There's an IDEA within everybody

American Changes

The Census Bureau's annual compilation of facts and figures is out!

Here are some highlights:

* Soccer is more popular than softball.
* Bowling beats out golf! (Understandably..I can throw that ball more
accurately than hit it!)
* Woman worry more about LOOKING fat; Men are more likely to BE fat!
* The average American consumes 16 POUNDS of ice cream...Thanks Ben and Jerry!
* 9 percent of students grades 9 through 12 reported being threatened
or injured by a weapon at school in 2001...sad.

More at a later time...

It takes an IDEA!

You might say that the past year has been like going back to school for me.
I have been watching and learning so much about ways the internet is developing.
My interest focus is with tapping the available market with the affiliate products or
offerings of my own. I am convinced of the potential. There is no greater opportunity
for the everydayguy!

A poster in a forum hit a chord with me awhile back. He stated a disgust with the
ridicules hype you see online, especially with information and opportunities promoting
work at home type of things. It is so. I think part of the process one must learn is
learning to cut through the hype to find the real deals, so to speak.

Another poster advised that the best choice for a venture oriented individual is to
come up with one's own product/idea and build your own business. The learning process
in doing just this is priceless.

In looking through the many ways others are working online, I know the market
is open for so many ideas. As a matter of fact, there is no shortage for you if
you open your mind to these possibilities.


The story that inspired my idea

I read that in each of us there is an idea, a skill, or the ability to bring
to this market something of value. It is this realization that has me working on my
endeavors to build a website on the city I live and write an eBook which helps others
in an important decision they make....most often incorrectly! (I know I am being vague
here, but I have to at this point for confidentiality issues...I will be writing in more detail at a later date.)

The idea within us did not come easy for me. I thought like most of us that I really did not have anything of value to offer to someone else. I really am just this average guy. What
brought me to my own realization was reading about the story on Jim Edwards. He had worked in the mortgage/real estate business for 10 years.

Jim was a guy that in 1996 went to publish a book (traditional method) about
how to sell your own house. He got the idea in 1993. Three years later he had finished it and had 30 copies printed. He mailed the 30 copies out to the publishers at a cost of $450.

Within two months he started to get the replies. Half of the manuscripts were returned
unopened and the other half returned with rejection letters or with no replies at all!

In the year that followed, he pick himself up and one step at a time, reworked the book, took a seminar about sales online, and built an online site to market his work.

What developed was the online publication FSBOHELP!

In the first 3 months of putting up that online site, he made more than he had in the
previous year.

Jim's story inspired me. Here was an EverydayGuy with an idea, a desire to better himself and his family, followed his goal, failed but kept learning. He made adjustments. And ultimately succeeded with his book after being rejected by the "experts."

He found his market online. He found his success by not giving up. Best of all, he today is
even more successful because what he learned through this process has produced
a number of other very successful ventures. That one idea lead for him to allowing him
to leave the mortgage business and devote his time to endeavors he enjoyed! It
gave him personal control of his time.

It was reading his story that lead me to my own idea for my eBook. I purchased
a copy of his guide he developed on how to write an eBook. It was actually while reading How to Publish Your Own eBookthat my idea crystallized. It is not only tells the actual how to but even more helpful was the real examples of what exactly others have done successfully.

continued...

True success is achieved only when you enjoy your work and still have time for the other important aspects of your life

There are a number of sources I have found in the wide world of the web. One guy with a great story is Willie Crawford. He started from the ground up in his niche market of soul food. He has since branched out into numerous ventures. He has an honest style that keeps the hype to a minimum. I guess you could say he is believable.

I subscribed to his newsletter. In one of his lessons, he shared a story from Terry Dean, an online guru of sorts. I want to share it here because it says so much. I think you will find it motivating and helpful with your steps to success.


Secret of Happiness and Success in Life and Business By Terry Dean

Let me begin by telling you a story...

In Indiana, there lives a woman who works 8 hour days 6 days a week at a local computer company. We will call her 'Barbara' for the sake of this article.

Barbara dreads getting up in the morning. She dreads getting ready for work. She dreads driving to work. She dreads clocking in. She absolutely hates her job.

She has a degree in computer science, but she can barely stand the sight of a computer anymore. Everything in her miserable life has become a drudgery to her. She can barely stand herself. The most important thing to her is that wonderful clock that chimes 5 p.m. when it is time for her to go home.

She rushes to her car...Drives as fast as the law allows home...and then immediately rushes into her house as fast as she can to the noise of overexcited door greeters. Both them and her have waited all day for this moment. Now, she can relax.

She sits down on the couch...collects up her pets (2 dogs and a cat) and gives each of them the attention she knows that they crave. She turns on 'Animal Planet' on the television set and sits back breathing a sigh of relief that she lived through another day.

Every day this same process occurs. Sometimes she makes a stop by the library and gets a collection of books on 'Dog Care' and on 'Dog Training.' On her day off (that wonderful day), her and her dogs go and spend the entire day at the local park. All of them wait all week for that wonderful event.

Because of the drudgery of her job and the desire she has to be constantly free from it, she decided to check into starting her own home business. Her friends sell Avon. As a matter of fact, one of them even makes enough money to do it full-time.

Barbara envies this woman...She gets up and works when she wants at her own business which she loves. She always seems to have a spring in her step and a smile on her face.

Then, one day her friend invites Barbara to join her. Excitement overflows inside of Barbara. She will be able to be in control of her own destiny. She can be in business for herself.

Barbara jumps at the chance...besides it is only $25 she says to herself...'What do I have to lose?' She is absolutely on fire with this new possibility...She can work for herself and make her own life.

She quickly begins to do everything her sponsor told her to do...She makes up lists of contacts. She begins contacting them all one by one. She does everything necessary to get started as fast as possible.

Barbara begins making a little money...(It always starts out small in your own home business), but something is missing. She stills has her job...She has her new home business and is beginning to make a little income doing it...BUT she has even less time than before to do the things she loves.

Her day off came and went...She had meetings to attend in her new business. Her dogs stayed home staring longingly at their leashes wondering what was wrong. Barbara is making more money now, but is no more free time than ever before.

Now, after the excitement of her new business has worn off, that telephone is getting pretty heavy to use. It is getting pretty tiring to come home from work every day and have to work this second job...even though it is hers.

One day, her sponsor quits and she has no one to help her stay motivated anymore. That was the final straw. She can't do it any more. She goes back to the old routine feeling guilty that she 'failed' in her home business venture.

Later on down the road, this same process occurs. She joins another home business 'opportunity' only to later give up and quit because she just can't take it anymore. Dozens of times this happens. Every time she feels more guilty that she just doesn't have what it takes to make it in her own home business.

Every time this occurs she ends up exhausted on her couch. The funny thing is that the answer to her problem has been right under her nose all of the time. It happens to be
staring up at her lovingly right this moment holding it's leash.

Her problem has been that she works a job she hates. She wants a way out and others are promising her a solution that just isn't suited to her. They make money doing it because they love it. She makes a little at it and quits because she can't stand that JOB either.

For them, it is a way of life and a passion. For her, it is just another JOB, yet with less starting salary. Her passion is for her pets, but she spends time trying to work up passion for other people's desires.

I will let you off the hook and tell you...Barbara's problem is that she is trying the WRONG home business for her. She should be starting a business where her passion is at. Instead,she just tries to imitate others who have completely different desires.

I wonder if that is your problem? If you can't wait to get off your job and get out to the golf course, but you are trying to sell health products, it won't work. If you only want to garden all of the time, but sell make-up, you are dead in the water before you ever start.

THE BEST WAY TO PRODUCE A LIFESTYLE YOU ENJOY IS BY DOING WHAT YOU LOVE!

Take off the blinders...Take off the limitations. What do you love doing? What are your hobbies? What is it that you think about every time you get a spare moment?

That is the BUSINESS for you to be in...Don't tell me it can't be done. I will just tell you to figure out how to do it.

Let's go back to Barbara...What should she be doing? How about being a pet sitter, dog walker, pet day care, pet groomer, or dog trainer? She could write books on pet training, animal grooming, etc. That could be an information business. It could be a service business. Don't put limitations on yourself or others.

Don't tell me it can't be done! On TV, I just heard about a DOG BAKERY which only sells gourmet dog treats. They have over a million in sales and 20,000 mail order clients
besides what they have in their little shop. If you love it, you will find a way once you make up your mind!

For many of you reading this, you may be in the wrong business. You are making money (Or you aren't making money it doesn't matter), but you just aren't happy. Well, now you have it. Somebody was finally willing to tell you the truth of the matter.

Find your LOVE and you will find success. Yes, it will be hard starting out. It is in any business you get started in. If your business is also your passion and your hobby though, YOU WILL make it through and won't quit when it gets hard, because you LOVE it.

Consider:
1) Do You Dread Getting Out of Bed Every Morning?
2) Do you constantly wish you could obtain freedom in your life somehow?
3) Have you tried a home business before and failed?
4) Do you wonder if there is any purpose to your life?
5) Do you wish you could spend more time at your hobby than at your job?

If you answered 'YES' to any of those questions, you have some thinking ahead of you. If you answered 'YES' to all of them, you better do something in a hurry!

THE BEST WAY TO PRODUCE A LIFESTYLE YOU ENJOY IS BY DOING WHAT YOU LOVE!


Now, that is something to think about, yes?