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photo credit: TomRaven

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A New Business & A New Day

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Yesterday I talked about the financial challenges facing most middle income Americans and why so many people are finding themselves in financial straights. The simple answer was that probably you along with millions of other people have zero leverage of their time or money.

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Today I’m going to offer you some insight to a possible solution. However this particular solution will also come with a few warnings. I want you to know that one of my insights is that chasing after money in attempt to fix all of your problems isn’t the answer. Matter o’ fact it can be a trap.

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Emotionally and physically it’s a trap. No different than if you’re in the rat race of working a 9-5 and still not having enough month at the end of the money. You’re doing the same crazy thing and not getting the lifestyle you desire.

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Definition Of Lifestyle

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I could jump right into the stuff that you need and can do to start creating leverage and wealth in your life however your mind has to be right before you do so as to improve your chances of sticking around long enough to capitalize on the work.  You see I’ve been on both sides of the fence of life style.

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You see I had a lot of life when I was younger. I traveled and saw a lot of the world, had good times and actually had my 21st birthday in Poland performing in a band in front of 10,000 people. It was great and I’ll never regret those experiences.

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However at that point and time in my life I had life, but zero style. I was broke.

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Remember that broke is temporary though and P.O.O.R. is a state of mind. I’ve never been poor, just broke.  Poor stands for Passing Over Opportunity Repeatedly. I’m not one to skip opportunity when it presents itself.

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But I’ve also been on the other side where I went into sales by 22 and was making a pretty serious income by the time I was 27. I had the style part down but no life.  Which means I was working way too many hours for the style to enjoy any of the money I was making.

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So you see, I had life at one point in my life and then I had style at another point in my life. But I never really had lifestyle. I believe you want lifestyle too and that doesn’t mean you have to be making a million dollars a year or even a 6 figure a year income in order to have a dream lifestyle.

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However large sums of cash will come if you create and manage your leverage properly.

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Prepare To Win

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College football legend Joe Paterno said once:

“The will to win is important but the will to prepare to win is vital.”

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If you will take a moment to prepare your mind and prepare a game plan of over coming your financial squeeze there is nothing that can keep you broke but will lend it’s self to you creating serious wealth.

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If you want to earn a million dollars you must first become a millionaire inside. That’s the new way of wealth thinking.

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So first let’s take a look at a few ways that you can create leverage in your life.

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1. Leverage your lack of knowledge -Read about, listen to via audio and get around people who understand success. The laws many times over are universal. This blog wasn’t really supposed to be about money but about wealth. That starts on the inside and changing your thought process about it.

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So of course this blog is a great place to read about success because I focus on the fact that wealth starts on the inside. However you want to buy books about success, spiritually & financially speaking. I recommend Think & Grow Rich, How to Win Friends & Influence People and Real Magic as must have reading.

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I’m constantly listening to CD’s in my car or my ipod at home while doing things. And of course you’ve read here before the importance of a mastermind group. These are all ways to leverage your lack of knowledge.

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2. Leverage your time- You leverage your time by tapping into a system. A system is something that someone else has already taken the time and money to put together. Examples would be like a franchise such as Subway or McDonalds. The challenge with those are they cost over $100,000 or well over a million dollars up front to start.

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The good news is that you can have access to you what I consider mini franchises in the network marketing industry for at times as little as $100 investment. The rest of your investment can be and mostly will be your time and effort. This is how I cut my teeth 8 years ago.I invested a few hundred dollars and some sweat equity.

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I started spare time part time with a company and put in roughly 8 hours a week marketing my companies services as well as finding other people to market the services. I treated it like a part time job where I showed up when I said I would, but had the benefit of working out of my home.

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The key is to create full time profits only putting forth a part time effort. I did this and was starting to make over $1000 a week. I was leveraging my time with the efforts of others. I was starting to make income even when I wasn’t working. Those results started to get my attention about this whole lifestyle definition.

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Eventually I went what’s called full time in this industry. For me that’s investing 20 hours a week in my business. Sometimes more sometimes less. The rest of the time I do what I like, such as blogging, playing music and spend time with friends who are of the same mind set and lifestyle.

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You see the point isn’t to walk away from your job cold turkey. Not many if any, people can really afford to do that right now. You don’t quit your job until your part time business is making as much if not more than your job. However you’re still only putting in a part time effort.

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See what you can do is take 10 hours a week, give up TV programs or a hobby in that period of time and invest your time to create leverage by finding other people who are looking for the same thing. You get to leverage their time and money to build a business with!! They spend their few hours a week and their few hundred dollars or whatever the cost is to get started and you reap the benefits generally in the form of a cash over ride.

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The company you work for as an independent agent for delivers the service & pays your team. You don’t deal with payroll or any of that fun business stuff. You’re job is to market the service and find other people who want to market the service. It’s a business owners dream.

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This is much like a Real Estate broker would do with a real estate agent. Agent sells a house, broker makes an small over ride but he has lots of real estate agents and a much bigger income.

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That’s how you create wealth using other peoples time and money in the network marketing industry for very little financial investment. Usually the winers and complainers that exit the industry are people who don’t follow systems, aren’t coachable and want huge gains now instead of later and leave when it doesn’t happen over night.

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One More Excuse

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Billionaire A.L. Williams said it best:

“If you’re the only one responsible for your income you are double dumb. What’s the fastest more secure way to the largest number? Is it through addition or multiplication? Obviously it’s multiplication…so why are you  the only one adding to your income??”

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Now I know what you’re probably thinking, “Tony do you mean I have to sell something? I’m not good at sales at all. I couldn’t sell water to people in the desert.”

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Listen I’ve heard it all when it comes to this excuse and here is what I’ll ask you to do. I’d like you to write down all the reasons why you don’t think you could be a good “sales person.” Go ahead and grab a pen and paper and do it right now….seriously. Do it.

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Ok back? Now, 1. I want you to realize there is zero profit in a list of reasons why you can’t do something. 2. I want you to also realize you’re selling me and yourself on why you can’t be any good at sales. Read what you wrote down and think about it.

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You see sales is nothing more than a transference of belief. That’s why whatever network marketing company you position yourself with you have to believe in the product or service you’re marketing. If you don’t then you will come across as trying to push something just to make money. Then you’re fear comes true. (That’s right, people think you’re just a cheap sales person)

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The good news is that with most network marketing businesses like the one I’m affiliated with, there is a system in place that you follow and usually that system involves you being the messenger not the message. Which means you’re just promoting someone to take a look, not trying to convince them against their will to buy something they really don’t need.

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Generally network marketing businesses provide or have access to CD’s, DVD’s or some kind of 3rd party tool that you give away to a prospect that explains the product or service & opportunity that you’re positioned with. Or even 800 numbers with recorded calls or websites doing the same thing. This way you can make immediate exposures which lead to immediate profits with very little knowledge of the products.

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Immediate profits, little knowledge but a lot of desire along with a system in place is a recipe for change in your financial life. At least it’s a start!

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So with those excuses out of the way you just have to find a good home based business to position yourself with in order to invest a part time effort in and give yourself a little time to mature and evolve in order to create the extra income you desire.

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That subject alone could be a serious post just unto itself however It’s challenging for me to be objective because I myself am already with a company. I would just tell you to follow your passion and interests in a particular subject or product 1st and foremost.

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The Answer To Everyday Wealth

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Once you’ve found something like a home based business/network marketing business and you’ve stayed to a strict budget, relieved yourself of any debt, and saved 6 months to a year of monthly expenses you’re now ready to again leverage your lack of knowledge about #3 which is leveraging your money.

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This could lead you to real estate investing, other traditional business ventures or stocks.

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I have to stop here because this post is already way too long but I wanted help you get some clarity of some of the opportunity that is out there that gives you and me the chance to get ahead and create financial wealth but doesn’t harm your financial status in the mean time. It actually improves it.

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With a small investment generally of a few hundred dollars or less, a strict use of your time and the ability to be around other like minded people the network marketing industry is a great way to leverage your time and money to create wealth. It’s a very real business model but just like any business does have it’s learning curve.

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I’m going to end this on part two. You could have lots to work on at this point. If this was any help to you let me know. If you’d like me to cover anything else in a bit more detail let me know as well. This blog is much more valuable everyone with your input.

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As always a new way of wealth comes from with in. Have an incredible day you awesome person you.

Tags:self improvement,personal development,motivational,nlp,beliefs,life philosophy,business philosophy,money,network marketing,home business,home business habits,sales,marketing,entrepreneurial, network marketing, nlp, home business, marketing, money

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photo credit: iChaz.

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The Bad Economy

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If you’re like me you’re hearing everyone freak out about money and the economy right? People are running scared for their old way of life. Well I’m going to share with you some thoughts on why, what and how you can learn and profit from what’s going on right now.

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This will probably be a 2 or 3 part series. It’s that important that it’s clear.

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After this post you should have some clarity on why you’re struggling and where you can start so that you’re no longer a financial victim. I’m always working on your mind and your thoughts which is where it starts, but I’ve had a few people email me with the how do they get past their financial struggle.

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Why Lots Of People Are Hosed

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You see lots of people are realizing that the old school linear income isn’t the way to keep up with their cost of living. Oh, What’s linear mean? That means when that person stops working they stop getting paid. Yup, that blows I know but that’s what a 9 to 5 is. You’re trading your time for money.

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Welcome to why people are freaked out. When that one income stream goes away, (i.e. downsized, laid off or let go) that person freaks out. Ever heard of a person say, “I need a stable income, being an entrepreneur isn’t for me because I need to know how much is coming in every week.”

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Well hundreds of thousands of people are realizing every day that a job isn’t very stable income. To me knowing exactly how much is coming in every week and that’s all that will come in kinda freaks ME out.

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Am I saying no one should have a job? Absolutely not. You and I still need people to wash our cars, serve us our food at restaurants, teach our kids in school and stock our needs at the grocery store.

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What I am saying though is that isn’t a reason you shouldn’t be preparing and doing what wealthy people did to start out creating wealth.

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Is the answer a part time job or more hours at your current one? Hardly. More hours of work equals lesser quality of life. Not to mention…

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By the time you pay for gas, travel time back and forth, pay for child care if you have any kids, and pay taxes on the money you earn….was it really worth it? How far ahead did you really get? Chances are you got more exhausted and even more frustrated.

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Part time job=band aid on a shot gun wound. It’s just simply a waste of time if you’re objective is to get ahead and create wealth.

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The Beginning Of Execuses

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Now at this point you may be thinking, “Tony I know what you’re saying is true, but I don’t have a college education or formal technical training for a better job that pays more money nor do I have the time or money to go back to school so I can get a better paying job.”

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Listen, neither do I. I graduated high school with a C+ average. I’m no brain myself. But what I did learn was that I can say “I am smart or I is a millionaire.” I’m quite ok with the 2nd one, bad grammar and all.

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Don’t get me wrong, again as a society we do require college, education and people to be affluent in skills that better the quality of our everyday lives. I’m just saying it doesn’t have to be you that does it. Entrepreneurs, people who value freedom and creativity do just the same thing just in a different way.

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Last year there were over 220 Billionaires in the united states and 22 of them only had a high school education. Two of them never even graduated high school. I know those numbers in the big picture are microscopic but they are real.

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There is one word that business owners, billionaires and millionaires all have in common.

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“Leverage” Is The Way to Wealth

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I don’t care how you get it but if you get one thing out of this post it’s that leverage is your way out of financial struggle. You’re probably thinking, “umm, sure Tony but what is it and how do I find some? Isn’t that going to be expensive?”

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Remember what I’ve said before, it’s not about if you think you have the actual resources, it’s about your resourcefulness. Since you already know you want to create wealth and get ahead of your financial situation, you already have the hard part out of the way.

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So what is leverage? It means that you’re using other peoples time, money & resources to reach a desired goal. In this case it’s an income.

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You’re probably wondering how and why you would want to use other peoples time money and resources and why they would even let you right? We’ll get to that in a bit.

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Remember a reason why to create leverage and more wealth is more powerful than how. Look at your kids right now and know that you want to do it so they have a better quality of life. No kids? Look at your spouse, realize you want to do it so you two can enjoy the quality of life you’ve always pictured.

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At this point you know that the way to get ahead is not to get a 2nd or 3rd job, you’re expenses are rising much faster than your income is and you know you are better off with this thing called leverage, but I’ve not told you where or how to get it.

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Tomorrow I’m going to share with you some specific examples of leverage that you can choose from to start creating wealth immediately. You won’t need any special knowledge or education.

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I know because I’ve found leverage and am using it every day and remember I only have a high school education. And I have tons of friends who have done it as well. We’re talking starting out not only with nothing but some of them were $20,000 in debt and now are earning serious 6 and 7 figure incomes.

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Many of them are in different industries too and certainly they are no different than you. They just had a desire and dream of a better quality of life

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Till tomorrow for Part 2. Let me know your thoughts in the mean time.

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Tags:self improvement,personal development,motivational,nlp,beliefs,life philosophy,business philosophy,money,network marketing,home business,home business habits,sales,marketing,entrepreneurial, personal development, network marketing, nlp, money, marketing

photo credit: epengfei

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Your Life Is a Mirror Of Your Internal Experience

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If you’re like me, I’m a sucker for gorgeous landscapes like the one above. I love the beauty of it and can see myself there and feeling the freedom of it’s experience. When I saw this picture though I completely saw the meaning in it.

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Our lives much like the picture are a reflection of what we are experiencing on the inside. The lake can’t reflect anything else other than what is there.

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You’re life is no different.

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Anyone Can Value This Lesson

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Now before you stop reading and think to yourself, “I’m not screwed up and your post is only for people who are,” think about something for a moment. Some of the most successful people I know are always reflecting and improving on them selves.

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My good friend Saiful says it best with his tag line CANI. Constant and Neverending Improvement. So even though you’re doing great in all area’s of your life it’s not a destination you’re looking for it’s the quality of your journey.

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You’re either growing or dieing. There’s no in between.

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If there is chaos inside that you’re not tending to, it manifests itself on the outside in your life. Sometimes in your finances, relationships, friendships, career or all of them. The victim in you doesn’t want to always take responsibility however if you don’t, your life is a never ending roller coaster of negative events.

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How Do I Break The Cycle

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That’s a great question to start with. Accept god into your life, spirit, light, love and good. You must love yourself. When you have unwavering love for god and yourself, the fear goes away. You start to realize that there is nothing that is delivered in your path that is by accident.

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If there is love for you inside then there can not be anything but love for what is on the outside. “You can’t get prune juice from an orange,” as Wayne Dyer says in the book Real Magic. (One of my very favorite books)

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Can you make a bunch of money and it make you happy? You may, or you may think so but it’s always short lived. Your quality of life sucks with out a solid spiritual base. Trust me I know. I overdosed on drugs twice in my early 20’s because I was making loads of cash but didn’t have god in my life as a solid spiritual foundation. When money was my only focus my happiness always depended on the money.

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When I didn’t have any money I always seemed unhappy. Hence the cycle starts all over.

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Have you ever felt like that? Where money always has seemed like your focus? Your wealth is on the inside to begin with. My struggles with money have been deep.

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Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a experiencing a bunch of money and I mean a bunch. I just feel it’s a result of a life well lived.

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To know the problem is one thing. To take action about it is another.

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Steps to Overcome Your Fear

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How do you over come your fear of failure, your fear of judgment, your fear of not being accepted, your fear of being being broke etc. Here are a few insights to overcoming your fear:

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1. ACCEPT IT! Quit fighting your fear and just say, “If that occurred what would be the worst thing that could happen?” Yes this is from the Sedona Method and it’s very powerful.

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Your thoughts are things. There’s certainly something to be said about the power of positive thinking and that it’s very powerful. Once you don’t give your fear anymore power it tends to diminish. You’re now able to fail forward with out worry.

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2. Make it a priority to focus on what you do want rather than what you don’t want. Even though our brains love to focus on what we don’t want because it takes much less effort than thinking about what we do want. There are 4 reasons people settle for less but more importantly 4 ways to overcome them.

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By the way focusing on what you do want is why the book Think and Grow Rich is one of the most touted books by successful people. Because of the principles behind it. Did you know that there are 13 principles that the 500 most successful people in history all shared in common?

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Want to know what they are? Buy the book! Invest in yourself!

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3. Surround yourself with positive influences, people and education. Mastermind groups locally are a great advantage to people who don’t have positive people around them. I’m of the belief that anyone can find a way to be around success minded people.

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Offer to be of service to people who are successful. I could do a whole post on this one alone. When I didn’t have any success I offered my services to someone who was successful and brought as much value to the relationship as possible.

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You see, lots of people won’t do this because they don’t see any money in their pockets after the giving of their time. However it’s not the exchange of money I’m after. It’s the successful persons knowledge, skill idea’s and awareness that I desire. That’s worth more than giving me $10 for me doing some work for them.

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I could go on for a long time on that alone but with the internet these days and having access to blogs, audio programs, video (which I’m about to start up on this blog) and places like Facebook and Myspace with online masterminding you can always have access to people who are more successful than you. (monetarily speaking of course)

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The Most Important Questions You Can Ask

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I have to wrap this post up because man I could go on with this stuff in so much more detail (And I probably will if you let me know you’d like to read it) but I want you to picture something for a second.

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photo credit: autumnal fires

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Picture yourself in the above picture. You find your self looking out over the water one morning asking your self…

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Is it in the realm of possibility that your fear of success could disappear one day? Is it with in the realm of possibility that you could find your self one day soon, looking forward instead of backwards?

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Could you be so focused on the books you’re reading, the relationships you’ve surrounded your self with, and the new projects you’ve started spare time part time to improve your health, wealth and spirit that you are no longer looking back, that you’re only focused on forwards?

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Now is it with in the realm of possibility that just in the fact you’re in such a pursuit that you find yourself more connected, more in love with you and more satisfied than you’ve ever found yourself before?

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Go back to the picture and imagine these possibilities.

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This is what successful people do. Now you now what my good friend Saiful meant and why he’s so excited to live in Constant and Never ending Improvement.

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I wish you love and light.

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Tags:self improvement,personal development,motivational,nlp,beliefs,life philosophy,business philosophy,money,network marketing,home business,home business habits,sales,marketing,entrepreneurial, network marketing, money, life philosophy, marketing, sales