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Shipped In Time For Christmas Graphics

2011-10-18T10:21:21Z

The season is fast approaching when black Friday and Cyber Monday deals will be upon us. I'm working on an incredible deal for the massage music we have over at Music Of Massage, and created a few graphics to help me with that. I thought I would share my "shipped in time for Christmas" graphics here. Feel free to download and use freely. I've put them into .PSD, .jpg, and transparent .gif. The .psd graphics aren't layered into all layers as I built the original images in Power Point. Anyway, hope these help you! If they do, please link back to this page using anchor text "shipped in time for Christmas graphics". Thanks! Jonathan Shipped in Time For Christmas Graphic 1 JPG | GIF | PSD Shipped in Time For Christmas Graphic 2 JPG | GIF | PSD

Work is Pretty Much Boring

2011-10-11T23:01:04Z

Mark: "Do you like working where you're working or is it pretty much boring as hell?" Jonathan: "I like working where I'm working, but yah, it's pretty much boring." That was the conversation I had some time ago with my friend Mark. Most people go into business thinking that they will avoid the "boring as hell" stuff that they have to do in their job. But you know what I've discovered? In business, there's plenty of boring-as-hell stuff to do as well. And if you don't do the boring stuff that your business requires (or at least hire someone to do the boring stuff that your business requires), then chances are good that your business won't succeed, and you'll be back to doing the boring stuff for someone else. Business is more work than a job. Having and running business takes more initiative and drive than having a typical job. But I'd much rather do boring things that I know are going to benefit me, as opposed to boring things that I know will benefit someone else in exchange for a paycheck. That's not very optimistic, and... to be clear... not all business stuff is boring. You should go into a business you are passionate about. But know that there will be boring things that you just have to get done in order to get where you want to go with your business.

10 Reasons You Aren't Yet A Millionaire

2011-08-23T14:58:29Z

SavingAdvice.com. Good reminders. The reason why you aren't a millionaire (or on your way to becoming one) is really quite simple. You probably assume it's because you aren't earning enough money, but the truth is that for most people, whether or not you become a millionaire has very little to do with the amount of money you make. It's the way that you treat money in your daily life. Here are 10 possible reasons you aren't a millionaire: 10. You Care What Your Neighbors Think If you're competing against them and their material possessions, you're wasting your hard-earned money on toys to impress them instead of building your wealth. 9. You Aren't Patient Until the era of credit cards, it was difficult to spend more than you had. That is not the case today. If you have credit card debt because you couldn't wait until you had enough money to purchase something in cash, you are making others wealthy while keeping yourself in debt. 8. You Have Bad Habits Whether it's smoking, drinking, gambling or some other bad habit, the habit is using up a lot of money that could go toward building wealth. Most people don't realize that the cost of their bad habits extends far beyond the immediate cost. Take smoking, for example: It costs a lot more than the pack of cigarettes purchased. It also negatively affects your wealth in the form of higher insurance rates and decreased value of your home. 7. You Have No Goals It's difficult to build wealth if you haven't taken the time to know what you want. If you haven't set wealth goals, you aren't likely to attain them. You need to do more than state, "I want to be a millionaire." You need to take the time to set saving and investing goals on a yearly basis and come up with a plan for how to achieve those goals.]]> 6. You Haven't Prepared Bad things happen to the best of people from time to time, and if you haven't prepared for such a thing to happen to you through insurance, any wealth that you might have built can be gone in an instant. 5. You Try to Make a Quick Buck For the vast majority of us, wealth doesn't come instantly. You may believe that people winning the lottery are a dime a dozen, but the truth is you're far more likely to get struck by lightning than win the lottery. This desire to get rich quickly likely extends into the way you invest, with similar results. 4. You Rely on Others to Take Care of Your Money You believe that others have more knowledge about money matters, and you rely exclusively on their judgment when deciding where you should invest your money. Unfortunately, most people want to make money themselves, and this is their primary objective when they tell you how to invest your money. Listen to other people's advice to get new ideas, but in the end you should know enough to make your own investing decisions. 3. You Invest in Things You Don't Understand You hear that Bob has made a lot of money doing it, and you want to get in on the gravy train. If Bob really did make money, he did so because he understood how the investment worked. Throwing in your money because someone else has made money without fully understanding how the investment works will keep you from being wealthy. 2. You're Financially Afraid You are so scared of risk that you keep all your money in a savings account that is actually losing money when inflation is put into the equation, yet you refuse to move it to a place where higher rates of return are possible because you're afraid that you will lose money. 1. You Ignore Your Finances You take the attitude that if you make enough, the finances will take care of themselves. If you currently have debt, it will somehow resolve itself in the future. Unfortunately, it takes planning to become wealthy. It doesn't magically happen to the vast majority of people. In reality, it is probably not just one of the above bad habits that has kept you from becoming a millionaire, but a combination of a few of them. Take a hard look at the list, and do some reflecting. If you want to be a millionaire, it's well within your power, but you'll have to face the issues that are currently keeping you from creating that wealth before you will have a chance to call yourself one.

The Hanoi Hilton: Brilliant Propaganda

2011-04-20T05:01:30Z

When the United States was at war with Vietnam, it became official policy of the North Vietnamese government that if an American pilot was shot down but still alive, he was to be brought to a certain prison (actually built by the French in the 1800's) in the center of Hanoi. Hoa Lo Prison. These American pilots were to be treated with the utmost respect and dignity, and given the best treatment a POW could hope to receive. That is how it is told in Vietnam today. It is also told that the pilots were treated so well that they began to call the prison the Hanoi Hilton, because while still very uncomfortable and of course imprisoned, it felt like the hotel version of being a POW, hence the name, the Hanoi Hilton. Images and videos of the pilots were broadcast around the world by the North Vietnamese Government. The pilots were shown to be receiving excellent medical care, receiving letters from family, that they were allowed to pray, they were allowed to decorate the prison to celebrate holidays, and they were shown spending time with guards treating them well. Jane Fonda came to the prison and questioned the American prisoners, somewhat mockingly asking them if they felt guilty about what they had done by bombing the innocent people of Vietnam. Whatever side of the war you were on, Jane Fonda's trip was distasteful and profoundly disrespectful of Americans serving in Vietnam. Needless to say, Jane Fonda's popularity dropped off a cliff afterward. Maybe the North Vietnamese government really did want to take care of these pilots and really want them to be "reformed" in their way of thinking. It's difficult to say what all the motives might have been, and also difficult to say everything that was actually going on in Hoa Lo Prison. However, what I think allowed Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese to hold off the US so long in the jungles of Cu Chi and the city of Hue: People were committed to Ho Chi Minh and the cause of the "reunification" of Vietnam because they believed it was just and right. And there was evidence to back it up - prisoners who were bombing the country being forgiven and treated well was excellent evidence. Even if reunification wasn't an actual cause, people believed in it with undying certainty. Even if the prisoners weren't being treated as well as they were shown to have been treated, people believed in it with undying certainty. The North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong were committed because they saw Ho Chi Minh as someone who would do what was right (whether or not that was true). They saw him as Uncle Ho, a wise and kind (but ruthless when necessary) uncle who was leading them to a better and brighter future for their country. Ho Chi Minh and his government were also brilliant when it came to propaganda. There are examples of this all over Vietnam, even today. The Hanoi Hilton was among their biggest and smartest pieces of propaganda. Treating the pilots well gained the government the undying support of many of the Vietnamese people who weren't sure how to feel about what was going on. The Hanoi Hilton and the kindness shown to the pilots also gained the support of many people around the world for the North Vietnamese government. Additionally, over time, people who are being treated well may come to let down their own mental guard a bit. This happens because humans tend to adapt to the conditions of where we are. If the conditions are soft, over time humans become soft. If the conditions are hard, over time humans become hard. (Side note: If you push someone beyond the level of being hard, you cause them to break. The worst thing you can do to another human is to cause them to break. Mold, steer, direct, encourage, cajole if necessary, but breaking someone always leaves a mess behind it, a mess which almost always comes back to bite you.) In the case of the Hanoi Hilton, I don't think the pilots actually had any information or "secrets" that the North Vietnamese would have wanted. But if the American pilots had had information to share, this information might have come out, by accident, in the course of a card game or while smoking a cigarette together. I think the North Vietnamese knew this. I think they also knew well in advance that this method of propaganda (treating prisoners well and showing the world how well you were treating them) actually would sway many people around the world to support the cause of the North Vietnamese. Even though people knew it was propaganda, it was their friends and family members who were being treated well. This swayed public opinion. Compare that with some recent stories about how America got information from political prisoners from Afghanistan and Iraq. Could Ho Chi Minh's propaganda machine have been used effectively by America? Would showing the world that America treated prisoners well (even prisoners who intended to create events like 9-11) have been an effective policy, rather than keeping the world out of Guantanamo? Would it maybe have swayed some borderline suicide bombers to not go through with their efforts if they had seen prisoners being given understanding and appreciation, rather than seeing images of hooded piled naked bodies in Abu Gharib? Instead, those images became the justification for many to take their own life (and the lives of everyone within distance) with the explosives they strapped to their body. Would it have been good to be a bit culturally sensitive to the dietary needs and religious requests of those held in prison, and show the world how understanding you actually were? I think so. In short, the short-term gains of torture are not worth the long-term losses, when information can be more humanely (and ultimately more easily) obtained through relationship building (which admittedly takes time). Am I suggesting that I like the people being held in these prisons, or what they've done, or the way they think? No. I'm not suggesting that. I don't even know them, or if they're being unjustly held. At the moment, I make no judgment about them in any direction other than as human beings. But it has nothing to do with liking. You don't treat prisoners well because you like them. You treat political prisoners well, show the world you're doing it, and avoid torture at all costs, because it's the smartest thing you can do. Even if you don't care about being humane, then just consider the logic. You torture political prisoners to gain information. Torture at it's most basic level is about information warfare. In the end, extreme kindness, when broadcast around the world, is a much more powerful method of information warfare than any information you might be able to get from any source or method of torture. When the potential losses from evidence of torture inevitably stack the deck against you long-term, and when the evidence is so easily sent around the world in fractions of seconds with images and video, it makes much more sense for governments to adopt policies of extreme kindness to political prisoners. In the long run, political prisoners are more likely to share the information they have with people they consider their friends, rather than with those who have abused them. In essence, if your goal is to gain influence with the world, as well as have the ability to truly protect people with the information you control, then public forgiveness is significantly more powerful than private flogging. And yes, from a simple humane perspective, by not torturing you ensure that no torturer or torturee is left with the physical or mental scars which come with their now destroyed understanding of humanity. To any world government - here is the path to information power after a political prisoner becomes your captive: Forgive. Show the world you forgive. Through forgiveness and kindness, help the prisoner forget they are in prison. They will let their guard down over time. And eventually they will tell you everything because they truly do know, like, and respect you.

You Can Never Understand A System From the Inside

2011-04-12T14:40:35Z

Perry Marshall sent out this email today. So much of it rang true for me, and I wanted to share it with you here, as well as archive it for myself.

In 8th grade one of my teachers assigned me to write a report about the United States and one other country. I chose India. I'd never left the US and I'd never gone to India. Yet somehow India wasn't all that hard to write about - I asked one of my other teachers a bunch of questions because she had been to India. I wrote about women's colorful dresses and Hindu temples and all that. All the stuff a foreigner notices.

]]> But writing about the US was tough. What can a fish really tell you about water? I did a pretty mediocre job. Fast forward 15 years, Laura and I fly to Sao Paulo Brazil. Our first trip to an 'exotic' place. Utterly fascinating. Intense. We come home and not only do I know a thing or two about Brazil, I suddenly understand the US so much better than before. I sent this email to a friend: "We arrived safely back in Chicago this morning. I noticed a few special things. Even our own suburb, where all the houses are 5' from each other, looks downright spacious compared to the jumbled maze of graffiti and concrete we grew accustomed to in Brazil. "The most dangerous neighborhood in Chicago is safer than the nicest neighborhood in Sao Paulo. We have no poverty in Chicago. "The air here is comparatively fresh, even during rush hour (I especially appreciate the fact that trucks' exhaust pipes here exit ABOVE the truck, rather than out the side into your passenger car window) and I have a new appreciation for such fine individuals as our own Mayor Daley and President Clinton ;^) " You can't understand a system from the inside. You have to climb out of it, and see it from a new perspective. THIS IS WHY.... -It's always easier for someone else to advise you about your business than theirs -It's so much easier for you to advise someone else about their business than to fix your own -I percolate interesting side projects which are totally outside of business. -Half my keynote presentation in Maui was about soap bubbles, turtle shells and biology - because Sunflower seeds, like search engines, use algorithms. I needed something new so I consulted Mother Nature. Sunflowers teach you stuff about search engines, that the search engine would never tell you. -It's why in Roundtable, every single person in the room comes from a different industry than everyone else. At the last 4-Man Intensive, a guy from the health food industry offered stunning insight to an investment banker. A guy in alternative energy had advice for both of them. -It's why I wouldn't get caught dead *not* being in some kind of Mastermind group and mentoring relationship with people more experienced than myself. I relentlessly try to transcend the limitations of my own perspectives. -It's why it's so great to travel. Every time you go to a strange new place, you feel your brain literally growing new connections. It starts before you get to a new country and continues for weeks after you come back. Processing, processing, processing new experiences. -It's why you should read voraciously. By the way, not only should you read authors who live outside your comfortable little world, and outside your culture, you should go out of your way to read people from outside your century. If wisdom is knowledge with no expiration date, you'll get a lot more from a 500 or 2500 year old book than USA Today. (By the way one of the most crippling diseases of the 21st century is us thinking we're smarter than people who lived 1,000 years ago. I call it "Chronological Snobbery." Hey pal, it took a lot more wits and street smarts to do pretty much anything then than it does now.) People who exercise these habits quickly come to realize that this additional perspective arms you with dramatic, powerful and actionable advantages over other people in your industry. You come to realize that "industries" as such only exist to perpetuate the status quo. New ideas almost NEVER come from the inside. Bill Gates wasn't part of the Mainframe Computer club and Larry and Sergey weren't good ol' boys in the search engine game. Your vastly wider perspective gives you super powers. You come to see most other people in most businesses as characters in a Little Rabbit Fu Fu game. You can go around bonking them on the head, if you want. Usually they don't know what hit them. Maybe best of all, life in an ever-expanding perspective is ALWAYS interesting. Never a dull moment or day. You experience more adventures in a month than most people do in a year. My friend, I urge you: Climb outside your little world. Then climb out of the new world you've just discovered... then climb out again.

How many order buttons do you have in the world?

2011-04-10T12:17:43Z

Healing Scar Tissue and Music of Massage.]]> One would think, after 9 years of marketing on the Internet, I would have more order buttons "out there". Maybe I should. At the same time, affiliate marketing has allowed us to live well (and has encouraged us to travel to find new companies and products to promote). If you're happy with where you are in life, then this question may not apply to you. However, if you want to earn more income, here's a question you may want to ask yourself: How many order buttons do I have in the world? If you're not happy with the number, it's something to work on. How can you provide value, or help fix the problem someone else is facing? As soon as you figure this out, then place an "order" button on helping people gain access to the solution to their problem. By adding an order button, you are in business and being a person of impact - helping people with their challenges while providing for yourself, your family, your community and your life.

What Skills Do You Have?

2011-03-08T12:35:35Z

I was thinking about some money challenges a friend of mine is having. He's an Indian guy, studying in the states. He said that is he is running out of money. I remember when I was in Germany in 2001 ($10,000 in credit card debt at the time), and had NO money... I had a plane ticket home, but that wouldn't happen for eight more weeks. I was ashamed to ask my parents for (more) help, because they were helping me dig my way out of the credit card debt. I had lied to them for 6 months before I went to Germany to try to cover up my mistakes, and didn't want to have to ask for more help. But I barely had enough money to buy something to eat. However, 3 days before I left for Germany, I had just gotten certified in massage therapy. So I went to a few massage therapists, and with my limited German language skills, found one who had a massage chair I could borrow. But she needed some collateral, something of value to know that she would get her massage chair back. So I gave her my passport. ... I don't think I would do that today. But I did what I needed to do. Over the next 6 weeks, I found people I could give massage to. I even set up the chair in the middle of the city one day on a sidewalk with a sign saying "free massage from America" in German. I tried to get complete strangers to sit in my massage chair and let me give them free massage on the street. I got laughed at by some guys walking by. I also got lots of funny looks from people. (I know now that I used "freie" when I should have used "umsonst" on my sign to say that it was free/tips only.) But I thought it would work, so I tried it. I didn't make much that day, but I earned about $400 in between classes in 4 weeks. That was about 900 Deutschmarks. That actually was pretty decent money for a college student in Germany working part-time in 2001. I wasn't technically allowed to earn money while I was in Germany. But I needed to, so I did. And I actually had to repair the carrying case for the massage chair when the chair fell off my bike one day... but that's a whole other story. Anyway, I tell you this to say that I have an idea of the challenges you're experiencing. I don't know exactly what you're going through, but I do have an idea of it. It's not easy. But it is worth it. (I'm still very much figuring this out for myself too.) It is your creativity and ability to correctly assess and apply your skills, in order to overcome obstacles, which will carry you through all that you are working through right now. It is the exact overcoming of those obstacles which makes you the person you need to BE to DO the work you're meant to do in the world, so that you can HAVE the life you want to have.

To the family of Saeed Chmagh

2011-01-30T23:46:11Z

Wikileaks called the video "Collateral Murder". I don't know about all of that, or know about the political forces which drive our planet. What I do know is that the family of Saeed Chmagh lost someone they cared for deeply. They didn't just lose him... they had him taken from them. After watching this video, I felt compelled to reach out in some way. And so I did what I do... I wrote to them. To the family of Saeed Chmagh I came to know your face And the tragedy of your story As I watched images horrible images which ripped at my heart and churned my insides. I don't think I have the imagination to know what this must have done to you. I never met him But I saw your face As you clutched that picture of your father A man gunned down by carelessness I wanted to write you a letter to tell you it would all be okay. I wanted to scream at the video And make it stop, so that it never happened. But my language failed me. The words to assure you... The words to speak, which can turn back time... I don't know those words. I saw your face. And I understood. I don't have the words. I am crying with you And I am sorry that I don't yet know how to give you more than my tears.]]> You may be disturbed by what you see in this video.

Overcome: March 23, 1994

2011-01-17T18:43:49Z

This is a poem I wrote in 1994, when I was 14. I woke up with it on my mind this morning (for obvious reasons), and wanted to share it here. - - - - - - - - - If people would quit complaining about being in the minority, we would all be in the majority of human people fighting to become something much greater. - - - - - - - - - Overcome To Martin Luther King -Let us keep the dream alive- We shall overcome without violence, without hate. We shall overcome, and not use others as the bait. Where'd the spirit go? a different cause, yes, but we've laid down on the job, and forgotten about the rest. The violence which surrounds us now, hurts us even more. In the end, it will kill us all, and hurt us more than the worst war. Those who died, was it in vain? Don't we get the message? If we don't stop violence, it will stop us, and leave us behind in the wreckage. Their cries for help are being ignored, by those of us still here. Why don't we try to stop the violence? Is it simply out of fear? Or maybe it's just easier, to turn away and not see, the headlines in the paper, and the pictures on TV The violence on the streets, so easy to ignore. When you're not involved in it, but what happens when knocks at your front door? The others will have turned their heads away, just as you did too. So when you see violence heading your way, don't expect anyone to save you. But what if you stop it, before it closes in? What if we can stop it? The all the world will win. When violence is stopped for all of us here, the world will work towards peace. We'll all be able to join hands and fly, in a V for victory, just like geese. Time to stop turning the head, It is time to work together. It's time for us to live out our creed, and keep the peace forever We shall overcome, without violence, without hate. We shall overcome, and our world will be great.

Why Mortgage Companies And Banks Want Empty Homes

2011-01-09T11:16:54Z

It just dawned on me. Banks (not people necessarily, but banks themselves) actually WANT foreclosed homes. Why did this just dawn on me? I've been asking myself how a bank could want foreclosed homes. How could it be good to have entire neighborhoods of homes that are sitting empty? And in order to finally understand this, I had to get into the mind of someone who's not me. I tend to think that people are good. I tend to think that most people want to do what's right by their fellow man. I tend to think that most people will take care of one another. However, when it comes to the bottom line, it's not as black and white as that. It should be... It can be. But only for people really willing to stick their necks out and find creative solutions to very big issues. If you're a person at the head of the mortgage department at a large bank, you are responsible for making sure that: - investors get paid on the loans they have put their money into - the bank generates larger than average returns. What's better than collecting really high interest from someone who probably can't afford it? What's better than locking someone in legally to a binding agreement that you know they will sign without having an understanding of what they are signing? What's better than charging usurious rates of interest that adjust upwards and upwards, every 3-6 months? Here's what's better: Having someone up and walk from their home. When someone walks, as the bank you can foreclose. You now have an asset that you 1. Sold to someone for $200,000 (maybe more, or maybe less) 2. Collected $15,000 in interest for (in two years or less) 3. Adjusted their rate upward, collecting an additional $3,000-$5,000 in interest (in maybe just the next 6 months) 4. Had them walk away from the house because they could no longer afford the payments 5. Foreclosed on their property 6. Sold the property again (to someone else) for $150,000 You figured out a way to earn $370,000.00 on a $150,000 house in less than 3 years. If the house is more expensive than this pretty basic and average example, your profits are significantly greater. I'm painting bank execs. in a less than positive light here. And that's the necessary mindset I had to get in, in order to understand how this could have happened... I had to suspend my basic belief in the goodness of people, in order to understand what happened in the mortgage crisis. Looking at it more pragmatically, I see that the banks are responsible to the investors, who are the bank's true customers, not the people who rent the money of the investors in order to buy properties. But the people who have made these decisions have done some quite self-serving things (since modern slavery isn't allowed in America). They have locked people into a role, and a wheel, of complete financial subservience. Worse, they have used the legal structures of our day to do it legally, to people who don't understand what's going on around them. It's just crazy to me that it took getting into an inherently harmful mindset in order to understand the reasons why banks aren't willing to negotiate with those who can stay in their homes. Many thousands of people want to stay in their homes. They want to live where they are, if the banks will simply lock in rates for them. Many people would probably be willing to refinance to a new rate, even if that rate was exceptionally high, say 6.7% (which is high compared to the rest of the market for now). The reason banks aren't willing to do this? Some people within the banking system actually WANT people to default on their loans, because the banks generate significantly more profit that way. Banks are in business to make money. That's not a surprise. Everyone knows that. What surprises me is that this profit making is still, in January 2011 (after 4 years of people going through the personal and emotional trauma caused by all of this - not to mention what's happened to the American economy in general), being intentionally done at the expense of people's welfare. What saddens me is that I've had to suspend some very basic beliefs in order to see that the issues aren't black and white. At the root though, there are some who (rather than finding solutions that will include and contribute to the betterment of everyone) actually want foreclosed homes and empty neighborhoods. What those people are forgetting is that the phrase "I am my brother's keeper, and he is mine" has never been truer than it is in the connected society we are living in today.

2010-12-31 This past two weeks

2010-12-30T23:27:23Z

In an effort to better track my time and know what I've been doing (because I do a lot, but often beat myself up for not accomplishing as much as I wanted to), I've decided to start posting regularly on Strive4impact with some of what I've done over the past couple of weeks. Set up Music of Massage, a place where massage therapists and anyone interested in 60 minutes of incredible relaxation music, can go to get it. It's $4.95/month for online access or $19.95/month to get a CD delivered to you, or $19.95/month for a CD delivered + online access. Music of Massage is my first membership site, and I'm very excited to help it grow! Hired people on GoodHiredHelp.com to do all kinds of tasks including cleaning up a list I bought of massage therapists and massage spas, Researching lots of blogs where I can request to have articles posted, and signing up for affiliate programs. Bought plane tickets from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Dehli, India, on May 3rd. $225 - Total cost for both of us including extra luggage allowance, meals, and extra leg room, for a 4 1/2 hour flight. No idea yet how or when we'll arrive in Malaysia. Carrie is so good at planning amazing places for us to travel. Opened an account with Goldmoney Talked with Houston Home Theater Systems (also my older brother) about redesigning his site into Wordpress. Wrote articles on IdentityTheftSecrets about How to Watch TV While Traveling Abroad, Coupons for ESET Smart Security, and creating backups of hard drives with a program called Acronis. Pretty excited about having made an affiliate commission on The Solar Plan. The sale was for a discounted item (unfortunately I can't see which item) through Hammacher Schlemmer. Posted articles on GreenJoyment about Government rebates for solar and green initiatives in Australia, Tom's of Maine's $50/$100 contest (you can still win!), and learned about third generation solar. Added new page templates (without sidebars) to Identity Theft Secrets and GreenJoyment.com. Still need to do this for MusicofMassage.com Helped Patrick Shaw and Adam (my brother) with a big server migration Celebrated Christmas with our friend James and his family, and our friends Matt and Nicole and Keith and Carol. Of course I've been up to a lot more... that's all the summary I'm going to take time to write up right now.

2010-12-15 This past week

2010-12-15T10:23:57Z

In an effort to better track my time and know what I've been doing (because I do a lot, but often beat myself up for not accomplishing as much as I wanted to), I've decided to start posting 1x/week on Strive4impact with what I've done over the past week. So, here's some of what I've done over the past couple of weeks, since this is my first "This Past Week" post. Wrote and shared a poem entitled "Looking Up" Wrote an article about Coupon Codes for renewal of Norton products Did an interview with No Debt World Travel (link coming soon) Did an interview with Caroline from Wales (link coming soon) Wrote a post about EcoBlue Atmospheric Water Generators. Pretty cool concept. Wrote a post about how Christmas comes in boxes in New Zealand Added affiliate links to Lisa Carey's post about How to tell if your Cell Phone is tapped or hacked Added floating heads to Carrie's post "But We Speak The Same Language" about how Brits and Americans can use the same words to mean different things Negotiated and promoted a discount for the members of GreenJoyment on the DIY Solar Panel Guides Wrote a few articles about ESET and ESET Promotion Codes Wrote a post about how to win a flip-pal scanner (my uncle Gordy's invention) Worked at the Auckland Council every day from 8:00-4:45 (ish)

Bring Value: A Conversation With a New Marketer

2010-11-13T23:27:42Z

When people email me out of the blue, sometimes the conversation gets longer and I end up sharing some content that I think is good and helpful for others. So, this is an email conversation between myself and Stojaco, someone I've just met through ThreeMoneyMethods.com. I don't know how he came to that site, but I hope you find some helpful advice in the conversation as well.

Hi, Here are my "comments"...unfortunately I did not receive(read) the report because "the pc, doesn't have" aproproate program and can not translate thetext (the report)!...so,I am asking,do you have a videos(maybe this is idea for better marketing-marketing tool, ha-ha), or some fresh and quickest way to make money,($1000 montly will be good),(no offense,,,for the report,because I haven't saw-read it).Thank you. I am expecting your reply,as you said you ...will. ps:I am not flatering you but I noticed that you are a good(Honest) guy,(which is very very rare when it comes to a "internet marketer") and I wish to tell you that I am a complete beginer to online merketing but I've noticed while I was looking for a way to make money online that with this one like you are doing (waiting for reply) you are making the same time (something-kind) like research and that is a sign to a honest in depth marketer,waitig for reply and maybe future cooperation.thank you.

]]> Ok,I will,but can you tell me how to make $1 online "imidiately" ?? thanks. Sent again 15 minutes later

Ok, can you tell me how to make $1 online ?? thanks.

I can tell you how to make $1 online immediately. But if you're in this for a quick buck (literally), then I'm not the right coach for you. What do you want to build that will be of value to people? That's where earning comes from... being of value to other people. Without even knowing you, I know you can bring value to other people, because we all have that ability. What value CAN you bring to other people online, and what value do you WANT to bring to other people? Download Adobe PDF reader and have a look at the three money methods guides... Warmest, Jonathan (Stojan then went to my YouTube channel. presumably instead of looking at all the videos on my YouTube channel, he just watched the first one that came up, which was the video talking about our 2011 advertising opportunity through CarrieAndJonathan.com. Below is the response I received.)

Aha,..I see,..then (you) go ahead and write an exxelent screnplay with outstanding(universal) message ,because I don't have money conditions to do that,and about $1... what,then (I)or(We) to repeat it and then learn that people(that was I taught when I asked you!! Think of that!

And again, 20 minutes later, I received the same message...

Aha,..I see,..then (you) go ahead and write an exxelent screnplay with outstanding(universal) message ,because I don't have money conditions to do that,and about $1... what,then (I)or(We) to repeat it and then learn that people(that was I taught when I asked you!! Think of that!

Stojan, I wasn't trying to have you watch the latest video I put up (about advertising with us). Advertising isn't right for you right now. You're just getting started. I don't know who hurt you in the past. I also do not know why you think I'm here to hurt you. But I am here to help. Sorry I sent directly to my YouTube channel... I sent you to my YouTube channel because there are LOTS of videos there. I wanted to direct you to those videos that are there without having to copy/paste all the links. I've learned a lot just sending you that one link, and I'm sorry if your perception was that I was asking you to buy advertising. I am not asking you to buy advertising. I hope that you do NOT buy advertising with us, as I don't know how that would help you right now. (So that you know, that 4 minute video took me over 65 hours (yes, 65 hours) to create.) But, there are 250+ videos on my YouTube channel. Take a look at these if you want to learn methods for online business marketing and building: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lUna8v1MPU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga9NBMKyCKI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOwuwgogtts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7NORTle6As http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv2TZ8y7fiM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXXJYuPQyCw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOwuwgogtts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyGriGY5oKg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y7WWxTnpsw All of this will make more sense though once you download the PDF reader and read the ThreeMoneyMethods reports. Here's the truth: There are THOUSANDS of ways to make $1 today. If you really need money today, and you have NO money, then borrow $1. Buy something for $1 and sell it for $2. Keep $1 for yourself, pay back the person you borrowed $1 from, and repeat the process. That's how you make $1 today. If you really need money that desperately, don't do it online. It will take time to build a business. I'm working with people online to teach them not just how to make $1 today, but how to build businesses which make the world a better place. Hope you're along for that journey... the world needs more positive, excited, passionate people living out their dreams. Jonathan

I agree but I've noticed that you are showing-teacheang just ideas,in a way, people to motivate them-you just give them direction but not teach them exactly what they to do and your final goal is to build a confindence and "make" name and brand...invest in your self(sorry if this looks like argue ,I don't mean by that at all,but rather something like a contructive conversation). Can you tell me THE EXACT WAY copy and paste from you if you succeded online till now and then maybe we'll be JV partners(if I know what that JV means?). All the best

Hey Stojan, Thank-you for your feedback. It is appreciated - really - so often people aren't willing to provide honest feedback, so I appreciate you letting me know how you're feeling after seeing the videos I sent you. I could show you the exact way I did what I did, and you would probably decide to go do something else (away from internet marketing) because it would be too much information to absorb in even several sittings. I have screwed up so many times and on so many projects. That is the "secret" to my success... learning by doing and being willing to mess up. Teaching people the EXACT WAY is also impossible... And the reason it's impossible is because there isn't an EXACT way. Unless you buy a franchise, business is about inventing your own way. But the Three Money Methods reports do take what all Internet businesses have in common and teach you how to set up the same structure so you can succeed online too. I would recommend to read the Three Money Methods Reports... Especially the 2nd one is a step-by-step what to do. I've really tried to do it that way so that you don't get overwhelmed getting started. Warmest, Jonathan

Ok,I see,...so let me be more specific: I want to roll on(try) with affiliate ,i have an idea for bringing trafic but I don't know which product(affiliate program) to promote.Can you show me(idea) which product to promote,but specificly pls,not a diplomatic reply(like,you try this or that!).If you help with this I would apreciete,realy!Thank you...

Hi Stojan, We are actively promoting over 1,000 products at any given time. The ones that have worked well for us over the last 9 years are: - Calling Cards (we do this through Strive4Impact.com and CallingAdvice.com). We teach people how to make International phone calls, and then sell calling cards for SpeedyPin, Nobel, and CallingCards.com -Telecom (CallingAdvice.com) We teach people how to save money on their phone service, and then we sell products through Commission River, and we're an affiliate of Skype through Commission Junction. - Software and personal security solutions (IdentityTheftSecrets.com and TheLegalEagles.org). We teach people how to avoid scams and schemes. Then we show them products to protect their computers and their lives. Some that have worked well for us are Roboform, Symantec, and Norton. We also have enough traffic on IdentityTheftSecrets that we sell the advertising space. - Male Progesterone Cream (Strive4impact.com) We teach men (especially older men) why they feel grumpy sometimes. Then we sell them progesterone cream. We do this through a company called Kokoro. I could go on... But hopefully you're getting the idea... Start thinking about how you can provide value. What do people want to know? What can you teach? Then find products to match whatever you're talking about. What works well is to provide value for people in areas they are looking for help. Help them get what they're looking for. In the process, you can talk to them about products and services, but first and foremost you have to provide some value to their lives. You have to decide what products are matched with the value you want to bring to the world. First bring value. Then bring products/services. Otherwise, whatever you build won't last and will probably be unfulfilling for you. Jonathan

My Entrepreneurial Spirit Comes From Anger

2010-11-02T11:43:47Z

Digging for nickels, dimes, quarters, and silver dollars in a kiddie pool filled with sawdust at a company picnic, I remember someone telling my younger brother what a valuable contribution my dad was making to the company that was sponsoring that picnic. I'm sure whoever that person was used different words to relate this idea to my 3 year old brother. However, even at my young age (4 or maybe 5), I remember feelings of pride and happiness for my dad. My dad is a highly intelligent, hard-working, dedicated, well-educated, and well-paid guy. He can think through things 12 steps ahead of where they are right now, diagram it all out for you, and walk you step-by-step through what needs to happen to get there. Despite this, growing up, I watched my dad have 7 different (well-paid, high-position) jobs in 15 or 16 years. One of the first downsizings came as the biggest shock. In my memory, I see my brothers and Dad and Mom standing around the kitchen counter. In my memory, I don't just see, but also experience; the pain, the hurt, and the frustration as Dad walks through the door at home, 2 hours earlier than usual, briefcase in hand. In my memory, I see, experience, and feel his feelings of betrayal as he tells my mom how they had escorted him to his desk, given him 15 minutes to collect his belongings, and escorted him to the door (presumably they did things this way so that they could prevent or control anything he would say to other employees). What would he have told the other employees? That their jobs were to be made redundant, outsourced, downsized, etc. the next day. This was an era pre-pagers, pre-cell phones, when you wouldn't have someone's home number or even think to call them in the evenings. (Instant messaging, texting, and emailing, were not options then.) My brothers and I, and later my sister, watched as Dad went through - "downsizings" - "lay-offs" - "outsourcings" - "redundancies" or whatever the catch phrase of the day was for the equivalent of: - "You've been sacked. India's cheaper." - "You've been sacked, but only because we're going a different direction" - "You've been let go, but only because of us, not because of you" As my brothers and I made our way into the working world, each of us experienced (in our early twenties) a downsizing, an outsourcing, or a "being let go" from a large corporation that wasn't making the bottom line or saw fit to get rid of us - not because of what we'd done, but because the company wasn't meeting the bottom line. We all had received promises of how we'd be able to really grow in the respective companies we were working in. In one particularly difficult case for me, I had (during my lunch break, but on a company computer,) logged in to my Hotmail account. This was in 2000, when the Internet was young. (Hotmail was still unknown enough that some people thought it was a porn site.) While I was logged in to my email, a co-worker was standing nearby, and saw a funny email I had received. He asked me to forward the email to him. I sent it to his work address and forgot about it. He was let go 1 month later for questionable sales practices, which many people in the office questioned and doubted. 6 months later, the company, 8,000+ employees, was having financial difficulties, and had been trimming the workforce. (Our office had been cut in half in number of employees. Overall, the company had let go of 2,000 employees and had a hostile takeover from an even larger company.) I got a phone call on a Friday afternoon from the legal department of that company, informing me that I was being investigated for possible dismissal for sexual harassment. I was shocked. The phone call was from one of the company's attorneys, asking me if I had sent a "pictographic representation of people engaging in lewd acts" from my Hotmail account to a co-worker's work email address. It had been six months. I had no idea what she was talking about, and I asked her for more information. Once she explained it, I said that I had sent the image. I wondered how it was possible that I could be dismissed for sexual harassment for sending a humorous but completely non-sexual image to someone who had requested it. After I got off the phone with the legal department, I typed up my letter of resignation, with a plan that I would come in on Monday, use up my vacation time by taking off the next three days, and resign the following Friday. Monday morning, when I requested the time off, my manager asked me to hold off for an hour because he and another manager needed to meet with me. Sensing that I was about to be fired (not letting me go for the true reason - sales were low and the company was capsizing, but because they wanted it to look like I'd done something wrong), I printed my letter of resignation. When they called me in for the meeting, I took a union representative into the meeting with me. The union representative asked what the meeting was about. They said that the meeting was about my termination for sexual harassment. The union representative said that before the meeting commenced, I wanted to hand in my letter of resignation. If I hadn't turned in my letter of resignation in that meeting, I would have been terminated (at the age of 20, from my first-ever corporate job) for sexual harassment. All that for sending an email with a couple of pictures. What were the pictures? People (men and women) skydiving while naked. There was no sex involved, and I don't know how it could have been even construed as sex in any way, except to someone with an overly Freudian perspective. To me, and much of the world, the picture was just hilarious human nudity. On the way out of the meeting room, the manager apologized that it had ended poorly with my time at the company. But he was said "I'm sure you will be good at whatever you decide to do." This coming from the guy who was about to put "fired for sexual harassment" on my record for something so trivial, if I hadn't come prepared to the meeting with my letter of resignation. The feeling that "I won't allow anyone to do that to me again" was in the forefront of my mind as I walked out the door for the last time. I'm working on it, but I don't know that I've truly forgiven the people at that company who, right up until the day before I was let go, led me to believe that I had a long-term future within that company. Coming back to my brothers and I - we would all have made excellent employees for a company that wouldn't have lied to us and/or betrayed the trust and faith we placed in that company. Today, I don't think any of us will ever again believe in the long-term proposition for working in that kind of environment. I guess I can't really speak for them, but for me, I had a couple more negative experiences in large organizations following this one, and it soured the possibility of ever believing in some big company's vision ever again. At this point in my life, I have no idea how I would ever trust someone that I worked for telling me that we would grow together (me exchanging my hours, knowledge, effort, energy, and focus in exchange for a long-term proposition of what I might contribute to building), and that I would have safety and security in my job. These experiences with corporate America have made me self-reliant, and that's good. Today, despite having each been offered our ideal job at some point along the way, each of us (my brothers and I) spent the remainder of our 20's learning about and building businesses. Now, in our thirties, we each control our own time, and each of us is his own boss. Some days my boss is a real jerk to me. We're all pretty driven, which comes from the way we were raised. But it also comes from watching what Dad went through. Each of us, in our own way, learned from watching Dad's experience. As I've said, I can't really speak for my brothers, but I'm still angry about how those events affected Dad and our life as we were growing up. I'm pretty cynical of work opportunities that come up in corporate environments. I'm also quite cynical of people who buy into a corporate vision, working in jobs that they sort of like, thinking that those jobs will be there to provide for them in the future. As a result of my own experiences, the people who work with me (as contractors) know that the only way I will continue to use their services is if they continue to do a good job. That's the expectation I set up front, and I think it's a good one to have.

Employees? You Are Expendable

2010-10-30T11:32:56Z

You are expendable. Listen to the word: Ex - spend - able. You are able to (and likely to) become an ex source of spending for the company you currently work for. When times get tough, they will drop you. Most companies attempt to be caring about it, but many let employees go at the drop of a hat. Because when it comes down to it, as an employee (in most cases), you are not a profit center. Instead, you are an expense. Ask yourself these questions: - Am I actively recruiting new sources of revenue for the company I work for every day? - Am I actively inventing new products or services (not just supporting them by creating graphics or campaigns, but actually inventing them) every day? If you can't answer either of those questions with a yes, then you are an expense, and you are expendable. I avoid the words always and never, but it's hard to imagine a time or situation that it won't always be that way. Job security? Nope. Probably never again in westernized countries. Job security is dead. The only way you can have some semblance of job security (as an employee) is if you are directly responsible for creating new sources of revenue through sales or through invention. Don't count on a past track record to keep you there either. Even a CEO who made a company massively profitable a few years ago can be ditched if the company's growth isn't continuing. So how do you prevent yourself from being expendable? Always be improving your skills and growing your possibilities. Always be seeking new opportunities within the company you work for, as well as in the world at large. DO NOT settle for where you are. All situations in life are temporary. That's a warning to the rich, and a hope for the poor. Create sources of revenue for yourself (that you REALLY know and understand - which means spending time to learn) during evenings or weekends. You want sources of revenue that you have more control over (investments, properties, business interests), so that you do have some actual control. It's most important to remember that as an employee, you are almost always an expense, and therefore, almost always expendable.