Just when you thought it was safe to play in the street, you find out the crushing news.

Suicide is not your way out.

Whether you live or not matters, because just by existing you impact the world every day and that’s not even considering the powerful force of the choices you make.

Imagine this …

Jack Stanford might like to commit suicide, but he is too afraid to even try.  His father tried to make a man out of him by administering regular beatings, forcing him to have sex at the age of twelve and  berating him at every opportunity, but it only served to make Jack quiet, desperate for sexual attention and lost in a world of fantasy.

Today Jack gets up deep in a world filled with empty, searching for someone to make his life more full and his eyes scan the sidewalks for attractive women as he drives aimlessly around a world he can’t even imagine entering.

Stan Segal will be a chemist someday, but today he is up at 5 AM spreading rock salt because he works for the maintenance department part-time  on a work/study scholarship and the sidewalks are covered in ice.

Daniela Frank studies French at Harvard and makes the choice to wear a red béret.  She knows that The French word béret, is based on the Béarnais Berret, a “sort of flat woolen cap, worn by the local peasants,” but she decides to wear the cap not because of its origins but because it matches her gloves and the temperature is 19 degrees Fahrenheit as she leaves her room to walk to class.

Francesca Francis is a genetic rockstar, the ultimate combination of brains and body, packaged in a frantic energy with a drive to always be better than anyone in the room. Frantic this morning means a driving need for coffee to kickstart the day, but because she has last minute thoughts about the paper that she is presenting at 10 AM to the research funding committee, she can’t really make the usual five minute stop at Starbucks, without messing up her always flawless arrival.

In an instant, Francesca decides to risk it and is now officially five minutes behind with ten minutes left in her drive and the accelerator moves closer to the floorboard.

Little Choices.

If Stan hadn’t been up most of the night trying to impress three of his friends with his drinking abilities, he might have made the choice to pick up the bag of calcium chloride instead of the rock salt because stored away somewhere in his impressive memory is the fact that while both are effective a ice melting, sodium chloride only melts ice when the temperature is above 20 degrees while calcium chloride will melt ice  in temperatures down to -25 degrees.

If Francesca had decided to forget the coffee, she would have arrived at the corner of Holyoke Street and Massachusetts Avenue  five minutes earlier and would have likely been traveling a more careful 35 miles per hour instead of 45 miles per hour which would have decreased her skid distance on ice from 451.6 feet to a slightly more manageable 273.19 feet.

If Jack’s father hadn’t tried so hard to make him a man, he might not have been scanning the sidewalk looking for attractive women.

If Daniela hadn’t chosen to wear a red béret as she walked past the Harvard Shirt Shop at 9:53 AM, then Jack’s eye might not have been drawn to the sweep of red in his peripheral vision as Daniela slipped on the ice, causing  Jack’s aging Buick to move fifteen inches to the right which was just enough to catch the corner of Francesca’s skidding Mercedes.

But, the extraordinary insight to be gained from these events is not what you think.

It’s not the fact that any small deviation in choices might have avoided the accident.

The insight you should focus on is the extraordinary fact that every choice you make, no matter how small, has incredible impact on the world around you.

Every day you make countless choices like the people in this story and every one of those choices eventually affects thousands, if not millions, of people impacted by your actions and your very existence.

You make a difference whether you want to or not.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this post.  Please comment below.

All the best,

Ken McArthur
KenMcArthur.com
jvAlertLive.com
OneDayIntensive.com
TheImpactFactor.com

P.S. Let’s get together in person.  It makes life so much better!

Do You Know Your Audience?

Want to know who you should be reaching? Take a look at some people who have similar audiences.

For instance here’s Tony Robbin’s Audience:

Notice it’s skewed towards 55+ Women With a College Degree, No Kids, Who Make 150K+.

Or …

Take a look at Jack Canfield’s Audience:

Still women, but slightly younger and better educated, with more Hispanics.

Or …

Here’s Brian Tracy’s Audience:

Still a majority of women, but not so much and more African Americans and Asians.

Why is this important?

• Because if you know EXACTLY who your audience is, you can afford to pay to go out and find more.
• If you know who wants what you have to offer, you can search them out selectively.
• Looking at your competitors will give you an idea of who might be attracted to you.

How do you find out?

Try looking at the demographics of your competitor’s websites at:

• http://alexa.com
• http://www.quantcast.com
• http://compete.com

Once you know who your audience is it’s much easier to find them and reach them.

As for me ….

WANTED: 55+ Women With a College Degree, No Kids, Who Make 150K+

I’m well past the dating age and married for 32+ years, so this is not about the romance, but it is about knowing who may respond to your message.

Would love to see you at jvAlert Live or my One Day Intensive Events — you’ll fit right in and soon be a part of an amazing family!

All the best,

Ken McArthur
KenMcArthur.com
jvAlertLive.com
OneDayIntensive.com
TheImpactFactor.com

P.S. Let’s get together in person.  It makes life so much better!

I’m reading Chip and Dan Heath’s new book, Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work. 

In the book, Chip and Dan talk about the fact that we are bad at making decisions and how even knowing that we are bad and trying harder to make our decisions more effective doesn’t make our decisions better.

What you  need is a PROCESS for making decisions which will improve your results.

The book discusses the four villains of decision making and the first villain is “narrow framing.”

In a nutshell, narrow framing is limiting your choices.

Teenagers are really good at narrow framing any decision.

• “Should I put in the time and study for the test or just commit suicide?”
• “Should I take the part-time job at the grocery store or give up on getting a job ever?”
• “Should I go to the prom with Kathy or am I gay?”

It’s probably obvious to you — if you aren’t a teenager that there are other options in all of these cases, but what may not be so obvious is the fact that YOU have more options than you think.

What is the solution to narrow framing?

Widen your options!

When you feel like you are stuck in a rut, get out there and see what other options are available.

Your choices probably aren’t as limited as …

• “Do I keep working on this dead-end project or give up my business?”
• “Do I give up my relationships with my family or be a success?”
• “Do I keep doing my passion or starve?”

Compare that list to the teenager’s list and see if you aren’t falling into the trap of making decisions based on narrow framing.

Odds are you’ve actually had a couple of those conversations in your head and fallen victim from time to time to limiting your choices to the ridiculous.

Here’s a better idea.

Get out and realize that you have better choices! Spend time with amazing people who aren’t just spinning their wheels thinking that the world will end or they will never improve their income.

Spend a couple days at an event like jvAlert Live or the One Day Intensive Events and you will realize your opportunities are endless.

It’s a much better choice than spinning your wheels, feeling alone and getting nowhere.

All the best,

Ken McArthur
KenMcArthur.com
jvAlertLive.com
OneDayIntensive.com
TheImpactFactor.com

P.S. Let’s get together in person.  It makes life so much better!

“Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin’: “Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right!”

- Bob Marley Lyrics – ” Everythings Gonna Be Alright ”

Too Bad It Isn’t TRUE!

Everything is not going to be alright as much as we would like to believe it.

• Chances are, something bad is going to happen to you fairly soon.
• Chances are, someone is going to let you down today.
• Chances are, your health is going to fail.
• Chances are, you are going to DIE!

Everything is NOT going to be alright.

Face the facts.

So, given the facts, what are you going to do about it?

I’m a believer in …

• Countless opportunities
• Good stuff happening every day
• The power of working together
• Doing
• Learning
• Growing
• Surviving
• and
• Thriving

Bad things will happen, but you don’t have to wallow in them.

Focus on the opportunities you have, the people you know, the joy of doing, learning, growing, surviving and thriving.

It’s a better life.

All the best,

Ken McArthur
KenMcArthur.com
jvAlertLive.com
OneDayIntensive.com
TheImpactFactor.com

P.S. Let’s get together in person.  It makes life so much better!

I just wrote Seth Godin an e-mail to thank him for something that he created back in 2004.

For Seth it was probably just a small thing, but he created the idea and then did the important work of making it happen.

Today in his blog, Seth was talking about urgent versus important.  It’s something we all know, but we need a reminder every day.

Everyday, other people’s attempt to sell us on the urgency of their priorities works to take us away from doing the things that are important to the body of work that we should be creating one small thing at a time.

Today, what was important, was to thank Seth.

Seth Godin developed the idea for ChangeThis, a website aimed at spreading ideas through PDF files.

In the summer of 2004, Godin hired five interns-Amit Gupta, Catherine Hickey, Noah Weiss, Phoebe Espiritu and Michelle Sriwongtong-to build and develop the website.

Seth Godin, Hugh MacLeod, Brian Solis, Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson from 37signals, Guy Kawasaki, Chris Anderson, Jay Conrad Levinson, Tom Peters, Malcolm Gladwell and Robert Scoble all had manifestos featured on ChangeThis.

In July 2005, Change This was turned over to 800-CEO-READ, the leading distributor of business literature in the United States.

Great ideas were spread to thousands of people.

Why is it important to thank Seth?

I know that thousands of people probably thank Seth for impacting their lives every day, but maybe today is the day that Seth forgets that he is making an impact.

No matter how many times we hear from people telling us that we’ve made a difference, the lizard brain creeps in and tells us we are insignificant in the noise of this world.

It’s not true, but the world is telling us urgently that we don’t matter.

It’s the small things that make the big impact.

Who knows what Seth Godin is feeling today.

Here’s the good news.

You can do something important today.  It’s easy and you can make a difference guaranteed.

Just tell someone that what they are doing matters.

Seth Godin does work every day that matters and so do you.

Just imagine if Seth (or you) stopped.

What a tragedy that would be.

Make sure that you don’t stop doing the important work and make sure that the people around you don’t stop doing the work that matters.

Something that Seth started way back in 2004 is still making a difference.

I just got word that “Change This” has approved my manifesto proposal titled: “The Impact Manifesto: You Make A Difference Whether You Want To Or Not”

That means that people can now vote for my proposal and if my proposal is in the top proposals at the end of the month, they will select my proposal to become a “Change This” manifesto.

Your vote could make it possible for me to be added to that list.

You can direct friends and associates to vote for my manifesto proposal at the following URL:

http://changethis.com/proposal/show/389

You can also tweet about my proposal or like it on Facebook directly from that page.

To check and see how the standings are right now click here.

All the best,

Ken McArthur
KenMcArthur.com
jvAlertLive.com
OneDayIntensive.com
TheImpactFactor.com

A friend of mine is hurting.

They just came back from the amazing Impact Event in Los Angeles and now they are back home feeling feel alone against the world, aching for the amazing connections they found at my live event.

Here’s what I told them …

You are never a disappointment to me. You are not frustrating me.

You are an inspiration.

You are not dying.

You are living and sometimes that is painful.

There is a choice that is the best choice for you starting today.

• The best choice is not in the past …
• It’s not filled with what might have been …
• It’s not filled with what you owe …
• It’s not filled with fear …

Your best choice is full of …

• Giving …
• Creating value …
• Amazing people …
• Endless possibilities …
• Doing instead of thinking …
• Moving ahead instead of looking behind …

I know there is a lot going on in your head.

Do what’s in your heart.

There’s a story from Robert Kiyosaki that comes to mind …

Imagine you’re on an island village and you’re hired to bring water from the river.

Most people would go to the lake, fill as many buckets as they can carry each day, and bring them back.

Not so the wise man. Instead of heroically carrying buckets (breaking his back and wearing himself out) back and forth all day… he builds a pipeline to bring the water to the village — completely freeing up his time, energy and resources so he can play, build more income streams, whatever he wants.

Yes, pipelines take longer to work than toting buckets.

They also take thinking. And strategy. And patience.

Plus, you may not see immediate gratification.

Live events are a great place to find direction, amazing people, and to get things done working together.

Check out …

jvAlert Live

One Day Intensive Events

The Impact Event

And for more amazing events click here.

All the best,

Ken McArthur
KenMcArthur.com
jvAlertLive.com
OneDayIntensive.com
TheImpactFactor.com

Jonathan Fields with Seth Godin On Books, Business, Choices and Life

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the early morning hours of  Thursday, February 28th, http://BuzzBreaker.com didn’t even exist.

Four days later on the morning of Sunday, March 3rd, the website has moved into the top 1.3% of all websites on the Internet in terms of traffic and …

I haven’t even told my subscribers about it yet.

It all started with this post and a conversation with three special guys — who will remain nameless.

They are my Philly Mastermind buddies, a lawyer an Ex-Texan and some PR guy. Call them the Philly Mafia Mastermind because I think they have deep roots somewhere.

I was talking about my plans for the Impact mentoring program, workshops and my Impact Action Plan product and telling them that I had people who wanted to learn how to build massive audiences and high-traffic websites and they were asking me if it was still even possible.

And I said YES, and I could do it right now!

Now these guys feel like it is their job as mastermind buddies to hold my face to the fire.

So they called me on it and said DO IT and give us a deadline.

So what have I got myself into and WILL I BACK DOWN?

No … because I’ve done it before, I know I can do it again, and I’m about to prove it to them.

Actually, after I told them exactly how I was going to do it, they started getting really excited.

• So I’m going to tell you (in broad terms) how I’m going to do it.
• Then I’m going to let you watch.
• Then I’m going to tell you how I did it.
• And finally I’m going to help a few people do it themselves, because I know this system works.

In fact, a few of you might be able to ride the wave of all of the traffic I’m going to create because I’m looking for a few key people who are willing to take a stand.

You see, I really believe that if you don’t take a stand for something, you are never going to be listened to.

Attention Writers and Bloggers

• If you have the ability to write in a way that is compelling, makes people react — positively or negatively, that can drive a conversation and get people to talk about it, then I want to talk to you.
• If you know how to create blog posts that break news, start a conversation or are quotable and spread like wildfire, you may be perfect for this.
• If you can start an argument and keep it going, I may have a spot for you!
• If you can keep people engaged intently engaged forever, now might be your time.
• If you just KNOW your opinions are worth listening to, stand up and get noticed.
• If you love amazing people and can’t stop talking about them, maybe you should consider this.
• If you want to lead the conversation instead of watching it pass you by, get on the wagon!
• If you want to set the record straight, hold people accountable for their actions and get the truth out, you might just be the person to do it.
• If you have your OWN style and expect it to be appreciated, you just might fit in.

But …

• You can’t be run of the mill
• You can’t refuse to have an opinion
• You can’t be too shy to stand out
• You can’t be all out of things to say

If you want to join the adventure and be a top-level blogger, opinion maker, fact-checker, news breaker, commentator or trend setter on the newest website to blast into the top ranked sites in the world ….

Click here and let me know.

I’m putting together a top-level team of key bloggers to take this site through the roof.

If your topics are in the trending news and you have an opinion that can drive traffic, opinions and conversation, you may just be able to join the team.

But …

I’m being selective, so give me some examples of what you can do.

Just Click here and let me know.

BOLD PREDICTION …

Today, we will break into the top 1% with your help.

The key is your help and I’ll be happy to tell you exactly how I did this …

If you would be willing to …

1. Tell someone about http://buzzbreaker.com
2. Friend the BuzzBreaker Facebook Account
3. Like the BuzzBreaker Facebook Page 
4. Follow BuzzBreakerNews on Twitter

In fact, you can get a sneak preview of how I’m doing this right now in this blog post.

UPDATE: Less than nine hours later we broke into the top 1%

UPDATE: BuzzBreaker.com went from zero to the top .003% most visited websites on the Internet in 6 Days

Thanks for everyone’s support!

All the best,

Ken McArthur
KenMcArthur.com
jvAlertLive.com
OneDayIntensive.com
TheImpactFactor.com

In August of 1914, right after the outbreak of the first World War, H. G. Wells published a number of articles which later became a book, “The War That Will End War.”

Wells blamed the Central Powers for the coming of the war, and argued that only the defeat of German militarism could bring about an end to war.

Wells used the shorter form, “the war to end war”, in 1918 and it had become one of the most common catchphrases of the war.

In later years, the term became associated with Woodrow Wilson, despite the fact that Wilson used the phrase only once. Along with the phrase “make the world safe for democracy,” it embodied Wilson’s conviction that America’s entry into the war was necessary to preserve human freedom.

Even during World War I, the phrase met with some degree of skepticism  David Lloyd George is reputed to have said, “This war, like the next war, is a war to end war.”

Walter Lippmann wrote in Newsweek in 1967, “the delusion is that whatever war we are fighting is the war to end war”, while Richard Nixon, in his Silent Majority speech, said, “I do not tell you that the war in Vietnam is the war to end wars”.

Nothing is permanent.

Everything around you is constantly changing.

No matter what is happening to you right now, it will never happen again in exactly the same way.

But things tend to cycle …

We use the phrase “Never Again” to symbolize the fact that what happened in Germany and Europe in the 1930′s and 1940′s should never happen again.

But …

Anti-Semitic incidents around the world are happening with increasing frequency.

Many people believe these are isolated incidents and not a larger problem.

Could any man possibly be as evil as Hitler?

Afraid to make a stand or agreeing with Hiter, citizens stood by and watched as Jews were carried away to be killed.

Military men said they were following orders.

A Michigan State University student is beaten unconscious by a group of men.

The men asked if he was Jewish, flashed the Nazi salute and cried out “Heil Hitler” while a group of 20 people stood and watched as thes man had his mouth stapled shut after he had been knocked out.

Not in Austria, not in Sweden and not in Berlin but in the United States.

Here’s the way it works in real-life.

• A desire for freedom results in chaos.
• A desire to end chaos allows anarchy.

The same holds true in your business and your personal life.

When will we find the balance?

If we don’t never will always turn into again.

All the best,

Ken McArthur
KenMcArthur.com
jvAlertLive.com
OneDayIntensive.com
TheImpactFactor.com

The target is a ranking of 5,259,984

As of today, WhoIs is reporting a total of 144,069,151 domains across the .COM, .NET, .ORG, .INFO, .BIZ, and .US top level domains (TLDs) and globally other sources are reporting 525,998,433 Websites on the Web.

No one really knows how many websites are on the Web, but let’s just arbitrarily pick that  525,998,433 number for the purposes of identifying our target.

If we accept 525,998,433 websites in the world then to get into the top 1% we only have to rank 5,259,984 out of all of the sites in the world to make it into the top 1%.

How doable is that?

Well as I write this post, this blog has a Alexa Traffic Rank of : 654,829  Traffic Rank in US: 197,841.

That puts this blog in the top .01 percent

And I don’t really work to get high rankings for this blog.  In the past, I have actually made a concerted effort to drive particular sites into the top 3,000 sites on the Internet and I’ve actually succeeded multiple times.

The highest ranking I’ve ever achieved was an Alexa ranking of 362 out of all of the sites on the Internet.

Other sites I’ve launched have stayed in the top 3,000 sites on the Internet for years!

So the question is …

How do YOU do it?

Here’s the disclaimer …

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, so let’s start out by saying it’s not a quick fix.

But … I’m actually going to be doing it again — step-by-step — in front of your eyes in real time, so you have an opportunity to watch what I do over the next six months and see if you can figure out how to do it yourself — Or you can watch me execute these ten simple steps.

Here are the broad strokes of what to do …

Step One – Realize You Can’t Do This Alone

Nobody EVER creates a massive audience alone.

Step Two – Get a Mentor

Even if you’ve done this before — and most people haven’t — you will always be able to do it faster, with less risk and more efficiently with a mentor. (More on this later.)

Step Three – Follow a Proven System

It’s all been done before.  Don’t re-invent the wheel.  Take a Proven Path, Start from the Core

Step Four – Create Real Value

People will flock to you all day long if you focus on creating value (better design, better support, better ease of use, better variety, better reliability, better durability, better price … the list goes on)

Step Five – Create the Mission Vision, Values and Message that Becomes Your Brand

Your brand is YOU (or your organization) what you really stand for and the value that you bring and you need an effective way to communicate that to your audience.

Step Six – Build a Community

Your Customers, Clients and Fans are the secret to exponential growth

Step Seven – Build the Pressure

Create a force within your community so they HAVE to spread the word about the value you deliver

Step Eight – Leverage Multiple Media and Communication Channels

Your audience and their attention is fragmented, so you need EVERY form of communication channel that’s available to reach your audience and keep them engaged.

Step Nine – Break the Viral Coefficient Barrier

You need your audience to spread the message faster than they leave.  Get in the positive on this number and you will grow like wildfire.

Step Ten – Build Systems and Automate

You will quickly run out of YOU, so build systems and automate the things that are working.  DON’T build a system or automate the things that aren’t working.

Broad strokes for now, but I have a TON of detail to share with you!

Stay tuned!

UPDATE: The website I built to test this system went from zero to the top 1.3% most visited websites on the Internet in 4 Days

UPDATE: The website I built to test this system went from zero to the top .003% most visited websites on the Internet in 6 Days

Full Case Study at http://kenmcarthur.com/casestudy

The site I created is at http://buzzbreaker.com

All the best,

Ken McArthur
KenMcArthur.com
jvAlertLive.com
OneDayIntensive.com
TheImpactFactor.com