The Eureka Moment Strikes Again!

In this immediately applicable program, entrepreneur and world-renowned economist Paul Zane Pilzer provides a refreshingly optimistic view of where our economy is headed -- and shows you how you can take advantage of the great opportunities that lie ahead.

Have you ever had that thought that wakes you in the middle of the night? Maybe it's a task that you're stuck on or a new idea that just won't let you go back to sleep? Maybe it's that you live across the street from a nightclub and you just figured out how to come up with the money to move away from the apartment across the street from the nightclub?

When I was a kid we had a Eureka in the closet...a Eureka vacuum cleaner that I was extremely familiar with from doing chores around the house (yes, chores). The word "Eureka" is attributed to Archimedes running around the town of Syracuse naked in ancient Greece after an important discovery. The Eureka Moment or Effect, as it has been named, has been attributed to doing neat things throughout history. Thomas A. Edison was known for taking small naps and waking up with the solution to a problem. With over 10,000 patents to his credit, I think it's safe to say that Edison did some neat things. I think it is a form of brainstorming that takes place in the brain during periods of extreme searching or even worrying about a situation. It's one of those thoughts that will not let you go back to sleep. It's one of those thoughts that could change your life and the lives of others. it's one of those thoughts that unleashes the floodgates of additional thoughts that lead to a new business, a new venture or a whole host of solutions to problems. It's how progress is made and problems are solved. Napoleon Hill even mentions something like it in his classic business book, Think and Grow Rich, considered by many to be the beginning of the personal development industry. Some people attribute it to prayer or deep meditation and to religious sources. Who knows where the Eureka Effect comes from. As Jim Rohn would say "I'm an amateur at all this stuff."

What makes me so sure about all of this? Hint: It's 6:06 on a Sunday morning and I'm typing this about the Eureka experience! What does my Eureka Moment have in store for myself and others? I can't tell you yet. Let's see what happens next! DEFINITELY more to follow!

MBN

Happy 100,000,000th Linked In!

Yes, it's true. I guess I'm not so much of a "spring chicken" anymore. I remember the days before telephones had push buttons and I remember thinking "It would be so cool to carry a telephone everywhere I went, but it weighs 3 pounds and cost $2000." It just seems like yesterday that I was wondering if this "personal computer" thing would ever catch on. Just because I remember these things, DOES NOT, under any circumstances, mean that I am getting old!

Apparently, I was into Social Media before it was called "Social Media." I got an email this past week from someone named Reid Hoffman. He is the co-founder and chairman of Linked In, thanking me for the years that I have been a Linked In member (since January 27th, 2004). I am their 168,555th member. Linked In this week is celebrating it's 100,000,000th member and congratulations to them! It is because of Linked In that I eventually got a little caught up recently, got a Blackberry, a Twitter account and recognized my Facebook page as a communication tool. It is basically because of Linked In that my life is changing rapidly and I doing my best to keep up with the changes.

Thank you Linked In and thank you Reid Hoffman! So it's taken me seven years to catch on...

MBN

Seth's Blog: Faster, Better and More

Seth's Blog: Faster, Better and More

My Apologies to Linked In

For the past couple of days I have been "venting" somewhat about Linked In. I went forward with a free trial to explore their Premium Services, but I never got the chance to fully explore the functionality of this business networking platform. I am currently reading a book on how to use this platform with another book right behind it on the same topic. When it was time to decide on whether to continue with the upgrade and start paying for their services, I tried to cancel, only to discover that it would take a couple of days before I would have any acknowledgement of having successfully stopped the billing. It didn't happen and my account got billed. I was furious and acting like a spoiled brat because I couldn't get satisfaction...NOW! To see this "victim" behavior in adults irritates me, and here I was doing it. It wasn't even the money, it was that there wasn't someone to hold my hand right then and there.

Last night I got an email from Roberta who promptly handled my requests and had a refund set up to my account. I replied that I didn't understand why their customer service wasn't better. The answer glared at me in her prompt reply:

"Once again, I apologize for the initial delay. Please know that we have 90 million members we need to service and we try to respond to our premium members within 48 hours."

90 million users is (what I am estimatiing to be) all of the adult working US, just to put it into perspective. 90 million users is HUGE. I also understand that there are countries outside of the US and that they also have Linked In accounts, I am not taht naive. I now completely understand why Linked In couldn't stop what they were doing to "hold my hand" (my words, no one else's) while they got caught up on things. No one has held my hand in life so far through life's difficulties, why should they start now (I should start dating again :-) ).

Again, I apologize to the Linked In staff and I still want to explore your Premium services as soon as I have time.

MBN

I deserve my successes...

This is Brian Tracy. He doesn't know it but he is one of my mentors. I own a lot of Brian Tracy audios and DVD's. I do something crazy with his audios and videos, like I watch the videos, listen to the audios and take notes, looking for the ideas that can change my life. The information I have recieved has been instrumental in the reconstruction of my life and the development in a philosophy that helps me work towards future successes.

One of my favorites is The Psychology of Selling By Brian Tracy. This is one of the first Nightingale-Conant programs I purchased back in 1999 or 2000 and although I lost that copy, I replaced it and still own it today. He basically outlines what is required in one of the toughest jobs in the world, commissioned sales. For years, I have wanted to achieve success in business. I have all the intelligence, if not more than necessary, but without a degree to get my career started, this has been the avenue to get started for me. For some reason there was always something holding me back, some unseen force I could not reckon with or conquer. For years, I tried and failed. For years, I could not get through the first 40 minute session on the "Self-Image."

One of the hardest things to overcome is the feeling of constant rejection that comes from being previously homeless. That feeling doesn't go away without a lot of effort. Here's the kicker though. Not too many people become accidentally homeless in the U.S. There is something that they were doing or something that they were not doing that got them there in the first place. It was almost as though I was rejecting myself from the successes that life COULD (and does) offer. The real task comes from getting one's stuff together and start achieving more and doing more.

In The Psychology of Selling, Brian puts forth that you cannot achieve anything unless you feel like you deserve the successes. From the perspective of a sales rep, if you feel that aren't worth more than $50,000 a year, you will never earn more than $50,000, for example. This is the "self-image" I had to re-create in myself. I started to re-create it by investing heavily in myself and getting caught up on doing the things I needed to do. I also had a lot of guilt stemming from things I should have done, but did not or could not complete...at least not at that time.

I've had to shed a lot of that guilt and realize that I am doing the best I can right now and things are only getting better for myself, and those around me.

More to follow...

MBN