous state and federal incentives to generate solar energy. Use CFLs (compact fluorescent lights), light sensors in certain rooms, and ENERGY STAR® appliances for lower energy usage. (Note: Australia has eliminated the use of incandescent bulbs in favor of CFLs. Other countries may soon follow.)

4) Water use —- Outside: Select native or drought tolerant species that use less water, fertilizer and insecticides, Use turf grass and more efficient irrigation heads to conserve water. Capture rainwater for reuse with grey and wastewater for landscaping. Indoor: Purchase aerators to sinks, low-flow showerheads, and low-flow or dual flush toilets. Extreme measure: consider composting toilets.

5) Sustainable site selection —- Consider storm water control, even a green vegetative roof that enables water to penetrate, or a highly reflective roof with BIPV integrated tiles. Be mindful of light pollution so you’re not lighting the sky.

For more information about greening your primary residence through a LEED Certified Professional, visit the U.S. Green Building Council Website.

Read the August 2008 ViewPoints article.

As a travel writer and editor-in-chief of Vagablond.com, I’m proud to be a contributor to the latter for a number of restaurants in Marin County, north of San Francisco. This one, 300+ page book covers the City, the North Bay/Wine Country, the East Bay (Oakland), the Peninsula, and the South Bay Area all the way down to Santa Cruz. It’s available now at bookstores for $14.95 and Amazon.com for a bit less.

Hungry? City Guides are different kinds of dining guides. Instead of sending out endless surveys or filling in pages of matrixes, Hungry? enlists published travel and food writers like myself to tell it like it is after a visit or two.

Other ways why Hungry? is different:
• We think and eat like locals because we write about the neighborhood eateries that we frequent.
• We’re more than just reviews because Hungry offers sidebar essays.
• We root for the little guy and gay with mom-and-pop restaurants and neighborhood joints.
• We support nonprofits that feed the hungry and encourage that our readers do, too. (For the San Francisco edition, Hungry? City Guides support St. Anthony Dining Room, San Francisco Food Bank, Project Open Hand and Haight-Ashbury Food Program.)
• We go beyond the book with updated Website content to tell you about restaurant closures, management changes, and more.

Plus, Hungry? City Guides is planning more editions, with Hungry? Healthy edition for Los Angeles, as well as planned Hungry? City Guides and Thirsty? Drinking Guideseditions for Boston, Las Vegas and Miami.

And don’t forget to buy Hungry? Decks for 2008 for Los Angeles and Chicago, a card deck with dozens of dining discounts worth $520 for only $24.95.

For more info or to buy Hungry? books, visit their Website today.

SF Chronicle Sunday Travel Section, September 13, 2009, Just Back From Kosrae, Micronesia, by Gil Zeimer

This story by Gil Zeimer and photo by Doug Beitz of Kosrae Nautilus Resort appeared on 9/13/09 in the SF Chronicle’s “Just Back From” column in their printed and online travel sections. Read this article.

LA Times Scene Online, August 21, 2009, Kosrae, Micronesia, by Gil Zeimer

This story by Gil Zeimer and photo by Katrina Adams of Kosrae Village Ecolodge appeared in the Los Angeles Times Travel Section’s “Scene Online” on 8/21/09. Read this article.

Dive Pacific Magazine

I’m proud to be a regular contributor to Dive Pacific Magazine in New Zealand and Australia.

Nature’s Playground 2010 Annual from the editors of Dive Pacific Magazine. “Kosrae, Untapped Pacific Gem” by Gil Zeimer, Travel Writer is featured on pages 107, 108 and 109 of the 10th production of this slick, coffee-table quality magazine featuring articles about sharks, turtles, shipwrecks, cenotes, belugas, mantas, whales, and exotic destinations across the globe.

– Kosrae article, page 107

– Kosrae article, page 108

– Kosrae article, page 109

The February/March 2009 issue featured a story called “The Day I Rode A Manta Ray: An Ecologically Incorrect Thing I’ll Never Do Again.” Read the article (pdf).

The December 2008/January 2009 issue printed an article that’s a bit of a stretch for a diving magazine, but that’s why I’m proud to have placed it there. It’s called “Heavy Breathing on Half Dome —- And Other Ways To Stay In Shape For Diving.” Read the article (.doc).

My first article in Dive Pacific was featured in the October/November 2008 issue. It’s called “Your Gear May Be Old, But Is It Safe?”. Read it here on the DNZ Website.

Dive Travel Magazine

– My Dive Buddy Wears Diapers, Winter 1996, By Gil Zeimer
My dive buddy prefers warm water. So do I. Every evening around 8 p.m., we gather our gear, approach the dive site and take the plunge. Read more.

– Waterlogged Proposals, Summer 1996, By Gil Zeimer
I tried to propose to my wife underwater. She almost drowned.
While planning the moment — the commitment most men fear most — I thought this would be a romantic way to tie the knot. Read more.

– Waiting to Inhale, Spring 1997, By Gil Zeimer
I waited to inhale for 1,286 days. That’s how long it’s been since my last dive. I waited through 3-1/2 years of visiting in-laws and spending weekends in landlocked hotels. I waited. And I planned. Read more.

– The Insider’s Guide to Baja, May/June 1997, By Gil Zeimer
I was one of three contributors to this Destination X story. The following is my dive briefing and live-aboard experience.
Download the PDF version or Read more.

– Family Planning, July/August 1997, By Faith Mulvihill & Gil Zeimer
A guide to setting up your dive vacation and bringing along the whole family.Read more.

Alert Diver Magazine from Divers Alert Network

– The Sun Also Burns, May 2001, by Gil Zeimer
Barbecued ribs. Braised shoulders. Baked legs. These sound like summer grilling choices, but they’re really describing the effects of the hot sun on your skin – if you don’t take precautions with sunscreens and protective clothing. Skin cancer is something that all divers should think about. Read more.

– Low Anxiety, June 2001, by Gil Zeimer
What’s round, midnight blue, 1,000 feet/308 meters wide, and over 400 feet/123 meters deep? The Great Blue Hole of Belize, one of the world’s foremost dive destinations. It’s a spectacular underwater cavern where I got “narked”, ran out of air, and broke my watch 130 feet/40 meters below the warm Caribbean waters. Download page 1 PDF. Download page 2 PDF. Or read more.

– To Dive Or Not To Dive, April 2002, by Gil Zeimer
I hadn’t been underwater in a few years, so I’m always more cautious on my first dive of a trip. This day, the wind off the Florida coast in late February was gusting to 20 mph, the seas were rolling with 3-4 foot waves, and water temp was 74. I jumped in to follow a divemaster and 6 divers to a depth of 85 feet on a drift dive. Read more.

– Equipment Upgrade 2.0, May 2002, by Gil Zeimer
Most of us don’t even think twice about upgrading our computers, our software, our cell phones, our wardrobe, our cars, or perhaps even our homes every two to 10 years. But when did you last consider upgrading your essential dive gear? Our equipment allows us to breathe, stay neutrally buoyant, and explore underwater. Maybe it’s time you seriously considered replacing some or all of it. Read more.

Red Sail Sports, Red Sail Sports Newsletter, August 2002, by Gil Zeimer
– Watersports Paradise Found
I traveled over 4,000 miles to find a watersports paradise. It’s called Aruba. From the shallow turquoise blue waters caressing the high-rise hotels along beautiful Palm Beach, I had my choice of a dozen watersports activities through Red Sail Sports, the island’s most popular sports supplier and an international adventure outfitter.
Read more.

Scuba Times Magazine

– So, You Can’t Make The Reef, November/December 1994, by Gil Zeimer
I became the poster child for Murphy’s Law at the Great Barrier Reef. I assumed the world’s largest living thing would be easy to visit. I assumed wrong. Four of my five planned dive days were canceled. Read more.

Adventure Journal Magazine, Summer 1998, by Gil Zeimer

– Dancing To The Humpbacks’ Song
While on my honeymoon, I fell in love with another man. So did my wife. We’re not even swingers.
He was a big fella – 45 feet long, 30 tons, and had a beautiful voice. Though he was three or four miles away, I heard him singing when I went scuba diving at Ka’anapali Beach at Maui’s southern shore. Later, we both listened to his haunting calls from a mere 200 hundreds yards as we snorkeled on a whale-watching cruise near Lahaina. We actually felt the sound vibrations reverberate through our bodies. It was like getting splashed with a liquid wave of sound. Read more.

No. Cal. Underwater Photographic Society Newsletter, Dec. 1996, By Gil Zeimer

– M-I-C-K-E-Y S-C-U-B-A
I met Walt Disney in 1956 in Anaheim. Forty years later, I never imagined that I’d dive in his aquarium in Orlando, Florida.
My secret entry key was Walt Disney World’s EPCOT Dive Quest Program. Limited to eight certified divers per day, it’s a pleasantly-packaged, behind-the-scenes tour of the Living Seas exhibit, with the bonus of a 40-minute dive into the 6,000,000-gallon tank. The dive operators ask you to bring your mask and certification card. They supply everything else. Read more.

Sport Diver Interactive May 2001, by Gil Zeimer

– One Roll, One Day, Underwater In Monterey
Take 100 rolls of Kodak slide film. Give one each to 100 scuba divers. Add 50-degree water, rugged cameras, thick wetsuits, masks, fins, gloves, weights, and tanks. Ask for it back in a few hours. And award the best shots with over $20,000 in prizes.
That’s what the Northern California Underwater Photographic Society’s annual one-day competition every Spring is all about.
Read more.

From that experience, I learned that I could make a living as a freelance copywriter, that I was pretty good at marketing myself, and that I had quite a large network of contacts that I started calling “The GilNet.”

The result is this series of articles for Adweek Magazine that ran nationally for two successive weeks. I chose to write under the name of John D. to keep myself anonymous and to let other ad folks across the country better relate to the pain and frustration of losing one’s safety net of a paycheck every two weeks.

I hope you enjoy reading “The Diary of An Unemployed Ad Man”…

Week No. 1. It happened mid-morning on a Wednesday. My Creative Director walked into my office, closed the door, and dropped The Bomb. He said I was being let go. Basically, it was a budget cut because of decreased billings from a major client. He mentioned some other reasons but I wasn’t listening closely anymore. I was feeling the pain, the waves of nausea, of remorse, of guilt, of fear, of reality. My paycheck was going to stop. My security blanket was disappearing. My whole life was being turned into turmoil because of a financial decision beyond my control.

The next thing I did was stumble into the personnel director’s office to hear about my severance benefits. I got the usual after three years: Two weeks’ pay and a week’s vacation. I could continue my medical benefits. I’d be mailed my profit-sharing check within three months. I told her I would clean out my office that weekend when I could have some time there alone.

Then, I went to lunch and never came back. Read More.