How to Promote Products You’re Proud of without Being Sleazy

Promoting products and services online is a great way to earn money. There are many different products and services out there to promote, and along the way, you’ll likely create your own. Chose top-notch products, use them first, and be honest about them. When you create something of your own, make it the best you are capable of making it. As long as you are completely honest about the products and services you promote, you should not have any issues with product promotion.

Create Top Notch Products

Anything you do starts with the products that you create. If your product is not top notch you will feel bad about trying to get people to buy it because you will not feel honest or good about it. Instead of doing that, create a real honest to goodness product or service that solves problems for your audience in a way that no one else can. If you do that you’re going to feel great about promoting it to others in multiple ways because you’ll be proud of it.

Find & Use Other Peoples Products Prior to Promotion

If you promote other people’s products or services, it’s important to try out at least a few of the products and services put out by that business. The reason is that unless you try it out you will have no idea whether the products are as good as they say they are. More than likely if you try a couple and they are of high quality you can be safe to promote the other products and/or services from that business. The truth is you’re just going to feel better if you know what the products are like before you promote them.

Be Honest About Every Product

If you are always honest about every product or service that you promote, focusing on the problems it solves for your audience you’ll never go wrong. The blog posts you write, the sales pages that you create, everything is designed to promote the solutions the product provides. If you can remember to focus on solutions, you’ll write honest promotional materials about each product or service and feel good about it.

Under Promise and Over Deliver

TV advertising often focuses on something called “puffery” and that is actually an acceptable thing to do in advertising. “This is The BEST Widget you’ll Ever Need” this is puffery. You really don’t know if it’s the best widget but you say that because right now you believe it to be true. Lying would be something like, “You’ll Lose 100 lbs. in 1 Month”  using our product. You know that’s impossible so to say so would be lying. Instead, create marketing and advertising that tells the truth about your product or service so that when they receive it, they’re blown away by how awesome it is.

Creating and promoting products and services that you know to be effective will not require you to do anything sleazy. In fact, when you know about products that can help your audience, not promoting them would be much worse.

It’s not written in stone that you have to get up in front of a large audience and put on a full, two-hour presentation. There are many ways to get started with public speaking: The trick is to find ways that are within your comfort zone – and then move yourself slightly out of it with each mode you conquer.

1. Get Comfortable Online

Create a small Skype or Google Hangout workshop for people you know well – and who you know would be supportive.

Think: Members of any active forum you belong to, your Facebook industry intimates, fellow Facebook Group members, your subscribers or online friends that share the same hobby or career as you.

Make it small and on one topic you have already mastered.

Better yet, make your group Hangout a regular feature, so that you grow really comfortable presenting to others.

2. Host a Local Workshop

Do you belong to any local business organizations? Then offer to host a local workshop on a topic you know well.

Prepare handouts: A feedback form rating your performance and asking for suggestions and a tip sheet, or summary of the points you made, or outline of the methods you used. (Lists of resources are a popular handout too.)

3. Take Courses that Include Public Speaking

In addition to courses actually focusing on public speaking, try storytelling courses. Storytelling is a vital component of public speaking.

4. Volunteer to Give a Storytelling Session in your Child’s School

You may be amazed at how responsive even the most rambunctious audience will be. Children naturally love stories, and if you can successfully tell a story to your own children – or you’ve just taken a storytelling course – you can do this at a school.

5. Join a Storytelling Circle

Many cities have professional storytellers who host regular, informal storytelling circles or sessions. Join and sit in at first; then when you are comfortable with the venue, the audience and the format, learn a story. When the host asks for volunteers – step forward.

6. Give Free Short Mini-Talks at Local Business Meetings

Local business organizations are always looking for guest speakers. Hone your skills by volunteering to give mini-talks on a single topic. Keep them to fifteen minutes or less. That way, you are not responsible for an entire event – just a small segment of it – and you can get your feet wet in comfort.

7. Be the Lifesaver Hero or Heroine

Another surprisingly common scenario at local business organization meetings: Scheduled speakers being a no-show. This happens for a variety of reasons – missed phone calls, wrong dates, car trouble, nerves… The point is, be the one who is heroically ready to fill the gap.

Before every local business meeting, have a short speech totally prepared and practiced on a relevant topic (particularly on the topic that was scheduled, if you can manage it).

The practice will help diffuse your own “nerves” and help you improve your skills – even if you never give your speech that day – and if the organizer calls desperately for someone to fill in, you are right there, ready to save the day.

8. Create a Paid Product

Pre-record your speech and use it to promote a product. The trick is making sure that the speech itself is as value-rich as your paid product – and that both are unique, original and exactly what your audience needs.

Those are eight ways to dip your foot into the stream of public speaking. Now let’s see how we can accelerate your public speaking career by helping your good reputation spread like wildfire…

9. Live Public Speaking

Even if you only have a gig or two under your belt, live your dream with passion. If you do – if all your focus for now is on developing your career in public speaking – you will find yourself naturally “talking it up” with genuine enthusiasm.

Let people know why you love giving presentations, what you specialize in, where you’ve spoken, what you have to offer – and most of all, let them know you are available.

10. Carry Business Cards

Make sure you always carry business cards positioning you exclusively as a public speaker.

And when you do talk up your public speaking abilities, hand out more than one per person. Ask people to pass them on if they know someone who might find hiring you the solution to a problem.

11. Specialize

While many entrepreneurs are quite capable of speaking well on a variety of topics to a variety of audiences, your best strategy lies in specializing – becoming known as the expert in one specific area of one niche field.

12. Focus on Your Promise

A good speech includes a promise of what people are going to take away if they stay and listen. A great speech delivers on that promise by the end of the speech – and reminds the audience they have done so.

Always spend time on your promise. What is it going to be for this particular audience? Can you kick it up a notch or two?

13. Create Website Presences

You need to be findable online as a public speaker – so make sure you place that information in several different website spots.

• Create a speaker profile, cv or bio in your Media Section

• Create a “Hire [Your Name] to Speak” section

• Create a contact form for public speaking inquiries

• Create a website only for your public speaking, including transcripts or samples of past speeches

14. Create a Google Plus Profile

Not only does this make you more searchable on Google, but you can include location-based keywords for the target area you are willing to travel to and speak within.

15. Create a Speaker Profile Sheet

This should contain:

• A bio summary

• At least two to three speech topics and summaries

• At least two to three client recommendations

• A list of your most recent engagements (if you have any)

• Your professional headshot

• Media coverage, if you have had any

• Your contact information and web links

16. Create One or More Mini Videos

Make it short – a mini version of a signature speech (less than five minutes; preferably no more than 2.5 minutes).

Give people a sample of what they can expect if they hire you – but make sure your mini video sustains viewer interest – and offers up an unexpected gem.

Be sure to include your video links on your Speaker Profile Sheet.

17. Attend Conferences and Meet-ups

These are great places to make connections in your own niche or industry. Even if you don’t find anyone there to hire you, networking strong personal contacts can lead to recommendations from those contacts.

18. Create a Strong LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is the perfect vehicle for presenting yourself as a speaker. For one thing, you can list it as one of your skills and include a CV that is really just your Speaker Profile Sheet.

19. Volunteer

Offer to speak at your local Chamber of Commerce, civic groups, and other business and service-oriented organizations. Many offer monthly meetings and are always on the hunt for speakers, so it’s a great way to build up your speaking chops while helping out a good cause.

20. Join Groups

Do this for online and offline groups that include or focus on public speaking. So not just your local Toastmasters chapter, but also local business organizations that need and use speakers at every meeting, as well as focused LinkedIn and Facebook Groups.

These organizations can give you plenty of practice – and exposure.

21. Just Ask!

Approach organizations you want to speak to. Find out the name of the correct person to contact – and send a query letter and/or your Speaker Profile Sheet.

Outline either one huge benefit to the organization or list three to five strong benefits. Give them the same promise you would include in your speech.

How Much Time Have You Got?

We all have the same 24 hours each day but how we USE those same 24 hours will determine your level of success. Have you ever analyzed what tasks you accomplish during the day, especially on those days where you question where the day went and wished you had an extra eight hours to finish your to-do list? Knowing where you spend your time is part of the equation for success.

Are You a Do-It-Yourselfer?

When you’re first starting your business it makes sense that you want to watch your budget and not hire any outside help. After all, you need to make money before you spend money, right? Do-it-yourself business owners take on every task that deals with sales, marketing, billing, and operations, plus everything else that doesn’t fall into those categories. But if you’re working on closing a sale, it stands to reason that you don’t have the time to develop a strong marketing campaign or to create content for your website or social media channels. Do-it-yourselfers are stretched too thin and become an expert at nothing. Very often these business owners feel as though they are always behind the step like they’re always playing catch up with what their clients need and trying to salvage those relationships instead of forging the way to bring in new business.

Are You a Business Leader?

Business leaders know they can’t do everything themselves. They see grand plans for the future of the business and know what their own strengths and weaknesses are. These leaders will shop around for expert advisers, coaches, and assistants to handle the myriad tasks involved in the backend of the business so they can dedicate their time to finding new clients and building those relationships while their team handles their own areas of expertise.

Can You Go from Do-It-Yourselfer to Business Leader?

Of course! Don’t be intimidated by others who tell you something is impossible. In order to change your mindset, find a mindset coach who can help you work through the reasons why you need to do everything yourself and identify your fears about hiring help. Find a business coach who can analyze your backend operations and give advice for automating certain tasks or suggestions for who to hire next. Consider a social media manager to keep your accounts current with posts and to engage your audience. Hire a virtual assistant to manage your email and your calendar while you’re handling sales and marketing. Think of how much time you will save if every one of these team members do their own jobs within the same 24 hour time period. You will definitely see faster growth in your business but making that first hiring hurdle can be tough.

I don’t believe in writer’s block. (I can hear the gasps of disbelief already.) Listen: If you hire a plumber to come to your house and fix a problem, do you expect him to say, “Sorry, I can’t figure out what your problem is. I think I have plumber’s block”? Probably not, and if he did, you’d toss him out and call another guy faster than you can say Drano. Not that plumbing can be compared to writing, but if we follow the proper steps to get the job done, I find that writer’s block melts away, the drains are unclogged, and the words start flowing like water from a faucet. But what are these “steps”? Well, a big part of my job as a book marketing specialist is to help people create something they can actually market: a finished book. Many of us have ideas aplenty but not a clue how to get them down on paper.

Unlike other professions, authors operate under a whole different set of rules. We often can’t just sit down and pound out a story, and those who do have created their own formula for doing so. We see this huge story with all sorts of directions we want to take it, we see the cover, we see the characters, we see the market potential. Then we see Katie Couric or Oprah smiling and holding up our book for the whole world to see. Then we glance back down at our monitor and see a tormenting blinking cursor and a blank screen. And we are again reminded of what a failure we are. We have all these stories and nothing on paper. We are idea generators. We have zillions of them running through our minds, but none of them on paper. Unless you make your money in a think tank, operating this way probably isn’t getting you any closer to your goals.

When a project looms before us, it’s like this big elephant — huge, overwhelming and ready to stomp us flat any minute. There’s an old saying: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” The same is true for writing. You finish a book, one step at a time. But to create these steps, you first have to break down your book into manageable, bite-size pieces. This can be accomplished by creating a TOC (table of contents) that can guide you through the book. My reasoning behind this is as follows: You’d never think of driving from California to New York without a map, right? Well, how can you expect to finish your book without one? Your TOC is your roadmap, guiding you through your book. If your chapters don’t have individual headings, then write a 2-3 sentence description of what the chapter encompasses. Don’t get too elaborate on this. Remember, it’s not going in your book; it’s just a brief descriptor. Once the TOC is outlined, you’ll have a vision of your book from start to finish. 

A few things that creating this TOC will do for you: It will show you any gaps in your story that might need to be fleshed out, and it will give you a sense of completion, of seeing the book or project actually done, and this is a serious psychological turn-on for most authors, because we often live in a world of half-completed projects. Sometimes this step alone can propel an author enough to get their book done, or at the very least give it a darned good kick-start.

Once you’ve developed your TOC, you’ll want to go through it and create a “to do” list. Regardless of what genre your book is, you will always have a to-do list. Whether it’s getting endorsements, doing research, or getting approvals for quotes or excerpts for your book, this to-do list will become yet another item that will help propel your book toward completion.

Once the to-do list is done, set it aside. Now you should have your completed TOC with a vision of the entire book and a growing list of items that will need to be handled for the book to get done. Now the real fun begins.

Some books on writing will tell you to set aside a day or two a week, or an evening here and there to get your book completed. I disagree with this theory, and here’s why: You need to stay dialed into your topic. When I was working on an upcoming book, I would often put the project aside for days or weeks at a time, promising myself to schedule time “as soon as I could.” Well, that rarely happened. What I found is that if I set aside sometime every day to do something on the book, I got it completed a lot quicker. 

The more you keep your hands in your project, the more it will stay at the front of your mind and on your radar screen, and the more energy you will invest to finish it. I won’t tell you to set aside hours of your time each day — in fact, you don’t even have to set aside an hour. Take 15 minutes, or even five — whatever your schedule permits. If this seems like a ridiculously short amount of time, consider this: You now have your to-do list and your outlined TOC!. If you are short on time one day, pick a quickie item from your to-do list and get it done. If you have more time, then pound out a chapter or two. The idea behind creating the to-do lists and a TOC is to not only give your project a structure but to also eliminate any and all excuses for getting it done. Don’t feel like writing today? No problem. There’s probably a mountain of research just waiting to be traversed. Get the picture?

But let’s say you can’t even get through the TOC. “My book has too many layers,” you lament. “Too many back stories, tons of stuff going on. I can’t possibly be expected to filter it down into a neat little TOC.” Yes, you can, and you must. If your book has no focus, your book will have no focus. It’s as simple as that. But it doesn’t stop there — if your book is all over the place and you do actually manage to get it done, you’ll never be able to keep a reader interested because you will be the only one who will get it, and what’s the point of that? What you’ll need to do in this case is find the “core” of your book or the focus of your story. Ask yourself this: What’s the one thing this book cannot do without? What’s the one thing this story circles around? That’s your core. If you’re still coming up with three or four things that your story circles around, you aren’t focused enough and neither is your book. Find that one thing and build your story or book around it.

If you follow these steps, your book will get finished quicker than you could have ever imagined. And the once-dreaded writer’s block will go from a stumbling block to a building block.

If you are looking for help or guidance in writing your own ‘legacy’ in a book, please get in touch.

I advise executives and entrepreneurs and turn them into Industry Icons. In today's ever increasing ‘authority’ based world, being the sought after Industry Icon is by far the best way to stand out and move miles and ahead of your competitors! My Iconization Formula is a proven model that delivers fast success!

Do you think all a farmer has to do is wait until fall to harvest truckloads of delicious tomatoes or corn or squash?

Think again! That farmer has worked hard all year long to prepare for that week or two of reward.

He prepared the ground following last year’s harvest.

He planted seeds in the spring.

He watered and fertilized and protected his fragile crops from pests and drought and poor weather.

And finally, after months of work, he enjoys the results.

Your business works the same way, and if you take a page from the farmer’s playbook, you’ll soon be reaping the rewards, too.

Preparing the Ground

This is your brand, your voice, your very presence in your market. If you’re just starting out—like that farmer after his harvest—you’ll spend your time simply becoming known.

Hang out with other experts in your niche. Join forums where your ideal clients spend their time. Build or update your website and start your mailing list. This is the prep work that will form the foundation of a solid business in the future.

Planting the Seeds

Your seeds are your content and products. With each blog post you write, every product you create, you’re planting a seed you can harvest later. But unlike the farmer, your seeds will produce over and over again, endlessly.

In fact, you’ll likely find that blog posts you wrote years ago will continue to bring in new clients year after year, with no further help from you. Products can be sold over and over again, or reworked into new offers. Podcasts, videos, ebooks and more all continue to work for you, month after month, year after year.

When you think about it that way, it’s easy to see that planting seeds is a critical part of every business.

Nurturing Your Crop

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just “set it and forget it”? Unfortunately, that style of business rarely works.

Instead, you must spend time nurturing.

• Stay in touch with your email list
• Update old blog posts with new ideas
• Study your stats to improve your traffic and conversions
• Improve your products

It doesn’t take much effort to update your blog posts or tweak your products, and the rewards can be fantastic.

Of course, being a farmer is a long-term investment. The work you do today may not pay off for weeks or months to come. But with a strong history of consistent “farming” in your business, you’ll soon see that those long-term rewards are paying off consistently as well.

Step 1: Determine Your Niche

Instead of trying to be everything to everybody, narrow down your focus to the things that you are really, really good at. A friend of mine set himself up as an expert as a leadership training for water treatment facilities. When he told me what he was doing, I asked, "Is there any money in that?" He smiled and said, Every city's got one, and I'm the only leadership expert in this field in the country. He was frequently quoted in trade journals and asked to speak at their conventions. Find your niche, and you'll eliminate your competition.

 Step 2: Write about Your Area of Expertise

After you determine your niche, begin to write articles about your area of expertise. Every single day, tens of thousands of editors, web masters, and newsletter publishers are looking doggedly for unique and information-packed articles. If you can write articles that teach readers about your industry, you will find numerous places that will quickly publish your article.

I spent ten years as a trainer before someone, out of desperation, asked me to write an article for her trade journal. A few months later, another editor saw the article and asked if she could reprint it. Before long, I began to get inquiries from companies in that industry, and a snowball effect began to occur. The more business I did in the industry, the more of an expert I became. I followed with other articles, and within a short period of time, I became a recognized expert in an industry that I had never received any formal education in.

Write a few articles, and you can become a recognized expert in any field.

Step 3: Speak as Often as You Can

When your articles begin to get published, youll start to receive requests to speak more often.

95% of the population has some type of nervousness about public speaking. So when you stand up and say what you want to say, the way you want to say it, you are doing what 95% of the population wish they could do. When you speak about your industry, you set yourself up as the expert on that topic. You gain instant credibility.

If you get nervous when you speak in front of a group, attend a public speaking class. It will be the best investment of your life, because the more confident you present your ideas, the more competent you will appear in front of a group.

Follow these three simple steps and you will become the recognized expert in your specific niche.

If you are looking for help or guidance in writing your own ‘legacy’ in a book, please get in touch.

I coach executives and entrepreneurs and turn them into Industry Icons. In today's ever increasing ‘authority’ based world, being the sought after Industry Guru is by far the best way to stand out and move miles and ahead of your competitors! My Iconization Formula is a proven model that delivers fast success!

It’s one thing to write a book, it’s an entirely different thing to write one that’s a saleable, viable, marketable product. Ensuring the success of a book is something even the biggest publishers have never been able to guarantee. Mitigating circumstances, flash trends, and world events will all affect buyer preferences. That said, there are still ways to leverage the sales-factor in your favor and here’s how you do it.

These elements will help you incorporate these aspects into your book *and* help you unearth salient marketing opportunities (i.e., publications and stores).

1. Know your readers. We’re not just talking about whether your readers are male or female. You’ll want to know myriad factors about your audience. How old are your readers (age range)? Are readers married, single, or divorced? Where do your readers live (generally)? What do your readers do for a living? What other books/publications do they read? Develop a profile that includes where they shop, what clubs they belong to, etc.

2. Know your market. What’s the market like for your book? Is there a trend out there you’re positioning yourself toward? Are you reading all the publications related to this topic/trend? Are there any “holes” out there your book could fill? What’s the future for this market/topic? For example, let’s say you’re a fiction writer looking to publish ‘chick lit’. Go to any bookstore and you can’t help but spot the cutsie, pink, cartoonish covers. Many thought this trend was dying out, but it has recently seen another surge. What do you know about trends related to your book/topic/audience?

3. Similar books. What else has been published on your topic? Have you read all ten books in your category? If you haven’t, you should. You’ll want to know everything you can about what’s out there and how it’s being perceived in the marketplace. It’s never a problem having a similar topic. When I published Average to EXPERT: The Proven 3 Step Expert Authority System, I knew there were other books out there on marketing. I read them all - then angled my book differently.

4. Getting and staying current. What’s going on in your industry today? What are some hot buttons? What are people looking for? What’s next on the horizon for this topic/audience? If you can’t seem to gather this information through traditional channels, why not survey your target audience? There are a number of places to run free surveys, Survey Monkey is one of them: http://www.surveymonkey.com

5. Follow the media. What’s the media talking about these days? Keep track of media buzz - what they’re paying attention to and what they’re writing about. Delve beyond the front page of your paper to the second or third page and see what’s filling the pages. If you can get your hands on national and local papers, do a comparative review. Do you see a trend in coverage? Is there something that seems to be getting more buzz even if it’s on page six?

6. Talk, teach, listen. One of the best ways I’ve found to get in touch with my audience was to teach a class and do speaking engagements. When I was putting together my book, I found that the classes I taught provided valuable information for creating a great book because they put me directly in touch with my audience!

7. Timing is everything. When do you plan to release your book? Are you releasing around a holiday or anniversary? Could you take advantage of any upcoming event and/or holiday for your book launch?

If you are looking for help or guidance in writing your own ‘legacy’ in a book, please get in touch.

I coach executives and entrepreneurs and turn them into Industry Icons. In today's ever increasing ‘authority’ based world, being the sought after Industry Guru is by far the best way to stand out and move miles and ahead of your competitors! My Iconization Formula is a proven model that delivers fast success!

Today, more than ever before authors are presented with publishing opportunities that have never existed before. This is not to understate the hard work that authors have to go through to get recognition, write great books, and make a full time living from their passion of expression.

However, it is to say that today, due to advances in communications technology, authors can now get their books distributed much easier than they could a decade ago. One very popular way that authors are distributing their work is digitally through eBooks. Digital books are gaining so much popularity that even some of the most popular authors in the world have used it to distribute their books.

Stephen King, for example, published, “Riding the Bullet” exclusively in eBook format. When this eBook began distribution over Barns and Nobel and Amazon.com there was so much demand for the download that the servers of these two book giants slowed down almost to a halt. People that wanted to download the eBook were put in a large queue with the hundreds of thousands of others who downloaded the eBook as well. 

It’s not only big name authors that are finding success in eBooks. We help authors create, market and sell their eBooks online with great success. Many of these people are first time authors and are often amazed at the success of their eBook sales. Below are some of our eBook writing tips. 

Don’t underestimate the power of the eBook

eBooks are still looked upon as unpopular by many authors who have not yet taken the time to learn about the success of this industry. For example, while the traditional publishing industry growing at the sluggish rate of 5% a year the digital publishing industry is growing at rates between 30% -50%. This means that the opportunities within the publishing industry are growing at a fraction of the rate that opportunities within the digital publishing industry are growing. 

To set up an eBook you don’t need to be a tech wizard

Setting up your eBook from the idea conceptualization stage to the selling stage can’t be completed overnight but it is definitely something that can be done by anyone regardless of your technological background. If you can use a word processor then you can create and sell an eBook online. While it is recommended you set up your own website, it is not necessary. There are outlets such as amazon.com, eBay, and Lulu.com to name only a few sites that allow you to post your eBook on their servers.

Setting up an EBook site is virtually costless and you keep 100% of the profits

With traditional publishers, you’ll be lucky to see 10% of the profits from your book. With eBooks, however, you keep 100% of the profits minus the fees required to set up the site, which is minimal. Here is the fee breakdown for eBooks vs. traditional books

eBook vs. Book cost

eBook = Free to create an unlimited number of copies

Book = Approximately $1500 for 200 copies of a 200-page softcover book

Rights and profit

eBook = You keep 100% of the profits and rights to your eBooks

Book = You get 10-40% royalty (usually about $2-$5/ book)

With the above examples, it is easy to see that for first-time authors eBooks make a lot of sense. The risk associated with publishing an eBook is much lower than it is with distributing a soft or hardcover book. Likewise, as an eBook author, you’ll keep virtually all of your own profits. 

If nothing else, it is something worth considering. eBooks may not replace traditional paperback books, but they certainly are gaining popularity at a rate that should make all authors stop to think about how they could use eBooks to their advantage.

We’ve all lost clients. Sometimes it’s our fault. Sometimes it’s theirs. Sometimes it’s out of everyone’s control.

But no matter the reason, there is something to be learned from a lost client. A system to review lost clients will help keep your business improving and growing.

Exit Interview

Typically done when you leave a job, an exit interview is also a great way to review what went right—and what went wrong—during your coaching relationship. You’ll want to review:

• The progress your client made
• What specific advice or tools did not work for her
• Any personality conflicts
• Why she’s moving on

This is not the time to get defensive. Be open to her criticism (if there is any) and use the information to genuinely improve your business.

Be Honest With Yourself

One of the most common reasons for client loss is that the customer is simply not a good fit. Maybe you suspected it when she signed up, or maybe not, but now that she has moved on, ask yourself:

• What signs were there that she was not the right fit?
• Why did you ignore any signs that were present?
• How can you use that information to protect yourself from a less-than-ideal client in the future?

If you can identify a bad client/coach match from the start and decline the work (or better still, refer her to another coach who is a good fit) you’ll find you have a lot less stress in your day-to-day business.

Misunderstandings

Sometimes, client loss is as simple as a lack of understanding on your client’s part. Do you clearly state:

• The schedule of calls/emails
• The requirements for scheduling a call
• Reporting requirements
• Length of your contract

Do you also have a system for staying in touch with a client who has gone quiet? Sometimes all it takes is a phone call to get your wayward client back on track. Many coaching relationships have been salvaged with a simple phone call or email, so if you haven’t heard from a client in a while, pick up the phone.

Here’s the bottom line:

Client loss happens. But if you can learn from each client, and use that intel to improve your business, then even a lost client can be turned into new profits.

Here’s secret successful marketers know: Customers don’t buy a product. They buy you.

Your personality.

Your experience.

The unique qualities only you possess.

There was a time when “branding” meant a corporate-looking logo and a slick catalog, but in today’s online marketplace, the real value is not in appearing to be a big company, but rather in just being you. And your personality shines through in a variety of ways.

Your Authentic Voice

How you speak and write and even how you act on camera or in an audio interview has the power to instantly identify you to your audience. You can see this in action if you scroll through your Facebook feed. It’s easy to know who has posted a particular image or status update, just by recognizing the voice with which they generally speak.

Here’s an even more important aspect of your “voice” though: it has the power to attract a specific audience. In recent years, a few high profile coaches and product sellers have become celebrities of a sort, largely because of their harsh, “don’t hold back” language. Ash Ambirge over at www.TheMiddleFingerProject.org makes no apologies for her use of offensive words, and her fans love her for it. And those that don’t? Well, as she says right on her home page, her site and services are “not for humorless bores.”

Snarkiness and foul language is not the only way to go, though. Carrie Wilkerson has built her brand almost entirely on her ability to be kind and generous. She always has a nice word, never appears defeated or overwhelmed, and is an inspiration to her fans and clients.

While very different in their approach, these two women have one thing in common: authenticity. It’s clear that if you were to meet either of them in person, they would speak and act exactly as they do online. And their brands are stronger for it.

Your Story

How did you get to where you are today? The backstory—which to you might seem boring and uneventful—is a powerful tool that can help solidify your brand and attract just the right audience.

Melissa Ingold tells of being a struggling single mother, and of creating an online business rather than simply choosing to work one dead-end job after another. Her success is an inspiration to her audience and is a huge part of her branding.

Kelly McCausey speaks often of how she got started online when she was looking for a way to earn just a few extra dollars every month to keep the lights on. Creating graphics at $5 each quickly turned into a full-time online career.

Your story doesn’t have to be dramatic, and you certainly don’t have to share more than you’re comfortable with, but it does have to be yours. Be your true self, and you’ll never have to worry about attracting the right audience. They will self-select, and your perfect client will find you.

If there’s one thing we know about goals, they have to be SMART, right?

After all, that’s what we’ve been told for years. The only thing that matters is that your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.

While that looks great on paper—and clearly it’s easy to remember—it doesn’t go far enough for those who want to achieve big things.

Think about it. Do you want to be stuck with “attainable” and “realistic” goals when what you really dream about is a 3-day workweek, frequent international travel, and enough money to fund a mission trip (or three). Seems pretty clear that those safe, smart goals aren’t going to get you there.

In fact, they might even do worse than simply “not get you there.” They may actively hold you back.

Consider what happens when you set an “attainable” goal of earning 10% more than you did last year. You might work 10% more. You might spend 10% more on ads or product creation. You might even reach out to 10% more potential clients.

And you’ll likely earn about 10% more.

“Not bad!” you say. After all, that was your goal.

But did that 10% goal inspire you to work harder? Or did it create a subconscious ceiling on your earning potential that you’re unable to break through?

Rather than focusing on goals that are attainable and realistic, savvy entrepreneurs know that the key to incredible success lies in creating lofty goals that feel out of reach—maybe even UN-attainable.

They don’t strive to earn 10% more than last year. They want 50% or even 100% more. They stretch themselves. They find new—and better—ways to do things, so they don’t have to work twice as hard, but they remain open to the possibility of doing so—at least in the short term—when it’s necessary.

Of course, you cannot simply declare crazy goals and expect the universe to hand them to you. And that’s exactly why putting aside those smart goals is so…smart. When you shun the attainable in favor of the “holy cow, how will I ever do THAT?” goal, you push yourself beyond those self-imposed limits and reach for the stars.

Sure, you might not double your income, but you’re almost guaranteed to do better than a mere 10% increase. So push your boundaries. Set big, audacious goals. Even if you fail, you’ll be much further ahead than those smart goals would leave you.

Many people dream of working for themselves, being their own boss, and having the freedom to only take on clients and projects they love.

What they don’t realize, though, is that there is a huge difference between building a business and being self-employed.

Business owners scale their income. Self-employed people trade dollars for hours

Business owners leverage the skills and talents of others. Self-employed people rely only on their own skills.

Discouraged yet? Don’t be. Every business owner started out self-employed. Just don’t stay there. These tips will help you build a sustainable business instead of just another job.

Don’t Try to Do It All Yourself

Building a sustainable business requires that you leverage the talents and time of others. While it might seem cost-effective to simply do everything yourself—especially in the start-up phase when you likely have more time than money—it’s a path to burnout and stress.

Instead, separate your tasks into those that you love and are especially suited for (such as marketing) and those you dislike and aren’t good at. Then make a solid plan to get those that you aren’t good at off your list of things to do. If you feel like you can’t afford to outsource it all right now, start with what you tend to procrastinate the most on, even if it’s just a few hours each month.

Don’t Allow Yourself to Work All the Time

The trouble with working at home is that you live at work. And that means that there’s no clear line in the sand between your work day and your home life.

Since there’s always work to do, it’s easy to find yourself working every available moment—often to the detriment of your family relationships.

You can help avoid this by:

• Setting—and maintaining—clear work hours
• Having an office with a door you can close when you’re done
• Scheduling time for family and other activities
• Taking time for yourself

Vacations and Downtime Are Important

Don’t create a business that requires you to be “in the office” every day. At the start, you may need to be available more, but you should definitely be planning for the day when you can be “off the grid” for extended periods of time.

• Have trusted contractors who can handle things when you’re not available
• Leverage automation tools such as autoresponders and autowebinar systems
• Create repeatable systems so you’re not always re-inventing the wheel

While you might not be able to hit the road with no internet access for weeks at a time, at the very least you should be able to reduce your workload to a daily check-in.

Sound impossible? It’s not. With some forethought and planning, you can create a team—and the systems they need—to successfully run your business without becoming overwhelmed and overworked.

We’ve all done the exercise. It’s the first thing you’re taught when you first start your business: Create an ideal client avatar.

This vision of your ideal client guides everything you do, including pricing (you can’t charge that single mother as much as you can the CEO of a Fortune 500 company), pain points (mum probably isn’t worried about shareholders), and even the colour of your logo.

So you spend a few hours considering things such as:

• Age group
• Income
• Family status
• Education
• Lifestyle goals
• Location

Maybe you even write up a nice little story about your ideal client. You give her a name, a couple of kids, a husband who just doesn’t get it, and a load of student loans. You know quite a bit about her, you think.

But you would be wrong, and if you stop there, you may be missing a huge piece of the puzzle—and losing out on the best clients because of it.

Personality Mismatch

Here’s something that’s rarely considered in the “ideal client” equation, and it’s arguably the most important part: personality.

If you’re snarky, sarcastic, fun-loving and loud, then a quiet, middle-aged mom who spends her time volunteering at the church is probably not a good fit for you. Sure, she might need your help, and she might love your products, but for one-on-one coaching, this match-up is a disaster. Either she will be uncomfortable with your style, or you’ll be miserable trying to reign in your natural exuberance.

Better to pass mum on to a coach who is a better fit for her personality wise.

Drive Determines Success

This one can be difficult to calculate from the start, but once you recognise it (or the lack thereof) it’s worth paying attention to. The client without the drive to succeed will—more often than not—only end up frustrating you both.

Better to end your relationship as soon as you see the signs of this than to waste your time going over the same material and exercises again and again with someone who simply won’t do the work.

If you look at your current and past coaching clients, you’ll begin to see patterns. You can easily look back and see what made some clients a joy to work with, while others were a struggle. Think about what those differences are, and add them to your ideal client profile. Then compare any new potential clients to this ideal profile, and you’ll never again sign on with a less-than-perfect client.

Would it come as a surprise to you if I said we’re all salespeople? It’s true!

Every time you have a prospective client on a discovery call, you’re making a sales pitch. Every time you send an email or write a blog post with an offer, you’re making a sales pitch. Every time you write an opt-in page, you’re making a sales pitch.

And you’re probably pretty good at it, too, or you wouldn’t be where you are today, would you?

So why do we continue to think we’re so bad at sales?

Sales Feels “Icky”

I hear this one a lot. You feel pushy or uncomfortable when talk turns to money. You don’t want to force anyone into a decision. You secretly think your rates are too high.

I’m going to be honest with you. This is one of those things that gets better only with practice. But the good news is, you don’t have to be on the phone with a prospective client to get that practice time in.

Instead, use the technique self-help gurus have been advocating for years: Look in the mirror and talk to yourself. Practice saying your rates out loud. Practice your segue from discovery to sales pitch. The more you do it, the more natural it will sound, and the less uncomfortable you will feel when on a real call.

Fix Your Mindset

What if you weren’t selling anything, but instead were simply chatting with a friend about the incredible new product that was going to change her life? You’re helping your friend to improve herself by sharing your experience with this new product.

That’s exactly how you should think about selling your coaching programs. You’re not trying to get your prospective client to spend money. Instead, you’re offering a solution to her problems. You’re genuinely helping her to overcome some obstacle in her life or business.

When you can turn your thinking around from “sales” to “helping” you’ll find it’s much easier to have the sales talk.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Follow Up

Most clients won’t say yes with the first call, and maybe not even with the second. But good coaches and consultants know that many sales can be closed if you simply take the time to follow up. Send a quick email and invite your prospect to:

• Schedule a follow-up call to answer their questions
• Read some of your testimonials
• Review your coaching program outline or sales page
• Or even join a different program of yours that might be a better fit

Don’t let that old “I’m not good at sales” thinking get in the way of making a real difference in people’s lives, and in growing your business and your profits. With these easy tips, you can quickly turn your sales blocks into a system for landing new clients consistently.

Get Some Help

Overcoming sales reluctance is mostly a matter of removing fear. As you already know fear comes from the unknown. If you don't know what you're doing then you're guessing. And when you guess you stand a good chance of getting it wrong - which in turn feeds the fear and reluctance.

When you have a proven, easy to follow, step by step process or structure to follow, then it all becomes a lot easier. Get a coach or mentor, take a course or just shadow someone whos doing it day in day out. Whichever you choose, don't try and overcome this by yourself. In my experience, it can be figured out, but usually not before the fear has put you off forever. There are plenty of people out there who can help you.

Once you've mastered it you'll literally wonder what you were actually worried about in the first place!

Want to know what sets the uber-successful apart from the wannabe entrepreneurs?

It’s not money, or brilliant ideas, or even powerful friends.

All of those things (and more) are nice to have, but they’re not a requirement of success. What is a must-have, though, is a good attitude. Without the proper mindset, you’ll constantly be battling your own brain, and that’s exhausting.

• You’ll allow yourself to believe your ideas are no good
• You’ll remain convinced that you aren’t smart enough
• You’ll be certain that someone else did it (whatever “it” is) better

And before you know it, you’ll have talked yourself right out of launching your new program, asking for a JV partnership, or writing your book. In no time at all, you’ll be back at your day job, working away on someone else’s business because you don’t have the confidence to create your own.

But a simple mindset change can make all the difference.

Dress for Success

Ladies, this one is for you. When we work at home, it’s easy to fall into a habit of wearing sweatpants and T-shirts to the office. After all, why dress up just for the dog?

But if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to instantly shift your mindset in the right direction, ditch the yoga pants and break out the lipstick. You’ll suddenly find you feel more professional, more confident, and sexier, too. (That last one won’t help your business, but it might just help your love life, and that can’t hurt, can it?)

Never Let Fear Drive Your Decisions

Too many would-be entrepreneurs operate with a scarcity mindset rather than approaching business from a place of abundance. Rather than telling yourself that you can’t afford to hire a virtual assistant or work with a coach, try reframing your thoughts.

Rather than thinking, “I can’t afford to attend that event,” ask yourself, “How can I earn the money to invest in this trip?”

Rather than saying, “I have to do everything myself because I can’t afford to hire a VA,” remind yourself that your hourly rate potential is much more than you’d pay a virtual assistant. Then fill those hours you’re saving by outsourcing with money-making tasks of your own.

By reformatting your thoughts, you’ll turn that negative money talk into positive solutions that help you grow.

If giving presentations were a sport, TED Talks would be the Olympics. TED Talks are short but powerful presentations given by people in various fields. The tradition started at the Technology, Entertainment, and Design conference hosted by non-profit TED but now covers all kinds of topics from business to current events. If you've ever seen a TED Talk, you know that they are intense, informative, and entertaining all at the same time.

So, what makes TED Talk presenters so good at what they do?

The Sizzle, not the Steak

One of the reasons TED Talks are so popular actually isn't the content of the talk. The most popular talks are popular because of the presentation. What this means is that the speaker is charismatic, confident, and relatable. This is not to say that the content isn't important, but simply that TED chooses speakers who are eloquent and good at speaking. If you want to deliver a talk with the same impact, you need to learn how to control body language, be confident on stage, and build a good rapport with the audience.

What's the Big Idea?

Every TED Talk shares a single big idea. It's usually something outside the box that we've never considered before. The series is dedicated to bringing new ideas to people. If you watch a few, you'll soon realize that the "big idea" is always wrapped up in a story. If you want to create a talk like this, you need to start by identifying the big idea you want to communicate with people, and what story is going to help you do it.

Loads of Inspiration

A part of the "sizzle" mentioned above is that each TED presenter is inspired by their topic. That's how they can inspire us by listening to them. A speaker has a much better chance of capturing their audience's attention, persuading them to accept their ideas, and firing them up with inspiration if they're excited themselves. Present on a topic you're passionate about.

Preparation and Practice

Public speaking is a skill, not a talent you're born with. Even the best TED Talk presenters had to work hard, develop their speaking skill, prepare well, and practice. This is why they come off as confident, credible masters at the knowledge they impart. Public speaking is a skill every business needs to master and anyone can master it through study and practice.

At one point, every business owner will find themselves in a troubling situation. Revenue is down. New clients are scarce. Profits are falling, and a peek at the financials is enough to bring on a full-fledged anxiety attack.

Unless you’re Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates, chances are you’ve experienced that sinking feeling of a business that’s trending downward, too. But how you handle it can mean the difference between continued success and business-killing burnout.

Here’s where a lot of coaches and consultants get it wrong. They start to worry about money, and that worry leads to poor decisions that ultimately have a negative impact not just on finances, but—maybe more importantly—on morale, too. Maybe you know what I’m talking about.

You Take On The Wrong Client

When business is down, it can be tough to keep your ideal client avatar in mind. Instead, you jump at the chance to work with anyone who comes along. The trouble with this scenario is you can find yourself with a roster full of clients who:

• Aren’t willing or able to do the work required
• Spend all their time telling you why your ideas and advice won’t work
• Drain your energy and make you dread your office

You Stop Creating

And who can blame you? With profits down, you have to pull back. You can’t afford to spend time and money creating new programs, so you recycle the ones you’ve already produced.

Now, this would be ideal if you were repurposing with a positive intent. Turning your ebook into a group coaching course? Perfect! But that’s not what your fearful brain is telling you.

Your fearful self is saying, “Just re-release this same product again, so I don’t have to have new sales copy written or record new videos.”

And while this might help bring in a bit of cash short-term, it won’t do anything for your reputation or your self-esteem.

Wow! That’s no way to operate a business, but that’s just what a fear-based mindset can do to you. Better (much better) to hold out for that perfect client. And while you’re waiting, take what you’ve learned from your drop in sales and create the killer program your audience is clamoring for!

Poor money management has been the cause of more business failures than any other single issue. And it’s no wonder. We aren’t born knowing how to manage money. Most of us aren’t taught how to handle it either. We figure it out along the way, through much trial and error.

Those same mindset issues and bad habits that wreak havoc in our personal finances can plague our businesses as well if we’re not careful.

Catching Shiny Object Syndrome

Some things are just hard to resist—especially when your friends and colleagues are all jumping on board! New tools, training, group coaching programs and even business models can all have a strong pull, and if you aren’t careful, these shiny objects can quickly distract you from your current goals.

If you find yourself catching shiny object syndrome frequently, try this two-step plan instead:

• For “too good to refuse” offers, make a plan for achieving a positive ROI before you purchase. If you cannot find a (realistic) way to make the purchase pay for itself, don’t buy it.
• For exciting new business ideas, create a “someday” list. Jot down your idea and a basic outline, then get back to the task at hand. Now that great idea won’t be lost, but it also won’t join the ranks of half-finished business plans that litter the internet.

Falling for the Sunk Costs Fallacy

If you’ve ever said to yourself, “I’m not using this subscription, but I can’t give it up! I’m still paying the launch price and now it’s much more expensive!” Then you’ve fallen for the sunk costs fallacy.

This common mistake is famous among economists, and we all fall victim to it from time to time. Simply put, the sunk costs fallacy is what makes us justify investing more money or time in something—even though we’re not seeing results—because we’ve already spent so much. It’s what encourages us to repair the car one more time (after all, you just put new tires on it), eat a meal we don’t enjoy (simply because you’ve paid for it), and yes, continue to pay for tools and resources you’re not using.

Take a few minutes and examine your current business expenses. What are you paying for month after month that you’re not using? Either make a plan to put them to work for you, or cancel them. Stop falling for the sunk costs fallacy.

Too Much Penny Pinching

You thought this was all going to be about overspending, didn’t you? Here’s the kicker: Spending too little is just as bad for business.

When you’re constantly on the lookout for free and low-cost tools or working 16-hour days because you “can’t afford to outsource,” you’re not doing your business any favors. Sure, it looks like you’re bootstrapping and working really hard to make something from nothing, but what you’re really doing is digging yourself a rut it will be nearly impossible to climb out of. Not only that, but you’re reinforcing a scarcity mindset that will continue to plague you for years if you let it.

Rather than pinching pennies, learn to spend money strategically. Buy what you need, when you need it. Invest in top-quality products and programs rather than settling for the low-ticket, half-baked plans. Just like quality clothes, cars and furniture, quality services and software last longer and work better. And unlike that car, good quality business tools will pay for themselves.

When selling high-ticket items, it’s absolutely paramount that what you’re selling should be the very top quality. Not only will this be apparent in your marketing but it will also ensure that you don’t get people asking for refunds or bad-mouthing your product.

Your aim is to get as many positive testimonials as you can. Not only will this help you sell more copies but also it will give you the confidence in your product that you need to carry on. That and it is a horrible feeling to think that you’re selling something that isn’t worth the money you’re charging.

So how do you go about making sure your product is high quality? That all depends on what type of product you’re creating. If you’re creating a written product such as an email course or an eBook, then the specifics are going to be very different from if you’re selling a seminar, a workshop or an online video course.

Here are some tips that will help you to ensure the written aspect is as high quality as possible.

Learn to Write

The actual content of what you’re writing needs to seem professional and high quality. You don’t need to be Shakespeare but you can’t have a book that is filled with typos and mistakes. Make sure that what you write is proof read at least a few times and spend some time learning how to structure sentences etc.

Include Exclusive Ideas

No one wants to pay $2,000 for an eBook that just regurgitates information you found online. You need to ensure that what you’re selling is exclusive content and exclusive ideas that they can’t find anywhere else. This means you need to bring something new to the table such as an idea or technique no one else has thought of. If that means surveying experts, so be it!

Formatting

Also highly important of course is the way that you’re going to format your content. What is crucial is that your copy look professional and that means it needs to use the right fonts, it needs to be adorned with high-quality images and it needs to be well laid-out with a table of contents, page numbers etc.

You can do a lot of this using Word. Get the latest version and you can use the styles box to use attractive headers etc. and references to auto-generate a table of contents based on those headings.

If you’re planning on selling a big-ticket item, then chances are that your entire income model is dependent on those sales. A big-ticket item can sell for anything from $2,000 or even $20,000. For most that means enough money to live off for the following week, month or even year!

The Bottom Line? You need to do everything you can to make these big ticket items sell and one of the very best ways to do that is by creating a landing page and adding the right type of persuasive text to encourage sales. This is one page that is entirely dedicated to making a sale and that has no other function. Here’s how you go about wording it.

Narrative Structure

The first tip is to consider using a narrative structure. You want to position yourself as a figure of authority, so don’t make your narrative one about how you used to be broke or fat (this is a good option for cheaper products). Rather, just talk about your experiences and how you came up with this great idea for a course. That way, your writing will be much more compelling and engaging and people will want to keep reading.

The Value Proposition

During your text, always focus a lot on your value proposition. A value proposition is essentially the thing that you’re offering your readers/customers. If you’re selling a course, then the value proposition is not the text that makes up the course and it is not the PDF file that you are saving the course as. Rather, it is what that course can do for your customers and how it can change their lives. Focus on this and really try to understand the emotional appeal of what you’re selling.

AIDA

AIDA is a popular structure used in many sales pitches. The idea is to acknowledge that the buyer has never heard of you or your product before and to take them from being understandably dubious to a keen buyer. It stands for Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action.

Social Proof and Community

Finally, never underestimate the power of social proof, social influence or community. People love to feel that they’re a part of something and that they’re part of a movement. They also often look to others for cues that will guide their own behaviour.

Make sure that your product is the exciting and exclusive offer that all the most in-the-know people are talking about.

Take a look at some of the best big-ticket items being sold by internet marketers and you’ll notice that the price can vary greatly. You can spend several thousand dollars for a weekend with someone like Tony Robbins, or you can spend less than that for a whole week workshop. A consultation with one blogger might cost you $99 for one hour but a short lunch with Elliott Hulse will set you back £1K!

Clearly, time isn’t the only factor that matters, so what is it that is really determining the pricing of these products?

The answer is simple: it’s the individual who is providing the information. If you are someone who has a tonne of experience and qualifications, then you can charge a huge amount of money for your services. Conversely though, if you’re someone that no one has heard of and you have no qualifications under your belt, then you’ll have to charge a lot less.

This should be interesting for anyone looking to make a lot of money as it basically means that all you have to do to start charging big bucks, is to convince people that you know what you’re talking about and that you’re worth those big bucks. So how do you do that?

Fame

One way you can start charging a lot more money is to promote yourself and to become better known within your niche. Elliott Hulse is hardly a household name but he is well known among fitness enthusiasts due to his appearance on YouTube.

Likewise, Tony Robbins is a household name and he can charge huge amounts as a result.

To get yourself to something approaching this level, you can run your own YouTube channel/blog for instance and you should also consider appearing in interviews.

Make sure that you really believe in your own hype. Present yourself, as someone who is work $1,000 an hour and people will be more likely to believe it.

Boost Your CV

You can almost think of your sales page as being like a CV. The objective for you here is to show off your qualifications, experience and anything else that might make you seem credible. Think about the highlights of your career and anything people will know about. Think of numbers (did you increase your company’s profit by X amount?) and think about claims to fame ñ many people talk about their appearances on TED for instance. You might also want to put down qualifications.

Finally, consider linking yourself to other successful people. Tai Lopez’s sales page includes an image of people like Arnie, Steve Jobs and Einstein. He had nothing to do with their success but the unconscious link is clear!

What makes some people so energetic and admired that they become a magnet for attracting others to them? You know, the kind of person you enjoy being in their company. It has little to do with good looks, being abundantly wealthy, owning an expensive car, or wearing the latest fashion statement. Of course, these can’t hurt if you are lucky enough to have them.

It has everything to do with how you think, react, interact, and manage your time effectively. Being a success in life, love, business, and all personal activities take work and a conscious “awareness” of the qualities and traits that can make you a confident, take charge person that attracts both men and women.

Think about each and every one of the traits listed below. On a daily basis “take action” on one or two of these qualities or traits. Small steps on a daily basis can lead to massive changes over time. Taken as a whole, they can be overwhelming. Progress is not made overnight, but by taking small chunks and tackling them one at a time. Take small steps today and your momentum will pick up next week, next month, next year…compounding like interest in a bank.

15 Steps To Becoming A New Person…

1. Maintain An Even Keel!

Have you ever met a hot head, angry, bitter person that you love to be with? Your temperament and how you handle yourself in all situations can determine your “cool” factor. Maintain steady, sturdy, and stable. Think before you act. Don’t get this confused with personality. Some people are laid back, some are lively and animated. All are perfectly fine to be who you are, but when the ship hits the fan or when you are being pulled in five different directions, how you react is what’s important.

2. Have A Sense Of Humour!

Be self-deprecating and disarming. You have to be willing to poke fun at yourself from time to time, rather than be staunchly serious. Like anything else in life, humour has to be used in moderation and at the right time to be effective.

3. Smile!

Try this experiment. As you pass 3 people at work, have a sombre or uncaring look on your face (This may be normal for you). Next, pass 3 people with a big, genuine smile on your face and offer a short greeting. What kind of reaction do you get? How did it make you feel? How did it make them feel? People love to feel valued and important. You can make someone’s day just by giving a simple smile.

4. Treat People Like You Would Want To Be Treated!

What goes around comes around. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. This applies in front of them and behind their back. Don’t get caught up in vicious gossip.

5. Remember Peoples Names And Small Details About Them!

More importantly, use both of them in conversation. People love to hear their names and asking a question about their life shows you have an interest in them on a personal level.

6. Be Honest!

If you lie, even a small little white lie, eventually you will get caught in it. Everyone appreciates direct honesty, even if it is not popular or what he or she wants to hear.

7. Let Other People Talk!

The conversation needs to be two sided to take place. Let the other person do most of the talking. Remain attentive and interested in what the person has to say.

8. Listen!

Really listen to what the other person is telling you. When he or she is talking, give direct eye contact and don’t think of how you are going to respond. Process what they are saying and then formulate your answer. Too many people do not listen when people talk but instead, think about what they will say next and miss most of what that person said.

9. Do Your Homework!

Don’t go into anything unprepared. Plan and organise what you need to do. Checklists work great, this is why pilots use them….to not forget anything. Wasting someone’s time due to poor planning leaves a bad impression. Even a little preparation, if rushed, goes a long way.

10. Be Disciplined!

Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual discipline is at the core of your being. Work on improving it every single day.

11. Stand Up Straight And Fly Right!

Good posture commands attention. Shoulders back, stomach in, butt in, and direct eye contact gives you a commanding presence.

12. Be Compassionate And Caring!

The world is a hard place, but caring and compassionate people always make a difference in an otherwise selfish world.

13. Find A Mentor!

Emulate someone you admire. Good role models help us build our own unique model of who we are.

14. Associate With Positive People!

If you want to be upbeat, positive, and confident, don’t hang around with petty, nasty, complaining, whiny people. They will bring you down if you let them or you will become one of them. You know the type, they are always complaining at work but does nothing to change their unhappy situation. Life is too short to be pessimistic. Choose people who laugh, have goals and objectives, and are interested in living life to the fullest.

15. Give!

Give your time or give your money to worthwhile causes. What you give and how much you give will come back to you in spades in all kinds of ways. Misers are unhappy people.

Every day strive to be the best that you can possibly be. Will you stumble along the way? Sure, but it is how you get up and continue that counts. It is the small effort that you take daily that can lead to the dynamic, “Gosh I wish I were like him/her” person you deserve to be.

Your attitude determines your altitude in life. Good luck and start today!

Gary Lafferty is an English Trader and Entrepreneur. He is best known for his Motivational speaking and books on 'How to Profit from the largest Financial Market in the world’. 

Over the last 10 years, Gary has spoken all over the world, reaching tens of thousands of people with his dynamic and fun approach to creating Personal Financial Freedom. His philosophy of creating wealth by teaching your money how to make you money has helped thousands of people secure their financial independence out of the financial markets. 

All of us could work on our skills in influencing others – whether it is within a company, a family, or a group of friends. Within the corporate world, influence is a power that you can control with your supervisor, upper management, customers, and co-workers.

Don’t confuse influencing, with the art of “kissing up;” it’s not the same thing. 

Livia, the wife of Octavian (Caesar Augustus), and mother of Tiberius, was one of the most influential people in Rome. She is not known for kissing up, but she is historically remembered as one of the most powerful Romans of her time.

Some people hold more power by influencing, than those who seem to be in power. Many of us have seen an administrative assistant, who ran a department, or an entire company.

So how do you start developing the art of influence? One of the best ways to start is to establish a reputation of integrity. Therefore, you should not engage in any “back-biting,” as it always takes away from your credibility. It may be tempting to jump on the “bandwagon,” and express a negative opinion about a third party, but it will not develop your ability to influence the person who is not present.

As a matter of fact, gossip and slander will destroy your honour, with all parties concerned. Even perceived allies will question your trustworthiness when you engage in backbiting. True alliances are founded on loyalty, dependability, and straight-forwardness. The bottom line is: You must be seen as a foundation of integrity, in order to be influential within a group.

The next most valuable ingredient is to be sincerely interested in helping others, and show your interest in them. How well you relate to the needs of others, will develop entire networks, and bonds that last. It is always better to be 'Interested' rather than 'Interesting.'

Here is a story about network development. Peter worked in a British company based in the US, where 95% of the employees spoke Spanish as their native language. His job was to run a small department within that company, but he didn’t speak Spanish. After the first day, he picked up a Spanish / English dictionary at a local bookstore.

His Spanish-speaking assistant wanted to learn English, so they helped each other during work, lunch, breaks, and after work. Within a year, they could both construct sentences in the other’s native language. They shared information about culture, music, and food.

As a result, they became good friends, worked in harmony, and they had a very productive department. Although his Spanish is a little “rusty” now, he still has an opportunity to speak it, every week, in his own company.

Just by taking the time to understand actions, culture, behaviour, and a different viewpoint, you can cultivate influence. Developing influence shouldn’t be for self-centered reasons. It is best when used for the common good of a group.

Another year is over. Take a moment to reflect on the past years.Start with an honest evaluation of your accomplishments, successes and failures.

Welcome 2017 the new year with a celebration of the past. Whatever challenges you faced last year, you are here to face another year. You are inspired and ready to tackle new endeavours, explore new horizons and reach for the stars.

Looking back helps to evaluate what worked and what didn’t. Some issues seem to be replayed over and over. How many years has it been that you’ve promised to be more vigilant about your diet and exercise? What about the overuse of your credit card? How do you manage your time? What is it going to be this year? What are your priorities?

It’s all a matter of perspective. Somewhere in the past, you stumbled and for a while, you were spinning your wheels. Take heart, that is past. There is a deep

well of strength and courage within you. And you moved on.

No one passes through this life without knowing pain and heartache. Add to this regret over lost opportunities, wrong choices and wrong decisions. These do not define your life. It is the lessons learned from these, and the determination to do better. Reap the nuggets of precious insights from the muddle and move on.

How well do you take care of your mental, physical and spiritual self? If you believe in taking care of your mental and spiritual well-being, your physical

health will definitely reap the benefits. Do you allow yourself time alone to enjoy peace and quiet? Have you learned to say NO? Do you take the time to appreciate the beauty, the bounty and the blessings of the universe?

Stress is the scourge of living in the fast lane and getting caught up in the pursuit of material success. Consider seriously the level of your stress over the past years and how it affects your health. Think about this- your stress level impacts on your relationships, your career, your family and your whole life.

Some pursue elusive dreams. How long has it been? Ask yourself. Perhaps it’s time to re-assess that dream. Times change. There are other avenues to pursue. Don’t get stuck chasing after something that loses its value, its lustre as time moves on. Don’t let life pass you by.

Look back honestly, but kindly. And move on.

Gary Lafferty is an English Trader and Entrepreneur. He is best known for his Motivational speaking and books on 'How to Profit from the largest Financial Market in the world’. 

Over the last 10 years, Gary has spoken all over the world, reaching tens of thousands of people with his dynamic and fun approach to creating Personal Financial Freedom. His philosophy of creating wealth by teaching your money how to make you money has helped thousands of people secure their financial independence out of the financial markets. 

Whether you are looking for a new job or going on a first date, one of the most important characteristics that will stand you in good stead is your self-confidence. Increase your self-confidence with these tactics to help you through interviews, meetings, and more.

1. Stop saying “should”

Don’t make yourself feel guilty by thinking about the things that you should have done: if something is in the past, let it pass. Fretting over it will not improve your situation. Try using the word “could” instead of “should” for everything. This way, your actions become your choices, and you are empowered to make decisions. For instance, “I should mow the lawn,” becomes “I could mow the lawn,” which is a much more positive statement. Instead of allowing your tasks to hold power over you, take power for yourself by actively choosing how to spend your time.

2. Don’t focus on yourself

If you are stressed out in a public situation, consider how the other person must feel. Go out of your way to make the other person feel comfortable, or introduce two people who haven’t met. Set yourself small tasks. Just having a task to do will make you feel better.

If you are alone and feeling anxious, take a few deep breaths. You can try various techniques, from meditation to distraction to take your mind off of you.

3. Set realistic goals

Setting goals will help boost your self-confidence. You want to set goals that are attainable. Choose something that you can measure, rather than something that is hard to measure so this way you will have a way to chart your progress. For instance, rather than saying “I will become an expert on the Victorian period,” you could set yourself the task of reading the complete works of Jane Austen, or you could sign up for a course at the local university. Chart your progress. Keeping track of how you are doing will allow you to feel positive about yourself.

4. Surround yourself with positives

If there are things or places in your life that are bringing you down, avoid them. If there are people in your life who are constantly negative, it might be time to reconsider your friendship with these people. You want to surround yourself with people who are optimistic and caring, people who respect you and value you for who you are. It is easier to be self-confident when you know you have a network of supportive people around you.

5. Stop being critical

Stop comparing yourself to others with self-criticism. You will always find something that someone else is better at. You are an individual, and unlike anyone else, so comparisons are moot. Constant self-criticism can also turn into cattiness: to make yourself feel better you might point out flaws in other people. Choosing to focus on your positive traits and on other people’s positive traits will help you gain self-confidence.

6. Take the time you need

Take some time for yourself. Perhaps painting your nails or polishing your shoes will make you feel that much more empowered. Take the time to do small things that are often overlooked. This time you spend will help you gain confidence.

It is important to learn that you are worth making time for. You will never be able to adequately care for another person until you care for yourself, so take time to unwind and relax.

7. Think positively

If you find yourself thinking negative or critical thoughts, think “cancel” or “delete.” Your mind is like a computer, and you will be able to erase those negative thought patterns with practice. Then, once you have pointedly erased that negative thought, replace it with a positive one. If you were thinking “My thighs are too fat,” say, “cancel” and then, “My thighs are growing thinner every day” or “I love my body just the way I am.” Try saying these nice things to yourself in front of a mirror.

Write down your best traits, abilities, and skills on a piece of paper. Then when you are feeling down you can come back to this piece of paper to remember how wonderful you are. You can also write down five or ten things that you are grateful for each day. Remember how fortunate we are helps boost confidence because it helps surround us with the positivity that is required for true self-confidence.

Try visualisation to help you with achieving your goals, and to help you think positively towards a sense of self-confidence.

8. Reprogram yourself

You might hold some beliefs which are limiting to you. It is time to take these negative thoughts and replace them with positives, as outlined in the previous point. Here are some thoughts you might need to re-think (literally!): “I can’t do that,” “I get scared easily,” “They don’t like me.”

Remember that even confident people get bummed out sometimes. Having occasional periods of anxiety is completely natural.

9. Fake it…and Smile!

If you don’t know how to truly be self-confident, then just pretend to be self-confident! Smile, too. Just the act of smiling will release endorphins to the brain, which will eventually make you happy. Acting confident will help build your confidence for when you truly are confident.

Remember: you are going to be fine. Start building your self-confidence today so that you can begin leading the lifestyle you deserve.

Most people think Santa Claus only works one night a year. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, product distribution takes place on one magical night, but Santa’s operation runs year round and is one of the largest manufacturing and distribution operations in the world.

You’ve probably never considered the fact that Santa is the CEO of a large organisation that not only distributes a vast assortment of products throughout the world but does so in a single night with just a sleigh and eight tiny reindeer. Sam Walton of Walmart fame would have killed to have Santa’s logistics manual.

Do I believe in Santa? You bet your red longjohns I do. I especially believe in Santa’s entrepreneurial spirit. Just consider all he does from an entrepreneurial point of view and I think you will start to believe, too.

Santa Is His Own Company Spokesperson

Santa is a brilliant marketer and knows that his image is the best marketing tool he has. No other face is as recognisable and no other entrepreneur has inspired so many songs. You’ll never hear “An Ode To Jack Welch” on the radio ten times a day.

Santa’s Customers Love Him

Just say his name around a group of kids and watch their little faces light up like Rudolph’s nose. You will never see Bill Gates get that kind of reaction. Heck, he can’t even make his own kids smile.

Santa Sets The Bar For All Entrepreneurs

When you list the traits of the perfect entrepreneur, Santa gets the highest marks. He has passion for his work. He loves his customers and will go to great lengths to make sure they are happy. He has the ability to spot consumer trends and bring products to market quickly. He can lead a large organisation with a wink of his eye. He inspires those around him. He is tireless. He is dedicated. He is loyal. He is persistent. And above all, he is jolly. Name another jolly entrepreneur (other than Richard Branson of Virgin's fame). I bet you can’t.

Santa Is A Great Leader

Can you imagine trying to manage a few hundred giddy elves who are shut in year round and spend their off hours drinking spiked hot chocolate and doing who knows what with fairy dust? It would be enough to drive even the best of entrepreneurs to hide out at the North Pole. Somehow Santa manages the task without pulling his whiskers out. I expect he has a management system that promotes from within. The hard working elves get into management. The slackers are stuck cleaning up after the reindeer.

Santa Perfected “Just In Time” Manufacturing

Santa heads up one of the largest, most diverse manufacturing operations in the world. His product lines range from rag dolls to toy trains to rocking horses to baseball gloves for the little kids, to iPods and cell phones and diamond rings for us big kids. Santa’s factory runs year-round, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and never, ever suffers from cost overrun or production shutdowns. Santa perfected the “just in time” method of production that is used by many of the world’s largest manufacturers today.

Santa Pioneered Global Product Distribution

Santa is the king of single channel distribution. How else could he deliver millions of presents to good little girls and boys all around the world on a single night? Santa’s distribution process is a closely-guarded secret (elves and reindeer are required to sign iron-clad nondisclosure agreements), but I expect it involves a highly detailed logistics plan and the best CRM software on the planet. You never hear about Santa calling up a kid and telling them a present is back ordered until July.

Santa’s Delivery & Tracking Systems Are Second To None

If you think FedEx is number one at tracking packages think again. Santa’s track record is spotless. He has never, ever missed a single delivery or left a box sitting on the porch in the rain. Every package is delivered in perfect shape, right under the tree.

Santa Wrote The Book On Customer Satisfaction

Santa proudly boasts a 100% perfect customer satisfaction rating. You never hear about class action lawsuits and Better Business Bureau complaints against St. Nick. Santa makes sure that his customers are happy and if they aren’t, he’ll come back next year to make things right. If JD Power could find him, I’m sure they would give Santa their Christmas Customer Satisfaction Award.

Santa Claus Is Watching You

Not everyone believes that Santa is the perfect entrepreneur. There are those kids who complain that Santa never brings what they ask for, but we grown ups know that Santa brings the gift that is deserved, not necessarily the gift that is asked for.

Here’s a little Christmas tip from your Uncle Gary, boys and girls, ladies and gents: If you get a lump of coal in your stocking this year it’s because you were bad and that’s what you deserved.

It was not because Santa dropped the ball.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Gary Lafferty is an English Trader and Entrepreneur. He is best known for his Motivational speaking and books on 'How to Profit from the largest Financial Market in the world’. 

Over the last 10 years, Gary has spoken all over the world, reaching tens of thousands of people with his dynamic and fun approach to creating Personal Financial Freedom. His philosophy of creating wealth by teaching your money how to make you money has helped thousands of people secure their financial independence out of the financial markets. 

It’s easy to forget just how powerful our subconscious minds can be. We are often completely unaware of how our actions (or inactions) are affecting our lives. We may complain that things never work out for us, we have bad luck, or we just don’t have what it takes to be successful. What we fail to realise is that we are actually creating our own circumstances through subconscious self-sabotage. In order to overcome self-sabotage we first have to use conscious awareness to explore our emotions and fears, and understand how they influence our actions. Once we have determined the cause of the destructive behaviour, we can then take steps to prevent it from happening in the future.

What’s really happening when we sabotage ourselves? Subconsciously, we may be frightened by a particular outcome, even though we say we want it. Take, for example, losing weight. Many overweight people have struggled for years, tried diet after diet, and still can’t lose the weight (or keep it off). They berate themselves, push themselves harder, and try to force the weight off. But what’s happening beneath the surface? Do they really want to lose their excess pounds? They may say they do, but what if their layers of fat are providing a sense of protection and security in an uncertain world? What if they feel the need to cover up and conceal themselves? Losing weight then becomes a threatening, frightening possibility. So they might sabotage their diet efforts in order to avoid feeling too vulnerable and exposed. Even though they say they want to lose weight (and even believe they do) they still might set themselves up for failure by sneaking food, skipping exercise, and then making a promise that they’ll try harder tomorrow.

Others may be intimidated by something as simple as starting a new job. Did you know that there are a surprisingly high number of people who don’t show up for job interviews, even for highly-desirable positions? Let’s look at another example: Perhaps a stay-at-home-mum decides she needs to return to the workforce to earn money for her family. What she really wants is to stay home with her children, but she feels obligated to get a job outside the home. So instead of applying for the perfect position, she applies for jobs that she knows she’s not qualified for, or jobs that require hours incompatible with her family’s schedule so she has to turn down the job if it’s offered. Subconsciously, that’s her way of ensuring she won’t have to leave home, and at least she can say she “tried” to get a job.

Those who self-sabotage may also be afraid of what others will think of them should they accomplish their goals. They might not believe they’re worthy of the outcome, so they act in ways that will ensure their failure.

These destructive efforts are done subconsciously, so even the saboteurs have fooled themselves into thinking they know what they want. If there is any uncertainty in their mind, any doubt, any fear, they will find a way to make sure it doesn’t happen.

Perhaps this describes you? Have you sabotaged yourself in the past? Are you still doing it now? Are you not able to move forward with your goals, no matter how hard you try?

Fortunately, we CAN overcome self-sabotage. The most important step to stopping self-sabotaging behaviour is to recognise that it’s happening. We must develop a conscious awareness of our thoughts, emotions, and actions.

If you’ve been struggling with a certain goal and things just don’t seem to be working out for you, take a look at the setbacks that were encountered and evaluate the situation. Could any of the obstacles have been avoided by making wiser choices on your part? Are there a significantly high number of obstacles that have arisen for this one particular goal? If so, you may be self-sabotaging yourself.

A great way to get in touch with your subconscious mind is by spending time in quiet meditation. Ask yourself what you’re afraid of. What fears do you have? What uncertainties? What makes you feel uncomfortable about this goal? For what reasons would you try to hold yourself back? Using a journal to write these questions and answers can help too, because writing can help you to connect with the deepest part of yourself. It might take time and practice, but exploring these possibilities can dramatically help you to get out of the self-sabotage rut.

When we finally understand that we are in control of our own success, we will be set free from all limitations! By developing clarity and insight about the outcomes we want to create, and the awareness for potential setbacks, we can stop the self-sabotage and focus our energies on working toward new goals that we will fully support in every way. We will then look back one day and see that instead of being our own worst saboteur, we have become our best supporter.

How do you know if a person is willing to attain self-improvement? This is a question with no definite answer. It will all depend on the individual.

Many people have goals, dreams or ambitions but do not know how to go about achieving them. They may have thought about what would make up self-improvement and their ideal life, but have no idea how to even begin to make the plans and take the actions required to make them a reality.

Some people have a vague idea on how to go about self-improvement. These are the ones that believe that if only they had a better job, or had been given better opportunities, or met the love of their life, or whatever else, everything would be fine and they would be happy.

They feel that their happiness or lack of happiness is decided by external factors and their thoughts and actions are of little consequence.

Some believe that if only they had more money they could have whatever they want and be on their way to self-improvement.

They may have spent little time thinking about what they actually want from life, and do not really believe there is anything they can do to create their fuzzy version of utopia anyway, apart from buying more lottery tickets.

Other people do not even know what they actually want from their lives and may even have little idea what would really make them happy. They seem to just drift from day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year, and do little more than just about get by.

They may have seemingly secure jobs and be earning enough to live relatively comfortable lives. They seem happy enough and have no great ambition to achieve anything more from their lives than they currently have.

Is self-improvement important?

The reality is that throughout our lives we are all constantly growing and developing. Circumstances make us grow and develop, even if we do not make the conscious decision to do so.

Up to a certain age, we learn through formal education and we continue to learn through our experiences for the rest of our lives. We have to learn and grow to deal with everything that life throws at us. We all have to go through self-improvement.

Modern life moves at a dramatically faster pace than at any time in history. For anyone living in modern society, there are more opportunities to do anything that you want to do with your life than ever before.

But there is also more competition than ever before, and ever-changing technology means that there really are few, if any ‘jobs for life’ anymore. It is now normal not only to change jobs quite often throughout our working lives but even to completely change careers and industries.

Because the workplace is so competitive, people who are ambitious and hungry for success know they need to learn new skills and knowledge to keep ahead of the pack. To attain this, self-improvement is needed.

These are the people that will be most likely to keep their jobs or progress within their chosen field, or that will be readily employable in different organisations or industries.

A commitment to self-improvement and personal growth may well be the deciding factor in how anyone’s future will turn out.

Gary Lafferty is an English Trader and Entrepreneur. He is best known for his Motivational speaking and books on 'How to Profit from the largest Financial Market in the world’. 

Over the last 10 years, Gary has spoken all over the world, reaching tens of thousands of people with his dynamic and fun approach to creating Personal Financial Freedom. His philosophy of creating wealth by teaching your money how to make you money has helped thousands of people secure their financial independence out of the financial markets. 

Napoleon Hill made more millionaires over his lifetime than anyone who came before him…even more than Andrew Carnegie.

His book, ‘Think and Grow Rich’ even today influences the minds of people all around the world.

But how did Dr Hill become so tremendous? So outrageously successful? At a very early age, he understood a very important success principle.

‘Billionaire’ Dan Pena over in Scotland also understands this very same success principle.

Most people say they want financial freedom…a nicer home, another car, to travel more, to be able to make your own hours.

We see Dan Pena’s obscenely beautiful castle and comment, ‘I want that too.’

But Dan is quick to tell you about all the years of hard work and sacrifice he put in which made that castle his own.

And it took Napoleon Hill all but 3 seconds to tell Andrew Carnegie he was willing to work the next 20 years for him without any sort of pay or compensation in order to succeed.

So in light of what these two great men have accomplished, answer this for me:

“What are YOU willing to pay for your financial freedom?”

What are YOU willing to DO in order to have the things you’ve always wanted in your life?

(What price are you going to pay if you DON’T do what it takes!)

People who have little can feel the pain of their circumstances and are more apt to do something to make a change in their lives. This is because we all naturally move toward pleasure and away from pain. Their challenge, of course, is that they have to learn a whole new way of doing things.

Those who have a lot and still strive to reach higher goals usually have some of the success principles already at work in their lives and need new strategies and paradigms.

Where do YOU fit in here?

Are you struggling to make ends meet? Are you saddled down with mortgages and other types of debt?

Or are you somewhere in the middle…where you have some, just enough to keep you moving on the hamster wheel of life each day?

9 out of 10 people tell me they’re 110% committed to doing what it takes to succeed.

You know what? All but 1 or 2 of those 9 people are simply talking and not ready to actually roll up their sleeves and scrape their knuckles getting the work done.

I’m telling you this:

“You have to choose financial freedom and then be willing to do what it takes to make it happen.”

You cannot hope for it.

You cannot wish it into existence.

And you cannot gain it from outside yourself.

We don’t all have to be Dan Penas and Napoleon Hills.

But take the wisdom from their achievements and make it your own.

If you can’t dedicate your next 20 years or if you’re not willing to sacrifice the precious moments of being with your family in order to get your own castle, then at least do this:

Take a small step.

Make an extra sales call.

Get up 20 minutes earlier each day to work on your vision or work out your muscles.

Cut out ONE TV show and get working on your future.

Choose It. Commit To It. Make It Happen.

If you were to walk up and ask successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs what they did to succeed or fail, most of them would cite some mentor or lack of trait… Blame genetics or outside influence. But if you were to ask the exact same group if they used this secret, 99% of successful entrepreneurs would say yes – and almost all of the unsuccessful entrepreneurs would ask what you were talking about…

The secret to being a successful entrepreneur is very, very simple. It is called “Quantifiable Goals”. It might sound complicated, but when you have finished reading this article you will completely understand what it means – and why it is so important.

Let’s say, for example, that you walk into a room full of entrepreneurs, and ask them to state their goals. To state why they are ultimately in business for themselves. Most of them will respond something along the lines of time or money. But watch them puzzle when you ask them WHY they want to earn money or have that extra time. This is the most essential part of Quantifiable Goals. Any John Smith can say he wants to make money, but why? Is there something in particular he wants to buy? Something he wants to do with that time?

Once you establish WHY you want that extra time or money, you have just taken a big step towards success. You now have a goal. For example, you want that extra money to buy a house. Buying a house is your goal. Now comes the Quantifiable part.

How much are you going to spend on this house? $250,000? $1 million? You need to come up with a dollar amount or time amount, something of quantity, to properly set your goals. That way, once you earn that $250,000 or gain those 3 hours, you have essentially attained your goal.

But waking up one morning and deciding to earn $250,000 doesn’t make it happen. So how do you achieve your long-term Quantifiable Goal? By breaking it up into smaller, medium term quantifiable goals.

For the example we have been using, buying a house for $250,000, your medium-term goals would most likely be monetary. You could set goals to complete two projects that would each bring you $125,000, or even 10 projects that would bring you $25,000, or break it down even further.

But what good are these goals anyway? They are still difficult to achieve, and how do you know what to do to achieve these goals?

Well, you break each of your medium-term quantifiable goals into short term goals. For example, if you chose to get two projects with a price tag of $125,000 each, your first goal might be to think of what kinds of projects you can do that would bring that kind of money in for you. Your next goal would be to close the sale on such a project, and then to complete the project, and finally to collect payment. That way, each medium-term goal is broken down into manageable tasks.

At this point, you want to break everything down into a flow chart to help establish your goals. Put your life quantifiable goal at the top on its own piece of paper. Then, put each of your medium-term goals on their own paper in a horizontal line directly beneath your life goal. Then directly below each medium goal, fill a sheet with the short term goals that it will take to achieve each medium term goal.

This method will help you visualise what you are working towards, and how each step is necessary to achieve your dream.

Now you’ll want to check off each short term goal as you complete it, completing one sheet at a time. By doing this, you will be able to visually SEE your results progress quickly. Each time you complete a short-term goal, you are one step closer to completing a medium-term goal, which brings you one step closer to completing your life goal.

Now that you know the secret, what are you going to do about it? I suggest following the visualisation techniques given and build yourself a “life pyramid” on a wall that is visible while you are working. Glance at it every so often, and it will keep you on track. Reward yourself when you complete your goals – from the smallest achievement to completing the entire pyramid. It will most likely be the most positive experience in your life to see that pyramid completed – and the construction process of the pyramid itself will set you on the right path.

Unfortunately a majority of people are trapped in the rat race having jobs working for others but do not know how to get out. A proven way out is to achieve freedom through earning passive and/or recurring income. Internet business is recommended because it is exciting, rewarding and best home based business. Tips are given that are designed for professional business working from home.

The Internet is a great tool to use because it has many exciting, rewarding and proven home based business as well as trading and investment vehicles.

If you’re given a choice of making $500 as a one-time payment OR getting only $100 but paid this amount every month for 20 years if not for life, which would you choose?

If you work only once and get paid many times over, you’re earning a RESIDUAL INCOME. Of course you’d choose the latter.

Elvis Presley today “continues” to earn residual income even after death because his records continue to “work” for him due to continued demand from his fans.

Therefore it goes without saying that in order to build wealth, you need to tap into RESIDUAL INCOME.

Very often this is also referred to as “PASSIVE INCOME” because you could afford to be passive or non-active (i.e. not having to work) and still continue to receive income.

If you’re like most people, you’ve been conditioned your whole life to think about income as a process of trading time and effort for money. Like the majority, you have been brought up to have only one major objective in life – JOB! Incidentally, if you don’t already know, to many JOB stands for “Just Over Broke”.

You work hard in schools so that you could get good grades to advance to colleges and universities where you work even harder so that you could get a good and secured JOB. Once you’ve got the jobs you want, you continue to work very hard in order to maintain them and to climb the so-called organisational ladder of success.

As a result, many have fallen into the trap of the RAT RACE and you know very well you can’t afford to stop because if you did, so would your income!

Although some of you could be drawing quite a handsome income, you're not truly “wealthy” because you’re not free to do what you want and when you want with your money.

I’ve heard of many sad stories of “rich” EMPLOYEES not being able to spend badly needed valuable time with members of their families who’re sick in hospitals because they could not afford to be away from their place of work for too long as their services are urgently required by their employers. Doctors could not even really relax and enjoy a long vacation for fear of the loss of income or patients while their clinics remain closed.

Can I really have PASSIVE INCOME? You might ask. Indeed you can!

About 60 million people have access to the Internet – and yet it is still in its infancy. Every month millions of newcomers and thousands of businesses are reported to be setting up online. With this huge and expanding audience coupled with the fact that marketing and advertising can be done on the Internet so easily and at only a fraction of the costs of traditional methods, we now have a fantastic opportunity to be successful online.

Many companies have now aligned themselves with the Internet which has created many new paradigms in the past few years. Residual Incomes are made available to people from all walks of life. You can now make money online with simple and proven formulas used by many businesses, financial traders and entrepreneurs to earn multiple streams of residual income.

The key to life is to be around the people who will empower you to reach the next level in life! In order to exceed your present reach, you need to be around people who will help you stretch a little further. The secret to a productive mastermind team is for you to surround yourself with people who you can always learn from. A sign of a very intelligent person is to be smart enough to realise that you need to learn from others who can contribute to your WHY in life.

As you know, my ultimate outcome is to develop as many people as I can all around the world. Each and every day I strive to immerse myself in material and people who will enable me to achieve our corporate mission.

As you look at your own mission in life, you need to ask yourself a very honest/straightforward question ….”Is my personal development engine in Forward, Neutral or Reverse?”

The answer is very simple. All that you need to do is to write down the top 10 people you regularly associate with. As you review the list, realise that you will become an exact duplicate of those 10 people — financially, spiritually, physically and psychologically. Once again, be honest with yourself. If you are not 110% happy about what you see yourself becoming due to your present relationships, you need to take ACTION immediately!

Make a decision to develop a mastermind TEAM! Unfortunately, 95% of people will never take the action needed in order to become part of a mastermind team. They will continue to live their lives and wonder WHAT HAPPENED to their LIVES and all of their DREAMS. You need to stop whining and begin working on yourself to become part of a Mastermind Team!

I am proud to say that each and every day I associate with people who are either at my level of enthusiasm, excitement and intelligence or even more so than I am, which is the key to a personally productive mastermind team. You need to be a part of a group of people who make you want to exceed your present reach. Be honest with yourself and know that you need to change your associations in order to achieve your God-given dreams! You will be amazed by the results. Your life will SOAR like an EAGLE to the ends of the earth if you change your associations!

Find your WHY & FLY!

Gary Lafferty is an English Trader and Entrepreneur. He is best known for his Motivational speaking and teaching on 'How to Profit from the largest Financial Market in the world’. 

Over the last 10 years, Gary has spoken all over the world, reaching tens of thousands of people with his dynamic and fun approach to creating Personal Financial Freedom. His philosophy of creating wealth by teaching your money how to make you money has helped thousands of people secure their financial independence out of the financial markets. 

Motivation can take you far, but it can take you even further if you first find your vision. Your vision will motivate and guide you on your journey to success and personal fulfilment. Trying to succeed at anything without first having a clear vision of what it is you want to accomplish will only lead to you going around in circles and eventually giving up in frustration.

To develop your vision, you must look inside yourself. Vision comes from within, from the spirit or subconscious, whatever you choose to call it. Everyone has a vision that is uniquely their own, and you are no different. the hard part comes in understanding your personal vision and how it applies to your personal motivation plan.

Your vision will most likely not come suddenly like some bolt of lightning out of the sky. Instead, it will grow from your experiences, talents, dreams, and desires, so don’t try to rush it. Instead, keep your motivation and allow your vision to reveal itself through you.

Here are five steps you can use to effectively find your vision:

1. Learn to listen to your inner voice. Since your vision starts from inside you, you should learn to listen and feel what your mind and heart truly desire. What stirs you? What is your greatest desire? What kind of dreams do you have? If what you think you want does not really come from the inner depths of your heart and soul, then you will find it difficult, if not impossible, to not give up before you achieve it.

2. Prepare yourself mentally. Your vision begins in your mind and heart. It is something that burns within your soul. it should be greater than your all of your past memories, mistakes, and accomplishments. If you know what your vision is, you will have a purpose and won’t get lost on your journey. Discouragement is the outcome of not having a distinct vision. If you don’t know where you’re going or how to get there, the journey will seem a lot longer and harder. In order to seek your vision, retreat to a quiet and tranquil place, a place that will allow your mind to think creatively and concentrate on your vision.

3. Seek out other motivated vision seekers. Greatness breeds greatness, and it is for this reason that you should seek out the company of others who can appreciate and support your vision. Hang with the winners and it will keep your motivation high.

4. Keep a notebook and pen handy. All too often, when seeking a vision, it is easy to forget that it is 90% inspiration, as American inventor Thomas Edison said. With that in mind, you never know when your vision is going to come to fruition, so keep a small notebook with you at all times, even next to your bed when you sleep, and write down whatever comes to mind, no matter how silly it seems at the time. You may write down a hundred crazy ideas but number one hundred and one just might be the vision you were searching for. Don’t try to edit right now, just write down everything that comes to mind.

5. Don’t try to fully understand your vision. The vision you are seeking will most likely come to you in ways that you won’t fully understand at the moment. That’s okay. Just follow as much of your vision as you can right now, and more will be revealed to you as time goes on.

All truly successful people have a vision that they follow, no matter what challenges they may face, to its eventual outcome.

Begin following the above steps to seek your vision today and remember that true, lasting success will never come to you until you know what your vision is and how you will follow it. And you will be unstoppable if you combine your personal vision with a healthy dose of motivation.

Trading the markets isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Some people can do it and some can’t. Even among the some who can, not everybody can be successful at it. While there are no hard and fast rules on what makes or doesn’t make a successful trader, those Wall Street Wizards that you hear about who made the most in the least amount of time, all appear to have certain characteristics in common.

1. Successful traders are able to go against their natural instincts.

2. Successful traders have a simple system. No matter which technique you use as long as you stick to it. A Successful trader knows their technique and makes trades based ONLY on their system. “The secret to being a winner is consistency of purpose”. You want to improve a separate strategy for getting into a position and for exiting one.

3. Successful traders are Risk Adverse. Successful traders don’t like losing money and prohibit themselves before losing too much, even if it means admitting they made a mistake.

4. Successful traders are willing to make mistakes. Successful traders have the right and ability, not to do the right thing, but to do the wrong thing. It’s the ability to make your own mistakes.

5. Successful traders don’t care about being embarrassed by taking a loss. Successful traders expect to take losses and know when to cut them.

6. Successful traders know, or learn how to explore the markets. Many traders only use precise analysis, but you may want to learn to use fundamental analysis as well.

7. Successful traders lead balanced lives. We all know the pleasure of the pursuit and the markets can be addictive, a successful trader is one who knows when to move away and can.

8. A successful trader is Patient. A successful trader lets winning positions run, but is able to back out when proven wrong. Patience can mean resilience, courage, and conviction for when markets go against you.

9. A successful trader has a biting Desire to succeed. Triumph takes steady work, not a chaotic effort, a biting desire to succeed can make all the difference in educating yourself about what you want to know and sticking to your strategy when the going gets rough.

10. A successful trader is disciplined. Very disciplined. A successful trader will do what he needs to do, even if he isn’t in the mood. Discipline also means Sticking to your strategy, not abruptly buying or selling on a whim, or because of a” hot tip”

11. A successful trader knows the difference between defensive and offensive behaviour, and when to use each. – protect your money first, profit later.

12. Successful traders don’t eavesdrop on rumours or get emotionally involved. To be a successful trader you have to be very hard on yourself. You have to be able to resist the urge to prove you are right and be ready to make mistakes. You also want to be able to not let emotions affect your decisions. Setting up stop loss points for every decision you make is something that you are going to have to do. That will mean more than occasionally admitting that you are wrong. You and your portfolio will survive and you will be able to get back into the position again when trends signify that the time is right. You will have to learn to disregard any emotional ties you have to your trade and make quick stock trends your master. You will miss the lowest entry points and the top selling points, but you will be able to sleep at night. You will need to learn to get out of a stock position before your profits turn into losses.

13. A successful trader knows themselves. Successful traders must be attentive of their strengths and weaknesses. Your strengths and weakness will become very important. Play on your strengths when you can.

14. A successful trader knows their investments. Your investments are almost as important as you are. Know the past history of the stock and their strengths and weaknesses as well.

15. A successful trader sticks to the rules. The system is there for a reason. Nothing can ruin a successful stock buyer as quickly, or as certainly as flouting the rules.

Get to know these 15 characteristics and you are on your way to becoming a successful trader.

Gary Lafferty is an English Trader and Entrepreneur. He is best known for his Motivational speaking and teaching on 'How to Profit from the largest Financial Market in the world’. 

Over the last 10 years Gary has spoken all over the world, reaching tens of thousands of people with his dynamic and fun approach to creating Personal Financial Freedom. His philosophy of creating wealth by teaching your money how to make you money has helped thousands of people secure their financial independence out of the financial markets. 

Success… We all aspire to it, talk about it, envy those who achieve it, we think about it, fight for it. It is really worth it? Success comes with reaching our aims and it brings us incomparable satisfaction and happiness. That gives us a unique opportunity to be happy every day, if we achieve small goals every day and step by step we will be approaching our GREAT dream.

Success comes with reaching our aims and it brings us incomparable satisfaction and happiness. That gives us a unique opportunity to be happy every day, if we achieve small goals every day and step by step we will be approaching our GREAT dream.

Recollect your studies at college, when you had to combine work and study; when you had a very tense schedule, when your only solution was a custom term paper to get through the semester. But you stood it. By achieving mini-goals every term, at last you reached the main aim – successful graduation. And that is why you are a successful person. But one of the qualities of a prosperous person is that he is always striving for perfection and will never rest on his laurels. So, let’s go further and develop ourselves…Close your eyes for a minute and imagine a successful person. Is he rich or poor? Surely, most of us associate success with rich people. So, success and wealth are inseparable from each other? Yes, it’s likely to be so. But wealth is not a target for a successful person. It is just one of the steps to reach a global aim.

What do you think are there any objective reasons, hindering success? It is a fact that there some outer reasons, not depending on you, for example war, flood and so on. And what about objective sound reasons? If you find one, we will debate it with you. But so far I dare say there is none!!!! All the reasons are subjective (inner) and thus – everyone can get rid of these reasons, changing something in himself. We create the greatest obstacle in achieving success with our fears, complexes and diffidence. And then, what are the keys to success? Read through the following features and think which of them you have and which you still have to acquire.

1) Have a Clear Objective. Without the aim, no achievement is possible. A thoroughly equipped ship with wonderful crew will arrive nowhere if it hasn’t any course of direction.

2) Have an Accurate Strategy. Unplanned success is a planned defeat. Accurate and logical strategy helps to realise the grandest projects. A successful person fulfils a small portion of his great plan every day. If you stick to your plan, then you will be able to realise everything you want. And if you want, you have a potential.

3) Have a Positive Attitude. Positive thinking, positive attitude to the world work wonders. You live in the world you create for yourself. You want to live in a wonderful world – think about something wonderful! Stop being afraid of failures and you will reach your success.

4) Have Faith in Success. Faith strengthens your potential, and doubts destroy it. If you have some desire, leave all your doubts behind. Just believe in the possibility of its realisation and you will have not so many obstacles in your way.

5) Have the necessary Education and Training.Being aware of your desires without any action will lead to nothing. Only actions, supported by knowledge will result in great success. Constant training, constant improvement of your professional knowledge, – these are the features that distinguish a successful person. Our world is ever changing, and only on condition of applying your new knowledge you can keep pace with time.

6) Self -improvement. It helps us to change for better, overcome our complexes and fears, get rid of diffidence. Remember, that everything depends only on you; you are master of your fate, your success and happiness. And if you don’t possess all the listed above qualities, then you will be able to develop these features improving yourself. The only thing that does not depend on you is strong desire; it is given to us by Nature.

7) Self -confidence. This helps us to get top results where there is no premise for it. Fighting with your complexes, the person is approaching the ideal and makes the best of the work.

This is merely a presentation of the philosophy of Success. These are only words, though wise and true. But you are able to turn this philosophy into a powerful tool for improving your life from now on. And then the philosophy will revive and you will benefit from it greatly. This simple philosophy will become your strategy, your guiding thread in achieving success. I am sure it will lead you to great success.

As good as modern medical technology is, it can never save you from the problems caused by a life style that is unhealthy. Instead of getting a modern medical fix for every problem, it is far better to live in such a way that you will hardly ever fall ill.

An ounce of prevention is certainly better than a pound of cure. Here are seven tips on how to live a long and healthy life. In addition, the same life style that helps you to avoid illness also helps you to lose weight.

1. Get Enough Exercise

In the past people had to use their physical bodies in the course of their normal work. But today someone may get up, go to work in a car, then sit down, get up to go home in the car and when arriving at home, sit down again for the rest of the day. In such a life there is no physical labor. This physical inactivity is one of the main reasons for a host of diseases. Sport, running. walking and other things must be added to our life if our normal work does not require us to exert ourselves physically. I

2. Go to sleep when you feel sleepy

This may sound simple, but many people stay up late even when their body is telling them that it is time to sleep. Yoga and Ayurvedic doctors also say that it is better to sleep in the night and be active during the day. However, people such as students will take coffee and stimulants to study late into the night. Others develop the habit of remaining active at night and sleeping during the day. While we can do this, it eventually takes a toll on health. Alternative health doctors say that this kind of unnatural living is one of the contributing factors in the causation of cancer and other diseases

3. Eat when you feel hungry

This is also a simple idea, but once again we often go against the messages of the body. If you eat out of habit or due to social pressure at certain time of the day, even when you have no real appetite, then you will not digest your food properly. Acidity and indigestion begin, and this contributes to the likelihood of other more complex diseases taking root. Having an appetite is actually a sign of good health, but if you have no appetite you should wait a bit and then eat. (If you have no appetite even after waiting a reasonable amount of time, then you should consult a doctor because something is wrong.)

4.Fast on a Regular, Systematic Basis

If you would ask any person to work 365 days per year without any rest, they would complain and say that they must have some rest or else they will break down. But we have never bothered to ask or to think about our digestive organs which we compel to work day after day without a rest. They cannot protest the way a person would to his boss, but they do give us signals that they cannot work non-stop. When we ignore those signals and still compel them to work, those organs break down. That is why periodic fasting is necessary. Refrain from eating for one complete day. This gives a rest to your digestive organs and also helps in the elimination of wastes from your body. Regular fasting allows a person to gain extra time for intellectual or spiritual pursuits. Fasting is not for hermits in a cave, but is a sensible practice that anyone can practice.

5. Wash with cool water before going to bed

As mentioned above, proper sleep is essential for the maintenance of health. If you wash your important motor and sensory organs (hands, arms, eyes, legs, mouth, genitals) before sleep using cool water, this will relax you and prepare you for deep sleep.

6. Perform meditation on a regular basis

Your body is linked to your mind. Many of the diseases of this era are psychosomatic. Stress and anxiety take their toll on our physical health. Meditation is a mental exercise which, among other things, allows you to detach yourself from the worries of life. Learn a simple technique and do it regularly.

7. Get up early every day

Once again the old proverb, “Early to bed, early to rise makes a person healthy, wealthy and wise.” I don’t know if it will make you wealthy, but it will certainly make you healthy. Your body needs just enough sleep, not too much and not too little.

Follow these tips and you can’t go wrong.

Have you ever wondered what transforms an ordinary human being into a winner, or what variables are at play to create a personality with a solid unwavering sense of integrity? Have you ever noticed how being around a highly esteemed and truly successful person seems to make you a winner, too, or how a true winner is quick to share the limelight with those around them?

1. Winners know that self-esteem is the most important and basic quality of a successful life and all winners have a strong sense of self as their main ingredient.

2. Winners are emotionally healthy individuals with a distinct feeling of personal worth that is cultivated and nurtured to sustain them through good times and bad.

3. Winners are aware that self-esteem is actually a habit that can be learned through diligence and practice. In fact, self-worth and self-confidence are characteristics that most winning personalities were not necessarily born with. The word 'esteem' literally means to appreciate the value of. Developing a positive self-image is a life-long process that starts as simply as making a conscious effort to upgrade our lifestyle, and pay more attention to personal appearance and personal habits.

4. Winners achieve and maintain a healthy self-image by simply and objectively seeing where they are now and where they would like to be, and then mapping out a plan by creating short-term and long-term goals. And inch by inch, they're on their way.

5. Winners and top achievers have risen from out of the ashes of extreme poverty and despair. Those who have pulled themselves up, and remain successful, all share positive self-imaging as a common denominator, with background having little, if anything, to do with it.

6. Winners accept themselves and understand how self-acceptance accounts for a successful and dynamic life. The willingness to be one's authentic self and live one's life as it unfolds, accepting all responsibility for the ultimate outcome, is also a major factor in developing a winning personality. And although winners are always seeking some form of improvement, they can accept themselves just as they are right now.

7. Winners accept their own uniqueness, are comfortable with their image, and are willing for others to know and accept them as well. Such people naturally attract friends and supporters. He or she seldom has to stand alone.

8. Winners do not live in the past. They view themselves in terms of their abilities, interests and goals, and they build confidence through their successes. Winners have the confidence to create success and the success necessary to create confidence. In other words, success breeds success.

9. Winners focus on past successes and forget past failures. They use errors and mistakes as a way of learning, and then they dismiss them from their mind. To establish true self-esteem, we must concentrate on our successes and look at the failures only to implement corrective measures for future success.

10. Winners forgive their failings by understanding that character is formed through adversity. Life is a series of obstacle courses that build strength when coupled with drive and determination. The old adage that adversity builds character is not just a catchy phrase, but is clearly illustrated by noting just how many highly successful and loving parents gave extreme abundance and comfort to their children, only to raise children with weak and sagging characters.

11. Winners indulge in positive self-talk as an important key to permanent enhancement of self-esteem. Every waking moment we must feed our mind positive thoughts so relentlessly and vividly that our self-image, in time, is modified to conform to the new, higher standard.

12. Winners can graciously accept compliments. One good indicator of an individual's opinion of himself is the way he accepts a compliment. It is incredible how low-achievers belittle and demean themselves when others try to pay them value.

13. Winners are aware of their potential, like who they are, and are eager to consider the well-being of others as they do their own.

14. Winners base their actions and decisions on rational thinking rather than on reactions and emotions. They understand that to react emotionally in response to challenges is to nullify the wisdom and power of the rational mind.

15. Winners are able to enjoy their emotions as children do, probing the depths of their love, excitement, joy and compassion; but winners make the decisions that shape their lives through forethought, logic and common sense.

Gary Lafferty is an English Trader and Entrepreneur. He is best known for his Motivational speaking and teaching on 'How to Profit from the largest Financial Market in the world’. 

Over the last 10 years Gary has spoken all over the world, reaching tens of thousands of people with his dynamic and fun approach to creating Personal Financial Freedom. His philosophy of creating wealth by teaching your money how to make you money has helped thousands of people secure their financial independence out of the financial markets. 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/341546

You may or may not have heard about the Laws of Attraction. When you hear those three words, you may think about romance and finding your soul mate. But, the truth is that the Law of Attraction applies not only to romance, but to most other areas of life as well. This includes business. Imagine finding your “soul mate” business venture. The one that is naturally meant to be in your life!

Science says that the Law of Attraction is constantly out there, working silently. Even if you don’t know what it is, or believe in its effects, the Law of Attraction is working for you. Of course, if you take the time to begin understanding it, you can start to work with it. This can allow you to venture into business opportunities that fit naturally with you and your lifestyle.

The basis of the law states that whatever you give your attention to, you will attract. This means that even if you give positive or negative attention to something, you will attract it. This explains the power of positive thinking!

The thoughts and attitude you put out into the world put off vibrations similar to those of sound waves. Those vibrations draw you to other things with similar vibrations. These things could be people, things, event, situations, or places.

The way this can relate to business is by allowing you to make money in a natural, less stressful way. This can allow you to be much happier in the long run and in the immediate.

Of course, you can’t count on get rich quick fixes for the Law of Attraction. You have to go through the natural process that has been quite effective since pre-historic eras. It is the one tried and true way to find happiness and success in business and in all other areas of your life.

In fact, the Greeks and Egyptian people of ancient times also used the Law of Attraction. They utilized it for their health! Since times were harsh in their eras, it was important they used the powerful methods of thinking to establish a more peaceful and livable condition for their people. If the amazing ancient people saw use of the law, and people today are still seeing use of the law, then the law must be one that will prevail throughout all time!

When you gain the understanding of the Law of Attraction you will want to share your knowledge with everyone you know. Of course, it is up to you on whether you want everyone around you to be as successful as you can be. According to the Law of Attraction however, you will surround yourself with successful people in any case!

You have often hear the phrase "The sky is the limit" and more often we hear this when the people around us are expressing their negative feelings on a particular topic. But do you know that there is another phrase that contradicts this cliché? The phrase "nothing is set in stone" is the one that many successful people use whenever they try or aim for something and that, with the power of positivity, can make anything in this world possible.

The Power of Positivity

People who are successful use the power of being positive in everything they do. One of the concepts that is practiced in positivity is the law of attraction. The law of attraction might be a scientific concept but it is never truer and more applicable than to our society today. Many researchers believe that what people surround themselves with becomes their own actions and thoughts later on. It might not be obvious or apparent at the start and this surprises many when their actions or feelings are observed later on. This is the reason many sociologists or therapists recommend that individuals should surround themselves with positive things to ward off negative feelings.

Another area of being successful is to envision one's own desires and put it into action. Oftentimes, one wants to achieve something but lacks the desire to see it through. Many people blame others for their failure to reach their goals which produces negative results as well. When one wants to become successful, it is important to focus and put their thoughts into actions and carry the responsibilities that come with achieving what they want in life. By taking responsibilities and initiative, one is more concentrated and motivated to reach their goals in life.

How to Harness More Positivity

When people want changes to happen to their life, they need to understand that they have to leave their comfort zone and start taking charge of their lives. It may be uncomfortable at the start and even cause friendships to end, but sometimes changes can be awkward but may also be the best thing to happen to your life. Cut the negativity that runs in your life - people who you think will drag you down and negative thoughts and envision what you want your life to be. Surround yourself with positive things, find mentors, visualize what you want and you will wake up one day and realize that you have achieved what you want to do and are happier than you were before.

 Leave me a note here... https://goo.gl/Jon3dM ...and I'll get back to you.

The other day I was calling a client who wasn’t answering her phone. Her voice mail message started out in the usual way, “…we’re not home, leave a message…” what followed was not so usual. It continued, “…by the way, we’ve recently made some changes in our life, if we don’t call you back, you’re one of the changes, beeeep”. My first reaction was disbelief at what was probably one of the rudest messages I had ever heard (and I’ve heard quite a few!). But I couldn’t get it off my mind, and by the end of the day I had changed my perspective. I began to admire this woman, who was obviously at the end of her rope. She was very determined, for whatever reason, to end relationships that were affecting her life in a negative way.

Change is never easy, especially when it requires us to dramatically alter the way we’ve become accustom to living our lives. Leaving our comfort zone, no matter how much we dislike it, requires a combination of bravery and determination, as well as education in that area.

Many times we’re so desperate to better ourselves, we hastily make ineffective and, sometimes expensive, decisions that we feel will quickly produce the results we are looking for. Purchasing a costly gym membership and vowing to attend seven days a week while surviving on lettuce, may seem like a great idea for a few weeks (if you’re very determined,) but how long can you live like that?

If you’re serious about making a long-term change in your life, take these steps to ensure your success:

Educate Yourself

Aside from determination, education is the most important key to your success. Knowing exactly what you must do to accomplish your goals will give you the power to make them a reality. Consult a professional or check out a book written by a credible authority on the subject. You can also tap the wealth of information to be found on the Internet. Friends and acquaintances can also provide insight. I have a good friend who is very organized, an area in which I am always trying to improve. Over the years I have learned a great deal from watching her manage her incredibly busy life.

Set Reasonable Goals

You are not going to lose 30 pounds in two weeks. Nor are you going to undo years of financial irresponsibility in six months. After becoming educated, you will get a realistic picture of how long it will be before you should expect to see results. Having this knowledge upfront will prevent you from giving up too soon.

Plan and Track

If you’re trying to accomplish something that requires long-term commitment, purchase a journal or notebook to write down your short and long term goals. Detail how you will carry them out and when you will complete them. Check each item off as you accomplish it. Keeping a journal to record your achievements can be motivating on those days when you feel like sliding back to your old ways.

Just Say No

Avoid situations that will prevent you from accomplishing your goals. This is especially important in the beginning, before your new way of life comes natural to you.

Pat Yourself on the Back

Be proud of yourself for making the decision to improve your quality of life. When you reach important milestones, reward yourself in a way that is in sync with your new lifestyle. A new outfit is a great reward for losing weight, but would be considered a setback if you’re trying to cut back on spending!

“Now, Work Your Plan”

Early in my career, I was told, “Most people have a business plan, but the problem is they don’t work their plan.” The same may be said of New Year resolutions. How many promises did you make to yourself and on how many of them will you follow through?

One major problem is sometimes too many goals are set. Another issue may be the one goal is so dramatic it would consume all of your time to achieve. In fact, it may be so huge, it becomes overwhelming. At this stage, not only will you not work on this idea, but the state of overwhelm will prevent you from achieving your other simpler goals.

For example, if you wanted to get known nationwide this year, you would have to undertake major public relations strides to accomplish this. It would entail speaking everywhere you could, demonstrating your expertise, contacting as much of the media as possible and the continuation of being seen and heard in every manner known to mankind.

At the same time, you still have all of the other avenues of your business to contend with as the CEO of your own company. How do you combat this dilemma?

In my mind, I equated a large year-long project with a one-a-day vitamin. My suggestion is to break down the public relations strategies into do-able tasks. First, outline absolutely everything you can think of that will need to be tried and completed for you to feel 100% successful. Then prioritize the steps in order of what will take the longest to complete.

Begin with the most difficult and time-consuming tasks first. The reasoning here is two-fold. First, you have the most excitement the beginning of the year, as in, “I’m really going to do it this time!” So it will be easier to tackle the difficult assignment now. Second, if you begin a long project at the end of the year, you may not complete it on time and you will feel you have let yourself down.

Now that you know which task to begin, complete at minimum, one step of it each day dependent upon how much time you can devote to the project. This is where I liken the process to the one-a-day vitamin.

One task a day devoted to your highest priority will give you renewed energy to keep on going! You will feel excitement coming your way and the adrenalin will be flowing. Your project will become easier and more joyful each day as you complete a task.

As you become accustomed to the daily routine of working on your big project, it will be easier to squeeze in a couple of the smaller tasks too. Within several months, you begin to feel as if you are making strides in getting known and the other areas of your business are growing too. In fact, as all areas of your business build together, new business will come your way with far less effort.

When you work strategically, the worry diminishes and the smiles return to your face. At the same time, be certain to help those who need your area of expertise or who want to follow in your footsteps. Your new demeanor will attract new clients as you are happy, confident and apparently successful. You will also build repeat business, referrals and testimonials – all essential ingredients for success.

Every few months you will be able to see and measure you progress. Mid-year, you should be feeling fairly popular. By the end of the year, you will have succeeded and be known nationwide!

Additional ideas to build business:

– The end of each week review each day’s accomplishment

– On Friday devise a plan for the daily tasks for the following week

– As the difficult tasks complete, incorporate the simpler ones

– Increase your dosage of vitamins or daily tasks as the routine simplifies

– Share your good news of accomplishments

– Vow to keep taking your business vitamins year after year



The end result of paying excellent attention to your plan is it will succeed, and Your Profits Will Soar!

You can attend all the courses, read all the books, do all the research. But if you can't find the voice inside you that mpoves you, you'll spend years not taking the right path for you. 

So...What's the difference between high-speed success and repeated agonising failure in life and in business? It's your ability to carve out your own unique message and your ability to communicate it powerfully to the world.

My good friend Allan Kleynams is running an event in London later this month you should check out.

Click here for more details..https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/million-dollar-message-tickets-27776051919

Why read motivational sayings? For motivation! You might need a bit, if you can use last year’s list of goals this year because it’s as good as new. All of us can benefit from inspirational thoughts, so here are ten great ones.

“Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” – Dale Carnegie

“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.” – Napoleon Hill

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Some men see things as they are and say, “Why?” I dream of things that never were and say, “Why not?” – George Bernard Shaw

“A small trouble is like a pebble. Hold it too close to your eye and it fills the whole world and puts everything out of focus. Hold it at a proper distance and it can be examined and properly classified. Throw it at your feet and it can be seen in its true setting, just one more tiny bump on the pathway of life.” – Celia Luce

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” – Carl Bard

“I’m not telling you it is going to be easy – I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it” – Art Williams

Motivational Sayings – Attitude

Attitude “There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.” – W. Clement Stone

“Nothing on earth can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

“A person cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.” – James Allen

“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” – Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi

These are quotes that mean something to me. Hopefully one or two of them are also inspiring to you. If not, maybe they will motivate you to create your own motivational sayings.

Workers suffering burnout are making mistakes. It’s depressingly predictable: these mistakes cost money, compromise safety and may even put lives at risk. Work-life balance is a subject with broad points of view but the corporate world is finally responding to this demand. Actually it’s been a matter of company survival. Companies expecting employees to forego family time will not find the First-rate Employee. Increased irritability means less production as more as more workers struggle to ‘keep it all together’.

Smart companies are recognizing employee needs for work-life balance and are providing an environment that encourages that balance. Yet, limiting this to quick fixes like flexible working hours, or part time hours for working mothers is not dealing with the real reasons why people are feeling disillusioned with their working life. It has more to do with long hours, constant overtime, bullying bosses, and the continual cutbacks that keep many on a frayed tightrope.

The core problem lies inside the minds of management — obsessive drives, insane greed for money and power, ambition gone awry and a foolish disregard of anything void of short-term results. Even with limited changes, management still treats underlings like a herd of cows milking every ounce of effort possible. That’s not about to change when it’s driven by a ‘winner takes all’ ideology and contempt for those unable to keep up.

Back in 2006, in a study, men were more likely to report depression, increased drinking and smoking, and suicidal thoughts. Women on the other hand were more likely to report anxiety, uncontrolled crying, migraines, sleeplessness and persistent petty ailments.

‘Peter’ learned the hard way – at 40 he had risen to Senior Lawyer for a small insurance company. His all-consuming job of 80-100 hours each week leaves his wife complaining that he was never home, and even when he is, he’s useless. His children are in bed when he finally calls it a day, and often he sleeps in his clothes on top of the covers to get a head start the following morning at 5am.

Peter admits he is spread too thin but if he doesn’t run at breakneck speed, everything will overtake him – as if he’s on a treadmill with no controls. He is gaining weight catching junk food on the run and drinking more to “unwind” as he puts it. But a long weekend with friends changed everything. Peter was on the phone constantly and his wife felt more like she had joined their friends as a single. Vexed and defeated, she finally blurted out: “I’m done! I don’t want to do this anymore”.

Often a wakeup call follows a crisis. To save his marriage and family Peter had to adopt a family-first policy. He laid his decision on the corporate table – no more weekends, home for dinner every night, no phone calls after 7pm! The silence was deafening.

Determined, he turned to the Internet and a new road to entrepreneurship. The dream of perfect harmony in work and home has worked for many who have chosen this road. Enjoyable, stress free and rewarding, they learned to love the risk factor because, as entrepreneurs they were able to see a direct benefit from the fruits of their own labour.

Entrepreneurs have a rosy view of their work-life balance because they love their boss. It’s a big change from putting in 100 hours a week to please management by putting job first and everything else second, third or not at all. The new pioneers of this millennium will not be charging into the workplace as soon as they graduate. They will take their time and enjoy the trip. I hope so anyway!

To be a successful entrepreneur you are going to have to learn to deal with failure. There is no way around it. Thomas Edison tried over ten thousand different experiments before he finally demonstrated the first incandescent light bulb on October 21, 1879. Bill Gates’ first company, Traf-O-Data, was a failure. Michael Jordan was once quoted as saying: “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot; And missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

In my stint as an entrepreneur I’ve failed more times than I can count. I have also had my share of success, but it’s not even close to equal. The failures far outweigh the successes, and I’m sure I have a lot more failure ahead of me. I’m OK with that because I know that as soon as I stop failing, I have stopped trying to innovate. It’s the nature of the business of being an entrepreneur, and of success in general.

If it were easy, everyone would do it. It is naive to think that every good idea that you have will result in a successful business venture. I have yet to hear an entrepreneur say “every single idea I come up with seems to work.” More likely, you hear something like “I failed at my first five businesses before this one took off.”

Think about that for a second. Five businesses. Sometimes the number is three, sometimes it’s 20, but the important point is that most entrepreneurs don’t hit a home-run with their first company. It really does amaze me – how many people have the stones to fail five times and still start a sixth business? You have to be supremely confident and treat those previous five times as a learning experience for the sixth. And if number six fails, you have to do the same and move on to number seven.

In my opinion, the most important thing is how you deal with failure. Once you accept that it’s inevitable, you are able to learn from your mistakes and move on. It’s easy to let the failure consume you – not so much because you are pessimistic, but more so because it is hard to see something that you poured your heart and soul into be ignored or rejected. As soon as possible you need to come to the realization that your business is what they are ignoring or rejecting, NOT you. The sooner you do that, the sooner you can objectively analyze why you failed and learn the things necessary for improvement in the future.

Failure isn’t easy and is extremely frustrating, but it’s a necessary part of success. Don’t believe me? Ask Thomas Edison, Bill Gates or Michael Jordan! Ok, asking Thomas Edison might be a little tough, but you get the idea :)

We’ve all heard how crucial it is to set intentions, goals and targets.

Powerful goals electrify us. Clear intentions energise and pull us forward.

Without a clearcut intention, we’re reactive and don’t get around to doing the important things when we want them done. Instead, we spend our time fighting random fires.

Without clear intentions, anything might happen. And usually does.

Literally, intentions are like the steering wheel on your car. Their whole purpose is to give you control over where you’re going. But when setting intentions or goals, keep in mind that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.

Now, it’s good to have intentions at more than one level. When we get up into the more conceptual intentions, such as “I will contribute to the wellbeing of those around me,” these become like a mission statement.

But then, be sure you move on to decide specifically how you will go about implementing your mission in your daily life. Specifics are essential.

How — specifically — will you put your mission into action today? What will you actually DO about your highest intentions?

It’s important to set intentions for yourself because this is where the rubber meets the road.

Just say “I’m going to do this and this.” It should be nothing big and overpowering. Just some stuff you’re meaning to do or achieve short-term.

Be sure to write them down on paper. When you list them out, you can clearly look over your results afterward and check yourself.

At the end of today or this time next week, did you do what you said you’d do? Expressed like that, it’s clear that we’re building a kind of internal integrity check within ourselves.

When you’re first starting to build this new intention-setting skill (habit), it’s important not to pile on too much. Sure, it’s easy to get all excited about turning over a new leaf, but it’s essential that you start where you are NOW, not where you think you SHOULD be.

There are things that, from experience, you already know you can do. Set your intentions to do those things (plus perhaps a little bit more) and achieve them. Then, when you’re comfortable doing what you say you’ll do, then you can begin to stretch your intention muscles a little more.

But as in any new regimin, begin easy. Begin with what you can actually do. And only after you get comfortable with the intention-setting process should you start going for real growth. Patience – taking small, measured steps – is more than a virtue here. It’s the key to keeping yourself moving forward. (Notice I said patience, not procrastination.)

Attempt too much too soon, and the end result will be another round of demotivation and discouragement.

Instead, go about this logically and gradually: keep your eye on the level you want to reach next year, and let today’s effort take you 1/365th of the way there. Do this, and you’ll see real, measurable progress as well as achievements you’ll truly be proud of.

It’s all pretty simple stuff, really. Just training yourself to keep your word to yourself.

One high-stakes presentation that entrepreneurs have to give is in front of potential investors. While it can be intimidating to present in front of people who can fund your business, service or idea, following these 6 tips will improve your presentation and make it more likely that the investors will understand your proposal and address it on its merits, rather than being distracted by your poor presentation skills:

1. Think about it from the investors' point of view

This presentation is not the time to tell the investors everything you know about your product/service. Instead focus on what is important to them and follow my Golden Rule of Communications - "communicate unto others as they want to be communicated to." Remember that you are asking them to invest money and time, so they will be heavily focused on value and the return on their investment.

2. Be prepared but not overly memorized

While it may seem like a good idea to memorize your pitch, the problem is that when you are presenting, you will be in your head worrying about forgetting what you've memorized rather than in the moment having a discussion with the investors. You can memorize the key parts of your presentation - your introduction and your conclusion - but instead of memorizing every word in the entire presentation, practice by delivering your presentation out loud until you are comfortable enough with the material that you can say it several different ways and still have the same meaning.

3. Anticipate questions

You can prepare for more than 90% of the questions you will be asked. For example, you know that potential investors want to know about things like your sales, production costs, cash flow and patents pending. So have that information ready. For the other 10% of the questions that you can't anticipate, rely on your background, knowledge and preparation to answer in the moment. And if you don't have an answer, don't bluff. Just admit that you don't know and that you will have to get back to them with the answer.

4. Remain calm when answering questions

When the investors start peppering you with questions, it may feel like you are in front of a firing range.  Questions show that the audience is interested, which is especially true in this case when they are deciding whether to invest money in your proposal. So, don't take the questions personally or get hostile when responding.

5. Be assertive and respectful

As an entrepreneur asking for investment, you have to demonstrate that you are passionate about your product/service, knowledgeable about your market and committed to working hard. You have to be assertive when explaining the value of your idea or company and why it's a good investment. However, you have to balance being assertive with being respectful of your audience. Avoid personal attacks, sarcasm or disparaging remarks about those who have chosen not to invest. Remember, while you may have a large personal stake in your idea or product, to your investors this is business, not personal.

6. Smile

Though it may feel like you are going into the dragon's den or the shark's tank, it is important to smile. Smiling demonstrates your confidence and helps to relax you and in turn, relax your audience. A genuine smile (rather than a fake smile) will also help convey your excitement and passion for your product or service.

The next time you are pitching your product or service in front of potential investors, follow these 6 tips to ensure that the investors understand your product or service, appreciate your passion and knowledge and don't get distracted by your poor presentation skills or lack of confidence.

Article by Gilda Bonanno

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7785788