Goals? Resolutions? What are goals and why in the world would we need goals? Or for that matter resolutions? I know, I know that New Years is over and resolutions are to be set on New Years, but why? To me goals and resolutions are in the same category. You have to have goals to get where you are going, and resolutions are what you want to accomplish, like losing weight, etc. Have you ever wondered why the majority of people never fulfil their resolutions they make on New Years? Could it be they never set any goals for the resolution they made? Goals if properly set, help a person get where they are going. Some goals need to be set with someone else that you can be accountable to. Being accountable to someone else makes it easier to get done what you need to do. If I set a goal to do something and no one else knows about it, it is a whole lot easier not to worry whether I did what I said I was going to do, or for that matter reset the goal. Goals are for our own good, to help us get where we want to be, whether a personal goal or a business goal. We should set goals for both our personal lives and our business. These should be reasonable, and achievable, and yet make us stretch. If we don't have to work to achieve a goal, there is really no need to set a goal for it. Goals are a way of staying on track to get where we want to go, not where we already are, and should be something we have to work for. Sometimes in setting our goals we need to ask for advice. What do we need to do and what should our next step be. It is okay to ask for help if we already know where we want to go. That is something we each have to decide - Where do I want to go? What do I want to accomplish? Make a resolution to set goals, and set those goals with someone you are accountable to and go for the gold! -Patsy Goins ©2000 Disposable or Residual Income? What Kind of Income Are You Looking For? We all need instant income/money to live. More or less, disposable income. A J.O.B. is this kind of income. The big question is how long do you want to do this. If it is for the rest of your life, this article probably will not be of interest to you. I’m more interested in residual income. You know, do the work once and the money continues to come in. An example of residual income is Elvis...... He is dead and yet his estate has a larger income than he had while he was doing the work. The same income can be achieved in network marketing. Do you have to work? Definitely, Yes! There are many other factors involved that will determine whether you have disposable or residual income. Character traits like morals, ethics are another matter that you must have or develop to build a true residual income. Which type of income interests you? If working every day to have an income then maybe a job is your answer. If on the other hand you want to work hard for awhile to build your income, then have the money to play hard, a job just wouldn’t work. If network marketing should be the way you choose to achieve your residual income, you should choose your sponsor and team carefully. What kind of sponsor are you looking for? I would want a sponsor that worked as a team player first. When you are looking at sponsors try to meet some of their team players. Maybe not for coffee, just a 3 way call for an introduction. Then I would want to know how long they’ve been with this program. It it’s been a short period of time, I’d want to know how many programs they’d been involved in in the past year. Your sponsor may not have made quick $, but if they are building teams and not hopping all over their residual income will build. If your potential sponsor and their team get into a program, make some money then move on, the have disposable income. Get in, get checks, next program, get checks, next..... Sounds like another JOB to me. A good example would be...Due to a company “going out of business”, I started with a new company seven months ago. During those seven months, another former distributor has approached me with three different programs. Do you think the 1st one is still putting checks in his mailbox? Just another J.O.B. if you are continually working a new program. What kind of sponsor/leader do you want to be? Is it your plan to help yourself and others earn a disposable income or build a residual income? Personally, I’m looking forward to the days when the most strenuous thing I’ll have to do is go pick up the check (we don’t have home delivery yet) and deposit it in the bank. That is true residual income. Lead by example in whatever you do, and don’t quit! 2000 Patsy J. Goins - All Rights Reserved Patsy Goins is the webmistress of http://www.amazingopportunities4u.com Amazing Opportunities is a one stop site, whether you are in need of a business opportunity, a way to promote your current opportunity, or you just want to read. She, also, publishes a short daily (M-F) thought evoking/motivational message Have A GREAT Day Subscribe "How To Deal When Your MLM Goes Out Of Business!"** by P. Goins We all have access to information on how to evaluate a company so we don't begin building an opportunity that is doomed before we ever get started. This is great, as I believe we should do our due diligence and evaluate the company before beginning. What to do tho', when already involved with a company that shuts the door on YOUR opportunity? I think the first thing you should do is deal with your personal feelings. "What feelings you ask?" Well, betrayal maybe, self doubt, network marketing is no good, network marketing doesn't work, etc. How many of you have lost a job and found a new job? This is no different. Traditional businesses go "out of business" every day, and I don't hear "Well, a restaurant, grocery store, auto dealership, etc. just doesn't work". For that matter, what Franchise comes with a guarantee? Fact is a certain percentage of ALL new businesses will be gone before 5 years pass. So why should a network marketer have these feelings? Fact is most network marketers don't look at networking as a profession - Some folks are even ashamed of their business and won't tell anyone they are in network marketing. Humiliation and embarrassment are more feelings that will come into play. I can understand the feelings of embarrassment when you've done your best building your network, involved your "warm market" and the company you are representing closes their doors. I do wonder why we feel embarrassed when a company closes their doors. The company failed with it's endeavor, but does that mean we failed? If you had a JOB with the same company, would you be embarrassed when you show up for work and the doors are locked? Totally different emotion, and we can only feel what we allow ourselves to feel for any period of time. So, what to do? First, I would read a good book dealing with my thoughts and feelings, and listen to some good tapes. In other words, get my thought process where it needs to be, and my attitude "right"! Once the attitude is where you no longer feel it's your fault, nor any more guilty, embarrassed feelings, it is time to do an assessment again. Seems all of life is an assessment and readjustment! It's time to decide if network marketing is for YOU. Much the same as being a Dr. isn't for everyone, network marketing isn't for everyone. Like everything in life, 1st you have to Make a Decision, 2nd Set Out a Plan of Action, and 3rd and most important, Take Action. Whether you decide to be a network marketer or a Dr. you have to take action to get from here to there. Just because you happened to become a distributor with a company that went "out of business", doesn't mean YOU failed, nor does it mean network marketing is bad. Network marketing does afford the average person an opportunity to earn an above average income if they set their mind to becoming successful at it and DON'T QUIT! Patsy Goins is the webmistress of http://www.amazingopportunities4u.com Amazing Opportunities is a one stop site, whether you are in need of a business opportunity, a way to promote your current opportunity, or you just want to read. She, also, publishes a short daily (M-F) thought evoking/motivational message Have A GREAT Day Subscribe	Use of Herbs as Medicine How many people use herbs without a diagnosis? How many people take a prescription without a diagnosis? More information is readily available regarding herbs. Go to a search engine online, go to the library or visit a bookstore and you will find information on herbs. Many years ago I discovered I am allergic to most of today's “chemical drugs.” By that I mean drugs created in a lab. In those days doing research to find an herb to replace a prescribed drug was difficult. There were also warnings in the books which I used to do research. Today you can walk into any Wal Mart type store and buy herbs just like buying aspirin and antacids. You can also pick up and buy the herbs that have the same actions in the body as valium and penicillin. I am in agreement that the herbs need to be available without the regulation of the government. I do wonder and have a concern about the people that purchase these herbs. Have they been diagnosed by a Dr.? If they are taking a prescription of say penicillin, they have seen a Dr. I know which herb to take should I need an antibiotic, and there are different ones for different ailments, but would I just go buy and take them without a professional diagnosis? I don't think so! Now, if someone has been to the Dr., and has a diagnosis along with a recommendation for a prescription, then would be the time to take an herbal replacement. In the event the Dr. is knowledgeable he could recommend an herbal replacement, you could spend the time and do the research or ask someone that is knowledgeable before you embark on herbal treatment. Just as people die from drugs, herbs are no different. One of my main concerns is that folks will do a “self” diagnosis, purchase and take herbs. People taking herbs they shouldn't be taking or taking the wrong dosages could be dangerous. Herbs are medicine in the natural form as prescriptions are medicine in the chemical form. If you wouldn't take a medicine that wasn't prescribed to you for a particular reason why would you go purchase herbs without the same knowledge? Some herbs are safer than others, for example, Just as you would take aspirin/acephetamine, you can take white willow, with the warning - Do Not exceed the recommended dosage, nor take for long periods of time without supervision. There is always the possibility you could have an allergic reaction to an herb as you could from any other drug. Herbs are drugs! Abuse and wrong usage can hurt you and others. How others you might ask. People improperly using herbs with bad results or reactions get the attention of the government. Then government looks at controls. People should be able to govern themselves by using common sense and research. 2006 Patsy J. Goins - All Rights Reserved Did you find this information helpful? There's plenty more like that at Patsy's site, http://www.amazingopportunities4u.com. Amazing Opportunities is a one stop site, whether you are in need of a business opportunity, a way to promote your current opportunity, or you just want to read. She, also, publishes a short daily (M-F) thought evoking/motivational message Have A GREAT Day mailto:HAGD-subscribe@amazingopportunities4u.com How to Guarantee a GREAT Day Every Day! By Chris Widener I have a standing interview every Monday morning on a radio station in the southeast that I enjoy very much. You can imagine though that it can become routine. So to make it a little more fun, the host nowadays doesn't even tell me the topic before we go live on the air - that puts some excitement into it! This past week he asked me the following question cold at the beginning of the show: How can a person guarantee that they will have a great day, every day? Now some may find that a hard question but for me it was actually a very easy question to answer (a little harder to actually live, but not that hard). You see, I believe in principles that govern our lives so that we can control our destinies and create for ourselves the kind of lives that we desire. People who live based on principles achieve what they desire while people who live reacting to circumstances do not. So, what were the principles that I gave to guarantee that a person could have a GREAT day every day? Here they are: Focus on today only. Yes, we need to have long-range goals. But our focus must be on today. My old equation is that your short-term tasks multiplied by time equal your long-term accomplishments. With that in mind, it is imperative that we focus in on our short-term, to control it and make it what will eventually, when multiplied by time, equal our long-term goals. Don't think about tomorrow. Today is enough trouble in and of itself. You can work on tomorrow when it gets here. Instead, make today the best day you have ever had. Realize that when you lay down to sleep tonight you will have just given up the only shot you will ever have at today. Today is now gone and it is only a memory. You only get one shot at your today so focus intently on making it all that it possibly can be. Focus, focus, focus! When you focus on making today great, you are on the road to guaranteeing that you will make your day GREAT, every day! Embrace your power to choose. Dwight D. Eisenhower said that "The history of free men is never written by chance but by choice, their choice." When your today becomes your yesterday, you will look back and realize that that day was a result of your choices and your choices only. "But wait Chris, what if my boss controlled my day? That isn't my choice!" But it is your choice to work for someone else! Your choice to let someone else tell you what to do. You chose the feelings of helplessness that overwhelm you when you feel bad that you do not control your own destiny. The moment we realize that we have a gift from God that the animals do not have, mainly the gift of free will and choice, and when we realize the inherent power within that gift, and ultimately when we finally begin to exercise that gift, then and only then, will we begin to create for ourselves a GREAT day each and every day! Take ownership of the direction in your life. Make your choices then carry them out! Your attitude is up to you. Yes, bad things may happen in your day. The pitcher for Team Circumstances may have a tremendous curveball waiting for you and you cannot control that. You cannot control what others may do or say. But you do control your attitude. Your attitude about whatever happens to you is up to you. When something happens to you, you have the choice: Will you let it get you down and depressed, keeping you from forging ahead and making the day the best one ever? Or will you say to yourself that no matter what happens you are on the path to success and no obstacle will keep you from it? Will you say, "Sometime you win and sometimes you lose - I guess this time I lost"? Will you say, "Sometime you win and sometimes you learn - I can really learn something from this!"? It is all in what attitude we choose. Your attitude is up to you and when you choose to have a great attitude, you are choosing to guarantee to have a GREAT day, every day! Live out and act on your priorities. So far we have dealt with internal perspectives, and that is indeed the place to start. But the practical place is in our priorities. If we want to make our days great, then we have to live out those things that will by definition make our days great. And those things are what are important to us. They are our priorities. So each morning you start out by saying, "What things are important to me today? What are the things I need to accomplish in order for me to lay down tonight and know that I lived a GREAT day?" Then you put those in order of most important to least important. Don't so what is fun. Don't do what is easy. Do what is IMPORTANT! Live out your priorities! When you do, you will guarantee that you will make your day GREAT, every day! Tomorrow, when you wake up, go through the four following points and see if you don't make tomorrow a GREAT day: Focus on today only. Understand that I get to choose how today will go. Remain in a positive attitude no matter what happens. Live out and act on my priorities. Do this and you will guarantee a GREAT day, every day! Chris Widener's Made for Success Chris Widener's Made for Success! Charting the Course to a Better Life!T http://www.madeforsuccess.com http://www.extraordinaryleaders.com Observations of Internet 'Sheep' by Dave Reno I have been watching what I am going to relate to you below for over 5 years now. It amazes me that this situation seems to be getting worse instead of better! People come to me looking for help in starting their internet business. They jump right in and follow my advice for oh a good 30-45 days and then they QUIT! Yet these same people will work 35-50 years at the same job if they're lucky, and will retire broke! WHY can't they dedicate themselves to their new business like they do their J O B?? Or worse yet, they join EVERY out and out SCAM, Con Job, Money Game, and Ponzi Scheme they can find. And then they will come to me, or write, telling me ALL of the internet is a SCAM! They try and blame me and anyone else who has had a modicum of success online when they fail, yet you ask these people which parts of the plan I outlined for you did you get accomplished? NONE of it is ALWAYS the answer! You then of course ask WHY they didn't do like you asked them to do in the outline you spent YOUR valuable time creating for them, and the answer is ALWAYS the same again...it was HARD! Folks NOTHING you do in life is EASY the first time or twenty that you do it! It starts at childhood. You probably don't remember this, but I am willing to bet it was HARD to get through your 'potty' training! It was HARD learning how to drink from a cup without spilling it all over you! It was HARD learning how to stay upright on your bicycle AFTER the training wheels came off! If you were lucky enough to have those! ;-D It was HARD learning how to write your name legibly! It was HARD learning how to tie those blasted shoelaces! Do you see a pattern developing here? So the question that begs to be asked here is...WHY do you think your foray into internet marketing should be EASY? From where I sit MOST of you think it's EASY! You constantly chase those 'magic bean' programs as I like to call them. You know in your heart that just by joining these programs you're NOT going to get 'rich'. Although you hold out hope...because the ad you saw said you would be RICH beyond your wildest dreams in 2 weeks, and you know at the time it MUST be TRUE... because there was a picture of a guy standing next to his Lamborghini on the website! Or you join some program because of all the 'spillover' you're going to get! Folks, remember this phrase and remember it well! Do NOT wait for spillover, learn your craft and develop the skills necessary to CREATE spillover! But alas, MOST of you reading this will NOT take the time to learn this craft of internet marketing, because it is HARD! It is HARD to turn the TV off and concentrate on learning the skills needed to be a success! It is HARD to not go down to the bar for a cold one with the guys, when you should be in front of your computer learning EVERYTHING you can about our industry! It is HARD developing your OWN opt-in list to communicate and develop relationships with your readers! It is HARD to learn how to design a professional looking website! It is HARD learning the skills necessary to do your due diligence in investigating companies BEFORE you join them! It is HARD to actually write out a business plan! Harder still to devote 2-5 years in building your business! Even though this is what EVERYONE must do, to have a chance at being successful! No it's much easier to keep chasing those 'magic beans', or buying the CD with the 15 MILLION email addresses on them, easier still to lose your ISP when you're accused 15 MILLION times of being a spammer! Or easier still to BLAST your ad to 97 GOZILLION sites for FREE and sit back and watch the money roll in! I hope you have alot of time on your hands if you're waiting on that one to pay off! ;-D Well if you've read this far, the first thing I want to do is thank you! I do tend to ramble I know! ;-D My point to all this is, EVERYTHING you do in life is HARD...in the beginning! But as you keep practicing and learning, things start to become EASY! As you see some actual successes...i.e. checks start arriving in the mail, this internet marketing 'thing' will even start to become FUN! Getting to the point of having ALOT of this FUN...is what we're all truly after isn't it? ====================================================== Dave Reno is an International Internet Marketing Trainer, and publishes the award winning newsletter Your NetRiches Marketing News. You can subscribe by going to <http://www.netriches.com/>
I Am My Sunshine By: Patsy Goins "You Are My Sunshine My Only Sunshine You Make Me Happy When Skies Are Gray" (I remember this song from my childhood) "You Never Know ,Dear, How Much I Love You Please, Don't Take My Sunshine Away" And, doesn't that insinuate someone or something makes you happy? So, from a young age, we were fed the ideas it took something outside ourselves to see sunshine and be happy. We didn't just receive that message from one song. Ever heard someone state, "He/She makes me so happy!" Were we ever misled! I can't remember when exactly I began to realize this was bogus. I was always told I was rebellious, too! When I started to realize it wasn't something or somebody that made me happy and sunny, I, also, began to realize I could control how I thought, good/positive or bad/negative thought. Good thoughts make us feel good. Keeping our thoughts positive can be difficult to say the least. You have so much negative input dealing with every day life. Then when the skies turn gray it gets more difficult. How many times have you heard someone comment "it is so depressing" on a cloudy/stormy day? Here comes that old negative thought process - So, what do you do when you have those gray, cloudy days? First you have to realize and convince yourself that you have control! That does mean of your thoughts. Ok, so obviously we can't just look out the window at the beautiful sunny skies in order to lift the gray mood. One of the things that lifts my mood is to light a fire in the fireplace. Now, it's not always cool enough here when the skies get gray. Soooo Do you have a particular music that when you listen, it just makes you feel good? What music triggers that happy feeling? Try listening to that type music or a favorite motivational speaker when you are having one of those down, gray days. Have you ever heard of "self talk" - How about an affirmation especially for those kind of days. Reading is a good way to get positive input, and I recommend this method to most folks I know. If your mood is only caused by weather, you can't change mother nature, but you can change your way of thinking. When I reflect on the many seasons and weather conditions, each of them plays a part in the balance of things. I have learned to accept all acts of nature, and change the way they affect my thinking. In the old days on a rainy day, I used to "whine"....you know, "It's raining, I can't do _______! It's so yucky!" Today on a rainy day, I'm very thankful all the plants are being watered and our lake where we get our drinking water is being refilled, grab my umbrella and go do what I have to do. I chose to change the way I think about things and so can you. How you think is YOUR choice! Changing your thought process isn't easy, but it can be changed if you want to change it. I, also, might add it takes a bit of work until you make the change, but then you've got it! So make yourself happy and sunny unless you like being gray and gloomy. *Article by Patsy Goins. © 2000 Patsy Goins - All Rights Reserved What Size Is YOUR "Clay Pot"? Can you relate your personal growth to the growth of a plant for a moment. What does it take for a plant to grow? Soil, light, water, and some fertilizer, right? You take a seed and plant it in a small clay pot. You water it, place it in the sun and it should grow. There is always the chance the seed is no good. As long as you take care of the new plant, it will continue to grow. What do you have to do in order to keep the plant growing? Give it light, water and fertilize it. When the plant is big enough, the roots will be contained by the small clay pot. It will have no more room to grow. The plant quits getting bigger. You can transplant it into a larger clay pot, with proper care, it will again increase in size. Your mind works much the same way. How you take care of your mind determines the growing you do. You can read and expand the mind. How often, how much and what you read determines how your mind grows. You, unlike a plant, have choices and can read what you want when you want to read. (Your mind like a plant is dependant on you.) There are tapes you can listen to and expand your mind. Again, you decide what you want to feed your mind through listening. Will it be motivational, instructional, self help, music, comedy - You get the idea of your choices in feeding your mind. This would be like giving the plant water and fertilizer. Experiences shape your mind and your thought process. You make a choice where you will be, and therefore, determine the type experiences you're feeding yourself. You'd set yourself up for much different experiences say, by going to a church function going to a tavern/pub. This can relate to the light you'd give a plant. The sun always pulls a plant toward itself. OK, you've read a book. Will you chose to read another book? Listened to a tape, and have some experiences that have determined your growth until now. Your growth until this point in your life is the size of your "clay pot" right now. You can choose to learn and experience more which will cause self growth. When you make that choice you will increase the size of your "clay pot". ©2002 -P.Goins Article by Patsy Goins. Did you find this information helpful? There's plenty more like this at Patsy's site, http://www.amazingopportunities4u.com Amazing Opportunities is a one stop site, whether you are in need of a business opportunity, a way to promote your current opportunity, or you just want to read. She publishes a daily (M-F) dose of motivation or thought evoking message. Subscribe at Subscribe	Moses - The Resistant Leader by Danny Gamache ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As my favorite leadership speaker and author John Maxwell says, "leadership is influence". One of the most clearly influential people in the Old Testament is Moses. Moses played a role in the history of Israel unlike anyone else. He lead the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt to the brink of the promised land. Moses' role as a leader of the people spanned a period of over 40 years!! Because leadership is influence, we are all leaders to some degree or another. Everyone has influence, whether it is just over a few friends and family members or over a church home group or over co-workers at a job. Everyone is influencing someone, in fact most people are influencing many others. This happens whether or not we are ever given any official position of leadership, and whether or not we are ever view ourselves as a leader. Leadership in networking home businesses is also essential. The only way to succeed is to demonstrate leadership. Whether it is gaining new clients, or teaching new partners in how to build a business, you are in fact, leading. In spite of this most of us have major self-doubts about our leadership ability, and very few people actually view themselves as being a leader. As the story of Moses demonstrates to us, doubting our ability to lead others is nothing new; Moses was really the prime example of a resistant leader. First of all, to see why Moses was so resistant to being a leader we need to look at Moses' inadequacies. We can see many of these in Moses as a young man. The first thing that we see from Moses as an adult is that he is a murder (Ex. 2:11-12). When Moses sees an Egyptian beating a fellow Hebrew person his anger brought him to kill the Egyptian. Moses thinks that he gets away with the crime, and goes on as normal until the next day when he finds out that, "What I did must have become known (Ex. 2:14)." His reaction at this point shows that he is also a coward, because instead of staying and standing up for himself against the Pharaoh, he flees to the country of Midian. His cowardice at this point seems to show someone who would be unable to take a stand against the Pharaoh , which was to be an important part of his future leadership role. A third thing that can be seen about Moses' early adulthood is that he failed to follow the basic covenant agreement that the Hebrews had with God, by not circumcising his own son. In fact God almost kills Moses because of his disobedience in this area. Only when Moses' wife Zipporah circumcises her son, does God release his death grip on Moses (Ex. 4:24-26). This happened even after Moses had accepted the call of God to return to Egypt. So, from his early years, Moses is shown to be a murderer, a coward, and to disobey the very basic in the covenant agreement his people had with God. There are times when we all feel inadequate to the call of God on our lives and our businesses. We also use excuses of our past failures and sins to resist. We must remember that God can use us in spite of our past failures and our weaknesses. In fact sometimes God uses us because of our past failures. Those past failures may be just what we need to prepare us for the task God has before us now. Still it was not these things that Moses used to resist God's call on his life. When God does call Moses to "go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt (Ex. 3:10)," Moses resists with many excuses. First of all Moses fears that he lacks any influence over either the other Hebrews, or the Pharaoh. He doesn't see himself as being important enough for the task (Ex. 3:11), and he doesn't feel that the others will believe what he says or even listen to his words (Ex. 4:1). Isn't this similar to how we feel about our business?! We don't believe that we are capable of achieving the goals that God is putting before us. We don't think people will believe what we have to share with them. We think because they are already successful that they won't listen to what we have to say. Or we think that because we've failed at a home business in the past they won't believe us again. When God is calling us to build a business and to be a leader none of these factors matter. The results will come because of God, not because of us. Secondly, Moses feels that he doesn't know enough about God, not even his name (Ex. 3:13). Next we see that Moses has no confidence in his speaking ability telling God that he has "never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue (Ex. 4:10)." How often do we resist doing something that God calls us to do because we don't know enough about the task, or we don't believe we have this necessary skills or knowledge. We say, yes I'll follow. but after I go to school and learn more, or after I read this next book. Often though when God calls us, He is calling us to get started now. In home businesses too many people spend all their time studying and learning. We don't get started because we believe we not yet ready. Instead we need to get started knowing that God will provide the information and skills we need as we move along. In fact many of those skills we be learned more quickly by actually doing what we need to do. Finally Moses demonstrates sheer cowardice by pleading that God would send someone else to do the task (Ex. 4:13). He wanted the work and the role of leadership to go into someone else's hands. In our businesses we see this too. Often we try placing the responsibility for growth in our business on someone else. We expect that our upline will build our business for us. Or when things don't grow fast enough we look at our downline and place blame on them. If God has called us to build our home business the responsibility is ours not someone else. Well, God was insistent with Moses, and answered his every question and complaint with strong words and miraculous signs, and after all of this Moses went back to Egypt. Will we take God's call for us to be leaders for a business and take action? Or will God need to show himself in a burning bush before we will listen? Being a leader and building a home business are indeed inseparable. So if you are called to be building a home business, you are also called to be a leader. No matter how inadequate you feel, how little you view your influence is and no matter how little you know or how few skills you believe you have you can trust God to provide and make you the leader he wants you to be! Written by: Danny Gamache E-Mail Me http://www.secondincometeam.com/danny
The article below is not original. I can't even attribute it to any one or organization as it's taken from a handout I received years ago. LIFE VALUES - BELIEFS THAT GOVERN YOU EVERY DAY Values are beliefs you hold about what is important or desirable or worthwhile in life. They are the standards which guide our decisions and actions. * some values are more important to you than others * values, like interests and abilities, change throughout your life * you will find greater satisfaction in life when your actions do not go against your values * sometimes your values will conflict with one another (that is when decision making becomes more difficult) What are your life values? The following "test" will help you rate some of the most common and how you are currently integrating them into your life. They may seem simplistic as you read them but remember we are discussing core value issues. These tend to be very basic. It's all the other "stuff" that makes our lives more complicated. I believe most of these values are priorities for well-adjusted and hopeful people so if you don't like the idea of rating, then just think about the importance you place on the items based on what is happening in your life right now. I encourage you to print this out for ease of use. 1 = unimportant to me 2 = slightly important 3 = important to me 4 = very important in my life *********************************** 01. Accomplishment: achievement, lasting contribution 02. Adventure: taking risks, excitement 03. Ambition: aspiring, hard working 04. Beauty: harmony in nature and the arts 05. Cheerfulness: lighthearted, optimistic, joyful 06. Cleanliness: neatness 07. Comfort: prosperity 08. Courage: standing up for beliefs 09. Equality: opportunity for all 10. Family: happy family life 11. Freedom: independence, free choice 12. Friendship: close companionship 13. Happiness: contentment 14. Health: freedom from illness, physical well being 15. Honesty: straightforward, genuine, trustworthy 16. Imagination: creativity, originality 17. Knowledge: intelligence, education, wisdom 18. Leadership: directing others 19. Love: affection, intimacy, care 20. Pleasure: leisure recreation 21. Politeness: courtesy, manners 22. Recognition: respect, admiration, prestige 23. Religion: spiritual creed or belief 24. Responsibility: dependable, reliable, dutiful 25. Security: safety, certainty 26. Self-controlled: disciplined, restraint, reliance 27. Self-respect: personal esteem 28. Socializing: interacting with people 29. Tolerance: open-mindedness 30. Others that are important to you Other values that you might consider: * peace and quiet * commitment * ambition * fairness and justice, integrity * reliability and loyalty * play * cooperation * personal achievement * efficiency and practicality What are your top five values? The ones most important to you? Spend some time thinking about it. There's no rush. Also realize that these can and will change depending on family, job, and social conditions. Yes, most are your core values which you base your life's actions on. You might want to take this test every few months, especially if you are working with a mission or goal statement and see how well you are staying within their framework. It could be that either the statement or your life needs to be adjusted in some way. If you want to get a jump start on next week, list jobs that you think might conflict with these values. Then, name some jobs which you feel both deep within you and consciously would fit or support your most important beliefs. Be ready to compare them with the results you come up with next time. It's a mindset and behavior patterns we look for to understand how millionaires accomplish their goals and forward looking perspective. On your journey towards more riches, keep your eyes open for rainbows that will bring joy and light into your life.	Turn Your Habits into "Have-its" By Cathy Fothergill, Copyright 1999, revised 2000 When you hear the word "habit", what kind of image comes to mind? Is it negative or positive? Chances are, if you are like most people, the image that comes to mind is negative. You see a picture of a person who indulges in various excessive behaviors. Bad habits are easy to spot. They can destroy bodies and businesses. In networking, it is the not so obvious habits that can keep most from achieving success. Solomon said, "Catch us the foxes. The little foxes that spoil the vine." You see, "little foxes" destroy grape vines by chewing them off at the root. Indeed, it's the "little foxes" or seemingly small habits, that cut the "vine" of success off at the root. Procrastination, watching too much TV, taking too much "time off" are all habits that can derail your business before it ever gets off the ground. There have been many books, talks and tapes on the subject of "The habits of highly successful people." In a nutshell, they all say the same thing, "Look at what successful people do consistently, develop those habits and success will come your way." In other words, if you spend more time developing good habits, the bad ones will give way. Accentuate the positive! A habit is like a winter coat. It is something you either put on or take off, depending on the situation. Obviously, if it's 20 degrees outside, you need that coat, but if it's 80 you don't. A habit is the same way. If it's killing or stunting the growth of your business, you need to take it off. If it will make you successful, you need to put it on. So how do you change? It's actually very simple. Do an examintation and make the appropriate changes. Here are the steps to follow when turning habits into have-its. 1. Identify: Examine your life and determine what negative habits are holding you back. Is it procrastination? Watching too much TV? Fear? Also look at what positive habits you must develop that will make you successful. Is it making more contacts? Using your products? Following the system? Negative habits have to go! Positive habits must be developed and strengthened. 2. List: On a piece of paper, make two columns and list all of your habits, negative and positive. Then prioritize them according to which ones you feel your business would benefit most from developing or losing. This list should include any personal traits that you feel project a poor image. 3. Commit to change: Once you have identified the habits you need to change, begin the process. It is not a good thing to try to change everything at once, so look at your prioritized list and pick the one or few that you are going to work on first. You will find that there are things you should learn NOT to do and some you must learn TO do. Bear in mind, that depending on what "expert" you listen to, it takes from 21 to 30 days to develop or break a habit. Therefore, when you've identified the habit(s) you are going to work on, be prepared to make at least a 30 day commitment to your changed life pattern. Once the new habit is developed, it is no longer something you work on, but something that just happens, every day. 3. Reward: Once your habit of success has been developed, you will begin to see the reward for your hard work. Enjoy it, but don't get lazy and complacent. 4. New Action (Continued growth): Go back through your list and identify the next most important habit(s) you must develop, and begin working on them. If you sit back and wallow in the reward stage, you'll never go any farther. In summary, developing successful habits is a repeating process. You must constantly identify, commit to change and receive the reward. If you concentrate on changing all your habits to successful ones, then you will change your life pattern of habits into "have-its"! Article by: Cathy Fothergill, Copyright 2000. More articles and resources for writers, webmasters and home business owners can be found at: www.connectionteam.com Need edification, information and motivation for you and your team? Looking for more articles to read? Try visiting Articles
To paint a house. Russ One of the "regular" jobs that I have done is house painting. People see me doing a big project and ask me how I can stay so cheerful and happy when I am working on a job like that. I just smile, because they don't know that I don't really do any big jobs. To me, a ten room job is no different than a three room job. The first thing that I do is look at the whole job to get a "feel" for the house and what it needs. I like to become friends with the house. Then I pick a starting point. It might be a ceiling or it might be a wall. I am no longer painting a house. I am painting a wall. There is no ceiling, no other walls and no other rooms. Just a wall. When I am done with that wall, I have finished a job. I feel good. I have a sense of completion. I have finished something that I started. Now I get to pat myself on the back. I done good. I can take a break, have a cup of coffee, take a quick walk or start a new wall. My choice. It is the same way with each wall or ceiling. I only do one at a time. I get to feel a lot of completions. I get to feel good about myself alot. Next thing I know, the room is done. I finished an even bigger thing that I started. At some point, I will finish painting one wall and notice that the whole house is done. Sometimes I am surprised to see that it is all done. Now I will go back and look at it all and see what little touch up need to be done. All done. I've got to be careful not to strain my arm patting myself on the back. Now I get to really celebrate. I get paid. How do I do my website? I see the whole site I want and become friends with it. Then I do just one page of it. Next thing I know, my site is done. Now I get to celebrate. I get to see it on the web. How do I do my newsletter? I have my template set up for my news letter. I write one article. I find one site to recommend. I find one thing at a time. Next thing I know, my newsletter is done. Now I get to celebrate. I get to share it with people. How do I do my life? I talk with one person at a time. I make one phone call at a time. I eat one meal at a time. I laugh at one joke at a time. I show one person love at a time. I help one person at a time. Now I really get to celebrate. I get to live a full life. How do you do your website? Or your newsletter? Or your job? Or your life? How often do you get to celebrate? Do you deal with the whole house? Or one wall at a time? Russ has a website and newsletter on personal freedom and empowerment. It's here to help people find their own personal freedom and empowerment and live the lives they choose to live. You can stay as you are or become what you want to be. It is always your choice. And it's all free! Russ Personal Freedom and Empowerment http://knowthepowerofchoice.com Don't let the name fool you. Check it out. mailto:russ@knowthepowerofchoice.com To subscribe to his newsletter, send a blank email to: mailto:subscribe@claimingyourlife.com	How to Fight Back BEFORE You're Falsely Accused of SPAM By Malacka (c) 2003 A friend of mine received a chilling email message from his ISP the other day. Someone had reported him as sending SPAM and the ISP warned that an additional SPAM complaint would result in losing his hosting service - period. No ifs, ands or buts! The ISP just took the word of the person filing the complaint as gospel, even though my friend had the email subscription notification where this person, or someone posing as them, had subscribed. My friend sent me a copy of the subscription notification. And sure enough, there it was as plain as day. it contained the date, time and the subscription IP address of the person making the Spam allegation. Unfortunately, all this evidence fell on deaf ISP ears. This little incident firms my conviction that a federal CAN- SPAM law might not be a bad idea after all. Without it, persons alleging Spam, like the one above, may be able to sue under State law. And that's where the nightmare begins. Oh sure, the person will most likely end up losing the case but here's the typical situation. The "injured party" files a lawsuit and the ISP immediately shuts off service to the publisher. And guess what, the publisher is immediately out of business even though she/he is sitting there with evidence that the allegation is totally groundless. Talk about scary! And if you think this scenario can't happen to you - think again. The erroneous reporting of Spam has become wide-spread and has gotten even easier. Don't like a company or their products? Just accuse them of spam. Do it a couple of times in one week and, guess what, they're off line - period. AOL and Yahoo owners can simply click a button and report anything they feel like as Spam - with no consequence whatsoever if the allegation is totally baseless. The "This is Spam button" has replaced the delete key as "the" answer for some folks. And I'll bet you'd have a hard time tracking down whomever made the initial AOL or Yahoo Spam complaint as well. Time to Get Tough There are several proactive steps you can take to protect yourself against baseless Spam allegations. Admittedly, there is nothing you can do to stop someone bound and determined to damage your reputation and business if they have a mind to do so. You can, however, certainly minimize the risk of this happening to you. But you do have to be proactive. I recommend that you add a legal notice to your subscription Thank You page and also to every ezine newsletter issue that you send out. Something along the lines of the following. "The subscriber agrees, by accepting this email newsletter subscription, to indemnify the publisher against false accusations of spam to include, but not limited to, payment of all damages, loss of web hosting fees and services, all damages for loss of business and goodwill, and any and all fees or fines that may be imposed against the publisher by any federal, state, local authority or civilian business entity as a result of the false spam accusation." Add the paragraph above, or something similar, just above your ezine unsubscribe link. The reason I think this is a powerful solution is because it establishes a contract between the publisher and the subscriber. And contract law is pretty much the same in all jurisdictions when it comes to breach of contract. Please note that what I have provided you is for guidance and informational purposes only and should not be construed as practicing law. Do check with your local attorney to make sure that this statement will suffice in your jurisdiction. But I think you get the idea. Is this concept new? Hardly, jl Scott of the iCOP organization thought of this over two years ago. Will it scare some of your subscribers off? You bet it will. But guess what. The people it scares off are exactly the people you DON'T want on your list anyway. They most likely have the itchy moronic fingers or the "I've had a bad day let's accuse someone of Spam and get them shut down" folks that you don't want to have anything do to with anyway. Listen, perhaps it's just me, but I wouldn't be fazed in the least if I saw such a caveat on an ezine I really wanted to sign up for. Would you? I only want people on my list who are responsible and willing to accept the consequences of their actions. People who, if they mistakenly accuse me of Spam and got my business erroneously shut down, would face up to their responsibility and pay for the damage they caused. I don't want a Spam Nazi on my list who is too lazy to hit the delete key. No thanks! Rough? Yes, but that's the reality of doing business on the Internet today. Other Options Available Paul Hancox of UpYourMarketing.com has just released a brilliant report that outlines several other steps any prudent publisher online should take to protect themselves and their online business. It's called "The ePublishers Survival Kit - How to Minimize Spam Complaints and Defend Yourself Against False Spam Accusations." You can download a free copy of the report by clicking this link http://www.writersnest.com/spampro.zip The report is in pdf format so MAC and WIN users alike can access the information. Combine these recommendations with those in Paul's report and you'll pretty much be covered. Final thoughts. I don't have to remind you of how hard you worked to build your online business. Protect yourself and minimize the risk of having it suddenly shut down byfollowing the recommendations here and in Paul's free report. While you can't stop malicious Spam complaints 100%, taking proactive steps now can go a long way to making sure your business remains safe and viable. Believe me, that'll make you sleep much better at night! Click here to get Paul's free report now http://www.writersnest.com/spampro.zip =============================================== Malacka - Copyright 2003 http://www.writersnest.com Stuff that Really Works to Make You Money Online! http://www.hot-matches.com http://www.dog-training-at-home.com Feel free to distribute this article so long as it remains unedited and the resource box is included.