Suddenly, the whole plane erupted in laughter.

It was one of those truly hilarious moments you experience when you least expect them.

No-one could have expected the pilot’s explanation for our lengthy standstill right after landing.

Brilliant!

It reminded me of this story about Colin Marsh Marshall, Baron Marshall of Knightsbridge – a British businessman, and member of the House of Lords (Usually a sure sign of a hopelessly inaccurate grasp of reality and very poor understanding of business principles, but I hear they have random moments of lucidity… Often after a few alcoholic drinks… Sorry, rant over.)

In 1983, he became British Airways’ “pilot” – well, CEO.

NOT a nice gift at the time.

Employees and customers were all unhappy.

So what did Marshall logically declare?

“We are the world’s favorite airline.”

Of course, most employees thought he was crazy. But whenever they disagreed, he’d reply: “That may be so, but your job is to make it true.”

Beside BA’s current situation (and beside the fact the story was probably embellished for PR purposes), the idea is powerful…

His “crazy” bold vision became a challenge and a worthy goal. (They sort of pulled it off for a time too.)

The more compelling the image of the future, the more positive the outcome.

So what’s YOUR “crazy” bold vision of your internet business?

Until next time, enjoy Life.
Yann

PS: Oh, about the pilot’s announcement… Well, BA’s many “dirty tricks” to try and get Virgin out of the airline business are rather legendary in the UK… And how did our Virgin Airlines pilot explain our delay? “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am terribly sorry to keep you waiting. There’s an old and dirty British Airways Airbus right in front of us… As soon as they work out what they’re doing, we’ll get moving.”

Imagine you and I are comfortably seating in a coffee shop.

“How are your online efforts going?”, I ask. “Are you making money on the internet now?”

And you tell me about all the things that didn’t quite work out the way you were hoping.

Suddenly, I pull a book out of my bag.

“Give me two seconds”, I explain as I flick through the pages.

“Let me read you a story…”

“One evening a Cherokee elder told his grandson about the battle that goes on inside of people.

He said, “My son, the battle is between the two ‘wolves’ that live inside us all. One is

Unhappiness. It is fear, worry, anger, jealousy, sorrow, self-pity, resentment, and inferiority.

The other is Happiness. It is joy, love, hope, serenity, kindness, generosity, truth, and compassion.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Which do *you* feed – unconsciously – just out of habit?

Do you tend to naturally focus on what goes wrong?

Or do you *choose* to focus on what goes well?

Talk soon,
Yann

PS: Thank you to Brian Johnson of Philosophers Notes for bringing this story to my attention, from Marci Shimoff’s book ‘Happy for No Reason’. (Philosophers Notes are like CliffsNotes of self-development classics. Only shorter. And cooler. And a *lot* more inspiring.)

Rubbish!

This is complete rubbish! I hate it. Delete. Delete. Delete.

Damn, got to start again now…

Ever feel like this halfway through writing an article, email, or blog post for your internet business?

Maybe you ignored the “power of one”.

Making money on the internet essentially revolves around your ability to connect with your site’s visitors through words.

But sometimes the words just don’t seem to gel.

How can you avoid this – and naturally make your writing stronger?

Well, here’s my version of the  “power of one” – originally coined by Michael Masterson, of Early To Rise fame – an daily online newsletter with over half a million subscribers.

It’s a truly valuable exercise you can practice before you start writing.

It takes you only 5 special words and about 60 seconds. (Yes, I know it seems weird there’s no “One” in these numbers.)

It’s easy.

Before you start, write one word for each key element you’ll be focusing on in your writing.

Focus on one type of reader, key idea, emotion, and objective.

Here’s my super simple checklist:

- One audience

- One purpose (or action you want your readers to take)

- One big idea

- One keyword

- One dominant emotion

The more focused your intent is, the more powerful your results are.

Try it today and experience the clarity this simple exercise gives you – and how it helps you get started quickly and easily.

Talk soon,
Yann

OH MY GOD!

Behind you! He’s right behind you!

Can’t you see him?

ARRRGGGHHH!!

Too late…

Think of a Hitchcock movie.

Right from the beginning, you know the killer.

Then… For hours… You follow the murderer… Preparing his evil act…

And you see the many potential victims going about their day… But they don’t realize he’s a killer… And you want to shout at the screen to warn them…

But you don’t even know who will get killed.

All of them? The most obvious one? Or himself maybe?

Your heart is pounding. It drives you nuts.. And suddenly, BAM! Too late.

Your murderer brain is lurking around every day.

Scary, isn’t it?

“Oh, but I’m innocent”, he claims. “I’m just protecting you. It’s my job.”

Think about it, how often do you suffer from whatifitis?

Huh? Suffer from what, Yann?

You know…

When – deep inside – your brain is asking:

What if I fail?

What if people think I suck?

What if I don’t have enough money to pay the bills?

What if I can’t stay focused and get this done?

What if something terrible happens?

That’s your brain. Busy killing the opportunities around you.

Sure, some of them have very little potential.

But how many times has your brain stopped you from moving forward with promising opportunities – because of too many ‘What-ifs’?

Talk soon,

Yann

Welcome back!

In the previous post, Making money on the internet… Do YOU enrage your customers?, we looked at the top frusrations your online customers find very, very, very annoying – and that will cost you money if you don’t address them.

Well, the #1 frustration experienced by online shoppers – that is people already wanting to spend money online! – is a big one.

Once again, it’s all about communicating with customers.

This was identified by Opinion Research Corporation in their annual study of online shoppers. And this specific gripe represents 25% of all respondents’ frustrations (2 years in a row).

What’s this terrible thing that gets their blood boiling?

Not being able to speak to anyone who can answer questions.

Makes sense, right?

When you’re in shop, considering buying an item, you just want to make sure it’s right for you.

Yet, how many times have you had the feeling answering your question was a real hassle for the shopkeeper?

What does that mean for YOUR online business?

First, you want to answer as many objections and common questions as possible in your sales page. That’s pretty obvious.

But no matter how well you know your audience, you’ll never think of all the questions that go through their minds. There are too many different ways to look at the world. And dare I say that’s what makes marketing fun?

Think of all the internet marketing gurus’ big launches. They use blogs to create buzz and invite readers to ask questions in the comments.

Some sites have a prominent live chat option, or a free phone number shoppers can call.

One successful one-man-band internet marketer systematically adds a PS to all his sales pages essentially saying something like “If you have any questions whatsoever, no matter how small or trivial, please call me on 123-456-789″

But you don’t even need to go that far, just put a simple visible “Have a question? Click here to email us.” message on your site. And answer questions.

Make it easy for your readers, or they’ll go somewhere else – fast. Patience and internet don’t get on well…

The key is: See a customer question as a gift.

If one person asks you something, how many think the same?

And when someone is motivated enough to pick up the phone or email you a question, they’re nearly ready to buy. You can usually get them off the fence by talking to them.

And when you listen carefully, they’ll tell you exactly what they want.

Take notes and weave the answers in your sales message, and create an easy-to-find FAQ page.

Again, it’s so obvious it’s painful.

If it applies in the real world, it applies in the online world…

We’re still dealing with human nature!

So, assuming you’re making money on the internet honestly, INVITE questions and you’ll boost your sales.

Or your potential customers could end up leaving your site hating you for wasting their time.

Talk tomorrow,

Yann

Yes, I’ve mentioned this before…

But we’ve got to somehow counterbalance all the push-button-money pitches we receive every day. They appeal to our lazy brain and – with repetition – they’re easy to fall for.

Let’s be honest, we’re masters at deluding ourselves that the online world is so special… That what works in real-world businesses doesn’t apply when we learn how to earn money online.

The fact is, the experience you provide your customers when they do business with you is critical in both worlds.

So, if you’re selling stuff online – and stuff is the technical term for products and services – you’ll want to pay attention to what typically annoys the heck out of online shoppers…

Let’s see:

• Learning that items are back-ordered – or out of stock – after they are in the shopping cart: 11% (of online shoppers*)
• Receiving an item that doesn’t look anything like it did on the internet: 11%
• Web sites that malfunction as the payment is being processed: 9%
• Not being able to find an item: 8%
• Unclear shipping information: 5%
• An uncertain return policy: 5%
• Not receiving an acknowledgement after an order has been placed: 2%

Have you noticed what the huge majority of these blunders is all about?
And how easily you can avoid them…

You mean, making money on the internet boils down to clearly and honestly communicating with customers?

Wow… Obvious and simple!

Well, just wait until you find out the #1 frustration tomorrow…

In the meantime, it may be a good move to use this as a checklist for your own website.

Talk tomorrow,
Yann

*Source: Opinion Research Corporation, Internet Shopping Increases as Consumers Hunt for Bargains, April 9, 2009

Now, this underlying lack of confidence in parts of our lives applies to most people.

This means to your customers too.

 
So, it’s critical you remember to subtly address this insecurity when you speak to them… Write sales copy, content for your website or your marketing messages.

I remember Dan Kennedy candidly mentioning something along those lines at one of his marketing seminars – a few years ago.

Kennedy explained that most people don’t believe in their own abilities…

And that, frequently, the first 2/3 of his sales letters have the key objective to get his readers to believe that they can do it – whatever the “it” might be.

 
Often, your customers unconsciously believe that people enjoying a higher level of success are more capable, or better, smarter, etc…

And if they consciously think so, they’re unlikely to tell you!

So, even if they rationally know that these better results come from a different attitude – rather than any other qualities…

Your sales process must subtly acknowledge and answer this silent objection.

How are you addressing your customers insecurities about their worthiness and abilities?

Talk tomorrow,
Yann

” Sow a thought and you reap an action;
sow an act and you reap a habit;
sow a habit and you reap a character;
sow a character and you reap a destiny.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

At first, this seems like a nifty way of presenting things…

But when you take the time to ponder these thoughts, you realize how profound Emerson’s point actually is.

How does that apply to you?

Your life?

And your efforts to achieve financial freedom?

Hmmm… I’ve got to go and do some thinking!

Talk tomorrow,
Yann

Let’s face it: There aren’t many self improvement tips giving you fast enough results to make it easy to sitck to them.

In a moment, I’ll share a simple one with you that I’ve personally found very valuable – to counteract any limiting beliefs that might be holding you back.

Discussing our deep feelings of unworthiness – in my previous post How to achieve financial freedom… Are you worthy of it? – reminded me of a fun moment at T Harv Eker’s Millionaire Mind training.

During the whole Millionaire Mind seminar, Harv Eker spends a lot of time addressing the audience’s limiting beliefs about making money.

When he specifically tackles the issue of some of us feeling unowrthy of being rich, he clearly deconstructs how this is an imaginary label we’ve unconsciously accepted.

And since this label is made up, it only exists if we let it.

At one point, T Harv Eker tells the audience how lucky they are that he is in fact… A worthiness minister.

He then proceeds to annoint everyone WORTHY!

I wish it was that simple.

Admittedly, it’s fun and a cool feeling when you’re there. But it really takes daily reinforcement to counteract years of programming that you’re not worth much.

So if you really want to achieve financial freedom but you just can’t stop procrastinating and sabotaging your efforts…

Here’s a simple mission for you:

It will take less than 5 minutes a day…

Every evening, before going to bed, take a few minutes to record all your daily victories - no matter how small.

Only go to bed after you’ve found at least five of them (after a while, you’ll find nmany more). I must admit this only becomes easier after the first couple of days.

This daily Success Log reinforces that no matter how tough your day’s been, you actually experienced many small victories.

Essentially, you’re consciously choosing to focus on your successes. Because if you’re feeling unworthy deep inside, you’ll naturally tend to ponder your disappoinments instead.

One of the resaons I believe this simple exercise works – so well – is that you get to review something that you actually experienced.

So you get to re-live for a moment these feelings of success. Whereas visualization or repeating affirmations, for example, are more difficult to “feel” and accept internally because that haven’t yet become reality .

Try it tonight and experience the benefits for yourself.

Talk tomorrow,
Yann

PS: Want a bonus tip? In addition to the evening Success Log, I  also start tthe day going through the list of my past major successes.

When you try this tomorrow morning, think of situations that were major victories at the time – from riding a bike without help to getting your very first job. We so easily take our past successes for granted we forget how much of an achievement they actually were.

Do this daily to prime your mind to focus on what you succeed at… And experience the positive difference.

We hate to admit it…

But one of the underlying beliefs that stops many of us from achieving what we are truly capable of is a deeply ingrained sense of unworthiness.

This was all created many years ago when a parent, teacher, or person of authority told us “you’ll never amount to anything”, or any of the many “confidence killers” you may have heard over the years.

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The fact is, these people did the best they could considering the programming they had received themselves.

So forgiving them – and accepting the existence of this hidden limiting belief – is the starting point to moving beyond it.

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The next step is to become aware of how this belief expresses itself in your life through the actions, or lack of action, you take…

Anything that “works” to confirm the belief you’re not worth of the goals you’re striving to reach.

Things like: Watching TV, browsing the web, or playing video games when you know you should be focusing on building your business… Starting a new project while the previous one would likely succeed with just a litlle more effort… Letting a “something-came-up” situation override your schedule when you were due to take a critical step forward… And many more…

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If you’re starting to realize that this applies to you, you’ll want to take 5 minutes right now to list your own regular behaviors that get in the way of you getting the financial results you aspire to.

Reflect on that list for a while.

And we’ll pick up in a future post.

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Talk tomorrow,

Yann

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