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In the States, where I'm from, it's Independence Day, the National holiday is commonly associated with  fireworks, parades, barbecues, picnics,
baseball games, and various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States.   Fireworks have been associated with independence day since 1777, with a 13 gun salute at daybreak and night fall.

It's also my birthday today.  I was born, though, after all "bombs had burst in the air" -  the noise had stopped and all was peaceful, at 11.25 PM on the Fourth of July.  Here's a video of a song composed and sung by another person, also born on the Fouth of July. Press play and then pause to let it load and while it's loading come back and read the rest of this post and download your gift:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vnRqYMTpXHc  This the link to the URL where the song is.

One of my dreams is to become Independent  - financially independent so that I will have even more freedom to do the things I want to do.  Living a life of freedom is a dream of many people.   I know I began with Internet Marketing because of the freedoms it promises.

Even my life as it is right now is full of fantastic freedoms:

• I live in a residential area most people only dream of.

• I work from home, where I have a lovely patio and garden.

• I spend time with my children, taking breaks when needed;  I can prepare the bar-be-que as I sit at my computer.

• Even though I work with a very tight budget, I am able to run a business and have this fantastic blog in SemioLogic Pro (see bottom of page).
  

• I am able to communicate with people all over the world and take part in seminars for free or at a fraction of the real cost.

• And my successes are completely dependent on the things that I do; the decisions that I make and the focused ACTION THAT I TAKE.
  

The list could be longer, but I want to get to the point here, which is living the life of your dreams and gaining the freedom and independence that you want and deserve.  There is nothing more important in life than this.  In this blog, I have tried to give you many different alternatives and ideas of how you could change your life and improve your work situation.  At times I have tried to inspire you.   Sometimes I have given you tips and free tools.  Have you been reading?

Are you independent?  Are you living the life of your dreams?

A little birthday advice I'm giving.  I have a lot of experience from this one point, so listen closely, please:

Don't let possible amazing life opportunities pass you by because you were afraid that you weren't going to do good…or be embarrassed or hurt.  Go for it to the best of your ability and let the cards fall where they may.

At this point, I want to share an inspiring video from someone who has attained financial freedom.  I know that he earns a reported $800,000 per month from Internet Marketing alone. I have personally met several marketers making this kind of money, so this is no fluke.  He shows his journey from when he first started with Internet Marketing, and how he has become so very successful.  His name is Mike Filsaime, and he has made a video that lets you peek inside of his business.  Thanks, Mike for sharing this.

https://paydotcom.com/r/15727/Gaiaangel/

I was both inspired and somewhat  envious  of his laser-sharp road to success!  While I've been fooling around on the Internet, he was making some major progress!!!  Soon, he will be releasing the DVD's from his $5,000 seminar held earlier this year.  The DVDs are called "7 Figure Code", which stands for earning a seven figure income in this field; learning to run your own 7-Figure business. The video is free so take a look!

https://paydotcom.com/r/15727/Gaiaangel/

Since it's my birthday, I want to give you something more!  Here's a piece of software that has a $97 value and will help you in your Web 2.0 marketing efforts.

http://edwinsoft.com/bumbum.zip

It searches available Squidoo lenses and Hubpages based on your keywords, checks Yahoo for link popularity and checks Google if Squidoo/Hubpages is ranked in the top ten for the particular keyword.

And if you want to learn more about Web 2.0 marketing, or even if  you don't know squat about it, or especally if you don't know what in the world I am talking about, click on the link below to get a free ebook from one of the world's top experts in the field, Jack Humprey.  It's called The Authority Black Book, it's a $197 value, but you can put your wallet away because it's free:  Just click on this link.  This is the best read I have had this year!!

http://contentdesk.com/cmd.php?af=615874

Here in Sweden, on the Fourth of July, most people have already begun their "industrial" vacation or "holiday". "Industrial" because when it was decided years ago that the month of July was "vacation month", that's when most of the working population worked in the various industries here in Sweden. That is no longer a valid reason for vacationing in July, but habits and traditions die hard, don't they?  They travel to their quaint "stugas" small summer cottages in the woods and the archipelagos, they work on their homes and in their gardens, visit friends and family in distant cities, and whole families nowadays travel on chartered air tours to Southern Europe and many other parts of the world. Swedes love to travel and it is relatively inexpensive, too.  So lots of Swedes will have been out of the country between one and several weeks during the summer months, especially.  The average Swede is willing to save a lot just for the privilege of travel - perhaps an inheritance from the Vikings?

In Sweden, it's mid-day now, and  the streets of the residential area where I live are bare; hardly any cars or people are to be seen, no kids are out playing and no people are out on walks, and most of the boats have taken off for adventures in the bracken waters of the Baltic Sea.  The occasional boat comes into the harbor to refill provisions and re-tank water. There's a small restaurant where a few people are eating or some people from town come out to get some ice-cream.  The beach is deserted and the walk in the woods, normally where so many people are jogging or walking, is isolated.  It's quiet.  I think I'll take a walk there now…

Happy Fourth of July!

Angela Wickenberg

P.S.  This website and blog will go through some major changes soon.  Stay tuned and enjoy your gifts!!!

Taking a pause.  What would life be like if we never took one? 

Maddening I would say.

I had a deepened realization of this as I was Twittering this morning at twitter.com/ebizmom.  I had been feeling disoriented for the past few weeks, but especially after some minor day surgery a week ago.

"Feels like I lost footing and can't remember what I was doing",  and I wrote that  "Sometimes, it's important to just breathe deeply and relax when things are cloudy and even a little 'out of order'. Letting the dust settle", and  "The most important symbol in music is the PAUSE, and pausing when speaking is THE most powerful strategy to use. And so it is with life."

As I ate my mid-morning snack, I couldn't stop thinking about the Pause and it's importance in our lives, even for all life, and how we unconsciously use the pause every day.   We would go insane without taking a pause every now and then, so in this sense, the Pause is the most important word in the dictionary, and the most important thing, the one thing we all need to learn how to purposely use in our lives. Even in software development, a breakpoint is an intentional stopping or pausing place in a program, put in place for debugging purposes, according to Wikipedia.

In my humble opinion, the Pause can be used to attain fantastic goals, like Peace of Mind, Love, Friendship, and Financial Freedom.

We take pauses every day.  But a lot of the pauses that we take are unconscious; they have become automatic.

We need to learn to take conscious pauses when we breathe, eat, play and work.

A great speaker takes pauses in strategic places to emphasize a point, and so do the greatest of salespersons.

The music that moves us the most uses pauses very effectively. 

It's called Fermata.  This word is very similar to ferment: to stir up or seethe with excitment.

We become more exciting and build expectation when we take a pause, even though the taking of the pause itself is relaxing.

We need to rest. Give ourselves a chance to release the past and heal. To become whole.

In poetry it's called Prosody; the study of poetic metre and the art of versification.

Without the Pause, there is no Beauty. There is no Music. There is no poetry.

Prosody is also the patterns of stress and intonation in a language.

To take a pause means to take a short break; a temporary stop.

Taking a pause lets the dust settle, but it also helps build momentum and excitement.

Taking a few deep breathes clears my muddled thoughts and helps me focus better. 

In this sense, the Pause is meditation.

To stop.  To reflect. To consider. To remember what's important.

To breathe.

It only takes a few moments. Just a few breathes, and we can change our lives.

Go in a new direction. Or decide to continue on a chosen path with new-found direction and purpose.

So, take a conscious Pause, and breathe.

Angela Wickenberg

 

"He's just a natural." How many times have you heard someone say that in order to explain somebody else's greatness? This "explanation" derives from the commonplace belief that certain individuals have an innate gift that the rest of us didn't get and never will.  There's just a slight problem with this belief: it's wrong!

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review by some noted researchers totally debunks the myth of "the natural."* Studies by more than 100 scientists consistently and overwhelmingly proved this astonishing truth: experts are always made, not born.

Moreover, the studies show that the greats in any field do something that the average ones don't: they achieve their greatness through hours, days, and years of always practicing deliberately. Golfing great Ben Hogan once said, "While I am practicing I am also trying to develop my powers of concentration. I never just walk up and hit the ball."**

These researchers say that when most people practice, they just focus on the things they already know how to do. That's why, for example, an average salesperson makes the same easy calls over and over—and still calls it "selling." But a great salesperson, on the other hand, deliberately works at what he or she currently can't do well. And the research shows that this continual, deliberate effort is the distinguishing factor between the good and the great.

So, what does it take to become adept at deliberate practice? We think it's not only having the right tools or techniques, it's also having the right mindset in the first place. You have to have your mind focused in order to apply the techniques you've learned.

If you find that you are:

1. Not practicing your skills regularly (like you tell yourself you are going to do)

2. Not able to perform "live" as you do when you are practicing.

3. Fearful (not your full self while prospecting).

4. Not stretching and constantly improving.

Then it is likely that you are experiencing subconscious blocks.   These subconscious blocks can fight your conscious efforts every step of the way.

This is common, and probably the main reason why most beginning sales professionals and network marketers fail.  However, there are things you can do.

Through extensive experience, we have found that the safest, fastest, and most effective way to overcome these blocks is through hypnosis. Now, we're not talking about that fakery you've seen in B-movies. Clinical hypnosis is a proven technique that has been approved by both the American Medical Association and the British Medical Association since the 1950s.

Hypnosis helps you uninstall those blocks and install a mindset that facilitates—not blocks—your desire to become the performer you know you can be.  When you achieve this type of alignment, you find that deliberate practice becomes just something that you do, and you get better and better every day.

This of course means a direct and tangible benefit to your income, your financial freedom, and your options in life.

Finding a qualified psychologist who understands how to use hypnosis to help you in your sales or network marketing career can be difficult and extremely expensive.  A great option is use a home study audio hypnosis program created by a known commodity.  

We believe the cream of the crop is a program created by Dr. Peter Lambrou, one of the country's best-known sales psychologists (and a former successful salesperson himself).  Dr. Lambrou is also the Chair of Psychology at Scripps Memorial Hospital (a major research facility).

 The program is published by The Hypnosis Network, a company that works only with licensed mental-health professionals like Dr. Lambrou.  And this company is so sure of the effectiveness of its programs that it gives you a one-year money-back guarantee. Check it out at http://www.hypnosisnetwork.com/hypnosis/sales_prospecting.php

* The Making of an Expert, Harvard Business Review, July—August 2007, authors K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Cokely.

**Golf Digest, November 2006.

This is the question I posed to my contacts in LinkedIn.  The question was as follows:

"Should we 'make love' to our customers?"

"Do you think marketers should stop treating their customers like wallets and instead treat them more like the people they would like to be their dearest friends, or even a desired lover?"

I received a few interesting responses, and have decided to post them here:

Lucas Allmon wrote:

While I agree with Benny to a certain extent, business IS relationships. You are more likely to do business with someone that you like than someone you can't stand.

Companies need to start treating people more like humans than just policy numbers or walking products.

While you may get a sale by being a hardass, you aren't going to retain those clients as lifers.

Hamish Taylor wrote:

Only if you're married to them as otherwise invoicing becomes really difficult!!!

Ray Miller wrote:

There is the old expression……….you catch more flies with honey than…..

Benny Greenberg wrote:

Actually befriending your customer is a poor approach to closing a sale. I have given a few e-courses on the proper methodology involved in this strategy. You need to be the expert, the person your customer looks to as the one-and-only person to buy from. Not the person to go bar hopping with. Think people - it is much easier to say NO to a friend than to a stranger. The same way you would not present in jeans and a t-shirt, or show up with your cell phone in hand, a bic pen and torn post it notes, you do not turn your customer into your friend. If you want to know more - drop me a note

Eugene Rembor, MBA wrote:

OK, had some time to look at the viedo, but honestly - I don't understand a thing. What's your point??

Eve Morris BSc(hons), Cert DigM wrote:

I think the FSA stance on treating customer fairly gives some valuable guidance on how UK financial services businesses should treat their customers. This guidance can also apply to non-financial services businesses. We should all treat our customers fairly & with respect - not with a veneer of false friendship which could potentially be perceived as shallow & insincere.

Outcome 1: Consumers can be confident that they are dealing with firms where the fair treatment of customers is central to the corporate culture;

Outcome 2: Products and services marketed and sold in the retail market are designed to meet the needs of identified consumer groups and are targeted accordingly;

Outcome 3: Consumers are provided with clear information and are kept appropriately informed before, during and after the point of sale;

Outcome 4: Where consumers receive advice, the advice is suitable and takes account of their circumstances;

Outcome 5: Consumers are provided with products that perform as firms have led them to expect, and the associated service is both of an acceptable standard and as they have been led to expect;

Outcome 6: consumers do not face unreasonable post-sale barriers imposed by firms to change product, switch provider, submit a claim or make a complaint.

These 6 outcomes should be the foundations upon which all products are marketed & sold to customers.

As regards your love metaphor.. to take it literally - to smile at a customer can be to engage initial interest in your product, to cuddle them can be to comfort & reassure with credibility & brand reinforcement, to make them feel special is to target & personalize the relevance of your communications to them individually, and to love is to value them as an individual who interacts with your brand time & again.

I hope this is helpful - I am open to connect
Kind regards
Eve

Pieter Dorsman wrote:

No that would be too much…

I do hope some of my suppliers say "yes" but preferably just the female representatives…

Hjörtur Smárason wrote:

Depends on what you are selling, Angela

But in general, the answer is no. You should not.

I like it when brands approach me personally and appear relaxed, secure and sincere, (the same goes for people). But if you start stroking my thigh, I'm off. So don't over do it.

Cheers
Hjörtur

Geri Rockstein wrote:

Hi Angela,

I believe that a business relationship should be a professional one where each party meets or exceeds the expectations of the other. I don't believe that is treating someone like a wallet. Being treated or treating a business relationship like a potential friend or lover does not enter into the equation for me.

Best regards,

Geri

Teemu Korpi wrote:

If there can be a person more reserved than a brit then he/she must come from Finland like myself. Like John W. I would find it very troublesome if someone in the position of a salesperson came too "close".

I would rather have that relationship in the right framework that being a customer one. Then again there are certain facts that make a good customer relationship.

One vital part of marketing communication mix is personal selling. That's the contact point where the promises are kept or not. That's the critical point where the basis of returning customer relationship are laid.

So, I would keep my pants on and hands in my pockets.

Tim Chattaway [LION] wrote:

In the industry I work In It pays to be nice, even through gritted teeth sometimes.

However I work with clients/people I get along with, I know this is not always possible, but if you find clients you enjoy talking to the desire to go that extra mile for them is there. Willing to take phone calls from Clients in various time zones at 3am in the morning for example.

We all work to get paid, thats life, but whats to say we can't be nice and treat people with a bit of respect whilst they are also lining are pockets?

John Welford wrote:

I'm not so sure! If a marketer treats me in this way, I will immediately know that they are only pretending to be my dearest friend. If someone said that they wanted to be my lover, I'd get really worried!

The point is that when the marketer is clearly acting out a falsehood, how can I trust anything they say about what they are trying to sell?

This may have something to do with cultural differences. I understand that Americans have a different attitude in these respects from Europeans. As a "reserved" Brit I do not want to be grabbed by the elbow when I meet someone for the first time, and I want people to earn the right to use my first name, not to assume it. In marketing terms, I am deeply suspicious of advertisements voiced in American accents, simply because they sound, to my British ears, less sincere than those that use British accents.

(What I find even odder is the public prudery in America that goes alongside the personal chumminess. Look at the absurd shock and horror generated by Janet Jackson's costume malfunction!)

No - in the same way that I will not jump into bed with you after only one date, don't expect me to buy your product simply because you "come on strong" with your first marketing contact!

Eugene Rembor, MBA wrote:

I don't need to watch the video to yell from the bottom of my heart "YES, they should!".

Thanks so much for all of your responses.  I will be contacting you all tomorrow with your downloads.

The question will be live for 7 days, but from the looks of things, very few people are watching the video.  The question in itself is enough to evoke a passionate answer.  And viewing my video without first reading the Attention Age paper is confusing, as one reader, Eugene mentioned in his second post above after watching the video.  However, when I took a look at my YouTube statistics before writing the post, there were 72 views of the video, so SOMEONE is watching out there!!! Yeah!!!

Apparently, a lot of people do not like the idea of becoming your customer's best friend.  Opinions are also divided.  Many of the interpretations are far from what my intention was.  Eve hit the nail on the head with her analysis and explanation, and I think we can all learn a thing or two from her answer.

For those of you who have not yet seen the video, here it is again:

http://www.strategicprofits.com/66-seconds-compelling/angela-wickenberg/

Talk soon,

Angela Wickenberg

 

 

 

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pre>A short time ago, I discovered a series of strategies that
regularly bring in the cash for many of the most renowned
celebrity entrepreneurs in the world. These strategies
were developed and perfected by a woman I'd like you
to meet. More

Hi Friends,

Are you in debt, struggling to make ends meet and fed up
with not having enough money?

Are you doing OK financially but want to do much better?

Are you doing well financially but the "price" you've been
paying for your success (stress, anxiety, health issues,
relationship strain, no time, disillusionment, etc.) is too
high?

Have you reached out for books, tapes, seminars or coaching
(including law of attaction stuff) specifically to improve
your finances, lifestyle and quality of life, but nothing
seems to work for you?

If you answered "Yes!" to any of the above questions, I have
some exciting news for you. Robert Scheinfeld just
created a new resource that has the power to radically
transform your relationship with money — in ways that have
never been possible before.

I'm not talking about investing, marketing, the Internet,
network marketing, business building, real estate,
stock trading or some new technique or strategy for
increasing your productivity or efficiency.

I'm talking about a revolutionary breakthrough. Something
you've never seen or heard before. I'm very excited about
this breakthrough that I had to reach out and tell you about it
right away.

http://www.thestorybehindthesecret.com/moneygame.htm

Let me explain …

For 12+ years, Robert Scheinfeld has been teaching people
how to tap unusual "sources of sources" to create success
and prosperity in their lives. You've probably heard of his
best-selling Invisible Path to Success and 11th Element
work. Maybe you already own one or more of his courses or
books.

Robert is very proud of his earlier work which has profoundly
touched the lives of tens of thousands of people in more
than 190 countries.

However, as he continued his own personal journey, he
discovered that while the Systems he developed and taught
made him infinitely better at playing what he calls "The
Money Game" — and enabled him to amass his own fortune
(then lose it and build it up again) — playing The Money
Game was still extremely stressful, his prosperity was still
"fragile" and  vulnerable to severe ups and downs

He noticed it wasn't just him either. The same thing was
true for virtually everyone, no matter how much money they
have.

That wasn't OK with him!

        Further Down "The Rabbit Hole" …

Robert ultimately realized there were additional pieces to the
wealth and prosperity puzzle he hadn't yet found. To use a
popular phrase from Alice In Wonderland and the movie "The
Matrix," he realized he could go even deeper down "the
rabbit hole."

What he discovered through his own experiences (of making
money, crashing and burning and "being rich"), and through
his relationships with hundreds of other extremely wealthy
people (including some of the wealthiest in the world), is
that The Money Game is a game you can't win  — if you play
according to the rules, regulations and structures you're
taught growing up.

Robert discovered it doesn't work to simply play The Money
Game better and pile up more and more money, which is what
most people want tio learn and all the experts teach. You've
got to actually bust loose from the old rules of The Money
Game entirely and start playing a new game with a new set of
rules that work for YOU.

Robert discovered how to do that, how to bust loose from The
Money Game and has been quietly showing others how to do it
for the last year and a half.

He taught this concept to Chris Attwood and many others, whose
lives have never been the same since - this is POWERFUL
STUFF!

Now he's prepared to show you how to do it too through a
brand new resource he just completed and released called …

"Busting Loose From The Money Game Home Transformational
System"

In that resource, he reveals his "Busting Loose Process"
and how to harness it to make money a total non-issue in
your life.

Once you bust loose, there's no more worrying about bills or
the balance in your checkbook. No more asking "Can I afford
that?" Or "Should I buy that?"

No more worrying about your assets and liabilities, personal
income, savings, debt, profits, retirement or taxes.

No more working your butt off to "make ends meet" or carve
out a little pleasure or luxury in your life. No more of the
complexity, worry and stress that come from trying to
intelligently manage, grow and protect whatever amount of
money you've been able to pile up.

In short …

        No limits or restrictions of any kind
               as it relates to money!

We're talking about major "outside the box" thinking and
living here. Sound unbelievable? I assure you, it's very
real and absolutely doable - if you know how, which Robert
can show you.

I don't care what you think you know about money, wealth,
prosperity and abundance, or how many books, tapes or
seminars you've experienced on those topics. Robert's System
is major renegade stuff and I guarantee you've never
experienced anything like it before.

            A Guided Tour Opens The Door
                   To The Secrets …

Robert has prepared a special multimedia Guided Tour of the
Busting Loose Process for you. To take that Guided Tour,
and I strongly urge you to take it, just click on the
following link:

http://www.thestorybehindthesecret.com/moneygame.htm

It will be well worth your time.

Angela