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

Everyone Needs a Partner...

Many years ago, I was wondering where I could find the answers to the difficult questions in life. I was wondering why some of my friends were doing well and I was not living the life I wanted to live. I needed skills I didn't have, I didn't even know how to type and from the late 1980's to today, let's just say that the world is a drastically different place. When I was in high school, the biggest threat to our freedoms and our way of life was the Soviet Union and instead of the much-debated issue of global warming being the "biggest threat" to life on Earth, it was global thermal nuclear warfare (which I guess is a lot like "global warming," but on a much greater scale).

I found myself a little lost when I decided not to stay in the Navy and retire. My transition from the Navy to civlian world was a little tricky, to say the least. The Navy didn't teach us anything about the Law of Attraction and, if I had to guess, they probably still don't. I didn't learn any negotiation skills or any skills I needed to succeed in today's world. Going back to college was not going to happen for me and finding a great, high-paying job was also not in my future...unless I created it. That led my thoughts to having the best job in the world, the job I created for myself. I have since been involved with several different companies representing several different products and services over the years. My life as I wanted it was put on hold from 2002-2006 when I wandered in south Florida searching for the right brokerage firm for me, selling currency and commodity options and futures. That didn't work either. Then finally, a couple of years ago, I realized that the problem wasn't the government, the tax structure, my business associates, the businesses I was involved in or the products I represented (and until a couple of years ago, I represented poorly).

I realized that I was the problem of why my life wasn't going the way I wanted. I didn't have the skills, the education, the mindset or the information. In the past couple of weeks, I have partnered with the Nightingale-Conant Corporation. Nightingale-Conant was formed by Earl Nightingale and Lloyd Conant in 1960 and is the world leader in personal development materials.

I have been a customer of Nightingale-Conant's for years now and I'd like to share one of the sources for the information I have needed and used to change my life. Now, with all of the advances in technology, change happens quicker than ever. If you don't stay ahead of change, change will wipe you out. You have to be stronger mentally, you have to know where you're going and how you're going to get there. You have to associate with the personal coaches that have already helped countless thousands to achieve their goals, over the years. You have to maintain your belief that you can overcome obstacles and turn adversity into opportunity. You have to devlop the conviction and the perseverence that says "I will never give up!"

This is one of the companies I represent today because I use their products. In my library is some of the greatest audios available by some of the wisest leaders who have ever walked the planet. I have access to this enlightened world of knowledge, skills and motivation...and you can too! Living successfully has been and always be a choice. At any time you want you can change and improve your life...if you have the right information.

Nightingale-Conant is where I get my information to improve my life. Click on the link above and find something to change your life...because change is the only constant there is in the world.

My Library (aka "Where Personal Development Comes From")

Over the past few years, I have assembled a decent library. I finally got around to reading a fantastic book called "The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle" by a great man named Jim Rohn. I highly recommend this book. My copy is an eBook on my hard drive, courtesy of my enrolling in Jim Rohn International's One Year Success Plan. My first exposure to him was when I was learning how to fail at sales in 1998. I was not quite computer literate yet, and I didn't understand a lot of the changes that were happening around me. I heard the words and I liked what he had to say, but I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that none of my "friends" at the time had ever heard of him. After all, I had all the arrogance of being around some of the best minds in my hometown, not to mention my education and experience as a nuclear mechanical operator. Surely some of my "successful" friends would have heard of him. A couple of years ago, I realized that what I was listening to in 1998 was called "The Art of Exceptional Living." It is a compilation of some of the late Mr. Rohn's best work and, now, a part of my library.

I found myself with not a lot to do on Sunday, so instead of trying to keep up with the NFL scores of the day, I decided to do something productive and read a book. I had revisited the course a couple of nights before and realized that I had not read some of the material they sent me. Since the past couple years of my life have been almost exclusively devoted to creating positive personal change, I thought that I could keep up with football (fun to watch) or do something I have been meaning to do (improve myself by reading a new book). All throughout this book I could hear Mr. Rohn recite the lines he wrote many years ago. All of his ideas are great, inspiring and, best of all, they are true.

Why would I invest in a library of some of the best ideas ever written? Maybe I like to read. Maybe I'm actually serious about creating positive change in my life. Maybe it just looks cool (which I admit, I DO think it looks cool). This is where personal development comes from- the best ideas ever written and left by their authors for us to find. I am compiling this library because I have always had a hunger for knowledge and what I can do with it. It is also a curiosity of what those ideas can help me accomplish. Why not find a new idea that could help my business do better? Why not read something that makes the morning coffee taste a little better? Why not read something that inspires me with hope instead of the daily dread of the morning news?

This is where my greatest source of inspiration comes from...and to think it all started with a library card many years ago. Thank you, Mr. Rohn.