I thrive on change. I must be strange because most people avoid any form of change, yet I love it.
If ever there was confirmation that I am right in loving change a post written by Christine at Self Made Chick yesterday is it!
I feel another immediate change is imperative for me having read what Christine has to say. I agree so entirely with her comments that I need to immediately re-think everything I have planned for the coming year. How inspiring is that?
My main online focus is not blogging (although I do run several including this one) but Christine has encouraged me to completely change the style of what I am and have been doing with my blog writing.
I hope you’ll notice the difference here in the coming weeks but for now I urge you to read:-
I started a blog a few years ago (that you’ve probably never heard of) that went nowhere at all. When I started this blog, I made one conscious decision to use more of one particular word - and that I believe has made all the difference.
To find out what that word is you will have to visit Self Made Chick. I make no apology for that because you really should read the whole article - if you don’t subscribe to the RSS feed there I’ll want to know why.
Let me know what you think of the article and what you are going to do about your own style going forward.
I was out visiting a client today and as usual the traffic was bad and the journey wasted about 1.5 hours of my day.
Sitting in the heavy traffic got me thinking about the extra day a week I gained by not driving to an office (45 minutes each way x 2 x 5 = 7.5 hours) and whether I use that time effectively. Just as I was pondering that thought by the side of the road in probably 30 foot high letters someone had painted:
“WHY DO I DO THIS EVERY DAY”
If ever you question whether you should work from home - please refer back to this post and think about the time wasted, the frustration and pollution caused by commuting to a place of work.
I’ll be thinking of that poor soul tomorrow morning as I walk upstairs to my office.
You’ll know by now that the first M in the 6M’s is Mindset. Without getting your focus right, frankly you are wasting your time if you are dreaming of making it big - that’s all it will be, a dream. You must develop a wealth mindset and not dwell on what you don’t have or don’t want.
Christine at Self Made Chick has written a post entitled “Congratulations, You Are Now A Millionaire” that you MUST read. I don’t mean if you get the time or can be bothered, I mean you really must read it.
I won’t spoil the impact of the post by telling you about it but I do want to share a fact or two about my own mindest and why I struggled to break free for so long. I wasn’t aware of this limiting belief until quite recently.
GIVE ME YOUR DINNER MONEY
When I was younger I went to a school in, we’ll call it a “rough area”. I was no different to most of the kids and we were all just trying to get through the day, weeks, months, years until we could leave and get a job. There was an enormous amount of disruption in every class and academic learning was very much a by-product of the survival learning.
Most days the bigger, tougher or wannabee kids tried their luck and demanded the younger, smaller, weaker kids hand over their dinner money or whatever else of value they happened to have with them.
There were always stories of house-breaking, shoplifting and car radios being stolen at night. Typically a walk home late evening would mean much looking over the shoulder - we got street wise in a survival sense very early!
Now the point in telling you this is not some sob story of poor me but a vital lesson in where an element of mindset comes from.
My deep rooted belief system was that “there is no point in having wealth as someone will just come along and take it”.
I didn’t know that’s what I thought, I hadn’t planned to believe that - it was just there from a very early age. In fact I guess that thought was reinforced by the fact we didn’t have any money! My mum was alone until I was 12 and I used to talk with her about where we would earn enough money to pay the bills.
During my early years at work I bought a really cool car, which was stolen - more proof to support my beliefs. After about 10 years at work I decided something needed to change as I was sick of having nothing left over.
I started reading more about having money, about self-development and about business in general. I started to think about my beliefs and where they came from. Still I couldn’t identify why I felt the way I did about money.
AN UNLIKELY SAVIOUR
In the late 70s early 80s I found the answer. I was a great fan of Bruce Springsteen’s early work and continued listening to his music until he lost his energy and lost that hard edge to his writing. A few of the lines in “Something in the Night” from the “Darkness on the Edge of Town” album hit me smack between the eyes when I first heard it:
You’re born with nothing
and better off that way
Soon as you’ve got something they send
someone to try and take it away
Click the arrow above to hear the song
I recognised immediately that was exactly how I felt. What a revelation. Now I knew the problem I could do something about it.
No, it wasn’t easy but I started by looking at all of the people I could think of who did have money. Football stars, rock musicians, business men etc. Was their money being taken away? Apart from the taxes (governments are probably the biggest cause of negative mindsets - but that’s a different story) no, on the face of it they still had much of their wealth.
I decided there and then that my focus needed to change. I tried to put myself in their shoes. How would they act, how would they react and what would their attitude be if they lost everything? I knew they would start over and do it again. I’d read enough about millionaire’s who had lost everything more than once to know that to be true.
Now, if you haven’t already read Christine’s post, “Congratulations, You Are Now A Millionaire” please do so - she writes so much better than I do and I honestly think it will help you if, like me, you are struggling in any way with your mindset.
Where does inspiration to do something comes from? It never ceases to amaze me.
I’m having an incredibly productive day and all sorts of thoughts are coming into my head. So much so that I need to focus on just one thing at a time to get it done. For some reason something that I used to do when I was studying years ago came to mind.
Put some music on. I can’t remember the last time I listened to music while I was working but I thought I’d give it a go as it used to help me study because it stopped my mind wandering off onto things I’d rather be doing! (Let me know your thoughts on this - leave a comment on this post, I’d be really interested whether you find some background noise / music etc helps or hinders your concentration).
Now, this is where the amazing thing about inspiration kicks in. Thinking about music at work reminded me of a job I had as an Assistant Manager in a bank years ago. I ran a small section, managing a group of lads aged about 20. On a Friday we played a game where one of us would name an artist and all day we could only sing / whistle / hum tunes by that artist - I know pretty sad but it took us away from the mundane 9-5. Why not do the same today, I thought.
One of the guys was a mad Eric Clapton fan (along with me) and so I thought I’d find some of his tunes on FoxyTunes and listen while I worked today.
I played the video for Layla (naturally) then Bell Bottom Blues and thought I’d mellow and listen to Old Love (I defy anyone not to enjoy that opening guitar): -
Although I’ve listened to that song a thousand times the words kind of had a different meaning today and were the inspiration for the title of this post. - Take a listen - click the start button on the video while you read.
The song is essentially about an Old Love who has gone but Eric can’t let go and still hankers after what is no more.
“…it makes me so angry, when will I ever learn”
This is very similar to the position loads of people find themselves in - not about an old love but about something in their past. Maybe it’s fear of moving on into the unknown, fear of change, fear of the change not being better, whatever the reason they hanker after the past and just cannot move on.
That is a real burden, especially when you know you want to move on with your life but something is holding you back. Sometimes, you just have to let go - what can be worse than living in a twilight zone wishing for something that has gone and won’t come back? Whatever the reality of the change that will come it has to be better than that.
Listening to some of Eric’s songs (olden days music as my son calls it) reminded me of some great times had with some great friends. What I like those times again? For sure, but that was at a different stage in our lives if we went back it wouldn’t be the same. Enjoy the memories but move on.
What inspired you today? Hopefully, something I’ve said! Have a great weekend.
I received an email this morning that made me stop and take stock of where I am with my life and my progress since starting out with the 6M ProfitMethod nearly 6 Months ago.
The email was from a lady who has taken some positive action as a result of my recommendations in my “Nothing Changes Without A Change” report. (You can download it from the Missing Link box in the right sidebar).
She wrote about her situation and how glad she was to have found this blog and the information it led her to - just when she needed it. Wow, that is really something.
It’s all very well promoting products that you think are great and will help (I only recommend things I’ve personally used) but when you receive such positive feedback it puts everything on a different plane.
That one email sparked so much emotion and thought that I immediately posted the following at the 6M forum. My wish for you is that success to you also equates to helping someone else - it feels real good.
BEFORE 6M
I’d been dabbling with the internet - I had a free blog with some Adsense and a few affiliate links together with a big dream of online success. I had “sold” a few affiliate products that amounted to diddly squat. I was receiving emails from every corner of the planet about traffic building, squeeze pages, mentoring programs, autoresponders, rss feeds blah, blah, blah. Like most people I subscribed, downloaded and bought all sorts of stuff (some may have been really good quality) BUT it was at the wrong time. A bit like buying a Ferrari when you can’t drive yet! Fantastic to look at but doing nothing.
POST 6M
In less than 6M (remember I have a full time business already that takes up c10 hours a day) I have taken massive leaps forward with my life. Now that may or may not be totally down to 6M. It doesn’t matter because whatever the reason 6M has been the catalyst to that progress.
My mind is totally focused on where I will be in a few years time. I start everyday “knowing” that I will be closer to my goals at the end because I know what I have to do and that I will be taking some action, albeit very small some days, towards my targets.
I’ve reduced my current client bank by a very time consuming 25% with plans for a further 25% reduction in the next few months. This has to be managed carefully since I know them all personally and I need to feel happy that they will be looked after properly in the future.
This has freed up some time already that has enabled me to spend sometime on my online business.
I’ve stopped looking at sales emails unless they relate to an area that I know I need help with or the product is something that will be of benefit IMMEDIATELY.
Financially, I had a revelation today. My income from current offline business is greater on a rolling 3 month basis than it has ever been! My Adsense income, although small is regular. The visitors to my sites has increased dramatically despite me doing nothing other than “socialising” IE no Adwords / Advertising or Co-Reg yet and I am getting affiliate sales at least weekly ranging from $29 to $500 a time.
I’ve put up a full site last weekend for my golf apartment - http://WarmGolf.com - that I’ve been “getting round to” for the last 6 months and more importantly (for me at least) I’m mixing with some incredibly motivated and positive people - yes you guys he says blushing - who are helping to keep me focused and on track.
Today I received an email that REALLY touched me. It was from a lady who had found my 6M blog whilst looking for some information on magnetizer pages. She downloaded my report and took some action as I recommended and ordered a course about mindset / belief etc. She felt compelled to write to me thanking me for bringing this into her life (the email contains some personal details that it would be inappropriate to share here) and why it has helped her. This it what life is all about for me. Yes, of course like everybody else I want the financial rewards but not at the cost of fleecing other people. If I can help someone find what they need to improve their life then I am happy.
It is very easy to look at what’s not happening (my million isn’t in the bank) but for me you just need to celebrate what you have achieved and use that as a springboard to the next success.
Is this change in my attitude down to 6M - without a doubt. The course has changed my focus and opened my eyes to what I need to do not what I don’t want in life. I’ve supplemented Lisa’s teachings with more in depth reading** for sure, but I don’t think that is necessary. Just choose your path and follow it with unwavering belief.
A few weeks ago I was posting about being in the zone and how positive energy manifests good things. Well this week has not been good. You will have got a flavour from my posts about the “weasel”. Well things got worse by the end of the week.
This is imperative reading if you are thinking of working from home and it is something you need to get clear with your partner and family before you give up your day job!
GROUNDRULES
I need to take you back about 10 years to the first eruption!
Shortly after I first started working at home my wife, who commuted to London for her job, put some washing on the line outside before leaving for work. During the day, the heavens opened and down came the rain. Now being a focused individual I did not notice the rain, or at least it did not register that I was “expected” to bring in the washing. Upon return from work I was told in no uncertain terms how inconsiderate I’d been and it would only have taken 5 minutes etc etc.
Now had I still been working out of the house the washing would have got wet anyway and my stance was and still is - I am at work and anything to do with the household is not my concern (short of a fire perhaps!) I NEVER answer the home telephone during the working day - it is imperative to be totally disciplined or you end up with very blurred edges and you find yourself doing things that are not effective towards your goals.
So the family groundrules were put in place and there have been no issues until this Friday.
BROKEN GROUNDRULES
My youngest son was sick. My wife has a part time job that is important to her and on Friday she was the only one who would be in the office and she had to be there. I would “have” to look after the little boy - “I’ve checked your diary and you don’t have any appointments so it will be OK”.
Excuse me, but no meetings doesn’t equate to no important work!
I very reluctantly agreed in the full knowledge that the demands of an unwell 5 year old would stop me from achieving any of the tasks I had for the day.
I SAVE THE DAY!
At the risk of becoming something of a groupy I need to refer you to another post by Christine the Self Made Chick. Last week Christine took 7 hours to fully create a website she had been thinking about for some time.
Remembering her words I decided I would use what time I could during Friday to do something I’ve needed to do for the last 6 months but just haven’t got round to. Christine had effectively laid down a challenge, or rather I had to myself because of her action, and I decided I would create the website for my golf apartment.
I’d actually already decided I would use a Word Press blog rather than a website since my html is not good and I just find blogs so simple to construct. I really like the clean look of SelfMadeChick (that’s the site - I can’t comment further as I’ve not met Christine ) and followed the link to the designer of that WordPress Theme, Cory Miller. Several of his Themes are free but I decided to spend a few pounds, well $ really, to get his Real Estate template that I thought would work well.
In between requests for drinks, cuddles and wiping of nose, I found a few plugins I wanted for the site (have you tried finding a really simple to install and use photo gallery? Most I’ve come across before caused all sorts of problems and are really difficult to install) and set about adjusting some photographs for the header and writing some of the text.
Now, I should point out, my design skills are not good but working with Cory’s template I created what I think is a very pleasing site. No, I didn’t get it finished in 7 hours, I didn’t actually record the time, but I did have the core built on Friday and finished off on Saturday. There are still a few sections to add but this hasn’t stopped my going live.
LESSON LEARNT
I could have spent all Friday fuming about the situation and effectively wasting an opportunity to get something done that was actually a drain on my energy since it was nagging away in the back of my mind.
We discussed the “issue” on Friday evening and the status quo has been resumed!
My Golf Apartment site is up, my mind is clearer and I have a sense of having achieved two really important things on Friday. Being with my son, who really appreciated his Dad being there for him and creating something with my time that was possible rather than dealing with a complex report that would have demanded my full attention and would never have got completed.
The week actually ended on a high and I’m back on a very positive roll!
The “weasel” as I have now come to think of him (see my Bad Debt Monster post last week) has sent further emails in which he wriggles and squirms, blames everyone else for the situation and tells me I will be paid as soon as I sign and send to him his revised agreement. When you enter a contract on one set of terms you do not accept a revised agreement (to your detriment) when the terms of the previous deal have been breached!
This sad situation got me thinking over the weekend how potentially dangerous it is when doing business online. Every vendor seems to have an affiliate program and the number of potential affiliates clamouring to sign up for a piece of the pie is staggering. Now we all know most affiliates don’t actually do anything so the problem I am about to identify will not apply to them BUT those who do take action potentially run some significant risks.
THESE ARE THE CHALLENGES:
Is the vendor genuine?
Do you know whether you’ve actually introduced visitors who have made a purchase?
How long will it be before they pay out commission due?
Assuming the sale sticks (ie no refund requested) will the vendor honour the agreement and pay the commission?
What if the vendor has financial difficulties and needs the money for their own use?
What if the vendor goes bust?
How can you enforce an agreement particularly if you are based in different countries?
Is it worth the legal expenses?
To me many of these problems, if they arose, are insurmountable and would be time consuming to resolve and quite likely financially prohibitive.
The answer, is to avoid getting caught in this situation in the first place!
AFFILIATE MARKETING
If affiliate-marketing is your chosen business model (as it is mine with my first 6M Profit Method business) then I think it is vital you think very carefully about who you are partnering and select very carefully the affiliate program and thus the business partners you will promote. Rather than run the risk of the vendor not paying further down the line, wherever possible you should choose a program where you are paid by a third party, such as ClickBank - read about CBMall here, or where you get paid your split immediately, via PayPal for example.
That way you are not at the whim of the vendor but a very large and hopefully financially sound and ethical organisation.
However, there is another extremely important element to this. DO NOT BE LAZY. Under no circumstances should you do what most affiliates do & simply promote the affiliate link. You must get into the right business mindset and go about setting this up the right way.
You must have a web page that does two things for you:
COLLECT NAMES and EMAIL ADDRESSES
1. Collects the name and email address of your visitors before they view the affiliate product sales page. Why, so you can follow up with those individuals and provide them with more information and develop a relationship with them. If theygo straight to the sales page you will never be able to contact them again (I know, I’ve commited the cardinal sin with the ClickBank Mall link above - but I want you to see more about a ClickBank business model rather than some peopke not reading it because they don’t want to provide contact details)
TRACK YOUR VISITORS
2. By having all visitors channelled via your own web page you can track numbers and get a much better idea of your own ratios and with the reporting function of ClickBank, for example, you will know who has purchased. If you insist on becoming an affiliate for a vendor who will (hopefully) pay you direct then tracking all of your leads will give you a better idea of how successful that program is for you.
Before someone tells me, I know ClickBank doesn’t pay immediately but my point is they do pay at certain thresholds and agreed payment dates whereas with a vendor direct you are totally reliant on them fulfilling the promises on their sales pages.
Back to the “weasel”. I’ve met this guy on numerous occasions, I have years of experience of assessing someone’s trustworthiness and yet I still got caught. Why because he was a crook? No, simply his situation took a turn for the worse and rather than honouring his commitment to me - and no doubt others - he used what is rightfully mine to pay his other debts. If that can happen with someone you’ve met personally, think how easy it can happen in respect of a web page and the person behind that who is the other side of the world.
It probably wouldn’t be the original aim but many human beings are self-centered and have the business ethics of a “weasel”. Be careful out there.
It’s late Friday evening but I just have to share this post by Christine O’Kelly with you. If you don’t get some inspiration from this then you should stay tied to your 9-5 desk forever
It’s not some get rich quick scheme BUT an epic post about overcoming non-existent but perceived obstacles. I was captivated when I read it. A lesson for us all.
After yesterday’s post about one of the drawbacks of working at home I thought today we’d have a little fun about why you need to get out of the office. I mentioned interruptions but on reflection I think the biggest problem is the distraction caused by the antics of colleagues!
I apologise in advance for the ending of this short video and if the text is offensive in any way - sorry - I don’t know because I can’t understand the language!
This post doesn’t really belong here but I need to release some internal pressure!
As you know I work at home. I created a separate office at home many years ago and have to say that working alone is generally really good for me. I find I am more productive without people hovering around my desk or interrupting and asking questions every 5 minutes.
Because my offline business is service related I get my human interaction when I travel out of my home office to meet my clients. BUT…
…every so often a situation arises where I’d normally get a close colleague to act as a sounding board or to let of team by telling them what has just happened. I don’t have that luxury working alone. So you my loyal reader get it in the ear (read eye )
Nearly one year ago I introduced some business to a guy who promised me 50% of whatever fees he generated. A formal introducer agreement was signed by both of us. The business was concluded and just before Christmas he paid approximately 30% of the amount that was due with some bizarre explanation that he wanted to see me alright before Christmas and he’s make good early in the New Year. The balance of that payment is still outstanding and in the interim he has told me that it will be paid as soon as another case I introduced completed.
That second case completed a month ago and he was paid mid August (I just found out) despite him telling me early September that he expected everything to be finalised very soon.
Clearly this guy is a liar and a cheat. I won’t mention the sums involved but suffice to say it would make a difference!
Bad debts are unfortunately a fact of business life BUT what is totally unacceptable is the deceit and lies. What makes a situation like this worse ( a bit like having a car crash) it’s the wronged party (me) that now has the costly and time consuming task of trying to rectify the position.
As much as this hurts me right now I have committed to not letting it get me down BUT to do whatever I can to get the money due to me and make the liars life as uncomfortable as possible. If I can prevent him from trading and save anyone else from this same fate in the process then I will.
Rant ends.
Although this issue isn’t restricted to a work at home business it does highlight one of the drawbacks of working alone - namely the fact that is can be a little lonely when things don’t go to plan.
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