How about a multi-millionair? 

Climbing inside the head of someone ultra successful (financial or not) has always been intriguing to me.

In fact the "Attracting Greatness" system came directly from my own learnings and experience climbing out of financial, physical and emotional ruts in life toward incredible achievement, happiness and financial success. 

What is clear is that there really is very little left to chance in life and even where luck, chance or timing comes into play, we have to be aware enough to recognize it and take advantage of the timing – right?

So, when I read this piece on Secretes of Multimillionaires, it was right in my wheelhouse…

The first 3 secrets are:

1. Decide to be a multimillionaire
2. Get rid of powerty thinking
3. Treat it like a duty

Certainly these factors are incredibly important, for example, "deciding" to be a multimillionaire actually means that you are so sure in your mind that you want to be in this category that you see yourself as already having achieved this wealth. 

It's not a dream, desire or want but rather a  certain outcome toward which you are building. 

Remember that term – "certain outcome" as thinking about your goals in this fashion can make a huge difference in how motivated, productive and successful you are in life. 

In the end though, there are 4 critical categories of improvement you can focus on to dramatically improve your income:

1. Mindset.  We talked about thinking about your goals as if they were certain as you envision our life having already achieved the end result

2. Purpose.  Multimillionaires (or achievers in any area of life) are driven by more than money…they are driven by an obsessive desire to see their ideas validated.  Those ideas could be eradicating world hunger, putting a PC in every home, helping reduce worldwide obesity through a weight loss program, etc… You must find the big WHY that motivates you to greatness

3. Tackle Your Fears.  If others have achieved what we desire then it must be that we can too.  It stands then that the only thing holding us back is US! In other words, the more you can eliminate your own personal obstacles (fear, anxiety, stress, low self-confidence) the more natural progress toward success will be enabled

4. Knowledge.  Becoming a multimillionaire does take an understanding of how and why money is made.  For example, investing versus spending, knowing the most valuable use of your time, understanding the value of leverage, and taking advantage of market timing are all fundamental principles multimillionaires understand. 

Next steps…if you are ready to move ahead and begin the journey to being a Millionaire and then a Multimillionaire,  follow these steps:

• Go get a copy of Attracting Greatness and follow the simple plan
• Pickup a copy of Ultimate Information Entrepreneur Success Package to learn the power of online marketing and information publishing
• Begin raising the bar…focus on your "certain outcomes" and begin studying successful people every day

You have the ability to leap into a new financial, emotional and physical place in your life, it all starts TODAY!

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You admire the passion that others bring to their business and wonder…"how did they find their passion" or "what drives them to try harder and ultimately succeed?" 

Surely, finding your passion is both one of the most important, yet misunderstood and elusive things we all struggle with in life as well as in business. 

To be a successful entrepreneur, you need passion…but what if you don't have 100% passion?

Re-Thinking The Role Of Personal Passion In Business

Funny how people think that you will automagically find a magical passion in your life and that somehow, without effort, this will turn into a pot of gold at the end of the Rainbow.

Know that this is not a criticism of you, but rather how we are all taught to think by a personal development industry that largely tells it to us this way so they can continue to make money as we try.

In my experience, here are the facts:

1. Money is made by giving people what they desire, sometimes they are aware of this desire (they want to lose weight to look better), sometimes they are not (who would have predicted the interest in iPod – nobody came right out and said I wish I had a device that played music, was a phone and connected to the internet). 

2. Building a business is tough and exhausting: The process of finding or innnovating around market opportunity and then rolling out products/content and growing your business takes near superhuman endurance, determination, persistance and hard work

3. So, what improves your chances of succeeding with #1 and #2?  Passion for some aspect of what you do.  That doesn't mean you have to be passionate about every aspect of your business, but the more passion you can bring, the more likely you will have what it takes to accomplish #2. 

Finding the Passion In Your Business

Here are two examples that help explain the role of passion in starting and running your own business:

1. A 60+ year old grandmother who overcame a rather debilitating disease and then became passionate about sharing that with others – that passion to help others overcame the challenges she had with learning how to start a business, market online, etc…in her 60's – she certainly did not like all aspects of the business, but she was driven by the passion to help others

2. I follow Wine Library guy Gary Vaynerchuck – he tells the story often of a passion for running his own business, having control of his own energy, time and earning potential as his PASSION.  Wine was his first opportunity – taking the family business online so he became passionate about Wine NOT because he loved wine but because he knew this was the way he could run his own business. 

The lesson….find SOMETHING about your business you are passionate about (creative, solving problems, talking with people, networking, control, etc…) and then use that to drive the determination and persistance you need to get it done.

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I've always been very conscious of the incideous way time can leap ahead and erase hope, health and happiness – outside of death and taxes, there is nothing more certain than the fact that time WILL continue to tick away.

The question then is will you use the time you have to improve your health, finances and happiness or will you continue to "go along for the ride" full-well knowing that someday (it could be tomorrow or it could be 40-years from now) you will look back and wish you had better used your time. 

WHY DOING NOTHING IS SO HARMFUL!

Frustration, guilt, procrastination and regret are the enemies of proactivity, health, happiness and the natural state our mind and body expects to operate. 

Yet my guess is that your life so far has tended to fall into the "regret and procrastination" category more than proactivity and success. 

That's why you should not let another day go by in 2012 without tackling this head-on!

Believe it or not, you can lose your entire year in just the first few weeks of 2012, unless you take action RIGHT now.

Think about it, you get into the middle of January and suddenly you get super-busy with your job, family functions and just surviving the winter. 

February is a short month, taxes and paying bills become the priority

March-June is Spring, while Springtime is wonderful, it does give you a false sense that everything is ok as you enjoy the season not noticing how little progress you make toward your goals until the summer hits.

July-September bring new challenges, vacation and slow season.  Many people reason that if this is slow season, I'll wait until the Fall to really ratchet up my activity, so why not sit back and enjoy the summer months?

October-December – while you may have your best intentions here, this is generally where everyone wants your time:  job/work is busy, your family wants more of you, it's crunch time at work, your own stress level increases dramatically as you near the Holiday Season and realize you have wasted another year. 

What is the best way to make SURE you do not waste 2012? 

MAKE 2012 YOUR YEAR…OR ELSE YOU WILL LOSE GROUND!

Make it your #1 priority in this first week of January to…

1. Know what you really want.  Where you want to be in 3-5 years, your dreams, your goals, how you want your life to look
2. Develop a plan on how you will get there.  This plan should be broad at first (say by Quarter of the year) and then, as a second step, more detailed down to the week and even day
3. Develop a daily routine that involves both reviewing your goals, finding time to spend on your action steps and for improving the people that are around you to include a few more that will help you achieve your goals.  Don't worry if right now you can only find 20-minutes or 30-minutes each day, that's ok.  The important thing is to have a plan for that 30-minutes so you get maximum advantage of the time you do have. 
4. Set key milestones – objectives or gates where you need to be to track your course
5. Life goals – remember that achievement in one area of your life is tough to reach if you don't have balance in other aspects of your life.  If you have health issues, you need to have goals to improve your health, if you are in a mountain of debt – then face that fact and have a plan to deal with your debt…etc
6. Be flexible enough to alter your plan.  No result is reached 100% according to plan, so you will need to be open to seeing alternative paths, rebounding from setbacks and even re-aligning your plans as you go…but the key is that you always do have an active plan you are working toward

Please, whatever you do at this crucial point in the year, do NOT overlook the importance of planning your 2012 otherwise you will find yourself 1-year from now having lost an entire 365-days. 

Oh yes, and remember this, if you are not making progress you are losing ground.  It may seem like treading water is possible but it isn't.  If you are not making progress toward your goal then you WILL be WORSE off next year at this time than you are now.  There is no middle ground.  So which will it be?

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I've always had the entrepreneurial bug so being reliant on a job for any of these things has seemed suicidal – but I do recognize the fact that there are only a subset of us that feel this way.

But today, in an environment that is FILLED with uncertainty, where desparation is the norm and where the very concept of business and corporate America is largely crumbling under massive forces of change, what is being reliant on our job like these days?

What is the impact on your health?

How about what it is doing to your quality of life?

How "free" is your mind when you get time off? 

Can you really count on taking that next vacation 6-months from now? 

Will you have to move somewhere you don't really want to go just to find a decent job in the future?

This is the turmoil nearly everyone around me is going through right now…so suddenly being reliant on JUST your job is NOT the norm any longer is it?

YOUR EXPERTISE IS THE NEW CURRENCY

Look, what you know and how you apply that to bring value to other people is the new currency, the new security that has taken the place of a job.

Think about it…

If you know how to help people feel better, look better, achieve what they want you will find opportunties all around you — your biggest challenge will be how to pick the biggest when they all look so sweet.

If you want a top job, you can get it because they see you as an expert in high demand.

If you want to start your own business, you can do that because everyone wants what you have to offer.

If you want to organize an automated business and run it from the sidelines, you can do that because you know how to match the desires of your market with those who do badly want a job. 

In a word, you are in control when you become an expert in your field.

Over at InfoMarketer'sZone we help turn people's passion, skills, knowledge and research into information that brands them an EXPERT - in doing so they find themselves involved in a brand new career that is highly financially rewarding, secure because they can go wherever they want and fulfilling because it is aligned with what they really want to do. 

If you feeling uneasy about being stuck in the OLD economy, then start the transition now….learn to brand yourself and expert and control your own currency as we move into 2o12.

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Happy Canada Day

Wherever you may be in the world, a very Happy Canada Day to all of us Canucks.

Here in Ottawa we have a perfect day, a HUGE buzz as Prince William and Katherine are in town along with about 1300 foreign journalists from around the world. 

Pretty cool indeed…we have some nasty weather in January and February around here, but come June – October, nothing beats the Nation's Capital – Ottawa. 

If you haven't been, then add it to your bucket list, you'll be happy you did.

Back to the festivities we go…

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Remember when we were kids, it seemed as though anything we could imagine was possible. Our entire life was in front of us, we had great friends, BIG dreams and so much learning ahead of us…each day there were huge victories that seemed like the impossible became possible – in fact that became a regular occurrence.

But as we grow, get jobs, deal with social and relationship issues, take on more responsibility, experience more stress and pressure – slowly there becomes less impossible becoming possible and more acceptance of only striving for what "seems" possible or simply what comes our way.

As a result, we lose energy, motivation, drive, focus, fulfillment and FUN!

Our creativity and imagination are put on hold for the time being.

But…what if we could rekindle the days when we regularly seek out what is impossible and MAKE it possible again?

What if we could regain the magic of what it feels like as a child who experiences several LARGE victories each day as they learn to turn the impossible into the possible?

REACHING THE IMPOSSIBLE

It is SO important that we consciously make an effort to evolve again…until achieving the impossible becomes possible.

Here are a few mental notes I made when thinking how to re-direct yourself back to the point where we get UNSTUCK and move toward the impossible again:

1. Expect To Move From Where You Are – over time, we get comfortable, distracted by routine, let the satisfaction with our achievements choke off further ambition until we unconsciously expect to stay where we are. We MUST resist that strong temptation and expect to move even further…beyond where we are today. Become better parents, take more control over our career, treat our friends better, try harder to find our inner purpose and focus.

2. Know That We Will Prevail – making the impossible possible starts with a rock-solid self confidence…and confidence that guides us through uncertain, sometimes uncomfortable situations through to the other side. If you no longer have that strong self-confidence, then it all starts here…

3. Getting Back In Touch With Yourself over time, our lives evolve more and more to living for others (friends, family, our company, organizations, those constantly trying to persuade us and those we compare ourselves to.) Helping others is fine IF you have helped yourself first and guide your work for others in the direction that most satisfies you. For some, that may sound selfish, but really when you are happy and fulfilled you can help those around you to a much greater degree

4. Be Fearless and Let Action Bring Motivation: Drawing on boundless self-confidence, a laser-focused mission and deep seeded self-awareness, you have the tools to overcome fear. All that remains is the necessity to continually be active toward your goals…drawing incredible motivation from each small step you take.

I know this is a constant battle, fighting years of only going after what is necessary or possible in the pursuit of what is impossible is BIG CHANGE for many of us…but what is the alternative?

I'm sure there are other ways to advance our achievement and help break out of a boring or "stuck in a rut" phase of our lives…what have we missed?

What else can you add…or just leave a comment on this very important concept of making the impossible, possible – as a way of living!

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• He's on the leading edge of social & at the forefront of where marketing is headed
• He has been a master at growing an offline wine business using online content and information products (books) – moving from a couple million to a $60M wine business
• He is brutally honest and not afraid to share nuggets with anyone who asks…what works and what doesn't
• Ok, I added a fourth, because he is freaking hillarious and interesting to listen to…

Gary visits Croatia – and in an informal interview NAILS the problem so many of us are facing which is how do you balance multiple opportunties, businesses and marketing methods…how do you make it all scale?

What is especially cool about hearing this from Gary is that he has already built Million dollar businesses, has two best-selling books, has been on every talk show out there including Larry King, Good Morning America, Conan, and the list goes on…

But even with all of this success, he does screw up and does have to make choices…probably even tougher choices than when you are building your first venture. 

Great interview with an incredible lesson for entrepreneurs…let me know your thoughts on what he says.

How do you balance your time?  Do you have a challenge focusing?

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It's no wonder that the success rate of business roughly lines up with the satisfaction rate people have – if you believe the surveys then 75-80% of people admit to NOT being satisfied with their job or business, even less could be said to be totally jacked in what they do.

Interestingly, business success rates sit at less than 25%, hmmm…I wonder if these two things have anything in common.

When we have someone contact us inside of InfoMarketer'sZone, we share the very first week training focused on finding their big WHY…without it we can teach the best tips, techniques and strategies EVER, but they won't be worth anything if that person is not totally JACKED about their business.

How do you know if you are in the right business?

1. You would work it even if it went to zero (or below)

2. You couldn't stop, even if you had to…in other words, your interest is so aligned with your business that it would be insane to ask you to stop

3. You actually like, respect and feel close to the specific customers in your market.  If you do not know, like or want to help those within your market this is a HUGE sign that you are probably in the wrong business

4. There is very little (if anything) you would rather be doing in your spare time than learning, thinking about or working on your business.  Of course there is family, your own health, relaxation and sleep, but aside from these balances in your life, you should naturally be thinking about your market, products and business most of the time

5. You have a BIG vision.  Businesses and markets we don't love are a daily labor, but businesses and markets we love lead to big dreams — remember what it was like to be a kid dreaming about the next game of baseball, of playing with your friends, of building a fort of riding your bike or in later years – going out with the girl (or guy) of your dreams.    Do you daydream about your business?  Why not?

Last time I checked, we get one life here on earth, a limited amount of time to spend satisfying our creative and emotional needs – why not align your work and business with what you love…to do anything OTHER than this makes no sense does it?

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Are you happy with your life?

We all spend more time on our jobs than anything else in our lives and insanely, more than 3/4 of us are  unhappy with what we are doing.

Can you think of any worse living HELL than to be sentenced to 40 years or more of working at something you hate with people you don't respect, producing products or services that, at best, you could give a shit about and, oh yes, you are totally controlled by someone else who is interested in only one thing…themselves!

I know, there are the bills, the kids, the mortgage, the car payments, etc…and yes you do get a decent paycheck, but can you honestly say that the 50-60 hours of work you must do to earn that paycheck doesn't have an impact on…

• your mood and attitude
• your relationships
• your own health and wellness
• how others perceive you
• how far you go in life
• your energy and passion
• your own self confidence and self perception
• your ability to handle stress and be happy in life

Even the luckiest people I know that have jobs experience temporary happiness only…after many years of trying, they may find themselves at a point where they really do like their work, their product, their co-workers – but because all of their eggs are in someone else's basket, that positive experience can turn negative in a big hurry.

The last economic downturn tossed many happy workers out on their ass, and guess where they were forced to start?  Back at the beginning…working their way up to where they were will take years/decades – IF they are lucky.

So, what alternatives do you have?

Since e-commerce is increasingly moving online, that is the first place to look.

Second, e-commerce is really just in its infancy, but is already going through a massive revolution – discontinuities are always great places to look for opportunities since brand new techniques and business models emerge with everyone having an equal chance of dominating coming out of the disruption.

The latest disruption is the move from Ad-based, Push marketing to socially driven, relationship oriented search and buying online.

Direct To Consumer – Your Opportunity To Break Out!

Entire industries including Advertising, Media (TV, Radio, Newspaper), Content (Writers, Musicians, Publishers, Content Owners) are completely being re-written and guess who is taking the beating?

The middleman is having a hard time justifying his existence as a controller of content and messages in a medium where there is no longer a cap on control.

Content shared on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Ustream and directly on websites has as good (arguably even better) chance of reaching the consumer and convincing them to take action than any large-scale ad campaign, content publishing platform or other "controlled" distribution.

Your opportunity is TOTALLY direct to consumer.

Where do you start?

Here is the path that is already showing istself to be incredibly powerful driving individual success across many industries:

1. It starts with PASSION – if you don't completely and totally love what you are doing, then STOP and find something you DO totally enjoy

2. Content And Market Interaction: You love your market, you love your customers, and you love the topic – so share content with your market that will help them and you will be building the FUTURE of online e-commerce and wealth

3. Build In Interaction. Don't be afraid to engage and interact with your marketplace.  Why?  Two HUGE reasons:

- Engagement and participation creates lots more content…if you ever wondered what a dream content generation campaign is, it would be a content piece you create in 20-minutes that goes on to generate weeks, months and years worth of additional content through comments, chat, contribution, argument, discussion, etc… We have blog posts that were written a year ago that still generate daily comments and activity – all strengthening our web position, our traffic, our brand and ultimately, our sales

- Interaction results in a closer relationship, increased trust and reduced obstacle to taking action.  In short, people who not only read and watch your content, but that get involved are 10X more likely to become buyers, subscribers and champions of you and your products

4. Convert your passion, love for your market and hard work adding value into BIG money.  Look at it this way, your marketplace already spends Millions or Billions of dollars, if you are willing to work as hard or harder than big companies harness your passion and help your customers, why SHOULDN'T you get rich?  It's not like you are asking your customers to spend more of their hard-earned money, it is simply a matter of you letting them know that you will bust your ass to help them more than your competition and so you DESERVE their faith, interest, and dollars.

There is a huge opportunity happening right now in the marketplace where direct to consumer is the best thing that will ever happen to your customer…the question is, will you be a part of it?

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Complain?

Give up?

Take a time-out?

Become depressed?

Go grab a drink, and then another, and then another…?

Blame someone else?

Are any of these productive?

If this is how we handle setbacks or failure, then we are missing out on the #1 advantage we can have toward achieving our end goal.

In our many business ventures I can certainly say that the single quickest and most effective way of moving forward is learning from mistakes, setbacks and failures – I would go so far as to say that entrepreneurship depends on this perspective.

When you learn to ride your bike, didn't you fall off?

When you learned to love someone in your life, wasn't it preceeded with pain or setbacks that helped you understand what you wanted and how to communicate? 

Here is one of my favorite quotes from salesman and trainer Zig Ziglar – "Make failure your teacher, not your undertaker."

The most sucessful and happiest people I have come across in life consistently have failed many times, but do not look at these setbacks as failures but as learning opportunities helping them get one step closer to their desired outcome. 

What about you? 

Have you ever learned from a setback or failure in your life?

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