Nothing is just black or white. Not really. If you are someone who can only deal with issues when you believe that the simplest answers (or any single answers), although frequently the correct ones, are absolute and always the right or even appropriate ones, then you have a serious problem.

Many, if not most of us tend to be rather a little lazy or impatient concerning much of what we do and expect in our lives. We want success and faster is better than slower. We want answers to questions how to achieve certain goals and simple is better than complex. We want immediate gratification but that is usually too slow. So we end up frequently going about our business based on what sounds like a good or plausible idea, using trial and error after making our decision to “make it work.” But more frequently than not, it doesn’t.

As a result of this kind of approach which, by the way, we do not generally alter from decision to decision, we tend instead to just become more suspicious and untrusting about new offers to us and believe that by becoming that way we are practicing some “learning” (from our “mistakes”)  that has occurred making it more likely we will become successful . . .next time.

Not!

Sure, if you swing at enough balls you probably will hit some, but what most of us want is something a little better than just a pat on the head. So what is most likely to improve the odds of achieving some real success? First of all, people who approach this goal and who are in the camp I describe above (denial is not a river in Africa, my friends) need to first of all get a grip, look at what was described, take some responsibility for it if appropriate, and NOT judge themselves. It is, after all, not who you are but what you do that we need to look at here. If you have been unsuccessful following a certain pattern of behavior it does not mean you are a failure, you are stupid or you are anything you want to call yourself out of frustration or perhaps self-pity. Forget about that. It is only about what you have been doing, and you can change that any time you decide to.

So the first thing you need to do is simply get the right attitude. It should contain some of the following:

• If something looks too easy it’s not the whole story. But that does not mean that it is worthless. There is something of value in most proposals, but if you are looking for a quick answer on what it is, you are missing potential opportunity. The thing is, the opportunity may be something totally different that just what is being presented. Things can have value in ways they are not being shown. Keep your mind open before you reject an idea. There could be something else in it that suits you better. Think “creative.”
• Do not expect answers to be simple and/or absolute. Marketing, for example, is not something you should expect to have real success in simply and cheaply. If someone is trying to present you with a gizmo that will earn you kilobucks while you sleep, you should have no interest in it and expect that result. Sometimes, however, going back to a previous point, some of these gizmos have some other value which we could implement within a larger framework and actually use some of its capabilities “differently” and benefit thereby. Think out of the box.
• Always check sources and remember to check your own biases when doing a search for information. This requires self-honesty. Think of yourself as a military strategist, or an LAPD detective: Just the facts, Ma’am. Be ready to admit it when you find what you believe has proven incorrect and immediately change your behavior (it’s what you DO) to stop the bleeding and begin accumulating.

One of the biggest businesses on the web, besides porn, is web businesses. Gurus abound. Web business products keep showing up on a daily basis. A few people have actually gotten rich in this business and some have produced real quality doing it. In my personal opinion, Andy Jenkins who is a NY trained videographer is one person who has created extraordinary material and who sells it on line. Anyone wanting to learn video will do well to look up this guy. Never a penny wasted here. He’s also a good guy and really offers excellent personal support as well as bona fide lessons/ info.

Brian Fanale and Norbert over at MLSP have created a huge organization to get people up and running and have done a wonderful and reputable job. Unlike what you learn from someone like Andy which you can use for anything you like, what you get from MLSP is more centered on the marketing of marketing, and most of that is MLSP product. Their stuff is very professional and you could use MLSP to sell anything you like with great support. I suspect, and I could be wrong, that most of what people do with all that content is just turn around and sell it to other people who want to set up web businesses. As long as there is still a market for that, it works great. But you are not locked in to that if you want to use MLSP technology to set up a sales medium for an MLM or a GPT, for example.

Learning to make videos from Jenkins continues to serve me whenever, and accessing the goodies of MLSP is often very helpful in some of my endeavors, but I have found that training people is only one way to create a web business. For some it is the whole deal. Selling marketing products to increase your list size, or increase opt-in rates is another huge market. Anyone who is looking to start an internet business and doesn’t know how they want to go about it is a potential buyer, as is someone who wants to increase their list size or opt-in rate.

Product sales is the big opportunity many look over, but the potential is huge. Affiliate marketing, direct marketing, Ebaying with dropshipping companies like DOBA are just a few other directions you could take. But success in anything, product or information/ training, depends on marketing . . .and the answers on how to do that is the basis for everything we are speaking about here today. It’s all about marketing and there are no short-cuts. There are no quick success gizmos. There are no easy to learn answers. It’s not rocket science. You don’t need to be a genius to succeed in it, but you do have to concentrate on what you are doing, keep focused on what you have to do, be persistent in doing it, test everything you do and keep testing it and changing it, and keep it up. It’s work. It’s time.

Like anything else in this world of any real value, you get out what you put in. Lottery winners are the exception, and if that is your retirement plan I wish you Godspeed! Truly.

I don’t know how many of you have read this up to this point. But if you have, I think it speaks well of you because nowhere here have I offered any quick, cheap, guaranteed, easy fixes. I have been speaking from the heart and sharing knowledge which I have gained over many years in different businesses and which I know to be as reliable as one could reasonably expect.

Reasonably.  I do wish you success and will always answer any emails from people seriously looking to succeed and do the work that requires.

Getting any normal kind of business started requires only one major component . . .buyers. So when we talk about building lists, getting subscribers or creating relationships, we mean getting buyers. No buyers, no business.

Now what we all see as our “model” to create our all important “lists” is the opt-in device where we attempt to convince people seeing our offer to trade us their precious (seriously) name and email info in exchange for something we are offering them. This is not a place to be expecting to make a sale. The only thing we want to walk away with here is the contact information. Period.

In fact, sales don’t usually happen until the people who we eventually get to “opt-in” (trade us their info) begin to see us as truly helpful, learn to trust us and eventually become willing to pay something for what we are giving them.

The first point to be made, then, is that if you are going to build a list by trading value for valid opt-ins, then you really need to be sure that what you are offering is legitimate, genuinely useful, not hokey, and not something that is likely to be seen too widely on the web. Not easy you say? Of course not. Who ever said it was easy to be successful . . .I mean, who of those you could reasonably trust ever said it?

Obviously, it would be terrific if you could create something totally original which satisfied all the requirements listed, but that is not very likely for most of us, so it comes down to being very choosy about who’s thingy you want to distribute. I’m sure most of you receive dozens of offers each and every day for some wonderful new end of the world  wonders accompanied by some free gift which promises eternal riches. Many of the tapes I see recently look like Hollywood productions with paid actors, many who seem to have Australian accents (looks like it’s rocking “down under”). I don’t usually sit through them. So where can you go to get some perspective?

Well, there is a very fine Forum on line for internet marketers called “The Warrior Forum” and it is rich with information from many people who actually make money internet marketing. I would suggest that you run over there and take your time checking it out. Don’t just jump in until you have a decent lay of the landscape. There are different levels of participation and “Warrior Room” members get special perks from other members who are introducing new product ideas, etc.

It’s also a great place to find out what is real and what isn’t. Frequently, when I get an offer that I actually think may have some value, I will go to the Forum and search for any threads about it to check and see if other marketers have used it and if so how it works . . .if it works. And frequently I have found reasons both for and against some of those offers which I knew I could trust. Highly recommended.

Another part of this whole business of building your list is that you need to realize that creating sales on-line is not an immediate process. For 99% of what you see being offered by internet marketers to internet marketers, slow go is the game. To establish a real business in this field you really need to be constant, steady, positive, generous and focused on what you can do to help others. There are people who make some money by using clever devices, overstating what is true and perhaps misleading their clients to buy their product, but do you think these buyers will return to buy again? Not likely, and for any endurable business you need to have a good percentage of repeaters.

So once you get so far as to get someone to trade you their contact info for your offer, keep them informed with other useful ideas, source materials, helpful suggestions . . .whatever you can to keep yourself in their windshield, so that eventually when you have something really nice you want to sell them, they will be able to feel they can trust you and will want to pull out their credit card.

Remember always, we all love to buy stuff, we just hate being sold. Use that simple rule and you will be well on your way to creating something of value to others and rewarding to yourself.

======================================================================================================================

You don’t have to do it alone. You can get your site  to start producing REAL leads quickly and easily with the correct guidance and support. Click here and get the free stuff so you can see and check out what is available. http://mlsp.imsecretsonline.com

======================================================================================================================

As somebody who believes and sees that marketing strategies for small enterprise are definitely the way to succeed, I believe that the time has come to implement a number of proven methods to put these strategies  to work. The most important thing to do is actually one of the most significant key marketing techniques for business that I know – it’s simply making the time to do your marketing.

Marketing can appear very overwhelming, pushy and difficult if you don’t develop the right approach (which will certainly be discussed in other posts), and if you don’t earmark the time for it and learn how to proceed , build systems and plug them in, you’ll see that your business stagnates and doesn’t really move forward very much.

So, how will you make time for marketing? You merely make sure you schedule it. I recognize, it sounds simple, but in practice, it’s not that easy. I’m aware from my own experience, and through that of the hundreds, or even thousands, of other entrepreneurs I’ve met and/or read , that finding within the discipline to create a well-planned  schedule and adhering to it is very hard. Sometimes it’s something we seem able to manage and other times we’ll do just about anything BUT precisely what’s on our calendar to finish.

For me, the explanation why we avoid certain things is really because we don’t think they are enjoyable or fun. If you don’t understand how to market your business, it almost certainly won’t be enjoyable. So, what’s a business person to do? Well, the answer is to just proceed one step at a time. If you’re avoiding your marketing, then chances are you are anticipating that it’s going to be hard and that certainly insures that it won’t be fun.

I’d suggest that you simply step back and try taking a little time to figure out just one system that you want to start with, like perhaps social networking. Begin by breaking  that down – just start with Twitter, for a good example. Now, set aside an hour or so to find out everything you can about Twitter – acquire a book, take a course (this one right here is EXCELLENT!! http://tinyurl.com/3bnawsf), read blogs, read posts about Twitter on Mashable – dig in. Now, after having learned some important information and how it can be used  in a constructive and appealing way, create a process, an outline you’ll be able to follow, so you understand specifically what you would like and need to accomplish each day. You can write to me if this is not something you feel you can do effectively and I will do my best to help you put it together . . it’s not hard, really.

As an example, in this Twitter course I’m suggesting here  (once again http://tinyurl.com/3bnawsf ) you learn all of the basics of what people have to do to make Twitter successful for business – including getting press, building relationships and making sales.  After developing the foundation, you will have created a simple plan which you can easily follow each day and which will not take more than 10 or 15 minutes once you get familiar with it.

Take into account the marketing strategies you presently use for your small business. Could they be written out? Do you possess procedures and systems you are able to follow to really make it simple for you? Could you hand them off to someone else to take over whenever they are up and running? If not, it’s time to put aside a chunk of hours to make this happen.

Don’t be put off by a tendency to just keep doing the same things you have been doing only doing them harder or more. Or better yet, don’t let that tendency doom you! Resist it with your life! If something isn’t working, doing it more will just make it not work more . . .you will just keep getting what you got. Organization and discipline will make you what you  most likely want to be, a successful business person enjoying what you are doing.

So, once your business grows, and it will if you follow what works and keep repeating it, you will need to consider doing what is called “outsourcing,” which means you hire people to do many of the tasks you find yourself doing each and every day. This can be done effectively and quite cheaply if you know a few secrets, and I will be talking about them at a later date as well.

Meanwhile, remember that if you are not enjoying what you are doing, then you are not doing it right. Some of my other articles go into this in detail, but for now, right here, just think about simplifying and disciplining your daily activity. I promise that if you do, your success and happiness will follow!

Marketing effectively is not free. You need to spend some money to make money, no matter what anyone tells you (for a price .  If you check out this link that I am offering you here, you will find an extremely effective method to absolutely NOT get taken and to get the very most for your money. It is called Building On A Budget and you will save much much more than the small amount this will cost you. You can choose to ignore it if you wish, but if that’s what you’ve been doing then maybe you should rethink it. It is one of the products in my own affiliate network and I only recommend products I use myself and find worthy. Anyway, here it is. It’s an easy Facebook entry!

http://tinyurl.com/3jnrto9

GO FOR IT! THE TIME IS ALWAYS NOW!!

Trying to get people to work with you can be a real problem, agree? I mean whether you are looking for a team kind of person to be part of your organization or just even someone to buy something you would have to sell . . well, it sure seems that there are a lot of  “No”s . . .so m any that we sometimes think maybe we were nuts to have thought we could find people in the first place.

In the MLM industry, there are some statistics, for example that show 72% of the people who come in are right out the door within 3 months. Three months!! And how long did it take the people who managed to enroll them in the first place to actually do that? Get them to say yes. . . . . well, we know it sure wasn’t easy. They most likely had to approach over a hundred people to get each one of those soon to be ex-customer/partners in the first place. Now how  much fun is that, I ask you? And if you criticize my observation with the retort that it is business I am talking about, and that doesn’t have to be fun. Well, pardon my snicker.But that is one of the most patently absurd ideas you can imagine.

First of all, if what you are doing for your bread and butter, or even for your Porsche if you already have enough bread and butter, will most assuredly not become and remain successful unless you find it pleasurable.  I’m sure there many people who are not happy with what they do for money and who still  make a lot of it. But I am not calling strict financial “success” success in this context. We are looking to achieve both money and a happy life!

So my friends, if you are grimacing when you have to get on the phone to speak with a prospect (and in MLM, traditionally, even your mother falls into that category . .and how frightening is that to some of us??) or if you have to start your “elevator spiel” or simply explain to someone you meet at a gathering what it is you do with the intent of “getting them,”  then maybe you are not living your life quite the way you might really be happier doing. You think?

You see, what I found to be the point of what causes most of our tension and unhappiness to be is not that we speak to someone and they are either not interested or, worse yet, think we’re to be avoided at all costs. . . .I mean YES, either one is not pleasant or something we would voluntarily seek, but that there is a limit. Sure, we can learn with reasonable expectation to deal with some of that kind of responses, but how much? How much total abuse (I know, it’s not abuse, it’s business . . .well, it’s self created abuse) do we need to accept before we join the long march of failed business operators? Over 72% of the people who even think they might have some stomach for it soon find that they don’t, and within 3 months are  out and looking for the balloon man.

So how do we deal with this? How do we create success for ourselves and manage to enjoy our lives so that we can create more success to enjoy our lives so that we can create more success . . . . . . how?  Well, if we find that if we approach 100 people and that 90 of them will be unwilling to even listen fairly, we need to realize that it is not our fault. People are who people are. We all are who we are. We are all, unfortunately mostly unchangeable, except by ourselves and then only under extraordinary conditions. So if 90 out of 100 people we approach will give us the cold shoulder, what we need to do is find more people like the 10 who don’t. We need to stop wasting our time talking to people who we are told need convincing (in 3 months they’re gone, if you are “successful”) and focus instead on locating just the people who at least will be interested enough to hear what we have to say. “Success” with them is certainly not assured either, but first, it will be much easier and less tense speaking with them and second, our chance for it actually becoming a “success” will really be much much greater . . . . . forget that 2% junk that mass marketers shoot for. It sure almost killed me.

So here is the choice as I see it for the MLMers in today’s world. We have basically two choices (three if we want to combine them), First choice is to do what our vintage upline tells us to do and that is to go for numbers, hit everyone with a warm body, keep “dripping” on them if you are able to get close enough after the first dribble, hit them with hype, answer objections, become their friends (good advice, but to all of them?), start with your closest friends and families, move on to your business associates, and keep on keeping on because winners NEVER quit!! If they say no then it only means they are “not at 12 o’clock.” Does doing this making anyone else as miserable as it does me? Does anyone else want to live out their precious lives doing this kind of thing for some future which we might never get to, when in fact the future is NOW . . .it’s our lives, folks. It’s how we spend the little time, the very special time we all have here that matters. So for me there is too much unhappy time in this method, and it is actually very inefficient at best even if you don’t consider that. So then there is Choice 2.

What about joining the 21st century? Ever hear of marketing? Ever hear of targeting your market? Instead of randomly talking to hundreds of people, most of whom will not hear a word you are saying or even care, why not talk to people WHO WANT TO TALK TO YOU? Whew! What a concept! Stop wasting your life talking to people who want to get away from you and which causes you anxiety, tension and unhappiness, and instead resolve only to speak with those who will not think of you that way or treat you that way and who, for the most part, will be much more likely to actually work with you and/or become a customer. Is there really much to think about here? Well, not for me.

Since I began learning to find targeted markets for my MLM/GPT businesses, I actually wake up feeling positive. I have a list which I prepare every night of what my tasks are to be done that day and I follow it. My friends don’t hide from me and my family still has me over for Thanksgiving dinner. My success rate has greatly increased and my anxiety level has totally dropped. Life is good again. I discovered that MLM and especially GPT work very well on the internet. You just have to learn some new skills, but they are very learnable. Believe me.

The idea is that we use the web to do our selling for us. We get a little web-site (don’t freak out if you are  not web savvy enough to do one yourself, you don’t need to be and it won’t cost you anywhere as much as you think to have it all done for you) and learn how to do what successful internet marketers have been doing for several years now and then start to enjoy the incredible benefits of this kind of approach. Much of what internet marketing is about is targeting your prospects. There are millions of people on the web every second. Millions. Do you think that if you could learn to make yourself even a little visible that you would find at least a few paltry thousand people to want to talk to you at anyone  time? Yes, you can!

Now at this point one thing has to be made clear to all the self proclaimed MLMers out there. No matter what you may have heard, no-one creates and runs a profitable business for nothing. So if investing in yourself is something you either don’t understand or want to accept, or if you feel that you can create that business without spending anything (and how has that been working for you so far?) then you can stop reading right now. I’m fine. Goodbye. I’m not interested in changing you because I can’t and I don’t want to spend the time on useless stuff. Lesson one!

Still here? Good! Let’s continue. All the details of how to do all this are too numerous to reveal in any meaningful or helpful way right here right now. But that’s OK. Let’s just think about taking the first step . . .having the realization, the IDEA, that this can be done and that it can be done brilliantly and it can be done assuredly and it can be done SUCCESSFULLY! Once you internalize that idea, the rest is just walking . . .one step at a time, and you will see your imagined “idea” taking form in the world surrounding you. I KNOW this to be true.

The second thing you have to do is to stop depending on all the old knowledge you have in such a way as to prevent you from taking in and appreciating the new knowledge that you will be learning. In other words, keep an open mind and an open heart.

The plan is to first get the concept of the whole business strategy you will be embarking upon. Many (most) guru/ instructors out there believe that it is not necessary to cover too much at first and perhaps get confused, but to simply learn as you go with the idea that eventually it will all come together and you will see the whole in a meaningful and productive way. Now, this seems to work for a lot of people, but there are many who do need a picture of where they are going, even if it is only an outline, so that they can better place the steps they are taking to get there. Do you follow that? You see, I believe that many people need to have such an outline simply presented to them first, and then they will be able to take all the little steps they need to more easily and with less confusion.

Here is one marketing plan, as an example:

• Have set up a one page website where you present the solution your product provides without mentioning what it is or whose it is.. The whole point of all of this kind of marketing is that it is NOT the product you will be selling but YOURSELF. You will be establishing yourself as an expert in the fields of whatever it is you are doing. So, for example, if you are in the anti-aging fields you will NOT be selling “Live Forever’s” bio-genetic youth retardation serum (whatever . .I made it up if you can’t tell). You are talking about the field of anti-aging and are offering a free report on the subject.
• Only people who are interested in anti-aging will be looking at this. You won’t have to convince them they need anti-aging or want anti-aging. They are already there! So they will sign in to download the report and you will have A LEAD!
• One of the fields on your sign-in form to them to get your report (which again, you won’t have to do yourself. . . stay tuned) is their phone number. So you will call the person and chat with them about the report and then, following a specific and quick and easy script, invite them to watch a webinar or listen to a conference call where the product line and the program will FIRST be mentioned and explained. All the details will be provided.
• When you sent them to the webinar or conference, you arranged with them that you would call them after they saw/heard it to answer questions. So you do. Call them and just talk to them. You are the expert and you are not pushing anything. They have the information, you have established credibility, and you will gladly take their order and if they are interested in the business, talk about that as well. Sure is better than hearing someone scream “Pyramid Scheme!” And much more successful as well.

Now obviously there are many details surrounding all of this, but it can be learned, There are many people selling al kinds of systems and I’ve looked at many of them. A few are really top notch! You’re going to have spend some money (remember?), but it doesn’t have to be a lot. It can be a relatively small amount at first to get you started and to get some actual money coming in. Once it does come in (and it will if you do what you are taught), you can reinvest some of it into what you are doing to make it grow. You decide how much you want to earn and work. It’s up to you. The point is, it’s the way grown ups (successful business people)  approach their businesses, THe great thing here is that the actual amounts you have to put in are astronomically lower than any other start up businesses . . .ANYWHERE!

You’re looking to start a business to provide you with a 5 or 6 figure income monthly, right? A McDonalds won’t earn that, and one of those babies costs over a million to set up. How about opening a retail store of some kind? Easy to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get one of those set up. Then you need to last at least three years to stay in business and maybe show a profit. And it still won’t be as much asa what you are lookoing to create here. So is spending piddly-squat to get moving here a big deal? You tell me.

I’m going to recommend very strongly here to anyone who wants to really learn the many ins and outs of internet marketing a group which is actually on the level and which has some of the best people I’ve ever worked with. I work with these guys and am an affiliate so if you decide to go with them, you’ll be going with me and I will be your direct personal contact for all training, by phone, email, Skype, Facepage . .you name it. I’m here. I’m going to provide you with a link to their presentation which may look very “done,” when you see it, but everything you hear them say is true. No bull. And I think that there is even a chance to sign up to see the whole deal for only a big 10 bucks right now. I would just do it! You can sign up to see the video and still not part with those precious 10 bucks, if that is your choice. But if you read this far, I doubt that it would be.

Nothing ventured . . . . .Give yourselves a break. Enjoy your lives. They don’t need to be unhappy to be successful (HUH?)  

Hit the button. Give yourself a real gift!

One of the most central, basic conflicts,  so large as to be totally invisible to most of us, which we all face whether we know it or not or even like it or not, is how incredibly good we are at not dealing with real issues, especially when they concern our very innermost fears, desires, ambitions or even visions (if indeed we even have any).

I don’t think that human life has changed radically in the past 3000 years when we don’t consider the overwhelming effects that science, technology and medicine have had. Obviously, these have changed the entire ballgame in more ways than we can even begin to consider here, but what hasn’t changed is that whatever the undertaking of individuals has been, since recorded time (at least), everything we can observe  about our condition globally and personally is totally reducible. It all comes down to the particular actions of individual human beings. Yes yes, “No man is an island” and all that is true on several levels of thought, but intellectualizing isn’t going to help us here. No, it will keep us where we don’t want to be.

Now I’m not one who has any qualms with intellectual approaches to almost anything, but the fact is that in some cases it really isn’t the most effective way to find the root core of a problem and to neutralize it. The problem I am going to discuss arises when we use what I will term here “negative intellectualizing.”  Some people just call it making excuses,

I have observed, as so many others have, that we are living in an incredibly immature world. Sure there are millions of  grown ups on the planet, but it appears that the children, of any age up to centenarian levels, are the dominant force. This is a huge subject, but suffice to say for the limited purpose of this article that it is the childishness being constantly expressed by all of us which is the total killer. It kills our dreams. It kills our hopes. It kills our self respect, our happiness our ability to love and to prosper. It kills our very beings. And we don’t seem to be able to stop it significantly. On a global level it’s a total disaster. But on the personal one, it’s just a potentially manageable disaster.

Let’s look at a few situations and then you tell me if I’m blowing smoke here. Let’s start with Joe (could be anyone) who is looking for a job and is constantly being turned down. Joe knows why he is being turned down. Interview “A” hated him because he was ethnically challenged (in that situation . .maybe), “B” because he had too MUCH education, “C’ because he was threatened by him, “D” because he smelled funny . . .who cares? A child in this situation is not willing to remove himself from it when analyzing it so as to actually get some useful information which will allow him to really get the damn job. It’s all about what everyone else is doing wrong. Who here has grade school children who think like that? I guess it’s more acceptable for them, but when does one grow up? Good grief!

Let’s talk about Sara (could still be anyone) who is going into business for herself and can’t seem to make it work. The town has too many restrictions, the help doesn’t respect her, the customers are unreasonable, the suppliers are dishonest, the moon is too bright, there’s sand all over the beach . . .what’s the difference? Sara hasn’t a clue because she is still stuck in her child mode blaming everyone and everything rather than taking an objective look at herself. Many of you have heard this before, so I will say it again: Denial is not a river in Africa

A big part of our “mundo imaturo” can be traced back to the strong tendency to view everything in the world as it relates to just you. How does it feel to you? How does it look to you? How much is it worth to you? Does it offer immediate pain . . .or pleasure? Me me me me me me. And the sad thing is that we live our lives pursuing all these things and relationships and even when we get them, after some time these rewards will break, diminish, change . . .and we’re back again doing the same dance again and happiness is just not something we really seem to understand at all or can , most importantly, hold on to.

What the hell does this all have to do with becoming successful? What does it have to do with creating wealth in its many definitions? How can reading about this help me get my MLM, GPT, IM businesses making some headway??? EVERYTHING!! Can you hear me? EVERYTHING!

You have been reading my articles and you are aware that one of the most important manifestations of the successful entrepreneur today is discussed under the umbrella of “Attraction Marketing.” And what I am working to accomplish in this series of articles is to bring you the missing links for most, not all certainly, who find out about it (or haven’t yet) and become frozen, unable to seriously take it in to benefit from the wisdom contained.

• The main point of this article is that in order to succeed, not just in business, but in LIFE, one needs to step out of that breath crunching, chest gripping, heart plugging condition called denial,
• Consciously looking each and everyday not at what one does not “have” but that which one DOES have and make it a point to express genuine gratitude. Without gratitude there is not real hope for the kind of success, living success, most people say they are seeking.
• Taking full responsibility for everything in your life . . all your actions, all that happens to you . .EVERYTHING. If you err in this direction, believe me, the results you will enjoy will be so much greater than what you will ever have received in the whining, me me me me mode . .it will blow you away. NEVER say again how someone did you wrong. It’s history and has nothing to do with what you say you are seeking. Don’t waste a single second on it. It’s over. Done.

So closing up I will refer to the title character and ask you who is the Superman you secretly expect will come and save your butt? Where is he? Is he holding your winning 70 million dollar Mega Bonus Lottery ticket in his hot little hands just for you? Well, you can live out your life waiting for him to appear and not only never see it happen (the odds for Superman appearing and winning that jackpot are about equal), but die unhappy, unfulfilled and maybe even worse. OR, you could decide not to be that eternal child anymore, to actually grow up, stop relating everything that happens in the world directly back to you, take full responsibility, use that intelligence you have been given and don’t relinquish your real power because whining is easier, and instead, go out an do what will work. Dammit!

What works is you becoming someone of real value. Value to yourself and value to others. But especially by becoming of value to others,  you yourself will benefit so greatly you won’t even be thinking about the crap that fills up your days and nights right now. It will be gone, and in it’s place you will find all the love, happiness, and yes, even money that you want and need. But don’t just think about it. Take concrete action. I work with others on the web who think as I do and they are both my mentors and my partners and my life continues to get better since I have chosen to work with them, talk to them, be with them. That’s how you do it. You just don’t read an article like this, think, maybe, it sounds good, feel all revved up. And then just do exactly what you always do . . .and get what you always get. We need to grow up and take responsibility. Not just think about it . . more negative intellectualization.

I’ve been working with Mike Dillard and Brian Fanale who go into immense detail on all of this and whose energy is just phenomenal. I invite any of you who want to make a genuine change for the better in your lives to work with me (and them) and I will always be available to confer, help and support in any way needed.  Do you want to make some serious change for the better?

Do you want to be an “action taker” and not an “excuse maker?” Have you had enough yet? Well, if you have been doing what you’ve been doing and have not seen the kind of success you dream about, or if you are just starting out and haven’t made all the time sucking expensive mistakes yet,  don’t waste any of your time. This is not rocket science. This is not a big deal, financially.  Just do it!  Right now there are some terrific bonuses being offered to encourage you, like a 7 video course which alone is worth many times the small cost of signing up. Don’t miss a real moment where you can access an instrument of significant change for virtually nothing! Make the decision to really succeed in all the important ways.

No matter how you slice it we are into marketing, right? Whether it’s MLM, or GPT or any of the various forms of internet commerce, it’s all reduced to that. Even organizations which purport not to be looking to make any money but just seeking to have people join or associate with them, they have to reach out and find the appropriate ones and see if they can become interested in their case, whatever it may be. Marketing.

That being said, there is much about it that most may agree upon, and much which they might not. But when the monitors go dark, the phones stop ringing and the social gatherings are over, what determines the real success of the efforts may not just be how much money was immediately made or how many people were immediately convinced, but how many hearts were won. Not dollars, hearts.

Think  about it. Let’s say you are in some business and you want to get people to buy your product or service. Or let’s say you have an organization and you need to have people who will participate. In both cases, having someone who will drop some money or spend some time and then disappear may not be the best thing for you or your enterprise. Sure, the immediate pay-off may seem great. It’s certainly better than not having any response at all. And there are many business people who operate on the “Flash and Grab” notion that all they want is a quick harvest and then move to another enterprise.  And I would say to them, “Fine.” If that’s all you can see and it serves you, all well and good. Unfortunately, however, many, not all, of such businesses are most likely to not be of any real benefit to anyone besides the promoter, and in fact might tend to be harmful. I said tend to be, but that’s just my take on it.

On the web today we see so many really excellent people offering all kinds of training of the most widely used marketing vehicles: PPC, Article Writing, E-Zine Advertising, Voice Broadcasting, Postcards, Social Media and much, much more. I’ve even had training from someone who I respect greatly (he happens to be one of the true majors in the field) who reported that he knows someone who successfully went to gatherings with a sign taped to his back saying “I Need A Partner To Work With Me In A New Business. Ask Me About It.” And of course he got some good results, initially.

But learning the techniques alone, it turns out, does not assure marketing success. Many of the good trainers today have all made the excellent point that what is necessary to become a successful marketer is “branding” and that means making oneself the product, whatever it is you’re selling. They all say, and I agree wholeheartedly, that people don’t like being sold anything. They like to buy things. So anyone who is still  using old methods of making overstuffed presentations, talking about how great their thingy is and how terrific the company is and how sales are busting through the roof and how it’s all about timing and NOW is the moment come round at last and only losers won’t jump on and on and on, has lost it.

Yep.  And Next you will be taught, in the old school, to answer “objections!” Yeah, they got all of them listed and some really slick dudes and dudesses will be showing you how smoothly you can handle them with the prepared responses we all love so dearly.

Not?

Oh, you mean we don’t? You mean we recoil in horror when someone tries to approach us with that stuff? And to add insult to injury, even though we feel totally as uncomfortable with that method as we naturally do, we are expected to go out and foster it on friends, family, associates, cold calls, EVERYONE? Oh wow. No wonder we are all so rich, right? (Don’t tell me that it’s just numbers and that if I do this to 1000 people I will be well on my way. I’d rather eat an old baseball mitt).

So the modern gurus have definitely seen all this and have come up with the essence of what it is that will work for everyone in today’s society and market. Become an expert in whatever it is you are involved with, and instead of focusing on just trying to sell it, sell the expert, sell yourself. Get people to trust you, respect you, know you. And THEN they will want to buy. You won’t have to sell anything.

This is basically what today is called “Attraction Marketing” and it is right on target. But still, as truly potent is this once truly secret approach is, many people will find themselves unable to master it for several different reasons.

First, they will say “I’m not an expert. I don’t really know enough. I need to learn more.” Or, “I’m too shy. I can’t talk in a way that someone will look up to.” Or, “I can’t act like something I’m not.”

That’s the biggy for most people just starting to digest this method; the belief that they need to know EVERYTHING coupled with the fear that they actually know nothing. And isn’t is kind of “phony” being an “expert” when you know how incredibly inexpert you really are? Well, my answer to all that is BLAH BLAH BLAH.

I’m not saying it’s OK to be a phony. I’m saying you’re not a phony. I’m not saying it’s OK to not know anything. I’m saying you know something. It really all comes down to who you really are as a person, and what you would like to accomplish. Now, most marketers are not going to go there because is gets kind of messy bringing in human values and psycho-emotional conditions when you know it’s better to KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). And although that simplicity certainly works for many people, it also won’t for many others. And the reason for that is not that what is being taught is wrong. It’s not. It’s dead on right. It’s the best, most human advice and instruction you can get. Attraction Marketing is what it’s all about today, and maybe always has been!? But for those who don’t seem to be able to get into it, there is the missing step to help explain why and maybe, hopefully enable them to “do it.”

Several of the good trainers, and I’m thinking again especially of Mike Dillard who I think may actually have created the whole Attraction Marketing phenomenon, have also made the essential point that what is basically required is that you, the marketer, not focus on wringing out the dollar, but instead just devote yourself to helping people. That by just making that shift, you will find your pot of gold.

But here is where the missing step is found. Most of us come into the business with the single thought that we need to make money. Well, yes, we all would do well to make money and not have to suffer the painful results of the alternative. But let’s think for a minute. Most, not all, unfortunately, of us are not at death’s door. We have what we need to function pretty well from day to day. Maybe not as much as we would like, but usually enough. Are you still with me? I’m not going to take you down the path of asceticism here. I’m not suggesting that one might not mind relinquishing all worldly goods. Not even close. But what I’m suggesting is needed, as the first part of creating that missing step, is a shift of  perspective.

Take a breath and give yourself some time to consider that your values may actually be hindering your success. Not that they are “bad” values, but maybe just not the best ones for you. Needing to “make money” can be pretty devastating emotionally. And the effect of that is not invisible. It is very visible. It is not attractive. We’re talking attraction here! So if being attractive to people is what will make you successful, thinking or feeling something which makes you unattractive is not such a good decision, and you DO have the ability to choose these things. You do.

So how do we change that? How do we change from someone who is worried about making money to someone who isn’t putting out that message? And you can’t fool people about that. If you feel it, they’ll know. It’s kind of like the Catch 22 Perfect Contrition which many of you will understand, I’m sure. So what’s the answer?

Think truly about helping other people. You don’t need to be Michaelangelo if you want to teach painting, or Jesus for compassion. You only need to be willing to generously teach what you really can, and do it out of caring. Do it only out of wishing to be helpful to others. Of course you need to believe wholeheartedly in what you are doing. Do not try marketing something you don’t truly believe in 100%. Never. But when you combine your implicit trust in what you are offering with a truly felt desire only to help, not sell or persuade, another, then you will not only help to change that other person for the good, but yourself as well. And damn, if that won’t very frequently end up with money no longer being a problem, in more ways than one . Truly (for the umpteenth time)!

So what is the missing step if you decide to learn Attraction Marketing and give up the martial arts approach to sales? First, shift your perspective from worrying about your own condition to how you can help other people improve theirs. And second, practice it by creating your business around that very idea. When your imagination has created this idea for you, just keep at it and it will become “real.” The happiness and success this will bring you is more than you may even envision at this moment. But when you get there you will wonder how you never saw it before. It’s part of what Tantric practice is all about, actually. But that’s for another day.

My intention here is just that. I know that what I have written here will be helpful to some, and that encourages me to do more to help more. Let me know if you need to have any more information about what I’ve written and I will make myself available to any and all.

I mentioned Mike Dillard and I respect him and his work. He’s someone who can also be a tremendous benefit, especially when dealing with what I’ve been discussing here. For anyone who would like to learn more from the major source, I offer the following link. It’s a truly useful tool offering at no cost;  a superb 7 day video boot camp that he created on attraction marketing. If you think that this is something you would like to learn more about, then here is your chance to get a lot of free information. I have absolutely no doubt that you will find this extremely helpful, and none of us can do this without good, solid help!.  If you take this step you will benefit immeasurably, and your prospects all certainly will as well!

Seriously! You want to be really successful, right? You’ve been doing your homework, actually investing some money in yourself once in a while and going through the paces you’ve been told will bring you “Fast Cash” or “Money While You Sleep” or heaven knows what else?! But somehow it’s not working quite as you would like . . .not yet, anyway. Am I right?

Well, don’t be too hard on yourself. It takes us all some time to finally see what is going on and then do what is actually needed to correct it. At least if we are among those who actually DO what we KNOW we need to do, and not just think about it, prepare  for it, sort of lean toward it . . .whatever. We all love to procrastinate and act “busy” while we do so we can tell ourselves some story to explain our lack of success and allow us to whine and complain and feel bad. Wow! Isn’t that just FUN??  NOT!!

When I say don’t be too hard on yourself, however, I’m not saying don’t take responsibility for yourself. Just the opposite. But how do we do that if we can’t be truly honest with ourselves? Not easy for most of us since we mostly like to live in some state of denial . . or other. But still . . .PERFECTLY DOABLE!

A big part of what I do here is to bring you what you need to be happy with yourselves, be productive and have success . . .not just monetarily, but that is a big part of what we could all enjoy having. So here is something I came across that will bring you closer to that. It may even take you all the way if you really “get it.”

John Carlton is a writer who provides us with some really valuable guidance. He is a NON BSer and calls it like he sees it. Refreshing as well as extremely useful. So move away from “denial,” learn to stop wasting your very limited time and learn to appreciate what you have available to help you really become the person of substance you genuinely have the potential to become (and actually are already, though maybe not manifest yet in a way you can appreciate and enjoy!).

***************************************************************************************************************************

So here is John Carlton’s post: “Top 10 Secrets To Make 2011 Your Best Year Ever (All of Which You’re Currently Ignoring Or Screwing Up.”

Thursday, 4:51pm
Reno, NV
“I’ll have what she’s having…” (When Harry Met Sally)

Howdy…

I figured I’d end the year in a ball of fire, and just lay it out for you here.

If you tried, really really hard, and weren’t successful last year…

… it was probably mostly your own damn fault.

Yeah, sure, the economy sucked, politicians were mean, your prospects are all screamin’ idiots, and God had it out for you.  All totally excellent excuses for having a crummy bottom line again.

It’s not your fault.  It can’t be your fault.  That… that’s just…

… that’s just completely unacceptable that it might be your fault.

And, hey, maybe you did piss off the universe, and spooky forces beyond your control mucked things up so you had a bad year.

I believe you.  I really do.

However…

After you’ve been around the block a few times in life, you start to notice some very interesting things about success.

And the big realization, I’d have to say, is that the idea that success is somehow magically bestowed on people in a spontaneous burst of luck and being in the right place/right time…

… is just bullshit.

It is.  It’s total bullshit.  Hollywood likes to pretend it’s a real plot point.  And folks clueless about how the world works — who spend their lives outside looking in — use this myth as a comforting excuse for their own lack of goal attainment.

Once you’ve spent even a little time with successful dudes and dudettes, you notice something startling: They all have well-defined goals, and they focus on nailing them like terriers going after a squirrel.

They are not stopped by lack of skill, or lack of time, or lack of connections in the right places.

They are not stopped by ADHD (which a LOT of the entrepreneurs I know are saddled with, btw), or feelings of inferiority (many of the best are entirely motivated by “I’ll show you” revenge fuel), or lack of education (drop-outs galore).

And they are not stopped by the main reason most wannabe entrepreneurs never get past that “deer in the headlights” pose: Not knowing what to do next.

Every single excuse ever floated by anyone in the history of mankind…

… has been met and conquered by people with less brainpower, less money, less skill and less luck than you.

This can really piss a guy off.  Especially if you’re deeply invested in believing that anything other than growing the fuck up and getting serious about attaining your dreams is what creates success in this world.

Let me remind you:  You have one ticket in this life.  You’re already on the ride — it doesn’t “start” at some future point, when you’re finally ready or finally have your shit together.

The game is on NOW. Nobody knows how long your ride will last.  There might be a little meteor headed for your ass this very second, BANG, ticket cancelled.

More likely, you’re going to continue (for a while) living in the rarest of times, considering our history.  Unlike nearly ALL of your ancestors — who ground out a living with back-breaking work, under the yoke of oppressive authority, without even a vague sliver of a dream that things could be better.

You OWE it your under-nourished, vulnerable-to-germs, knowledge-hobbled, bug-infested ancestors to take FULL ADVANTAGE of the mind-bending opportunities swirling around you every second.

I mean, really.

How dare you whine about how tough it is to succeed.

Those poor schlubs in your past fought, slaved and died for centuries inching toward a reality where a person might have a little freedom to choose how they lived their life.

And yet…

… we DO complain, don’t we.

Everyone loses perspective over the course of a lifetime.  It’s not like the culture helps us out.  The distractions built into modern life read like a solid science fiction story.  George Orwell is rolling over in his grave.

Nevertheless, just because there ARE distractions and obstacles that trip up nearly everyone trying to get something going…

… doesn’t mean that YOU have to succumb to them.

The biographies of the most successful people you know about ALL have chapters — sometimes multiple chapters — where things looked bleak, and the story could easily have played out as one of a total loser.

At some point, a switch just clicks on for most of them.  One second, life seems dull and you feel trapped.

The next second… BANG, the most critical decision of a lifetime is made.  And the adventure begins in earnest.

You know what that decision is?

It can be as simple as deciding to get started.  To take the first step.

Success junkies talk about passion a lot.  But most people confuse passion with “desire”, which ain’t the same thing at all.

Desire is helpless.  A long sigh, a breathless wish.

Passion is all about movement.  You’re breathless only because you’re engaged in hot and heavy action.

So, okay… you wanna hear my Top Ten list for turning your life around, starting right now?

You may not like this. I’m warning you.

Here we go…

Step 1: Stop wasting time.

You don’t “need” multiple hours every night to relax… and racking up time staring at the Boob Tube isn’t helping your brain, your digestion, your nerves or your future.

Knock off just ONE TV show you’re currently watching every week… and you’ve just found a hot little hour to devote to your new life.

Tear the plasma monster off the wall and donate it to charity, and you’ve recovered a second lifetime of hours.

Look, don’t go cold turkey if you can’t handle it.  But stop pretending you aren’t wasting massive piles of time doing things that… if you were to suddenly come face-to-face with one of your exhausted, oppressed ancestors…

… he wouldn’t haul off and slug you as hard as he could, for squandering a life crammed with possibilities that he never dreamed of.

Seriously… “Dancing With The Stars?”  Are you fucking kidding me?

Step 2:  Take a deep breath, and allow the dreaded “D” word to enter your world.

That stands for “discipline”… something few Westerners have even a nodding acquaintance with.

It’s simple to put to work, too.  Every day, do something you really, really, really don’t want to do (that needs to be done eventually).  It can be doing the dishes, or exercising, or getting up early (by going to bed at a decent hour)…

… or it can be diving into that biz book on your shelf, or that DVD course you bought last year that you never tore the shrink-wrap off.

Living even a mildly disciplined life will change your future immediately.  You often know what needs to be done… but you use all that potent gray matter in your skull to find ways to AVOID those things.

Just stop it.  Become an effective person.  Start DOING shit that needs doing.  Right now, you have a backlog of chores and items on your “to do list”.  It’s a happy day when your new chore is to find a new project to dive into, because you’ve mopped up everything else.

Step 3:  Be a good animal.

Eat better (and less often), treat sleep as a sacred necessity for advanced living, get your butt into the gym or onto the tennis court (or just on a trail), allow for quality “ponder” time (or uninterrupted meditation), and plan (and enjoy) life with gusto.

My motto has always been “moderation in all vices”.  Steady as she goes, but let’s kick it up a notch every now and then, test the adrenaline pump.

But the Prime Directive remains: Never pretend you’re something other than a complex biological machine, requiring good fuel, attention to wear-and-tear, constant routine maintenance, and ample opportunity for gleefully maxing out the emotional, spiritual, intellectual and kinesthetic possibilities.

You could do worse than follow your dog’s lead in most of this.  (Except for eating garbage, of course.)

Step 4: Face your fears.

If you’re not keeping a private journal where you can air out everything on your mind without reservation (even if you have to write in code a lot), then start one now.

The first pages can be a list of what you’re afraid of.  Just get it out of your head and onto a page… so you can stop obsessing for a while.  (Obsessive thinking often comes from your brain’s whack notion that if you don’t obsess, you’ll forget.  I’ve found that your brain actually knows that writing it all down means it can relax with the memorization nonsense.  It’s like burying your bone in a familiar place — you can stop carrying it around for a while, and concentrate on something else.)

The biggie: If you’ve got something bugging you that ain’t going away with simple pop psychology tricks (like journals), then get some pro help.  Psychology is a field that has never lost its inferiority complex among other sciences, and so it keeps dabbling in pharmaceutical bullshit and elaborate protocols for treatment.

Now, you may need high-end treatment.  There’s zero shame in that — sometimes, our wiring just goes berzerk, and modern chemistry may help.  I’m not a doctor.  If you have serious problems, get serious help.

However, if what’s troubling you is more along the line of emotionally-hobbling guilt, or feelings of inferiority or inadequacy, or the all-too-common problem of feeling like you’re a freak trying to hide your freaky nature among the throngs of normal people out there…

… you’re ripe for something as simple as “talk therapy”.  I’ve slugged my way through every dark alley of pop psychology there is, from Gestalt encounter groups to dream analysis to primal screaming and other stuff you don’t need to know about.  (I have a mostly-worthless degree in psych, you should know, from a California university.  A California university, mind you.  Every shocking notion you have of what that might mean is true, I’m proud to say.)

And often, what ails us is primarily the incorrect notion that we’re “naughty” and abnormal… when the truth is that everyone out there harbors a squirming nest of personal demons and private failures.

Life isn’t something you “figure out” and then coast through.  The lessons and challenges come fast and furious, and never let up.  It’s sensible to be wary of danger.  It’s crippling, though, to be afraid of your own shadow.

If you need help, get it.

The people having the most fun (and scoring the big results) in life aren’t normal.  They’ve just come to terms with their individuality, and figured out how to rock on with the hand they’ve been dealt.

You can do it, too.

Step 5: Stop lying.

To others.  And to yourself.

This doesn’t mean you suddenly become that azzhole who constantly delivers “the truth” to everyone around them.  The “truth” is hard to ascertain in many situations, and living well includes being diplomatic and sensitive to other people’s feelings.

Lying often has nothing to do with the truth.  It’s just a weak but persistent form of protection for your ego.

The key to being honest to yourself and others is to realize that you aren’t required to respond to every question put to you.  It’s perfectly all right to say “no comment”, or “um, yeah, I’m not gonna share that”.  (The “Magic Word” that all professionals and successful business owners need to have in their arsenal is “No”.  Said politely, with a smile, but firmly and without explanation.  ”I understand that you want me to answer that question.  No.  What’s the next topic…”, repeated as often as necessary, is NOT being rude.  People learn, growing up, that persistence will wear others down and get them to do what you want.  Which is fine, for the rest of the world.  As a pro, however, you have the right to opt out of that game.  Without explanation.)

Lying is a hard damn job.  You have to remember all kinds of stuff that isn’t true, so you don’t cross up your stories.

Being honest means you are freed from the restraints of a complex relationship to what’s going on.  To others, you may stop blabbering so much, and instead be a little circumspect with your answers (which is always a good thing).

You may even start listening more, which can also change your life.

Being honest with yourself is the big payoff, though.  Our default position is to spin things so our little ego isn’t damaged.  But you can “spin” honestly, too — there are always multiple realities to any situation, and you can look at shocks like failure in ways that put it in perspective, while being honest.  (Most successful people have failed a LOT in their career.  They just didn’t take failure as the last word on the subject… but rather looked at it honestly, to learn the lessons and come back with better chops for the second round.  THAT’S how you win.)

Step 6: Do constant reality checks.

I often say that good salesmen lead better lives… because to make sales, you must see the world and everyone in it as it IS…

… not as you wish it was, or believe it should be.

People will tell you they’ll act in a certain way in a certain situation, and then do the exact opposite.  They’re not “bad”, they’re just doing what people always do — ignore reality.

Top marketers constantly observe people’s actions (not their words).  Gary Halbert, when he wanted to get a reaction on a new ad he’d just written, had a favorite bar he would go into and read the ad aloud.  If everyone said “that’s a great ad, that should be a winner” then he knew he had written a bomb that would fail.

The ONLY reaction he wanted to hear was “Holy crap!  How can I get one of those for myself?”

This same kind of reality check needs to happen inside your head and heart, constantly.  What’s really going on with you, right now?  What do you want, what do you NOT want, what are you willing or not willing to do to make the good stuff happen?

Step 7: Reach out to loved ones.

People miss you.  You’re horrible at staying in touch, and old timers will vouch for the fact that years can zoom by and destroy even strong relationships if you ignore the maintenance they deserve.

You don’t have to stay in touch with anyone, of course.  Relationships that are burdensome can sap energy from you, and they need to be shelved if you’re gonna move forward in life.

Still… somebody’s waiting for a call from you, right now.

Make it.

Step 8: Reach out to colleagues.

People love to talk about what they love doing…

… and entrepreneurs are starved for networking with other entrepreneurs.  Both to find out what’s working or not working out there for others, and to share what they’ve learned.

It can be shocking, at first, to realize just how much support you can get even from competitors sometimes.  Business can be like a hockey game — brutal, but with total respect for the other team.

Every single successful marketer I know has a deep network of buddies and colleagues they call frequently, and share information that outsiders would pay a fortune for (like testing results, and experienced advice).

This is why most of the success junkies hit up events and seminars.  You can’t really get to know someone from phone chats, or reading their blogs.

The real connection comes from face-to-face meetings, hanging out and breaking bread (while sharing gossip).

Step 9: Reach out to experts.

Mentoring changed my life.  I’ve had multiple mentors along the way, and some didn’t even realize they WERE mentors.  (I just observed them very carefully, and deconstructed what they did and how they did it.  Some of the writers I learned the most from were dead when I came along, so I had to use critical thinking instead of actually working with them.)

But I also learned to quickly recognize others who had lessons for me (again, whether they realized it or not).  Some thought of themselves as experts, others were just damn good at their job.

All had fountains of knowledge and skills worth exploring and figuring out.

Side note: It’s not a coincidence that many of the best marketers alive are also quite good at a musical instrument.

You know why?

It’s the PROCESS of learning.  It’s hard to get even the basics down for an instrument… and you must dedicate yourself (and use the “D” word) to get to a point of competence.

Most people, given the choice, will not go through the physical pain (your fingers will bleed when learning guitar) and mental anguish (because you will fail over and over again on each step — no one gets it right the first hundred times) of learning something as sophisticated as a musical instrument.

Most guitarists I know didn’t really have a choice.  The desire to master the beast came from within, and we were driven to do it.

Still, I’ve met others who did it to please parents, or just because their reference group of friends all did it.  And they got the same benefit as the driven ones:  The realization of what it takes to learn something new.

It’s a process.  And you CAN learn it, and you CAN do it.  It just takes a little guidance.

There are a lot of great experts out there who teach.

There are also a lot of bogus assholes who fake it, and if they teach you anything at all, it will be to never trust someone without vetting them first ever again.

The key is to first find ONE expert you feel you can trust. Make them earn your trust.  Triple-check their credibility and credentials.

Through this first relationship, you will be introduced to other teachers and guru’s they recommend.  It’s still up to you to be an adult, and be critical of anyone you get advice from until they’ve also earned your trust.

But the first move is always yours.

When you’re ready, reach out.  Get involved, take advantage of all interactive opportunities, and don’t be shy about sucking up all the free stuff that experts willingly ladle out.

Much of the rookie entrepreneurial world is populated with cynical fuck-ups who would rather tear an expert down, than learn anything.  It’s like TMZ for business — there will never a lack of rubber-necking, sneering wannabe’s trashing everyone who has dared to be successful.

You can hang with these types, if you like.  You’ll be entertained.

But you won’t get anywhere in life.

Cynicism is for bench warmers.

You wanna play, put your ego and your sneer away.  Find the experts with the experience and the willingness to teach that fits what you need…

… and get involved.

Step 10: Master the art of setting good goals…

… and putting together a doable plan to achieving them.

This is not something you can do intuitively.  Nearly everyone thinks they understand what a real goal is.  And they also feel they should be able to achieve a goal just with positive thinking (and maybe a few inspirational catch phrases).

And they are wrong.

Goal setting isn’t rocket science… but it is more like learning a new instrument than it is like buying a new car.  Change doesn’t come easy — there are all kinds of obstacles in your head, your heart, in the universe and in the cards that need to be met and conquered along the way.

There is a process.

Most people don’t even know what they really want.  They just know they lack happiness or fulfillment or something…

… and early goal setting under these conditions will be wildly ineffective.

Fortunately, with just a little bit of coaching, you can become a goal-achieving monster.

***************************************************************************************************************************

That last point is important. They’re ALL important. But if you think you can “do it alone,” then you are in for more pain than you bargained for. Sure, you could still be successful . . .but at what cost? Choosing and using the right support saves you time, saves you money, and saves you emotional pain . . .plus, it greatly increases your chances for success. Think about that. But don’t just think, DO!!!

And if you made it this far, then you are likely serious and have substantial motivation and self interest to act and not just think. I strongly recommend a group with which I am affiliated and you can check them out FREE and with no risk at all by pushing the big shiny green button below. At least give it a shot. If you already knew everything you need to know then why even get this far? Believe me, there is a lot of stuff out there, but this can pull it all together and get you really moving fast.

Internet marketers. Just that phrase has a little message already inside of it and each of us when we hear it see a different picture, have a different view, experience a different feeling about what it is. Isn’t that true/

Isn’t it true that the same can be said about  anything that we hear said or see written? It’s all about perception, but most people living their daily lives, being concerned almost entirely about whatever is presented to them never stop to consider how powerful this realization is, how life changing understanding it could be for them.

When we market our product or service, and particularly when we use the internet as our platform, words have even more power and significance. We can’t really see the person we are dealing with, record facial expressions, gestures, eye movements. We cannot form opinions on them by seeing how they are dressed, how they are groomed, even how they smell. On the web, even more so than anywhere else, it’s all about the words.

Famous mega-guru Mike Dillard who, by the way, has made untold millions on the web after finally realizing some simple facts and learning to manipulate how he used that new knowledge to attract huge business, tells a story about how his early years of dismal failure turned around 180 degrees when a perfectly written PPC ad on Google suddenly seemed to go viral, and he made millions!. You heard it right . . .MILLIONS! Just on that one ad. And what was that little ad anyway? Well, just like any ad, it was just a few words. But WHICH words and how were they arranged? That’s the difference. Needless to say, Mike has gone on to be a legend in his own time and much of what he talks about and teaches has helped thousands of people, those who actually listened and then did what he suggested to also make themselves huge amounts of money, as well.

If you need any convincing that what I am trying to teach you here is possibly the single most important skill you can ever learn, then just look at this video. It’s pretty short, but I warn you . . .have a handkerchief ready

How did that work for you? Pretty impressive, right?

Well, as much as many of us might like to believe that we could have “seen” what that young lady saw and could “do” what she did, the truth is more likely “not so.” But just imagine, what if we could use words with an effectiveness that moved people’s hearts, minds and souls and allowed them to see us and what we offer in a completely new light, one that would make them crazy to jump in, join up, buy, whatever??

Well, you can. But it doesn’t come by just snapping a finger, although clicking a mouse could definitely start you in the right direction. Below you see a pretty little banner ad. It’s actually one that will introduce you to Mike and will offer you the possibility to make yourself a veritable FORCE to contend with. If that interests you and you think maybe you are worth it, then just give it a click and see what light there is to shine upon you. Or, just keep doing what you’re doing . . .and maybe keep getting what you’re getting?

I want you to be as wonderful as you are, so I say just give it a look.

Success . . .and that’s not only about money, is it?

Click This Banner To Hear More About Mike Dillard’s Copywriting Course. Costs Nothing To Learn What It Is..