I was asked a question this week that has dominated my thoughts ever since…

The question was, “What is failure to you?”

As a person who sometimes procrastinates on dealing with confrontation, I started asking other people what their definition was. This was my 1st attempt at avoiding the inner conflict of answering the question honestly! Sad…but true!

Here are a few of the responses from various people before I publicly tackle my inner demons:

* it’s like failing a test
* failure is not trying
* truly screwing up
* letting someone down

Now before I go insane, I am going to try and honestly reveal to you, and at the same time answer what my personal definition of failure is! In doing so I hope you can relate,  or at least begin to identify if your own personal definition of failure is in any way holding you back. I’m sure we all are affected differently…

What is failure to me?

* failure is not an option (hear me out)

Unfortunately, over the past decade I have CONVINCED MYSELF  that I’m conditioned  to NOT allow failure as an option. I think ultimately this has been my greatest downfall. On one hand I teach my children they need to fail repeatedly to learn and ultimately succeed! On the other hand, I practice the complete opposite and have never allowed myself to truly fail!

Sure, I have had minor failures and I dismiss them as such. But, have I ever placed it all on the line and RISKED major failure?  NO!

Ok, so if I did allow failure as an option, what would it look and feel like?

* it would mean having to watch my wife and children go with out because I failed
* it would mean I would have to admit failure is an option and indeed possible
* it would mean having to say “I Failed”  to myself, to my family and to the world and actually try and fix any mess I would have created.

At the end of the day I have to go back to a definition given by the most important person in my life, next to my children, my wife! Her definition to me was the most profound…

Tanya said, “Failure is not even trying!”

I have so much to learn

This video below says it all!!!

First result was his LinkedIn  profile… good start!

The rest of the first page results were related to his name appearing in various charity and foundation Web documents. What can I say, “He is a quality guy!”

Then I asked a simple question, “Do you own your name.com?”

His answer didn’t surprise me, “NO, how do you go about getting that?”

The conversation that led from there was me assuring him that it’s not hard, it’s not expensive and if your name is available you would be crazy not to make the annual investment of around $10 a year! So as we finished our drinks, I promised to send him an e-mail that night with a link where he could check to see if his name was available and purchase it at discount.

This is the link I sent him on how to search and purchase your own name online using a service called GoDaddy :  GoDaddy (See & click on image below on what do when you get there)

Now, he is one of the lucky ones and will be picking up his name.com right away! If you have a very common name, like Mike Smith, then it is a totally different conversation. (If you are in that situation should mean an e-mail as I have a few friends in the domain brokerage business you may want to talk to!)

Is Google sending users who search for music to iLike & LaLa a game changer?

In my humble opinion NO. (Great for iLike  & Lala though)

It’s certainly different that you may now actually be able to find songs your looking for and listen to them via Google Search, but apparently to start ONLY if you are in the US of A.  In speaking to my US based friends and business partners today, they are anxiously waiting to start seeing song results… but we are expecting, as usual,  nodda up here in Canada! My hope is that Google doesn’t go off strategy of providing the most relevant results versus pushing people to partners.

If you are outside of the USA and want to see what it looks like check it out here: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/21/google-music-service-the-screenshots/

Is it a game changer in the online music distribution industry? Nope.

Is Apple’s  iTunes having late night board room strategy sessions as a result? Maybe.

Will people buy music after searching for it for FREE on Google! Wait and see…

The one thing I will say, is it’s going to be an interesting year in the online music distribution world

What do you think?

Balloon Boy

Turns out he wasn’t in the balloon after all (might it be a publicity stunt!)

Baby Survives Being Run Over By Tram (Train)

It is my understanding this baby survived unharmed… unbelievable!

Unfortunately, someone very close to me is dying. My thoughts are constantly with that person, who I’m sure prefers to remain names less.

FACT: One day both you and I will die.

CHOICE: How will we deal with our own demise?

If there indeed is an Art to Dying, and I believe there is, then I think the most we can hope for is to make the right choices each and every LAST day. Some might call this being a gentleman or a lady under extreme circumstances, and others might just call it crazy. After all, would anyone truly blame someone who is dying for losing it in a million different ways?

THE END: All I think we can hope for in the end is that we go out with dignity, pride & hopefully surrounded by people we love.

Volkswagen has put together something pretty cool and outside of the box with ‘The Fun Theory’ … do check it out : www.TheFunTheory.com

If you believe Full Moons affect people, then I guess you are NO different than many Police Officers and Emergency Room staff all over the world.  http://www.skepdic.com/fullmoon.html

The reality is, that once the  statistics of Full Moons are applied to hospital room visits, extortion scandals, typhoons and even breast cancer, it is revealed that a harvest moon or full moon is just any other day of the year. You may have heightened awareness on these days, but statistically it isn’t any more weird than other days of the lunar phase.

No offense if you are Police Officer or Emergency Room doctor.

First off, unless you are prepared to spend north of TOO MUCH MONEY a month you are going to have a very difficult time legitimately dominating Search Engines Rankings for a top level niche online. The fact of the matter is that regardless of what any SEO company says for any price, the search engines will discover & punish SEO tactics. Maybe they will not punish you today, tomorrow, or even next month… but if it is purely a SEO Tactic it will eventually have the complete opposite effect that you desire.

So what is the secret to dominating SEO for any niche over the Long Run?

Is it back links? Nope, but over time legitimate back links can help.

Is it massive use of different social media accounts? No, although effective & integrity based use of company or personal social media accounts can be good for connecting with your niche, customers & prospects!

Is it paying for over seas content spinners to push out mass content across the web? Definitely a huge NO WAY!

Is it links from authority sites like Wall Street Journal, Major Universities & CNN? No, but as you can imagine a quality one way link from an authority site (the legitimate way) is great for your search engine rankings.

Here is the big secret folks.

The absolute best approach to dominating any niche online is…

It is all about regularly & consistently putting out the best content in the world for your niche. It must be content that is or could eventually be referenced by world class websites, offline publications & media. It is content that generates discussion. It is content that is relevant, timely & engaging. It is text, audio, video, PDF, documents and any other type of world class  material you or your organization spits out.

If you or your organization spent 75% of your time on tactics and 25% of the time on content, then any Search Engine Optimization gains will surely be lost as quickly as they came. I Highly suggest you, your organization and everyone seeking better search engine rankings that the correct formula for long term domination of any niche online is spending 75% of the time on the content, and 25% of the time on legitimate strategies that the major search engines will be happy to reward your web property with higher rankings over the long term.

So whether you do it yourself, or choose to work with a marketing company, please be wary of any company, program or Search Engine Guru who doesn’t focus on the quality of your CONTENT, and  is happy to take your money for the promise of 1^st Page Rankings on Google, Yahoo or Bing. There are literally 1000’s of legitimate strategies you can employ to effectively distribute & promote your world class content on the web, and they aren’t a secret. In fact, Google, Yahoo & MSN openly blog to webmasters about what’s cool and what gets you or your marketing team in hot water. At bare minimum you or someone on your team should be keeping up with Google’s Webmaster Blog here:  http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/

To truly dominate Search Engine Rankings over the long term laser focus your efforts on creating world class content. If your organization does not have the talent to create top notch content, spend the money to get it done properly. Choose to work with only reputable, and experienced marketing firms  & or professionals that can help you ensure both your content and online marketing will have the desired long term search engine rankings. Anyone can employ short term tactics and have short term success, but only the legitimate strategies you employ will improve your search engine rankings for years to come.

This past year I have seen so many people break their never agains.

My wife Tanya’s NEVER for years was ‘Sushi’! Now, she loves going as often as possible.

I have seen people change and reunite with family they said they would NEVER see again!

Considering that every 7 years every single cell in our body is replaced, essentially creating a brand new person! It might make sense to consider not speaking for someone else.

In other words…

If you will be a completly different person 7 years from now…

‘Never Say Never’!

If you are a thrill seeker who is bored with jumping out of planes… you’ll want to do this!

For everyone else be prepared to hold your breath!