Invest In Your Success
What do you want to accomplish more than anything else right now? I’ve been asking myself the same question recently. And I’ve tried to take steps to ensure that I’ll reach my goals, push past them, and set bigger and better ones for the future. Here’s what I’ve been up to lately to help myself in the different areas of my life.
Health: I have been doing P90X to whip myself back into shape. I’ve lost around 30+ pounds overall since I’ve started (including P90X and other exercise) and feel awesome. The improved physical condition has translated over into every other area of my life. I feel better than I have in a long time and even though I’ve been slacking off in the last phase a little bit lately, I’m going to finish the program and write a full summary of my experience here.
Wealth: I have been digesting a lot of material on wealth-building which is nothing new for me. I study internet marketing and ways to create wealth no matter what anyway. But what I’ve really changed is the small steps I’ve taken to invest in my future. I never really looked at having my investment plan in order before the past couple of months. I opened a higher-than-average return savings account and an investment account with ING Direct/Sharebuilder and have started looking into ways I can save more and contribute to my retirement savings more actively. This is an area I have neglected for a long time and feel so relieved to finally be learning more about it at this stage in my life. In addition, I have been killing it with my study of internet marketing recently and I’m at the point where I’m ready to really throw everything I’ve learned into practice within the scope of what’s doable for me. In any case, I have a great desire to put more effort into what I want to be a very successful business one day.
Relationships: I recently separated from my wife of 4 years. Yes, it’s sad but true. We still care a great deal for each other, but it was time to make a change and move on. Fortunately for me, I have taken great strides to not mope around on this loss. Instead I see it as an opportunity to become a master at all the social skills I have left underdeveloped all this time. I am a HUGE fan of pickup theory and evolutionary psychology. Being “single” again gives me the chance to go out meet new women and friends and really learn more about myself and others in a practical environment. What was once sadness has now been replaced with the understanding of patience and anticipation for the adventures to come in my life.
Miscellaneous: I’m starting back to college in February for a degree in Computer Information Technology. I’m not overly excited about it because I know it will probably take more of my precious time than anything else. But I do want to finish my Bachelor’s degree and my GI Bill will more than cover the expense. I also know it will greatly enhance my resume and give me the golden “something to fall back on” egg.
I know you haven’t heard from me in a while, and these are the reasons why. I’ve been investing in myself and my future a great deal. This article is about that very topic: Self-improvement in all areas at all costs.
It’s easy to just sit around the house all day and play PS3. I go through many days where I do that as well. But throughout my time, I’m very conscious of taking little steps to ensure success will be commonplace in my life. Here’s a little bit of what I’ve learned recently:
1. You HAVE to invest something, whether you want to or not. You have to invest time, money, resources, focus and energy just for starters into whatever outcome you desire in your life and there’s no way around this. You may say “I don’t have to invest anything.”, but in all fairness you are then investing in whatever it is that you are choosing to spend your life doing by not actively pursuing the things that you REALLY want. Time is the most precious of these. The time I spend mindlessly web surfing and playing PS3 is time I could be spending building my blog, internet business, and getting things done that have more priority in my life. This is a habit I am working on improving into something more manageable.
2. Don’t be afraid of failure. I fail all the time. I’ve even written an entire article dedicated to not caring about failure. The thing is to not consider small setbacks failures, but instead to frame them as feedback. Dwelling on setbacks is failure. Correcting them and improving in those areas is inevitable to success. Know the difference and implement it.
3. Evaluate the weak areas of your life and see where you can improve. This one has been big for me and it’s the entire premise of this website and a philosophy I live my life by. What is dragging you down and really feels out of order in your life? Health, Wealth, or Relationships? If one is out of balance from the other two, you will feel it. It may even get to the point where it begins to affect the other areas of your life in a negative way. Find weaknesses and take those initial steps to improve them.
4. Maintain and build upon your strengths. This one is easily accomplished. Best example: My fitness and diet habits have consistently yo-yo’d throughout my life. I’ve gone through many periods of being in shape, working out and eating right. These would then be followed by me settling for my physical condition and then allowing myself to eat junk food and not work out as much resulting in me getting out of shape and having to work hard just to get back to where I was. Now that I’m in a good position with my fitness and diet, I am making it a priority to stay there. I even let myself indulge a little bit with dessert and the occasional beer. Moderation in indulgence is okay. Just don’t let it ruin the habits that got you the success in the first place.
5. Make a plan. This can be an improvement to whatever plan you have in place now or a start from scratch manifesto. Just get something down on paper. I went through Tony Robbins’ Get The Edge program a couple of months ago and it was eye-opening. I was able to write down what I really wanted in life, set timelines of when I wanted to get there and immediately begin taking action towards those goals.
6. Be CONSISTENT. Half of the game is just showing up. Once you have your plan and action steps set up, follow them with conviction. You might get sidetracked or derailed, but keep pushing. A little effort is better than no effort at all. It definitely helps to have the right people around you as well. Try to maintain a peer group who consistently moves towards goals similar to what you are trying to accomplish and this makes your successful progression almost inevitable.
If you’re slacking on yourself and what you want, don’t wait until January to get cracking away on your dreams. January 1st is not a fresh start, but just a date like any other date. Get your fresh start now. Even if you take small steps only, they will still be small steps in the right direction.
Mass Control 2.0 : The Conference
The Mass Control 2.0 conference in San Diego was nothing short of phenomenal, albeit insanely long.
It was held in beautiful downtown San Diego, California at the Hard Rock Hotel and I loved every endurance-demanding minute of it. I attended Friday and Saturday, although I found out later that a third bonus day was given to those who purchased the course through a special affiliate link. Something to keep in mind when purchasing those big important trainings in the future!
I was given a notebook to take notes in that I filled nearly halfway with copious pages of information derived from the absolute leaders in internet marketing. I mean these are just normal guys to anybody on the street but all-stars to those who follow the industry.
There is a ridiculous amount of knowledge and tidbits I gained from the guys there that I can use now and in the future to add on to my business model. Since there is so much I will provide a brief list and review of what each guy talked about.
Pretty much every one there gave a great deal of value in their presentations, followed by a pitch of course to those interested in purchasing a course or package of some kind. I reserved purchasing any more courses for the time being as I have invested enough of my hard-earned coin in both Arbitrage Conspiracy (which is STILL giving valuable content even after the course has ended), Infomillionaire (which I have since quit the monthly membership program due to feeling like I’m past the level of knowledge being given), and Mass Control 2.0 (which I have yet to fully dive into, but am excited about what I have learned so far).
The speakers were as follows:
Frank Kern: Of course the man himself had to do a good deal of speaking, most of which was hilarious redneck comedy bits. I mean I had a GREAT time laughing my arse off at his jokes. But he also gave a great deal of info on just getting your butt into gear and doing something, as well as how simple it really is to produce what he does. He introduced us to his video guy the last day who I was very interested in listening to about their production of various videos leading up to Infomillionaire and MC 2.0 pitches and opt-in pages. Video is the future and I really got a lot out of listening to their advice and experiences. Cousin Trey Smith also made a brief cameo on Saturday night and chimed in here and there.
Bob Serling: I’ve heard about Bob a lot recently as his licensing product has been highly touted by all the gurus. He gave out some of his powerful methods on how to find clients and cash in by helping them cash in.
Jeff Walker: King of the Product Launch. He spoke about how tremendously powerful launches still are as well as how easy it is to make extra income by doing re-launches and coordinating with the leaders in your market for across the board JV opportunities.
Harlan Kilstein: I had never heard of Harlan before this conference but was quite impressed at his NLP abilities. I’ve been quite skeptical about the use of NLP before now, but after seeing it used on the audience at length throughout the conference as well as how prevalent it is in Frank’s pitches, I have definitely decided to take notice and do a little more research on it. Harlan has studied with some of the best.
John Carlton: The King of Copywriting gave a rushed but valuable talk on the importance of having a system in place for your copywriting and how to connect with and overcome objections from customers.
Ed Dale: Ed gave what was probably the highlight of the conference for me. He spoke about becoming a leader in your market in 90 days. His method of finding and researching markets and using openly available and free tools to communicate with them really struck home with me. I am really impressed with his marketing prowess and now intend to keep an eye on his future projects. He has an excellent resource available in the 30 Day Challenge.
Jason Moffatt: Uncle Mofo definitely gave the most unusual presentation. He had the audience do an insane exercise to get us pumped up and hearts racing and then proceeded with his talk about 7 areas to focus on to have an impact in your market.
Ryan Deiss: The Master of Continuity Programs. I had heard a lot about Ryan Deiss recently and was very impressed by his continuity structure. He showed us how easy it really is to set up a continuity program and make tremendous profit from it, at very little cost and usually with others doing the work for you.
Mike Filsaime: I really enjoyed Mike’s talk. This guy is all business and all about the money but in a fun and classy way. He broke down how the launch of his newsletter was so successful because he gave away BFM 2.0 for free. Not only did he detail his numbers and how obscene of an amount of money he made on the launch but also the psychological Cialdini-esque principles that made what he did so powerful. Not surprisingly, he is already back at it and in cahoots with Anik Singal with the coming launch of Launch Tree.
Jeff Johnson: I had never heard of Jeff before this seminar either, but I’m glad that I have now. This guy is ridiculously focused on his business and I got a ton of good tips on how to become a super affiliate from his presentation. He also gave away some good info on how he does SEO for his sites.
Jorge Cruise: Jorge was a surprise last-minute guest. He spoke about the tactics he has used to get his fitness books published and how he’s garnered national attention for them. Very valuable information to have if one were to decide to try to get a book published in the mainstream.
Overall, I absolutely loved the conference and really don’t have anything bad to say. It was very valuable and I took away a great deal of info I will be implementing into my business efforts for the future. It was draining though: 12 hours the first day and 14 hours the second! I wish I had been able to go for the third day but I’m sort of happy I got out and rested!
The entrepreneurial energy there was fantastic and I met a lot of cool people who are really driven in improving their businesses. I highly recommend to anybody who wants to be a market leader or even just make a huge improvement in their niche to attend a trade show and learn more from the top dogs as well as put your name out there.
Most importantly, STAY MOTIVATED & JUST DO IT! I’ll close with the quote of the conference for me, relayed from Frank himself: “If you want to do the many things that most people can’t do, then do the few things that most people won’t do.”
Clark
Embrace The Failure!
Is that title a bit scary?
If you think so, then let me refresh and then reframe you a bit.
I have been stinking it up so far for my goals this year. I have lost money on Adwords doing campaigns for the Arbitrage Conspiracy and Clickbank. I have all but abandoned my exercise and diet program. My relationships with friends and family have come in second as I try to touch all my goals and barely scrape the surface of any of them. I am trying to do too much and by doing that falling into some of the very traps I have warned you about. Things seem to be going bad so far this year right?
Although I get a little discouraged at times, I don’t think so. The very first day I tried out some of the tips from Infomillionaire, I made a sale. Then it happened again the next day. I thought I was awesome. Then from the second sale came my first refund. I was ridiculously disappointed as if somehow I had something to do with someone being unhappy with a product I didn’t create. After a few days of disappointment on spending on ads and getting no sales, I had a breakthrough weekend: 4 sales, and my first 2-sale day. Since then: NOTHING. All things considered, I haven’t even broken even on what I’ve spent for ads on this campaign. But the biggest victory for me is that I have learned how to set up a campaign, and I have made SALES. The psychological barrier of making that first sale online is out of the way for me. Now I just have to continue to tweak and refine how I do things so that my business will go in the other direction and turn profit in this department. Another good note is that I’ve been discussing this business with a friend and he’s turned a couple of affiliate commissions already as well, which makes me happy that I can help someone.
As far as the Arbitrage Conspiracy goes, it’s got a similar theme. I haven’t been able to turn out as many campaigns as I would have liked so far. I have gotten a lot of VALUABLE information from them though. They have made this course very informative so far. I have learned a lot about writing ads and doing research. I can’t wait to see what the coming weeks bring. I have made a grand total of 3 conversions the last time I checked doing this program. NOT a lot. But I believe I can do better.
I feel like I haven’t put my best foot forward and I’m hoping to change all that by focusing a little more on one thing at a time. I’m stretching myself a bit thin between my commitments. In the beginning I thought I’d only play around with the Infomillionaire stuff and focus completely on Arbitrage. That’s what I want to get back to now because after the initial successful conversion rate I wanted to push harder. Now I know it’s the time to draw back and pay a bit more attention where it’s due. Arbitrage will be my biggest focus now.
I also have school to think about. I am back at The University of Phoenix after a brief stint away. I enjoy the classes and I think they really give me some great ideas. I’ve already taken away a few gems from my first week of class I can apply to my business and my life.
I also joined Bally’s Fitness with my wife last night. It will give us some quality time together to grow closer this year and reach our fitness goals in the process.
Why talk about all these mini-failures? I promised I would share my journey with you. I feel like after all these “how to be excellent” articles I’ve written, I should also share the other side of it. There’s a valuable lesson in this though: You have to be able to take the bad with the good, and keep moving FORWARD.
I don’t get too bent out of shape over my failures and setbacks. They are part of the game. If you are really trying to accomplish something, roadblocks will get in your way. It’s inevitable. The thing that will be necessary is to fight through the failure until the only outcome left is success. I truly believe that and that is why I persevere through setbacks, losing money, and spending every waking moment thinking about my goals.
Anybody who is familiar with Arnold Schwarzenegger knows his theory on the “pain period”. If you can push through the pain on your way to a goal, you will not only accomplish it but more than likely blow it out of the water. The thing is that most people move away from pain and/or towards pleasure. It’s the animal condition in all of us. Most successful people embrace pain and failure and realize it’s just a part of the road to success.
Another thing to realize is that through your efforts, you probably haven’t failed as much as you think or even at all. I realize all the little things my efforts have gotten me. My site is starting to get more readers. My SEO efforts have gotten me a Pagerank of 2/10. It was “No Pagerank Available” last year, so not too bad for a part-time blogger! I have learned a lot about the business and continue to do so. I was 220 pounds at one point last year and I am much lighter (around 195) now. My relationships have been through many ups and downs in the last 2 years and right now I feel very blessed to be in the position I am in with the quality of people I have in my life. Even though I am working my butt off to the neglect of those I love sometimes, they are still there for me with support and encouragement.
My message is this: Things are never as bad as they seem. Don’t EVER give up chasing your dreams. Do what you have to do. Refine your processes. Always try to do better, get better, be more. The things that may seem like failures in your life may be successes in more ways than you can realize. A year from now, how will I look back on this post? My best guess is as a step I had to climb to reach another level of success.
Don’t be overwhelmed when looking at the size of the stairwell you will have to climb on the way to your own personal success. No matter how you look at it, you will still have to take it one step at a time. Why not get started?
Are you ready for 2009?
First up, let me say that I hope you enjoyed your holidays as much as I enjoyed mine. I spent some quality time with my wife and daughters and the rest of our family and had more fun than I’ve had in a long time! As Christmas passed, the New Year loomed large in my mind and my goals, resolutions, or wants(pick your poison) came to the forefront of my focus.
I saw a very influential video that Frank Kern put out to promote his new Infomillionaire product. It was titled How To Get Rich: A Guaranteed Approach. After an entertaining Cribs-style video, Frank gave a 4 step plan on getting rich. It had some excellent points that really rang true with me. Most importantly:
1. Being specific about your goals i.e. KNOW YOUR OUTCOME
2. Developing a plan, sticking to it, and BELIEVING it will work
My favorite quote from the video: “Rich people believe that what they’re doing is going to work. Successful and wealthy people never begin a project and say ‘This probably isn’t going to work, but what the hell’!”
This really got me thinking about what I want in 2009. I determined that my goals for the big 3 in my life this year will be the following:
Health: Get to a weight of 180 pounds or lower while consistently going to the gym and eating a balanced diet.
Wealth: Create an internet marketing company that nets $500k this year through CPA arbitrage, affiliate commissions for digital products, creation and sales of digital products, ad commissions, and various other income streams.
Relationships: Build on and improve the relationships I have with the loved ones in my life while continuing to meet cool, inspirational, and successful new people to learn from and grow with.
Miscellaneous: Read 3 good fiction books and travel to 3 cool places this year.
I tried to be as specific as possible and it has really helped my focus and drive so far. My internet marketing efforts thus far have been met with a lot of failure, but I am learning a lot and I understand that failure is refining the way I do things so that I am moving towards success.
My wealth node is my biggest focus this year. I am in the Arbitrage Conspiracy to learn the best CPA tactics available and I also picked up the Infomillionaire system to get me started and moving in the right direction as far as my digital product efforts. Not to mention I am starting back with college again to round out my career aspirations just a bit more. I have specific goals in place, great teachers and knowledge to draw from, and the drive and motivation to push through failure and meet my goals NO MATTER WHAT.
Why am I telling you this? I am giving you a blueprint similar to what Frank discussed about getting rich. If you follow the 4 steps he gave in the video… (which are):
1. Know your outcome and begin developing a plan of action to go and get it.
2. Believe that what you are doing is going to work.
3. Work hard.
4. Sell what rich people are selling and do the same business they are doing.
….there is no way you can fail! If you have goals for your relationships or health, then just adjust Step 4 into: Model and do what healthy or social people are doing.
What are your goals for 2009? Have you clearly defined them? Are you developing a plan of action to get them? Are you willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES?
Get going. I will share my successes and failures(learning lessons) with you as we go through this year together. Please don’t hesitate to drop a comment and share yours as well so we can learn from each other.
My best wishes for your successes and mine for 2009.
Clark
The Arbitrage Conspiracy
This post is so MONEY, and it doesn’t even know it! 
All humor aside, I have been focusing on the wealth node of my life more and more frequently as of late. I have made improvements to the website, increased and made more efficient its monetization, and made myself more easily accessible via social media and Web 2.0(add me on Twitter!).
I have been working on some other web projects for family, and have also been studying my butt off reading and consuming every piece of material I can get my hands on to learn more and be better at internet marketing, SEO, affiliate marketing, and the like. Why you may ask? Because I am transitioning my involvement on the web from a glorified hobby to be a full-time passion in 2009. More about that to come.
For now, I want to talk about the Arbitrage Conspiracy. I came across this program by being on the email lists of some big name internet marketers. I saw emails come through my inbox from Mike Filsaime and Eben Pagan about a “no-name” guy who makes $50k-$100k PER DAY off of his PPC affiliate marketing activities online and who was now coming out with a course on how he does it. Needless to say, my curiosity was piqued. So I checked out the website and downloaded the free report being offered. The difference between this guy and the “gurus” is that instead of doing mostly Clickbank/digital product affiliate marketing, he uses PPC(Google Adwords, Yahoo, etc.) to direct traffic to CPA or “cost per action” offers. These are ad pages where sometimes the smallest piece of information needed to be entered by a prospect in order for the affiliate to get paid is a zip code. After reading this, I went from piqued curiosity to intrigued.
I got in a conference call where the CPA affiliate guru, Aymen, was being questioned by all the big name internet marketing gurus about his new course and how he does what he does. After listening in, I was very interested in the course. I had recently decided anyway that I want to increase my online knowledge and involvement as a marketer by starting out as an affiliate and go from there towards creating my own product at some point in the coming year. The offering of this program really got me excited because I realized it could be the difference in me coming out of the gates fast or dragging along forming bad habits and taking a lot longer if ever to figure out a successful model.
The course launched two days after the call and I signed up for it. At a hefty $1997 fee for a 12-week course, I realized this was a big investment of time and money to make. But given that I know I will give nothing less than 100% effort to learning and implementing what I will be taught, and that Aymen is offering a 100% + $500 money-back guarantee, I realized there are only three possible outcomes:
1. I totally suck at the affiliate marketing game. I bust my butt and don’t make my money back. At least I tried my best and I ask for my money back.
2. I make my money back if not a little extra. I’m not rolling in it but I’m pretty excited with my gains and I have learned a LOT of cool stuff. It was worth its cost.
3. I make a nice chunk of change in a very short time and become a budding star at the PPC to CPA game. I am very good it and the rewards of the course exceed the cost.
Upon realizing these three outcomes, I lost all fear of dropping the $2k. I really CAN’T LOSE and stand to learn a lot in return. I know a lot of people are very skeptical about paying this much for a program like this, but that’s also another thing that influenced me. I know from experience that when you take a high-end seminar you will probably get as much if not more value than you paid. The guys that are giving these things HAVE to make it as valuable as possible or they won’t be in business very long. Couple that with the fact that a lot of very successful marketers took a one day condensed version of Aymen’s course and walked out very impressed with what they had learned. I respect very much the opinion of guys like Eben Pagan, who’s free trainings online I have learned SO much from.
Also, being that I want to be in this inner circle of the top internet marketers some day, I realize that they are all seminar, book, and knowledge junkies themselves. By continually renewing, upgrading, and refining their knowledge and frame of reference on their models of success, they stay a step ahead of the game and this stuff just becomes easier. They are where I want to be, I recognize that, and I’m doing something about it.
The first week of 12 officially starts in January 2009, but the doors to the course site open tomorrow to get a head start on things. I’m looking forward to it and I will post regular updates on how things are going and my progress through the material.
If you are interested in getting a look at what the AC is all about and checking out the free report, then go here.
Clark
p.s. I have to give a shout out to Loozianajay. I must give an honorable mention to his website, The Partisan Report. Even though it didn’t make my 5 favorite Personal Development blogs (I felt politics was a little outside the realm of Personal Development), it is an EXCELLENT website. Jay is very knowledgeable and has very strong opinions about the state of conservative politics in our country. It’s in my Google reader and I recommend it for yours.
Update**Jan 2009** Jay has currently moved his writing efforts to The Western Experience.
