Hey folks, so I haven’t really been posting much over the last two weeks. Correction, I haven’t posted at all. I even failed to keep up with my Crush It giveaway. I’ve been swamped with a number of little projects and big projects while I try to get my business off the ground. I should be freaking bleeding out of my eyeballs and staying on top of things and Crushing It like Gary Varynerchuck says.

What is my business? Glad you asked. Out of the stuff I’m interested in two of them is web design and technology. I have always been a geek and I’ve been designing and managing websites since 2002. I actually started creating a personal website way back in the days of Geocities. But I won’t count all my teen years, only professional years.

Right now I’m trying to launch a web design and development company that also focuses on new media trends. Helping businesses and entrepreneurs utilize facebook, twitter, and the likes. And helping them develop a powerful online presence.

And I’m really trying to tackle the issue of what I consider BAD DESIGN. I’m not the best designer, but I work with guys who are.

I’ve actually been building a little niche working with companies who are suppliers to the federal government.  I have also recently started dong facebook FBML landing pages. Did one for a local area restaurant, got another going up for a guy who is running for the US Congress, and one for a guy who is a speaker and business coach.

So back to my blog, which I’m taking in a new direction, becuase I understand it’s impossible to actually figure out what the hell I write about.

From now I’m keeping it on the subjects that interest me. Entreprenuership and how I’m progressing in developing my lifestyle, things that piss me off, things that I like and things that I want.

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You are not going to believe it, but do you know what is more awesome than my blog or even yours for that matter? I’ll tell you, it’s a PICKLE who really doesn’t like Nickleback. And who can blame him, nobody likes Nickleback. (Alright maybe a few people do. But that’s besides the point.)

I first learned about this over on the escaping9to5 blog and was just shell shocked. Heck I’ve got like what 43 fans. Whoopie. So I thought I’d let everyone out there know that YOU ARE NOT AS AWESOME AS A PICKLE. (Can you tell I just want someone else to feel as bad as me?)

Truly this is either proof of how viral marketing works, as Maren Kate claims in her blog post, or it’s just proof that people hate Nickleback that much. It may also be that the majority of the population has devolved into a juvenile state as well. I mean have you ever stopped to checkout how many “Fart” apps get downloaded for the iphone.

So this has inspired me to see if it’s possible for me to be more AWESOME as a NINJA than Kayne West!

And why shouldn’t I be, Ninja’s are AWESOME. And we’re fast!

How fast you ask? Well you’ve heard of the speed of light right? Well we’re so fast that we move at the speed of darkness. Yeah, that’s right, the speed of darkness. It takes light from the sun 8 minutes to reach the earth, but do you know what was already here?

DARKNESS! *KAPOW*

Now stop standing around and Friend me up on Facebook!

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My new favorite  person online is Gary Vay-ner-chuk. Gary is the author of Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, which is now both a New York Times and a Wall Street Journal Best Seller. This is an amazing book and it motivated me in a lot of ways. I also purchased the vook.com version of this book, which I think you might want to check out too, it has a lot of added video extras.

So I’ve decided to give away 3 copies of this book over 3 weeks starting today February 8th, 2010. I will pick one winner each Friday of each week. One on the 12th, the 19th and the 26th.

Here is how the contest will work, you MUST (not on or the other, both) do the following two steps in order to qualify:

1. Update your status with the following Tweet: Hey @mike_key, I’m cashing in on my passion and I want a free copy of #CrushIt by @garyvee! Please RT! http://bit.ly/bGzyDU
2. Post a comment below detailing what you think your DNA is, as Gary says “Who are you, based solely on the fact that you popped out of mom?…  What are your 4-7 characteristics strictly based on your D.N.A.?”

Follow me on Twitter or Join the Facebook Community or come back to this page to see if you’ve won! Winners will be announced via my blog, twitter and Facebook, just an FYI.

*If you win, once I contact you, you have two days to reply to me before I pick another winner on the following Monday. Your free book will be drop shipped to you from Amazon.com =)

Announcing our winners! 2 More Books Left

1.) Jessica Swink | twitter @jotwell

2.)

3.)

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Fear is the one thing stopping you from taking action. And guess what. Not taking action is what is stopping you from having everything you want.

If you want to succeed at anything chances are you’re going to have to get outside of your comfort zone and face some fears, take some risks and take some ACTION.

How do you face that fear?

With ACTION!

Stop thinking and trying to rationalize your fears and learn to take immediate action. If you’re afraid to talk to people, then start talking to people. Start by saying hello to random strangers where ever you go. The more action you take the more the fear will cease to be.

When you take action you’ll begin to grow and your comfort zone will begin be stretched. If you really want to grow, get outside your comfort zone and stay there.

Keep taking action. Whatever it is you want to achieve in life, it’s going to have to begin with you taking action. And if fear is the one thing holding you back, then the cure to that fear is ACTION.

Bonus Advice: Desire Follows Direction - You ever have one of those moments when you just don’t feel like doing it, but you know you need to do it? Well JUST DO IT ALREADY. Desire follows direction, act now – feelings later. If you ever did something that you didn’t feel like doing and then later on you usually felt better for doing it, you applied this principle. See your desire and feelings will follow the direction the ACTION you take.

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Do you want more success? Then you’re going to have to learn to get outside your comfort zone and start taking some risks! Rock Climbing is by nature a dangerous sport, but the pure thrill and rewards of scaling a mountain are well worth that risk.

Often in our lives anything worth doing involves some level of risk. Quiting your job to go start a business is risky, especially if you’ve got mouths to feed at home.  Just like in rock climbing, we can do things to minimize these risks, but ultimately, we are not fully in control.

You have got to realize you can not control every aspect of life. But if you let that fear of not being in control immobilize you, you will deny yourself the rewards that can come from taking great

risk and succeeding.

You’re bound to fail at some point, but you need to step outside your comfort zone, embrace your fear and take some risks once in awhile.

I’m not advocating you take stupid risks or gamble with your life, but what I am trying to drive home is that sometimes a little risk is involved when it comes to achieving success.

From my perspective some of the greatest endeavors in history have involved all kinds of risks. Think about all of the Astronauts in history. Every time one of them straps into a rocket they take the risk of blowing up to help advance mankind.

You can not let the fear of risk hold you back. So the next time someone says your idea sounds risky, tell them to TAKE A FLYING LEAP.

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Last time I checked, no fat guys have made it to the top of Mount Everest, and that, my friends, is a problem for me. You see, since I came home in August from my summer adventure I’ve been addicted to energy drinks and junk food. Most of the time my breakfast would consist of  Mountain Dew, some M&Ms and a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. (That’s high-style living!)

I’ve been packing on the pounds, and I’m ashamed to admit I went from 145lbs to 175lbs, almost pushing 180lbs. I’ve been jamming all this junk into my veins thinking it’s keeping me sharp and on my game. With trying to start a new business, launch my personal brand and blog, and taking on consulting gigs all at the same time I need the CAFFEINE. In reality, this crap isn’t helping my game any. I’ve noticed a complete dwindling supply of creativity. Just look at my blog, my posts are getting less and less frequent.

To top it all off, this crap has some serious side effects to your health such as tooth decay, bone demineralization and the development of metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Constant sugar rushes from energy drinks are a major factor in the development of Type II diabetes. Evidence is starting to come out that high levels of sugar can even cause some neurological disorders.

As a entrepreneur, one should be conscience of their health and their body. When you feel your best, you’ll often give your best. A couple of years ago after a breakup with a long-term girlfriend I did a major detox. I unplugged for a whole month. No internet, no TV. I also gave up all the junk food and soda and started eating healthy and began jogging every day. All the TV and Internet time I replaced with reading up on all kinds of different things on self help and success. My mind was so sharp, and I was able to think clearer than ever.

Why did I stop? Well I got distracted by another girl. Go figure.

So being a fat fatty isn’t helping my business, and it isn’t helping my personal brand either. Ninja’s are not round. They are stealthy, agile and dangerous. And well, for the adventure seeker part, like I said, I am pretty sure there haven’t been any fat guys able to climb to the top of Everest.

Are you neglecting your health? What bad habits do you need to change right now to improve your life?

I’m declaring right here, publicly: I’m going to kick the caffeine starting today. I’m going to cut back on the unhealthy foods and start a work out program.

I’ll keep you all posted so you can keep me accountable.

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What are you holding back on in life? What do you want to do that you are afraid to do because you are too busy worrying about what others might think?

Listen to me carefully. It does not matter what other people think of your idea. If you have something you want to do, some idea or some perspective, just do it. Share it with the world. Don’t worry about what others will think or say. You will be better off for having done it, then not.

I made a post about my perspective on Porn and I’m pretty sure that 90% of people don’t agree with me on it. So what? I had something I’ve been wanting to share for awhile and I did it. And I feel better for sharing it. Rather than just being quiet about it. It doesn’t matter if I failed to convince anyone to see my perspective. What matters is that I did it.

When I quit my job a lot of my family members said I was nuts. It was the end of the world. “Oh no what are you going to do now” they said. But it didn’t matter, I had a dream and I wanted to start my own business, I wanted to get free from the template lifestyle and to live life my way on my terms. So I just went out and did it.

That’s what you have to do. Even if it’s rude to others, ignore them and pursue it.

So my question stands. What are you holding back on in life?

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I just finished watching an amazing interview with Seth Godin over at Untemplater.com filled with great nuggets of wisdom. But one point in this interview is really driving it home for me. And I wanted to share my thoughts about. To quote Seth in the interview he made a comment

There is a difference between being a freelancer and an entrepreneur:

Freelancers don’t have bosses; they work for themselves but they get paid for the hours that they work.  If they don’t put in the hours, then they don’t make money.

Entrepreneurs build something bigger than themselves.  They use other peoples money and they build organizations that can live and die without them.

If you act like an entrepreneur, but work like a freelancer, sooner or later you’ll go nuts or work yourself to death.

Check out the video after the break:

I have just realized that I have been acting like an entrepreneur and doing a lot of work like a freelancer, including with my current project MK3Y. And as Seth says, this will lead to a lot of frustration. And that’s what I’ve been experiencing lately. I feel frustrated, like it’s to much to take on and like I’m still having to do work nonstop. This has been an eye opener.

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Why in the heck would I talk about PORN on a website about lifestyle design and entrepreneurship you might ask. I’ll tell you why. It has to do with integrity, and you can’t have that when your pants are around your ankles while you are typing away with one hand. Not only that, if you are busy downloading and watching porn everyday, that is time you are losing from your entrepreneurial endeavors.

The simple truth is that we as men all struggle with porn at some point or another. For some, it is just a brief encounter, and for others, it is an overwhelming struggle. Let’s be honest here. Everyone knows where to find it, and most of us are smart enough to keep it hidden. Heck, we all know the real reason why there is InPrivate browsing now. It is so we can look at porn without getting caught. It is the social norm now. Porn viewing is considered “cool”. Soft porn is everywhere, especially in advertising, even more so if you live in Europe.

So whats the big deal then? Porn doesn’t hurt anyone. Porn is Cool, right?

WRONG!

Porn destroys lives.

Reality Check

Now listen to me carefully here. Porn is like beer. One drink won’t destroy your life, but consuming large amounts over and over again on a regular basis will lead to all kinds of problems. Alcoholism and liver damage, for example; but even one to many drinks before a stint behind the wheel can destroy your and others lives, forever.

Watching Porn doesn’t make you a man or make you cool. In fact, it makes you a pervert. YES A PERVERT. It is a cheap substitute for the real thing. I’m sure porn makes you feel like a man. After all, the woman is there on the screen, ready, waiting, and you always satisfy her. But the truth is it is still fake. You’ve still got your junk your hand.

Porn also devalues woman and how you see them.  Let enough porn in, and it will destroy many, if not all, of your relationships. Think about it: you are a married man, and you masturbate to pictures of thin, 20 yr-old woman everyday. It is not long before you are comparing your wife to those images. Your wife will become unattractive to you because she isn’t the ideal fantasy you have been feeding into your brain. You begin to devalue the woman most important in your life. If you are single, you will start seeing all women as objects to satisfy your every desire, and you will be unable to develop meaningful relationships. Think about it, do you think your wife or girlfriend wants to compete with what’s on the internet?

Porn is a selfish addiction. It’s all about YOU getting YOURSELF off.

Bad For Business

Let’s think this one out. You’re a young entrepreneur. You want to build a successful lifestyle, but many entrepreneurs don’t give a second thought to their character or integrity. This is the reason why this country has such a problem with it’s leaders; most of our nation’s leaders are lacking character and integrity. For many, it is alright to have affairs, mistresses and to take deals behind closed doors. It’s private business they say. But let’s think this through, a man who thinks it is alright to take a vow to his wife, and then have an affair might think it’s ok to take money and bribes to vote a certain way. You’re private life does reflect how you will behave in public and how you will make decisions.

Today, being a player or a pimp is idolized. There is even a show about guys who call themselves pickup artists who use cheap tricks to sleep with as many woman as they can. The porn industry is a 6 billion dollar industry, and that industry teaches us it is a perfectly natural, human behavior.

I beg to differ. Viewing porn is secretly degrading your moral integrity. Remember when people use to tell you smoking was a gate-way drug? It doesn’t always lead to you doing LSD, and viewing porn won’t mean you’ll end up a child molester or serial rapist. But I will argue that it erodes something of your character every time you view it.

To be completely honest, I wish I could put together a better article on porn because I have strong feelings on the subject. Many men are seriously addicted to it. I’m not sure when I started looking at it, around age 15-16 I believe, and for a long time it was almost a daily thing. I had several girlfriends break up with me over my porn viewing. It wasn’t until I stopped being so utterly seflish and gave my life to Christ that this addiction stopped. From time to time, I will admit, I’ve had it crop back up.  The temptation is always there, but you can get help.

I know people and I am sure you have heard of people, getting fired over viewing pornography at work. I believe it challenges your integrity as a man.

Oh, and to show you what PORN does to woman, view this video and visit the below sites.

Listen to Shelley Lubben Tell the Hard Core Truth of What Woman are subjected to as a Porn Actress. (NSFW)

Please visit and support Shelly. She saves girls from the porn industry and the abuse they suffer. She also posts true stories and video interviews of former porn stars who leave the industry.

http://www.shelleylubben.com/ & http://www.pinkcorss.com

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It was Wednesday morning, and I had dropped JorDanee off and had decided to get gas. So I pulled into the local Wawa, and it was busy that morning with folks at every pump. I got out an proceeded to pump my gas, my thoughts on business strategies, when a young man on the other side of the pump peaks over and says to me:

“Wow, nice Audi, what kind of gas mileage does that thing get?”

“I manage to get about 21-22 city and 27 highway” I said

“Awesome man!” he replied unusually enthusiastic.

“Hey, I saw your license plate, can I ask what you do?”

Then it hit me, this guy is an IBO, and I was suddenly leery of whatever sales pitch he would throw at me.

However, I was pretty candid in my response. “I enjoy life on a daily basis, but if you mean what do I do for an income, I own a web based business and help other companies improve their online presence. I also write a blog where I discuses entrepreneurship and lifestyle.”

“Oh wow, good deal man. I’m actually working with a business team out of Raleigh, North Carolina, helping folks develop web based businesses. We’re actually looking for some sharp folks like yourself who are looking to earn some extra income. Do you keep your options open?”

“Do I keep my options open? Yes. Do I keep them open for multi-level marketing? No.” I replied.

With that note, I finished pumping my gas and got into my car. He looked a little stunned with my response. Perhaps it was the fact that I had readily identified his pitch. Perhaps I was a little rude, but the number of times I get approached by people involved in an MLM is annoying.

If you have fallen victim for this ploy, chances are you gave your phone number to an IBO. He’ll most likely call you within 1 to 2 days to setup a time to do an in-person meeting. The entire point of this quick meeting is to gauge your interest in coming to see his business plan. He will ask if you are interested in making an extra two to three thousand dollars, and who wouldn’t? If you say yes, then chances are you are going to an open meeting where some guy will speak  to you about how to make money while drawing circles on a white board. If this has happened to you recently, do not return the phone calls of these people.

Since I was actually in a form of multi-level marketing for a couple of years, I’ll give you my perspective on the subject, and my warning. You see, I was in Quixtar (aka Amway, same company). And to be honest, it’s not 100% a scam. There are a lot of really decent and honest people in these systems, and it is slightly possibly to make money in them, about as possible as you winning the lottery.

The problem is, most people in Quixtar are going just short of broke. If you attend one of these business meetings you’ll be presented with a display of just how easy it is to get setup in business for yourself and to start making money. They’ll draw some circles to show you how fast you can be a millionaire. They tell you all you have to do is get 6 people under you and then you’ll be rich. They probably even give you a book called Rich Dad, Poor Dad (Which by the way,  Mr. Kiyosaki was sponsored by Amway to write that book.)

But there is a BIG FAT SCAM right in the middle of this whole “Business System” that you won’t see at first. Most people don’t realize there are two businesses at work here. Quixtar is just the same as say Avon for example. YES, you can make money in Quixtar and some people do. If you sell products, you get a portion of those sales. If you sign up other IBO’s, you will get a portion of their sales. Quixtar itself is not a pyramid scam. Pyramids are outlawed by the federal government and Quixtar is a valid, privately held corporation that does billions in sales annually.

The REAL SCAM and the scam that Quixtar itself turns a blind eye to on a regular basis is the training systems. You see, to become an IBO you have to be registered by another IBO, called your “upline”. Once registered you can sign up all of your friends and anyone else you’d like. The people under you are called your “downline”. Now generally once registered you’ll be a part of some business team. You could always go rogue, but I doubt many people ever do that or know that they can. Besides, it’s the team that is providing all the training you are going to receive to run your business successfully.

Once you join up and start going to these weekly meetings you will be reminded over and over again how important it is to cut off negative associations and to listen to the CDs promoted by the training system.You’ll be encouraged and reminded over and over again that you need this training to be successful in business. According to them, you can’t succeed in your Quixtar business without listening to their CDs, without attending their seminars and 3 day conferences. You will also be told to buy books from their system and sign up for over-priced web hosting, voice-mail and a half dozen other useless services you could get elsewhere for free.

However, the money spent on this per month still seems trivial to the average cost spent on getting a traditional business off the ground. Most IBO’s never realize how much money they are actually spending in comparison to how much they actually make in Quixtar because the money invested is so low. Until you start to add up the money spent over the course of a year do you begin to see the real damage being done. The average IBO is typically in the red.

Let’s do the math, from my experience.

It cost $151.00 dollars to register, and I also had to buy my 100PV (Point Value of products purchased from Quixtar to get paid) which was $175.00. I was also signed up on the book/CD program which was $60.00 a month.

The very first month I had spent a total of $368.00 (Not counting the open meetings).

Each Tuesday I was suppose to come attend a weekly meeting, it cost $4.00 dollars to attend.

$4 x 52 weeks = $208 (If an important speaker came out, I had to pay $6).

Now lets add up 11 months of 100PV and 11 months of the books/CDs.

$175 x 11 = $1925.00

$60 x 11=$660.00

Then there was the 4 major conferences every year at $110 dollars a ticket  which equals $440.00 a year.

So far that’s $3619.00. I haven’t even included how much money was spent on gas and food.

Do you see where this is going yet? If your Quixtar business doesn’t earn you over $4000 dollars a year, guess what? You are broke and foolish. YOU MIGHT AS WELL DO THIS WITH YOUR MONEY:

The problem here is that the whole system is promoted like it is the most cost-effective way to do business. The truth is, it isn’t. You will be spending more money a year running your Quixtar Business than you are likely to ever make. Check Quixtar’s own stats. Most of their IBOs never make more than $100.00 a year.

Thinking about quitting then? You will be brainwashed to believe the people who fail or quit the system are weak and don’t want their freedom from the 9-5 bad enough.

BULL CRAP. I have watched good people in this system work and work and destroy their own marriages because they were working this broken business model as hard as they could, and today, they still aren’t free. They still work a JOB and pour that money into Quixtar, believing that someday doing the same thing over and over again will actually work.

So where is all this money coming from that these Kingpins, the Diamonds of Quixtar, are always talking about? Well it’s not Quixtar, because they limit how much you can make. You can only ever make $32,000 dollars from Quixtar. The real money-maker is the books, CDs, and conferences. That is where all the real money is that THEY are making off of you. I would attend a conference with a stadium of thousands of IBOs and listen to a fat man on stage tell me he put the whole event on just to make me successful. Bullcrap. How do you think a concert works? What’s $110 x 5,000 IBO’s. Answer: $550,000 dollars. More than enough money to bankroll production and have lots left over.

The  real kicker though was the local business meetings. I took it upon myself to find out how much money it cost to rent out the space they where using. I don’t want to get anyone in trouble, but by my estimation at $4 a head with about 500 IBOs in Va Beach, they where raking in $800 dollars every Tuesday after expenses. Whose pocket did that end up in?

You see, it’s not Quixtar, it is the training systems that are the real scam. I figured this out early on, but I, like many other people, stuck around because I believed in the other things they promoted. Things like helping people get free, living better lives, and fixing broken marriages, etc. I saw the business have a positive impact on the lives of people. Truly, at each conference I went to, I saw people give their lives by the hundreds to Jesus Christ.

While all of that is good and dandy, it is deceptive as well. The truth about the real money is never openly disclosed. Most people never truly succeed at this business, and I suspect most are going broke. A quick Google search will show you thousands of blogs and posts about people claiming it is a cult or scam. Most are angry victims who didn’t have a clue.

Be warned! Multi-Level-Marketing has its ups and downs. I quit the business, not because I’m weak, but because my heart was no longer in it. I still have a passion to see people succeed and achieve and break from the template lifestyle. That is the reason and purpose behind this whole blog.

I’m not denying that you can make money in an MLM, but I am highlighting what I think is an often glazed over and sweep under the rug.: the reality of how “successful” the business model really is.

(I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter below in the comments. I will allow all comments so long as you are not directly insulting me or another person. )

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