A small agricultural community was suffering from a severe drought. If the rains didn’t come soon the crops would be ruined and the farmers and their families would most likely starve. The people turned to their preacher for a solution.

The preacher told them all to “come to church on Sunday”, when they would all join together and pray for rain.

Sunday came and the whole community turned out for the church service. There was hushed quiet as the preacher climbed up to the pulpit to speak.

He looked around the expectant faces of the congregation and studied them pensively. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak: “I suggest that you all go home” he said “there will be no rain today.”

The congregation were aghast. “But you promised us rain” they cried.

The preacher turned to address them again and said: “I see that not one of you has brought an umbrella or a raincoat with you today. How can you hope to pray for rain, if in your hearts you have no faith that it will come?”

Think about that message for a moment. How can you hope to achieve anything, if in your heart you have no faith that you’ll actually achieve it?

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following definitions for the word ‘faith’:

– trust, things believed, loyalty, fidelity, confidence.

Well these cover all the angles!

To succeed with anything you first need to trust in your own ability to succeed and be loyal to that trust. By that I mean don’t go changing your mind every five minutes. You know the drill ” Yes I know I can achieve that!” one minute and then “Well now I’m not so sure!” the next.

Stepping on from this you also need the confidence and self belief to see the thing through to its completion.

Let me paint another image of faith for you, again involving the rain.

You’ve probably heard stories of the legendary ‘rain dance’ carried out by the American Indians. Apparently they could dance to make it rain.

“But!” I hear you cry, “They just danced until it began to rain. There’s nothing mystical about that!”

No my friend you’re right. But they had the faith to continue dancing, knowing that if they danced long enough the rain would come.

Take a look in the mirror. Do you have enough faith to continue ‘dancing’ until you achieve the dreams you desire?

Do you have enough faith to ‘carry your umbrella’ even though your associates may have fallen by the wayside. Certain in the knowledge that good fortune will rain down upon you?

If you don’t have faith in yourself and your ability to succeed, then you’re sunk even before you launch your boat. Faith is a very powerful emotion that can conjure up all sorts of amazing phenomena. Remember, that faith requires trust, self-belief, loyalty to yourself and above all confidence in your own abilities. If you’re ‘packing’ all those weapons then you’re really a force to be reckoned with.

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: confidence, faith, loyalty, self-belief, trust

There are so many opportunities lying around. They arrive with my post, they arrive with my email and they accost me whenever I’m surfing online. If you’re the same, once you’ve discounted the scams how are you ever going to decide which opportunity may be worth a try?

My wife tells me: “If it sounds too good to be true in probably is!” Sometimes I listen, sometimes I don’t. Is it just me, or is selective hearing a skill that every married man develops over time? As much as I love her, Janet is no judge of a good business opportunity. So who is?

If you have this dilemma here’s a self-test. Use it to determine whether you really should label yourself as an entrepreneur, and whether you should give that bizopp a try.

Time:

A – how much time do you have available to devote to a business opportunity?

B – how much time will your opportunity honestly require?

If A minus B is greater than zero then move on. If A is less than zero and you’re not prepared to change the equation, you’re not cut out for this, so go back to sleep and carry on dreaming.

Money:

A – how much money are you prepared to invest in yourself?

B – how much investment will your opportunity require?

Hey, it’s the same equation! If A minus B is greater than zero then move on. However, if either A or B falls in the bracket of ‘not much at all’ then sound the ‘cheapskate’ alert.

Unless you’re extremely talented or endowed with the most amazing luck, you’re unlikely to build a successful business on the cheap no matter what the opportunity’s sales copy will have you believe. So go buy your lottery ticket and carry on dreaming.

Motivation and attitude:

What are you going to do about that opportunity once you’ve signed up? Are you the little terrier who sinks his teeth in and never let go, or simply a quitter?

Do you have the strength of character to do what the opportunity requires, and stick with it when the going gets tough? Or do you hop off to catch another ’success train’ as soon as that next great opportunity comes along hooting and blowing and strutting its stuff, trying its best to look wonderful and original?

If you’re not ready to take action and maintain that action with a positive mental attitude then forget it and carry on dreaming. Hey, Mr Entrepreneur, do you dream in colour?

Likes and dislikes:

Does the business opportunity represent something that you’re going to enjoy doing? I mean, does it really ‘float your boat’?

That’s the optimum solution for success – find something you love doing and do it for the rest of your life. Shangri-La!

However wonderful the business opportunity and however large the sum they say you’ll make, if you don’t enjoy the work then eventually you’ll stop doing it. My sincerest apologies for mentioning the ‘W’ word. “You mean I’ll actually have to do some work?” snorts Mr Entrepreneur in his restless sleep.

Dreams and desires:

OK, so I’ve been poking fun at dreamers. As the saying goes: “Some people dream of worthy accomplishments, while a few stay awake and achieve them.” But the truth is, you must have a dream to begin with; a spark to light your fire. I’m talking about vertical dreams here, not horizontal ones brought about by the use of a mattress and a pillow.

Can you really see yourself succeeding in your chosen business opportunity? Truly, madly, deeply? Can you visualise your own success with your chosen business, and will you, often?

If you got this far then you passed the test. Best of luck with your new business and I’ll see you at the top. But before you go there’s one last thing you need to know; the two ‘real secrets of success’. And here they are:

Secret #1- Never tell anyone all your secrets!

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: biz opp, business opportunity, entrepreneur, opportunities

I’ve always beeb a strong supporter of the notion that the secret to success and happiness is to…

“Find something you love to do and do it for the rest of your life!”

Never have I heard this philosophy proposed so well than in the following video that I just came across.

BUT FIRST A WARNING!!!

This video contains excessive use of bad language and is not suitable for children. Please don’t watch if you’re easily offended!

If you don’t mind a lot of swearing then enjoy – the sentiment is excellent.

That’s all I got today.

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: determination, passion, patience

A gangster enters a darkened room with his lieutenant. In the corner, tied up and cowering on a small wooden chair sits his foreign accountant.

“Where’s the million dollars you embezzled from me?” barks the gangster.

His lieutenant steps forward, “Boss, the guy’s from overseas and doesn’t speak any English. I’ll have to translate for you.”

The gangster pulls out a hand gun and shoves its muzzle into the accountant’s temple. “Ask him where my money is” he commands.

The lieutenant speaks to the accountant in a foreign tongue, and in the same language the accountant yells: “Okay! Okay! I’ll tell you! The money’s hidden behind a false panel in my office wall, right behind my desk!”

“Well” says the gangster “What did he say?”

“He says you’re bluffing Boss and you don’t have the guts to pull the trigger” smiles the lieutenant.

There’s no doubt about it, not being able to make yourself understood can get you in an awful mess!

In my experience the root of most problems, be they in the workplace or in the home, rest with communication difficulties.

How many issues could be resolved quickly and easily if people just learnt how to communicate effectively with each other?

Poor communication is responsible for the breakdown in many relationships, both business and personal.

In the words of a past British Telecom advertising campaign encouraging people to use their telephones more often – “It’s good to talk!”

But even more importantly this should be developed to – “It’s good to be understood!”

If the other person doesn’t understand the message you’re trying to put across, it can lead to some pretty extreme results, as suggested in my opening.

Things can get a little easier when communicating face-to-face with someone. They have the opportunity to question and ask you to repeat things they don’t understand. However, where predominantly one-way communication takes place, as in the Internet business environment, things become somewhat harder.

So what strategies can you employ to overcome this hurdle?

Firstly, you can provide as many opportunities as practicable to facilitate the transformation of customer communication from a one-way to a two-way process. You could achieve this by prominently displaying you’re contact details and positively encouraging people to communicate their questions and concerns with you by telephone, fax or e-mail.

You could also expand upon this by using online services such as ICQ and Yahoo Messenger, which facilitate real time conversation.

Secondly, you could critically assess, review and edit the message that your website is communicating to your potential customers. This is not just a case of changing the text of your sales copy. The design and layout of your site can often transmit a strong message that may not always be positive in the eyes of others. However, the text alone is a good place to start.

Perhaps the easiest way of assessing the effectiveness of your sales copy is by trying it out on other people. Print it out and have your friends, family or colleagues read through it.

Do they have a question after reading it?

Are any passages confusing?

Using this approach will discover potential for communications breakdown that can be resolved quite simply. If you can anticipate what people want to know and provide the answers before they ask the questions, you’re well on the way to establishing effective communication with your customers.

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: being understood, communicating, communication

Whether you like it or not the truth is that everyone needs a coach if they truly want to succeed in something.

Why should that be a difficult concept for most Internet marketers to understand when it’s a given in other fields like sports? I accepted this concept years ago and actually trained as a Life Coach. I ran a coaching practice for a while, coaching people over the telephone.

So in some respects it’s remarkable that it’s taken so long for me to sort out getting a coach myself.

Perhaps I just needed to be in the right place if you know what I mean? And for the right person to be available at the right time.

Well, all the pieces fell in to place recently and just by chance, or was it destiny, I came across Alex Jeffrey’s coaching program. So I’m now signed up and will be reporting my progress and experiences right here along the way.

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: Alex Jeffreys, business coach, coaching program, internet marketing coach, life coach

Hi there.

Just a very short post today directing you to a short inspirational video I just found.

Check it out yourself.

http://www.walkthetalk.com/212/212_mov.htm

Give it some thought.

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: inspiration, motivation, Success