Palatable Insight Concepts

The Three Most Powerful Principles I Have Learned from Millionaires

2007-01-23T17:07:00.000+01:00

Personally, over the years I have had the privilege to spend time with some very financially and spiritually enlightened people.

As a result, my personal life and the way I do business has changed...

In listening to these people talk and observing how they handle their personal and business lives, three very distinct and powerful traits came to my attention.

I believe if all these three traits were applied to your life, they would make such a dramatic change, that in a short time all the things you desire would show up in your life...including as much money as you desire.

I don't say that lightly, I really have been influenced by these three Spiritual Principles and their power. I believe – no, I KNOW, you will be too, if you apply them in your life.

Principle Number 1: They “KNOW” They Can Create Whatever They Desire...

Spiritual Millionaires choose what they want instead of focusing on what they don’t want. They never spend time thinking about what is “missing” from their life. Rather, they make a choice about what they want in their life.

Spiritual Millionaires have 100% confidence in the Law of Attraction. The have no doubt about their ability to create what they desire.

They don’t “believe” it - they KNOW it...

There is a world of difference between “believing” and “knowing”. When you “know” the truth about anything, there is no doubt.

You have 100% confidence...

Knowing is about trusting that you are the only one who knows what is right for you, that you are capable of handling whatever comes to you, and that you are clear on your intentions or the outcome you choose to create.

I've seen the power of being absolutely clear on my intentions for my life: They come true!

They have for me, and I watched the Spiritual Millionaires as their intentions came to reality for them as well.

Being clear on your intentions is a good first step.

However, a more powerful and life-changing step is trusting that those intentions are ALREADY a reality on the non-physical plane of consciousness, and that they must manifest in your physical reality if you do not hold any opposing thoughts.

And then, "Act As If..." your intentions are reality, now.

Not dishonestly, or outside of your true beliefs. But, to feel it, sense it, imagine how it’s going to "show up" in various situations once it manifests in your life.

Principle Number 2: They Take Action...

As I observed Spiritual Millionaires, I noticed that they didn't hesitate to move on their ideas and respond to situations that called for action in order to keep the momentum going.

Do you get the power of what this Principle is about?

If you're sitting waiting for something to happen, doing other "important" tasks rather than those that you know will produce the results you desire , you are wasting time and you are no closer to your desire.

Trust me on this one, I've waited for so many things in my life that never showed up!

Acting on your desire is habit that you desperately need to cultivate in order to get to where you want to be... Waiting will not do it...

I watched these Spiritual Millionaires, one after another, take immediate action, not out of fear or to ‘force’ things to happen, but because the next action they took brought them one step closer to their desire.

And, I saw tremendous results come into their lives... They don’t take unnecessary action. Instead, they use the leverage of energy, the same leverage of energy that creates everything in the universe.

I have seen these Spiritual Millionaires step into spaces of discomfort, and have courage to take action. It was also evident that they were as scared to take those steps as you and I are when we're faced with the choice of moving out of our comfort zone.

THE MESSAGE IS...

It's time to "Get Moving”, trust your intuition, your sense of knowing what the next step is, and take action...

We often wait for the "feeling to be right" first, before we take the action we know will bring us satisfaction. That's all back-to-front...

The feelings of satisfaction only comes from ACCOMPLISHMENT, not from pondering and procrastinating. (You knew that one, too, didn't you...)

Never try to force things to happen because you are afraid of what will happen if you don’t take a certain action. Instead, choose ‘inspired action’ that moves you toward what you want, not away from what you don’t want.

Acting on your intentions without trying to force things to happen will magnetize your desires by attracting people, places and opportunities into your into reality that you never would have even seen if you hadn't done so.

Principle Number 3: They Maintain an "Attitude of Gratitude...

Spiritual Millionaires maintain an “attitude of gratitude”...

Gratitude does not need explanation – you know how to be grateful. But did you know that gratitude brings you more of what you appreciate? Gratitude speeds along the manifestation of your desires.

When you find things that you appreciate and you use them as your point of focus, your world has to get better in every area of your life. Spiritual Millionaires know that every time they flood their mind with appreciation or gratitude they attract more of what they desire.

Look around you right now. What can you be grateful for? Make a list. Get into the authentic feeling of true gratitude...

Find something, anything, to be grateful for right now. When you are grateful, you're in a high energy vibration that will attract more things to be grateful for and more good things will come to you magically, drawn in by your feelings of gratitude.

Thanks to Dr. Robert Anthony, Creator of The Secret of Deliberate Creation.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Improve Your Self Confidence in 15 Minutes

2007-01-23T16:47:00.000+01:00

I used to be frighteningly lacking in confidence in social situations. And although people who know me now would never believe it, I used to doubt myself so much that I literally had to learn confidence until it became a natural part of me. I can tell you: relaxed optimistic confidence is just, well, so much more fun! Here I'll tell you about the things that made the most difference to my confidence levels...

Some people have naturally high levels of confidence but everybody can learn to be more confident. Firstly, it's important to get a clear idea of what self confidence really means, otherwise you won't know when you've got it! So, self confidence means:

1. Being calm. For every situation in life you need to run on the appropriate level of emotion. Too much emotional 'leakage' into a experience can spoil the experience. You make great strides towards confidence when you begin to relax in a greater range of situations.

2. Being cool. The second part of self confidence is about being able to relax with uncertainty. To be 'cool' in a situation really means relaxing with not knowing how things will pan out. If you truly tolerate uncertainty, you can do pretty much anything.

3. Not being too concerned with what others think of you.You know when you imagine what some place is going to be like before you go there but when you get there it is totally different to your imagination? That's how reliable your imagination is! Stop trusting your imagination so much. I've long since stopped bothering to imagine what others think of me because so often I've turned out to be wrong.

4. Being specific - where do you want confidence? 'Confidence' is meaningless until you tie it to something specific. You are already confident that you can read these words or can switch a light on and off. So you don't need more confidence everywhere. To get what you want in life you have to establish exactly what you do want. Where do you want confidence in your life? Think about the specific situations now and write them down. You beginning to steer your brain towards confidence.

5. Understanding that what you expect is what you get. Your brain is an organ that needs clear goals to work towards. When a task has been set in your brain it will do everything it can do to bring about the completion of that task. If you've tried to recall someone's name but can't, hours later you'll often find their name pops into your head.

The 'trying to recall' experience set the task or blueprint for your brain's future subconscious behaviour which eventually produced the name for you - when you weren't thinking about it consciously. You can use this natural mechanism to start feeling more confident. But, to ensure you set the right task for your subconscious mind, the next point is vital.

6. Don't task your mind with negatives. Instead of: 'I don't want to screw up' (which sets the task of 'screwing up' for your brain), set the blueprint for what you do want! Your brain doesn't work towards what to do by being told what not to do. And nature has given you a wonderful natural tool to set the right task blueprints with.

7. Use nature's goal-setter: Now you understand how vital it is to set the right task for you brain, you need to know how to do this reliably. Good hynosis will strongly 'program' the right blueprint in your mind through the use of your imagination. If you powerfully imagine feeling confident and relaxed while in a relaxed hypnotic state it will be hard for your unconscious mind to do anything else. The blueprint for relaxation has been set firmly into your subconscious mind.

3 simple strategies to get you feeling confident quickly:
1. Think specifically of the time/place/situation you want to feel confident in. Remember 'confidence' doesn't mean anything until you attach it to something specific.

2. Focus on words in your mind right now that describe how you do want to be in that time and place. Maybe words such as 'calm', 'relaxed' or 'focused'. Remember your brain works on clear positive instructions.

3. Close your eyes for as long as you like and think about how those words feel. Then, imagine the situation itself and rehearse it in your mind feeling confident and relaxed. This way you set the right blueprint or 'task' for your unconscious mind.

You can repeat this often to make it more effective and use it with as many areas of your life as you need to. If you listen to a hypnotic cd or download that can make the benefits even more powerful. So if you feel like you'd be blessed with less confidence than some other people you can start redressing the balance by using your mind in the right way right now.

It took me years to learn how to be more confident - now you can do it in a fraction of the time. Good luck!

Thanks to Mark Tyrrell..... Creative Director of Hypnosis

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

5 Simple Steps to Creating Whatever You Desire

2007-01-23T15:57:00.000+01:00

We will now look at the very important process of manifestation; the conscious creation of your own reality; the manifestation of your wishes and desires. Always remember; there is absolutely nothing that you cannot be, do or have.

It is highly advisable before embarking on any manifestation project to meditate upon, or consider very deeply whether you really do need and desire any specific objective to manifest into your life and the life of those around you. Sometimes what seems to be a very good idea and desirable idea at the time turns out to be decidedly less than desirable once it manifests as a reality into your life.

It is most important to think only in terms of genuine needs and never of greed or the demands of the ego, as for example would be the case if you were comparing yourself with others. Before you manifest money, for example, you should think or meditate very deeply on what this money, or anything else you wish to manifest will really add, not only to your own life but also to that of your family, loved ones and others around you.

The process of creating anything and everything you could possibly desire is a natural, God given ability that everyone possesses, it is just that most simply do not know or realise it. The Universe is infinitely abundant; there are no limits on wealth or anything else.

When you know beyond any doubt that you are indeed a creator, a co-creator within this magnificent Universe in which we live, an aspect of The Source, The First Cause, God, then you will know beyond any doubts in your very being that you can realise all of your wishes.

The 5-Step Process of Manifestation

The process of manifestation is conceptually extremely simple, consisting of the following five steps: Know, Ask, Experience, Action and Gratitude.

1) Know your desire. 2) Ask for your desire.3) Experience your desire. 4) Action towards your desire.5) Gratitude for your desire.

These five steps will enable you to manifest absolutely anything at all into your own physical reality. Once learned, you will apply these steps naturally in your ongoing existence, and you will become a conscious creator of your own reality, shaping your world in precise accordance with your desires. You can enjoy a magical life of unlimited joy, harmony and fulfilment, always knowing that there is absolutely nothing that you cannot be, do or have.

Let us now take a detailed look at each of these important steps to realising your wishes.

Step 1: Know your desire.

This might seem obvious, but in fact many people simply do not really know what they desire. They might think they want this, that or the other, but never really consider it in great depth.
A friend gets a new car for example, and the person immediately believes that they need a new car, often a better car. A person might go shopping in an expensive store and see something that they cannot afford but believe they need or must have anyway because it will enhance their life in some way. Sometimes people simply decide on a whim that they need a particular item or event in their lives.

Knowing what you really do want is an extremely important first step in the process of manifesting a desire. Before proceeding therefore take as much time as you need to contemplate your desire, and if necessary meditate on your desire or ask for guidance.

Consider in detail as to what the object of your desire will really bring to you. How will it really benefit you? How will it make you happy and enhance your reality? And most importantly how will it help you towards arriving at where you really need to be?

You really do need to take as much time as is necessary to decide and to actually know beyond any doubt that you genuinely need the object of your desire and that your life will be enhanced by it in a positive way. Only you can make this decision; no one else can make it for you. This is your own reality to create; it is reality of no one else. You are the one who will need to live with whatever you bring into your reality, as well as being completely responsible for its affect on your family and all those around you.

It is also important to only focus on one objective at a time. Never waste your time and Energy by simply wishing, daydreaming or fantasizing about numerous things. You must decide on exactly what one single thing at a time that you really, genuinely need and desire above all else, and focus your entire Energy on that desire until such time as it has manifested into your life. There is no time limit on this step because it is so fundamentally important.

Finally you should never, ever, ever ask for money. As we have already discussed, money is, in and of itself totally meaningless. It is a merely a human construct, an object, a notional method of exchange which as far as the Universe is concerned is no more than Energy in the form of bits of physical metal, paper or electronic bits and bytes stored on a computer system. The Universe is infinitely abundant, everything you could possibly wish for already exists, however large or small, and all you need to do is to bring it into your physical awareness, and therefore your physical reality. Always ask for exactly what you want, and never place a monetary value upon it and again never, but never, ever ask for money.

Once you know beyond all doubt what you really want, you can proceed to the next step.

Step 2: Ask for your desire.

Ask and you shall receive. These are indeed ancient and most wise words.

Every wish is immediately and unconditionally granted; all we need to do is to know how to receive. It is in the receiving however that most people fail to realise their wishes.

Asking is in and of itself an important and very precise step in this process. You need to be positive, unambiguous and precise about how you ask for your desire to be realised. The asking process can be purely in the Mind, however one of the most powerful methods of asking is to simply write down your request on paper. The physical action of writing down your desire impresses your wish on your subconscious Mind that is directly in communication with The Source, as well as focussing your intentions, wishes and desires in a positive and unambiguous way.

Always write down your wish in the present tense. We have discussed and emphasised this previously and we must do so once again. You already have everything you could possible desire. All you need to do is to ask The Universe, The Source, God to bring it into your personal reality in order that you may physically experience it.

If for example you used the words "I want", then you will realise a perpetual state of "wanting". Remember, ask and you shall receive. "Wanting" is a human concept, but nevertheless one which the Universe will gladly provide upon request. Never "want" something, otherwise you will find yourself perpetually wanting that thing and never actually receiving it.

Your written request should be in the present tense and as short, precise and to the point as possible. There is no need to write an essay on why you must have this desire, simply state it exactly as you wish for it to manifest into your own physical reality. The subconscious Mind, although sublime and immensely powerful, being the majority of the totality of the Mind, is very child-like in the way it perceives instructions. The subconscious Mind will usually perceive direct instructions but not the rationale. If you endeavour to explain the reasons for your desire the subconscious might well either disregard or confuse what you are impressing upon it, and the results will reflect that.

The correct way to ask in the present tense could be as follows: "I now have a new car. My new car is blue in colour, has five doors and a CD player", I am really enjoying my new car". You may also add any other features you desire but keep the list to the point and above all totally unambiguous.

It is very important indeed having completed this step not to begin to long for the object of your wish to appear, or to wonder where it is, or in particular become frustrated. These are negative thoughts and emotions that will have a correspondingly negative impact on the object of your desires. You must know beyond any doubt whatsoever that your wish has already been granted in full, and that all you need to do now is to bring it into your physical reality.

It is also most important to have complete and absolute faith in The Universe, The Source, God, to bring the object of your desire into your physical reality. Any lack of faith will have a very negative effect on attracting the object of your wishes into your physical experiential reality by sending out vibrations that say you do not believe the object of your desire will manifest into your reality, in which case it will be granted and will not manifest.

You have now asked and it has already been given. All you need to do now is to allow your wish to appear within your personal, physical awareness and reality.

Step 3: Experience your desire.

Experiencing is an extremely important step towards allowing and therefore receiving the object of your desire into your physical reality. In order to experience what you have asked for you must allow it to manifest into your physical reality by The Law of Attraction, and that means bringing your Energy vibration into harmony with the desires you have already asked for and have been given. This is a fundamentally important step, and one that many people fail to realise when they are subconsciously transmitting wishes, thus failing to attract and experience the object of their asking.

Everyone constantly transmits desires whether they are aware of it or not. These desires are in the form of vibrations sent out to the Universe. The reason that most people are not aware of this is because they simply are not in a vibrational harmony allowing them to receive the object of their desires.

Allowing is to receive, and a very powerful method of receiving is to experience. Experiencing the object of your wishes will bring you into vibrational harmony with those wishes, thus enabling them to be attracted and manifest into your personal, physical reality.

By experiencing we do not mean physical experience because by this time you will not have the physical object or situation manifest in your experiential physical reality. The experience is therefore at this stage one of the imagination.

Whenever you have the opportunity to remain undisturbed for a time and your Mind is clear of other thoughts, sit down comfortably, relax as deeply as possible by taking a few deep breaths, and imagine yourself to be in the presence of the object or situation of your desires.

This process is particularly powerful just before sleep at night and just after awaking in the morning and before arising from bed. Use all five senses within your imagination to the maximum extent in order to experience your desires. Feel it, live it and be an integral part of it. For the time you are involved with this exercise you must be totally at one with the object of your desires. This process can be likened to playing a movie film in your head, in vivid Technicolor and surround-sound, while experiencing every aspect of the situation with all of your senses. This is one reason why we practiced creative visualisation in the previous chapter, creative visualisation utilising all the sense being a very powerful way of experiencing your desires and bringing your Energy into vibrational harmony with your desires.

While playing this movie in your Mind feel all of the emotions involved as intensely as possible that are associated with physically experiencing your desires now.

Always remember that desires, wishes and expectations are all in the present tense, and should never, ever be expressed or thought of as "wanting" which implies a perpetual state of lack and never receiving. Wishes, desires and expectations are always in the present tense, knowing, beyond any doubts whatsoever that the object of your desires already exists within the Eternal Now of The Universe and your inner reality, and that all that you have to do is to receive the object of your desires into your own personal reality.

Step 4: Action towards your desires.

Although the Universe, The Source, God will deliver into your physical reality anything that you desire, wish and ask for, it will empower the process considerably if your also take your own steps in the direction of your desires. This has many positive benefits including reinforcing on your subconscious Mind your total commitment to realising your desires in a totally unambiguous way.

This is does not of course mean that you physically have to go out there and do everything yourself. By taking positive steps in the direction of your desire you invoke another very powerful Energy, the Energy of intent. The Energy of intent will work in conjunction with the knowing, asking and experiencing in a very powerful way by reinforcing your claim on the object of your desire that already exists in the Eternal Now of the Universe.

In addition to the Energy of intent you must also firmly impress upon your subconscious Mind the fact that you are very serious indeed about materialising the object of your desire into your physical experiential reality. Your subconscious Mind is extremely powerful and is in direct communication with The Source. If you therefore have your subconscious Mind as well as your conscious Mind influencing all of the necessary Energy in the direction of bringing the object of your desire into your physical reality, it will be much more powerful and the object of your desire will manifest sooner as a result.

If for example you wish to manifest a new house, you should take positive actions to physically go out and look for one. You do not have to worry about whether you can afford it or not, that would be a negative emotion resulting in the negative influence of Energy, and in any case the realisation of your house is not your concern, it is for the Universe, The Source, God to materialise the object of your desires, your wishes your request into your own reality.

In the case of your new house, the very act of physically going out and looking for the house of your desires will not only project the positive Energy of intent, but will also very considerably and favourably influence other emotions such as excitement, all of which will add to the net positive effect on the positive Energy you are harmonising towards realising your desires. The same principle applies to any material thing or situation; the more you physically take steps in the direction of your desire, the more emotion you can feel as a result, and the more you can integrate the object of your desire into your very Being, the more powerful will be the effect, and the sooner you will be able to realise it within your physical reality.

So whatever you do you must take positive action towards your desires. The bigger and the more positive and frequent the action the better; but take some sort of action you must. Never take the Universe for granted and never wait until tomorrow, because the next day you will defer until tomorrow again, and you will never take that important first positive action in the direction of your desires.

As soon as you know your desire, have asked for it, and are experiencing it, you must then take steps towards it and allow the Universe to manifest your desire into your physical experiential reality in ways The Universe will take care of.

Step 5: Gratitude for your desire.
Gratitude is another extremely important emotional Energy that you really must project during the course of manifesting your desires.

In the context of manifestation, gratitude is another extremely powerful emotion. The power of gratitude functions at several levels. To feel sincerely grateful is to be in tune with the Universe. It conveys the Energy that you already know and appreciate the fact that you are an integral aspect of The Universe, and that you are grateful for being a conscious, infinite, immortal being and co-creator within the magnificent Universe in all of its Energy levels of splendour, glory and creation. You know beyond any doubt whatsoever that you are an integral, inseparable aspect of The Divine and that you live as an immortal Spiritual being who has been blessed with the Divine ability to create your very own reality.

Gratitude also conveys an acknowledgement for having received the object of your desire. Remember; you must always at all times think in terms of physically having the object of your desire actually within your physical possession. Along with those thoughts should be the feeling of the most intense gratitude for what you have already received from The Universe. Gratitude makes the object of your desires a real, tangible, integral aspect of your own reality, and the more real it is to you the sooner it will manifest into your personal experiential reality.

Gratitude conveyed with genuine sincerity brings you more into harmony with the Universe, and with it you become an even more natural creator of your desires. Those people who are completely aligned with the Universe, The Source, God are natural creators who live what seems to others like a "charmed", magical life, instantly manifesting anything at all into their own reality, the microcosm at will, just as God creates within the entire Universe, the Macrocosm. Such people are true Magicians, wizards and creators, and nothing is impossible to them.

Never, ever take anything at all for granted. Always feel deeply grateful for everything that happens in your reality, regardless of whether you consciously attracted it or whether you perceive it to be positive or negative. In the grand scheme of things everything that manifests into your physical reality is directly for the benefit of your own personal evolution, and you should be most grateful for it whether you consciously brought it into your own reality or not.

Being deeply grateful also helps to ensure that you never convey the Energy of dissatisfaction, which is a very negative Energy, and therefore from a physical perspective a very destructive emotion. Dissatisfaction, ungratefulness or unhappiness will send the wrong Energy into the Universe, which will in turn react with immutable perfection in reciprocating those negative emotions with more of the same. So whatever you feel dissatisfied, ungrateful or unhappy about will appear into your physical reality even stronger than ever, creating a vortex of negative Energy as causes with correspondingly negative effects.

Conversely, those things that you feel extremely satisfied, grateful and happy about will create a much higher, positive vibration, attracting more of the same into your life. The Universe always naturally moves in the direction of expansion and evolution, and never of contraction or destruction, so positive emotions are always much more powerful than negative emotions even though they are both Energy causes with the corresponding effects.

These then are the five powerful steps to attracting anything you could possibly desire into your life, where you can enjoy those desires into your own experiential physical reality. All of these five steps are individually very powerful indeed in their own right, but collectively they influence Energy so powerfully that you can manifest almost anything you desire into your personal reality with what might seem like amazing speed. You will soon come to know the truth that there is nothing that you cannot be, do or have. This process is an entirely aspect of the Universe; God always intended us to be joyous creators in the microcosm just as He/She is a joyous creator in the Macrocosm, and it is the destiny of mankind to understand these truths thereby realising the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

The entire Universe always moves in the direction of expansion, evolution and life, and as an extension of The Source Energy it is your destiny to live in harmony with The Universe, The Source, with God. So create joyfully in the knowledge that you are fulfilling your role as a co-creator in the Universe. The Universe is infinitely abundant and enjoys infinite expansion and growth. Never therefore be ashamed, hesitant or unhappy about creation; create anything and everything you desire with great Joy, Love and Gratitude in the certain knowledge that you are an immortal aspect of God, a Spiritual Being, a co-creator within this magnificent Universe as you joyfully fulfil the ultimate reality of evolving back to The First Cause, The Source, back to God from when you first came as an immortal Spiritual Being.

Thanks to Adrian Cooper is the author of “Our Ultimate Reality, Life, the Universe and the Destiny of Mankind”.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Expect Miracles

2007-01-17T06:09:00.000+01:00

Experience yourself as the miracle you are. Thank yourself for being so amazing. What is possible for you if you choose to be conscious, aware and mindful?

Open your mind and see what is possible for you.

We think about 60,000 thoughts a day. There are 100 billion galaxies, each with, on the average, 100 billion stars; our brain has 100 billion cells.

Our earth is at least 4.6 billion years old. The universe is at least 15 billion years old. There are about 10 billion trillion planets.

We live on the edge of a distant spiral arm of 40 billion stars known as the Milky Way.Our genes are millions of years old; some are billions of years old. A single cell in the human body is doing about six trillion things per second, and it chooses to know what every other cell is doing at the same time.

Every cell in the body contains the same master DNA library of genes as every other cell of the body.

Every one of our 100 trillion cells contains the complete instructions on how to make every part of us. We are a miracle.

We are perfection.

How funny that we would trust the small voice inside that says we are not enough. We are perfection. When you think about all this, how can you not surrender yourself to the creative heart/mind/soul/being who orchestrates the universe?

Every cell supports each other, and is nourished by every other cell. The cell is in flow, and the flow is the essence of life. Our cells are more conscious than we are. They know how to support, to be a team. They can depend on each other. They work together in service to the whole.

The truth is, all creation is one body, one person, one being, whose cells are connected to one another within a medium called consciousness.

We are predisposed to great genius and riches in spite of our small egos telling us we are something other than who we truly are.

CHOOSE WEALTH. Marianne Williamson is credited with saying, "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure... We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually who are you not to be?"

Wake up your life.

An unaware life - a sluggish, dimmed life is not big enough to hold you anymore. It's time to wake up. Simply BE. And observe your way of being with everyone - see what is mirrored back. Look at the positive and negative. If you desire love, give love. Really give love. Observe, watch what happens when you are really Being Love.

If you are tired of being a victim - simply accept responsibility for everything in your life and watch the stories naturally changing. The seemingly negative stories and lessons always seem to lead to liberation, peace, true freedom if you are aware, and awake - joy will be there as a reminder. Change your programming. Don't obey your programming anymore. Unless it's the program called Awareness. Joy. Bliss. Awake. Forgiving.

What makes you feel insecure? Money, health, love, education... what is it? Are you insecure because you don't feel like you have enough money? Or, that you are not loved? Or, that you never finished college so you feel inadequate? None of that is true. Not even for a nanosecond. Nothing outside of yourself makes you feel anything. Nothing outside of you makes you insecure.

What makes you feel less is all in your head, in your programming.

Change your mind and you will experience everything differently. Yet nothing has changed - except you. You don't buy into your story anymore. Otherwise why would one person with little money in the bank feel fully secure and taken care of and another could have a million and feel insecure. The difference is their programming. You can't change your insecurity by doing anything outside of you. No amount of money, no face-lift, no new car, no new relationship will create the long-term results you are looking for.

Insecurity is taught.

Realize, fully that insecure people taught this insecurity to you when you were very young and impressionable. You bought into their reactions, behavior, and panic when the outside world didn't conform to a certain pattern. You learned to express emotional turmoil or hid it and it was called insecurity. It may have played itself out as defensive, closed, hidden, fearful or panic. You learned to react big time. You learned not to like or accept being insecure - so you became withdrawn or fought others making them wrong and making sure you came out as the "right" one. You did or do everything in your power to change the outside world mistakenly thinking you'll be more secure that way - sure, more money, bigger, faster car, nicer house... you become an approval suck, desperate for someone's attention and approval to make you feel better about you. Anything it takes to make the insecure feelings go away.

Offer yourself relief right now.

Understand that doing these things doesn't make the insecurity go away. It solves nothing. The answer is only within.

Envision the same circumstances that hurt you and now imagine it as a neutral event. It's not personal. It just is what it is. See the gift in now.

Before it was a mistake, now it's a lesson. Before it was someone doing something to you, now you own your power.

You don't need to hold others in such a rigid pattern that they can't breathe and be themselves - flawed, scared, doing their best, spontaneous, sometimes unkind, unaware, not mindful, or not perfect. And that's OK, it's more than OK - it is what it is.

So relax, and accept that it's great to be authentic moment by moment. Be a transformer from negative to positive - in love with no pre-defined rules.Now you've birthed a new belief.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

You Are Powerful Beyond Measures.

2007-01-17T05:58:00.000+01:00

You see, we are controlled regularly by our fears. While the immediate response is that "I am not afraid of success", I bet on closer inspection you are not just afraid - you, like me can be terrified by it.

It is easier to say we are motivated by a fear of failure. But failing is so easy. Sit by and watch passively while others grow, change and improve -- and there is a high likelihood that you will fail at what ever you were talking about achieving.

If you plant a garden, but don't water the plants, add some fertilizer or pull the weeds on occasion, your garden will fail due to those things you did not do.

If you start a home based business, and never share it with anyone, there is a reasonable certainty that your business will also fail due to those basic activities that you failed to do.
But you are fabulous. One of a kind. Entirely unique in all of the universe. Priceless. To go further, you are brilliant, gorgeous (just ask your Mom), talented and yes, fabulous.
And there are no limits on what you can accomplish in life.

Well, of course, no limits except those you invent in your amazing mind that is. If you listened to Wendy Robbins on this weeks faculty call, she demonstrated how just thinking of a lemon made your facial _expressions change.

Your mind is so powerful that your subconscious does not know the difference between something real and something made-up.

If your mind has up till now imagined failure or financial struggle, rest assured that your mind will manifest that for you. And when you decide that you are powerful beyond measure, you will be.

Why can I say this with certainty? Because I have experienced it for myself. Those who know my whole story know that I was so far off track in life, that to say I was in the "tall weeds" was a major understatement.

By changing my mind about who I am, and adopting the beliefs and then the activities of those whom I wanted to emulate, I became the person I wanted to be. And you can too.
So start today - there is no better time than now.

I am looking forward to seeing you in the winner’s circle!

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Your Marketing Is Your Company

2007-01-17T05:51:00.000+01:00

In my blog post this morning, I would like to confront a rampant misconception about marketing.

It is that marketing is something that a company does - just another activity like HR, accounting, training or product development.

I would like to blow that misconception to bits. Because marketing is not something your company does.

Marketing is your company

Nor is your company bricks and mortar, or even a Web page. Which leads me to another statement.

Your company is your customer

If you don't orient everything you do around your customer, you don't have a business. If you doubt what I am saying, let's consider the life cycle of a typical new small company. It usually goes something like this:

A would-be entrepreneur gets an idea for a product or a service business. He or she writes a business plan. Next comes funding, which the entrepreneur uses to pay for an office, equipment, a Website and employees. Then it is time to think about customers.

And because the customer was left out of the process until the very end of the process, the enterprise fails. In some cases, the entrepreneur can save the enterprise by retrofitting the earlier steps - product development and so on - with the customer in mind. But that costs lots of extra time, effort and money.

The solution is to put your customers at the epicenter of your planning from day one. They cannot become an afterthought. If you doubt the cost of ignoring them for too long, remember the many historical examples of companies that squandered $millions to develop failed products. From New Coke to the IBM PC Jr. to the Edsel, the woods are littered with the shells of failed products that nobody wanted to buy.

the success of your new enterprise requires you to focus on two marketing basics from the moment a promising entrepreneurial idea enters your mind:

Targeting - Know exactly who your customers will be. Not sort of, but exactly. Understand their needs. Then decide how you can satisfy those needs more effectively than your competitors can.

Positioning - Identify one, two or perhaps three benefits that your specific customers want, and that you can provide at a level superior to your competitors. If you are opening a health club and want to target young mothers, for example, be the only club in your area that provides childcare. Positioning requires you to know who your target customer is, and what your competition is offering.

In summary . . .

Your marketing, your customer and your company are one and the same. If you keep that in mind from day one of your new business development, entrepreneurial accomplishment - and supreme success - can be yours.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Know Your Customer, Create Your Success

2007-01-17T05:42:00.000+01:00

Good morning, Mr. or Ms. Entrepreneur. I'd like to ask you a very basic question today:Do you know who your customers are?

That's an interesting question, because there are so many ways to answer it. As an experiment, I asked our Executive Editor Barry Lenson to call three entrepreneurs and ask them that question. Here is what they told Barry:

Entrepreneur #1 answered, "Well, I know who my customers are, but I have never actually spoken to any of them."

Entrepreneur #2 said, "I have spent a lot of money on focus groups that told me what my customers like, and don't like, about my products."

Entrepreneur #3 replied, "My customers are mostly men between the ages of 22 and 25 with incomes between $50,000 and $75,000."

Those are all valid answers. But they are pretty different. Each of them says something different about what it means to know your customers.

But since today is the day after the Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I'd like to position the question a bit differently: How much do you know about the heritage, religious and racial backgrounds of your customers?

Even today, many business owners know nearly everything about their customers - except about their heritage, religion, ethnicity or race.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY? WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Excellence

2006-12-21T00:36:00.000+01:00

Positive Mental Attitude/Drive+Avoiding Negativity+Planning/Goal Setting+Persistency+Consistency+Never Giving Up = SUCCESS

Too often people are one step away from Success when they fall short because they are missing a piece of this Success Formula. When studying and following the strategies and tips from literally hundreds successful individuals, this formula continues to be the key to their personal success and the Successful people they have studied & documented.

If one looks in their life, he or she can find dozens of examples of how they succeeded because they followed this formula. The same holds true for he or she when one ultimately failed because they didn’t have the right attitude or they were not consistent on following their schedule and procrastinated at times.

Ask oneself before you begin a new journey and as you continue to travel down the road, “Am I sticking with the formula?” If one is forgetting a piece, stop for a moment and take the time to evaluate and make the necessary changes to get back on track.

How does one develop and sustain a Positive Mental Attitude with Success University? Begin by starting your day off by reading a positive article, quote, or listening to a SU course. This will set the tone for your day. Even if it’s just a couple minutes this can make a huge difference.How does one Avoid Negativity? Avoid thinking about the things one doesn’t have, the people one wishes they could be around, the bills that are plaguing your life, the job you hate, etc.

Instead, focus on the great things that are happening in one’s life. Think about the fact that one has a home, a car that runs, relationships that are great, etc.

Avoid those people that are energy suckers. Work toward creating new relationship with those people that are positive, uplifting and in a higher level of success that one wants to achieve. For example, avoid the negative gossip at the coffee pot at work. This is only a waste of time and usually results in someone getting hurt. How does one Plan and Set Goals? When one plans and set goals, look at all areas of your life:
1. Financial
2. Home
3. Social
4. Spiritual
5. Health
6. Education

Step 1: Create a goal journal, write down detailed aspects of the goal and be sure to write down why one specifically wants that goal. This will allow one to stay focused and motivated towards the goal and allow for any modifications as they travel through life.

Step 2: Make sure that one has a proper balance and if something is out of balance just be aware that it is because one is working on a specific goal in one of the other areas.

Step 3: Celebrate success as one’s goals are obtained. This leads back to a renewed healthy Positive Mental Attitude.

How does one become Persistent? Persistence is an attribute that must be practiced. It is often said that a sell is made because one was persistent and would not let the word, "No," stand in their way. The key is to keep going no matter what, continue trying one’s best.

When one runs into an obstacle and gets knocked down. Get right back on one's feet and keep trying. It’s called practice and people’s learning curves are different so realize that it’s only a matter of time tell one reaches their target.

How does one become Consistent? Consistency is a matter of developing habits. Some people may get lucky and score a couple successes, but it is through creating a consistent work ethic that success will be created often.

Some experts say it takes 30 days of doing something to create a habit and make it a part of ones everyday life; however others say it can take a year to really become consistent in doing an activity. AVOID PROCRASTINATION and just begin right away with the task at hand.

How does one keep on keeping on and Never Give Up? It can be an overwhelming challenge not to give up at times. The finish line can seem like miles away. However these challenges and obstacles are all part of the fun and the process. Success is not easy, one must constantly work on it.

The bottom line is the only way you lose is by quitting. Continue to drive on with all your passion and enthusiasm. Realize that what one’s mind and soul can imagine, the body can truly create and bring forth into existence.

One must first believe in themselves. Second, they most believe in what they are planning on doing. Lastly, they must take ACTION. Remember to follow these ingredients to this Success Formula in all areas of one’s life and the Road to Success will be fun, exciting, and filled with Happiness and Joy.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY? WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

PROCESS OF GETTING RICH AND BECOMING A ONE MINUTE MILLIONAIRE

2006-10-31T04:29:00.000+01:00

Rich is a process. A process in the sense that it entails the application of these processes which are: • Course • Course of action • Development • Modus Operandi • Route • Practice
• Procedure • Progression

1. Manufacture your own possibilities.

The application of the above process involves that you should create your own good fortune by manufacturing your own luck. The possible process of making your own fortune is base creating your own coincidences. To be successful and portray the nature of success, you must and willing creates your own opportunities because that is what intended and accomplished successful people do.

I imply that you should make a list of things in your life that you think are coincidences and reflect back to them and you would certainly realize that they were not coincidences at all. Rather, they were as a result of your creative genre in progress as you consciously but unknowingly initiate them through your thoughts while exercising gratitude. As you create your luck, I encourage you to make others lucky too.

2. Having a growth mindset is also a process that facilitates the functionality of
getting rich. Without neglecting the instance of regular failures in your life, you should be grateful knowing that your failure is temporal. Failure is the best way to ensure that success and richness is an instigator of accumulating of knowledge, wealth of experience and wisdom which would aid you in attaining familiar circumstances as you may perhaps call it coincidences or luck.

As you travel along the process of getting rich and amounting wealth and fame in a plethora fame.

3. Never Stop Learning (NSL): Learning is another process we can never neglect.
Being on the lookout for new experiences that you can acquire and later build up really guarantees you into the pedals of success. HOW and WHY?

I would love to discuss more on the Hows? and Whys? of Learning and Success, but this section if meant for members of this site only .If you are interested please contact me at: http://www.palatableinsight.blogspot.com

4. Risk Calculation: Calculating your risk is very essential.

5. Incredible Charisma: In reality, having incredible charisma is not about charming
people is about evaluating them. Having an incredible charisma is vital resource for attaining rich and having a successful life but the natural ability to surround your-self with an exceptional team is imperative. This ensure your growth in a fast pace. In establishing this natural course of action yourself, you need to assess people's skills in a calculating way.

To draw a thin line to this context, developing an incredible charisma will aid you to have the ability as a leader to extract values from other people and utilize it as an opportunity of getting rich.

FOUR WAYS OF BECOMING A ONE MINUTE

1. Decide: If you must decide, decide carefully and critically if it's okay for you to become a millionaire.

2. Practice and imagine yourself in a lifestyle: Imagining your lifestyle is simple. A friend once told me that looking good is good business. Having a qualitative lifestyle and a practical idea is a gateway to your style of being the next One minute millionaire.

3. Spend less than you earn: A lot of us spend so much than what we actually earned. This is because most of us fail to plan and we plan to fail. Have a focus and itemized plans for your daily expenditure.

4. Invest the difference: This is very interesting because it allows you to passionately and readily invest in a deep passionate insight of a revelation.

FOUR MAJOR WAYS OF BECOMING A MILLIONAIRE

1. Investments: Accumulating shares and bonds.
2. Real Estate: Owning properties
3. Business: Marketing products.
4. Internet: Expanding possibilities

Reflect for a moment and if you decide, I will be waiting to encourage you and advice you more on the dynamic of success and how you can make it in one minute like I did.

Contact me at: http://www.palatableinsight.blogspot.com
Visit: www.palatableinsight.blogspot.com

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job

2006-09-22T04:21:00.000+01:00

It’s funny that when people reach a certain age, such as after graduating college, they assume it’s time to go out and get a job. But like many things the masses do, just because everyone does it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. In fact, if you’re reasonably intelligent, getting a job is one of the worst things you can do to support yourself. There are far better ways to make a living than selling yourself into indentured servitude.

Here are some reasons you should do everything in your power to avoid getting a job:

1. Income for dummies.

Getting a job and trading your time for money may seem like a good idea. There’s only one problem with it. It’s stupid! It’s the stupidest way you can possibly generate income! This is truly income for dummies.

Why is getting a job so dumb? Because you only get paid when you’re working. Don’t you see a problem with that, or have you been so thoroughly brainwashed into thinking it’s reasonable and intelligent to only earn income when you’re working? Have you never considered that it might be better to be paid even when you’re not working? Who taught you that you could only earn income while working? Some other brainwashed employee perhaps?

Don’t you think your life would be much easier if you got paid while you were eating, sleeping, and playing with the kids too? Why not get paid 24/7? Get paid whether you work or not. Don’t your plants grow even when you aren’t tending to them? Why not your bank account?
Who cares how many hours you work? Only a handful of people on this entire planet care how much time you spend at the office. Most of us won’t even notice whether you work 6 hours a week or 60. But if you have something of value to provide that matters to us, a number of us will be happy to pull out our wallets and pay you for it. We don’t care about your time — we only care enough to pay for the value we receive. Do you really care how long it took me to write this article? Would you pay me twice as much if it took me 6 hours vs. only 3?
Non-dummies often start out on the traditional income for dummies path. So don’t feel bad if you’re just now realizing you’ve been suckered. Non-dummies eventually realize that trading time for money is indeed extremely dumb and that there must be a better way. And of course there is a better way. The key is to de-couple your value from your time.

Smart people build systems that generate income 24/7, especially passive income. This can include starting a business, building a web site, becoming an investor, or generating royalty income from creative work. The system delivers the ongoing value to people and generates income from it, and once it’s in motion, it runs continuously whether you tend to it or not. From that moment on, the bulk of your time can be invested in increasing your income (by refining your system or spawning new ones) instead of merely maintaining your income.

This web site is an example of such a system. At the time of this writing, it generates about $9000 a month in income for me, and it isn’t my only income stream either. I write each article just once (fixed time investment), and people can extract value from them year after year. The web server delivers the value, and other systems (most of which I didn’t even build and don’t even understand) collect income and deposit it automatically into my bank account. It’s not perfectly passive, but I love writing and would do it for free anyway. But of course it cost me a lot of money to launch this business, right? Um, yeah, $9 is an awful lot these days (to register the domain name). Everything after that was profit.

Sure it takes some upfront time and effort to design and implement your own income-generating systems. But you don’t have to reinvent the wheel — feel free to use existing systems like ad networks and affiliate programs. Once you get going, you won’t have to work so many hours to support yourself. Wouldn’t it be nice to be out having dinner with your spouse, knowing that while you’re eating, you’re earning money? If you want to keep working long hours because you enjoy it, go right ahead. If you want to sit around doing nothing, feel free. As long as your system continues delivering value to others, you’ll keep getting paid whether you’re working or not.

Your local bookstore is filled with books containing workable systems others have already designed, tested, and debugged. Nobody is born knowing how to start a business or generate investment income, but you can easily learn it. How long it takes you to figure it out is irrelevant because the time is going to pass anyway. You might as well emerge at some future point as the owner of income-generating systems as opposed to a lifelong wage slave. This isn’t all or nothing. If your system only generates a few hundred dollars a month, that’s a significant step in the right direction.

2. Limited experience.

You might think it’s important to get a job to gain experience. But that’s like saying you should play golf to get experience playing golf. You gain experience from living, regardless of whether you have a job or not. A job only gives you experience at that job, but you gain ”experience” doing just about anything, so that’s no real benefit at all. Sit around doing nothing for a couple years, and you can call yourself an experienced meditator, philosopher, or politician.

The problem with getting experience from a job is that you usually just repeat the same limited experience over and over. You learn a lot in the beginning and then stagnate. This forces you to miss other experiences that would be much more valuable. And if your limited skill set ever becomes obsolete, then your experience won’t be worth squat. In fact, ask yourself what the experience you’re gaining right now will be worth in 20-30 years. Will your job even exist then?
Consider this. Which experience would you rather gain? The knowledge of how to do a specific job really well — one that you can only monetize by trading your time for money – or the knowledge of how to enjoy financial abundance for the rest of your life without ever needing a job again? Now I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have the latter experience. That seems a lot more useful in the real world, wouldn’t you say?

3. Lifelong domestication.

Getting a job is like enrolling in a human domestication program. You learn how to be a good pet. Look around you. Really look. What do you see? Are these the surroundings of a free human being? Or are you living in a cage for unconscious animals? Have you fallen in love with the color beige? How’s your obedience training coming along? Does your master reward your good behavior? Do you get disciplined if you fail to obey your master’s commands?
Is there any spark of free will left inside you? Or has your conditioning made you a pet for life?
Humans are not meant to be raised in cages. You poor thing…

4. Too many mouths to feed.
Employee income is the most heavily taxed there is. In the USA you can expect that about half your salary will go to taxes. The tax system is designed to disguise how much you’re really giving up because some of those taxes are paid by your employer, and some are deducted from your paycheck. But you can bet that from your employer’s perspective, all of those taxes are considered part of your pay, as well as any other compensation you receive such as benefits. Even the rent for the office space you consume is considered, so you must generate that much more value to cover it. You might feel supported by your corporate environment, but keep in mind that you’re the one paying for it.

Another chunk of your income goes to owners and investors. That’s a lot of mouths to feed.
It isn’t hard to understand why employees pay the most in taxes relative to their income. After all, who has more control over the tax system? Business owners and investors or employees?
You only get paid a fraction of the real value you generate. Your real salary may be more than triple what you’re paid, but most of that money you’ll never see. It goes straight into other people’s pockets. What a generous person you are!

5. Way too risky.
Many employees believe getting a job is the safest and most secure way to support themselves.
Morons. Social conditioning is amazing. It’s so good it can even make people believe the exact opposite of the truth. Does putting yourself in a position where someone else can turn off all your income just by saying two words (”You’re fired”) sound like a safe and secure situation to you? Does having only one income stream honestly sound more secure than having 10?
The idea that a job is the most secure way to generate income is just silly. You can’t have security if you don’t have control, and employees have the least control of anyone. If you’re an employee, then your real job title should be professional gambler.

6. Having an evil bovine master.

When you run into an idiot in the entrepreneurial world, you can turn around and head the other way. When you run into an idiot in the corporate world, you have to turn around and say, “Sorry, boss.” Did you know that the word boss comes from the Dutch word baas, which historically means master? Another meaning of the word boss is “a cow or bovine.” And in many video games, the boss is the evil dude that you have to kill at the end of a level.
So if your boss is really your evil bovine master, then what does that make you? Nothing but a turd in the herd.
Who’s your daddy?

7. Begging for money.

When you want to increase your income, do you have to sit up and beg your master for more money? Does it feel good to be thrown some extra Scooby Snacks now and then?
Or are you free to decide how much you get paid without needing anyone’s permission but your own? If you have a business and one customer says “no” to you, you simply say “next.”

8. An inbred social life.

Many people treat their jobs as their primary social outlet. They hang out with the same people working in the same field. Such incestuous relations are social dead ends. An exciting day includes deep conversations about the company’s switch from Sparkletts to Arrowhead, the delay of Microsoft’s latest operating system, and the unexpected delivery of more Bic pens. Consider what it would be like to go outside and talk to strangers. Ooooh… scary! Better stay inside where it’s safe.

If one of your co-slaves gets sold to another master, do you lose a friend? If you work in a male-dominated field, does that mean you never get to talk to women above the rank of receptionist? Why not decide for yourself whom to socialize with instead of letting your master decide for you? Believe it or not, there are locations on this planet where free people congregate. Just be wary of those jobless folk — they’re a crazy bunch!

9. Loss of freedom.
It takes a lot of effort to tame a human being into an employee. The first thing you have to do is break the human’s independent will. A good way to do this is to give them a weighty policy manual filled with nonsensical rules and regulations. This leads the new employee to become more obedient, fearing that s/he could be disciplined at any minute for something incomprehensible. Thus, the employee will likely conclude it’s safest to simply obey the master’s commands without question. Stir in some office politics for good measure, and we’ve got a freshly minted mind slave.

As part of their obedience training, employees must be taught how to dress, talk, move, and so on. We can’t very well have employees thinking for themselves, now can we? That would ruin everything. God forbid you should put a plant on your desk when it’s against the company policy. Oh no, it’s the end of the world! Cindy has a plant on her desk! Summon the enforcers! Send Cindy back for another round of sterility training!

Free human beings think such rules and regulations are silly of course. The only policy they need is: “Be smart. Be nice. Do what you love. Have fun.”

10. Becoming a coward.

Have you noticed that employed people have an almost endless capacity to whine about problems at their companies? But they don’t really want solutions – they just want to vent and make excuses why it’s all someone else’s fault. It’s as if getting a job somehow drains all the free will out of people and turns them into spineless cowards. If you can’t call your boss a jerk now and then without fear of getting fired, you’re no longer free. You’ve become your master’s property.

When you work around cowards all day long, don’t you think it’s going to rub off on you? Of course it will. It’s only a matter of time before you sacrifice the noblest parts of your humanity on the altar of fear: first courage… then honesty… then honor and integrity… and finally your independent will. You sold your humanity for nothing but an illusion. And now your greatest fear is discovering the truth of what you’ve become.

I don’t care how badly you’ve been beaten down. It is never too late to regain your courage. Never!

Still want a job?

If you’re currently a well-conditioned, well-behaved employee, your most likely reaction to the above will be defensiveness. It’s all part of the conditioning. But consider that if the above didn’t have a grain of truth to it, you wouldn’t have an emotional reaction at all. This is only a reminder of what you already know. You can deny your cage all you want, but the cage is still there. Perhaps this all happened so gradually that you never noticed it until now… like a lobster enjoying a nice warm bath.

If any of this makes you mad, that’s a step in the right direction. Anger is a higher level of consciousness than apathy, so it’s a lot better than being numb all the time. Any emotion — even confusion — is better than apathy. If you work through your feelings instead of repressing them, you’ll soon emerge on the doorstep of courage. And when that happens, you’ll have the will to actually do something about your situation and start living like the powerful human being you were meant to be instead of the domesticated pet you’ve been trained to be.
Happily jobless.

What’s the alternative to getting a job? The alternative is to remain happily jobless for life and to generate income through other means. Realize that you earn income by providing value — not time – so find a way to provide your best value to others, and charge a fair price for it. One of the simplest and most accessible ways is to start your own business. Whatever work you’d otherwise do via employment, find a way to provide that same value directly to those who will benefit most from it. It takes a bit more time to get going, but your freedom is easily worth the initial investment of time and energy. Then you can buy your own Scooby Snacks for a change.
And of course everything you learn along the way, you can share with others to generate even more value. So even your mistakes can be monetized.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

10 Stupid Mistakes Made by the Newly Self-Employed

2006-09-22T04:04:00.000+01:00

1. Selling to the wrong people.

While sales are important to the survival of any business, you don’t need to push your business on everyone you meet, including friends and family. Furthermore, it’s a waste of time to try selling to people who simply don’t need what you’re offering.

Selling to the wrong people includes trying to sell to everyone. Some customers are much easier to sell to than others. For example, my wife does web consulting for small businesses, and she’s learned that some clients are much harder to work with than others. If a potential customer is broke and obsessively worried about every nickel they spend, if they want a web site but don’t know why, or if they simply don’t understand the Internet well enough, they won’t be a good client in the long run. Feel free to say no to customers that are more trouble than they’re worth. Let your competitors sell to them instead. You’ll save yourself many headaches, and you’ll free up more time to focus on serving the best customers.

Just because someone is interested in doing business with you doesn’t mean you should accept. In my first year in business, I probably said yes to at least 50% of the people who approached me with a potential business relationship. I wasted a lot of time pursuing deals that were too much of a stretch to begin with. I accepted lunch invitations from random business people who just wanted to “see if there’s a way we could do something together.” Virtually none of them made me a dime. If you think a meeting is pointless, it probably is. Don’t network with random people just because you think you’re supposed to network. Today I accept such invitations less than 1/10 as often. If an offer doesn’t excite me right away, I usually decline or ignore it. Most relationships simply aren’t worth pursuing. Learn to say no to the weak opportunities so you have the capacity to say yes to the golden opportunities.

2. Spending too much money.

Until you have a steady cashflow coming in, don’t spend your precious start-up cash unless it’s absolutely necessary. I started my computer games business with about $20,000 cash (my own money), and it went fast; shortly thereafter I was using debt to finance the business. Unfortunately, the original business model didn’t work, and it took five years before the business was generating a positive cashflow. I soon learned that every dollar invested in the business was another dollar that eventually had to be recouped from sales.

In 2004 I started this personal development business with only $9 cash even though I could have spent much more on it. No fancy logo, no snazzy web design, no business cards or stationary. I paid to register the domain name, and that was it. That’s as much as I was willing to spend before I started generating a positive cashflow. All other business expenditures came out of that cashflow.

Your business should put cash into your pocket, so before you “invest” money into it, be clear on how you’re going to pull that cash back out again.

Obviously some businesses require lots of cash to start, but in the age of the Internet business, you can very easily start a lucrative business for pocket change.
3. Spending too little money.

It’s also a mistake to be too stingy with your cash. Don’t let frugality get in the way of efficiency. Take advantage of skilled contractors who can do certain tasks more efficiently than you can. Buy decent equipment when it’s clear you’ll get your money’s worth. You don’t have to overspend on fancy furniture, but get functional furniture that helps you be more productive. Don’t use an antiquated computer with outdated software that slows you down if you can afford something better.

It takes time to develop the wisdom to know when you’re being too tight or too loose with your cash, so if you’re just starting out, get a second opinion. Often the very thought of getting a second opinion makes the correct choice clear. If you can’t justify the expenditure to someone you respect, it’s probably a mistake. On the other hand, there are situations where it’s hard to justify not spending the cash.

4. Putting on a fake front.

Many one-person businesses refer to themselves as “we.” That’s something a lot of new entrepreneurs do, but it isn’t necessary. There’s nothing wrong with a one-person business, especially today. My games business has mostly been a we over the years, but my personal development business is still an I. My wife’s VegFamily Magazine business is a we, since she has a staff working for her, but her web consulting business is an I. It’s perfectly OK to refer to your business as an I when you’re the only one working in it. Pretending that you’re a we when you’re really an I is a bit silly. It’s not going to gain you any respect in a way that matters. Promoting yourself as an I may even be an advantage today, since people will know the buck stops with you, and if you make a promise, you’re the one who will carry it out. Promises from a we sometimes aren’t worth very much.

If you’re a newly self-employed person, don’t pretend you’re anything else. Price your products and services fairly for your level of skills and talents. Some newly self-employed people think they must become actors. The business they promote to the world is pure fantasy. Trying to fool your customers in this manner will only backfire. If you’re so desperate for business that you need to lie, you shouldn’t be starting your own business. If you can’t provide real value and charge fairly for it, don’t play the game of business. Develop your skills a bit more first.

5. Assuming a signed contract will be honored.

I’ve made this mistake more than I care to admit. I’ve had signed contracts with supposedly reputable corporations, and they weren’t worth squat when the CEO decided he wanted out of the deal, even for completely dishonorable reasons. Sure I was in the right, but did I want to go to court to enforce it? No, I’d rather continue doing meaningful work.

A signed contract is just a piece of paper. What’s behind a signed contract is a relationship. If the relationship goes sour, the contract won’t save you. The purpose of a contract is to clearly define everyone’s roles and commitments. But it’s the relationship, not the paper, that ultimately enforces those commitments. When I understood this, I focused more on relationships and worried less about what was on paper, and my business deals went much more smoothly. Once you start falling back on the paper, the deal is already in trouble. Creative (and lucrative) business deals almost always stray from the paper contracts that represent them. One of my attorneys, who had worked on dozens of game development deals, told me that no deal he worked on ever followed the contract exactly; most weren’t even close. And these were big money deals in many cases. Business relationships are similar to other personal relationships — they twist and turn all over the place.

Written contracts are still necessary, especially when dealing with larger corporations where people come and go, but they’re secondary to relationships. Just don’t make the mistake of assuming that the contract is the deal. The contract is only the deal’s shadow. The real deal is the relationship. Keep your business relationships in good order, and you won’t have to worry so much about what’s on paper.

It’s sad but true that there are loads of scoundrels in business. Many of them hold titles like CEO, President, and CFO. There are indeed people out there who seem to care about nothing but money, and they will lie, cheat, and steal to get it. In recent years some of the more despicable ones have gotten themselves indicted (or are already behind bars). But there are plenty of others to whom the word honor has no meaning. For example, in the computer gaming industry, it isn’t unusual for large publishers to feign interest in certain games and string the developers along. They give the developer every indication that a deal is pending, but all the developer sees are delays and false verbal promises. In reality the publisher only wants to keep the game off the market to keep it from competing with one of their own titles; they hope to cause the developer to miss the next Christmas season or to run out of cash and cancel the title altogether. It happens. Business, especially the entertainment industry, is not for the timid.

6. Going against your intuition.

Intuition is just as important in business as it is in other settings. You’d be amazed at how many gigantic corporate deals are green-lighted or red-lighted because of some CEO’s gut feeling. While you might think that logic is the language of business, that’s far from reality. If you base all your business deals on hard logic and ignore your intuition, most likely you’ll be in for a world of hurt.

We humans aren’t very logical to begin with. We simply don’t have enough data to make truly logical decisions because business deals depend on human beings, and we don’t have a logical system for accurately predicting human behavior. Not being able to predict how other humans will behave is a pretty big gap in our logic. And intuition has to fill that gap. The real performance of human beings is what makes or breaks business deals. But to assume everyone will perform as expected is unrealistic in the extreme. No deal ever goes perfectly.
It’s hard to say no to a deal that seems juicy by the numbers when my gut is saying, “You’ll regret it,” but more often than not, I later see evidence my intuition was right all along. Sometimes I just get a bad read on someone, and then years later, several people I know are complaining about being ripped off by that person.

Intuition is a critical part of the decision-making process in business. Since business deals depend on relationships, you need to get a read on the other people involved in any deal you consider. If you get a bad read, walk away. If you get a good read, proceed with caution.

7. Being too formal.

I’ll say it again. Business is built on relationships. In some settings a certain degree of formality is appropriate, but in most business situations being too formal only gets in the way. Business relationships work best when there’s a decent human-to-human connection behind them.
I think it’s a mistake to be too formal even when looking to establish new business relationships. If someone mails me a letter that starts with “Dear Mr. Pavlina” and then goes on to explain a long-winded business proposal, I’ll usually just trash it, especially if it uses the word “we” a lot. Better to fire off an email with a “Hi Steve,” and just ask me very informally if I’m interested in the kind of arrangement you’re seeking. It saves time and opens the door to a real human relationship. Human beings don’t want to build relationships with faceless corporations. They only want relationships with other human beings… sometimes animals too I suppose.
Treat your business relationships like friendships (or potential friendships). Formality puts up walls, and walls don’t foster good business relationships. No one is loyal to a wall… except the one in China.

Formality is boring and tedious. People want to enjoy their work. If someone address me like a computer, I’ll respond in kind — by hitting delete. But if someone demonstrates they have a real personality and a good sense of humor, a connection is far more likely.
8. Sacrificing your personality quirks.

In the early years of running my games business, I took myself too seriously and assumed that I had to act “businesslike” … whatever that meant. Being self-employed was a weighty responsibility, and other people were counting on me. Sink or swim, right?

I started my games business in my early 20s, and people in their early 20s are invariably weird. But I assumed that as a business owner, being weird wasn’t appropriate or acceptable. So most of my business letters and emails looked like they were written by the same people who created Microsoft’s EULAs. The job title of “President” really went to my head. I learned how to function without a personality.

It took a number of years, but eventually I became comfortable just being myself, especially after my games business became profitable. Now that I’m a blogger, my personality quirks and unusual experiences are strengths. My personal oddities give this blog a unique flavor. If I were to take myself too seriously and write more formally, this blog would be very dull and would likely lose much of its audience.

It’s perfectly OK to be your own weird self and to inject your own unique spirit into your business, especially if you’re in your teens or 20s. Don’t be afraid to be more like Steve Jobs… and less like Steve Ballmer. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not. Ultimately you’ll enjoy your work much more if you attract the kinds of customers and partners that want to work with you for who you are — warts and all. Send the people who only want to work with androids to your corporate competitors. They deserve each other.

If other people can’t handle your weirdness, too bad for them. Focus your energy on the people who can.

9. Failing to focus on value creation.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the purpose of a business is to make money. But the real purpose of a business is to create value. While it’s possible to make money in the short run without creating much value, in the long run it’s unsustainable. Even criminal organizations have to create value for someone. When you know your business is just sucking value away from others without providing anything in return, it will erode your self-esteem, and the business won’t be much fun to run.

Why does your business exist? It exists to provide some sort of value, both for you and your customers. The better you understand what value you’re trying to provide, the better you’ll be able to focus. The basic value provided by my games business was cerebral entertainment. The basic value provided by StevePavlina.com is personal growth. Too often business owners aren’t clear on what value they’re trying to provide. They just sell stuff and hope for the best. That’s a lousy business model. The world doesn’t need more selling or more stuff. But it always needs and wants genuine value creation, and that’s where you should direct your efforts.

Presently this web site contains over 400 free articles. That’s a lot of value creation. Thousands of people visit each day to receive some of that value. Helping people grow is the business’ primary aim.

10. Failing to optimize.

Although value creation is essential to a sustainable business, it’s equally naive to assume you can simply focus on creating value, and the rest will take care of itself. You may build a business that provides good value but loses money. As a business owner, you need to find a way to deliver your value in a cost effective manner. Most likely your first attempt will be very suboptimal. You’ll waste too much time, money, and resources trying to produce and deliver your value. That’s OK though. Many businesses start out that way. Just don’t let yours stay that way.

Once you have a particular business process in place, pull it apart and re-optimize it from time to time. Look for ways to make it more efficient. Can you get it done in less time? At less cost? Can you do it less frequently? Can you outsource it? Can you dump the process altogether?
I used to process credit orders for my games business manually. I started the business in 1994, and when I’d receive an order through the mail or via my web site, I’d use some software to input and run the orders by modem. At the end of each month, I’d manually tally the sales. That worked fine when sales were low, but it became burdensome as more products were released and sales increased. Several years ago I upgraded the process such that online orders were fully automated, including instant delivery of the game download. All orders are recorded in a database, and I can view real-time reports to see how sales are doing for each product. It took some work to set this up, but it was well worth it. That one optimization saved me a lot of time and effort, and I don’t have to pay high fees for a third-party order processing service.
Don’t fall into the trap of using archaic methods for doing routine tasks that could be automated, including inventory management, billing, accounting, order processing, communications, and marketing. If you find yourself doing the same repetitive tasks month after month, make sure you put some effort into optimizing them. Not optimizing is like throwing time and money down the drain. It’s often much easier to save time and money than it is to create them.

An Internet business has abundant opportunities for optimization because it’s so easy to try new things and measure the results. In the first year after launching this site, I experimented quite a bit with Google Adsense. Many people don’t like the ad layout on this site, but it’s the most effective layout I’ve tried so far. I use it because it works. Adding the donations page was another optimization. Some people click ads, some people donate, and some do both. So even though value creation is the primary aim of the business, this is still a for-profit business and needs to generate income in order to be sustainable. If I don’t eat, I don’t write. More money means more resources for ongoing value creation. So value creation and optimization go hand-in-hand.

It takes significant effort to build a successful business, but it’s also a tremendous growth experience. I know many people who have quit their jobs to run their own businesses. Many of them didn’t do as well as they’d hoped, but I don’t know any that regretted taking the plunge. There’s simply no substitue for holding the reins of your own destiny.

If you find this site helpful, please contact Alexander and leave a donation with him so you can enjoy the spirit of giving too.

Thanks to Steve for making this article possible.

Find And Heal The Hurt That Runs Your Life - 4th Lesson

2006-08-24T13:50:00.000+01:00

Every one of us has a hidden hurt from the past that runs our life. The automatic, subconscious avoidance of this hurt is responsible for all our upsets, all our self-sabotaging behavior and all our suffering. Every aspect of life that doesn't work can be traced to this hurt.

Here is how it works:
When you were a little child, you were pure love. You were happy, alive, and free. Unfortunately, you were born into a world that suppresses this state. As a result, you got hurt, and you got hurt a lot.

As a little child, the only way you could explain these painful losses of love was to blame yourself. In a moment of hurt, you bought the notion that you were worthless, not good enough, a failure, not worth loving, or in some other way, not okay.

This wasn't the truth, but to a little child, it was the only explanation that made any sense at the time. You then hated the very notion that you created. "No one can ever love me if I'm worthless. Worthless is a horrible way to be."

The moment you bought the notion that you were not okay, you created a mechanism that would then sabotage the rest of your life. From that moment on, the underlying focus of your life would be to avoid this hurt.

It's the automatic, subconscious avoidance of this hurt that sabotages our lives. Anything that triggers this hurt is perceived as a threat. To avoid this threat, we fight, resist, hang on and withdraw. This in turn destroys love and gives power to whatever we are resisting.

Finding and healing this hurt is one of the most important things you can ever do. Until you heal this hurt, you will be forced to repeat the past.

Ultimately, this hurt will always be some form of feeling "not okay." It's not the truth that you are this way; it's just a hurt. The truth and the hurt are totally separate.

To find your hurt, look for the words of "not okay" that are particularly painful. Are you worthless, not good enough, not worth loving, inferior, or a failure?

Don't look to see if it's true that you are this way. It's not the truth. Look to see if it would be painful if you were this way. The more painful the words, the closer you are to your hurt.
Here are some places to look:

1. What are your upsets? - Every time you have been upset will be a time when this hurt has been triggered. That's why you got upset. Write down every upset you can think of. Then go to the hurt that's under each upset, and ask yourself, "According to the hurt, what do those circumstances say about me?"

For example, if someone leaves you, this may say that you are not worth loving. If you are fired from a job, this may say that you are a failure. Find the words that hurt the most.

2. How is your relationship with your parents? - If you have had a difficult relationship with one or both of your parents, this is probably where your hurt began. Go back in time and put yourself in the hurt that you experienced as a child. What did your parents imply about you in their words and actions?

3. What do you resist in your parents? - Any characteristic that you resist in another person is an aspect of you that you resist in yourself. Find the characteristics that you resist most in your parents. Then notice how it would feel if you were this way. If this would be painful, write it down.

4. What are you driven toward? - Actually, we are never driven toward something; we are driven from something. For example, if someone is driven to succeed, that person is running from failure. If someone has to be loved, that person is running from some form of being unlovable. Find what you are driven toward and look for the opposite.

5. What are your biggest fears? - Make a list of all your fears. Then for each fear, find the hurt that you are avoiding. What would it say about you if your fear were to come true?

6. What are the areas of your life that don't work? - Any area of your life that doesn't work is an area where you are resisting. You resist because this area of life triggers your hurt. List the primary areas of your life that don't work and find the hurt that's under the resistance. According to this hurt, what do those circumstances say about you?

Find the words that most accurately describe your hurt. Remember, you are not looking for the truth. You are looking for the hurt. For most people, the bottom line hurt is worthless. What is the hurt that runs your life?

After you find the hurt, the next step is to heal it. Fortunately, the process for healing this hurt is relatively easy. This is because the hurt isn't based on fact. It's something you made up as a child.

In a moment of hurt, you bought the notion that you were worthless, not worth loving, a failure, or whatever your issue is. You then fought the very notion that you created. It's the fighting and resisting this notion that gives it all its power.

To have your hurt lose its power, you have to do the opposite of fighting it. You need to make peace with this part of yourself. As you do this, the hurt loses power and disappears.

As you own all the aspects of you, the good, the bad and the ugly, you become whole and complete. You cannot be threatened and you cannot be hurt. You become more able to flow with life. You become more effective and more able to have your dreams come true.

Finding and healing this hurt is one of the most important things you can ever do. It's the key to creating a life that works for you instead of against you.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Why Certain Areas Of Our Life Don't Work. 3rd Lesson

2006-08-24T13:47:00.000+01:00

When an area of your life isn't working, this area may seem to be the problem, but it's not. It's a symptom of an underlying condition that creates the problem.To say this another way, we create the problem.

Now this may sound like a harsh thing to say, but it's actually great news. If you create the problem, you can un-create it. To un-create a problem, you must first discover how you created it.

To start the process of discovering your role in a problem, find an area of your life that isn't working. Where do you suffer? What is the main area of your life that doesn't work?
Once you identify the area you want to work on, the next step is to learn why this area of life is the way that it is. To answer this, let's look at four elements that are always present when an area of life doesn't work.

1. There is an underlying condition of resisting or hanging on.
Notice that this is definitely an area of life where you can't flow. You are either fighting and resisting the truth of your circumstances or you are hanging on.
Either way, you operate in a state of fear and upset. This in turn destroys your ability to see clearly. You close down inside and you get tunnel vision. All you can do is fight, resist or hang on.
This then destroys love and magnifies the problem. You literally create a state of opposition and resistance against yourself.

2. You are operating in a state of tunnel vision.
Subconsciously, your situation is perceived as a threat to your survival. In an automatic act of protection, you put all your focus on eliminating the threat. This then creates a state of tunnel vision that destroys your ability to see what needs to be done.
Instead of looking for solutions, all your focus is on fighting, resisting or hanging on. Instead of having your situation clear up, you make it worse.

3. You can't see the truth of your situation.
There is a truth that you are fighting. There is something in your life that you don't like. It is the way that it is, but you can't see it. When you can't see the truth, you can't see what you need to do.
Here is an example.
I used to work with someone that didn't keep her word. I would ask her to do something and she would promise to do it. I would then rely on her, and when she didn't do what she promised, I got in trouble.
For years, I did everything I could to get her to keep her word with me, but nothing worked. I kept relying on her and I kept getting in trouble. I would then get upset and she would get worse.
Finally I had a realization that changed everything. I realized that she was unreliable. No matter how much I hated it, this was still the truth. She was unreliable. I couldn't rely on her.
Her unreliability would have been obvious to any one else, but I couldn't see it. I couldn't see the truth because I didn't want that to be the truth. I wanted her to be reliable.
I would then interact with her based on the way I wanted her to be instead of the way that she was. This is crazy, but this is what I did.

Once I could tell the truth of the way she was, I could see what I needed to do. I needed to stop relying on her. The moment I surrendered to the truth, the problem cleared up.
The same thing is happening in any area of your life that isn't working. There is a truth that you are fighting. Once you discover what it is and surrender to it, the problem clears up.

4. There is a hidden hurt from the past that you are avoiding.
The resisting, the tunnel vision and the inability to see the truth are all produced by an automatic, subconscious avoidance of a hidden hurt from the past. It's the avoidance of this hurt that forces us to act in a way that sabotages our lives.

Finding and healing this hurt is one of the most important things you can ever do. In the next lesson, I'm going to show you how.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Why Certain Areas Of Our Life Don't Work.

2006-08-17T15:49:00.000+01:00

When an area of your life isn't working, this area may seem to be the problem, but it's not. It's a symptom of an underlying condition that creates the problem.To say this another way, we create the problem.
Now this may sound like a harsh thing to say, but it's actually great news. If you create the problem, you can un-create it. To un-create a problem, you must first discover how you created it.
To start the process of discovering your role in a problem, find an area of your life that isn't working. Where do you suffer? What is the main area of your life that doesn't work?
Once you identify the area you want to work on, the next step is to learn why this area of life is the way that it is. To answer this, let's look at four elements that are always present when an area of life doesn't work.

1. There is an underlying condition of resisting or hanging on.
Notice that this is definitely an area of life where you can't flow. You are either fighting and resisting the truth of your circumstances or you are hanging on.
Either way, you operate in a state of fear and upset. This in turn destroys your ability to see clearly. You close down inside and you get tunnel vision. All you can do is fight, resist or hang on.
This then destroys love and magnifies the problem. You literally create a state of opposition and resistance against yourself.

2. You are operating in a state of tunnel vision.
Subconsciously, your situation is perceived as a threat to your survival. In an automatic act of protection, you put all your focus on eliminating the threat. This then creates a state of tunnel vision that destroys your ability to see what needs to be done.
Instead of looking for solutions, all your focus is on fighting, resisting or hanging on. Instead of having your situation clear up, you make it worse.

3. You can't see the truth of your situation.
There is a truth that you are fighting. There is something in your life that you don't like. It is the way that it is, but you can't see it. When you can't see the truth, you can't see what you need to do.
Here is an example.
I used to work with someone that didn't keep her word. I would ask her to do something and she would promise to do it. I would then rely on her, and when she didn't do what she promised, I got in trouble.
For years, I did everything I could to get her to keep her word with me, but nothing worked. I kept relying on her and I kept getting in trouble. I would then get upset and she would get worse.
Finally I had a realization that changed everything. I realized that she was unreliable. No matter how much I hated it, this was still the truth. She was unreliable. I couldn't rely on her.
Her unreliability would have been obvious to any one else, but I couldn't see it. I couldn't see the truth because I didn't want that to be the truth. I wanted her to be reliable.
I would then interact with her based on the way I wanted her to be instead of the way that she was. This is crazy, but this is what I did.
Once I could tell the truth of the way she was, I could see what I needed to do. I needed to stop relying on her. The moment I surrendered to the truth, the problem cleared up.
The same thing is happening in any area of your life that isn't working. There is a truth that you are fighting. Once you discover what it is and surrender to it, the problem clears up.

4. There is a hidden hurt from the past that you are avoiding.
The resisting, the tunnel vision and the inability to see the truth are all produced by an automatic, subconscious avoidance of a hidden hurt from the past. It's the avoidance of this hurt that forces us to act in a way that sabotages our lives.
Finding and healing this hurt is one of the most important things you can ever do. In the next lesson, I'm going to show you how.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

How Resisting Sabotages Our Lives

2006-08-17T15:43:00.000+01:00

One of the most powerful ways that we create is through resisting. By our resisting, we magnify and give power to whatever we resist.

A good way to see this is to imagine four large, yellow balloons on the ceiling above you. Now, whatever you do, don't think about them. You just thought about them. Don't do that.
What happens when you try not to think about the yellow balloons? You think about them, and the more you resist the yellow balloons, the more balloons you get.

The same thing happens in every area of life. Whatever you resist becomes stronger and more solid. Your resisting actually gives it power. Here are some examples.

Find a time when someone resisted the way you are and tried to change you. How did you feel about changing? You didn't want to. You got more solid didn't you?

Have you ever hated a particular characteristic in another person? What happened to that characteristic when you resisted it? It grew.

What happens if you have a fear of losing someone? You feel threatened. You hang on and push the person away.

Any area of your life that doesn't work is an area where you are resisting -- and what you resist is the truth.

At any moment, your life is exactly the way that it is. The people in your life are the way that they are. You are the way that you are and the circumstances of your life are the way that they are.

Your feelings about it are totally, totally irrelevant. What's so is always what's so. Everything may change tomorrow, but at any moment, your situation is always exactly the way that it is.
When you can be at peace with the truth of what's so, you have peace of mind. You see your situation clearly and can see what needs to be done. You are creative and resourceful.
When you fight the truth, you create a state of fear and upset that destroys your ability to see clearly. You get tunnel vision. All you can do is fight, resist, hang on or withdraw. This in turn makes your situation worse.

We think that upsets are caused by what happens, but they're not. Upsets are caused by fighting and resisting what happens.
To see this in your life, select a recent upset. Then notice what would happen to the upset, if by some miracle, you were totally at peace with what happened. The upset would disappear.
This is because the upset wasn't caused by what happened. The upset was caused by fighting and resisting what happened. The moment you take away the fighting and resisting, the upset disappears.

If I spill a glass of water on you, you are going to be wet, and your feelings about it are totally irrelevant. No matter how you feel about it, you are still wet. If you are at peace with being wet, there will be no upset. If you fight being wet, you will be upset. And the more you fight being wet, the more upset you are going to be.

It's the inability to flow with life that creates all our suffering. By our resisting, we create a state of fear and upset that destroys our ability to see clearly. We then act in a way that destroys love and literally makes our situation worse.

Being able to flow with life is one of the keys to creating a life that works.
The first step in being able to flow with life is to discover how much you don't flow.
Look over your life and make a list of all the areas where you resist. Any area of your life that isn't working and any upset you have ever had will be an example of your resisting. Where can't you flow? What do you avoid? Where do you have fear and upset? Take a few minutes and write down everything you can think of.

As you do this exercise, notice how much your life has been about resisting. Then notice how irrelevant your resisting is. No matter how upset you may be, what's so is still what's so.
Notice how resisting the truth has sabotaged your life. Let this in.

Then notice how much more effective you would be and how much more enjoyable your life would be, if you could flow with whatever happens.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Create A Direction For Your Life

2006-08-13T19:30:00.000+01:00

We have been taught that our lives are the way that they are because of our circumstances. This is what we've been taught and this is what we believe, but it's not the truth.

The circumstances of our lives are actually our own creation. Without knowing, we create what happens around us. We create our lives out of the way we see life. We then act consistent with the way we see life and life responds accordingly.

This is why each person's life is so different. What shows up in my life is totally different from what shows up in your life. What shows up in your life is totally different from what shows up in the life of the person next to you.

Each person has a different set of circumstances that show up and these same circumstances keep showing up, over and over. Notice that no matter how much work you do, your life doesn't change much. This is because you keep creating the same thing.

In other words, as long as you keep interacting the same way, you will keep getting the same result.

To have your life be as great as it can be, there needs to be a shift inside. You need to grow in your awareness and you need to take some action.

One of the first steps in creating a life that works is to have something to go for in your life. This is important because having something to go for is what gives spice to life. It gives you a reason to wake up in the morning. It gives direction, meaning and purpose to your life.

When you have nothing to go for, life feels empty and meaningless. It becomes full of effort and struggle. Life then becomes something to be endured rather than enjoyed.

So, if you don't have something to go for, find something. One of the best ways to do this is to get clear on what you want in life. What are your dreams? How do you want your life to be?
The following exercise is a great way to get clear on what you want. It also creates a reality that makes it more possible for your dreams to come true. Make sure you take the time to do it. You'll be glad you did.

Take a few minutes and imagine your ideal life. How do you want your life to be? What do you want to accomplish? What do you want to have? What are your impossible dreams and your small ones?

Do some daydreaming. Then write it down. Describe your ideal life. Write down everything you can think of and let the words flow. Be as specific as possible. The clearer you are on what you want, the easier it is to have your desires come true.

Don't worry about whether your desires are realistic. This exercise is not about being reasonable or accurate. It's about opening the flow of ideas. If you have a thought about something, write it down.

While you're writing, be sure and use the present tense. Say, "I have a loving, supportive relationship," rather than, "I want a loving, supportive relationship."

Keep writing until you can't think of anything more to add. After you finish describing your ideal life, look over the following categories and see if there is anything you want to add.

Relationships,
Prosperity and finance
Job and career
Health and fitness
Physical environment
Spirituality and personal growth

Create a vision for how you want your life to be. Then find the desires of your heart. What are the desires that you want to go for? What are the goals that you could get excited about?
Find what they are. Then ask yourself, what is the next step in having your dreams come true? What action do you need to take?

You may not know all the steps for how to have your dreams come true, but you'll know the next step. Take it. Then take the next one and the next one. Eventually your dreams will come true.

In the next lesson, you will learn, very specifically, how you sabotage your life and how you force certain areas of your life to not work.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

12 Power Principles on life

2006-07-14T00:38:00.001+01:00

Comrades, As I am happy to share this with you, I hope and believe that you would meditate on it daily. This would enrich your thoughts and believe system towards how you can start a life of success, wealth and happiness! For more information; get intouch with us:

Principle - 1. The Power of Beliefs Most of what we encounter in life is the result ofour beliefs. You are—literally--what you believe.But exactly what do you believe? Look aroundyou. Often, much of what we believe is invisible.Many times we accept another’s beliefs withoutquestion, believing, but not knowing why. You'lllearn how to examine and expose your realbeliefs, how to eliminate negative beliefs andhow to energize and accumulate more positivebeliefs. You’ll also learn about “possibility beliefs”and putting them to use to enhance yourquality of life.

Principle - 2. The Power of Self-Esteemand Self-Worth Many times, we are our own worst enemy.We are not aware of the power, the intelligenceand the “knowing” built inside us. Our biggestchallenges--whether they are prosperity,relationship or health challenges-- can be dealtwith in a better manner. Learn to rid yourself ofthe negative self-worth instilled at an early age oraccepted as fact by experiencing failure in someform. John will share the same tools he has usedover the years and in many circumstances todevelop great self-esteem and reflect radiantself-worth. They will work for you, too.

Principle - 3. The Power of the Mastermind and Synergy There’s an old saying, “If one can put athousand to flight, two can put ten thousand.”The problem is, if you can put a thousand toflight, you think you don’t need anyone else.When you combine the energies of a like-mindedgroup, the energy is not additive; it is cubed.You’ll learn how to create your own Mastermindgroup and benefit from the combined energy,creativity and support.

Principle - 4. The Power of Inspiration Inspiration is food for the spirit. Learn howconsuming a daily diet rich in inspiration can bethe catalyst for creating infinite possibilities inyour life. Inspiration is another “Invisible” PowerPrinciple. We don’t necessarily miss it, butwe certainly feel renewed, revitalized andre-energized and our spirits get recharged wheninspiration is part of our daily routine. Inspirationis the one catalyst that will lead us through theforest of challenges into the sunlight of success.

Principle - 5. The Power of The Present The most powerful time anyone ever has is now.Your power is in the present, not in regrettingthe past or becoming apprehensive about thefuture. Your strongest power is always in thepresent. No matter how dark your past or howinsubstantial your future may appear, discoverhow to use the mighty power of the present toredefine the past and to create the future ofyour dreams.

Principle - 6. The Power of Choice You always have choices. It’s been said thatour only job in life is to make choices. Learn howto choose what’s right for you and how to allowthe choice to make you. Discover how thechoices we make dictate the results and realitywe experience and the adventures we’llencounter.

Principle - 7. The Power of Gratitudeand Giving Thanks Don’t think that you’ve got much to bethankful for? The Gratitude Principle is oneof life’s most powerful, open secrets. It’sa practical tool that anyone can pick up and use.Listen in as John explains how using these twomost powerful tools can make your lifeprosperous and filled with joy and health.

Principle - 8. The Power of Change Someone once said, “If you keep doing whatyou’ve been doing, you’ll keep getting whatyou’ve got.” The only thing permanent in lifeis change, for without change there is no growth.Listen in as John shares his secrets for usingchange to your advantage. Discover how togrow, evolve and create your own future.

Principle - 9. The Power of Givingand Receiving What do you give, what do you get and areyou worthy to receive? There is a well-knownstatement that as you give, so will you receive.John shares his personal perspective on theimportance of giving and learning how to receiveas opposite sides of the same coin. Discover theatom-smashing power of how and when to giveand receive.

Principle - 10. The Power of Actionand Inaction There are times when the best action is noaction at all. At other times, no matter whatyou do, the outcome will be the same. Discover“When to hold ‘em, when to fold ‘em, whento walk away and when it’s time to run.” Listenin for John’s philosophy of “for every seasonthere is a time". Timing is everything – Learnto discover your best time.

Principle - 11. The Power of Silence,Solitude and Meditation Most of us have ongoing dialogues(or monologues) that we recite constantly.These dialogues can block the “still, smallvoice” within, whispering solutions to ourgreatest challenges. Learn how to quiet thenoise and open your spirit to the voice within.

Principle - 12. The Power of Associationand Influence You, literally, are who you associate with.Learn how to find and be in the presence ofthose whose worst ideas on a bad day arebetter than the best ideas of the averageperson on a good day. Discover how to attractthe company you’d like to keep and how youcan benefit from their influence.

12 Power Principles on life

2006-07-14T00:38:00.000+01:00

Nine Principles of Life Enrichment

2006-07-14T00:28:00.000+01:00

May I have the opportunity to offer you these simplest nine principles of life enrichment for your consideration and guidance:

1. You can achieve far beyond your horizons and in avenues of life you have never explored.

2. You possess a basic goodness, which is the foundation for the greatness you can ultimately achieve.

3. You must take responsibility for your actions, your well-being and the attainment of your maximum potential.

4. You must seek self-awareness, self-approval and self-commitment in order to attain self-fulfillment.

5. You must commit yourself to building and maintaining relationships that are critical to the social development of your family and community.

6. You must manifest the belief that mutual respect is the fundamental element of all relationships.

7. You will heighten your life by helping others heighten theirs.

8. You will work toward your goals by planning, executing and measuring your progress.

9. You will make commitments with care and honor them with integrity.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

How to Achieve Ultimate Success in Your Life and Career

2006-07-08T04:26:00.000+01:00

You've worked hard to get where you are in life. You've studied, labored, gone the extra mile, taken on additional responsibility, continued your education, honed your instincts, developed sound judgment, retained your integrity, generated positive energy and assembled a top-notch staff. You have learned to sense and set direction, plan, budget, master problem-solving (both yours and everyone else's), dress for success, achieve brilliance and multitask out the kazoo.
Yet, despite all of that effort, is something still missing? Maybe you still haven't received the significant success, the level of accountability, impact, or influence that you want. The line on the wall where you will "leave your mark" isn't high enough. Of as one person put it, "My name is not on the right door."

You're puzzled. What more can you do when you've done all you can? What you need to do is find the missing piece of the puzzle - the piece that turns you from a good success to a great one.
My company's research has proven that when people are experiencing this frustration, the missing piece is "Executive Charisma." We define Executive Charisma as, "The ability to gain effective responses from others by using aware actions and considerate civility in order to get useful things done."

You know Executive Charisma it when you see it. I am sure you can remember times when you have had this intangible thing yourself.

In my years as a top executive coach, I have found that few people - even America's most powerful corporate leaders - are born with Executive Charisma. They need to cultivate it by strengthening weaknesses in specific, vital areas.

How can you get it? You can read my advice in greater depth on my http://www.palatableinsight.blogspot.com, but let me summarize the process here for my friends and business associates on Palatable Insight Concepts domain.

Be the first to initiate. You must learn, as top executives have, the art of making the first move. That can mean making a decision before other people do, or being the first to greet people you don't know. Leaders go first.

Expect and give acceptance. In spite of work pressures and hectic schedules, never treat others in a way that you would not want to be treated.

Ask questions. Don't do it to impress, interrogate, intimidate, dominate, embarrass or put people in a corner. Instead, ask questions to improve knowledge and foster a learning spirit.
Ask and give favors. It's one of your best tools to bond with others.
Stand tall, straight and smile. You can never, for a second, be caught off guard. You need to convey an air of confidence.

Be human, humorous and hands-on. Humor is an essential ingredient of your success. Above all, it means being able to laugh at yourself.

Slow down, shut up and listen. Your own words are much less important than what other people have to tell you.

Executive charisma is the last piece of the puzzle that you must apply to your life. It's the best-kept secret in business. And there is no walk of life where it doesn't apply. If it isn't "you" to enhance your charisma, maybe you should try being someone else. Regardless of where you are in your career, you can't waste any more time without it.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Fifty facts of fulfillment

2006-06-29T15:08:00.000+01:00

A few years ago, a dear friend sent me a collection of sayings he had put together from various sources. At first, I didn’t give them much attention. Even so, I would refer to them from time to time. Some event would crop up in my life, and my mind would go back to those sayings.

Gradually, I became more interested in them, so much so that I am fairly convinced that many of them could be valuable provokers of thought and action. Over time, I added a few of my own. So here they are for you to read and reject or enjoy.

1. Natural laws have no pity.
2. Genius starts at the top and works up.
3. He who laughs last has no humor.
4. The greatest destructive force is human selfishness.
5. There are three categories of people: those who cause events to happen, those who watch events happen, and those who wonder what events happened.
6. The one who knows ‘how’ will have a job. The one who knows ‘why’ will be the boss.
7. Being free is no guarantee for happiness, but if you are unhappy, it will be on your own terms, not someone else’s.
8. When no one is willing is listen, know that it is a great time to think.
9. Humans are superior to other animals more because of their ability to rationalize than their ability to reason.
10. We occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time we simply ignore it, pick ourselves up, and stumble on.
11. Bribes and threats produce miracles in some societies.
12. Never forget that you are unique, just like someone else.
13. Relax, disaster will strike your neighbor, not you.
14. One of the most difficult things in life is to know how to do a thing and watch someone else doing it wrong, and not commenting.
15. The inevitable result of improved and enhanced communications is a vastly increased degree of misunderstanding between different levels of hierarchy.
16. When you are right, no one remembers. When you are wrong, no one forgets.
17. It is easier to behave yourself into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way off behaving.
18. The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends upon the unreasonable man.
19. A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never sure.
20. If you tell the truth once, they will never believe you again, no matter how much you lie.
21. Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can avoid altogether.
22. Rationalization is a mental technique that allows one to lie or cheat without feeling guilty.
23. Education is what you get from reading the fine print. Experience is what you get from not reading it.
24. What we learn after we know it all, is what counts.
25. Selfishness is the grandmother of invention.
26. A welfare state is one that assumes responsibility for the health, happiness, and general well-being of all its non tax-paying citizens.
27. When a person becomes so busy that he forgets the beautiful things in life, he is then truly poor.
28. A drunken man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts.
29. Necessity never made a good bargain.
30. A bank is an institution that offers you your umbrella during a draught, and takes it away when it rains.
31. Indecision is the key to flexibility.
32. He who trains his tongue to quote the learned sages will be known far and wide as a smart-ass.
33. Tell the truth and you won’t need a great memory.
34. People in groups tend to agree on courses of action which as individuals, they know are plain stupid.
35. Following the path of least resistance is what makes men and rivers crooked.
36. A belief is of no value until you can defend it rationally against all others.
37. It is difficult to win an argument when your opponent is unencumbered with a knowledge of the facts.
38. True love is truly unreal; you can never find it.
39. What large print giveth, the small print taketh away.
40. There comes a time in man’s life when he must rise above principle.
41. Don’t lie, steal, or cheat unnecessarily.
42. Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence.
43. Life is a whole series of circumstances beyond your control.
44. Co-operation is doing with a smile that which you have to do anyway.
45. Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he will believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it, and he will have to touch it to be sure.
46. It is more shameful to distrust one’s friends than to be deceived by them.
47. As scarce as the truth is, the supply is much greater than the demand.
48. There are no winners in life; only survivors.49. A friend advises in his interest, not yours.
50. Bankers follow the 3-6-3 principle; borrow money at 3 percent, lend it at 6 percent, and go for golf at 3 PM.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

The Meaning of Money

2006-06-29T04:13:00.000+01:00

How often have you heard companies extol to their employees the virtues of being honest, open, committed, and up-front in their business dealings? Yet, how few companies mean what they say! I few weeks back I wrote a piece titled "The Successful Buyer’s Guide", which truthfully listed the very real instructions and guidelines of this mega retailer to its buyers. Words like open, honest, and up-front where conspicuous only by their absence. The only exhortation was to systematically hammer suppliers into submission. There seems to be only one goal – make money at any cost. Social factors and considerations are not for the brave. They are only for the timid.

I received responses which included suggestions like putting together a forum for sales executives and their companies who sell to such companies, so as to join hands and discuss ways to combat this evil. One reader even identified the offender! The responses raised a lot of questions in my mind.

What is the purpose of an organization? Can it be only money? Is money a sustainable purpose for organizational longevity? Well, let us consider why we need money. Money in its isolated self has no meaning. It has meaning only as long as it can meet certain human needs. Money by itself is not a need. Human beings cannot eat money or wear money. Humans lived happily and well before money was invented. They can only have it, count it, lose it, and so forth. Just imagine, what use would a million dollars be if you couldn’t think freely, or express your feelings freely? What use would it be if you had all the money in the world but were not free to love the person you want, breathe the air that surrounds you, or quench your thirst from the water that is within your reach?

Just think? What use is money if you buy a house but have to take someone else’s permission to live in it, sell it, lease it, or make changes to it? What use is the money with which you bought a piece of property, if you have to take someone else’s permission to let your parents live there? Money enables us to have the things we need and value. Money by itself has little value. Which begs the question – why do we measure organizational success in terms of financial performance? In other words, why de we measure performance only on profits? Don’t get me wrong. I write this to raise a serious debate. As far as we know, financial performance is something we can measure, so we have all hitched our corporate thoughts to that bandwagon. That is hardly sufficient reason to make that measure meaningful or right.

Just look at our institutions today. There are so many millions of them. And so many of them make lots of money. Yet, why are so few people happy and satisfied? If capitalism the way we understand and practice it were really all that great a blessing, would it not stand to reason that companies that make lots of profit must also have lots of happy employees. After all, these are the employees who are making it happen. Why is it quite the opposite in the majority of corporations?

So, what is the problem? Where is the disconnect? Could it be the way we define value? Could it be because what organizations want is not what people who work in them want? Could it be because those who own organizations are so greedy that they cannot digest the thought of sharing wealth with those who helped them create it? Could it be that the way we have built organizations, the only way to create tons of money is to make tons of people unhappy?

Why do companies that make lots of money not necessarily have lots of happiness amongst their people? Because money and happiness or satisfaction are not the same thing. If an organization cannot help its employees lead better lives themselves and with their families, that organization is missing a very important point. And it is very likely that such an organization cannot sustain its premier position, nor can it remain profitable indefinitely.

Man has made so much progress in so many areas. Alas, he has fallen quite far behind when it comes to organizational transformation. People at the top continue to set strategy that only a handful know about or comprehend, they rarely make their intentions known to the troops, they fear all forms of upward feedback, they fail to create a climate where people will come up and voice their fears. Only a privileged few know the real financial health of the enterprise, and others are left to speculate. The gap between the guys at the top and the rest is so great, it is little wonder that the organization’s goals have little in common with the goals of its rank and file.

The climate for openness is a true rarity. Leaders often feel that they are nice guys, and ask for feedback all the while, so why would people not come and tell them what they feel. In reality, it takes a lot more than that to get people in organizations to speak up freely. The command and control structures of organizations during the last two hundred years are responsible for this. History stands testimony to the fact that organizations and their leaders like to crush dissent and dispense with dissenters. If your boss wishes to harm you, he can. Should the boss interpret your actions adversely, you had it. How can people then gather the to make meaningful contributions by speaking out?

How can so many years of history go away? It can, provided the leadership demonstrates again and again its true intentions and preferences to run a truly democratic outfit. It can, provided the measures of organizational success are recalibrated and defined in terms of stakeholder relevance and return of happiness, instead of mere return on financial investment.

Even the ways in which corporations and their chiefs are punished is fundamentally flawed. As I write these lines Philip Morris International is to pay $1 billion to the European Union in a deal to avoid lawsuits over allegations the company had colluded in the smuggling of cigarettes into the EU. Josef Ackermann, the CEO of Deutsche Bank faces accusation of illegally granting $72 million of directors’ bonuses four years ago at Mannesmann. Parmalat’s top executives along with Deloitte Italy were able to remove a local auditor in Brazil for raising many embarrassing questions about Parmalat’s accounting practices. No one knows if Deloitte will really get whacked.

These actions go to show that money is a means to buy your way out of trouble. Behave badly, then, if you get caught, cough up some cash, and all is forgotten. This is silly. If you have to use money as a deterrent, use it more wisely. The Norwegian government fines drunken drivers in a clever way. You pay a month’s gross salary. This way, it pinches everyone. If you have to punish corporations with monetary fines, the amounts probably ought to equal their quarterly revenues or more.

As for individuals, asking them to pay a portion of their ill-gotten wealth is nonsense. Corporate chiefs get their kicks from the power they wield. They ought to be punished for wrongdoing in a manner that strips them of their power, denies them the opportunity to get back to positions of power, and by changing their financial circumstances so significantly that they cannot continue their current lifestyles. They ought to face public disgrace that affects them and their families. They must be made to publicly serve those who they hurt, and the millions stashed away by them must be given back to the clerks and front-line people who worked their butts off to help them have it in the first place.

Our current definitions of organizational success and the associated mechanisms for large-scale wrongdoing at the corporate and individual levels need serious reexamination. They simply aren’t working to make this world a better place. We must figure better ways to reward those who do right, and punish those who do wrong. The meaning of money needs serious review.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Getting Rich Starts with the Way You Think

2006-06-27T04:18:00.000+01:00

The proof is in the pudding. There are many products and programs that deal with wealth creation, but we don't see a lot of people who are able to uptake that knowledge and utilize it in the marketplace.

Now, I'm all for people diving in and buying books. But the fact is, the average adult reads only 10 or 11 pages of any success or business book. People buy the books with enthusiasm. They are excited about the end goal they might reach. But when they open the books and realize the actions they will have to take to attain those goals, everything falls apart.

That phenomenon is the reason I began to study adult learning. I was fascinated by the fact it is very normal for people to quit learning, and very exceptional for them to persevere.

To phrase it another way, it is actually normal to fail at learning, and exceptional to achieve. Why is that? I did my Ph.D. to find out, and I discovered something quite simple. More than 95 percent of people report that they are bored or upset when they are trying to learn. That kind of stress is actually the normal reaction to learning. And when your brain determines that you are under stress, what does it do for you? It does what it has to do to get you out of that stress. The fastest way to get you out of distress is to stop trying.

Some programs and books try to tell people that learning can be "fun." Learning can't be fun. If it is fun, that means the content has been watered down to the point where it is useless.
To learn what you need to learn to become rich, you need a mindset that says that being bored, or frustrated, or not understanding concepts right away, is not enough reason to stop. Feeling frustrated is temporary. It is only going to last until you learn what you need to learn.

If you don't have a strategy that makes feeling bad okay, you will abandon almost any learning goal you set. When you look back at the important things you have learned in your life, you will remember that you had a hard time mastering them. But you will probably also recall that there was a teacher there for you at those times, a facilitator who got you to stick with the process long enough to get the result.

Learning to acquire wealth needs to be challenging. It needs to be big. But in order to really make it happen, you need support and a tolerance for learning.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)

2006-06-24T18:59:00.000+01:00

Like many editorial consultants, I've been concerned about the amount of time I've been spending on easy fixes that the author shouldn't have to pay for.

Sometimes the question of where to put a comma, how to use a verb or why not to repeat a word can be important, even strategic. But most of the time the author either missed that day's grammar lesson in elementary school or is too close to the manuscript to make corrections before I see it.

So the following is a list I'll be referring to people *before* they submit anything in writing to anybody (me, agent, publisher, your mom, your boss). From email messages and front-page news in the New York Times to published books and magazine articles, the 10 ouchies listed here crop up everywhere. They're so pernicious that even respected Internet columnists are not immune.

The list also could be called, "10 COMMON PROBLEMS THAT DISMISS YOU AS AN AMATEUR," because these mistakes are obvious to literary agents and editors, who may start wording their decline letter by page 5. What a tragedy that would be.

So here we go:

REPEATS: Just about every writer unconsciously leans on a "crutch" word. Hillary Clinton's repeated word is "eager" (can you believe it? the committee that wrote "Living History" should be ashamed). Cosmopolitan magazine editor Kate White uses "quickly" over a dozen times in "A Body To Die For." Jack Kerouac's crutch word in "On the Road" is "sad," sometimes doubly so - "sad, sad." Ann Packer's in "The Dive from Clausen's Pier" is "weird."

Crutch words are usually unremarkable. That's why they slip under editorial radar - they're not even worth repeating, but there you have it, pop, pop, pop, up they come. Readers, however, notice them, get irked by them and are eventually distracted by them, and down goes your book, never to be opened again.

But even if the word is unusual, and even if you use it differently when you repeat it, don't: Set a higher standard for yourself even if readers won't notice. In Jennifer Egan's "Look at me," the core word - a good word, but because it's good, you get *one* per book - is "abraded." Here's the problem: "Victoria's blue gaze abraded me with the texture of ground glass." page 202"...(metal trucks abrading the concrete)..." page 217"...he relished the abrasion of her skepticism..." page 256"...since his abrasion with Z ..." page 272

The same goes for repeats of several words together - a phrase or sentence that may seem fresh at first, but, restated many times, draws attention from the author's strengths. Sheldon Siegel nearly bludgeons us in his otherwise witty and articulate courtroom thriller, "Final Verdict" with a sentence construction that's repeated throughout the book: His tone oozes self-righteousness when he says..." page 188"His voice is barely audible when he says..." page 193"His tone is unapologetic when he says..." page 199"Rosie keeps her tone even when she says..." page 200"His tone is even when he says..." page 205"I switch to my lawyer voice when I say ..." page 211"He sounds like Grace when he says..." page 211

What a tragedy. I'm not saying all forms of this sentence should be lopped off. Lawyers find their rhythm in the courtroom by phrasing questions in the same or similar way. It's just that you can't do it too often on the page. After the third or fourth or 16th time, readers exclaim silently, "Where was the editor who shoulda caught this?" or "What was the author thinking?"
So if you are the author, don't wait for the agent or house or even editorial consultant to catch this stuff *for* you. Attune your eye now. Vow to yourself, NO REPEATS.
And by the way, even deliberate repeats should always be questioned: "Here are the documents." says one character. "If these are the documents, I'll oppose you," says another. A repeat like that just keeps us on the surface. Figure out a different word; or rewrite the exchange. Repeats rarely allow you to probe deeper.

FLAT WRITING"He wanted to know but couldn't understand what she had to say, so he waited until she was ready to tell him before asking what she meant."
Something is conveyed in this sentence, but who cares? The writing is so flat, it just dies on the page. You can't fix it with a few replacement words - you have to give it depth, texture, character. Here's another: "Bob looked at the clock and wondered if he would have time to stop for gas before driving to school to pick up his son after band practice." True, this could be important - his wife might have hired a private investigator to document Bob's inability to pick up his son on time - and it could be that making the sentence bland invests it with more tension. (This is the editorial consultant giving you the benefit of the doubt.) Most of the time, though, a sentence like this acts as filler. It gets us from A to B, all right, but not if we go to the kitchen to make a sandwich and find something else to read when we sit down.

Flat writing is a sign that you've lost interest or are intimidated by your own narrative. It shows that you're veering toward mediocrity, that your brain is fatigued, that you've lost your inspiration. So use it as a lesson. When you see flat writing on the page, it's time to rethink, refuel and rewrite.

EMPTY ADVERBS: Actually, totally, absolutely, completely, continually, constantly, continuously, literally, really, unfortunately, ironically, incredibly, hopefully, finally - these and others are words that promise emphasis, but too often they do the reverse. They suck the meaning out of every sentence.

I defer to People Magazine for larding its articles with empty adverbs. A recent issue refers to an "incredibly popular, groundbreakingly racy sitcom." That's tough to say even when your lips aren't moving.

In "Still Life with Crows," Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child describe a mysterious row of corn in the middle of a field: "It was, in fact, the only row that actually opened onto the creek." Here are two attempts at emphasis ("in fact," "actually"), but they just junk up the sentence. Remove them both and the word "only" carries the burden of the sentence with efficiency and precision.
(When in doubt, try this mantra: Precise and spare; precise and spare; precise and spare.)
In dialogue, empty adverbs may sound appropriate, even authentic, but that's because they've crept into American conversation in a trendy way. If you're not watchful, they'll make your characters sound wordy, infantile and dated.

In Julia Glass's "Three Junes," a character named Stavros is a forthright and matter-of-fact guy who talks to his lover without pretense or affectation. But when he mentions an offbeat tourist souvenir, he says, "It's absolutely wild. I love it." Now he sounds fey, spoiled, superficial.. (Granted, "wild" nearly does him in; but "absolutely" is the killer.)

The word "actually" seems to emerge most frequently, I find. Ann Packer's narrator recalls running in the rain with her boyfriend, "his hand clasping mine as if he could actually make me go fast." Delete "actually" and the sentence is more powerful without it.

The same holds true when the protagonist named Miles hears some information in "Empire Falls" by Richard Russo. "Actually, Miles had no doubt of it," we're told. Well, if he had no doubt, remove "actually" - it's cleaner, clearer that way. "Actually" mushes up sentence after sentence; it gets in the way every time. I now think it should *never* be used.

Another problem with empty adverbs: You can't just stick them at the beginning of a sentence to introduce a general idea or wishful thinking, as in "Hopefully, the clock will run out." Adverbs have to modify a verb or other adverb, and in this sentence, "run out" ain't it.

Look at this hilarious clunker from "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown: "Almost inconceivably, the gun into which she was now staring was clutched in the pale hand of an enormous albino."
Ack, "almost inconceivably" - that's like being a little bit infertile! Hopefully, that "enormous albino" will ironically go back to actually flogging himself while incredibly saying his prayers continually.

PHONY DIALOGUE: Be careful of using dialogue to advance the plot. Readers can tell when characters talk about things they already know, or when the speakers appear to be having a conversation for our benefit. You never want one character to imply or say to the other, "Tell me again, Bruce: What are we doing next?"

Avoid words that are fashionable in conversation. Ann Packer's characters are so trendy the reader recoils. " 'What's up with that?' I said. 'Is this a thing [love affair]?' " "We both smiled. " 'What is it with him?' I said. 'I mean, really.' " Her book is only a few years old, and already it's dated.

Dialogue offers glimpses into character the author can't provide through description. Hidden wit, thoughtful observations, a shy revelation, a charming aside all come out in dialogue, so the characters *show* us what the author can't *tell* us. But if dialogue helps the author distinguish each character, it also nails the culprit who's promoting a hidden agenda by speaking out of character.

An unfortunate pattern within the dialogue in "Three Junes," by the way, is that all the male characters begin to sound like the author's version of Noel Coward - fey, acerbic, witty, superior, puckish, diffident. Pretty soon the credibility of the entire novel is shot. You owe it to each character's unique nature to make every one of them an original.

Now don't tell me that because Julia Glass won the National Book Award, you can get away with lack of credibility in dialogue. Setting your own high standards and sticking to them - being proud of *having* them - is the mark of a pro. Be one, write like one, and don't cheat.

NO-GOOD SUFFIXES: Don't take a perfectly good word and give it a new backside so it functions as something else. The New York Times does this all the time. Instead of saying, "as a director, she is meticulous," the reviewer will write, "as a director, she is known for her meticulousness." Until she is known for her obtuseness.

The "ness" words cause the eye to stumble, come back, reread: Mindlessness, characterlessness, courageousness, statuesqueness, preciousness - you get the idea. You might as well pour marbles into your readers' mouths. Not all "ness" words are bad - goodness, no - but they are all suspect.

The "ize" words are no better - finalize, conceptualize, fantasize, categorize. The "ize" hooks itself onto words as a short-cut but stays there like a parasite. Cops now say to each other about witnesses they've interrogated, "Did you statementize him?" Some shortcut. Not all "ize" words are bad, either, but they do have the ring of the vulgate to them - "he was brutalized by his father," "she finalized her report." Just try to use them rarely.

Adding "ly" to "ing" words has a little history to it. Remember the old Tom Swifties? "I hate that incision," the surgeon said cuttingly. "I got first prize!" the boy said winningly. But the point to a good Tom Swiftie is to make a punchline out of the last adverb. If you do that in your book, the reader is unnecessarily distracted. Serious writing suffers from such antics.

Some "ingly" words do have their place. I can accept "swimmingly," "annoyingly," "surprisingly" as descriptive if overlong "ingly" words. But not "startlingly," "harrowingly" or "angeringly," "careeningly" - all hell to pronounce, even in silence, like the "groundbreakingly" used by People magazine above. Try to use all "ingly" words (can't help it) sparingly.

THE 'TO BE' WORDS:Once your eye is attuned to the frequent use of the "to be" words - "am," "is," "are," "was," "were," "be," "being," "been" and others - you'll be appalled at how quickly they flatten prose and slow your pace to a crawl.

The "to be" words represent the existence of things - "I am here. You are there." Think of Hamlet's query, "to be, or not to be." To exist is not to act, so the "to be" words pretty much just there sit on the page. "I am the maid." "It was cold." "You were away."

I blame mystery writers for turning the "to be" words into a trend: Look how much burden is placed on the word "was" in this sentence: "Around the corner, behind the stove, under the linoleum, was the gun." All the suspense of finding the gun dissipates. The "to be" word is not fair to the gun, which gets lost in a sea of prepositions.

Sometimes, "to be" words do earn a place in writing: "In a frenzy by now, he pushed the stove away from the wall and ripped up the linoleum. Cold metal glinted from under the floorboards. He peered closer. Sure enough, it was the gun." Okay, I'm lousy at this, but you get the point: Don't squander the "to be" words - save them for special moments.

Not so long ago, "it was" *defined* emphasis. Even now, if you want to say, "It was Margaret who found the gun," meaning nobody else but Margaret, fine. But watch out - "it was" can be habitual: "It was Jack who joined the Million Man March. It was Bob who said he would go, too. But it was Bill who went with them." Flat, flat, flat.

Try also to reserve the use of "there was" or "there is" for special occasions. If used too often, this crutch also bogs down sentence after sentence. "He couldn't believe there was furniture in the room. There was an open dresser drawer. There was a sock on the bed. There was a stack of laundry in the corner. There was a handkerchief on the floor...." By this time, we're dozing off, and you haven't even gotten to the kitchen
One finds the dreaded "there was/is" in jacket copy all the time. "Smith's book offers a range of lively characters: There is Jim, the puzzle-loving dad. There is Winky, the mom who sits on the 9th Court of Appeals. There is Barbie, brain surgeon to the stars...."
Attune your eye to the "to be" words and you'll see them everywhere. When in doubt, replace them with active, vivid, engaging verbs. Muscle up that prose.

LISTS"She was entranced by the roses, hyacinths, impatiens, mums, carnations, pansies, irises, peonies, hollyhocks, daylillies, morning glories, larkspur..." Well, she may be entranced, but our eyes are glazing over. If you're going to describe a number of items, jack up the visuals. Lay out the the scene as the eye sees it, with emphasis and emotion in unlikely places. When you list the items as though we're checking them off with a clipboard, the internal eye will shut.
It doesn't matter what you list - nouns, adjectives, verbs - the result is always static. "He drove, he sighed, he swallowed, he yawned in impatience." So do we. Dunk the whole thing. Rethink and rewrite. If you've got many ingredients and we aren't transported, you've got a list.

SHOW, DON'T TELL: If you say, "she was stunning and powerful," you're *telling* us. But if you say, "I was stunned by her elegant carriage as she strode past the jury - shoulders erect, elbows back, her eyes wide and watchful," you're *showing* us. The moment we can visualize the picture you're trying to paint, you're showing us, not telling us what we *should* see..
Handsome, attractive, momentous, embarrassing, fabulous, powerful, hilarious, stupid, fascinating are all words that "tell" us in an arbitrary way what to think. They don't reveal, don't open up, don't describe in specifics what is unique to the person or event described. Often they begin with cliches. Here is Gail Sheehy's depiction of a former "surfer girl" from the New Jersey shore in "Middletown, America": "This was a tall blond tomboy who grew up with all guy friends. A natural beauty who still had age on her side, being thirty; she didn't give a thought to taming her flyaway hair or painting makeup on her smooth Swedish skin."

Here I *think* I know what Sheehy means, but I'm not sure. Don't let the reader make such assumptions. You're the author; it's your charge to show us what you mean with authentic detail. Don't pretend the job is accomplished by cliches such as "smooth Swedish skin," "flyaway hair," "tall blond tomboy," "the surfer girl" - how smooth? how tall? how blond?

Or try this from Faye Kellerman in "Street Dreams": "[Louise's] features were regular, and once she had been pretty. Now she was handsome in her black skirt, suit, and crisp, white blouse."
Well, that's it for Louise, poor thing. Can you see the character in front of you? A previous sentence tells us that Louise has "blunt-cut hair" framing an "oval face," which helps, but not much - millions of women have a face like that. What makes Louise distinctive? Again, we may think we know what Kellerman means by "pretty" and "handsome" (good luck), but the inexcusable word here is "regular," as in "her features were regular." What *are* "regular" features?

The difference between telling and showing usually boils down to the physical senses. Visual, aural aromatic words take us out of our skin and place us in the scene you've created. In conventional narrative it's fine to use a "to be" word to talk us into the distinctive word, such as "wandered" in this brief, easily imagined sentence by John Steinbeck in "East of Eden." "His eyes were very blue, and when he was tired, one of them wandered outward a little." We don't care if he is "handsome" or "regular."

Granted, context is everything, as writing experts say, and certainly that's true of the sweltering West African heat in Graham Greene's "The Heart of the Matter": "Her face had the ivory tinge of atabrine; her hair which had once been the color of bottled honey was dark and stringy with sweat." Except for "atabrine" (a medicine for malaria), the words aren't all that distinctive, but they quietly do the job - they don't tell us; they show us.

Commercial novels sometimes abound with the most revealing examples of this problem. The boss in Linda Lael Miller's "Don't Look Now" is "drop-dead gorgeous"; a former boyfriend is "seriously fine to look at: 35, half Irish and half Hispanic, his hair almost black, his eyes brown." A friend, Betsy, is "a gorgeous, leggy blonde, thin as a model." Careful of that word "gorgeous" - used too many times, it might lose its meaning.

AWKWARD PHRASING"Mrs. Fletcher's face pinkened slightly." Whoa. This is an author trying too hard. "I sat down and ran a finger up the bottom of his foot, and he startled so dramatically .... " Egad, "he startled"? You mean "he started"?
Awkward phrasing makes the reader stop in the midst of reading and ponder the meaning of a word or phrase. This you never want as an author. A rule of thumb - always give your work a little percolatin' time before you come back to it. Never write right up to deadline. Return to it with fresh eyes. You'll spot those overworked tangles of prose and know exactly how to fix them.

COMMAS: Compound sentences, most modifying clauses and many phrases *require* commas. You may find it necessary to break the rules from time to time, but you can't delete commas just because you don't like the pause they bring to a sentence or just because you want to add tension.

"Bob ran up the stairs and looking down he realized his shoelace was untied but he couldn't stop because they were after him so he decided to get to the roof where he'd retie it." This is what happens when an author believes that omitting commas can make the narrative sound breathless and racy. Instead it sounds the reverse - it's heavy and garbled.

The Graham Greene quote above is dying for commas, which I'll insert here: "Her face had the ivory tinge of atabrine; her hair, which had once been the color of bottled honey, was dark and stringy with sweat." This makes the sentence accessible to the reader, an image one needs to slow down and absorb.

Entire books have been written about punctuation. Get one. "The Chicago Manual of Style" shows why punctuation is necessary in specific instances. If you don't know what the rules are for, your writing will show it.

The point to the List above is that even the best writers make these mistakes, but you can't afford to. The way manuscripts are thrown into the Rejection pile on the basis of early mistakes is a crime. Don't be a victim.

12 Tools That Guarantee Success

2006-06-23T07:13:00.000+01:00

I hope to qaulify in calling you my friends. Because in these most powerful tools that guurantee success, complete trust amongst yourself and your environs is adquately vital.
No matter how many years you spend in a classroom or fromwhat social class or lifestyle, motivation is the commonfactor among those who are high achievers.
Finding the tools to put meaning and purpose in your life,developing a vision, and becoming highly motivated can lead you towards a successful and exciting life.
Here are 12 motivational tools that can bring you success:
1. Recognizing obstacles and learning to remove them can make your vision a reality. The individual who is extremely motivated and successful has been motivated by avision.
2. The quest for freedom is the basis for motivation. Total freedom is not necessarily desirable or possible, butthe pursuit of that ideal is what motivates us to succeed.
3. People who develop a vision control their own life and destiny. With no vision, your life and destiny are controlled by outside forces.
You must change your thinking habits in order to change your life, and you change your habits by keeping the desired results in sight.
4. Develop a major goal, but take a specified path to get there. You'll have many smaller goals to reach before youget to the final result.
By learning to accomplish these smaller goals, you'll be motivated to take on the larger challenges.
5. Get into the habit of finishing what you start. Anunfinished project is of no value. Leaving thingsunfinished is a habit that must be changed.
6. Find support through friends, acquaintances, andco-workers. If you surround yourself with motivated,visionary people you will naturally develop the attributesthat helped them get that way.
Mutual interests and like-minded associates can be excellent motivational tools.
7. Another motivational tool is failure. Failure teaches usto keep trying until we get it right. No one ever became successful without prior failures.
Failure is a by-product of imagination and creativity. It challenges you to take risks and teaches you to keep trying until you get it right.
8. The fear of failure is a common factor among those who procrastinate. If you want to succeed in reaching your goals, you must be willing to take a risk and lose.
Many people trade joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment for a job that is considered conventional and safe.
9. The unfulfilling job is not the failure; not pursuing your dreams is the real failure. Developing a visionrequires conquering your fears and finding motivation from within.
10. The power of your dreams is the primary factor in becoming motivated. Productivity will be the result of developing habits and attitudes that keep you on the right track.
11. By changing bad habits and focusing on your specific goals, motivation will come to you even when you wish you could quit and times are tough.
12. By identifying the behaviors that you need to change,developing a vision of what you would like to achieve, and striving to attain that goal, you will become a naturally motivated, highly efficient, productive person.
Do not let fear of failure stop you from having the freedom to choose the lifestyle and destiny you desire.
True motivation is not only a learned skill; it is developed due to a need or desire to make our dreams areality.
If you want to find inner motivation, you must identify your goals and set out on an unwavering path to achieve them.
Overcoming procrastination is perhaps one of the most important steps you can take to improve your life andbecome the motivated, successful person you are capable of being.
You have to let go of your old personality and ways of doing things to change, quit procrastinating and getmotivated!

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY? WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

What Employers Want

2006-06-11T00:02:00.000+01:00

Skills- which you need and how to get them…
Degree? In the bag. Job? I want one of them! Who’s got them? Employers…Not exactly neuro-physiology, but if someone’s got something you want, then you have to convince them you’re worth offering it to. Sound simple? I guess it does, but have you got that which prospective employers are after? A smile, good manners and a Gucci suit might be an ideal starting point, but you have to back it up with something more than a good first impression…
So, what are these employers looking for?

For starters, initiative and a keen eye- you have hopefully read, and understood the position you’ve applied for. Not wanting to sound condescending- but you should take your time when reading the application form, and the job description itself. What’s the point in applying for something you’ve not got the qualifications for? The recruiter will ask for specific skills if it is a position such as a software engineer. These positions will list the required software experience required. Note- they will find out if say you are capable in using specific software, when in reality- you’re not. Sounds obvious- yet people still try and get away with that ‘little’ white lie. And it’s not really showing initiative, unless you can learn a programme overnight… A final point to make would be that the majority of employers would like to see the graduate who has scope to develop their potential. No-one can ever really know-it-all and no-one really likes a know-it-all either. Express the desire to harness the potential you have and you’ll not go far wrong.
The transferable skills...

• communication – your ability to converse, write, word process or present in a manner applicable to the differing audience;
• flexibility/adaptability – the work environment is usually ever-changing. This must include you having the ability to adapt to new situations;
• leadership – a tough one for some people to demonstrate, only the confident leaders will be the successful ones;
• initiative – doesn’t mean the ability to seize opportunities dishonestly. It requires seeing things for ones self, and then acting upon them;
• problem solving – the organized word- think methodical. One step at a time. No bullish behaviour;
• numeracy – number crunching may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Brushing up on some mental arithmetic, reading graphs, stats and data can be extremely useful…;
• self-awareness – being self critical doesn’t mean you beat yourself up over mistakes you are bound to make. Seeing and processing these encounters for a prepared ‘next attempt’ is key;
• commitment/motivation – self motivation, sticking to it, expressing your desire to complete a set task. To demonstrate these traits is a major plus;
• interpersonal skills – working relationships. Similar to the changing work environment- the workplace will bring you into contact with many different people. Different people require different approaches- be aware of yourself and others;
• teamwork – team has no I. Does it? Being on the team means being part of it.

From list, to action…You’ve read the list and think you’ve got the minerals. Is that enough? Erm, No Sir! You’ve got to demonstrate some of the communication and interpersonal skills to present ‘evidence’ you can walk the walk. Think of examples you’ve encountered during previous work experiences, part-time jobs, difficult situations where you may have engaged with one, or a combination, of these skills to find a solution to a problem. You may find yourself writing these examples on paper, or discussing them in person. If you are writing, then remember your grammar must be sound and you make the point you are trying to. If discussing- maintain as much eye contact as possible, obviously express confidence- but don’t make up a wild, unbelievable story. If you know what you’ve done; you’ll have no problem reporting it.Remember: What is it exactly that you have done? What were you responsible for? What were the outcomes? How did you achieve success?

What? How am I meant to gain these skills?!?

The chances are, you’ve got them and don’t realise it. Your degree course should have encouraged communication skills- through the completion of essays or reports. You must have had required presentation guidelines to adhere to (which I’m sure you did). Modules might have required presentations to be made to the class- this covers teamwork, interpersonal, communication, motivation, problem solving, and initiative. Presuming you weren’t the only individual in class, you would have spoke to people during your course. If you just sit down and think- it is most likely you demonstrated most of these skills weekly, even daily. Consider all the background reading you did (?!). Employers know that to complete a course in higher education, you have the ability to demonstrate these skills- now it is up to you to convince them your certificate wasn’t a fluke.

Toot Your Horn to Get Ahead

2006-05-10T17:12:00.000+01:00

Toot Your Horn to Get Ahead

Successful professionals, business owners, and entrepreneurs have a lot in common. One of those commonalities is an artful approach to letting others know about what they do, how they do it, and why customers, clients, and prospects will find value in doing business with them.

It's not about boastful, chest-thumping self-promotion. It's about crafting a thoughtful and effective way to share information or create awareness about your business, profession, or organization. It also is an essential part of your overarching marketing and communications strategy.

One of the most effective and credible ways to tell people about your success is to let other people do the talking. Basic human nature and cultural sensitivities make us skeptical about over-the-top self promotion, so it's advisable to seek other ways to "tell your story." One effective method is the use of testimonials by satisfied customers or clients.

In our hype-filled world, the use of testimonials is a great way to be heard through the "noise" and to build credibility. It’s like having loyal customers serve as your unpaid sales force. To make this work, go to satisfied customers and ask them to include their thoughts in your communications strategy. You will be pleasantly surprised at how interested your customers will be in letting others know about the value they find in doing business with you. Once you have captured customers’ testimonials, use the testimonials to support your marketing and communications messages in your company brochure, website, and formal proposals or sales presentations.

You can also tell people about your success by supplementing your marketing and communication strategy through the use of newsletters, blogs, and e-mail contact lists.

Because of the huge amount of information most of us receive every day, it’s easy for messages to customers to get quickly overrun by the next message, and soon the customer has relegated your inquiry to the bottom of the pile of messages that are vying for attention.

Our Internet-wired world makes it easy to stay in touch with our customers via an electronic newsletter. That provides an excellent way to keep our success in front of our current and prospective customers.

The best way we keep our message at the “top of mind” is to communicate consistently and often, not to the point of annoyance, but to keep a steady “drip” of information about ourselves, our company, and importantly, our value proposition.

The thoughtful use of a regularly-produced newsletter or an up-to-date and well-maintained blog will serve you well as a way to tell others about your success and, importantly, keep your message in the minds of your current, and prospective, customers and clients.

Don’t be afraid to "toot your own horn"--carefully and professionally--and let others know about your success and how they will benefit from doing business with you!

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Time Waits for No

2006-05-10T17:06:00.000+01:00

Time Waits for No

Very few people are perpetually positive or take the time to reflect on their past actions and future goals. Much of daily life is routine, functional, and plain unexciting. Because everyday life is short on peak moments and startling revelations, it is difficult to work up the enthusiasm required to truly embrace life and get the most from every day. Sometimes we need a jolt of some kind, whether an epiphany, a trauma, or some other external event, that serves as a wake-up call.

In the industrialized world, comforts abound and some of the more grueling tasks of daily of life have been all but eliminated. On some levels, though, life is more demanding than ever before, and we still want to perform at our best every day. Juggling a career, family, and friends can leave people feeling stressed and exhausted. Work, money, and family can be major sources of stress. How can we get the most from every day so that we really can have it all?
Being the best you can be is about enhancing what you already have, which means getting the most out of your mind and body. This can be achieved through a deliberate effort. It is difficult, but possible, and the consequences are, well, life and death, professionally, spiritually, even physically.

The death of a loved one or a protracted illness mean suffering, a diminished quality of life, a feeling of loss. Yet such pain also gives people something that may have been lacking before: a genuine appreciation of the here and now. It is not uncommon to hear mourners at a funeral say things like, "A positive attitude is what he passed on to me" or “Her death touched us all and made us really appreciate the things we have.” To derive inspiration in a moment of grief is often a life-changing experience. Some people have learned how important it is to get the most from every day after watching someone close to them die.

Terminal illness is another condition that often transforms attitudes about the self and one's duty in life. Both the medical literature and anecdotal evidence suggest that defeatism is relatively rare. Surprisingly, many terminally ill patients were determined to live as long as possible and with a quality that would ensure their remaining time was meaningful. These people made a choice to get the most from every day by staying positive, balanced.

It's not necessary to come close to death or experience debilitating illness to appreciate that what it means to be completely alive and wanting the most from every day. Yet, extreme circumstances often compel a strong response.

The intense emotions unleashed by these experiences can be a catalyst in the often difficult, time consuming process of changing one’s attitude and behavior.Time waits for no one. Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Does Your Business Need Glasses?

2006-05-10T16:55:00.000+01:00

Does Your Business Need Glasses?

Nearsightedness (a.k.a. myopia) affects about one-third of the population. The nearsighted eye is not able to focus on distant objects. People who are nearsighted can see things up-close just fine, but have difficulty performing tasks like driving and reading street signs. As an entrepreneur, regardless of the condition of your eyes, if you’re not careful, your business can very easily suffer from a form of nearsightedness as well.

In the daily grind to get things done, both seasoned corporate players and new entrepreneurs alike can sometimes lose sight of why they got into the game in the first place. Without a sharp view of the horizon, they lose their way on the path to long-term success because they get caught up in one cycle of minutiae after another, or they waste precious time by taking detours misread as opportunities.

Nobody likes getting lost, especially entrepreneurs with a lot at stake. When you embark upon a new business venture, it’s easy to forget how nonlinear the road to success can be. But those with a clear vision of where they’re going and how they’re going to get there are more capable of handling any potential twists and turns along the way. On the other hand, entrepreneurs without that sense of context and purpose, often find themselves confused about what to do next.

Why? They’re not able to clearly see where they are at any given moment.

When it comes to eyes, nearsightedness can be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, or refractive surgery. In business, having a well thought-out mission statement written down (and always nearby) can help correct your company’s myopia.

Companies use mission statements as a navigation tool to help prevent getting lost. A mission statement for a business can be like a minus lens for a nearsighted eye; it alleviates the stress to allow objects in the distance to come into full focus.When presented with multiple paths and daily challenges, long-lasting companies often refer back to a mission statement to help guide their decision-making process. This brief, but powerful, declaration of your company’s purpose and values can provide a strong sense of confidence and comfort as you deal with emergencies and explore new territory.

Consider Starbucks. As big and diverse as the coffee giant’s business is, the organization spends more on employee benefits than they do on coffee beans. In the book Pour Your Heart into It, Starbucks chairman Howard Shultz wrote, “I tried to make Starbucks the kind of company I wish my dad had worked for.”

Shultz envisioned a company with good health benefits, stock options, and an overall culture of openness, responsiveness, and respect. And if you were to refer to the company’s mission statement, you would see their main guiding principle: “Provide a great work environment.”

Knowing where you are in the grand scheme of things and understanding how what you’re doing right now fits into and supports the big picture of your business can be the difference between knowing how to proceed and feeling lost.

When day-to-day tasks bog you down, a clear mission statement can give you the confidence to make tough decisions as well as reassure you when you’re on the right path.

Sometimes you can lose sight of the big picture, especially as you grow and expand your business. But living up to the goals and values that you spell out when you first get started can help you manage overloads and stay focused.

Ultimately, a clear big picture gives an entrepreneur the context for what he or she does and does not do. And without a strong context, your business is like a nearsighted person driving in the rain without his or her glasses on.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Make Your Networking Work

2006-05-10T16:51:00.000+01:00

Make Your Networking Work

When it comes to big pictures, networking is the way you link your vision for your business and career to those of the rest of the world.

If you are on track in your business and professional life, you network every day, forging and enhancing connections that will reap future rewards.

Networking is a numbers game. Just as you don’t get an airline upgrade without the mileage, you don’t have a network to call on unless you put in the time to develop it. You have to do your time in the air before you make it to first class. You have to invest time and energy making connections in order to build a first-class network.

As any career counselor will tell you, once you’ve reached the required level of technical expertise in your field, career advancement depends on the relationships you establish. Make sure you’re doing this important work well by networking effectively. Here’s how:

Networking is about contact. It’s eye contact, face-to-face contact, phone contact, e-mail contact. It’s contact with people you can help and who can help you. Make these contacts with grace: have good posture, relax, and smile. (Yes, even when you’re on the telephone or at the computer.)

Be the one to initiate. Keep your eyes and ears open to prospects. Learn to recognize a potential business friend. That person may be at a professional seminar, at a community event, in the airplane seat next to you, at the health club, a friend of a friend, a friend of a vendor, even someone you read about in newspapers or magazines. Be human and humorous in your contact.

Be bold. Put your fears aside or at least get them out of the way, and approach the scariest person first. The rest will be a lot easier.

Anticipate discomfort. What is new is frequently uncomfortable. Trust me, though, eventually you will be more at ease, especially when it starts paying off. Ease the pain by keeping the contact simple and specific.

Expect acceptance. Believe that you are adequate in this potential relationship. If you don’t receive acceptance, don’t feel rejected. Remember that the person you’re approaching probably also has a list of prospective business friends he or she hopes to develop. You may not be on that list at this time. Be patient. Things change for everyone.

Pass it on. When you seek opportunities to help someone else by referring them, you become known as a center of influence. People will come to you.

Always respond. Answer every telephone call, e-mail message, and letter. They might be someone’s attempt at networking with you and you never know where it might lead.

How do you know when your networking is working? Things happen. People invite you into business meetings or conversations when they don’t have to.

They seek you out because they’ve heard of you and your capabilities. Your name gets passed upwards and outwards. You receive calls from people you’ve never heard of inside and outside the company.

Networking may not seem all that important in the crush of the daily to-do list, until you need a network to call on. Then, it may well be too late. The day-to-day work of networking is a solid way to stay connected with your big picture plans even as you take smaller steps toward realizing them. A network of contacts helps you extend and grow your business and career and allows you to help others in the same endeavor. A solid network also provides a hedge against the future. In times of challenge, these are the people you’ll call.

A network is a safety net. Work to keep yours tight and strong by tending to it every day.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

The Big Picture Horizon: Time to Soar

2006-05-10T16:40:00.000+01:00

Men are born to succeed, not fail.
-- Thoreau

Sometimes people spend too much time focusing on problems instead of focusing on opportunities. You have to keep the big picture in mind even when minding the details, or your vision could become micromanaged in an unnecessary way. I always try to keep two wavelengths going at once, which prevents brain cramps and reminds me that I’m destined for success. How do I know this is my destiny? Because like Thoreau, I believe we are born to succeed, not to fail. If I can believe it, you can believe it too.

Here’s how. First of all, dispel all negativity. Zap negative thoughts and people the moment they appear. Remember, problems are bound to crop up, but that's not a reason to get discouraged. Even problems can be turned around to your advantage, and sometimes surprising events can happen.

Second, you have to remain determined. If you have a big picture in mind, you will need big determination to go with it. The old saying “ Rome wasn’t built in a day” is an apt one. There is no easy way, much as I’d like to tell you otherwise. But if you are doing something you love doing, that should not present too much hardship. In previous articles I discussed the tremendous difficulties faced by people like Michelangelo and Beethoven. Despite their obstacles they prevailed, and they’re still with us centuries later. It helps to know what other people have faced in accomplishing their goals. Often we don’t know how much work is required until we get into something, no matter how much research we’ve done. So, fortitude is absolutely necessary.

Then we come to the unexpected, events that happen that can thoroughly alter our plans, such as earthquakes, wars, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and so forth. Here’s when the theory of adaptability comes in. Are you able to remain flexible enough to handle catastrophes? Disasters happen, and aren’t always foreseen. Suddenly our big picture has a new script attached to it! Well, believe me, you can handle it if you go with the flow and remain determined at the same time. The best thing to remember here is Winston Churchill’s advice on the subject: “Never, never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” We may not be experiencing the Blitz as England did during WWII, but sometimes when problems start up, they can seem much worse than they really are. Prepare yourself with strength of character to withstand discouragements as well as disasters.

People who have endured great hardship often say they survived because they kept some sort of hope going, a vision of the future, despite horrible immediate circumstances. They may not have had a big picture in mind at the time, but they had a semblance of one. Try to emulate their example. It is obviously an effective thought process for survival. Sometimes a dead end can be a new beginning.

My father used to tell us this story he thought was really funny, although I never thought it was that funny. I think he was trying to tell us something about remaining determined. Anyway, it went like this: A guy just loved soda, so he decided to go into the business, and he named his product 3-Up. It was a failure, so he started over again and named his new product 4-Up. It too failed. So he started again and named his soda 5-Up. Once again, it failed. He tried again and named his soda 6-Up, and it too failed. Well, he decided he’d had it with the soda business, and he gave up. That was the end of my father’s story! As we all knew, 7-Up became a very successful and famous brand of soda. My father's message to us: the soda guy simply gave up too soon!

We’ve had some good examples, from Thoreau to Churchill to my father, so let’s pay attention to them and keep them in mind in the years to come. I think it will do all of us some good.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Exacting Standards: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Role of Leadership

2006-05-07T22:38:00.000+01:00

Exacting Standards: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Role of Leadership

Corporate social responsibility issues, such as business integrity, environmental stewardship, employee relations, community involvement, and human rights, are being covered in the media with greater frequency and prominence. Not coincidentally, more people than ever report that they form an impression of a company based on its social responsibility.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is no longer just "good PR" or some generalized feel-good concept; it has a definite impact on the bottom line. In this new climate of increased scrutiny and the pressure it brings to bear on companies to modify their behavior, business leaders who understand the importance of CSR are becoming important catalysts for compliance. When the standards change, that's when it becomes more important than ever to have leaders who set the standard.

Corporate ethics programs can be cost-effective. They go a long way toward preventing lost sales, a demoralized workforce, and unethical behavior that can be increasingly costly to an organization, both in dollars and in terms of perception. Such programs can also help to attract and retain good employees who wish to work in an environment with high standards.

Forging stronger links to communities, which builds customer loyalty and reinforces employee satisfaction, often begins at the top. The leader sensitive to CSR, with all of its complexities and ramifications, is one who champions—in a prominent fashion—certain types of behavior whose business function may not be immediately evident.

The CEO who cuts the ribbon on the new company daycare center, for example, or who creates an event out of a meeting with the local wetlands preservation society, is one who understands the intricacies of context. This kind of behavior, these sorts of broad gestures cannot be expected to come from middle management and others focused, and properly so, on relatively narrow operational goals.

The interrelatedness of the company and the community, of the personal relationship employees have with the workplace, are not simple or obvious phenomena. Part of being a leader, though, is having a vision, which means seeing beyond the ordinary and delving below the surface. To effect change in the workplace, or to solidify (or rehabilitate) a company's reputation in a community represents a leadership challenge which, like so many in the upper echelons of business, amounts to setting a standard.

Chances are that a company known for its CSR, that is widely considered to be a genuinely ethical organization, is one whose leader believes in a set of values generally deemed ethical or responsible. It's a good bet that he or she has made it a key order of business that the company will behave in such a way, and that he or she will personally promote such values through the many vehicles companies have to promote their initiatives.

Many fundamental leadership concepts, such as buy-in and change management, could be said to revolve around the establishment of and commitment to standards. To set the standard is to be the standard—through your words, actions, and beliefs.

If you want to set the standard, a good way to start is to learn from others who have already done it. Trump University's upcoming Web seminar series The Trump Way to Wealth features seven standard-bearing masters of wealth creation, including Donald Trump himself. This exclusive event promises to be an interactive extravaganza. You can hear presentations by world-class experts from the comfort of your home or office, and ask questions too! Attendance is limited, so act now. To learn more, click here.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Set the Standard Every Day

2006-05-07T22:36:00.000+01:00

Set the Standard Every Day

When Lance Armstrong scored his record seventh win of the Tour de France this summer, sports writers around the world observed that he had set a new standard for future generations of bicycle racers to follow. What exactly does it mean to set a new standard? It is an interesting question to explore.

One thing is certain. To be a standard-setter is an honor that not many people achieve. When Enzo Ferrari built the first 12-cylinder race cars half a century ago, he set a performance standard that had other racing teams struggling to keep up. When Arthur Rubinstein played the piano works of Chopin, he set a standard that an entire generation of pianists has been trying to equal. And at Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos has set standards that other Internet retailers will be hard-pressed to match.

I could continue adding names to that list of standard-setters, but you get the point. Certain people set performance standards so high, other people spend their lives trying to equal them.

The real question is, how can you join that select company of standard setters? When you analyze the lives of Armstrong, Ferrari and the others, you arrive at some interesting answers to that question.

First of all, you discover that setting new standards doesn't mean doing things that nobody else does. Look at Lance Armstrong. He is not the only competitive cyclist on our planet. There are tens of thousands of other racers. The difference doesn't lie in what he does, but in the fact that he does it better than anybody else can. He performs routine tasks, but with extraordinary skill.

So the secret of being a standard setter is relatively simple. If you invest the effort to make sure that everything you do exceeds expectations by a healthy margin, you set standards. And you move steadily ahead of the pack.

If you stay alert, you will see that every day presents countless opportunities to set high benchmarks for others to follow:

Beat deadlines. If someone expects you to turn in a project in a week, submit it in three days. Exceeding expectations is a quick path to setting new standards.

Keep every promise you make. If you tell a friend that you will write a letter of recommendation for his daughter who is applying to college, have that letter on his desk within 48 hours. Don't make him call in a week to remind you. There are no small promises—only small people who don't fulfill them.

Be a better communicator than everyone around you at work. Listen to people and ask follow-up questions to be sure you have understood. Not many people invest even a few extra minutes in these steps. Yet if you do, you will set a standard for the way people should communicate in your organization.

Respect everyone, especially people who are different from you. That's not simplistic advice. Stop and think about how rare genuine respect for others can be in our world. Practice it and watch your leadership profile grow.

Make your products shine. If you are a real estate developer, for example, make your properties more elegant than those being offered by your competitors. Standard-raisers often create things of beauty.

Opportunities to set new standards are literally right before you, every day of the week. Look for them, seize them, and for your efforts you will be rewarded with exceptional recognition and an exceptional life.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Set the Standard (And Others Will Follow

2006-05-07T22:34:00.000+01:00

Set the Standard (And Others Will Follow....

People who work for me know that my media persona of being positive and enthusiastic isn't just a façade. I really am that way, from the inside out. I have big ideas and enough energy to follow through on them. Those who are around me will eventually catch on that this is how I operate. It's a good approach that obviously works. It's contagious in the best sense of the word. One thing everyone knows about The Trump Organization is that we get things done. A big reason for this is because I've set the standard and everyone follows suit.

If you like to work hard, you will attract people with the same ethic. The people who work with me enjoy the daily challenges and set their own standards to meet those challenges. Their pattern of thinking matches mine: How do we accomplish more? How do we get to where we want to go? It's a combination of vision, courage, and discipline to realize that the possibilities are always there. But if you're thinking too small, you might miss them.

Ask yourself this question: What standard would you like to be known for? Then go about setting that standard for yourself. No one else can set it for you. I remember when my father couldn't understand why I wanted to develop properties in Manhattan. I'd had my eye on Manhattan since I was in college; it was a longstanding goal of mine. Years later, when I was describing my ideas for Trump Tower to my father, including the glass and bronze exterior, he couldn't understand why I would choose anything other than bricks to build with. Bricks worked for him, why not for me? Because I was setting my own standard. When Trump Tower opened to wonderful reviews, and became a landmark building, it was clear that my standard had been accepted, and in a big way.

I had also been advised to put up beautiful paintings in the lobby of Trump Tower. Even though I like beautiful art, to me this seemed old fashioned and unoriginal. I decided to put up a waterfall instead, which is like a sculpture in itself. It has attracted far more attention than if I had put up paintings. It's over 80 feet high and cost $2 million to build. It's absolutely spectacular. It's larger than life, and a big attraction in New York City. Once again, I was setting my own standard.

When I decided to rebuild Wollman Rink in Central Park, I did so with my own principles in mind: Do the best job as quickly as possible and for the least amount of money. The city had been trying for seven years to rebuild and restore this beautiful skating rink, then I stepped in and finished it in three months and at less than 10 percent of the City's $21 million cost. Everyone benefited. Those are my standards, and I met them.

You can do the same. Just focus on your own standards and stay with them tenaciously. You will be defining yourself and your future success in the process. Good luck!

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Turn Your Intuition into a Power Tool for Success

2006-05-07T22:32:00.000+01:00

Turn Your Intuition into a Power Tool for Success

One fateful day back in 1979, Apple's co-founder, Steve Jobs, had a spark of intuition so bright it is still flashing across the screen of the computer you are looking at right now.

Jobs was visiting Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center, where he saw an experimental computer called the Alto. It had a funny-looking device called a mouse that let the user open files by clicking on pull-down menus. The moment he laid eyes on the Alto, Jobs knew he had seen the future of home computers.

He spent a few years developing the Macintosh. Then he launched it with a commercial during the 1983 Super Bowl that showed mighty IBM being vanquished by his Mac—a little mouse-equipped computer that greeted its users with “Hello” instead of a line of incomprehensible code. And the rest, as they say, is history.

What was going on over at IBM at the time? In 1981 IBM had succeeded with its introduction of the IBM PC, which was luring business customers away from mainframes. But to develop computers for the home, IBM was relying on committees. Build something cheaper and more stripped-down than a full-size IBM PC, they reasoned, and IBM could steal the home market from Commodore and Atari. That line of thinking culminated with IBM’s 1983 launch of one of the biggest duds in computer history—the PC Junior. It looked like an IBM PC. The only problem was, it didn’t do anything.

The story of the Mac and the PC Junior tells us that, in most cases, inspiration beats intellect.
Access will automatically follow, right? Well, not necessarily. When Edison invented the phonograph and the light bulb, the marketplace responded. When he invented a concrete house that could be built in just one day—an equally astonishing idea—nobody was interested.

How do you know whether to trust your intuition? The best way is to adapt the principle that Ronald Reagan developed for U. S. foreign policy: Trust, but verify.

You should respect the value of what your gut is telling you, but you must expose it to some brutal tests. After all, the world is going to beat the heck out of your ideas. The best way to understand their worth is to beat the heck out of them first.
I once interviewed a man who taught me a lot about the danger of trusting instincts alone. His job was to recruit undercover operatives, people who were very likely to be taken hostage in foreign countries. If he made the wrong choices, people could die.

“How do you get a sense of how people will behave if they are kidnapped?” I asked. “What questions do you ask them in interviews?”
“Oh, we don’t get a sense of how they will behave,” he told me. “We have to know, so we kidnap them.”

That’s right. He and his team actually abducted the candidates they were screening because they needed to know how they would behave if they were snatched off the street, blindfolded, and driven to a remote location. The recruiters had to know, not just think they knew. The cost of failure was too high.

The cost of failure can be just as high for your ideas. But if you break some rules, you can find ways to test what your gut is telling you.

You just saw a house and your gut feeling is that you could fix it up and sell it for a quick profit. Okay, fair enough. But first, why not run a fictitious ad for the house in a few newspapers and see if anybody calls? The $50 you spend on the ad will be the best money you ever spent.

You have an inspired idea for a new cell phone accessory that you just know will make you a fortune. You could hire a patent attorney and start spending big bucks to develop it. Or you could call your neighbors into your house, show them what you have in mind, and invite them to destroy your idea.

When you do all you can to shoot down your best ideas, you end up rejecting many of them. But the ones that survive are often real winners.

With prudence and hard work, you can be another Steve Jobs. Your gut, in partnership with your mind, will show you the way.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Nurture Your Instincts

2006-05-07T22:30:00.000+01:00

Nurture Your Instincts

We all have instincts. The important thing is to know how to use them. You may have superb academic credentials, but if you don’t use your instincts you might have a hard time getting to and staying at the top.

Knowing how to use your instincts is one of those gray areas that remain an enigma even to those who have finely honed business skills. It’s hard to explain how business instincts are acquired. Some of them are inexplicable. Nevertheless, there are signs that can guide you to or away from certain people and certain deals.

It’s also a matter of tuning in. Have you ever noticed that when you are in a situation, which produces heightened alertness, whether it’s a matter of survival or trying to pass an important exam, you are very careful in your responses? Suddenly, everything you say or do matters a lot. That’s one situation in which your instincts are there for you. Logic may say one thing, instincts may say another. Honing both logic and instincts will help you make the best decisions.

Listen to what your instincts are trying to tell you. Spend some time with this innate aspect of yourself. Look at handling your instincts as an acquired skill that can give you an edge in many situations, business or otherwise. There are a lot of things we can’t see or hear, which is when we use instincts to guide us. I remember someone once asking me whether I’d rather have a guide or a map if I were in a jungle. I’d choose a guide.

Follow your instincts, go with your gut, and you’ll have yourself a guide. Good luck!

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Engaging the Audience: The Point Where Learning Begins

2006-05-07T22:27:00.000+01:00

Engaging the Audience: The Point Where Learning Begins

For a lecturer, an educator, or even an entire system of education, connecting with the audience is no mere nicety, but a matter of paramount importance. If the message, or learning, is to reach individuals and actually have a positive effect, its content and delivery must be designed with the audience in mind. It seems like a basic rule of thumb, but judging by so much of what passes for education these days, it is a rule that is too often ignored.

The lecture format is inherently flawed because it overlooks the way that people learn. “People learn best when they care about what they’re doing and are emotionally engaged in the process,” says Robert Kaeding, Trump University’s vice president of course development. Mr. Kaeding has spent years studying the learning process to create practical, interactive courses that prepare students for the real world.

“Lectures are hard to do well because they don’t engage students on a personal level,” says Mr. Kaeding. “In a sense, any given lecture is a compromise because some people know what you’re talking about, some don’t have a clue, and some just don’t care.”

Sometimes there’s no avoiding a lecture. For example, when a visiting luminary comes to town for a conference, he must say his piece quickly and efficiently to a large group of people. So, the throng of well-wishers and knowledge-seekers gathers with enthusiasm, hoping to be edified and inspired. Then, like so many podium lightweights—too weak to carry a crowd—the exalted expert in his field prattles on until the audience is thoroughly numbed.
All lectures are not created equal. What makes a good one? “A good lecturer tries to relate his content to what people in the audience care about,” says Mr. Kaeding. “One of the best ways to do this is through personal anecdotes, which make the lecture less of a one-sided speech.
“A story will strike a chord with audience members when it relates to something in their own lives. The personal story is a way to learn through someone else’s experience, and it gives the audience something that’s personally relevant, in an immediate, visceral way.”
A good teacher is by definition a good storyteller, and a good storyteller is not a bore. Charisma, charm, and showmanship, those seemingly frivolous attributes, are not unimportant when it comes to educating people or simply getting a message across. Few if any business leaders have taken this to heart more than Donald Trump. He is a showman par excellence, strikingly distinct from the drab cadres of corporate officers content to drone on about headcounts and shareholder value.

In his public persona, Mr. Trump has made the personal anecdote his trademark, and it serves to connect his own singular life with other people's lives. You may never have the billionaire’s assets or lifestyle, but you can learn from his stories. You may never be as deep in debt as he was at his low point, but you can certainly gain some measure of insight by hearing how he deftly climbed out of such a gargantuan hole.

In the learning process, entertainment should never be an end in itself. It is a way to connect with the student, and make the learning experience real. That's what Trump University curriculum does; it is practical, success-oriented education that engages the student in a personal way.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Value Your Audience as Individuals (And Maximize Your Profits)

2006-05-07T22:25:00.000+01:00

Value Your Audience as Individuals (And Maximize Your Profits)

We live in an exchange society. To receive you must be willing to give. As motivational speaker Zig Ziglar says, “You can get anything you want in life as long as you help the other fellow get what he wants.” That’s one reason communication specialists and marketing gurus alike consistently urge us to know our audience and to know our customers.

Unfortunately, this advice frequently gets lost in a sea of demographic and psychographic facts and figures. Far too often, “know your audience” gets boiled down to nothing more than, say, “age 25 to 49, married, two kids, and a $400,000 house in the suburbs.”

In this blur of statistics the actual person, the human being on the receiving end, is ignored and often disrespected. It is this impersonal mentality that drives companies to put us on hold for 20 minutes, and then tell us not to hang up because they value our business. If they really knew their audience they would know that such false assertions of caring antagonize, rather than build, customer loyalty.

There are, however, different approaches to customer service. The other day I walked into a Kinko’s/FedEx center to photocopy and ship the manuscript for my next book. The clerk greeted me pleasantly and then asked if I had been to Singapore recently. Startled, I said, “Yes, about six months ago, but how did you know that?”

She replied that she had noticed Singapore written under the small design on my knit shirt. This customer service representative continued to make conversation. She asked about my trip to Asia and my book. She helped me make my photocopies and complete the FedEx paperwork. When I started to leave, she bid me adieu and said she would look forward to my return.

Although I suspect that she had never read Dale Carnegie’s classic How to Win Friends and Influence People, she was inadvertently putting his wisdom to work. She showed sincere interest in her customer.

More than 20 years ago I stayed at a Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. At that time, the hotel had five different restaurants that opened onto a common circular entry area. As I was wandering around comparing menus, one maitre d' stepped out, asked me about my dining preferences, and invited me to try his restaurant. Of course I did, but that’s not the main part of the story.
Four nights later I was back wandering around the same circular area. The same maitre d' again stepped out to greet me. Only this time he said, “Hello, Mr. Eldred. Nice to see you. Will you be joining us again for dinner this evening?” Of course I did.

Although two decades separate these experiences, each illustrates the most important part of “know your audience.” Much more than abstract statistics, these experiences remind us to relate to others in a sincere and respectful manner. Sure, demographics and psychographics may help us “target” customers (a rather ugly metaphor that, unfortunately, seems all too apt). But to best persuade, influence, and motivate others, we should express interest and appreciation, attend to details, and let other people understand that you value them as people first and as customers or “profit centers” second.

When you say to yourself, “I need to know my audience,” think first about our universal need to feel valued. Before you define your audience in terms of statistical differences and market segments, take care to recognize those human needs that apply to nearly everyone in every audience.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

All the World’s a Stage

2006-05-07T22:21:00.000+01:00

All the World’s a Stage

One key to winning is knowing where the other side is coming from. Whether you’re involved in negotiations, a war, or public speaking, this information can be invaluable. It’s also necessary if you hope to connect in any way with other people.

Life is a performance, no matter what field you’re in; large parts of life and business involve acting. Acting encompasses people skills, negotiation skills, public relations, salesmanship, and the ability to read your audience, whether that audience consists of the four people in your office or 40,000 people when you’re making a speech.

In the performance that is social interaction you need to begin by considering this: Is there a common denominator between you? Sometimes, even the weather can be a good starting point. Severe weather can affect all of us, whether we’re billionaires or college students. Though there are some obvious commonalities, others take more time to determine. I remember negotiating with someone I didn’t like very much, which put up an invisible wall between us. Then I discovered he was an avid golfer like myself. We suddenly had something to talk about that we both enjoyed, and proceedings went much better after that.

I’ve heard many stories about people who got terrific jobs, not because of their college grades, but because of their hobbies and endeavors outside of their field. Granted, they had the credentials to begin with, but so do a lot of people. The people in charge of hiring were looking for something else, something extra—a common denominator aside from the obvious requirements. I know a young lawyer who was hired by a top law firm because, in addition to doing well in law school, he also had a master’s degree in music. His music degree mattered because the partner doing the hiring happened to be a musicologist in his private time so he was aware of the amount of discipline a degree in music requires. It would also provide them with a common denominator outside the usual legal environment, which would enhance their daily routine.

Comedians know how to play to their audience. The best public speakers know how to do that, too. Step number one is to know who your audience is. In my book How to Get Rich, I mention the common denominator as a way to relate to people. Ask yourself, “What do we all have in common?” I may be a billionaire, but I get stuck in traffic jams, too. I have bad days just like everyone else. Realize that a lot of your experiences can be understood and appreciated by your audience because they’ve had them, too. Make an effort to find what you have in common and lead with it. If you take the time to think about it, you can create a bond that didn’t exist before.

I recently spoke to an audience of about 40,000 people. Afterwards, a member of my staff asked me if such large speaking engagements make me nervous. I said no because I had finally realized a large part of life is acting, and public speaking is an act. That perspective frees you from nervousness and allows you to focus on and know your audience.

You can save yourself from some unnecessary (and unpleasant) learning experiences if you realize that life is like performance art. Understand that as a performer, you have a responsibility to your audience to perform to the best of your ability. You also have to have the goods to captivate your audience, no matter how many people are there. Performers prepare for every performance. That’s showmanship, and that’s life. It’s also a way to the top. Learn, know, and show. It’s a proven formula. Start putting it to use today.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Experience and Learning: The Guided Path to Perfection

2006-05-07T22:16:00.000+01:00

Experience and Learning: The Guided Path to Perfection

You’ve heard the saying, “practice makes perfect.” That’s the central idea behind Trump University’s educational mission, only we call it “learning by doing.” Learning by doing, though, doesn’t just mean practice (i.e. doing). It also means monitoring, gathering feedback, and adapting to what you learn. Learning by doing, then, actually means guided practice makes perfect.

Some business practitioners boast 20 years of experience. But really, they might have had only one year of experience 20 times over. I know an owner of a paint and wallpaper store who complained about the failure of his business to make a big profit. This owner blamed his “cheapskate” customers, he blamed government taxes and regulations, and he blamed the weather. He blamed anything and anyone but himself.

During the 22 years this small business owner struggled to survive, he never read a book on sales or marketing, never enrolled in any type of professional development course, never conducted a customer survey, and never shopped his competition to gain insight from their practices and operating procedures. Yet, whenever I suggested that he should try these or other methods to improve, he would respond with something like, “I’ve been in this business for years, ain’t nobody going to teach me nothing I don’t already know.”

This owner erred in the worst way possible. He violated the cardinal rule of learning by doing. He failed to acknowledge his own ignorance. He failed to ask probing questions like:
How can I improve?
Are there better ways to run this business?
How can I generate new ideas?
What am I doing that I should change?
How might I better serve my customers?
This owner fooled himself into believing that “doing” alone would give him the ability and experience necessary to grow his business to the level he wanted. He was unwilling to understand that to learn by doing you must first admit imperfect knowledge and imperfect practice. Then you must experiment, measure results, and compare them against ideal standards and principles. You must consciously work to improve. Even if you achieve Nirvana today, you must prepare for change tomorrow. What worked in the past won’t likely work in the same way in the future.
A Personal Odyssey of Learning

I have owned rental properties since I was an undergraduate in college. I have consulted with Fortune 500 companies. I have written two dozen books. I have taught in the graduate business programs of top-ranked universities. Nevertheless, I am always trying to learn more. I read widely, attend seminars, speak with other professionals and, most importantly, I listen closely to my customers.

For example, if I lose a tenant, I want to learn why. If market vacancy rates weaken (or tighten), I want to learn why. I persistently look for ways to cut my properties’ operating expenses, increase my rental rates, and offer my tenants a better value for the money they pay. Instead of blaming others for my weaknesses and shortcomings, I realize that by devoting attention to my ventures, I can consistently improve my performance—and so can everyone.

I learned this lesson years back when I first became a college professor and was leasing many of my rental apartments and houses to college students. These students routinely complained that their landlords treated them poorly and offered less than desirable rental units. To me, these complaints signaled an opportunity.

I discovered that most landlords not only ignored such complaints, but they firmly believed that the student tenants deserved what they got. “They will just tear the place up” was the common attitude that experience had supposedly taught these owners. So why worry about student-tenant complaints and protests? These owners had learned by doing, but they learned the wrong lesson—much to my benefit.

I figured that if I listened more closely to the students' comments, they would tell me what they really wanted. In response, I could fashion a rental property that would “wow” my tenants. With a better, more competitive property, I would attract a higher quality tenant, and at the same time charge higher rents and have lower vacancies and lower turnover.

This strategy worked. My experimental apartment building soon established itself as one of the most desirable places for students to live. When residents did move, their units were nearly always filled with referrals. All in all, my changes boosted the value of the property and at the same time greatly reduced the time and effort spent managing that property.

You can achieve similar results with whatever business ventures you pursue. Just remember, experience often confirms our preconceived biases. Other property owners used their experience to justify treating their tenants poorly. My friend who owned the paint and wallpaper store used his experience to blame everyone but himself for his failure. You will always learn by doing, but what you learn depends greatly on the mindset you bring to the learning experience.

So I encourage you to open your mind, experiment, discover the best practices and principles and seek feedback. Then put what you learn into practice. In that way, you will not only learn by doing, you will learn to improve by doing, and that is your ultimate goal.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Book Smart vs. Street Smart

2006-05-07T22:13:00.000+01:00

Book Smart vs. Street Smart

We all know people who are "book smart" but clueless in the real world, and those who are "street smart" but unable to handle any environment other than the one they’re used to. Last season The Apprentice was based on this dichotomy, pitting a team of people with higher education against a team whose members had less formal education. When you look closely at both sides of the spectrum, you realize that the key ingredient to success is experience. Experience comes from action and action is synonymous with doing.

Learning by doing comes down to proving yourself. When I was in school, I worked hard and even studied foreclosures in my spare time. This wouldn’t have meant much, though, if I hadn’t put my knowledge to the test by actually finding a foreclosure to invest in and then doing it.

I found a 1,200 unit residential development that had 800 vacant apartments. It had become a disaster. The developers had gone under and the government had foreclosed, but I saw it as a great opportunity to learn by doing. I learned a lot, and I made a good profit. Plus, I got the confidence to move forward in my real estate career.

This would not have happened if I hadn’t put my knowledge to work for me. It also wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t spent time studying and preparing for such an opportunity. Learning and doing have to work together to be effective. Knowledge alone isn’t enough. You have to act on it, but it’s hard to do anything effectively without good information.

Did you ever notice how easy some things look until you try them yourself? Golf can look effortless and non-athletic until you try to play a decent game. Suddenly, it takes on an entirely new dimension. Don’t underestimate anything until you’ve tried it yourself. The real pros make extremely difficult maneuvers look easy because they’ve spent thousands of hours perfecting their technique. You probably haven’t seen them practicing, but they have been. They’re not armchair golfers; they’ve been out there doing it for a long time. It’s one thing to prepare, but it's another thing to do.

I think a lot of people are afraid to fail so they don’t try. They talk, but don’t do. That’s a great formula for failure. My advice is to take some risks, even if you fail. There has never been and there will never be an Olympic ice skater who hasn’t taken a spill on the ice, no matter how much she knew about ice-skating. She's acquired her skill by doing, not by watching.

When I was interested in acquiring the Commodore Hotel near Grand Central years ago, a friend told reporters my idea was like “fighting for a seat on the Titanic.” I worked against great odds, but the Hyatt Hotel not only became a huge success, it began the redevelopment of the dilapidated area around Grand Central. I learned by doing, but I was also motivated by all the talkers who just complained about how crummy the area had become. They made me think: Why not do something about it instead?

Apply this thinking to yourself and to your situation. You will not only learn a lot, you will learn how much you didn’t know, which is equally important. So give yourself a challenge, not once in awhile, but every day.

Knowledge requires patience; action requires courage. Put them both together and you’ll be a winner.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

The Path to Success: A Long, Winding Road

2006-05-07T22:10:00.000+01:00

The Path to Success: A Long, Winding Road

Jamie Meiselman is an entrepreneur who pursued the idea of bringing the perfect surf indoors through an enterprise known as Surfparks. A veteran of the action sports industry (snowboarding, skateboarding, etc.), Mr. Meiselman nurtured his idea while studying for his MBA at Columbia University. He left school with a degree and a working business plan. Now, more than five years later, he is on schedule to open the first of many Surfparks facilities in Orlando, Florida in spring 2006.Tenacity and vision were crucial factors in Mr. Meiselman’s realization of his plan. He discovered, though, that these qualities, often thought of as wholly personal, are subject to a number of external factors that can ultimately determine whether an entrepreneur succeeds.

When Mr. Meiselman began circulating his plan, he was greatly encouraged by the positive feedback he received—many business experts and savvy investors told him his idea was solid and had a lot of potential. Market conditions, however, were less than favorable. The internet bubble was about to burst and most investors were wary of even the most promising ideas. A variety of other factors combined to create a challenging environment for Mr. Meiselman’s idea. The odds were stacked against him and the entrepreneurial process itself seemed to present other major difficulties.

“Even if your idea is great and you come across as a manager who will run the business competently, you’re only as good as the other business plans on a potential investor’s desk,” says Mr. Meiselman. “Your idea may not be right for a potential financier for reasons that have nothing at all to do with you.”

As Mr. Meiselman continued to modify his business plan and integrate the advice he received from those to whom he showed the plan, the positive feedback he received helped him weather the adversity.

“Seeing evidence for the potential of my idea ultimately kept me going. A business plan is all about assumptions, and when you see your assumptions validated by others—including potential investors and customers—it really motivates you.”

Tenacity, beyond the role it plays in personal motivation, is a key factor in how others involved in an entrepreneur’s enterprise perceive him or her. “With most business ideas you can’t do it yourself,” says Meiselman. “I have two partners and 50 investors. Tenacity is important because it shows the people around you that you’ve got what it takes to get through the rough times, and that you’re going to maintain your focus and keep a level head.”

Tenacity, vision, and motivation are the key elements required for any entrepreneur to reach the starting gates of his or her business. These three elements, Meiselman says, are completely interconnected, and must all be present to ensure that an entrepreneur succeeds. “Motivation is the engine, tenacity is the fuel, and vision is the course you’re following. If you’re missing any one factor, the others won’t work or will be weakened.”

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Reinvent Yourself to Reach Your Dreams

2006-05-07T22:05:00.000+01:00

Reinvent Yourself to Reach Your Dreams

Dr. Arthur Caliandro, the inspirational minister who succeeded Dr. Norman Vincent Peale at Marble Collegiate Church in New York, believes that if you are going to succeed, you need momentum. He has a favorite story about it that he likes to tell. While taking a walk one day, Dr. Caliandro noticed an ant that was trying to find its way around a big stick that lay in its path. First, the ant tried to climb over the stick. It was too high! But that didn’t slow the ant down. It sped up and started to dart right and left, constantly trying new angles. In a few minutes, it got around the stick and was on its way.

This story teaches two essential success secrets:
Never stop moving if you are blocked. Don’t sit down. Don’t make excuses. Don’t call a meeting about the stick. Feel your energy rise and bring all your fighting spirit to the process of finding your way around.

Keep trying new approaches. Don’t keep batting your head into the same obstacle in the same way. Be flexible instead and try everything you can to get around.
The Power of Reinventing YourselfNever stop moving . . . and keep trying new things That’s another way of saying that to reach your dreams, you need to keep reinventing yourself.
How do you reinvent yourself? Start by studying the lives of successful people:

Bill Gates started as a computer nerd. At some point, he realized that to attain his full stature, he needed to refashion himself into a highly skilled entrepreneur. He did, and now Microsoft is everywhere.

Donald J. Trump has reinvented himself many times. Early in his career, he developed properties in Queens, New York. He could have stopped there and built a lucrative real estate enterprise that would have been the envy of many. But to attain his fullest potential, he had to reinvent himself as a Manhattan real estate developer. He did, and then he kept reinventing himself as hotel owner, casino owner, author, celebrity, and more.

Sam Walton was an old-school retailer who distrusted computers. But when growth of Wal-Mart slowed, he honestly admitted that his personal technology intolerance was the reason. He did an about-face, studied computer science and made Wal-Mart a leader in retail computerization. The rest is history.

Reinvent, ReinventReinvent yourself wherever you feel blocked. If you dream of becoming a legendary salesperson but the big accounts elude you, reinvent yourself as a consultant who helps businesses meet their needs with products you can provide. If you dream of building a real estate empire but feel blocked, find a partner and start investing as a team. If those things don’t work, try something else. Don’t sweat it. Don’t slow down. Behave like that ant and you cannot be defeated.

And don’t forget that education plays a central role in self-reinvention. Be sure to access all the learning tools you can. Find online courses and other resources that meet your needs. What you understand, you can become.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Be Tough and Tenacious and Never Give Up

2006-05-07T22:02:00.000+01:00

Be Tough and Tenacious and Never Give Up

Sometimes people think I was born with a Midas touch, that everything I think about or touch just somehow turns to gold. I’ll admit, I’ve been very lucky, and I’ve also had the good fortune to get a great education from the schools I went to and from my parents. But there might be some things you don’t know about me, like how I waited thirty years for one project to get going. That’s a long time to wait.

Be tenacious. You won’t get very far otherwise. You also have to be tough. Tough is what you are when you refuse to give in or give up. You have to fight the good fight. Very few things of worth are easy achievements. That’s just the way it works.

I remember attending a lecture on creativity, and the speaker was making the point that creativity and tenacity go together and are important for great accomplishment. He asked us, “What if Michelangelo had said ‘I don’t do ceilings’ and walked away from painting the Sistine Chapel?”

It was an interesting thought. But considering Michelangelo’s character, painting a ceiling probably represented a creative challenge, and it certainly was. The only reason it got done was because he was a tenacious guy who never gave up. But as I’ve mentioned before, you’ve got to love what you’re doing, then nothing will seem impossible. Challenges will become pleasures, not chores.

There will always be obstacles and problems along the way. Being tough will enable you to work through them without becoming worn-out or negative. In fact, you should expect problems. That will save you the time wasted on surprise or dismay when they surface.

Never giving up is courage. Courage is the opposite of fear. Do not allow fear to paralyze you. Mark Twain put it well: “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.”

Being tough and tenacious can help you move forward to achieve what your creativity has presented to you. Sometimes the most talented people fail and those who are far less talented succeed. Those who succeed, regardless of their talent, move forward with confidence and know they will never have a good reason to give up. There are some areas where I do not accept excuses, and this is one of them. Keep that in mind. So, get to work. Be tough, be tenacious, and win big.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Thinking Big: Your Vehicle to Success

2006-05-07T21:53:00.000+01:00

Thinking Big: Your Vehicle to Success

Reach for the stars, go for it, man!
— Sammy Davis, Jr.

America is a big country and bigness is essential to the American Way. It’s everywhere you look: big money, big portions, big ideas. In a place with so much of everything, there’s a lot of smallness, too, like millions of people of modest means, whose lives just don’t play out on the grand scale of everything around them. They can turn on a TV anytime or visit a multiplex and see a world that dwarfs their own. Some react with indifference, while others seethe with jealously and frustration. Then there are those who are emboldened by this grand landscape. It helps fuel their ambition to reach their outsized vision. These people think, “I may be little now, but not for long.”

When you truly think big, you never feel small. Your vision elevates you above your surroundings. Your vision protects you, too, by providing a bulwark against bitterness and resignation, afflictions common to the smalltime and small-minded.

Your vision of the future may be at odds with the facts of today. Now, this moment, might hold only failure and doubt, but to succumb to the moment before your dream takes shape is to veer toward surrender. Thinking big is what carries you past the moment.

Business, art, or any creative endeavor isn’t just a few "eureka" moments. It’s hard work, and it’s not always fun. Ideas of any complexity advance by increments and require a certain combination of broad strokes and big-picture thinking (the fun stuff), and intense concentration on details (the real work). To do it right and to see it through you need time and energy, but above all, you need discipline. Thinking big is a discipline, a means of getting past the minutiae. You can say to yourself, “Right now is a chore, but just imagine the final outcome!” That’s thinking big. It's not a passing thought: it’s a mindset.

If you think big, you will have at least the engine of genius. Palatable Insight Concept can help add the rest. Knowledge is a vehicle, and our coaching, professional package, courses and other learning products are fully compatible with any model of success, whether it’s advancing your career, starting a business, or creating wealth through investment. The biggest thoughts need a corresponding strategy to harness them. Marketing yourself and your ideas is key.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

How to Think Big Every Day

2006-05-07T21:48:00.000+01:00

How to Think Big Every Day

“Think big” towers above most other advice you will hear on how to succeed. In just two words, it lays out a plan for achieving your highest goals.

The greatest challenge is to find ways to think big today, not someday. Here’s how to make sure that happens.

Think Big Secret #1: Seize opportunities you don’t think you can handle. When people in authority ask you to take on a challenge you don’t think you can manage, say yes. It means they see abilities in you that you have missed. You will prove yourself and make a big impression—fast.

Example: The late Katharine Graham, probably the most powerful woman ever in American media, started life as an upper-class girl who wanted a society life. She married the editor of the Washington Post and her prospects seemed set. But then her husband killed himself in 1963, and the Post board asked her to take over the paper. Her first response was, “Who, me?” But she threw herself into it, built the Post into a world-class paper, acquired Newsweek, and even won a Pulitzer Prize over the course of a long career. The message? When opportunity knocks, answer the door.

Think Big Secret #2: Put yourself in situations that make you nervous. Seek out high-stakes circumstances that challenge you because they promise the greatest growth.

Example: Terrie Williams, who founded her own public relations firm, represents giants of sport and entertainment. She started her company by walking up to Miles Davis and saying she wanted to represent him. He became her first client, and the next one was Eddie Murphy. She says that if she feels butterflies in her stomach before negotiating with powerful people, she knows she is in the right place, not coasting.

Think Big Secret #3: Stay alert all day long for opportunities. About 99 percent of the things that happen every day might be repetitive busywork. But there is another one percent that is different because it brings significant opportunities. Stay alert for this one percent throughout the day, and don’t let it escape you.

Example: Like many people, I get hundreds of e-mails and phone calls every day. But when a chance came to use my journalistic experience to write for Trump University, I saw at once that I had been offered something significant, if I could make it happen. Unless you screen all incoming events for their “think big” potential, some important ones might slip away.
And One More Think Big Secret . . .

Constantly try to envision the significant places that your abilities and enthusiasms can take you in the world. Remember:

“Good with numbers” is not a career goal, but “CFO of a Fortune 500 Company” is.

“Excellent people skills” is not a career goal, but “head of my own HR consulting firm” is.

If you find it hard to link your abilities to big enough dreams, consider having a session or two with a qualified career counselor who can help you see the big opportunities that lie hidden in your unique gifts. An objective outsider can sometimes see your future triumphs more clearly than you can and help you plan how to achieve them.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY? WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

Think Big

2006-05-07T21:28:00.000+01:00

Think Big

Don’t limit yourself. In other words, think BIG. Thinking small when you can be thinking big is definitely limiting your potential. People are capable of doing great things, but not if they don’t envision great things being done. You don’t have to waste time working your way up to the top when you can start there in your mind.

I remember the old saying “It’s lonely at the top.” I don’t agree. It was probably said by someone who didn’t want any competition. I’m secure enough in my success to welcome competition, so I don’t mind telling you that being at the top is a great feeling. Thinking big can get you there.

Here’s how. We all start with small steps. The point is to get us up to the big steps we’re all capable of taking. Would you be satisfied taking baby steps throughout your childhood? Would you be thrilled to be crawling when everyone else is already walking? I don’t think so. We start small, but we move on. People like challenges. It’s our nature. Keep in sync with that basic premise and you will begin moving forward with the momentum necessary for great achievement. Know that it is a natural progression, not some wild scheme from out of nowhere.

We have to learn to walk before we can start sprinting. But that’s no reason not to contemplate sprinting even from day one. Apply that to your thoughts, and understand how your mind reveals the future to you. Do you have big plans or small plans? If all you can see on your agenda are small plans, ask yourself why. Then begin to expand your horizons. Sometimes we have to recognize our own smallness of mind before we can do anything about it.

Another way to move forward in a big way is to concentrate on managing your future, not your past. I’ve seen a lot of people waste a lot of time by dwelling on the past. Learn from the past, but don’t stay there. You have to keep the momentum going; keep moving forward, not backwards. Don’t focus on the problem when you should be looking at the solution.

Einstein said imagination is more important than knowledge. Easy for him to say, you might think. What he meant, though, was that without imagination and the ability to visualize possibilities, what would be the point of great knowledge? Knowledge is power, unless you choose not to use it. Knowledge is also the foundation of many great enterprises. Put imagination and knowledge together and in no time you’ll have something plenty big in your think big tank.
Take the time to think, but don’t risk wasting your time. Think Big.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RICH THE PIC WAY?
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF CONSISTENT FOCUS, YOU CAN MAKE IT. GIVE IT A TRY.

The Game of a Successful Life

2006-05-06T05:00:00.000+01:00

The Game of Life

Even if you haven't triumphed in the past, that doesn't mean you won’t win the next game. You just have to have the right mindset: the mindset of a champion. If you’re ready to think and act like a champion, success will come from, rather than be thwarted by, the challenges ahead. As you take the risks and push the limits needed to beat your competitors, you also have to stay focused on the goal, and the goal is to come out on top.

Still, champion deal-makers like star athletes know that preparation is the key to success. The difference between someone who is successful and someone who isn't is not about talent; it's about preparation. Winners make their luck by studying the competition, planning a strategy, and anticipating the risks. Preparing to meet the competition enables the champion to move ahead, stay ahead, and achieve victory.

When a fraction of a second makes the difference between winning and losing, the most highly-skilled athlete knows that the only way to beat his closest competitors is to have that mental edge: the ability to focus on the end-goal when the pressure is on. Athletes who have advanced to the Olympics are often at the same skill level and have already demonstrated the discipline to train and prepare for competition. The one with the champion's mindset, however, is the one who is most likely to win.

Star athletes seem to possess an almost unnatural ability to handle pressure, control doubt, and come through when the chips are down. Some people may be born with the confidence needed to win, but most people acquire that self-confidence through a powerful combination of ambition and discipline. The imagination to dream big combined with the focus and self-discipline needed to realize the dream is the mark of a true champion.

Gold-medal winners often talk of having visualized triumph; seeing victory clearly in their minds well before the actual contest. When they are so focused, it’s almost as if they have gone beyond thought itself, their minds cleared of anything superfluous. They know what they have to do so they can let their instincts take over. Clearing the mind of all thought and simply allowing the body to operate on pure instinct is called being in “the zone.” The zone is a familiar place to true champions. Getting into the zone, may sound somewhat mystical, but it is something you can actually learn to do even as you hone the more obvious skills needed to beat the competition.

Champions also know how to handle losing better than the average competitor. When they lose they do not become distracted or demoralized. Instead, they turn the failure to their advantage by learning from it. The loss does not define the athlete. Rather, it teaches him or her what not to do the next time around.

Ordinarily, people tend to be risk-averse because they're terrified of failure. But champions don’t think in ordinary ways. They're willing to push the limits to beat their personal best, to achieve something greater.

How can you gain the confidence of a champion competitor? First, take advantage of the living lessons role models provide. To become a winner you have to be willing to learn from those who have been winners themselves. Study their habits and find out which ones work best for you. By observing the best people in your industry, you'll learn what their routines are, the mistakes they make along the way, and the challenges they face on a daily basis. Then not only can you imitate their approach, but you can also match (or beat) their results.
To be a champion you have to think like a champion. You must believe within yourself that you deserve to win.

Think Yourself to Success

2006-05-06T04:58:00.000+01:00

Think Yourself to Success

People who set big goals and follow their dreams are called successful when they reach their goals. To the individual pursuing a dream or working to accomplish a big goal, they see success staring them back in the mirror, whether they reach their dreams or spend a lifetime trying. Everyone has his or her definition of success and happiness. It could be a high-paying job, a promotion, a fancy car, or achieving work-life balance. Unfortunately, not everyone has big plans for the future. I see it everywhere I go—people in their twenties, thirties, forties; people of all ages just drifting through life disillusioned, and wondering why success has passed them by. Success doesn’t just happen. The common denominator of successful people is that they dream big and then translate those dreams into attainable goals.

Vision alone does not yield greatness. To be successful requires honing the habit of thinking like a winner throughout the journey from nothingness to prominence. In his classic book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill explains how attaining wealth in any amount you desire happens as a result of your will power. Norman Vincent Peale’s all-time bestseller The Power of Positive Thinking is founded on the principle that positive results start with positive thoughts. Shad Helmstetter and Wayne Dyer are few of the many other well known authors who have also written best-selling books on the power of the mind. Some call it self-talk, others call it positive thinking or intention, and still others use terminology like visualization or manifestation. Call it anything you like, it all means the same thing—success starts in the mind.

What works harder and longer than you do? Your mind does. While you are awake it is consciously buzzing away with thoughts and ideas and while you sleep your subconscious continues to produce thought after thought. What’s your mind working on while you are in the shower, commuting to work, or sitting in a meeting with a client? The words and pictures you feed your mind carve the path to achieving big goals. Almost every Olympic athlete can testify to a time when they visualized themselves winning the Gold or when they told themselves they would set a world record and they did.

Champions are regular people who confidently tell themselves day and night—through their thoughts and mental images—that they can and will reach their goals. As Napoleon Hill says, “What you can conceive, and believe, you can achieve.” Conceiving big things and believing they are possible is the dividing line between the mediocrity of the masses and greatness of champions.

The bigger the goal and the wilder the dream, the more resistance there will be on the journey. Have you ever had someone tell you that you lack the education, money, experience, connections, or [fill in the blank] that is required to reach your goal? This is one of the primary reasons people do not step outside their comfort zone and pursue their dreams—they aren’t thinking like a champion does, their mind cannot withstand the resistance. Champions are determined to reach their goals and their mind is conditioned to see obstacles as well as opportunities on the journey.

Champions are not born, they are not made, and they can be hard to find in any business. Keep an eye out for them, they come in all ages, genders, shapes and sizes, but between their ears they all have something in common—they think like champions.

Saving Your Way to Success

2006-05-06T04:54:00.000+01:00

Here are some money saving tips you can use now to save money on your grocery bills:

1. Plan, plan, and plan. If you find yourself regularly running to the convenience store, you won’t be saving money. You should set up your own system to plan what groceries you need to buy, and what stores you are going to shop at. One simple idea is to have a marker board or chalk board at home, where the family can keep track of what items they are out of and what they are running low on. You would also be able to watch sales for things you know you will need in the weeks ahead. For example, you are going to need some picnic food for the big family picnic next week. Instead of waiting until the last minute, plan ahead and shop for bargains.

2. Become a savvy price comparer. Allow a few seconds for you to look at the price and amount, size and/or weight. Eventually, when you keep buying the same items over and over again, it becomes encoded in your memory of what prices seem cheap and expensive. You will also be better able to discern good buys and the really great buys.

3. Shop for bargains. Skim the store ads to spot good deals. Shop the local discount stores and dollar stores. Buy bread at your local bread store, where you can buy bread at half the price of the grocery store.

4. Use coupons. Yes, this strategy still works. It’s almost become a cliché to “use coupons” when buying groceries, but it still works. And now you can get the coupons you want right off the internet. You can check out the product’s website or search for the hundreds of other web sites that have free printable coupons.

5. Buy in bigger quantity. Buy in bulk and eliminate most of the packaging and costs associated with the packaging and distributing. For many products, the majority of the cost goes to the packaging of the product. This is why you can buy a litter of pop for the same price as a 20oz bottle! The pop only costs pennies compared to the expense of the plastic bottle. You don’t have to necessarily buy in bulk, just buy larger quantities. For example, you will generally get a better deal of you buy a 36-roll of toilet paper versus a small package of 4 or 8 rolls, especially if there is a sale.

6. Start a garden. If you have the space available, the most dramatic way to save on groceries is growing your own food. You eliminate all the middle men. You eliminate the distributing and packaging expenses. And you know where you food is coming from. If you don’t have the room, join with a neighbor who does.

6. Buy the cheaper product. If your debts are rising and your bank account is almost empty week after week, you need to stop buying the steaks and start buying the hot dogs. You can never get ahead by saving money when you spend money; therefore, you need to be spending less. Buy the generic brand. Buy the ingredients instead of the pre-ready meal or food item. Stop buying the groceries with the highest price. Buy the cheap potato chips instead of the Doritos.

A Beginner's Guide to Investing

2006-05-04T06:07:00.000+01:00

A Beginner's Guide to Investing

If you're new to investing, it can look pretty complicated. But it doesn't need to be. The editors at MSN Money have put together A Beginner's Guide to Investing to take you, one step at a time, from determining your investing budget, to deciding what to buy. To start putting your money to work, click a step below.

How much to invest?Your investment strategy will depend partly on how much you want to invest.

The one-fund optionFor some, one mutual fund is plenty to get started as an investor.

Build a portfolioOthers may want to choose a variety of mutual funds to cover all their investing bases.

Follow a guruFor a more active approach to investing, let an expert guide your steps.

Open an account and get startedThere are different account types for different goals.

Boundaryless Education for a Boundaryless Career

2006-05-04T05:58:00.000+01:00

The traditional employee-employer relationship is a thing of the past. The primary reason for this is well known: globalization and the need for businesses to cut costs in order to remain competitive. Labor has been hit hard by layoffs, downsizing, and outsourcing. For many Americans, the phrase "global economy" is invested with a certain amount of grief.

For some, the new economy has been a godsend. Free agents, for example, who work for multiple companies on a project basis, have proven themselves to be a highly evolved species of worker in the dynamic, fast-moving climate of contemporary business. Many of these free agents are highly educated "knowledge workers," and rely on the latest technology for their livelihood. The skills and knowledge they possess are what makes them valuable, and they engage in learning on a regular basis to keep up to date.

Not everyone can be or wants to be a free agent worker, but these highly skilled people represent the new world of work, where each person has to take charge of his/her career to an unprecedented degree. And taking charge of one's career means taking charge of one's education.

Education, like work, has undergone a radical transformation as a consequence of the technology-fueled phenomenon of globalization. Computers, the Internet, and other electronic tools have given individuals the opportunity to learn anytime, anywhere, whether for pleasure or to enhance their employability. These new and powerful machines have, in effect, obliterated the walls between learning and the learner

RESTRAIN HACKERS AND THIEVES OUT OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT

2006-05-04T05:46:00.000+01:00

Personally, I love the convenience of conducting my finances online. I know that there are risk/reward tradeoffs to virtually every human endeavor, and that moving my banking offline wouldn’t eliminate my vulnerability, as I discussed in “How safe is your financial information?”Contact: Palatable Insight Concept: palatableinsight@yahoo.com for more detailed information.
Indeed, there are plenty of ways for thieves to access your checking account offline. Here are just a few:
Thieves can swipe your mail, pull out a check you’ve written, soak off the ink with nail-polish remover and write themselves a fat payday.
They can steal your wallet and use your ATM, particularly if you wrote the PIN on your card (a big no-no -- but people still do it).
They can set up phony ATM machines, or devices that fit over legitimate ATMs, then record the information from the magnetic stripe along with your PIN.
Then there’s the possibility of an inside job: a bank employee with access to all your account numbers, user IDs and passwords who simply decides to help himself.

But there’s strong circumstantial evidence that thieves are becoming more experienced at raiding accounts online, and that should concern anyone who uses online banking.Consider that around 45% of adults with Internet access use the Web to bank or pay bills. Among those whose checking accounts had been raided, 70% were online finance users, Gartner said.
When bad guys go 'phishing,' you're on the lineThe rise in checking-account hijacks also corresponds with the rise in “phishing” -- e-mails that purport to be from a financial institution but that route the user to a bogus site that collects their account numbers and passwords.

Which brings us to the final weak link in the security chain: you and me. There’s still a lot we need to do to protect ourselves while we wait for better security solutions, such as:
Don’t expose yourself. Never use a public computer or wireless “hot spot” for financial transactions.

Beef up your security. If you use Internet Explorer, Microsoft recommends cranking the security setting on your Internet browser up to “high” (you’ll find it under the Tools menu; click on Internet Options and look for the security tab, then select Internet Zone). This may keep some Web sites from working properly, but you can make exceptions for trusted sites. (You can find more details with palatableinsight@yahoo.com .)

Use a credit card for online purchases. Technically, debit cards with the Visa or MasterCard logo offer you the same no-liability coverage for fraud that credit cards give you, but you have to wait a few days for the bank to restore the money to your account. Better to have a middleman like a credit card company between a thief and your checking account.

Don’t click. You probably know by now not to open spam e-mails or download attachments from unknown sources. But e-mail links in instant messages, Web message boards and Internet relay chats (IRC) also can be malicious. If a financial institution sends you an e-mail relating to an “urgent problem” or other matter pertaining to your account, use the phone number printed on your statement to respond.

Block pop-ups. Besides being incredibly annoying, pop-ups can be used to install hackers’ software on your computer. Many Internet service providers now have pop-up software built in, or you can get blocking software from sites such as Panicware.com.

Monitor, monitor, monitor. You need to take a careful look at your bank and bill-pay transactions. Don’t assume that odd $40 electronic transfer or check is a payment you just forgot about; it could be a scammer probing to see if the fraud will go unnoticed. With bill payment systems, review your payment history as well as your payee list to make sure there aren’t any unauthorized transactions. The sooner you report the theft the better; after 60 days, the bank may be under no legal obligation to provide a refund.

Stay up to date. Run Windows Update to keep current on the latest security patches. If you use Internet Explorer and have increased your security to “high,” you’ll need to follow the instructions on this link for the update to work properly.

Inject some variety. Don’t use the same user ID and passwords at different financial institutions. If you’re asked to create a security question and answer, don’t use one that’s relatively easy to discover, such as your mother’s maiden name.

Inoculate yourself. Keep your virus software up-to-date and run frequent scans to check for problems.

You could, of course, deal with the problem by simply not banking or paying bills online. But, as I mentioned earlier, that still doesn't eliminate your vulnerability to dishonest insiders or hackers who access bank databases. Some thieves have even been able to view electronic impressions of victims' paper checks and devise new bogus checks that way.Offline safety tipsYou can reduce your offline risk somewhat by:

Using gel pens to write checks. These inks can't be easily dissolved.

Get a locking mailbox. Make theft of your checks more difficult by locking up your mail and delivering any outgoing checks directly to the post office (In other words, don't let them sit in your mailbox).

Monitor, monitor, monitor. Check your bank account statements religiously. Be alert for any unauthorized transaction, regardless of the size.

Don't write down your password. Especially don't scribble the PIN on the ATM or debit card itself, or anywhere else in your wallet.

Use your credit card for "out of sight" transactions. That waiter who disappears with your debit card could swipe it through a "skimmer," a handheld device that records the information on the magnetic stripe. They can do that with a credit card, too, but again, fixing a fraud problem is easier with a credit card than with a debit card.

Start on your first $2 million at age 15

2006-05-04T05:34:00.000+01:00

Start on your first $2 million at age 15

It's easier than you think to become a millionaire. The magic combo? Getting an early start saving and having the discipline not to raid the piggy bank.

Here's a simple recipe to become a millionaire:
Work four summers, starting at age 15

Save the income in a Roth IRA account

Invest it in a simple, low-cost equity portfolio

Simmer slowly for 47 years

Serve ungarnished (and untaxed) at age 67
This is the first recipe in my new Small Change Millionaire Cookbook, an occasional series of columns with a single purpose -- demonstrating different ways small amounts of money can be turned into a large amount of money. Just as a mere 10 calories a day of additional food can pack on a pound a year, small change can become large amounts of money.

The good news is that money grows faster than fat. Calories don't have the benefit of compound annual growth.

Many people fail to diet because the end goal seems so far away. So it is with saving and investing: Most people fail because it is nearly inconceivable that a few dollars a day or a well-timed gift can be turned into that magical sum.Start investing with $100.
Explore our
new ETF center.

Fast-food millionaires
Two million dollars. It has such a nice sound.

So let me show you how four summer jobs can become your first million.

Let's suppose that you are 15 years old, in high school, and willing to work. Let's also suppose that you can clear about $2,000 over the course of a summer, if only because a doting grandparent puts money in the Roth while you take your earnings to school. If you invest in a Roth IRA, it will grow, tax-free, for as long as you have the account. All withdrawals from the account after age 59 1/2 will be tax-free.

If your money is invested in common stocks and you achieve the average compound annual rate on large-capitalization U.S. stocks, 10.7%, your account will grow to $9,378 at the end of the fourth year. You will be 20 years old. Invested in the same way, with no additional savings, the account will grow to:
$25,917 by the time you are 30

$71,625 by the time you are 40

$197,943 by the time you are 50

$547,037 by the time you are 60

And $1,114,423 by the time you are 67
And you will have started and finished all of your saving before turning age 21.

Worth the risk
Note that this plan does not require investment brilliance. It does depend on two things, an early start and tenacity. If you invested in small company stocks, whose long-term annual return clocks in at 12.5 percent annually, you could have much more money. (Try $2.4 million.) Similarly, you could diversify to reduce your risk and make your 47-year ride more comfortable. But you would do it at the expense of a somewhat lower return.

The "Yes, but" crew will be happy to tell you that $1 million isn't what it used to be. I can remember people telling me this in the '60s. It is as true now as it was then. Millionaires are, well, just dreadfully common.

Even so, the number of millionaires is relatively small. And being a millionaire is a better choice than being a pauper.

The same crew will be happy to tell you that the future won't repeat the past, that SARS, terrorism or some other misfortune will cripple the future, or that we will be crushed by a rising China. Similarly, an actuary might tell you that you have a substantial chance of being dead by 67.

Perhaps.

But so what?

All you've got to risk is four summers.

Solid Investment

2006-05-04T03:20:00.000+01:00

Solid Investment is one amongst the geniune and best viable source of making and investing and increasing your income or revenue to a climax.

Subscribte to http://www.solidinvestment.com/?ref=AOrok

Or Visit: www.palatableinsight.blogspot.com

YOU ARE UNIQUE!

2006-05-04T02:33:00.000+01:00

YOU ARE UNIQUE!

Think what a remarkable, unduplicatable, and miraculous thing it is to be you! Of all the people who have come and gone on the earth, since the beginning of time, not ONE of them is like YOU! No one who has ever lived or is to come has had your combination of abilities, talents, friends, acquaintances, burdens, sorrows and opportunities.

No one's hair grows exactly the way yours does.

No one's finger prints are like yours.

No one has the same combination of secret inside jokes and family expressions that you know. The few people who laugh at all the same things you do, don't sneeze the way you do. No one prays about exactly the same concerns as you do. No one is loved by the same combination of people that love you. NO ONE! No one before, no one to come.

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY UNIQUE! Enjoy that uniqueness.

You do not have to pretend in order to seem more like someone else. You weren't meant to be like someone else. You do not have to lie to conceal the parts of you that are not like what you see in anyone else. You were meant to be different. Nowhere ever in all of history will the same things be going on in anyone's mind, soul and spirit as are going on in yours right now. If you did not exist, there would be a hole in Creation, a gap in history, something missing from the plan for humankind.

Treasure your uniqueness. It is a gift given only to you. Enjoy it and share it! No one can reach out to others in the same way that you can. No one can speak your words. No one can convey your meanings. No one can comfort with your kind of comfort. No one can bring your kind of understanding to another person. No one can be cheerful and lighthearted and joyous in your way. No one can smile your smile.

No one else can bring the whole unique impact of you to another human being. Share your uniqueness. Let it be free to flow out among your family and friends and people you meet in the rush and clutter of living wherever you are.

That gift of yourself was given you to enjoy and share. Give yourself away! See it! Receive it! Let it tickle you! Let it inform you and nudge you and inspire you!

YOU ARE UNIQUE!

Corporate Corruption: If You Have to Lie, Cheat, and Steal, You're Just Not Doing it Right

2006-05-02T22:48:00.000+01:00

Recently former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski was convicted for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the company. It was his second go-round in court--the first one ended in a mistrial. You may remember Mr. Kozlowski from the original trial. A video of his lavish party on an Italian island, allegedly paid for with company funds, was last year's high profile corporate scandal. The retrial was a more low-key affair, but it served to remind us of how much business corruption there has been over the past few years.

The people at the forefront of these squalid affairs give business a bad name. Maybe they're greedy, maybe they're "ethically challenged," but ultimately they're incompetent. If you have to lie, cheat, and steal, you're just not doing it right. My career is a model of tough, fair dealing and fantastic success--without shortcuts, without breaking the law.

Back to that video for a moment: For a couple weeks it was all over the news, so most people saw at least a snippet of this cinematic atrocity, including a giddy, red-faced Kozlowski dancing amid ice sculptures and costumed models posing as ancient Roman courtiers.

As I watched this public embarrassment over and over again, it made me realize that my biggest problem with Kozlowski wasn't the alleged corruption, but the lack of taste. The kind of buffoonery associated with this brand of corporate corruption is just distasteful and alien to me. While watching these high-level company officers cavorting on the shareholder's dime, it occurred to me that maybe tackiness is at the heart of corporate corruption.

Like I said, these people give business a bad name. They've served to associate it with scandal, untrustworthiness, greed, and bad taste. But, as I prove everyday, it doesn't have to be that way at all.

Ode to Small Business Owners

2006-05-02T22:47:00.000+01:00

In my world, almost everything revolves around big business. I deal with big corporations and big lenders and big builders--big entities all around. But I have incredible respect for small business owners. There are millions of them in the United States, and they are a powerful force, driving our economy.

Yet, small business owners are also at a disadvantage because they often don't have many resources available to them. Unlike larger business entities with the funding to offer company-wide seminars or to subsidize continuing education, small business owners don't have the usual mainstream places to turn when they need advice on how to grow their businesses. When a small business owner has a staff of only a handful of people, it's hardly practical to hire a coach to dispense business advice. Then, where can the small business owner turn for high-quality and cost-effective resources?

This dilemma is one reason I saw the need to create an online learning environment like Trump University. I wanted to have a place where owners of small businesses--businesses that are just as critical to our economy's livelihood as big corporations--can turn to learn about critical business strategies and advice. These leaders need to understand how to hire, manage, motivate, and develop their employees. The Internet is a great tool for those kinds of resources, although I admit they're few and far between.

Surf around all over the web. Look for advice on how to reach your customers, how to raise your capital, and how to expand your business. The resources are right at your fingertips. I know you'll find that kind of help here at Trump University. It's the best advice from the brightest stars in the business field. I certainly wouldn't put my name on it, if it were anything less.

Women at Work

2006-05-02T22:43:00.000+01:00

Often I'm asked whether I think there is a glass ceiling for women in the corporate world. I admit that in many offices that obstacle may still be in place, but I like to think there isn't one in the Trump Organization.

There are several high-ranking women in my organization. Anyone who has watched The Apprentice is familiar with Carolyn Kepcher, who is an executive vice president as well as general manager and chief operating officer for two Trump National golf clubs. She's very smart, very shrewd, and tough as nails. Those are qualities I admire in someone, male or female.
Early in the first season of The Apprentice, I warned the female contestants that they were relying too heavily on their sex appeal to win the tasks. I think women have a tough situation in the workplace because of the sexual undertones. The business environment is so cutthroat that men and women learn to use whatever they can to get ahead, including their sexuality. Yet, when women do this, the perception of them changes. That's why women have to work harder to overcome obstacles.

I expect my employees to work long hours and to be available whenever I need them. Sometimes these expectations are more difficult for women to meet than men because they often have more family obligations than men do. I think sometimes this is where the obstacles come into play. It's not that the opportunities aren't there. It's just that the priorities can be different. Men are often more willing to put their jobs before their families--and I don't think that's a good thing. Women usually will put their families first, or at least give them equal time. The families win, but often that's why women perceive a glass ceiling looming overhead.

Toppling the Ladder of Gender Differences

2006-05-02T22:35:00.000+01:00

Recent scientific studies suggest that men's and women's brains are structured in some fundamentally different ways. This new data showing that men and women possess different neurological "hard wiring" indicate that men and women may also approach life--their work and relationships--differently. If these gender differences are aligned with the appropriate business and educational practices, society can optimize the talents of both genders.

Given the positive potential of such revelations, I was confused by two recent experiences. The other day I sent an e-mail to a prominent author whose new book fascinated me. I thought his concepts for new business paradigms might have an interesting impact on the future for both genders in the work place. He thanked me for my note, but said that he didn't want to comment on my questions about men, women, and the workplace because the topic was a "slippery slope."

Several days later, in a meeting with the CEO of a major financial services firm, I mentioned the new studies. I offered my opinion that these ideas suggested new ways to optimize human capital. He became uncomfortable and said that he "didn't feel ready" to explore such a topic even though he acknowledged that I was introducing him to "thought- provoking" ideas.

It is interesting to me that the mere mention of male/female differences, even considering that exploring those differences might have a positive impact on society, makes people anxious. Our culture translates the word "differences" to mean "better than/worse than" and becomes tied up by the fear of being accused of discrimination. The business community as well as society at large must confront this worldview and transform it into a value-free, horizontal way of considering differences among us.

Peering under our cranial hoods has yielded some evidence about gender differences. This knowledge, combined with new business practices, has the potential to advance the development of strong, collaborative gender relationships, capable of succeeding in the fast paced, global economy we live in. It will also promote a work culture that can help both men and women maximize their potential.

Palatable Insight Concepts: Knowledge is power

2006-05-02T22:25:00.000+01:00

Palatable Insight Concepts: Knowledge is power

Palatable Insight - Privacy Policy

2006-05-02T22:23:00.000+01:00

Protecting your privacy and your information is a top priority. We have taken careful measures to secure any information that you provide. Additionally, we exercise great care in providing safe transmission of your information from your PC to our servers (unless sent by a means outside of our control, such as e-mail).
Please read this policy carefully. We may need to change this policy from time to time in order to address new issues and reflect changes on our sites. We will post those changes here so that you will always know what information we gather, how we might use that information, and whether we will disclose that information to anyone. Please refer back to this policy regularly.
If you have any questions or concerns about our privacy policy, please send an e-mail to: palatableinsight@yahoo.com.

How We Protect Your Personal information

We may request personal identification information from you (such as your name, street address, telephone number, credit card number, e-mail address, and/or any other identifier that permits the physical or online contacting of you) in connection with your use of, or participation in, membership registration, surveys, forums, subscription registrations, chats, bulletin boards, discussion groups, or additional information (including via email to us), and in connection with other activities, services or resources we make available on any of our sites. In all of these cases, we will collect personal identification information from you only if you voluntarily submit such information to us. Except as otherwise provided in this policy, we will never intentionally disclose any personal identification information about you as an individual user to any third party without having received your permission.
If you do provide us with personal information for any of these activities, we may use it to conduct the activity. We may also use cookie technology (discussed in detail below) to improve your experience of these activities, including to remember your preferences, customize the content and advertisements that you see or authenticate your access to your personal information. In addition, in the event your personally identifiable information is requested as part of our surveys or polls, such personally identifiable information may be added to your registration information).
If you give us your permission, we may also use personal identification information for internal or external marketing and promotional purposes. On occasion, for example, we may send you e-mails to introduce a product or service that we think might be of interest to the users of our sites.
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Further, the information you enter when making a purchase will be shared with payment processors, financial gateways, and your credit card company to authorize credit card payments. Such information may also be shared with necessary third parties solely for the purpose or carrying out the transactions.
Please note that if you give out personal information online -- for example, on one of our public forums such as a message board or chat room, folder, chat IM feature -- that information can be collected and used by third parties. Although we strive to protect our users' privacy, we cannot guarantee the security of information you post in these forums. You disclose such information at your own risk.
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your information and password. You shall be responsible for all uses of your registration, whether or not authorized by you. You agree to immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your registration or password.

How We Protect Your Billing Information

When you order from us online, we protect your information by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. We are secured by GeoTrust, a leading provider of SSL encryption keys. SSL encryption electronically masks any information you send us. With this state-of-the-art system, you can enter your credit card number and delivery and billing information safely. The encryption process protects the information by scrambling it before it is sent to us. You can verify our compliance at any time by clicking on the GeoTrust logo located on our Shopping Cart page.

How We Use Cookies

We collect non-personal identification information through the use of cookies. A cookie is an element of data that a web site can send to your browser, which may then store it on your system. We never sell or distribute cookie-based information. When you first visit www.trumpuniversity.com, we send a cookie to your machine to uniquely identify your browser. This allows us to identify your session across page requests, which we do to make your visit more effective. You may access the site without having cookies enabled, but cookies are required to log in. In addition, we may set other cookies to help us analyze site traffic; these cookies help us improve the site, and contain no personal user information.

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By using this Site, you signify your acceptance of our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use this site. Your continued use of this site following the posting of changes to these terms will mean that you accept those changes.

The Waiter Rule

2006-05-02T22:21:00.000+01:00

Occasionally in the business world, I've heard people refer to something called "The Waiter Rule." Simply put, how you treat a waiter or a waitress reveals a lot about your character. It may sound insignificant, but over the years I've certainly found it to be true.

You would be amazed at how poorly some people treat waiters and waitresses. They yell at them if they forget an order or spill a drink. They threaten to have them fired, or even demand to speak to a supervisor. Their actions speak volumes and reveal more about their character than anything they could say or do in the most impressive business meetings or boardrooms.
On the flip side are those who take everything in stride. They treat service people -- waiters, bellmen, security guards, secretaries -- with the same respect they would give the CEO of a huge corporation. Those are the kind of people I respond to because that's the kind of person I am.

How you treat a waiter demonstrates how you would most likely treat your actual employees. It shows the true makeup of your personality and your true disposition. You might be a demanding boss, but it doesn't mean you have to be a demeaning and nasty one.
So think twice the next time you sit down at a table and get ready to order. And don't forget to leave a big tip.

Shocking Education Statistics

2006-05-02T22:20:00.000+01:00

I have always been outspoken about the importance of a good education. So, I was shocked when I heard the new statistics: nearly one in three public high school students in the United States won't graduate. If you break down the statistics for Latinos and African-Americans, the numbers are even worse. The dropout rate is nearly 50 percent. That's unbelievable!
Although more optimistic researchers say these percentages are somewhat inflated, the truth is that the dropout rate for American high school students is unacceptably high. A technologically advanced nation with our resources should work toward achieving a 100 percent graduation rate.
Look at the consequences for those who drop out. Not having a high school diploma almost always guarantees a lifetime of low wages. In addition, there's an increased chance that the dropout will spend some time behind bars and, unfortunately, there's a very high likelihood that the children of these dropouts will also end up dropping out of school.
We need to end this epidemic now. Some towns are asking businesses to stop tempting high school kids with full-time jobs. Others are offering students incentives if they wait to graduate before taking a job. Good for them.
I hope it works. Nothing is more important than a good education. If we don't succeed in educating all of the nation's youth, our economy, our security, even our very democracy is threatened.

Knowledge is power

2006-05-02T22:15:00.000+01:00

Knowledge is power -- and in the business world, knowledge can be powerfully profitable. I see that every day. And that's why we've developed these state-of-the-art intensive online programs -- to get you up to speed on critical business skills ASAP!
Each bootcamp typically lasts about three weeks and includes six sessions which are a combination of live teleseminars and recorded presentations. You get to learn from and interact with some of the savviest business trainers around . . . and you'll walk away with a serious competitive advantage that will benefit you throughout your career -- all from the comfort and convenience of your desktop!

Make Quick Profits in Any Real Estate Market:Buy, fix and sell investment properties
It has to be the cardinal rule of investing: BUY LOW and SELL HIGH.
But the slam-dunk smartest way to meet that objective is with real estate -- IF you know how. And this course will teach you everything you need to know in just a few weeks!
Even better: it's taught by Jay Gottlieb, who has bought and sold over 3,000 homes! Jay's company, First Home Brokerage, has annual sales of about $100 million. Crain's NY Business named him one of the "40 under 40" top business people of the year, and Ernst & Young honored him with their "NYC Entrepreneur of the Year" award in real estate in 1999.
The Bottom Line: if Jay Gottlieb doesn't know about it, then you don't have to know about it. And if he does know about it, then you'll learn it in this course! Specifically, you'll learn how to:

•Make deals with sellers that others can't make.
•Understand forms of ownership to protect yourself and your investment.
•Make successful offers and use contracts to your advantage.
•Deal with contractors to minimize repair costs and maximize your profits.
•Employ strategic selling techniques to collect your profits fast.
•Use creative techniques to raise money even if you have none.

It's a known fact that distressed properties have the potential to yield big profits. But finding the right property is only half the battle. Once you've got a property in your sites, you better know how to close the deal -- and how to turn potential into profit. Jay D. Gottlieb's strategic approach to investing in distressed properties has made him one of the most successful entrepreneurs in real estate. In his exclusive new TrumpU Bootcamp, Make Quick Profits in Any Real Estate Market: Buy, Fix, and Sell Investment Properties, you will get the knowledge, skills, and confidence to turn multiple opportunities into quick profits. You can get rich quick, but this is no scheme. Mr. Gottlieb's quick profit strategies are a proven model for success in the hands of the resourceful and driven investor.

Make Quick Profits in Any Real Estate Market will teach you how to select investment strategies that align with your talents, interests, and goals. You will learn how to use different forms of ownership to protect yourself and your investment. You will develop your ability to and make deals that minimize risk and maximize profits -- quickly.

More Details with the Trump Wealth: http://www.trumpuniversity.com/learn/re252trial.cfm?c=re252tb3&mm=U_24013_383

Palatable Insight Concepts: Location Might Be King, But Entrepreneurial Thinking Rules

2006-05-02T22:13:00.000+01:00

Palatable Insight Concepts: Location Might Be King, But Entrepreneurial Thinking Rules

Palatable Insight Concepts: Do You Work for a Difficult Boss?

2006-05-02T22:12:00.000+01:00

Palatable Insight Concepts: Do You Work for a Difficult Boss?

Palatable Insight Concepts: ABOUT PALATABLE INSIGHT CORPORATION

2006-05-02T22:07:00.000+01:00

Palatable Insight Concepts: ABOUT PALATABLE INSIGHT CORPORATION

ABOUT PALATABLE INSIGHT CORPORATION

2006-05-02T20:37:00.000+01:00

Palatable Insight Corporation is a paragon of success and a pioneer of palatable insights with vibrant concepts in varieties of different professionalism. Though PIC is success facilitated multinational, our Package Success Concepts (PSC) is personal. Our PSC requires perseverance and adequate consistency in all ramifications. We aid populace, help themselves in other to give business minded people the critical skills required to achieve lasting success and becoming successful. Through Alexander Orok’s universally accepted concepts and renowned packaged material, we provide refined wealth-genic information, training, coaching and networking for anyone.

Mission
Our mission is to package our clients to be proficient persons of deep insight with palatable concepts of attaining their goals in the podium of strategic wealth hypothesis, which in turn would lead to becoming better citizens in their societal province.

Vision
Our vision is to have the entire world become triumphant using the creative Palatable Insight Concepts so that we can achieve an established virtue of successful wealth with an understanding as we uncover the truths of the universe.

Our Clients include anyone, entrepreneurs and professionals who are not content with the status quo in their business career and who are grave about achieving their heart’s desires.
Our team believes in synergy and is dedicated to helping our clients succeed in their business goals.

Our exclusive edifying products, services, courses, and programs offer world-class learning in concentrated, practical offerings that fully leverage technology.
Our commitment is to the PIC approach of uncompromising excellence in everything we deliver.

Our teachings are applicable for individuals and businesses. Individually, as you increase your awareness level you will attract more success into your life. Having us teaching this material to your employees, your business revenues will also grow because your business revenue is a direct reflection of all the employees’ performance.

Do You Work for a Difficult Boss?

2006-05-02T06:17:00.000+01:00

Of all the problems people face on the job--difficult customers, a heavy workload, ringing phones--what is the one that drains the most joy from life? The answer is a difficult boss, or, as many people say, "a crazy boss."

The classic crazy boss is a bully, but difficult bosses can also be belittling, burned-out, controlling, insecure, micromanaging, namby-pamby, or paranoid. The real question is, what kind of boss do you face when you get to work? And what can you do about it? In this new forum, we will tell our stories and share the solutions we have found.

Let me go first. I once had a boss who made a big show of giving my team complete authority over our work. His management mantra was, "You people handle it. Just give me one last look before the project goes out the door." Yet each time he took that "one last look," he demanded a complete redo and kept us working past midnight.

He was an insecure supervisor who needed to prove that only he knew how things were supposed to be done. He was always "saving the day" at the last minute and that made working for him demeaning. Some of my colleagues actually began to feel incompetent. I finally started pushing our work-in-progress under his nose so he had to tell me whether we were on track. Even if he didn't want to look and said, "No, you are in charge," I asked questions until he made suggestions. His last-minute "crises" all but vanished and the quality of my work life improved.
Now it is your turn to share your stories. Together, we can discover some effective strategies to make your working life better.

Learning on the Go

2006-05-02T06:07:00.000+01:00

America is a country on the go. We like our food fast, our news pithy, and our remote controls at the ready, to rapidly surf through anything that can't keep up with the flight of our attention spans. Portability, that kin to speed, is also a dominant value of this country, reflected in our culture, lifestyles, and products. The fact that 32 million iPods were sold last year isn't just an amazing consumer business story, but also a telling fact about how people are changing their habits so drastically.

Learning, too, has become subject to a populace hungry for all things quick, portable, and high-tech. This is especially relevant given the importance of continual learning in the fast-paced world of business, along with the relentless pace of people's lives and careers. Ambitious people face the constant challenge of finding the time to learn and the right educational products that address their specific needs and preferences.

Palatable Insight was founded on the principle that people need learning that is practical, convenient, and designed to contribute to their success. This means offering programs in a variety of formats--to meet the needs of our customers. They have told us they want learning on the go, and now we have responded, with an exclusive series of nine audio business courses in such areas real estate, entrepreneurship,wealth creation, marketting, online business and careers.

The courses are packaged with audio CDs and a CD-ROM that provides access to a free 12-month online program with teleseminars presented by world-class experts, a discussion forum, and special reports.

Palatable Insight Audio Business Courses represent education for the iPod generation, which demands mobility whenever it comes to information and communications. These unique hybrid courses, at less than $50 each, are an overwhelming value, not only because you get so much priceless business instruction--available whenever and wherever--but also because the 12-month online membership ensures that the course will always be current, unlike a textbook or a typical audio course, which are obsolete almost as soon as they're published.

New times demand new ways of learning, ways that aren't static or slow. Palatable Insight's Audio Business Courses represent a company that is highly responsive to the marketplace, which means adapting to the way people learn best. For more information on Palatable Audio Business Courses, contact us: palatableinsight@yahoo.com for more details . http://palatableinsight.blogspot.com/2006/05/about-palatable-insight-corporation.html Learning on the Go

The Entrepreneur: Birth of a Salesman

2006-05-02T04:21:00.000+01:00

Stever Stralser teach at a top-ranked MBA program and when he just mention the word "sales" or "selling" He watch as his students' eyes roll. Then they wince like they've just tasted a less-than-perfect Pinot, and make comments like "I did not pay fifty thousand dollars and spend a year of my life to prepare for a sales job."

In contrast, last week He conducted an intensive two-week seminar where He invited successful entrepreneurs to present their own case studies of successfully launching, growing, and, in some cases, exiting their companies.

The cases were presented by entrepreneurs like Karl Eller, who at age 66 had been nearly bankrupt. Then he started over, in the outdoor billboard business, and ultimately sold his company to ClearChannel for more than $1 billion. Then there was Sam Garvin, who launched his business based on a business plan written in his Thunderbird MBA entrepreneurship class. The business grew into a billion dollar company. (Sam is now enjoying his "second career" as a major owner of the Phoenix Suns basketball team, rated by Forbes as a top performing sports franchise.)

We also heard the story of young entrepreneurs like Kenny Kramm and Woodie Neiss. They founded a company called FlavorX that has been on the cover of Inc. magazine. Flavor X was started to solve a critical health problem faced by families whose kids have to take adult-formulated drugs for life-threatening conditions.

A common trait of all of these entrepreneurs, which has driven their success, is sales ability. They have been able to make the cash register ring not only from customers saying "yes," but also because they've honed the skill of selling ideas. Each had a vision of where the company would be in a dynamic and competitive environment.

Not every "born salesman" is a natural entrepreneur. It also takes a respect for risk, a vision for creating a business from an opportunity, the ability to navigate through ambiguity, and a passion for leadership and team-building. An entrepreneur possesses a unique combination of skills, but it all begins with the ability to sell.

So, shouldn't your first job as an entrepreneur be "founding salesperson"?

Stever Stralser is the author of MBA in a DAY (www.mbainaday.com); and clinical professor of entrepreneurship at Thunderbird: The Garvin School of International Management.

Location Might Be King, But Entrepreneurial Thinking Rules

2006-05-02T04:11:00.000+01:00

"Location, location, location" is one of the most overused (and misunderstood) phrases in the real estate business. Sure, when it comes to real estate, a property in a great location can seem like a no-brainer investment, but where do YOU fit into your investment decision? What role does entrepreneurial vision and imagination play in deciding what and where to invest your time, energy, and money?

For real estate entrepreneurs, like other entrepreneurs, seeing possibilities where others might see problems is the name of the game. Entrepreneurial real estate investors look beyond the obvious to discover or create value on their own.

In the 1970s when Donald Trump bought the West Side Yards in Manhattan, people thought, "Why?!" At the time the area wasn't much of a "location," but today, that once non-location is Trump Place and the surrounding area is one of the most desirable and valuable parts of Manhattan.

Successful real estate entrepreneurs like Donald Trump are able to read local market signals and make investment decisions based on their appraisal of the future, not the past.
In New York City, the major real estate action isn't just in Manhattan. Brooklyn offers another example of how early local knowledge and entrepreneurial vision can pay huge dividends.
For decades, the Red Hook section of Brooklyn symbolized urban decay with its empty streets and old, vacant warehouses. But where others saw a wasteland, retired police detective Gregory O'Connell saw an opportunity. In the late '70s he started buying properties in the neighborhood and over time he became a fixture in the neighborhood. O'Connell is what Trump University real estate faculty would consider a "neighborhood entrepreneur." Today, O'Connell is a multimillionaire and the biggest developer in Red Hook, where property prices and business activity--small and large--are booming.

Just as Trump saw the potential in investing in Manhattan's West Side Yards, O'Connell saw the promise in Brooklyn's Red Hook section.

With more and more people getting involved in real estate and calling themselves "investors," there is more money out there looking for fewer good deals. That's why now more than ever, new profit-seeking real estate entrepreneurs need world-class education, guidance, and support to learn how to study market conditions and how to analyze markets so they can outsmart the novice investors out there investing by the seat of their pants.

Local market knowledge and appraising the future are major themesin PIC's concepts. They're not about getting rich quick, but about getting rich smart. To learn contact us for more information.

Be the Star of Your Business

2006-05-02T04:07:00.000+01:00

If you're running your own business, you had better cast yourself as the star of the show. Too many entrepreneurs waste their time playing every supporting role from sidekick to understudy. But to be truly successful in business, owners must place themselves at the center of the action. If you're going to be the diva, however, you have to learn how to delegate. Success in the business world requires balancing your desire for control with a need to bring the star quality out in those who work for you.

Finding your balance will allow you the freedom to perform at your best. Spending every spare minute toiling away for the "good" of your company is no guarantee of success. Achieving balance means strategizing to make your business less reliant on you.

Too often owners act as if they need to be personally involved with every aspect of their company in order to be successful. Yet, this approach frequently has the opposite and sometimes disastrous effect of running the business as well as the business owner into the ground. The show can't go on if you mix too much time at work with not enough time for family and friends; stir in a dozen sleepless nights and a steady supply of quickie meals and countless thwarted pleasures.

Being a business owner, especially in a start-up, is difficult under the best circumstances, but it is a grave mistake to believe that relentless dedication to the business--to the exclusion of all else--is the only way to succeed. In fact, this approach almost always guarantees that you will not be performing at your personal best. Instead, you need to envision yourself as your company's top-billed performer and grant yourself permission to live a fuller life, with plenty of room for personal growth.

Why do business owners fail? Or if their companies take off, why do they get mired in their businesses at the expense of their personal lives? It's because they're pulled down by the day-to-day demands of running their companies.

So what is it that determines entrepreneurial success? The answer is easy. . .
The owner has star quality, the confidence and flare to do what is necessary to perform at his or her personal best.

The Key to Success: Love What You Do

2006-05-02T04:04:00.000+01:00

We all know what it means to love someone or something, whether it is a silver-anniversary marriage partner, a television program like The Apprentice, or a local sports team. So why is it that it's so easy to become infatuated with an iPod, yet most people have trouble falling in love with their jobs?

I have seen a disturbing statistic in newspapers and magazines that up to 70 percent of people are unhappy with their jobs. What side of the statistic are you on?

In working with college students and young professionals as they prepare to launch successful careers (work I love), I have seen thousands of people ignore their passions. Somewhere between childhood and the real world one of two things happen, either you start to follow the dreams of your parents, your neighbor, or someone else, or you get caught up in pursuing the dollars or status associated with a certain career. People who do this leave their passion on a shelf collecting dust and end up becoming part of the 70 percent of people who dislike what they do.

What's interesting is that most people know exactly what kind of work they would love to do, but something prevents them from going after what they really want. Limiting beliefs and fear are the two biggest roadblocks to reaching your dream job. Donald Trump is the perfect example of what level of success you can attain when you do something you love. Success is waiting for anyone who follows his or her heart.

Why Care About Branding?

2006-05-02T04:00:00.000+01:00

Brands are for the big guys, right? Proctor & Gamble, General Motors, Starbucks, Gap, Trump. Wrong! If you have a business, you have a brand. If you have a career, you are the brand. Anyone out there in any market of any kind has a brand. It may be making you money, or losing you money, but your brand is there.

So what exactly is a brand? Many people confuse branding with graphic design. I still have clients come to me saying, "Can you design us a brand?" They are asking for a logo, and my response is always what I call the First Law of Branding. Your brand is not your logo. Is your nationality a flag? Of course not! It is something deep within you that everyone who knows you immediately recognizes. The flag is just a symbol for that invisible but very important "something."

Your brand is what you mean to the people who know you. It's what first comes to mind when they hear your company name. It's the thought, the feeling, the image that you own in their heads. Brand identification happens in a split second. Just think of James or Julie or Diane or Pete. In other words, think of someone you know and watch how quickly you summon up their presence in your mind. The same mental imagery happens when you call to mind McDonalds or Porsche or Gap. Those brands are already installed in your brain, like cookies on your computer. When they are mentioned, they activate your feelings about them.

What happens in that split second is largely subconscious, nonverbal, and emotional. It is enormously powerful because most buying decisions are subconsciously and emotionally driven, even in the cold hard world of business-to-business marketing. That is why branding is so important.

The Second Law of Branding follows. The brand drives the buying decision. A great brand for any size of market forges a bond with its audience. It makes a connection deep inside people. That bond is in place for the moment when the need arises, and out comes the credit card.
Think of your brand as a magnetic force. It may attract, or it may repel. Designing a powerful brand strategy means building a force field around your company or product (or you!) that draws people in -- specifically the people most likely to buy what you have to offer.

Formular for Success

2006-05-02T03:30:00.000+01:00

I believe that if you get your systems right from the beginning, you can apply the process on any scale. Get the formular right first, then allow yourself to grow. I think a major obstacle for a lot of new businesses is that they want to get too big too quickly and they miss out on important details at the outset. A marriage celebrant once said "You've got to build the foundations". I think Mr Trump would agree that nothing good is built on dodgy foundations! I also belive that honesty and integrity are the key to success in any field. Do you have an opinion on these matters?

What is the role of entrepreneurs in today's global marketplace?

2006-05-02T03:16:00.000+01:00

Technology and innovation are powerful forces that have a way of breaking down national borders. Entrepreneurs are the avant garde of globalism, often transcending politics, nationalism, and petty local concerns. No one can stop an idea whose time has come--a sentiment that defines the entrepreneur's role in the global arena.

What is the role of entrepreneurs in today’s global marketplace?

Posted by: Alexander Orok ">Link