All too often, people fall short of their goals.  Why is that?  Perhaps you’ve wondered this many times before, regarding yourself and your teammates.  While there certainly is no single answer that explains the disappointing outcome every time, there is one commonality that all these people share.  Are you curious what that is?

Without exception, everyone who consistently falls short of their goal lacks a crystal clear vision.  The importance of clarity of your vision cannot possibly be overstated.  It is an absolutely essential foundational piece of the success puzzle — in business and in life, actually.  If you don’t know EXACTLY where you are going, how could you possibly reach the goal?  Or, stated another way, if you don’t EXACTLY know what the goal is (in very clear, specific terms), it is impossible for you to reach this elusive state of existence.

When stated this way, you likely can easily agree – right?  As people often say, if you are  in New York and you want to ‘Go West’, and that is as clear as your goal is — How exactly will you measure your success?  Is success defined as reaching Los Angeles?  Or Seattle?  Or Denver?  Or Chicago?  Or New Jersey?  Each of these cities is west of New York, but obviously each destination is very unique and represents a different journey.  If you don’t have a crystal clear vision of your end goal, you cannot possibly get there.  Chances are, in fact, you won’t even get anywhere near your goal!
Following this journey metaphor a bit deeper, if you began your trip without a map, what are the chances you’ll get to any of your desired destinations?  Certainly, we all know that having a map or a blueprint is something very critical to progress.  Yet, I challenge you further — if you don’t know exactly what your end goal or vision is, how can you create an accurate map?

Just think about and ponder that question …. For, all too many people jump right over this and get ‘busy’, filling their days with activity.  Meaningless, or non-strategic activity will only create chaos, fatigue, and frustration.  Instead, I’d like to see you take that invaluable action of clarifying your vision, setting a firm foundation, then creating a sound strategy to get there.

Once you have taken the steps to thoughtfully reflect on your vision, I encourage you to dig even deeper.  Get as detailed as you can.  While this may seem a bit silly to you at first, believe me, the exercise is invaluable.  You are actually training your subconscious to see and feel these results.  By doing this, there will be a ‘pull’ force that is created, which pulls you toward the desired goals.  This strategy is far, far superior to a ‘push’ force, where you are consistently pushing yourself toward some vague direction, without making much progress.

One last note on the importance and necessity of achieving a crystal clear vision… It is not something that you do just once, set aside, and rarely review.  Far from it!  Rather, this is an ongoing process.  As you grow and experience the bumps and challenges of your business life, you will find the need to continually refer to your vision.  In fact, you will find yourself sharpening the vision as you gain new insights and knowledge.  You will likely realize some intermediate steps that need to be taken, that were completely out of your knowledge or awareness before.  When that happens, fill in the detail.  As you grow your vision, your business and the value you bring to the world will also grow.

So, now get on it — Create that crystal clear vision and continue to sharpen the focus.  Doing this faithfully will deliver amazing results to you — Guaranteed!

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While you may feel that copywriting is something that is relevant only to people dedicated to writing sales letters for clients, I challenge you to reassess this thinking.  Actually, we ALL face the opportunity to use copywriting skills, all day long.  Allow me to explain…

Copywriting skills are actually exercised in so many different scenarios, many of which you likely never even considered.  If you understand that copywriting is actually the skill and art of using words to influence or persuade, then if you look at it from this perspective, copywriting skills permeate so much of what we do.  If you embrace this definition as I have just provided, then everything in sales that has written words is copywriting — regardless of the media.

To provide even further clarification, copywriting skills are used in the following scenarios:

• writing an email for your autoresponder series
• writing a telephone script
• writing a script for your YouTube video
• writing out a script to respond to each of your prospect’s anticipated obstacles to purchasing your product or service
• writing out the copy (ie. words/content) of your website
• writing out your ‘elevator speech’ that you will memorize and easily provide to others
• writing out the content (copy) of a direct-mail piece that you intend to send to targeted prospects
• writing out your professional bio, which often serves as a ‘first impression’ for people to decide to initiate conversation with you or not
• writing out your quick bio for your social media sites — Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc
• writing your tweets
• writing your Facebook posts
• and many, many more scenarios

So, as you can see from this list, copywriting is truly expansive of so much of the activity that we do on a daily basis.  If you hadn’t thought of copywriting from this perspective, I welcome you to shift your mindset.  Once you do this, you will capture the motivation to learn everything you can about copywriting!

Copywriting is actually a fun endeavor.  I have been fascinated by copywriting for years.  I’ve consumed innumerable courses, workshops, and have attended live trainings dedicated solely to this topic.  But, don’t be disheartened by this.  If you are someone who got low grades in English, don’t worry.  Many of the very best copywriters, who command the highest fees, also got low grades in school.  Copywriting is an entirely different art and skill.

How does copywriting differ from the writing skills that you may have learned in high school or college?  In so many ways!  First, copywriting is often extremely conversational.  In fact, many experts encourage you to read it outloud as if you were talking.  If it doesn’t sound good when you speak it, the copy must be changed.  Secondly, often the grammar isn’t 100% perfect.  It is actually intentionally created this way.  Placement of commas, periods, and intentionally choosing conversational phrases sometimes defy the laws of proper english.  However, copywriting is all about telling stories, creating influence and persuasion.  If incorrect grammar gets you to this result, as effective copywriting has been known to do, this is what you should do.  Achieving the result is what the game is all about.
I hope this article has stimulated you to look at copywriting under a new light.  I encourage you to begin to acquire copywriting skills and awareness.  There’s lots more I could share on this topic, but it’ll have to be saved for another day.  For now, simply open your mind and awareness of what copywriting really is.  Enjoy!

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Sure, you can learn excellent leadership skills from a book, a workshop, or a live training. There are plenty of great resources available.  But what really sorts out the real leaders from the wannabes is the ability to consistently execute.  Many times the ability to execute requires facing your fears.  The fears can overwhelm many, causing them to retreat or stagnate with inaction.  But, if you have the courage to face your fears, the courage to trust your intuition and go forward, you indeed will emerge as a leader.

What exactly is behind this courage that a true leader must possess?  Well, to begin it requires faith.  It requires you to have faith in yourself.  Faith in your ability to truly deliver incredible value in others.  Faith in the process.  And, yes, ideally faith in a grand design, a greater purpose.  If you lack this faith, you will undoubtedly have difficulty getting up from the many times you will inevitably fail.  It is a guarantee that the world of business will cause you to stumble and fall.  Whether you continue to get up again, over and over and over, will rely upon the extent of your faith, and your courage.

If you can create enough faith, particularly at the start of your business, or the start of a project, you will be placing yourself at an extreme advantage.  For, in essence, this makes you a pioneer.  No one really knows the path a new venture will take, so you truly are a pioneer.  And, pioneers go out and explore the unknown.  Being a pioneer requires courage, every single day.  If you can remember this, particularly as you are faced with a new challenge, it will help you overcome and keep moving.

By embracing this pioneer spirit, by remembering that courage is essential to success, and by keeping and continually developing an ever-growing faith, you will be guaranteed success and meaning in your business and life.  Granted, it won’t happen right away.  Nothing worthy and lasting ever does.  But with commitment, determination, and enduring courage, your continued efforts definitely will pay off.

Many people wonder how a person can maintain courage, especially when things look really dark.  The secret to this is that the courage is fueled by your purpose and your heart.  If your desires truly are empowered by a deeper purpose, and your heart is committed to the big goal, then you have no need to fear a weakening courage.  Rather, if you can develop a habit of daily focusing on your purpose, of recommitting toward your heart’s deepest desires, then you will have an unending supply of courage and faith. Scores of ultra-successful business owners have proven this to be true.  Please take note — this is not a silly little suggestion.  If you honestly embrace this recommendation, and you follow through with serious determination, this one habit will propel you forward when others falter.

Courage.  Faith.  Heart.  If you can tap into these three endless resources, your life and your business will know no bounds!

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If you are just starting your own home-based business, you may not fully understand the intent of this question.  Then again, if you have a full-fledged business that is gaining momentum, you may still not quite grasp the full meaning of this question.  Many times in business-building there are so many moving pieces, that an organized and reflective approach to assessing your progress becomes lost in the chaos.

So, let’s take some time out now, wherever you are in your business, and reflect on this important concept.  Accountability.  What does it really mean to you?  Many people immediately think about reporting in to someone else to discuss your progress.  While this is certainly part of it, it is not the whole.  Accountability is such an important foundational component of a successful business that is warrants a much deeper dive.

Accountability, in it’s broadest sense, can be viewed in sections.  There is accountability to the following:  1) yourself, 2) your executive management or boss, 3) your teammates whom you lead, 4) your customers.  Taken even more holistically, I would also add:  5) your family, 6) your friends, 7) your community (local and global).  Clearly 1-4 deal directly with your business.  Sections 5-7 are equally as important to sustain a balanced and fulfilling life, but for the purposes of this article, we will deal with the business components only.

Holding yourself accountable is first and foremost.  You must have integrity to yourself.  If you cannot honor your word to yourself, you will certainly not be able to honor your word to others.  Your ability to hold yourself accountable is a direct reflection of your self esteem and self worth.  If you struggle with identifying your value to yourself, to others and to society, you will most certainly struggle with keeping your word and promises to yourself.  If you find yourself in this situation, I highly encourage you to delve into some quality personal development programs to strengthen your self esteem and confidence.  We all struggle with self esteem at various times in our life.  It is nothing to be ashamed of.  Simply  recognize it, then commit to taking action to improve the situation.  For, only when you have solid self esteem, are you able to truly hold yourself accountable to the level that is necessary for business success.

Next, holding yourself accountable to your senior authority is important.  Depending on your situation, this could be senior executives in your company, it could be a sponsor, or it could be a boss if you are in an employed position.  Clearly, demonstrating respect for them is essential.  Having integrity and fulfilling on  your promises is essential for you to progress in your current career path.  If they are effective supervisors, they will encourage you to regularly meet with them to discuss your goals and your progress.  It is precisely this system of accountability that can radically improve performance.  Done improperly, or extremely rarely, or not at all, can produce dismal results.  Believe me, I have seen too many businesses get so caught up in the chaos of day-to-day busyness that they skip over this accountability step.  Without exceptions, these businesses always pay a heavy price for such neglect.  If you have a say in the matter, please ensure that regular accountability gets built into the system.

Next, accountability to your teammates and those you lead is equally important.  Just as we discussed with your seniors, it is now your chance to ‘pay it forward’.  Accountability sessions provide a perfect framework to offer praise, coaching, constructive criticism, and sharing of ideals and motivation.  Accountability can be such a powerful concept if used correctly.  Since you are the leader of your team, it is up to you to set the precedent.  I encourage you to set it right, and encourage regular accountability sessions with key teammates.  Then, teach them to duplicate this with their teammates as well.  This is exactly how winning businesses get built.

Lastly, accountability to your customers and prospects must be included.  Many people don’t quite consider this as a piece of accountability, but it absolutely is.  Whatever promises you make to them, you absolutely must fulfill.  Your integrity is what will define the success you have.  By holding yourself accountable to them, you are fulfilling your role to them.  In many ways, you could also argue that you should strive to hold them accountable to you, whenever possible.  Certainly, you don’t have control over them.  But, you can gently push them and challenge them to raise their bar.  For those who respond positively to this, then you understand that these are people who you may one day want on your team.  If they are customers, by gently pushing and challenging them, you are bringing out the best in them and you are able to serve them better.

There’s much more to discuss on accountability, but that is plenty to get started.  As noted, I encourage you to regularly step back, reflect, and ensure you have good accountability systems in place.  If so, then go forward with the system and make yourself proud as you realize how you, your team, and your company radically improves.

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I recently completed consuming the recent biography of Steve Jobs.  What an amazing story!  Clearly, he was a man of incredible vision, conviction, and persistence.  The book also doesn’t hide his many faults, either.  In fact, if you haven’t had a chance to dive into this just yet, I bet you’ll be quite surprised to discover how many faults, eccentricities, and character weaknesses this one many had.  Yet, despite all of these qualities (which the vast many of us would consider as ‘obstacles’), he was completely able to achieve his vision and tremendous goals.

The true reason for all of his success was his attitude.  Throughout his life story, it is quite clear how his attitude and mindset was slowly evolving.  He ‘knew’ he was destined for greatness. In his earlier years, he wasn’t quite sure what that greatness was going to be.  Yet, he just KNEW.  He didn’t question this ‘truth’ at all.  He possessed incredible belief in himself and in what he knew to be his destiny.

Aside from this unshakeable belief, his attitude provided him tenacity and persistence.  These qualities, one could argue, became the engine for what has evolved into the most powerful brand and company in our world today.  Steve Jobs definitely ran across his fair share of challenges, upsets, and failures.  In fact, some of his failures were tremendous.  I don’t want to spoil the story if you haven’t read it yet, but suffice it to say that to overcome some of his huge failures must have taken massive amounts of character strength.  His ego was shattered to smithereens on many occasions.  A good number of ‘ordinary folk’ would not have been able to get back up, let along get back up and valiantly determine to lead and conquer.  This character trait of Steve’s, his persistence and tenacity, is perhaps one of his most admirable qualities.  And, certainly, one could argue that these qualities are perhaps his most valuable business building assets.

Another strong leadership quality of Steve’s was his extreme commitment to high quality.  Cutting corners, short cuts, and believing ‘good is good enough’ were ideas that were completely foreign to him. It was ‘perfect’ or it was a ‘no go’.  He was adamant about this.  Clearly his ultra-high standard was extremely difficult for many people he worked with, as you can imagine.  He was a tyrant at times, people reported.  Yet, as we all know, his commitment to perfection is exactly what has created the amazing products and services that we so cherish from Apple.

Despite his many eccentricities and emotional outbursts, which tend to be qualities that are associated with a poor leader, Steve Jobs in fact was loved and respected by so many.  How could this be?  Truly, as you go deep into the book, you will understand exactly how challenging his personality could be, and how incredibly challenging he must have been to work for.  So, given that the vast majority of our society absolutely detests working with someone with these qualities, how is it that he could be so loved and respected?  Easily.  Steve’s passion, his all-out commitment for excellence, his relentless determination are qualities that everyone admired.  In fact, if truth be told, I would venture to guess that many envied these leadership qualities.  Combine these qualities with Jobs’ natural abilities in design, creativity, and integration, and the amazing achievements became inevitable.

So, what lessons can we learn from Steve Jobs?  A lot.  For starters, I do hope this article has opened your eyes to some of the necessary and critical components of leadership.  You CAN become a strong leader.  No matter what your eccentricities, personality style, or any other obstacles you may perceive you have.  You absolutely can overcome these.  People can love, respect, and follow you if you tap deep into the qualities you already inherently posses, and can further develop.  I encourage you to take some time and recognize and develop your clear vision, your commitment, your determination, your tenacity, and develop a clear strategy to share this passion effectively with others.  If you truly focus on these qualities, your leadership and business success will be guaranteed.

Lastly, if you haven’t read Steve Job’s biography, please do so.  If you’re intimidated by it’s huge size, I encourage you to purchase the CDs.  You can listen to the book while driving, working out, cleaning the house, or whenever.  You’ll be surprised how it can captivate you.  I actually purchased both the book and CD.  The CD is excellently produced, with a powerful voice-over that I found to capture my fascination immediately.  Enjoy the lessons and inspiration I know you will receive!

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Aside from all of the amazing health benefits, living a life of vitality is amazingly irresistible.  Everyone wants more vitality and energy in their life. If they happen to run across someone who truly radiates vitality, whether they realize it or not, they are drawn to that person.  People from all walks of life struggle with energy in their daily life.  Whether it is a job that bores them, or demands long hours and stressful challenges, at the end of the day the vast majority of people are drained of energy.  Energy and vitality is something that EVERYONE wants more of.

If you truly embody and radiate energy and vitality, you will naturally attract people to you.  This happens without fail.  I have seen such a person walk into a crowded room of people and the energy of the room literally shifts.  Truly, it literally shifts!  People sense a brightness, a raising of energy, like a beam of warm sunshine has filled the room. While this may sound like hocus pocus, believe me — it is VERY real.  Whether people can consciously acknowledge it or not, they become nearly magnetically drawn to the individual radiating the light and energy.  People instinctively want to know — What is it that this person has?   What is it that this person is doing to give them this energy?  They also think, ‘Maybe if I can be with this person, even for a short period of time, maybe some of it could rub off on me’.  Crazy as this may sound, this is exactly what is going on in the minds of those in the crowded room.

Psychologists have conducted studies to research if this is indeed what happens on a regular basis.  Over and over it was demonstrated that this will happen, without fail.

If you can tap into this phenomenon, you will radically improve not only your business, but also your relationships, your health, and entire personal life.

So what exactly is it that creates this vibrancy and energy?  Well, if you want to radiate this to others, you must possess it abundantly yourself.  This means you have excellent health,  your mindset is extremely positive, and you have the continuous intention of sharing your gifts with others.  These three components must each be present.

Particularly if you represent a health and wellness company, you really must become a ‘walking billboard’ of health, energy and vitality in order to become truly successful.  To do this, your physical, mental and spiritual health all come into play.  I could go into great detail on this, but to be brief — optimal nutrition, regular exercise, and effective stress reduction and relaxation need to be part of your day, every day.  Optimal nutrition is a massive topic that I could write books about (and actually have!).  We’ll have to go into detail on that topic on another day.  Just know that optimal nutrition is the foundation for energy and vitality in your life.  Possessing a positive outlook on life is absolutely essential.  The generous spirit, the desire to share with others, is a winning quality present in all ultra-successful leaders.

I encourage you to reflect on these qualities and honestly assess where you stand in each of these categories.  Chances are that you can improve in all three — in fact, we all can!  It is a never-ending process of improvement.  That being said, if you can laser-target which one of these may be your biggest obstacle, and commit right now to focusing on removing that obstacle, this could be one of the most powerful commitments you can make.  Commit to this, and your business, health, and personal success will never be the same.

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Commitment is one of those words that is often used, and often misused.  Commitments can be taken very lightly, or they can be the fuel that transforms lives.  How long has it been since you have seriously assessed your business, personal, and life commitments?  Trust me, it is a worthy exercise to reassess periodically.

First, let’s discuss what commitment is all about.  Unlike how many people use the word, commitment is not simply the mere act of following through on something that you’ve promised to do.  Sure, in some regard, you can certainly say that is a definition of a commitment.  But, in the sense that I am addressing today, I am referring more to the BIG commitments — those DECISIONS that truly have a major impact on your life.

Yes, a commitment is simply that — a decision.  Once the decision is made, everything that follows is a manifestation of your commitment.  People are drawn to leaders who do what they say.  People are drawn to leaders who manifest their commitments.  In many ways, some people may say that it takes daily decisions to follow through.  I disagree.  Once the decision is made, as long as you have personal integrity, you will follow through.  Perhaps this is best illustrated by a famous quote:

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.”  Amelia Earhart

I love this quote!  It is so very true.  In order for a decision to truly impart it’s power, it must be taken very seriously.  It is a difficult thing to decide to act — if done correctly.  That initial decision should weigh all the pros and cons and be taken quite seriously. Once someone follows this process, and indeed decided to proceed in a certain direction, that is when tenacity kicks in.  The decision has been made.  Everything else that follows is one step in your commitment to your initial decision.  If you can embrace this ideology, you can free yourself from endless turmoil of the ‘daily decisions’.  Just make the one decision carefully and with conviction, then eliminate all of the so-called daily decisions, which are merely temptations for you to question your decision or falter.

Just decide.  Then follow your commitment, with full tenacity.

Too often in today’s society people make quick decisions.  They think, ‘Sure, I’ll try this new business opportunity.’  Then, when they experience a few obstacles, they question their ‘decision’ and choose to go another direction. Please note — there really was no decision ever made in this example!  ‘Deciding’ to try something is not the decision-making that can lead you to become a successful business owner and leader.  Another favorite quote of mine is appropriate here:

“There is no try.”  Yogi Berra

So very true!  You either Do or Don’t Do.  There truly is no try.  By understanding this, you can place yourself in a much better mindset to understand the decision to commit that I speak of here.  If you can reflect on this, and truly embrace the importance of a making a real decision of commitment, you now position yourself optimally to succeed in your business — and life.

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If you are like most people who aspire to build a successful home-business, you likely have been exposed to a fair amount of leadership training.  Perhaps you’ve attended conferences, read books, participated in workshops even.  We all know the importance of building leadership qualities in ourselves.  That’s what successful business leaders do, right?

Yes, leadership training is very important.  Continually improving and implementing what you have learned is the critical often-missing component.  Don’t fall into the trap of reading books and attending seminars without immediately implementing.  Many of the leadership strategies and tools are based upon a solid leadership mindset.  If you can daily improve your leadership mindset, the implementation and development of the strategies and tools will follow.

While there are a wide variety of leadership trainings available, I’ve found that a fair number of them miss one critical aspect of leadership. One of the essential mindset principles that gets overlooked in leadership training is that of cultivating gratitude.  Gratitude can be an extremely powerful tool, once understood, embraced, and fully developed.

How is gratitude a leadership tool?  Well, gratitude is perhaps one of the most under-rated tools for leadership, team-mobilization, productivity increases, as well as personal development.  Gratitude can be actually utilized in several different fashions, creating vastly different results.  Let’s dive into those.

First, we can address utilizing gratitude for you personally.  If you can cultivate a spirit and feeling of gratitude for all that you have, all that you experience in a day, then you will be creating a powerful shift in yourself.  Not only will your mood lift, but you will also find that your productivity increases, new opportunities seem to arise out of thin air, and your relationships improve.  Yes, all of this can truly happen when you develop a spirit of gratefulness for all that is in your life.  As you express gratitude for all that you have, you naturally begin to develop a higher sense of self-worth.  For, in appreciating yourself (ie. feeling gratitude for the gifts and talents you may have), you are allowing yourself to be a more authentic version of you.  As you develop in this self-appreciation, and allow the ‘real you’ to be evident, this dramatically propels you along your personal development path.  Research has demonstrated over and over that those who are most successful in business are those who are being their authentic self.  It is only when we try to mimic someone else, by following a blueprint that is right for someone else and not us, that we falter.  If you can be grateful for your uniqueness, then and only then can you begin to really shine.  I guarantee you that others will notice this in you and be attracted to it!

Next, if you can cultivate a genuine spirit of gratitude for your clients and prospect, you will significantly alter any and all future business outcomes.  Too often in today’s fast society, people don’t ‘take the time’ to express gratitude.  If you do sincerely offer this, people take immediate note.  Whether conscious or not, they will desire to be around you more — for, everyone at their essence craves some form of praise.  If you can genuinely offer this, in whatever way is appropriate for that moment, you set a positive tone for anything that may follow.  Gratitude is simply a gift you give to others, that never fails to give back to the original giver.

Lastly, expressing gratitude for whatever business success you already have is important.  Even if you are just starting out and don’t feel that you have any success at all, for certain there are components that you can be grateful for.  Reflect on what they are, and express gratitude.  If you can make this a daily habit, or even several times a day, I guarantee your entire business will change.  It is a slow process often (not always, though!), yet it never, ever fails.  Give it a go — and I am certain your life and business will benefit!

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Recently, a collection of ultra-successful business owners were gathered to discuss various components of their businesses and their lives.  The conversation covered many critical aspects of business building, work-life balance, giving back to society, maintaining one’s health amidst rapid business success, and many other high-priority issues.   While the conversations meandered over many different areas, it kept coming back to the discussion of what best advice they could offer new business owners, particularly in the home-business arena where most of their inquiries were originating.
Want to know what they came up with?

I am sure you do!  While there were several industry-specific guidelines, the one advice that 93% of them agreed upon was this:  Tenacity is FAR more valuable than Talent.

Yes, TENACITY is the special, most highly valued asset.  Not talent.  So, for those of you who may be doubting yourself because you feel you don’t have the most highly-developed sales skills, or you are not naturally a talented ‘people-person’, please take heart!

The burning desire, the determination, the ability to get up after being beaten down, the incredible spirit of tenacity — this is what determines who the winners will be.  It is precisely this ‘never give up’ attitude, this ‘where there’s a will there’s a way’ attitude, that the truly high achievers attribute their success.
As they shared, talent and skills can be learned.  Sure, some people learn quicker than others, but that is OK.  With time, the necessary skills and talent can indeed be learned.  What cannot be learned, or very easily taught, is that unstoppable desire.  The fire within, as some people say.  This fiery determination can push you beyond whatever lack of skill or talent you may have.  This persistence is exactly what will allow you to hang in there to continue to practice, practice, and practice again to develop the skills.

To say it another way, the ‘engine’ of the car (your burning desire and unstoppable attitude) is what will ultimately be what fuels you toward your lofty goal.  Sure, you can swap  out for better tires (skill acquisition).  Or, you can get a new pain job (dress for success, or learning how to create an optimal first impression).  Yes, all of these external factors can help move you toward your success.  But, it is the all-important internal factors that will predominantly define your success.  Factors such as tenacity, burning desire, determination, faith, belief in one’s self, ability to pick yourself up after defeat and go again, and again, and again.

This highly valued asset of tenacity has been revered by many historical world leaders, even outside of the world of business.  You may not have recognized it as such, but tenacity, determination, willingness to place your life on the line, are all qualities that war heroes possess.
In fact, Sir Winston Churchill was once quoted:   “The most powerful seven words in existence are these:

    “Never give up.  Never ever give up!”

I would agree with Sir Winston Churchill.  Particularly in the world of building a home-business. It may seem that things aren’t going well, or you are getting denied too many times.  But it is precisely your burning desire, your tenacity, that can pull you through those discouraging times.  Once you begin to tap into this powerful resource you have, and develop it even further, you will be unstoppable in your business and life success.

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Today’s blog post addresses a VERY important benefit of having your own business.  Sure, aside from the potential to create excellent income, having your own business can create incredible time freedom.  With time freedom, you can build an extremely appealing lifestyle.  Sure, it takes effort.  It takes strategic planning, following by disciplined implementation.  It takes continuous skill improvement.  Yet, if the goal is kept clearly in mind, steady progress will indeed help you achieve your goal.

Along the journey toward your ‘big goal’, make certain to celebrate wins along the way.  One way to celebrate wins is to build in occasional ‘days of celebration’.  These can be days (or partial days) dedicated to things you absolutely love to do, but may not quite carve the time to actually do.  This celebration time can also be reserved for those special opportunities that may arise with friends or family.

One such opportunity arose for us last week.  We were able to join a group of friends and go on a truly once-in-a-lifetime adventure.  It occurred right in the middle of the work week, when people who are tied to a job or a profession could never get away.  Yet, because of our home-based business and the flexibility it provides, we were able to carve out this time.

We were among a select group of people who were invited to join the Phoenix National Guard as they went on an expedition in a KC-135 to refuel several F-16s.  What an exhilarating experience!  First there was all of the security clearance that had to happen weeks in advance.  Then we were told what to wear, bring, and expect.  After getting up at 4 AM, we made our way over to the National Guard base, which is on the south side of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport.  We received a comprehensive briefing about the history of the National Guard, the specific base, the KC-135, and how the refueling of F-16s actually occurs.  The pictures we saw were fascinating and we were all eager to begin.

Once we all got on the plane, we were explained how we secure ourselves, when we can get up and walk around, where we can position ourselves to optimally see the refueling process, and where we can get the best pictures.  They encouraged us to get as many pictures as we could — which we certainly did do!

We flew up to the Northeast corner of Arizona, right along the New Mexico border, to do the refuelings.  I will note that we flew much, much faster than typical commercial planes.  We were all surprised how quickly we arrived at the desired air space.  Then, before we knew it, we saw these gorgeous F-16s whizzing by — one after another.

Like clockwork, one would arrive and begin to seemingly hover immediately below and slightly behind us.  From our plane, there was a ‘boom’, which essentially was a highly moveable ‘fuel stick’.  The airman would move the boom to the exact position where it would engage and ‘click in’ to the F-16, and the quick refueling process would begin.  Once the fuel was transferred, the F-16 would drop down, seemingly drift away, and a new one would appear.  Amazingly, if it is an experienced F-16 pilot, the entire refueling process could be done in one minute!

The entire process was fascinating.  From the big windows, where we were able to lay on our bellies and get truly up-close-and-center, we were literally only 50 feet or so above the F-16.  We could even see the pilot.  It was truly an amazing experience and opportunity that is rarely available to a civilian.

Yet, due to some amazing networking and friendships, along with the time freedom allowed by our home business, we were given this amazing opportunity.  It is truly my deepest desire for you, too, to create a life where rich friendships, time freedom, and wealth is available to you.

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