Personal Development;Life Enhancement;Achievement
seminars
Avoid These Mistakes When Starting Your Book
Aug 25th
“A peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one.” ~Rita Mae Brown
In 2005 I decided that I was going to write a book. As I mentioned in my last entry, this wasn’t a consciously made choice. My unconscious mind decided that it was time to take action and let me know this at the end of a seminar.
I am not sure why I made that decision at that particular time. I had known that I would benefit from a book for years; as a seasoned and in-demand seminar leader, I almost always had the opportunity to sell products at the end of my presentations. Instead I used this time for chatting with attendees and over time, many of these chats ended up becoming coaching or consulting clients. (Although I can successfully coach virtually anyone that speaks a common language with me, I only consult on a handful topics.)
So, these seminars, along with other marketing techniques, kept me with a consistently full coaching practice, commonly with a waiting list, and I was complacent. Not lazy, just complacent.
Use me as a BAD example
Once I had made the decision to become a published non-fiction author, I thought about it virtually every day. And there is the beginning of the first mistake. I thought about it everyday. I invested energy into it every day. I felt bad that I wasn’t writing more – almost every day. What I didn’t do was take action on it every day – that would have taken a different and much wiser decision!
Three Mistakes I Made
Looking back 6 years, I am embarrassed. I should have known better! As an NLP practitioner, I had helped hundreds of people get unstuck and begin taking consistent action from a place of pleasure. From my slightly more enlightened future, I can look back now and see three big mistakes that I made.
- My first mistake was not deciding – not committing to – taking action every single day.
- My second mistake: I was using a pitiful motivation strategy to get myself to take what little action I did take! (I’ve talked about good and bad motivation strategies before and I will again – really useful stuff!)
- Finally I was not accountable to anyone for getting this book done. The only person I was reporting to about it was me and that was just not good enough.
Next time I’ll talk about what I would do differently and what I am doing differently now to write books.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“Choices are the hinges of destiny.” ~Attributed to both Edwin Markham and Pythagoras
I want to be an Author?
Aug 24th
“To be a writer is to sit down at one’s desk in the chill portion of every day, and to write; not waiting for the little jet of the blue flame of genius to start from the breastbone – just plain going at it, in pain and delight. To be a writer is to throw away a great deal, not to be satisfied, to type again, and then again, and once more, and over and over….” ~John Hersey
I want to be an author? Really?
I remember clearly the day that I decided that I was going to write a book. I had just finished presenting one of my business seminars at the Boulder Colorado Chamber of Commerce and I was standing in the front of the room meeting some of attendees. The seminar had gone well; perhaps 80 people had shown up for the ninety minutes of my presentation.
This was in the early fall of 2005 and I had at this point been writing and presenting business seminars for nearly 10 years. The seminars were fun for me and they made me some money – sometimes a little…sometimes a nice amount. I mostly gave these smaller seminars at various Chambers of Commerce around the country as a part of my marketing for my coaching practice and they worked well then and work still marvelously. I never tried to sell anyone on coaching. I just gave my best, did my absolute best for my audience, and if it was the right time in their lives – we ended up working together.
I had been asked many times if I had a book or audio program and I always responded with something similar to: “I’m a great coach and a speaker, but not an author.” That was my standard response but on this day I startled myself by responding: “I don’t have a book yet or an audio program, but I’m going to.” Wow! Really? What was different about that day? I don’t know, but I know now that it was the true response.
Fast Forward Five Years
It has been nearly five years since that time and although my book is not yet done, I can now see the actual end of the marvelous, frustrating, incredible, time consuming, best ever, worst ever process. My book will be out in 2011 – almost exactly 6 years since that seminar. What took me so long? What did I learn along the way? What can you learn from my experience? Excellent questions and I will answer them soon.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“It is by sitting down to write every morning that one becomes a writer.” ~Gerald Brenan
Making Money Online Part Five
Jul 2nd
“Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.” ~Moshe Dayan
This is the Fifth Part in a series of articles I have written about making money online. Read the others here:
- Making Money Online Part One
- Making Money Online Part Two
- Making Money Online Part Three
- Making Money Online Part Four
I can clearly remember the first time that I first associated the internet, and making money online, with freedom and with my future. I had been back to work just a couple of years, after my 10 year early retirement, and I was starting to explore the internet. All of my old ways of growing my business and getting clients still worked perfectly and my business was doing well. The internet had not been any part of my previous business model and I was curious about what it might do for me. So, being me and loving to give seminars, I started to attend seminars about the internet and at one of them I had a huge revelation!
Online Business Empowers Freedom
I was sitting in the very back of the classroom, my normal location so I could leave easily if the seminar was lousy, and the speaker started to talk about how he was selling a few short e-books that he had written online. At this point, I didn’t even know what an e-book was and I sure didn’t know how to sell it! Then he said that he made an average of $100 additional US dollars each and every day, 365 days per year, from the sales of these e-books. Now $100 additional dollars per day wouldn’t support me – but it wouldn’t be a bad start either! So, I raised my hand and asked what his topics were and how long these e-books were – expecting an earth-shaking length and topics of great importance. Wow, was I in for an eye-opener!
Two Billion English Speaker Internet Users Equals Massive Online Opportunity
He said his e-books were about 85 pages in length, dealt with the care and maintenance of certain types of pets, sold for $29 dollars US apiece and were unconditionally satisfaction guaranteed. His next statements completely changed my world view. He said that:
- at the time of this seminar that he was giving, there were approximately 2 billion English speaking internet users
- and that the number of English speaking internet users was growing rapidly
- and that in a market that large, there was already a huge number of people that would like to pay you for something you already know about
- and your products just have to be good, not necessarily great, offer a great guarantee and be visible…
- that all you need to figure out is how to reach them and give them the opportunity to pay you for something you already know!
A Huge Number of People are Waiting to Pay You for Giving Them Something You Already Know
Wow! Double Wow! Since that seminar, my life has never been the same. I have learned so much in such a short time: organic search engine rankings, SEO, e-books, auto-responders, merchant banks, blogging and so much more. Follow along with me this year and you can watch the internet change my life and change yours as well if you wish!
A Simple Step by Step Plan for Making Money Online
Since we are talking about making money online, tomorrow will be the last day that you can sign up for Yaro’s and Gideon’s Become a Blogger course. I highly recommend it. Step by Step, week by week, you will be guided and encouraged to build an online presence and then to monetize it – to make money from it. I did lots of study on my own – I still do, but their course is the best that I have seen. If you are just getting going making the internet pay off for you, or you are just beginning, then consider taking their course.
Till next time…Jack
“Action is eloquence.” ~William Shakespeare
Could “A Simple Twist” Enhance Your Company’s Results?
Jun 30th
“Things do not change; we change.” ~Henry David Thoreau
Questions. I love a good question. Good questions take my brain in new directions and put me into different and useful perspectives. Let me ask you a few questions today:
- How is your company doing this year? Is it doing all that you want or need?
- When was the last time that you evaluated how you and your company perform critical tasks?
- When was the last time that you brought in an outside (not already part of your company culture) trainer or consultant?
- Did you know that there is a very strong correlation between you and your company’s commitment to ongoing training (especially outside training) and the ultimate success of your company?
I asked you these questions today to “prime you” for a testimonial. I had the pleasure of sharing the stage earlier this year with an outstanding trainer and consultant: Tim Murray of “A Simple Twist”. Tim immediately grabbed the attention of the audience, entertained the heck out of them, gave them some memorable new ideas and left them energized. He can breathe new life into material that you already need your employees to learn and he comes already equipped with a great breadth of timely and critical trainings that it would serve you and your employees very well indeed to see. If your budget permits, do yourself and your future a favor, and have a conversation with Tim about what he can do for you. More >
A Deadline and a Public Commitment
Jun 2nd
“I may not be there yet, but I’m closer than I was yesterday.” ~Author Unknown
I have been trying to write a book, actually a number of books, for nearly 3 years now. Some are nearly done, others are ready to present to publishers – title, 3 chapters or so, concept and market research; still none of them are done! Time to change that.
The reasons for completing the first book are compelling. The excuses for why the first book is not yet published are seeming trivial now. So here is my commitment: By 5pm, Central Time Zone, Wednesday September 17th, my first book will be for sale – in at least 2 versions – in at least a physical paper version and a downloadable version. That is my commitment to myself, my readers, my family and friends and my clients.
What will the book be about? I haven’t decided which one to bring out first. I will make that decision soon and you can read about it here.
Till next time…Jack
“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.” ~G.B. Shaw, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, 1893
My Phone Number has Changed
Jun 1st
Hi everyone. Just a quick update. I closed out my last Colorado phone number last week and activated a new phone account in this region. My phone number, for at least awhile, is: (515) 360-4711
All the best and bye for now…Jack
Seminar at University of Colorado
May 1st
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. ~Albert Schweitzer
I was invited to speak recently at the University of Colorado on career issues – really the speech was about career mastery. It was a fun opportunity for me to speak here as I had graduated from CU Boulder and it felt somehow appropriate that my final speech in Colorado before I left the state for good be a speech at CU.
I generally check out the venues where I will be speaking ahead of of time, when possible, and I had that opportunity this time. I was speaking in one of the large classrooms in the Duane Physics building and I took these photos there before the seminar began. It was a really poignant moment for me. I took some time and wandered the campus and remembered lots of great things about my time there. It felt somehow like another graduation and commencement to me. Thanks for the memories CU!
Till next time…Jack
Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can. ~Richard Bach
Only 17 days Left…Are You Ready?
Dec 14th
“Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.” ~Thomas Edison
17 days left. You have 17 days left in this year to fulfill your commitments to yourself for 2007. You have 17 days left to plan and prepare for 2008. How are you doing? How well did you do in 2007? What are you going to do in 2008? Have you put together a workable and exciting plan for making 2008 the best year in your life so far? There are 17 days left.
I just gave my last seminar for 2007. It was a smaller group, by design there were only 40 or so attendees, and the seminar focused on annual planning. It was a 3 hours seminar and we went over all of the basic steps in planning…planning that gives you a great chance to really make your dreams part of your everyday reality. I really enjoy giving this seminar and I think it is one of my most impactful.
I’m going to write a bit about planning over the next few days. This makes sense for me since next week will be my personal annual planning week and planning will be much on my mind. I take 40 hours every week and devote it to planning and this is perhaps the most valuable and pleasurable time I invest each and every year. If you are serious about making 2008 your best year ever, consider reading my blog entries and then planning as I suggest.
Till next time,
Jack
Using Affirmations to Create Your Ideal Life (Part 1 of 4)
Dec 4th
“To succeed, we must first believe that we can.” ~Michael Korda
Affirmations have been around for a very long time. I have used affirmations myself quite successfully and commonly recommend that my clients use them as well, once they know how! Reading affirmations is not enough to elicit change. Reading affirmations written by someone else to address their issues is not enough to elicit change. You must be using affirmations, both state and becoming affirmations, that specifically address limiting beliefs that you hold.
A great way to start, to identify areas of your internal beliefs that would benefit from analysis is to read affirmations and as you read be aware of your reactions. Do you already believe this? Do you believe something else that serves you better? Does this affirmation feel false or untrue? Do you wish that you believed this? You can have an entire world of responses to affirmations, and your responses are your first guides.
So, simply read this list of affirmations aloud and see what happens. More >
Fear Must be a Counselor not a Jailer
Nov 28th
“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.” ~William Shakespeare
I am giving a seminar in Boulder Colorado next week called “Fearless Self Promotion”. I could have easily called this seminar “Getting Past the Fear of Rejection”. The fear of rejection and the failure to promote yourself and your business are tightly wound together. I can tell you from my own experiences in getting past the fear of rejection and the experiences that I have had in helping hundreds of clients to get past this same fear: Nothing will cause you more stress and make it harder to successfully grow your business and make it more likely that you will ultimately fail than the fear of rejection.
This fear is so common and often operates at a completely unconscious level. It manifests as procrastination, and stress, and confusion, and illness and so many other reactions and behaviors that it is commonly missed and the person trying to grow their business from a core state of “Fear of Rejection” has no clue what is going on. At the same time, I have worked with clients so disgusted with themselves, and their fears, that they are literally hating the entire aspect of their personality that is controlling this fear. Here is a strong belief of mine based on experience: If you hate part of yourself, you cannot possibly win.
The process of getting past the fear of rejection is a process that I mastered. I mastered it initially to help myself; More >