How Are Your Relationships? - by William Meadows

William Meadows wrote this article at  YouBeauty.com. You can read the beginning of the post here, then click on the link at the end to read the complete post.

I am a retired firefighter and fire service instructor. Now that I
am retired, I find myself at a new beginning in life.
I find myself lost at times wondering who I am and what I want to
do now.
My career was my life, after a divorce in 1988, I never remarried.
I found it easier to avoid personal relationships rather than
to subject someone else into my lifestyle, after all I did more than
a job,  I helped others and saved lives and was also ready to make
the ultimate sacrifice in doing so.
Tramatic Stress Disorder and Critical Incident Distress Syndrome
may seem odd to someone that knows nothing about these disorders.

The family and spouses of the military, police force and fire
department know all too well the worry and frustations they
endure for they know anything can happen in the line of duty.
They also know how close a unit can be.  They know that there
is a bond of brotherhood, for they work and live together and
are as close as family.

Read the complete post here.

Sisel TS-X is about reverse aging.

You read it right. Not anti-aging. We hear that a lot from companies who sell health products. Sisel does have products to stop aging. But TS-X goes beyond that. TS-X means Telomere Support Extreme. The picture above is what telomeres look like. TS-X helps maintain strong healthy telomeres, and thus we live longer.
So far, this sounds like a bunch of overhype. I agree. Well, I am putting my money where my mouth is. It was my friend Janet Legere who sponsored me in Sisel. She doesn't just believe in TS-X, she and her husband Don use it, and she's very excited with the results. Janet is a successful online marketer. I can't see why she would risk her business reputation on a fly by night company.
 Yesterday, I changed my Auto Purchase Order with Sisel. I am at Platinum level and I will remain at it. I will now get TS-X as well as the Triangle Of Life, i.e. SpectraMaxx, Eternity and FuCoyDon. In a few months, I have a meeting with childhood friends. I hope that the products work as advertised, because I will then have a room full of prospects. I am forty-eight years old. If I arrive there looking thirty, I will attract attention for sure.
 

Now that picture looks very nice, doesn't it? Well, it's a screenshot from the site Sisel provides to MySiselPro distributors. It's full of information and nice pictures like that. It explains TS-X from A to Z. Take a look at the site here.

Even Oprah expressed interest in telomeres, see her comment here:



Here's some more very cool information about Sisel:

• Company is doing over 100 million a year.
• Tom Mower has 40 years of product manufacturing experience .
• He has 18 years of Success in the Network Marketing Arena already.
• 400,000 Sq Ft manufacturing plant GMP certified (Good Manufacturing Practices).
• Supra Naturals is now Organically Certified.
• This is in addition to cGMP, NSF (National Sanitation Foundation).
• Compliant with Green Manufacturing.
• Over 130 Non Toxic products including Anti Aging Nobel Winning Science based on Telomere Research.
• Manufacturing Plant makes products for Costco, Wallmart, Sams Club,GNC etc...
• Manufacturing Plant makes products for 40 existing Network Marketing Companies.
• Internet Marketers and Network Marketers Joining Forces Like Never Before.
• Online and Offline Support by some of the best in the industry.
• Webinars and Conference Calls with the Tom Mower himself.
• Compensation Plan like nothing ever seen before.

You can take a look at Sisel by clicking here: http://www.mysiseldisc.com/siseldisc/phmoisan If you decide to join, I invite you to look at the video below. I did it to clarify a couple of details that might confuse you during the process.

Sisel is a serious player in the mlm industry.

I invite you to join Sisel and try TS-X by clicking here.

Liberate Yourself from E-Slavery - By Christopher Check

I saw this article and I wanted to share the first part here. To read the complete article, click here.

In the March 14, 2006 edition of the Chicago Tribune appeared “Swan Song for an iPod,” by a Kevin Pang, whose device had crashed. The author recalled all the “good times” he and his iPod shared. These
included the time that he “jogged along the lakeshore with Outkast blaring its Deep South brand of hip-hop” and the time he escaped the chatter of office life aided by Coldplay. The panhandlers on the
streets of Chicago his iPod helped him ignore. In other words, Pang’s world did not encompass the crash of the waves of Lake Michigan, the humanity of office life, or the tragedy of a beggar, but rather an alternate reality created through portable modern media.

The Age of Technology

During the thousand years between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance, what defined human life in the Western world was the Christian religion. People’s daily actions and experiences aligned to the
liturgical calendar, which itself proceeded throughout the year in harmony with the rhythms of the natural world. People knew that this life was preparation for the next, but they also knew that this
world was a part of the world to come. The great political and cultural achievements—the magnificent cathedrals, the poetry of Dante—could only have been created in such an age. Historians call this
time the Middle Ages, but a more accurate term would be the Christian Age.

The Christian Age began to pass as the Renaissance begat Protestant rebellion, the Enlightenment (or perhaps more accurately, “Endarkenment”) begat revolution. Human life no longer was informed at its center by worship of God but by worship of man. Whole nations exhausted themselves and shed horrifying amounts of blood in pursuit of promises impossible to fulfill: man’s autonomy and man’s perfectibility.

In his book Progress and Religion, Christopher Dawson shows that the age of the worship of man has also passed and that the age in which we now live—The Age of Technology—is its effect. Storytellers from Aldous Huxley to George Orwell, from Mary Shelley to Dean Koontz, have grappled with the horror of man’s effort through technology to become—as our first parents sought to become—gods. In the process man has become a slave. C.S. Lewis called this “the abolition of man,” and his book thus titled explained how three technologies—the radio, the airplane, and the contraceptive pill—all promised greater freedom for mankind but instead became the means for a few to control the lives of the many. Lewis saw these inventions serving the designs of totalitarian regimes. Half a century later,
many of us have of our own choosing surrendered our freedom to technology.

Faithful Catholics see well enough the tyranny of technology in the wicked laboratories where human reproduction is torn asunder from human love. They recognize that the first device aimed at this end, the contraceptive pill, is the bastard offspring of the previous age’s two lies: the perfectibility of man (eugenics) and the total autonomy of man (unlimited sensual gratification without consequences). Where Catholics are less able—or less willing, perhaps—to see technology’s tendency to enslave is in the operation of the machines and systems of modern communication technology: computers, iPads, smartphones, e-mail, social-network pages, chat-rooms, blogs, Web forums, Twitter, the Internet, texting, and so on. We have given our lives over to these devices and habits. My colleague Aaron Wolf has coined a term for this condition: e-slavery.

These devices and systems too often deliver, like the contraceptive, the opposite of what they promise. They  promise freedom but create dependence. Rather than strengthening human relationships,  they make them more trivial and more abstract. They addict us to novelty. Far from making the truth easier to uncover, they make the truth harder to discern. Worst of all, they are obstacles to our  relationship with the divine.

The personal, social, cultural, and spiritual costs of living in the Age of Technology are interrelated, and they demand more analysis than a single article can offer, but the reflections of G.K. Chesterton on the technology of his own day provide an excellent point of departure for reconsidering what we have so uncritically welcomed into our lives.

The ROI-MARTS formula for your home business: The S makes a big difference

ROI-MARTS, a home business concept.

A few days ago, I wrote the first blog post about ROI-MARTS. Actually, I called it ROI-MART. You can find that post here. In that post I introduced what ROI-MARTS is about:

• R = Return
• O = On
• I = Investment
• M = Money
• A = Associates
• R = Resources
• T = Time

A friend suggested that I call it ROI-SMART. I didn't quite like the idea, because it doesn't sound as good as ROI-MART in my opinion. ROI-MART flows smoothly when we say it. It can be said in a fraction a second, while ROI-SMART, well, it's not as smooth. Today, I realized there is an important aspect that is missing: Skills. Let me clarify what ROI-MARTS is about. It says to identify what your best Return On Investments are in four categories: Money, Associates, Resources and Time. In short, how to best use your money, your time, your tools, and which business relationships will bring you the best results for your home business. I chose the word Associates since it fits best the acronym. It can mean Partner, Upline, Downline, Joint Venture Partner, any kind of business relationship that helps both parties build their respective home business, or any kind of business for that matter.

3 S in home business

When you stop and think about it, the letter S is 3 times in the word "business". I'd say 2 of those are for Skills and Structure. The third one is for Smart. Yes, building a home business needs hard AND smart work. So you could say that the S in ROI-MARTS stands for Smart too. It does by definition, since the formula was created to help remember what is important in building your home business. Here's a video where I explain the ROI-MARTS formula even further.

Suggestions to get started with ROI-MARTS Here's a video I did that gives some ideas about where to start applying the ROI-MARTS formula. The video talks about:

• GTD: Getting Things Done, by David Allen.
• Eat That Frog, by Brian Tracy.

One tool I have used for over a year is called EverNote. You can use it on your PC, your iPad, your iPhone, maybe Android too, I'm not sure. The notes can be organized neatly, and they synchronize between the devices. It's really awesome. It's free. You can pay a monthly fee to get more options, but so far I haven't done that.

Keep ROI-MARTS in mind while building your home business.

Tools To Life: The Big Bump

The article comes from Tools To Life, Coach Steele program. The picture above comes from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Belize_Speed_Bump_Sign.JPG

The Big Bump

You don’t really conquer such a mountain. You conquer yourself!
You overcome the sickness and everything else, your pain,
aches, fears-- to reach the summit.
                                                                      -James Whittaker (on Mount Everest)

"Danger, Will Robinson. Danger, Will Robinson!”
                                                                                                 - Lost In Space robot

     Every now and then, when you’re cruising along, feeling great and enjoying the ride, you hit a big bump. You didn’t see it, and you weren’t ready for it, and so it really shakes you up. In fact, sometimes these bumps take you right off the road you are traveling. When you hit them hard enough, they stop you right there. If you had only known the bump was coming, you could have gotten ready. Then you could  approach it and figure out a way to get over it with the least damage and dis­turbance to your ride. If only you had known! The great thing about having a coach is that you can be warned about things you don’t see coming and be helped through them once you are in them. So let me warn you: You are about to hit a Big Bump. I will explain this in a second. I also want to let you know that I will coach you through it and past it, but you are going to hit it.

     Sorry, you can’t avoid it.

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies: for the hardest victory is the victory over self.
                                                                                                                    -Aristotle

     That’s right, you can’t avoid it. You can’t make a turn, take a different road, jump, fly, or do anything else to avoid it. You can’t even stop in your tracks--you’ll still hit it. There is nowhere you can go! The great thing is we can manage to get over it and continue our journey.

The best way out is always through.
                                                                                                            -Robert Frost

     Yes, you can make it through, and when you do, there will be a new world with endless possibili­ties waiting for you to develop and to fulfill your individual potential. The choice is yours, and if you want to make it over the bump, you can. If you want it, I will help you. So I have to ask you once again: Do you want to turn your life into what you want it to be? If you do, hang on to your seats, and grit your teeth because the bump you are about to smack into is yourself!

     Did you think it was going to be that easy? As much as you have worked and as much as you have grown, you had the advantage of surprise, momentum and the excitement of something new going for you. Your old negative patterns of think­ing were caught off guard and didn’t really think you were serious. After all, they have been around a long time, and you never followed through before and got rid of them, so why should this time be dif­ferent? But they get a sense it's different this time and if they want to stay, they’ll have to do something about it!

     I like to think of negative patterns as tenants in an apartment building. Your brain is the building and negative thoughts, patterns and habits occupy apartment space there. Not only are they tenants, but they also have ruled the building. They have made the rules and have set the tone of the standard of living. They have nonstop parties, pizza and beer and have all their friends over all the time. The music is so loud that the songs they sing are often the only thing we can hear.

     They’ve been having all the fun and too much fun for a long time. Now that you want them to leave, they’re not going to just pack up their bags like good little children and exit the building quiet­ly and cooperatively. Oh, no, they’re going to kick and scream and do everything they can to stay! They’ll start to tell you that you do not have to fol­low the Checklist. They’ll start to tell you that you can skip a day, that you can skip items, that things are silly in TOOLS, that things do not apply to you, that for however long you do this, every thought you think of will disqualify and stop the process.

     However, it’s your building, and you do have the right to kick them out. After all they’ve been destroying your property for a long time. They make you eat too much, late for important appoint­ments, insecure, depressed, smoke, drink, not exer­cise, lower your self esteem, all this and more. They’ve been doing everything to run the building down. So as a landlord who should be interested in the upkeep of your property, you do have the right to get rid of them and restore your building. So what kind of landlord are you going to be?

     I can tell you I know this will happen at some point in the next seven days. In my experience with clients, the majority of them suffer a setback in the period between Day 23 and Day 30. They find reasons to return to old habits and patterns of thinking. They usually have quite intelli­gent reasons. After all, it’s not that they are failing to follow through, but very important work issues have come up. I have a family member that needs help right now. I mean after all, there’s not just enough time to think positively throughout the day is, there? I’ve heard it all, and I can tell you it is all a lie! Every reason, every justification, every man­ner to stop this process and or disqualify it is a lie.

     The greatest deceiver of them all, your negative pattern of thinking, is lying to you.

It is a revenge of the devil sometimes takes upon the virtuous, that entraps them by the force of the very thoughts they have suppressed and think themselves superior to.
                                                                                                 -George San Tayana

     So it’s okay to linger in bed, eat another donut, and not put effort into plans to make your life what you want it to be? Listen, this process works, but you have to stick with it and make it work! You have to want to change, and you have to fight to control your apartment building.

Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.
                                                                                                            -Carol Burnett

     Your tenants are no strangers, though. No, your old habits and negative patterns of thinking have become good friends. They are old friends you are used to and comfortable with. After all, they support all your wrong deci­sions and make you feel good about them. As bad as they are for you, they are what you know. Often, when I’m working with people, as good as their lives start to become, they are uncomfortable with these new feelings. It’s a situation they are not used to, and as good as it is, it can actually be scary. It’s fac­ing and experiencing the unknown. As bad as our negative thinking is, it’s what we know, are familiar with and feel safe around.

Bad habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out of.
                                                                                                                  -Anonymous

     Your old ways of thinking are like the old pair of shoes in your closet. You’ve broken them in and they feel right. Even though they have holes in the bottoms and do not do a good job of protecting and helping you, you put them on instead of the new pair of shoes lying next to them. You’ll wear the old shoes in the rain and get wet. The new shoes have to be broken in and at first are uncomfortable, so you go with what you know. Let’s not only break in those new shoes; let’s get rid of that old pair once and for all.

First we make our habits, and then our habits make us.
                                                                                                                 -John Dryden

     The important thing to remember is that, although these negative thoughts are old friends, they are not good friends, nor do they have your best interests in mind. In fact, these negative thoughts are abusive friends who don’t care about you. They only care about what they want, and the things they want are always bad for you. I like to think of it as being in an abusive relationship. It always amazes everyone how a battered and abused person goes back to the abusive partner.

     Unfortunately, we go back to what we know and are used to, whether it’s good for us or not. Let’s not stay in an abusive relationship. Let’s break free.

     So what’s it going to be? An amazing aspect that people don’t understand and don’t consider is that negativity is an addictive and dangerous drug. We actually crave and desire it. It becomes how we think. We begin to see the world not through rosy glasses, but rather through the dark, tinted glasses of our negative patterns of thinking.

     Think about it. You get up in the morning and read the newspaper, get in your car to go to work and hear the same news you just read, then on your way home you listen to it once again, then the evening news and then the news before bed. What changed in all that time? Not much, you just need another dose of negativity. We begin to love to hear about other people’s problems and adversi­ties. Our conversations tilt toward our complaints and negative opinions. Then it reflects in our patterns of behavior. We give up, don’t go to the gym, eat badly, drink badly; it all doesn’t matter. It’s a giant black cloud that swallows us.

     Negativity is a very dangerous and bad drug that kills lives and our ability to make our lives what we want them to be. When I work with my clients, I like to give them this visual, and they tell me that it helps them through the battle. It helps you stop from giving negative thoughts a warm and friendly greeting. Then you can evict them from the apartment building of your mind.

For many, negative thinking is a habit, which over time, becomes an addiction. It’s a disease, like alcoholism, compulsive overeating, or drug abuse.
                                                                                                        -Peter McWilliams

     I tell them to visualize a junkie shooting heroin in his or her arm. Think of the most disgusting character you can conjure up in your mind. Hunched over, drooling, with scabs and bruises, and a needle in his or her arm. Then every time you’re getting ready to indulge yourself with anoth­er dose of negativity, see yourself as that character shooting up with negativity. Both heroin and nega­tivity destroy lives, it’s simply a matter of choosing a drug of choice. Now I know this is not pleasant, and I know you don’t like to think of it this way. If you do, you can change, but as long as you give your negative patterns of thinking any room, they’ll try to take over, and they’ll try to spread into every area of your life. They will affect your health, career, relationships . . . everything they can.

The strangest and most fantastic fact about negative emotions
is that people actually worship them.
                                                                                                          -P.D. Ouspensky

     Negative patterns of thinking are so strong that they take over our souls. They become who we are, and we begin to idealize them and crave them. We gather around in groups, worshiping them. But you can make a conscious decision to change these patterns. You can decide that you’re not going to listen to the lies and that you’re going to finish TOOLS. You can decide that no matter what logical reason you invent that you will not take your eye off the goal of finishing TOOLS.

     Now that you know that you’ll hit this bump, you can hit it and keep going. Now you won’t be surprised by it, but even though you know it’s com­ing, you’ll have to fight. Believe me, your negative thinking patterns are very tricky; they’ll seduce you with suggestions that seem so harmless; after all, what’s one day, one piece of cake, one more drink, one more hour of lingering in bed, one night of no sleep? Yes, it will rear its ugly head and try to devour you. But we can beat this and we will!

     You also have to watch out for friends and relatives. It’s amazing how seeing someone else change and become positive can be seriously intimidating. They’ll tell you that to wake up, clap your hands and say, “I’m having a great day,” is silly. They’ll tell you that this is just a bunch of malarkey. Misery loves company, and some people will not be comfortable with the new you. They’ll say things in a sarcastic manner: “Here comes Mr. or Ms. Happy.” Have you ever noticed that alcoholics always want you to have another drink with them?

     This is about you, and this is about you being able to make your life what you want it to be. This is about your career, your health, your body, and your relationships. This is about everything you want. So what’s it going to be, the new way or the old way of thinking? The funny thing is we’re talk­ing about ninety days. Ninety days of continu­ous, consistent effort in thinking positively and put­ting effort into your life. We’re talking about ninety days, when you have already seen positive results in your life. Don’t tell me you haven’t! Don’t even try to tell me you haven’t! This is Coach you are talk­ing to, or did you forget?

     Listen, I know you have. Everyone I have ever worked with has. Everyone that I have worked on with the testing of Tools To Life, has. Are you some kind of exception? The patterns of positive behav­ior we’ve been working on have had no positive results in your life? Well, we both know that’s a lie, and we know that you’re not only lying to me but to yourself as well. We already discussed that behind every lie to yourself is a failure. Stop the lying. You know you’re doing better, and if you’re not it’s because you don’t want to be better, and then your intent is to fail.

     Once again, we’re talking about ninety days. Ninety days in a life span where you didn't take control of how you’re thinking. Don’t you think it’s about time? Do you think it's really that much effort? Fight the impulse to self-sabotage. Remember, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”

It is not every calamity that is a curse, and early adversity is often a blessing. Surmounted difficulties not only teach, but hearten us in our future struggles.
                                                                                                                -James Sharp

     This week will not be your last battle with the roar of your negative patterns of thinking. However, every time you face the battle and win, you get stronger and stronger, and the negative patterns of thinking get weaker and weaker. Remember that the less you use a pathway (synapse), the more the vegetation grows back. Conversely, the more you take conscious effort toward positive, constructive behavior and thought in your life, the stronger those pathways become. Eventually they will be superhighways to the destination of your desires.

Great men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
                                                                                                             -Lucius Seneca

     So now that you know the bump is coming, you are ready. Make up your mind now and be resolved to conquer and continue on our journey through TOOLS. This is a battle and a battle worth winning. Together we will win. With your commitment, we will coach you through, and the war will end.

The only conquests which are permanent and leave no regrets
are the conquests over ourselves.
                                                                                          -Napoleon Bonaparte

You complete me

I saw this in the Tools To Life Coach Steele self-improvement program and decided to share it with you here. I only copied part of the article I read. You will have to join Tools To Life to see the whole thing. Tools To Life is free to join, no referral link.

There is no person, place or thing that can complete you.  Until you
yourself are complete, you are always incomplete.
                                                                                        -Coach Steele

We are working on mind, body and spirit. Remember that everything in this course ties together, and there are lessons everywhere. No matter what your goal in this course is (which right now is only to complete it), for example, losing weight or motivation, you need to be complete in order to make anything work. There isn’t an event that you can work for that will complete you. There isn’t any person you can be with who will complete you. There isn’t any possession you can own that will complete you. The pursuit of something to complete you, other than yourself, will in the end leave you incomplete. In essence, looking for something to complete you is the same as making happiness a destination: You never arrive and the journey is unhappy.

     Although the movie Jerry Maguire is so likable and enjoyable, it has a line in it that reveals a fatal flaw in its concept of relationships. The lead character, Jerry Maguire, is played by Tom Cruise, with lead actress Rene Zellweger. Well, as in typical movie plots, one of the themes is boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Toward the end of the movie, when he has lost the girl and realizes he needs her, he runs a fast and des­perate race to get her back. He storms into her house, where a women’s counseling group talk about their terrible rela­tionships. It’s all very funny. So he rushes in and has his speech set in his mind. He goes on and on and then finally says: “You complete me.” To make it fun, she says: “You had me at hello.”

 

      That line got a great reaction from people. Women I know felt that the a guy saying, “You complete me” was the most romantic and perfect thing a man could say. In fact men are just as guilty of thinking that. The truth is that no one can or should com­plete you. As individuals, we are just that—individ­uals. We each must complete ourselves.

 

      A long time ago and I don’t remember when, I heard a theory called the Theory of Circles. Believe it or not, I was in a bar when I heard this old Scottish fisherman with a long beard and a scar that ran from the top of his forehead right down through his left eye and down his check, begin to talk. Now this old man had the accent of accents, and when he opened his mouth the gold on his teeth shined and blinded me for a second. He was a scary old man, who had absolutely nothing to do with this story. The old man who told me this story was quite normal, and this is what he explained. It made sense to me, and I would like to pass it on to you.

 

      He explained that the planet Earth is a circle, and our being is only complete when we are our own circle as well. In the same manner that the planet revolves, our lives shift, turn and develop. Our lives don’t stay still and are not lived in one moment. He explained that the idea someone else completes you is to state that you are a half circle. He held out his thumb and index finger and made half a circle. He said, “One half circle.” With his other hand he made another half circle. He said, “Another half circle.” So there he is with both hands out and two separate half circles. I didn’t know where he was going, but he certainly had a way of holding your attention with that scar and all.

 

      Then he put the two half circles together and said, “You complete me. This is when two half circles form a relationship and we think everything is great. At first maybe it is. At that moment everything might seem perfect and maybe it is perfect. But remember what I said before, life does not stay the same and things change and move, just as planets revolve and shift.” He moved his hands so the two half circles moved a little and formed a gap. “This is what happens to two people who are half circles in a relationship. Things in their lives shift and a gap begins, and then (he makes the gap larger) the gap grows and they eventually divorce. They split up and go back out in the market as a half circle, looking to find another half circle to be complete.”

 

       “This remains the pattern of their lives, or they stay in the relationship wondering why they don't feel complete.” He went on to say, “Two half cir­cles are always just that, two half circles. No, no, my friend, the only way to be complete and the only way to have a good relationship is to be your own complete circle.” He held up his hands and made two complete circles with his thumbs and forefingers. “Then you are complete, and the only way to have a good relationship is to meet another complete circle.” He pressed the two circles against each other. “Then you are two complete circles com­plementing each other and revolving around each other as life’s currents shift and turn. No matter how life shifts and turns you’re both complete and able to help, grow with, and enjoy each other. That, my friend, is the only way you stand a chance out there. And there it is. The Theory of Circles. Now buy me another drink, laddie.” With that scar and beard, I would have bought him anything.

 ------------------------------------------------------------

Coach Steele then gives additional information and another example from the movie "The Runaway Bride" with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.

I did a video to demonstrate the example about circles and half circles.

I write posts on my Be Proactive Now blog for every day I complete in the Tools To Life Coach Steele program. Click here to see my post about Day 1.

Link Research Tools - by Sean Supplee

Link Research Tools are essential for SEO.

The "Link Research Tools" article was written by Sean Supplee. He's a successful online marketer.
 Below is the first part. SEO or search engine optimization has to be one of the hardest things to understand and once you think you understand it they change everything on you.

With social media now playing a huge part in our everyday lives it is thought that these types of backlinks are having an impact on your rankings on search engines. With Googles new social search engine, sites with more +’s may rank higher, at least when a person is signed into their Google account.

What’s more important to take away here is that even old methods of backlinking still hold weight and if done right will greatly benefit your rankings and traffic flow to your pages. These methods, such as acquiring authoritative, relevant links on other sites that are related to your sites content, will always yield great results.

These links however are becoming very expensive and unless you are a large sized company the cost does not outweigh the benefits any longer.

So how do you track your link building once you start?

[Read the rest of the "Link Research Tools" article here...]

Home Business: Introducing the ROI-MART Formula

I found a formula for any kind of home business.

Everybody knows what ROI means: Return On Investment. In the past few days, I was thinking of a new way to express the need to focus on building a home business. I was thinking of time and money management. Then came the idea of managing resources, including people, websites, tools. The ROI-MART formula came to life today:

• R = Return
• O = On
• I = Investment
• M = Money
• A = Associates
• R = Resources
• T = Time

To that, you can add the 6 Ps: Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. That one I heard from Brian Tracy, the well known success author and speaker.
Let's continue with acronyms. Brian Tracy recommends planning the activities of the day. He says it's best to do it the night before. So, we can have 6PsTNB.
In order to choose the activities that will be meet the ROI-MART formula, it's better to define 10 objectives that you want to reach. Write down a list of all the things you want to accomplish, then choose the 10 you want to reach first.
While writing the list of all your objectives, don't stop thinking about them. Make this a brainstorming exercise. Let your creative juices flow. Forget about what could be ridiculous. You can reject them later, while choosing the 10 most important ones.
We are not talking only about business objectives. Include every aspect of your life:

• Family
• Social
• Financial
• Health
• Spiritual
• Material

I would say that health comes first. When health is taken care of, the rest follows. So, make these your top priorities:

• Healthy food.
• Regular exercise, minimum 3 times a week.
• The right amount of sleep, between 7 and 8 hours for most people.

Taking proper care of yourself helps to maintain or develop these skills:

• Patience.
• Clarity of thinking.
• Common sense.
• Focus.

In this day and age, life is full of distractions. It's hard to stay focused. According to Scott Scheper, in his book "How To Get Focused", there is:

• Long term focus.
• Short term focus.

Both are important.

If any part of this article makes you feel overwhelmed, it might simply be caused by cognitive distortions. These are thoughts that amplify emotions and make them difficult if not impossible to manage. Cognitive distorsions defy common sense. Learn how to deal with that with the best book on the subject, David Burns' "Feeling Good".
If what you want is a life coach but can't afford one, check out Devlyn Steele's Tools To Life site. Tools To Life is free. Read the first blog post I wrote about it here.
When you feel ready to go beyond taking ordinary control of your life, I believe one of the best books around is "Awaken The Giant Within" by Anthony Robbins.
Mastering the ROI-MART formula will take time. All you have to remember is that you probably won't get rich in the next 30 days, whatever home business you choose to build, especially if you just started. Instead, use ROI-MART to think long term. Let's say it takes you three years to become financially independant. If you are 70 years old, it means you could have 10, 20 or even more years to live the life you want to live. Now imagine if you are in your forties. It's worth it to take the time to do things properly.

Building a lasting home business is hard. ROI-MART will help you work smart, and make the process exciting!

I will develop the concept further in future posts. Check this video where I show how I pronouce ROI-MART.
 

 

Be proactive now to build your home business.

Google loves Blogger.

Of course they do, it belongs to them.
I had always refrained from having a blog in the Blogger environment. I felt it was better to have a self-hosted blog, and that is possible with WordPress. It's widely known that Blogger is easier to learn and manage, but since I don't mind learning some techy stuff, it didn't bother me.
A few months ago, my friend Terri Pattio told me something that makes a lot of sense. Having a Blogger blog is a good idea, since, well, as I said earlier, it belongs to the company that has the most popular search engine in the world. So, it's obvious that a Blogger blog could be a good sales funnel.
Maintaining a blog is time consuming, so I hadn't done it. Then, a friend asked me for help about adding a YouTube video on her Blogger blog. It was the kick I needed to start one for good. I had created a blog 2 years ago, but had never really posted anything.
This post you're reading is the first original one I write on this blog. I feel it is logical to do so, since it is specifically about this blog here. Another reason is that it's ok to copy a post from a blog to another, but know that the first one where it's published will be the one indexed by search engines. So, from now on, I will sometimes write a post here first, then copy it on my BeProactiveNow.net blog, and vice versa.

Videos about Blogger

The main reason I'm maintaining this blog, actually, is because I love to do video tutorials. Since I know that many people choose to have blogs in the Blogger environment, it makes sense that I create videos for that audience. In order to do that, I need to learn about Blogger, so I reach two targets with one stone.
One thing I'm pretty sure that many Blogger users don't realize is that we can create pages in a Blogger blog. In the case of this blog here, these pages pages appear at the top, to the right of "Home." One of the pages I created is called "Videos about Blogger." If you need help about your Blogger blog, check out the page, or let me know in a comment if you need a video about something you want to do, and I will find out how to do it and create a video, then add it on the page.

Blogging with WordPress

If you ever decide to start blogging with WordPress, I have videos about that too. You will learn how to use plug-ins ( what is called "gadgets" for Blogger ). There's a selection of hundreds ( if not thousands ) of plug-ins for just about every need you can think of. WordPress is a lot more powerful than Blogger. When you are comfortable with Blogger, I invite you to connect with me at APSense, the business social network, and we can go on from there.

Starting with Blogger

If you want to start a Blogger blog, here's a video that will take you step by step.

I'm learning to love Blogger.

Online Marketing Tools: Likes, Share Buttons, Font Sizes, Sitemap

Online marketing tools.

There are so many, it’s a never ending learning experience. In this blog post, I will talk about tools:

1. to get likes on your Facebook Fan Page.
2. to have share buttons on your website.
3. to change the font sizes on your WordPress blog.
4. to have a sitemap on your WordPress blog.

Don’t worry, I won’t get into tech mumbo jumbo, I am lazy about that myself. I will show you what I did in 3 videos. I will put some words in the blog post too, since it’s better for SEO to have at least 400 words. Here's the first video, where I show where to find and how to install the social plug-in from Facebook.
Here's the 2nd video, to get the AddThis share buttons for free and easily add them on your website, if, like me, your pages are not all created by your WordPress blog. All you need is a minimum of HTML skills. By the way, something very nice you will discover on the AddThis website the next day after you install the share buttons, it's statistics about how many shares and clicks you got for each button. Very cool.
Here's the 3rd video. I'm not sure it works with all WordPress themes. Let me know if it's not the case. I heard it doesn't with the Evolve theme, which is pretty elaborate.
Now, why would you want a sitemap? It's my friend Chris Bailey who pointed out to me the importance of having one. Some reasons are:

• Some people enjoy seeing there's one, when they want to find a page and can't.
• As I mention in the video, search engines love it.
• It makes your site look more professional, in my opinion.

Here's the 4th video.


The link I was trying to find in the video is: http://beproactivenow.net/sitemap.xml Pretty easy to remember, isn't it?

Many online marketing tools are.

I hope one or more of these videos will be helpful to you. See my "Videos" pages where I cover other online marketing topics with screencast videos. When I find the time, I will add a page to show my network marketing videos. These are live videos, done for the fun of it, with the objective of being duplicatable. As I mentioned before, I didn't have the courage to write 1,600 words, which would have been the thing to do had I done one blog post for each video.

Online marketing tools: Don't leave your site without them.

Where To Find My Webinars About APSense

APSense is a popular business social network.

There are tons of features that will help you build an online business. However, it can seem overwhelming. No worries. I have done many videos that will help you figure out how to things at APSense. The following video gives you a tip on how to find easily my videos about APSense on my YouTube channel phmoisan. I suggest you subscribe to the channel since I add videos regularly, especially now that I do videos for webinars about APSense.
Speaking of the webinars about APSense, click on the link below to see the recordings of the ones I have done so far:

Webinars about APSense

On that page, not only will you find the recordings, you will also get a list of the individual videos I have done for specific parts. It will allow you to get the information you need fast without having to watch the whole webinar.

Day 15 Tools To Life Coach Steele: gratefulness

Tools To Life.

I'm glad to be here. Tools To Life is raising my awareness about myself. About how I deal, or refuse to deal, with my emotions. By the way, if you get to this point, i.e. Day 15 of Tools To Life Coach Steele, the first thing that appears, make sure you complete it. If you don't, or you decide to do it later, it doesn't come back. It looked very interesting. Maybe I can ask support to see it again. Well, if not, I can go on, of course. I am still tempted to read other books instead of continue with Tools To Life. Not because Tools To Life is not good. I guess it's making me face things I don't want to acknowledge. But, to grow my online business, I have to go through personal growth. Reading books won't cut it. I just finished Day 15. There was an important family matter that shook me, it prevented me from completing it before. Good excuse, right?  

Bits of online marketing news from the past few days

On Friday, I did the 2nd webinar about APSense features. I talk about it in a post on this blog: Webinar about APSense Business Center. There weren't more than 10 people, but I recorded it, and I had 18 views on the recording so far, and high praise about the contents from the ones attending. Here are the current stats:

• Alexa Traffic Rank: 517,522.
• Sites linking in: 37.
• YouTube views on my channel phmoisan: 13,925.
• Subscribers on myy YouTube channel, total 153.

Let's see if I can follow my blog post promo checklist today:

• Facebook ( regular account and FanPage )
• Twitter
• StumbleUpon
• APSense
• Pinterest
• Google+

Me, Don Dousharm and Yves Neault are working hard to launch ECP, aka Exceptional Content Publishing. Don is responsible for adding content, Yves is our tech and WordPress specialist, I'm in charge of promotion. The three of us are very serious about this. We want to have thousands of members. The main goal is to provide content that members will personalize to make it exceptional and so it will help them be successful.

Tools To Life introduction

I did a video to show the Tools To Life toolbox page once you've joined. You can see it in this post ( click here ). You will also read about some basic information to help you understand how Tools To Life can help you.

Hopefully, Tools To Life can help you be proactive now.