How To Change

I've had a chance to contemplate quite a lot these last weeks.

I have come to realise that in order to change you either need a big life event to jump start your efforts OR it needs to be drip fed to you.

Drip feed: Why? My logic is simple - My perceptions and beliefs have been created by the sum of all those tiny little experiences that I have had over my life time. Small, insignificant on their own, but unmovable together. So how change it? My dealing with it on the SMALL level.

By tiny little insights, events or experiences that contradict those tiny little perceptions. over a little time, then the foundations of the whole immovable sum of perceptions become weaker. The bond waekens. Suddenly it becomes easier to tackle bigger parts of the perceptions. The momentum builds as it becomes easier and easier to cancel out the effects of the "old" perceptions you need to change to succeed.

For me, the "MASSIVE ACTION" is counter productive. You don't need MASSIVE ACTION. All you need is targeted action. Tiny Targeted Action. Focus. And then just chip away at it.

Feel fat? ( I'm 18 stone - 115kg) focussing on loosing 6 stone is meaningless to me. So is focussing on loosing weight. Weightloss is not the issue. Health is. The things I no longer am able to do is an issue. The things I would like to do, but can't is an issue.

My targets then have to reflect that.

How do I measure health? Ability to walk stairs is one measure. But it isn't very accurate. An accurate measure is the pulse I have when I wake up in the morning. Or the CHANGE in heart rate from immediately after a 10 minutes of exercise at 60% of my max heart rate and the heartrate 5 minutes & 30 minutes later.
My heart rate when I stop should be above 111.
If after 5 minutes it is down to 95, the reduction is 16 beats.

If the reduction two weeks later is 32, then there is irrefutable evidence that I am getting fitter. So with that evidence, my perception that it is impossible for me to get fitter has to be adjusted. And it becomes easier for me to take on other goals.

And that concludes todays brain dump

Cheers,
Jon ( still progressing )

=Every Day In Every Way, I'm Getting Better And Better=

Slackers Week!

Can you see the headline up the top there?

Every day it says.

Hm. Well. I've been busy doing other things.

Like buying a business, sorting out my new campaigns on google and trying to get my money website sorted.

My plate is also filled by the sudden appearance of an office based job that is taking up 10 - 11 hours of my day 5 days a week. Not good. But the money could be, so I'll stick with it until I get on the sales incentives plan and see how it goes.

I have the benefit that I can talk to customers with confidence about business processes and process re-engineering, but I couldn't sell them anything even if I tried. Nor is it my job to sell them anything. Well some times it will be.

But I digress.

How's my internet bits going?

Well my website is staggering along. My google is going on Autopilot & the business is moving forward!

But I'll make an effort to keep you posted.

Cheers,
Jon ( still progressing )

=Every Day In Every Way, I'm Getting Better And Better=

Google Adwords Vs Adsense

I am running Adsense on this website and on another website as well, and It's not doing badly at all. As money for nothing goes, it's quite good in fact. Nothing to get rich by, for sure, but once the adsense bit is there, it can remain there for as long as I care to leave it there.

Adwords however requires a little more attention. In spite of increased competition on one campaign, it ticks over with surprising regularity. Another campaign needs closer attention to keep the clicks rolling in, but it works. Each click is worth £0.39 to me, which is good as I only pay about 2 thirds of that to get into the top 8 adverts.

So as commission based income, Adwords is far bigger than Adsense in my world, but it also takes more work to keep it coming in...

Short one today as we are full up with getting the house ready to take our new stock plus my new job is taking the energy out of me. Hard sitting there doing nothing while waiting for the induction training to start. ..

Cheers,
Jon ( still progressing )

=Every Day In Every Way, I'm Getting Better And Better=

Phew! And more books!

First day in a new job and my brain is fried. And it's only Monday!

We're one step closer to the handing over of the business. We transferred some money electronically this morning to the current owners, just to test the speed of transfer, and it was instant.

electronic banking is a blessing!

So now, all that is left is the remaining 90 %, taking hold of the stock, equpment etc, and get some training!

Then the fun starts!

Starting a business is EASY! running it is the hard bit!

Thankfully my wife is the master of doing difficult things. Like doing more than one thing at a time.

I have to do SO many things this week it's mad!

Cheers,
Jon ( still progressing )

=Every Day In Every Way, I'm Getting Better And Better=

A Working Man

Well I have a job offer. Two in fact. Neither in Sales.

There is a third position my manager think I should go for which IS in sales, but we'll see. I guess I should go, just to test my stereotype.

Then there is the 4th one which I mentioned in a previous post ( and thanks for the kind comments Camille ) and I seem to be jumping through quite a number of hoops to get through to the person who's actually got a position to offer me. Maybe there's a lesson they are trying to teach me there.

So when I got home from the office today, I mentioned this to my wife. The above issue with multiple job opportunities. And I don't know which way to turn. So she said - Do what you want.

I wish I knew!

So I have spent most of this evening clearing out the office upstairs.

Well, we're moving the "library" to make space for some of the equipment and the books that will be held in this part of the house.

Taking advice from someone online, we checked out our space options out in the utility rooms, and with some clever re-arranging and clearing out of e-bay stock ( aka rubbish ) we'll be able to fit 3 quarters of the stock down there on a concrete floor. and not up here on wooden joists.

the whole stock weighs about 1.5 metric tons ( 3000 pounds?) so by spreading the stock between 4 locations it should be fine.

My wife is one amazing cookie.

I think the best thing I can do for this business is to do what she tells me to do;

= design the marketing plans

= do "support tasks" (house work, gardening and anything that doesn't add value)

The further away I am from the customers and distributors the better I think.

Now on to the business processes.

Cheers,
Jon ( still progressing )

=Every Day In Every Way, I'm Getting Better And Better=

My 48 hour Plan

Started up two new google campaigns over the weekend. They will attract low number of clicks, but they are pretty much free of competition so we'll see how they convert.

I have also spent most of my free time either reading, listening to the seminar DVD's and working on progressing the things that need progressing before we take over the publishing company.

And then planning what to do next.

In the next 48 hours I will publish new content on the money tips review, I will send out a newsletter, and I will start work on my 101 money tips ebook. I will also do some mind maps to explain the various processes that exist in the publishing business.

Cheers,
Jon ( still progressing )

=Every Day In Every Way, I'm Getting Better And Better=

Good times

I've been back to the grind stone for two full days now.

Nothing has changed and it's the same people making the same complaints and confusing themselves even further by not thinking clearly.

Although now it doesn't seem to get me worked up.

They can't help it that they don't know what's going on.

Not that I know much more, but I know that stressing about something that I don't understand, don't know anything about or can't do anything about makes it even more difficult to TRY.

So when they talk, I listen. I help them see the light when I can. If I stay calm, they calm down.

Call me the Software Paramedic.

So why the good times subject?

Well, I had a chat with a very nice lady this afternoon about a new position that might be available to me, and she wants to talk to me again next week. It's very similar to the job that I am doing now, in the sense that that role is also a HUB for many spokes in a fast spinning wheel.
And tomorrow morning I am on my way to another interview in London

for a SALES job of all things.

I say that because I do not have much respect for sales people.

And I told the guy who is interviewing me that when I first spoke to him. And he agreed with me!

Now there is a high risk strategy I wouldn't suggest to ANYONE!

Cheers,
Jon ( still progressing )

=Every Day In Every Way, I'm Getting Better And Better=

Newbie Upgrades to Amateur

Just realised that my one year anniversary as a google advertiser has come and gone.

So I am officially upgrading myself to an amateur.

Apparently I am seen as someone who is so organised, dedicated and knowledgeable, but where that notion comes from I don't know:

my office has a sofa bed permanently open as a bed. However, you can't sleep in it as it is full of bags, books, a rubbish bin, coat hangers and some computer bits.

there are 4 chairs in my office, two of which are broken. They have been here now for so long I consider them part of the family and I can't really get myself to throw them out.

there are 4 printers, 4 computers ( two dead ones, but remain for historical and sentimental purposes )two book cases sagging under the strain of all the books and other rubbish on them. and then there is also my wifes desk.

in 3 weeks there must also be room in here for another printing machine, a book binding machine ( ring bound ) and 15000 paperbacks and 3000 hardback books.

how this will happen I don't know.

what I DO know is that:

-all it takes to move forward is ONE step at a time.

so I set myself 3 goals a week, one for every other day. Unlike Gary for instance, I don't even challenge myself to do one thing per DAY, just one thing every OTHER day.

-for me, MASSIVE ACTION, means PAIN IN BACKSIDE.

I have a job. I don't need MORE work, but less of it. I realise I am not exactly going about it the right way when I buy 18 000 books on a hunch ( and 3-4 weeks of reseach ), which leads me on to the NEXT point I have learned this last year:

- stop yourself from doing nothing.

I am not a man of big efforts. I have said to others before you; there are two kinds of people - those that forever keep themselves busy, just to avoid being idle. they will do ANYTHING to avoid it. Their problems are often manifested by too many ideas and never acting ENOUGH on any of them.

I belong to the other group. I strive for idleness. It is in my soul to achieve a state of absolute nothingness. So in order for me to be able to achieve anything, I need a regularly maintained barrier to keep me from being idle, and for me that is my blog, and my friday progress reports.

- Do what's right for YOU

focus, focus focus. if you don't know what you want, anything you do will get you closer to where you want to be. If you're here, but didn't get here becuase you have a dream, then you got here because you are trying to get away from something, and the only way to get away from something you don't like is to leave it behind.

and you know how to leave something behind don't you? walk away from it!

- if you have your own dream, focus on it and focus on getting it at your own speed, and enjoy the fact that other people are achieving their success.

This one I strictly speaking didn't learn in a year. It was drummed into me during my MLM days that dreaming was importand and focusing on your own dream was important, but not as important as being happy for other peoples successes. Other peoples success can be disheartening. They were for me, and some times still are, so I try to stop comparing my progress with other peoples.

The "jealousy" I speak of above is a significant barrier for me, but the more I train my focus on the dreams I have and the tasks I need to complete, the easier it becomes for me to take a genuinely positive attitude to other peoples success stories - because it reaffirms that MY dream is achievable too. So the barrier crumbles and becomes a stepping stone.

If you already get that feeling of "hey, thins thing could work for me too!" from the success stories on this forum, then you have one less barrier to deal with. Pick an idea and just COMPLETE it. Sod if it works or not. MY first idea that I launched still hasn't earnt me any money, but it got me into the entrepreneur mindset. ( one good idea is not enough, put many ideas into action, one at a time, and one day, a good one will work )

If you still struggle with the self doubt, like" but I don't know what it takes, I don't know if I will succeed, all I have to say to you is the following two things:

get over youself, any moron is making money online. You're NOT special enough to mess this up. all it takes is work.

and about 80 per cent of your attempts will not work. That is just the way it is.
They key is to learn from the mistakes and keep on going until you hit the 20 per cent that works.

you don't know what it takes? count yourself lucky! the less you know about it the better, because then you'll be more ready to take on board good advice. Do you think I know anything about making, publishing and selling books? not on your life! but I know people that do! lots of them. And I ask them for advice on how to proceed.

thirdly, just PICK one of your ideas and get started!
if someone else have thought of it, or if someone else thinks it's a bad idea, so what? it's gotten you on the internet property ladder! So what if it's in a "bad neighbourhood" or the colour of the roof looks strange? at least it's YOURS.

forthly?
I said I had two things to mention and I am already on point four. in THAT lies the following lesson:

There's usually twice as much left to do, than you thought there would be when you started.

Cheers,
Jon ( still progressing )

=Every Day In Every Way, I'm Getting Better And Better=