October! My Favorite Month.

I absolutely love it when October rolls around every year. It marks the beginning of beautiful fall weather. The leaves change colors here in Arizona. My daughter’s birthday is mid-month, and then Halloween! I love that whole holiday scene because it’s one night of the year that all of our friends and neighbors are out in the neighborhood and we can all enjoy chatting and seeing the awesome costumes everyone has created. It’s just a super fun time of the year. What’s your favorite time of the year?

UStream — Just Fun or Useful?

UStream is an amazing technology isn’t it? Suddenly, anyone from anywhere can create a “show” to share with the general public. The simplicity is rather astounding — within a few minutes I was up and running and ready to and broadcast a live show. Wow.

I’ve been learning about UStream and what I have found most daunting is the idea of being live in front of the camera — I never aspired to be a movie star! But I’m getting ready to use it to create a presentation for my MasterMind group and I’ll transform from the student to the teacher. I know from experience that if I need to present information to others, I will learn it more completely for myself.

UStream has tremendous potential for training purposes and it is a no cost alternative to other webinar or teleseminar platforms. It’s limited by the fact that verbal communication is one-way (from me to the viewers), but written communication comes back in the form of a chat box. Depending on the number of viewers, the chat feature can scroll by pretty quickly, so multi-tasking is vital — I have to be able to think, speak and read at the same time.

The technology is a bit novel and fun, but the ability to communicate real-time with viewers and have interaction with them is highly useful in a training or information-sharing situation. If you want more information on using UStream you can leave a comment here and I’ll get back with you.

“Working” on the Beach in the Dominican Republic

Just returned from a six-day trip to the Dominican Republic for a conference that just blew me away. I can’t share all the details because it was a private wealth conference related to my business, but the information presented has already changed my life. I’m implementing two of the strategies I learned right now, and will be working on another this next week. Completely practical, alternative and mind-blowing techniques to skyrocket wealth accumulation.

While I was there, my Internet marketing business continued to click along and I made sales while walking on the beach! Truthfully, I couldn’t have imagined this lifestyle even a year ago.

The best part of it all is that the more I help others succeed, the more successful I am. It’s all about the win-win. How cool is that?

Now, about the Dominican Republic! The place is absolutely beautiful and the sand is white and has the feel of powdered sugar. So soft on your feet! Water is blue and crystal clear and the people I met were so friendly and engaging. They spoke a mix of mostly Spanish and some English and I spoke a mix of mostly English and some Spanish — so we managed to communicate well!

The hotel on the beach was like paradise with a huge open-air courtyard and a pool that was more like a small lake. While there, the hotel hosted an absolutely brilliant tribute to Michael Jackson, complete with very talented impersonators. Local dancers danced the Merenge (the national dance, I’m told) nearly every night in beautiful and colorful costumes. Mention baseball, and you’ll see that they take a great deal of pride in their baseball heritage.

The trip was a pretty perfect mix of work and play, and I would love to visit the Dominican Republic again soon!

Chill Out Sometimes

 

As my teenage daughter would say “We should just chill”. Which is what we did this last weekend. By we I mean myself, my 19-year old daughter, and her boyfriend of two years. We took a little road trip over to the beach for a few days and “just chilled”. We stayed at a beautiful brand new hotel that was just across the street from the beach. So the first day we decided to get in touch with our inner children and we went to – can you guess? – DISNEYLAND! I can’t say I was looking forward to the lines but it actually turned out to be a great day (even with the two rides that did have us waiting for an hour) we went on all the rides that we wanted and got some cotton candy while we were at it The next couple days were all about the beach and the sun. I already miss it. It was fantastic to just relax for a few days. Sleep in a little, then basically go back to sleep on the beach to the sound of the ocean. It definitely reminded me that every now and then (more often than not if you can manage it!) we all need to just chill, and take time to let go.

Steve Jobs on Life

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

~Steve Jobs

Taming the Debt Monster in Three Steps

Are you saddled with debt? Struggling to make the monthly payments you have to make on things you purchased long ago — and maybe you don’t even remember what they are?

Debt is a huge monster and there are three very important things to keep in mind when you are trying to tame this monster. First, stop accumulating debt. No matter what, just don’t use your credit cards, borrow from friend and family or try to buy anything that is going to feed the monster.

Second, get a plan in place to attack the monster and knock it to its knees. Whether its a snowball plan or credit counseling or debt settlement — just do it. Now. Today.

Third, and most important of all is to make more money! I know, that may sound impossible to you right now, but making more money is the one sure way to tame the debt monster and kick it out of your life forever. Create more wealth so that, once you are rid of the debt monster, you never, ever have to invite him in to your life again. If you don’t know how to do that, get help. Ask for help. It’s an incredibly important step.

You are not the first person to have created a debt monster, and you certainly won’t be the last. I’ve helped many people attack the debt monster successfully and I would love the chance to help you as well. You can tame the debt monster and create more wealth than you may have ever imagined. Ask me. I’ll help.

Unlimited Free Leads From Social Networking

There is a lot of talk around these days about social networking. Sites are popping up all over: MySpace is the granddaddy, but there is also FaceBook, Twitter, Squidoo, YouTube and many others. These sites were designed around the idea that people could meet and interact on the Internet. But savvy marketers have also figured out that they are an amazing source of never-ending leads for their businesses.

How can that be? Isn’t MySpace for my teenage daughter? And YouTube is full of crazy funny animal videos, right? How does that factor into my business?

All of these sites can factor in to your business very importantly. Think of the “old-school” networking you know about. You join Kiwanis, Rotary Club, Soroptimist and you pass around your business cards and make friends. The clubs are designed to do good works in the community but they are used very effectively to promote business among their members.

Social networking sites are similar. You sign on, set up a page and begin to invite friends over for a chat. Then you expand and invite other people you haven’t met yet — new friends. You find things you have in common and build relationships. You get to know each other. As you build relationships, you will attract people who are like you. They have similar interests or they can relate to your “story.”

Once your new friends come to know, like and trust you, they will be open to hearing about what you are doing in your life. They learn a little about your business and, because they’ve come to respect you, they want to learn more and — bingo — they click on your link and opt-in.

Social networking, when done right, is highly respectful and is not a hard sell. You attract people, draw them in based on who you honestly are. And because like attracts like, the people who seek you out will be folks you will enjoy working with. It is an ingenious process and yet it is highly individual as well.

So, tell your teenage daughter to move on over. It’s your turn to get a MySpace account and start looking for friends.

Social Networking

It doesn’t feel like work, but it is an important part of an online business.

Think and Act Like an Entrepreneur

Watch Your Language! Or Thoughts Become Things

When your mother told you to “watch your language,” she probably didn’t realize how important that direction really was. Her emphasis was on your being polite and courteous. But language is incredibly powerful and what you say, quickly becomes what you are, have and experience. Thoughts become things. You’ve no doubt heard that phrase before. Take it to heart.

Let’s focus on the language of “work” for a moment. When you wake up in the morning, is it to the thought that you “have to go to work.” Think about that carefully for a moment. You “have to” go to work. Sounds dreadful doesn’t it? Draining. Contrast that with the thought that “I’m going to create wealth today!” Or I “want to” get started on my day! Language is powerful and the phrases you use greatly affect the quality of your life.

Choose your words wisely. Make them positive and sweet. Speak out loud about how lucky you are to have such great friends, interesting and meaningful work, exciting future plans. Completely remove negative words and connotations from your language patterns. It is easier than you may think, and you will see amazing results once your speech begins to reflect the excitement, hope and joy you expect to experience in your life.

When you interact with others, you may find it particularly difficult to maintain the positive speech pattern you are cultivating. When you are faced with a statement of “how bad the economy is,” what do you say? I suggest a response something like, “I’m not sure what you are talking about. My business is growing rapidly,” or something similar. Intentionally divert the conversation to a more positive direction and don’t even let the negative words or feelings you hear come into your consciousness. A bit “Pollyanna-ish,” you might say. I agree. But that seems like a very good thing to me.