Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - Volume 2 Issue 16
Colin Evans, Editor (mailto:
)
In this issue
- From the Editor
- Featured Success Article - Privilege, Opportunity and Responsibility - By Chris Widener
- Featured Online Marketing Article - Trial and Error + Persistence = Successful Marketing - By Diane Hughes
- Motivational Quotes
- Take A Break - Three Travelers...
- Tell Me what You Think
From the Editor - Colin Evans
Hi Everyone 
Welcome to this landmark edition of Cols-A-To-Z. We are one year
old, almost to the day.
I'm quite proud of this achievement. I have written it up in my
success journal. It takes pride and place next to two other
entries:
- I have not had to work for a boss for two years.
- I made my first $500.00 sale this weekend from which I get a
$400.00 commission.
Folks, there is nothing quite like making your first reasonable
sale...
Was it easy?
No!
I made it as difficult as I possibly could by not believing it
was possible and doubt, frustration, fear and poverty was all I
got.
A month ago I met Velma Gallant who taught me about the "Law of
attraction" which states "You attract to yourself, whatever you
give your focus, attention, or energy to; whether wanted or
unwanted".
I also got this powerful bit of advice from Jim Edwards:
"Stop looking at the past events of your life as failures, but
rather as education... everything that has happened to this point
has prepared you for success, only you must decide it's time to
"cash in" on the education. Once you stop looking at what came
before as a negative, and see it for what it is, training in
life, then you can move forward."
So there it was, to quote Jim again...
"Everything you are and everything you have in life up to that
point is the sum total of all your thoughts up to that point".
I began to change my thoughts by being careful to replace
negative thoughts with positive thoughts using a little trick
I encourage you to use:
As soon as you have a negative thought say "I acknowledge the
thought and I dismiss it" and the negative thought will vanish.
Now replace the thought with something positive like "I am an
ABUNDANCE MAGNET".
Do the abundance journaling explained in Issue 2-14 (Aug 17,
2004).
Write a detailed mini-vision. This is a detailed description of
a snapshot of your life taken, say one year from now. Describe
your ideal day and include in the vision a detailed description
of all the possessions you would like to own.
Use descriptions like "I drive to town in my new car which is a
metallic blue BMW 325i with black body trim, alloy wheels and
grey upholstery".
Where is all this leading to?
Your life will change for the better very soon after you start:
- Replacing negative thoughts with positive ones.
- Writing in your abundance journal daily.
- Reading and amending your mini-vision daily.
In no time at all you will begin to notice the opportunities that
are all around you. They've been there all along, it's just you
couldn't see them for what they were.
In my case I realized that making a $500.00 sale takes the same
amount of effort as a $50.00 sale. Well maybe not, sometimes it's
actually easier.
I don't set out to sell a product; I show people how to achieve
financial independence and one of the quickest ways to do that is
to sell high ticket products.
I just so happen to sell a product that teaches people how to make
a lot of money showing internet marketers a way to recruit 5 to 15
people per day. A win-win-win scenario.
If you want to know more, contact me.
I'll leave you with this last bit of advice "If it's to be, it's
up to me".
Until the next time...
Featured Success Article - Privilege, Opportunity and Responsibility - By Chris Widener
One of my absolute favorite quotes is from Dwight D. Eisenhower.
If you have been a subscriber for long you may have heard me use
it before. Eisenhower said that, "The history of free men is
never written by chance, but by choice - their choice."
What a powerful truth. We can, and do, write our own history.
That is, when our life is nearing the end, we can look back and
see that the history we leave behind, the legacy that we leave
for our children, is the accumulation of the choices we made all
along the way.
As I think about this, I realize that some may view it from the
back end and it may seem hopeless, but we can be proactive about
it and decide now that we will begin to make choices that will
bring us to our desired end.
Before I talk about privilege, opportunity, and responsibility, I
want to make something perfectly clear, and it is something that
you must embrace if you are going to see your life continually
improve and change for the better. I believe that.
Anyone can have as much money as they choose to.
Anyone can weigh what they choose to.
Anyone can have the job they choose to have.
Anyone can have the level of peace that they choose to have.
Anyone can do anything they choose to do.
They ability for us humans to choose is incredible, but it also
brings with it philosophical truths as well. Primarily the power
to choose brings with it privilege, opportunity and
responsibility. When we see how all three of these play out in
our lives, and when we discipline ourselves to make the choices
that will bring us to our desired outcome - watch out - because
you will be UNLEASHED!
The Ability to choose is a Privilege.
Dogs don't have it. Cows don't have it. Trees and flowers don't
have it. The only living creatures that have the ability to
choose are humans. All of the rest of living creatures live by
instinct, or in the case of trees, flowers etc, they live
wherever they are planted (I guess they must have to develop a
great deal of contentment!).
Have you ever viewed your ability to choose as a privilege that
you have been given? That is one of the more motivating factors
in my life for being disciplined and making choices. Exercise
your privilege today. Make choices today that will make you,
your family and your community better off!
The Ability to choose is an Opportunity.
Every one of us has the opportunity to improve ourselves. There
are too many stories of people who have lost 200 pounds, left
behind fortunes while only earning $20,000 a year and multitudes
of other success stories for me to believe otherwise. In fact, I
myself have seen it in my own life. What an opportunity! Yet many
believe that it is impossible - that they don't even have the
opportunity. Not true at all. Take advantage of the opportunity
you have every single day of your life to change - because you
can!! Make choices today that will make you, your family and your
community better off!
The Ability to choose is a Responsibility.
We do not live our lives in a vacuum. We live them in the context
of our families, our communities, our businesses and the
organizations we belong to. We have a responsibility to make
right choices that will positively impact all of those around us!
I have four children. The choices I make each day, maybe even
every moment, will affect them for the rest of their lives. Do I
have a responsibility to them? You bet! I want to discipline my
life in such a way that they become all that they can be and that
our family and eventually the families that they will start, will
become great!
When I think of choices that changed history, I think of Rosa
Parks who made a choice that would bring her into the forefront
of America's news of the day and eventually the history books.
One day, Parks, an African-American, decided that she would not
give up her seat on the bus to a white person. She made a choice.
It was undoubtedly one she had thought of for sometime. It was
her privilege as a human to make this choice, regardless of what
others thought and regardless of what the outcome would be. It
was an opportunity to make a statement and to stand up for what
was right. It was her responsibility to generations of minorities
who would come after her to make this choice. She did, and
America changed.
Like Rosa Parks, and countless others who daily make choices that
produce change, it is those who will dare to dream of a better
life, those who will risk failure, those who will make the right
choices who will change themselves, their families, their
businesses and organizations and yes, even their world! The
ability to choose is an incredible privilege, an outstanding
opportunity, and an awesome responsibility! Use it!
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
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Get his FREE daily SuccessQuote™ with action point
by sending a blank email to
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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 2002-2004 Made for Success. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Featured Online Marketing Article - Trial and Error + Persistence = Successful Marketing - By Diane Hughes
Trial and Error + Persistence = Successful Marketing
Copyright © 2004 Diane Hughes
A few honest and successful Internet business owners will attest
to the fact that they have made countless marketing mistakes.
Many of them will admit that they didn't get it exactly right on
the first try. However, practically all will tell you that -
without the gumption to take calculated risks and the
persistence to follow through - they would have never developed
a truly successful online marketing campaign.
Let me encourage you to take a few calculated risks with your
marketing. Extend your comfort zone, so to speak. Step out of
the norm and take a leap of faith every now and then.
What am I talking about? Mainly, that most small business owners
are very, VERY conservative with their marketing programs. They
decide to spend a little money on ezine ads, purchase the least
priced classified they can find, run it one time, get no
response and quit. It doesn't work that way. Not only will that
strategy fail almost every time online, it will fail offline,
too.
One proven principle of marketing is: repetition breeds
remembrance and remembrance breeds sales.
You may not realize this, but it takes an average of 7 times of
being exposed to your product or service before the average
consumer even notices that you exist. Not before they buy...
before they even recognize you at all. Running one classified ad
simply isn't going to help.
Because the cost of advertising can get to be a bit expensive,
many small business owners cringe at the thought of spending
more than they *think* they can afford. However, if your current
strategy isn't giving you an acceptable ROI, it's time to
change.
What's the smart and profitable thing to do? Create a campaign
and be persistent with it. Strategically search out and place
multiple ad runs with the same ezines. (I use ezine advertising
as my example, but the same applies to offline ads, banner ads,
joint venture projects, affiliate campaigns, etc.) Yes, it costs
more, but consider this... would you rather continue wasting
money on small one-shot ads that never produce, or save your
funds and run 3 sub sponsor or top sponsor ads that bring in
sales? I think the answer is obvious.
People can't buy from you if they can't find you. Advertising
(in one form or another) is a must.
Run a few ads on a trial basis. Ask for recommendations from
business associates and select some new ezines to purchase ad
space from. Change your headline or your copy to see if one
pulls better than the other.
It is only by trial and error that we learn and progress. Why?
Because what works for one company, may not work for you. What
works "so-so" for one company might work better for you! But in
order to find out where your customers are and reach them, you
have to stick your neck out once in awhile.
Will you make some mistakes along the way? Yes. Will you "lose"
a little money on advertising? Probably. Will you discover a new
and successful way of advertising that brings in stronger
results? Almost definitely!
Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com
FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful)
Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business
Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane
Motivational Quotes
A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping stone to the
optimist.
- Eleanor Roosevelt
Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the
only thing.
- Albert Schweitzer
Take A Break - Three Travelers...
Three travelers, an American, a Russian, and an Egyptian, were
circumnavigating the globe a la Jules Verne. The Russian man put
his hand out and reached down into the clouds.
"Aaah!" he said. "We're right over my homeland."
"How can you tell?" asked the American.
"I can feel the cold air." he replied.
A few days later the African man put his hand through the clouds.
"Aah we're right over my homeland." he said.
"How do you know that?" asked the Russian.
"I can feel the heat of the desert."
Several more days later the American put his hand through the
clouds.
"Aah, we're right over New York." The Russian and the African
were amazed.
"How do you know all of that?!" they exclaimed.
The American pulled his hand in and held it up for them to see.
"My watch is missing."
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
Editor, Cols-A-To-Z.com
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