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 
How I Made $100,000 By Spending 25 Minutes and $0 On Marketing
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.
Have a great weekend. Mark
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.
Let me know what you think
What is success?
The 6M ProfitMethod – Business Success blog is focused on success albeit mainly business and financial success (I guess the title is a bit of a give away!) but I paused for thought today when reading one of DavidBDale’s 299 Word Novels.
SIDENOTE – I came across David’s work via MyBlogLog some while back and have become a great fan of his work. It is varied, thought provoking and always brilliantly executed. I look forward to each new novel posted at his blog and always get great enjoyment from them. You ought to know that each novel is EXACTLY 299 words – an amazing feat in itself!
You will be aware from Who is Wizzer that my favourite quote (attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson) is all about the definition of success BUT interestingly there is simply no reference to materialistic success!
So this morning as I read David’s latest short novel I was touched by his words which made me think what a successful human being the object of his story has been.
David kindly gave me permission to reprint his story here – please repay him by becoming a regular reader of his work – which I know you will also enjoy.
IMPRESS ONLY MESomething so good and pure at the core of a man like my husband hardens to a bullet in the forge of an inhuman world. He might laugh at me for saying so. He doesn’t need me to sing his praise. Those who don’t know him will never admit his humility. They don’t know how strife can temper a man, or that his failings can be strength. They’ve never heard him laugh or cry. (I know he wouldn’t want me saying this.) I’ve seen tears in his eyes at the mention of a baby in distress, but compassion propels him, even as he debriefs the other men with details of the sacrificed, past the whining flesh to the crowning beyond. That’s when his jokes are at their wicked best. That’s when they know he is their leader. Nobody is innocent, I hear him say, but action can purify. At night he has to impress only me. I contemplate the back of his head on the pillow. Nicks in his hair are all that remain of the violence of things that went wrong in the field, unless he’s dreaming of those troubles now. I breathe the endless night. This is the consummation of my life, to lie with his snoring champion’s body, and have it to myself. How many other women would trade with me! I lift the sheet and follow the line of his backbone as far as I dare and keep my motions small. I touch a place that makes me think of him, and gently a place on him that feels like a man, and remember times when we had no mission but one another and all the time in the world. I bite my lip to keep from crying out with the splendor of it all. Copyright © September 12, 2007 David Hodges |
No matter how hard we strive for business and thus financial success we must never lose sight of the real measure of success – how we are seen by others. Be wary, however, of a one simple word – “perception”. It is said that perception is reality. Online, for example, is it possible to establish who is truly successful and worthy of their often self-proclaimed guru status?
The reality may be very different from the face seen by the world – is that success?
Thank you David for this timely reminder
I’m listening to “Up the Junction” by Squeeze as I write this post – chosen because the story it tells is that far too many people find themselves living. I’m just so thankful I’ve found the way out of the trap.
Squeeze – Up the Junction (TOTP)
Yesterday morning I left home for a 1 hour drive to the office of the organisation that does some of the administration for my IFA (Financial Advice) business.
The sun was shining and the blue sky was cloudless. I was listening to one of the 6MProfitMethod CDs and was feeling on top of the world.
The reason for feeling so good was that I was on my way to making a a big dent in the volume of regular work I have to undertake. I was about to offload about 25% of my client load to a colleague who has more time available. This suits him as he is looking to build his business, it suits me as I need to find sometime for my online business and it will suit the clients because they will receive more attention. A total win-win-win situation.
For about 5 years I have known this is what I should do, all that time I have been talking about it but frankly was afraid to do it because my income would undoubtedly suffer – something I couldn’t afford back then.
So what’s different?
The 6MProfitMethod has taught me that I need to focus totally on what I want – not what I don’t want
I totally believe that the time freed up will enable other more remunerative things to flow into my life as I make more effective use of my time – thus my income will not suffer
Tim Ferriss’s book – referred to in my “how to find the time you need” post, has inspired me to take action on this long standing challenge
I am now totally committed to making my online business work**
What’s the worst that can happen?***
**It is no so much the business itself that I am focused on but the lifestyle it will give me. No, I don’t just mean the money – I mean the freedom do do as I choose, when I choose. Although I’ve run my own businesses for the past 13 years I didn’t think about the end result before I started. The consequence – I have a job that I created for myself. If I’m not here nothing gets done, the income stops and there’s a mountain of work when I return!
***Thanks again to Tim Ferriss for this thought. What indeed is the worst that can happen? My income drops a bit for a while BUT I have a big chunk of extra time (this group of clients took up a disproportionate amount of time – see 80/20 rule) that I can use to better effect with my remaining clients if absolutely necessary. Oh life is so simple with some clarity!
So today, I feel really good. The doubt and worry has gone (that’s always the case after making a decision – good lesson to learn) and I’m moving forward with more time on my hands. Now for the next 50% of clients!
Let me know what inspires you and makes you feel good about yourself.
You’ll know from previous posts that Wizzer (yes, that’s me) was fortunate to be the Weekly Winner at Create Business Growth a few weeks ago and I chose “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss as my prize. (Sadly I’d not heard of this best seller at the time but thought the title sounded interesting). At that time I was posting about being in the “zone” and how things you need manifest themselves at the right time. I also said that I’d undoubtedly find something in the book that was appropriate to my needs.
Wow – what an understatement!
For years I’ve been making excuses to myself for not doing things due to a lack of time, you know “I’ve got too many important things to do – that will have to wait” – steady, I think I saw you nodding in agreement Well not anymore!
Although I am very familiar with a few of the concepts Tim writes about; Pareto Principle (or the 80/20 rule); Parkinson’s Law (activities expand to fill the time available) and for years I have not read a newspaper either, I have never considered taking such a radical approach.
Following Tim’s suggestion I have drawn up a list of my best clients (in my day business) and have made a decision to concentrate on only them. The time this will save me will be incredible – time I can devote to being effective in moving my life forward.
I’ve also set up a system for minimising the time spent on idle chit-chat at the start of any phone conversations and to prevent email interruptions during the day. I’m taking a leap of faith with this but have every confidence it will work out.
I’ll be posting more about my progress and with reference to this essential book over the coming weeks.
Christine – I can’t thank you enough for this.
I’m back!!
Two weeks away and the mountain of emails, post and telephone messages is unbelievable!
I’ve got so much good stuff to post over the next few weeks but before I forget I must give you a recommendation.
I’ve been using this product for a few years and it is absolutely brilliant. I couldn’t survive without it! I mean it, my life would come to a standstill without it.
What reminded me to write about Roboform was that I also use the PenDrive version which enables me to take details of all of the websites I visit together with the user name and login details with me wherever I go. So, during my two weeks away in Spain all I needed to take along was my pen drive and I had access to every site I ever visit – without having to take paper records of passwords etc. which could easily be lost.
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RoboForm is totally indispensable.You simply download the free version – you will need the pro version very soon if you visit loads of sites like me (in fact if you are serious about any form of online business I recommend you get it immediately) – set up your own password that will be needed to access all of the other passwords and you are ready to go. |
Every time you visit a site that requires a user name and login you are prompted by the program to see if you wish to save the information. You create a folder hierarchy – just like any Windows folder structure – and then every time you visit that site you are automatically logged in. Cool.
In addition you can just save favourite sites that don’t have login details so you can take them with you when you are on the move. If you use a pen drive you simply plug it into a USB drive of another machine, enter your RoboForm password and have access to all your sites – just like on your own machine. When you’re done RoboForm cleans up after you and there is no trace of the information on the machine you’ve just used.
Of all tools I use this is without doubt my favourite. You can get the Free Download here.
I will be away on holiday for 2 weeks so this will be my last post for a while as I’ll not be able to access the internet (not sure whether that’s a good or bad thing!) As I was tidying up some loose ends at my desk I thought I’d listen to some music and selected one of my favourite songs by the Jam (British mod/punk/rock band from the late 70′s).
The lyrics of this song are so angry – about life in a UK town outside London. They got me thinking about how some people have “given up” on their dream and accepted their lot. One of the best lines is:
“watching the telly and thinking about your holidays…”
How sad is that? Your life is spent in someone else’s virtual world and all you have to look forward to is a few weeks holiday (vacation) each year.
The song is much deeper than that, more a social documentary – listen below – but please don’t get caught in the trap of “acceptance”. Do something about it if you don’t like your lot. “Nothing Changes Without A Change” – go on – break free from your ties.
the jam – that’s entertainment
I’ve so much updating to do when I return – my business is almost ready to be revealed together with the further steps taken that will be documented in My Action Line pages.
Look forward to catching up. Mark
I woke up this morning to a very pleasant surprise – I had won a contest! The comment awaiting me was titled – Weekly Winner Wizzer
I spend a fair amount of my time online reading other blogs and posting relevant comments where I think I might add some value. Although my selection was random, the guys over at Create Business Wealth run a weekly contest for visitors who have posted comments at their blog and this week I was selected.
Now I have three comments to make about this:
1. I’ve been in the “flow” all week and things have been happening for me with minimal effort. I’ve posted about this issue several times mentioning how “things” I need have just materialised. As I like to believe, this is because of abundant 
thinking attracting my requirements into my life. So my book prize from Create Business Wealth will undoubtedly contain a priceless nugget (or two) of information.
2. Spending some time at good quality blogs is a great way to interact with some great people. Working in front of a PC or Mac does lack a degree of human interaction and commenting on blogs does bring other people to life. You also come across some brilliant ideas – check out the weekly comments contest at Create Business Wealth. If you think about that for a moment, I’ve posted there a couple of times this week (I have to admit I’d completely missed the massive banner about the contest – SIDENOTE – that tells me something about my attitude to advertising on websites!) and having picked up the prize I’ve written this piece devoted to that blog plus I’m much more likely to pay a keen interest in what’s going on over there in the future. I’ll also be writing a review of the book once read with further reference to Create Business Wealth – more exposure.
3. I’d like to post a big public thank you to Christine O’Kelly, David Williams, Fred Wood & Tara Geissinger at Create Business Wealth for making my day.
This is the one lesson of the five in this series that touched me most. Whether it’s true or not is unimportant.
What sacrifices are you prepared to make? If you are to achieve your full potential you are going to have to make some sacrifices. It could be as simple as reducing your valuable TV time by an hour a day – or spending some cash on an e-book rather than a McThingy -BUT you need something to change and that will probably mean you have to stop something you currently do.
If you can’t make that sacrifice then I’m afraid you’ll have to be content with where you are.
LESSON 5 – Giving When it Counts…
Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a l ittle girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare & serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her
little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister.
I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, “Yes I’ll do it if it will
save her.”
As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did,
seeing the color returning to her cheek. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded.
He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, “Will I start to die right away”.
Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.
