Tuesday, September 16, 2003 - Volume 1 Issue 1
Colin Evans, Editor (mailto:
)
In this issue
1. From the Editor
2. Did It Work For Me?
3. Featured Articles:
--- Courage That Changes Your Life - by Chris Widener
--- My Top 10 Favorite Internet Tools - by Jim Edwards
4. Motivational Quotes
5. Take A Break: A farmer in Idaho...
6. Tell Me what You Think
From the Editor - Colin Evans
Hi Everyone 
Welcome to the first edition of Cols-A-To-Z.
I have experienced a fair amount of fear and trepidation getting this edition ready.
Fear of what?
Of the unknown I guess. Fear that once I start this e-zine I have to publish an issue every fortnight. Fear that this e-zine will not be a success.
My comfort zone dictates that if it might fail, I shouldn't do it. The pain of failure is to be avoided at all costs.
Well that might be a key to safe living, but it's also a good way to fail in life. I have some pretty lofty goals and sitting at home being safe is not going to get them accomplished.
So with lots of hand wringing and a mind in turmoil I sat down to put this first edition together. It might not be perfect, but perfection is not what I'm aiming for. I want this e-zine to be successful.
I hope that by making this e-zine successful, I will help the people who read it
to become more successful in their lives. I firmly believe that by helping other
people, I will become more successful.
But...
Everybody has to start somewhere and if I don't get this edition finished (even if
it doesn't contain all the content I wanted to include), it will never be posted and
the e-zine will stay a non starter.
So, with that out of the way, on with the show...
Did It Work For Me? by Colin Evans
Randomizers are all the rage at the moment.
Why?
I suppose it's because the ad copy show a picture of an inbox with rows of
payment notifications and then they claim that you don't have to do anything
and you will earn cash. Just look at the following ad copy:
- No Sponsoring Required
- No Advertising Required
- No Hard Work Required
Sound to good to be true?
Well it's true alright, just give it a go!
We do all the work for you, even the advertising.
How do randomizers work?
When the randomizer page is displayed, one of the program member's links will
be randomly placed into the page. If the prospect wants to become a member,
they click on the member's link and are taken to a page where they pay the
member normally through PayPal or StormPay.
Do they work?
I bought membership into two randomizers just after these particular randomizers
were launched. I even purchased extra positions, and...
Nothing!
Not a cent.
So, based on the promises from the ad copy, the randomizers I joined definitely
do not work.
But then I should have known better.
Featured Article: Courage That Changes Your Life by Chris Widener
The scars you acquire while exercising courage will never make you feel inferior.
- D.A. Battista
Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what ought
to be feared and how not to fear what ought no to be feared.
- David Ben-Gurion
Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
- Dorothy Bernard
Courage. It is a word that conjures up images of great and dramatic actions.
And yet I realize that we all have the opportunity to be courageous every day,
in small and large ways. And it is when we choose to be courageous that we
change our lives and the lives of those around us.
Can you name anything of any significance that did not emanate from some sort
of courageous decision? I can’t. Think of the changes that we have experienced
in the last few decades and trace them back to their initial decision. Chances
are, someone exhibited courage.
So what is courage? It is simply acting on what we want to do, regardless of any
fear we may have. It is the choice to disregard worry. It is the choice to do right,
to pursue our dreams, to be successful people, to lead the way for others.
Courage changes lives. Yes, it changes lives.
First, the day you begin to stare down your fears and worries, and instead act
courageously, your life will change. You will be set free to fly like you never have
before. You will accomplish things you once only dreamed of. You will experience
things you thought were only for others – the courageous ones. You will realize
that your fears were baseless and just paper tigers, a mirage. You will begin to
live your dreams. You will become a person of character!
You will also change the lives of others. Simply put, courageous people pull others
along with them. Everybody benefits from courageous people. I have a friend who
I admire greatly. A little over a year ago he decided to leave a lucrative career
and pursue a dream. All obstacles were thrown his way. The day he left his company,
he found out that his wife had cancer. He went into a great deal of debt to finance
his dream. He raised millions of dollars, putting his name and reputation on the line.
He acted courageously. A year later, he has over fifty employees and growing
monthly. Those employees are reaping the benefit of his courage! And his wife,
who beat cancer, is acting courageously with him!
Here are some quick tips for acting courageously:
Know what you want.
Courage is about choice. If you are to act courageously, you need to know what
the right choice is. Be clear about your dream and vision.
Do not worry.
I heard recently that worry is the wrong use of the imagination. That is perhaps
the best definition I have ever heard. Worry is just thinking about all of the bad
possibilities, isn’t it? Well, courage is just thinking about all the great
possibilities and then acting upon them!
Do your homework.
It helps to get the facts. It helps because then you can make an informed decision
that will put your heart and mind to rest. There will probably be a downside but
we understand it, choose alternatives, and act decisively instead of those.
Act.
There is no substitute for the first step. Do you know what you want? Have you
thought of the possibilities? Have you done your homework? Then what are you
waiting for? The next step is to take the first step, and ACT!
Chris Widener is a popular speaker and writer as well as the President of Made
for Success and Extraordinary Leaders, two companies helping individuals and
organizations turn their potential into performance, succeed in every area of their
lives and achieve their dreams.
Join subscribers in over 100 countries around the
world! Get Chris' FREE weekly Made for Success E-zine by sending a blank email
to
.
Get his FREE daily SuccessQuote™ with action point
by sending a blank email to
.
Get his FREE monthly
Extraordinary Leaders E-zine, one of the world's most widely distributed leadership
newsletters, by sending a blank email to
or visit his
websites at
http://www.madeforsuccess.com
and http://www.extraordinaryleaders.com
Copyright 2002 Made for Success. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Featured Article: My Top 10 Favorite Internet Tools - by Jim Edwards
When you make your living on the Internet, you can
sometimes forget that the tools and resources you take for granted might rate
an incredible discovery to someone who doesn't already know they exist.
Whether they help you save time, save money, or avoid frustration, these tools
and services rate my highest recommendation for just plain making life easier,
faster and cheaper.
1. Short Keys -
Available free at www.shortkeys.com/lite.htm, Short Keys allows you to create
shortcut keys to cut down on repetitive typing tasks. I absolutely love this program
because of the amount of time it saves me every single day.
2. Good Keywords -
Available free at www.goodkeywords.com, Good Keywords enables you to
condense hours of keyword research into a few seconds. Find out the top
keywords your target audience searches for so you can put your advertising
dollars in the right spot to catch the biggest fish.
3. Mail Washer -
Available free at www.mailwasher.net, this program enables you to spot and
delete spam and viruses before downloading them to your computer. With so
much spam clogging my email in-box, I couldn't survive any more without this
program!
4. ClickBank -
If you sell a downloadable product such as an e-book, report, or software, you
can't beat clickbank for processing credit card payments. Not only do they take
the payments and send you a check twice a month, they also plug your product
into an existing network of thousands of affiliates who can sell it for you.
5. GoDaddy.com -
Cheap, reliable, easy to use domain name registrar that only charges $8.95 per
year for each domain name you register. Godaddy rates cheaper and just as, if
not more, reliable than any other domain registrar.
6. GroupMail -
Visit www.infacta.com to download the free version of GroupMail. The program
allows you to email and do mail merge to your entire database of contacts. It's a
great way to stay in touch with customers, family, and clients.
7. Google -
As far as I'm concerned, Google.com rates as the Web's best search engine.
When I need to find something online in a hurry, Google usually produces exactly
what I want to locate!
8. Front Page -
Say what you want about Microsoft, but the FrontPage html editor has served
me well for the last 5 years and counting. Though I don't use the more advanced
features, I can always count on FrontPage to help me get my web pages done
quickly and easily.
9. Smart FTP -
Log on to www.smartftp.com and download a free copy of the easiest FTP
program I've every used. If you need to transfer files to and from a web server
and you know how to use Windows Explorer, Smart FTP will enable you to upload
files to the web like a pro in minutes.
10. Note Tab Light -
Perhaps my favorite tool of all. Note Tab enables me to easily format text
messages for my newsletters, manipulate html code and remove formatting
from word processing documents. Log on to www.notetab.com for a free copy
of the "light" version.
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co- author of an
amazing new e-book, "Turn Words Into Traffic," that will teach you how to use
free articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or
affiliate link!
Click Here => http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com
Motivational Quotes
The greatest mistake a man can make is to be afraid of making one.
- Elbert Hubbard
Only you can hold yourself back, only you can stand in your own way... Only you can help yourself.
- Mikhail Strabo
Take A Break: A farmer in Idaho...
A farmer in Idaho got pulled over by a State Trooper for speeding.
The trooper started to lecture the farmer about his speeding, and in general
began to throw his weight around to try to make the farmer feel uncomfortable.
Finally, the trooper got around to writing out the ticket. As he was doing that,
he kept swatting at some flies that were buzzing around his head.
The farmer said, "Having some problem with circle flies there, are ya?"
The trooper stopped writing the ticket and said, "Well yeah, if that's what they
are. I've never heard of circle flies before."
So the farmer says, "Well, circle flies are common on farms. See, they're called
circle flies because they're almost always found circling around the back end of
a horse."
The trooper says, "Oh," and goes back to writing the ticket. Then after a minute,
he stops and says, "Are you trying to call me a horse's butt?"
The farmer says, "Oh no, officer. I have too much respect for law enforcement
and police officers to even think about calling you a horse's butt."
The trooper says, "Well that's a good thing," and goes back to writing the ticket.
After a long pause, the farmer says, "Hard to fool them flies though!"
Tell Me What You Think
I would love to hear what you think of this issue of the "Cols-A-To-Z" Newsletter.
And of course, if you have any suggestions for upcoming issues that you'd like to
share with me, please send those, too!
Just e-mail me at:
To subscribe to my "Cols-A-To-Z" Newsletter, go to the following URL:
http://www.cols-a-to-z.com/join.html
Written by Colin Evans
President, Cols-A-To-Z.com
© copyright 2003 Cols-A-To-Z.com
