Monthly Archives: January 2008

Finding Your Why for 2008 — Charge up your Motivation

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Posted by Ed on January 29, 2008 – 2:43 pm
Filed under Commentary, Reviews

No one ever told you that working on your quest was easy. If it wasn’t everyone would be following their passion and living the life they dreamed of. Some times it’s just hard to stay on the track that you know will lead you to where you need to be.

During those times it sure would be great to have someone who could help put you back on track. John Di Lemme is that person. He’s someone who’s lived the journey to master his quest. As a child he had a major problem with stuttering. If you ever had that problem you know what a killer that is to your self esteem. Yet, John had a dream of being a motivational speaker. By hard work and focus he overcame those challenges. Today he is a major speaker. You will not find a more charged, positive, and energetic person.

He is a big believer in finding and building the emotional reasons you want your goals. The emotions fuel the passion and drive to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of your quest. One of his directives is to ‘Find your why’. The bigger the goal the bigger the why needs to be. That keeps the fire going.

He has released one of his phone seminars on his web site. I recommend that you listen to it to get fired up for the new year. It will start your 2008 on an energetic path.

Quest On….

Web site: www.findyourwhy.com/2008

 

Why the economy gets in the way of quests

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Posted by Ed on January 20, 2008 – 2:50 pm
Filed under Commentary

I just heard a really good audio interview with Dr. Carol Look on the blog ‘EFT-Revealed.com’. The interviewer is Jessica Maya Ortner. The interview is under the posting of ‘Using EFT to Attract Abundance – with Dr. Carol Look’. This interview is about what it takes to create abundance and what stops it. Whether or not you are a fan of EFT (I am) there are a lot of good ideas in this thirty minute interview. Dr. Look brings up the point of ‘If you want to have abundance, then why don’t you?’. Her answer is that most people have subconscious blocks to reaching the success they want. She encourages everyone to ask the question ‘What’s the downside of success?’. If you are not as successful as you would like to be maybe you have a belief that undermines it. Think hard about this. You could be limiting your own efforts. Once you find them you need to work to change those beliefs. EFT is one way. Dr. Look leads an EFT session at the end of the interview to remove some of the more common success issues.

This has lots of connections to people succeeding or failing at reaching their quests. You need to ask the same questions about your quest. Maybe you think that the economy is too bad for you to become the artist you crave to be. You need to think about the statements you make to yourself to explain why you are not involved with your passion. Maybe it’s that you think your friends and family will think you’re crazy to paint clowns. What ever is causing you to not follow your passion, you need to be honest with yourself on it. Look at yourself and see your mental limits. They may be easily fixed. Maybe EFT could help. You won’t know until you look.

This site looks like it has a lot of good information on self improvement. I noticed a lot of interviews with famous EFT experts. I’m sure it will be worth your time to listen to some of them. Jessica did a good job on the interview and I think she did the others as well. If you have an interest in EFT or even not, this is a site to check out.

Quest On…

Blog: eft-revealed.com

Vista, Vista, We don’t need no stinking Vista

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Posted by Ed on January 19, 2008 – 1:46 am
Filed under Commentary, Information

Eric Knorr, the editor of Infoworld, has taken a stand on how the current desktop should look. No, it’s not Linux. The software he’s standing up for is Windows XP. Microsoft has announced that XP will be retired on June 30th, 2008. Support will be ended and no more packages will be sold. His argument is that Vista is not ready to be the standard and that they will need more time to get it ready. He is not alone in that belief. Many corporate offices have not upgraded to the new operating system. Their hardware will still not run Vista and they don’t see the advantage in the new features. XP still has a great many supporters. Unless Microsoft changes their mind XP will be history in less than six months.

Microsoft is not taking this laying down however. I’ve noticed that the newest Microsoft games only run on Vista. I suspect that they will move the new version of office in the same direction. They are doing their best to push people into using Vista. Still there are hardware and software issues with making the upgrade. I believe that is part of the deal they have with Intel. Intel makes faster and faster processors. Microsoft makes more and more complex software. To make the best use of the new software you need the faster processors. So people wind up buying new computers. It’s been an endless cycle and I can’t believe that this symbiotic relationship is an accident. We are being manipulated.

I wish Eric luck with his quest to have Microsoft let up the pressure on XP. They might blink on this. I’m not sure though. I suspect that when the next big operating software comes out, we will not be considering Vista to be one of Microsoft’s best. XP always ran well for me. I hope they will keep it alive for a little longer. If you think so too, Eric has a petition going to save it. Go there and sign up.

Petition: www.SaveXP.com

Because of the importance of this issue I’m running this post on all of my blogs.

 

A resource and a half for marketing and small business

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Posted by Ed on January 17, 2008 – 10:23 pm
Filed under Business, Information, Reviews

Michael Senoff is someone who took the idea of giving before you get to heart. He is the author of a amazing resource for anyone involved in marketing and small business. His site, www.hardtofindseminars.com contains over a hundred recorded interviews from a wide range of experts. The experts range from the current gurus like Bob Bly to past greats like Eugene Schwartz. Many of them come with down loadable transcripts. Some require fees but the majority of ones I looked at were free (150 hours of free audio). Anyone who wants to make their living in direct sales or Internet marketing should have this site in their bookmarks. There is a lot of good information here. He has another site www.hardtofindads.com. That is a collection of classic ads for students of copy writing and marketing.

Quest On…

Audio Seminar Site: www.hardtofindseminars.com

Ad research Site: www.hardtofindads.com

 

Don’t start your business before you read this book

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Posted by Ed on January 13, 2008 – 4:51 pm
Filed under In the Queue, Reviews

If you wander into the business book isle of your local bookstore you will most likely be overwhelmed by the number of books on business. It seems like every business topic has it’s own collection of books. That’s not really a bad thing but where do you start? My suggestion is the book that I’m currently reading now. That book is Michael Masterson’s new book ‘Ready, Fire, Aim’. It is Michael’s latest effort in transferring his knowledge on starting and running all sizes of business.

Michael Masterson is one of my writing and entrepreneurial heroes. He has started and run a magnitude of businesses. He was one of the creators of the American Writers and Artists Institute. Their curriculum is considered the standard for training direct response copywriters. He has written many books and is the editor of the popular newsletter ‘Early to Rise’. You will find a review of the newsletter in this blog.

This book covers the problems that businesses face at various points in their growth. Michael applies his experience to solving what he feels is their greatest challenges. I am currently reading the section on new businesses. As someone working to build a new business I found it really cut to the main problems I’ve faced. On his list of challenges, new businesses face the problem of creating revenue and making sales. He points out that before you start getting a building, buying office equipment, or looking at accounting software, you need to go out and find some customers. Any other effort is premature. Sell stuff and figure out a way to keep selling stuff. Could you get any more practical advice than that? That advice and other things in the book have really gotten me thinking about what I need to do to get my business rolling.

If your quest involves any business creation or expansion, you need to get a copy of this book. I really believe that you will see your issues in it and get some good advice on solving them. Many quests involve taking control of your finances and your time. Being in business for yourself is one solution for that. You cannot get much better advice than Michael gives in his books and newsletter. The book is available in the bookstores and the newsletter is free. So take a look at both and I’m sure you’ll learn something.

Quest On…

His Site: www.michaelmasterson.net

Newsletter: www.earlytorise.com