http://www.jackkeifer.com

-Jack S. Keifer 

Maybe person "A" in the positive universe was just born under a lucky star.  Some people have all the luck, right?  Person "B" (negative universe) thinks that he was just randomly picked by God to get the "shaft" in life in order to keep balance in the universe.  Doesn't seem very fair to person "B" does it?  Let's call person "B" Fred and person "A" Bob.  

Fred can't help but to dwell on his situation day after day.  The lack of money, and the abundance of bills are the norm.  He can't get out of the situation because it takes money to break the cycle.  When a little money does comes along, that's when something happens, like the car taking a dump, or the water heater exploding.  The old "two steps forward, then pushed three steps back" scenario.   When it rains, it pours, and all that.

Bob, on the other hand has a life full of abundance.  He sees a world full of friendly people.  Bob knows that negative things exist out there, but just like Fred, he dwells on his own reality all the time.  His focus is on abundance and happiness.  Taking action on his goals and seeing them come into reality on a regular basis.  If a goal doesn't get accomplished, then Bob will simply try a different approach until he succeeds.  Fred will give up after the first try and go back to watching TV until some opportunity may happen to fall into his lap. 

Now we're starting to see a pattern here.  Fred dwells on his reality and keeps the negative cycle going by feeding it every day.  Thinking about the bills and tight budget all the time.  Wondering when the next disaster will come that will suck more cash away on payday.  By expecting the next disaster, he is unconsciously creating them and funneling them right into his universe.

Bob also dwells on his reality and keeps the positive cycle going by feeding it every day.  Thinking about new ideas to increase his business.  Working on ways to achieve even more freedom so that he can spend time with his wife & kids.  Knowing that money won't be a problem, because he can make it anytime he wishes.  The money side of things is just a "given" and a natural by-product of his reality. 

Bob attracts positive people into his life while Fred attracts negative people & "friends" into his life.  This is a natural result of the law of attraction.  This is a universal law that applies to everyone.  "As ye sow, so shall ye reap" could apply here as well. Where you focus is the key!  The natural step that Fred would probably take to improve his life would be to affirm to himself, "I want to aquire more income so I can get out of this debt!".  Do you think that sticking to this affirmation will propel Fred out of his negative universe?  Yes?  I say, not likely.  Why?  The affirmation to make more money & get out of debt seems like the right direction, right?  Wrong!  Are you crazy Jack?  Why not?!  The reason is because Fred is STILL focusing on his current reality… scarcity & debt!

Fred doesn't get it yet.  He is still in the dream world and hasn't yet awoke from the fog.  Years of brainwashing is not easy to undo, so it must take something drastic.  You must be prepared to accept the consequences of taking the "red pill".  Even though they're good consequences.  Fred needs a reality shift!  Fred needs to start thinking within the reality that he wants to achieve.  Fred must make his current reality become the old reality.  Fred needs to dwell on the end result.  Abundance and freedom!

After reading this blog post, Fred is starting to get it.  He begins to visualize everyday of having abundance in his life and feels this abundance already coming into his current reality.  He starts thinking about the "big goal" that he wants to achieve.  Fred realizes that by setting a series of smaller goals, he can use each of them as stepping stones towards his ultimate goal.  Every accomplished stepping stone will bring him one step closer to the finish line!  Fred continues this trend everyday. As a result, Fred begins to start thinking in new ways.  Ways that were foreign to him just a short week ago.  Ideas begin to flow and new opportunities arise that will offer a way out.  Fred will soon realize that he must filter out the negative "friends" in his life and gravitate towards positive success oriented people. 

Fred also keeps his new found technique a secret.  There is personal power in a secret that you keep to yourself for improving your life.  Keeping this secret will also keep negative feedback and static at bay from from the other negative people that were previously attracted into Fred's life.  This is very important as you shift your reality.  Fred also prays for wisdom and guidance.  The universe, God, higher power, whatever you want to call it is now opening the door simply because he asked.  It is his responsibility to recognize and act upon the opportunities that are now arising in his everyday life.  Often times these are subtle, so you need to look for them and act upon them immediately!

Fred has made a conscious effort to shift his reality into a better one.  Like sliding down a chute into a new parallel reality, he instantly feels this "shift" while visualizing his desired future.  You will feel this shift too, if you simply make the decision to do it, feel it, and ask for help from your higher power to put you there.   Remember, "the Lord helps those who help themselves".  You must take action to recognize and create your tomorrows as these ideas and opportunities arise. 

Now this may sound like a bunch of hocus-pocus hogwash to some people, but did you know that quantum mechanics have shown and proven that probability waves actually collapse when observed?!  There is a direct correlation between consciousness and our physical reality.

Once you understand the concept of reality shifting, you will realize your infinite power as a co-creater of your universe.  It's an amazing feeling and its much easier than living in a rut.  Why not give it a try?  Go ahead, shift your reality and see where it takes you!

Technorati Tags: law of attraction, abundance, self improvement, make money, internet business

You wake up one day to rain drops landing on your forehead as you stare up at the gray sky with no roof over you.  You wonder how your life ever got so screwed up.

This may seem like a far fetched scenario to you, but it could happen to anyone.  Do you think that most of the homeless planned to end up this way?  Not likely.  Back in the mid & late 80's, I was homeless myself for a few months on a couple different occasions.  I was never as bad off as James Brausch or most other homeless, because I at least had a car during one of those times that I could live in.  It was a small chevette, and my girlfriend plus two cats shared this as our home during October, November & December 1987 in Virginia Beach, VA.  Fortunately, I never had a drug or alcohol problem, nor any other vice that got us there.  Only a lack of direction and money.  I'll elaborate more on this in future posts, but this post is about the experiences of James Brausch as told in a fictionalized journal based on his true life struggle with amphetamine addiction & homelessness.

Now that's what I call rock bottom!  My experience was no picnic, but I'll take it any day over James'.  October 23rd, 1996 was the day that James seemed to hit bottom.  This day also marked the turning point in his life.  Once you hit bottom, there's only one way to go… up.  

James is sharing a very unique, special and fascinating gift with his readers here.  This is a continuing story, with a new post every day.  His latest post is entitled "October 30" as of this writing.  These posts are password protected, so get on his mailing list to get the password.   You will find that the stories that James is sharing will speak to you on many levels.  Here are a couple quick examples.

A spiritual level of a beginning to understand the divinity within all of us and how we are all meant for abundance, freedom & joy if we are just willing enough to make the effort to take the gift.

A level of self-realization that any obstacle can be overcome if you just learn to "obey" your inner voice.  Our reality is about as difficult or easy as we allow it to be.  Once you've been to the bottom & back, you have a new confidence because you know how to be a survivor.  You realize that the freedom & happiness, or otherwise, that you feel or see in others is always relative.

Finally, I'd like to point out another level pertaining to an internet business education.  As of the October 30 post, James is rising out of the depths of misery and addiction, by offering service to others to fight his cravings and using the computers at the free library for the homeless to create information products that has netted him over $3,000 in a week! 

Suppose you put yourself in his position from an internet business standpoint and shadowed everything he did each day from each post in this series?  You would modify the product to your own idea of course, but just suppose you followed exactly the same steps each day that James outlines each day in his "journal"? An interesting thought, eh?.

 I see these series of blog posts by James as by far one of the greatest gifts to the blogsphere I've ever seen.  James, if you ever happen to stumble upon this post, I just want to thank you for the inspiration. Keep 'em coming, I smell a best seller if you ever publish your story.

Technorati Tags: internet business, homelessness, addiction, self-help, success, make money

My question:

Do you see any "freedom system" potential with selling tangible goods in your own online stores, or would you see this as another J.O.B. trap?

 "Brick & mortar" business owners often work long hours every day in their stores, which essentially ties them down and robs them of their freedom.  As a result, they become tied down with a J.O.B. working many more hours than the average 9-5er.  The main difference being that the business owner potentially has more to gain with his time investment than that of the worker drone's.

An e-commerce store on the other hand is much more flexible and may offer the potential for more freedom while making a great income.  How would this fare compared to digital product sites? We'll see what input James has to offer on this. 

James Brausch occasionally offers open questions on his blog.  You may even receive a gift.  Don't forget to have your whois information up to date.

So, what does a chef know about saving energy? You'd be surprised!  I met "Grumpy" on a forum about a year ago and was quite impressed with his imaginative writing style and his firm desire to NOT put pen to paper unless it is going to actually benefit you somehow.

As a relative newcomer to the internet business scene, this guy has come a long way and taken the first critical steps to success; 

Creating a Product! 

This isn't his first project, by the way.  Grumpy has an ebook website that he launched roughly a year ago.  I had the privilege to be one of the first to preview his Pasta Master Class ebook. Right away I was able to impress my wife with some authentic Italian cooking the way a real chef would do it!  For $9.97 it's a steal!  I'm constantly prodding him to raise his price, but he's a stubborn cuss from down under, and so far he's not budging.

OK, back on subject now.   Aside from being an awesome chef, he's got some great ideas on how to save money!  I've always thought of myself as being pretty good when it came to saving energy.  I turn off the light when I leave a room (ok, my wife trained me, hehe), turn down the thermostat a notch in the winter, etc.  My utility bills have always been pretty reasonable because of my habits.

Naturally I thought OK, this is probably a great read (Grumpy is a natural born writer) so honestly, I started reading the book thinking that I would get more entertainment value from it than anything I could actually apply.  After all, I already knew how to save energy, it's not exactly rocket science, right?

Well it seems that Grumpy showed me just how wrong I was!  This book was packed with ideas on easy techniques to save money that I never thought of before.  Just a few changes in my habits while doing the laundry, cooking, etc has really made a difference!  Plus, the book pointed out all kinds of energy "holes" that I was overlooking in my home. 

My electric bill has averaged $20 less per month since I first began applying these principles last spring (2007).  I suspect that my gas bill will be lower this winter as well.  Time will tell.  My summer bill has been around $12.00 per month (Last summer I was averaging $28.00!)  When you do the math, you can see that this really begins to add up!

I don't think Grumpy has missed a trick!  He covers the home from top to bottom.  Attic, duct work, furnace, bathroom, bedroom and more.  Applying Gumpy's techniques will free up more cash for things like reinvesting into your business each month. 

The Energy Savings Benefits ebook gives you a return on your investment that literally lasts a lifetime!  Like any ebook, if you want the benefits, you have to apply what you read of course. 

If you think that keeping more of your green in "hip national bank" is better than donating to the utility companies, then you really should check this out!

Here is the link to his sales page for more details:

http://www.energy-savings-benefits.com/

Technorati Tags: save energy, lower energy bills, create a product, cooking recipes, cook book, internet business, home business

Are you getting to where you want to be?  Maybe you're already there.  If not, what would you consider your biggest obstacle?  Is it getting motivated?  Maybe you don't feel qualified to take action.  Maybe staying in a cycle of eternal learning mode is comfortable.  This, for many is the perfect excuse to avoid success.  You can easily deceive yourself into thinking that you are taking real action because you are investing your time, energy & money into your future.  But are you really serious about building your future, or are you simply an info junkie looking for your next fix? 

Think about this for a moment.  If you're constantly "learning" but never actually applying the concepts, then your desired "future" will always remain in the future.  Only by taking action on an idea or desire can you bring that future into your present reality. 

If you're not happy with your current situation, you should realize that you created it with your past actions, or more likely, inactions.  Today will soon be the past.  Tomorrow will soon be the present.  Did you build towards your future "present" by taking some sort of positive action today?  Maybe you'd rather catch that action movie on TV tonight instead.  If so, then tomorrow should be pretty much the same as today.  Rinse & repeat until you die.  Don't like that idea?  Then do something about it.

Sometimes all we have to do is find a motivating factor to keep pushing us onto success.  Here's my motivating factor.

Here's my other motivating factor:

Need I say more?

Whatever your motivating factor, start actively building your future, even if your vision is not 100% clear.  Often times its the "push" that gets the creative juices flowing and the vision solid.  Decide on a product, create a product, build a blog, a website, sign up for an affiliate or CPA program.  Anything, just do something to begin the process of change in your future.  Now keep going.  The future will be your present much sooner than you think.  Make it a good one!

Technorati Tags: build a blog, affiliate program, CPA program, info products, creating success, self improvement, internet marketing

If your curiosity gets the best of you, then participate at James' Internet Business blog and show your support.   You'll soon discover that you will be an instant winner just by reading the free info available on the blog. You will be awarded with an amazing gift.   The gift of new found knowledge, of inspiration to become better than what you are now, and the roadmap to becoming a 2%er.  All you have to do is open the package.

Thanks James! 

I've been following the CD baby contest issue at James Brausch's blog regarding the facts stated by James and the stupidity defense presented by Derek Sivers, which are interesting to say the least!

Derek Sivers has claimed on several blogs that he has worked everything out with James and that he has won the contest by far.   This seems to be news to everyone except James himself who has repeatedly stated that CD Baby is still incommunicado.  We seemed to be faced with a staggering counter diction here. 

Would James lie to his readers over a silly contest to make Derek look bad?  I seriously doubt it.  Would Derek lie in an attempt to cover his own butt which is snowballing out of control?  Nah, he must be an upstanding guy, therefore I believe I have deduced the most logical explanation.  It is simply a misunderstanding.  Let me explain further how this miscommunication has likely come about. 

James was sitting at his laptop in tropical paradise Costa Rica and just clicked the record button to create an info product when at that very second he was zapped into space by extra terrestrials.  They then replaced James with an exact duplicate and zapped it back to Costa Rica an hour later.  The Automaton James was contacted by Derek and was told the good news about winning the contest.  "James" was very agreeable with everything that was discussed because the duplicate James was only functioning on the most basic cerebral levels.  After the conversation with Derek, the duplicate James began malfunctioning and was soon skipping down the street in his underwear singing show tunes from the '60s.  

The extra terrestrials were immediately alarmed by this so they zapped the duplicate James back to the mother ship and returned the real James back to earth.  They erased all memory of the event from James' memory to prevent psychological trauma of course.  James then glanced down at his laptop and noticed that there was an hour of silent serene sounds of the Costa Rican outdoors that had been recorded in his absence.  James not being the type of guy to waste a CD or an opportunity decided to release this wonderful CD to the public and launch a 24 hour special.

So my conclusion is that in reality, nobody is at fault.  Come to think of it, since Derek has the ability to change history, maybe he's an E.T. too!  Hmmmmmm!