Your “Type” Tells You Everything – Want To Know What It Is?

About a month ago I went to an awesome seminar by Eben Pagan and Wyatt Woodsmall. It was all about Personality Patterns, and I learned a TON – both about myself and how to relate with people.

One of the things we learned was the “Enneagram”.

This is a personality system that was actually started in Bolivia as a spiritual practice. The guy who created it said that we all have certain energy fixations in our body, and knowing what they are can help us move them.

Some psychotherapists got a hold of his teachings and started mass-marketing it to everyone.

The reason I really like this is because it’s so thorough. The Enneagram states that whenever you get in a relationship with someone, you’re really getting in a relationship with 3 people. It talks about how people act differently under normal situations and then under intimacy and stress.

The reason the Enneagram is so powerful is because once you know your patterns, you can change them. Thing is, our subconscious dictates about 95% of what we do every single day. We just automatically make comments, say things, etc… without even thinking about it.

When you’re aware of what your subconscious is doing, you can observe it (without shame) and then double-think if that’s how you really want to respond.

The ultimate goal of the Enneagram is to break free of all the fixations (NOT to move to another fixation) and choose your reactions in each moment – not subconsciously.

I got approval from Wyatt to post all my notes here, so I’m going to give a brief description of each one and then you can read further to see which one resonates with you.

Tip: If you’re feeling unsure, look at how each type acts under Stress and Intimacy and that will usually tell you which one you are.

Tip 2: Wyatt says if you don’t like one, it’s probably yours – though that wasn’t the case with me.

I should warn you that they gave mostly the NEGATIVE aspects of all of these, but obviously nothing is all good or bad.

Anyway, here are the types:

Type 1: The Perfectionists – These are people that want everything to be perfect. They often speak in terms of, “You should do this” or “You should do that”. They’re often very angry, but because it’s not perfect to be angry, they stuff their anger. You can read more here.

Type 2: The Nurturers – These are your typical Jewish mothers. They give, give, give, all the time. They think of themselves as the “ideal person”, but deep underneath they’re doing everything for love. They need almost constant words of affirmation. You can read more here.

Type 3: The Workaholics – These people have the most energy from any other group and are always go, go, go. They often want everyone to think of them as amazing and put up a mask to protect themselves from being vulnerable. You can read more here.

Type 4: The Melancholies – These are people who wear a lot of black, are usually highly psychic, and have an underlying depression about them often. They see the world as one way in their heads and get depressed that the world is actually NOT like that. You can read more here.

Type 5: The Over-Observers – These are people who like to sit back and watch but don’t like to participate. They’re often brilliant people and can tell you anything you want about the mechanics of a situation – they just won’t because they’re not super-social. You can read more here.

Type 6: The Paranoid’s – These are people who want security, security, security. They’re the type of people who want the best water filtration systems, get freaked out if a car is too close to them, and are the perfect Boy Scouts. They were either in trouble with the law at one point and did a complete reversal, or they’ve always been that way. They also love adventure. You can read more here.

Type 7: The Idealists – These are people who only want to see the good in life and refuse to acknowledge anything negative. They believe life is good, people are good, and everything’s just… good. They’re often very gluttonous. They’re also usually the life of the party and great at entertaining (although if they’re introverts that might not be as obvious). You can read more here.

Type 8: The Justice Makers – These are people who are vigilant about making sure there’s justice for all. They often go VERY far with their beliefs and are the types of people who want pain amplifiers for people in jail. They often have a very “tough” look to them. You can read more here.

Type 9: The Indolents – These are people who see all sides to every situation. Because they see all sides, they often do nothing (think of a donkey standing in between 2 bales of hay and not knowing which one to go to, so he goes nowhere). They’re perceived as lazy, are often monotone, and ramble a lot. You can read more here.

Any guesses on what I am? I think lots of people are gonna pick the wrong one.

Hope you get a ton out of this!

Do You Have Mental Garbage Piles?

This is my first guest post on my blog. I’m glad Justin Brooke was the one to do it because he is freaking AWESOME – absolutely brilliant, smart, and one of the best marketing minds online. He’s also author of SEO Lies: A Book About SEO Truths. Justin has helped everyone from home business start-ups to 9 figure earning CEOs and can be contacted on Facebook here.

What Does Trash Have To Do With Marketing?

Ever feel like you’re hitting a plateau in your online success? Or are you still waiting for “take off?” If you’ve ever felt either of these two then it can be very discouraging. I only know from experience. When I first started with working from home 4 years ago I went 5 months without making a single dollar. Then when I finally started to see some success, I just kept hitting this plateau that I couldn’t over some.

The first plateau was at $1500 a month. I spent 6 months at that level trying to push over to a higher monthly income. The next plateau was $5,000 and after that it was $10,000. When I talk with my coaching students about these plateaus they always have one question – How’d you do it?

The answer is simple… you have to take out the trash. You see, everyone has their own experiences as they build their online business, but so many have the same preconceived notions that certain techniques will or will not work for “them.” I call these mental garbage piles.

These “mental garbage piles” start to pile up (similar to those hoarders you see on tv)… when the stacks get to overwhelming you hit a plateau that looks miles high and way too hard to overcome. Today, I’m going to take you through a few mental garbage piles that I struggled with in hopes that you’ll avoid them or take out the trash now.

The first three are “garbage piles” I hear often from beginners just starting out online.

1. Why would someone buy information when you can get it for free on internet?

When I first started online, I bought rights to a video training program for Joomla. Now, Joomla is an open source software that anyone can use. They also have a support forum for their users to get help.

The only problem is that using this open source software has a HUGE learning curve for beginners. So, I saw a need, bought the rights to the training course, wrote a salesletter and started selling.

It was a pretty popular website. I was making sales regularly with little advertising costs. That’s when I started looking at other sources of traffic – I created a video showing the benefits of the course and everything you learned inside and posted it up on Youtube.

The video has been up there for years and is still out there somewhere – to this day I get comments on the video (112,000+ views!!!) of people bashing me for selling something that people can access for free.

What they don’t understand is that the software is free – yes. But the training on how to learn to use the software faster is a knowledge not everyone has, but others want and pay for willingly.

You see, there will always be training out there for free. But the Internet is massive and is growing more massive every day. If you can narrow down someones work load or help them apply the knowledge specifically to their case – they are willing to pay for your time.

Another thing I should point out here is if you have a specific knowledge on how to do something faster or better… when you know how to get something done faster, better, and with less headaches than another – that is what people are looking for.

Take decorating for example. Everyone can go to their local home depot to buy paint, shelves. You also have all your local stores for furniture and curtains etc. But you don’t have the knowledge to piece it all together to actually look good – which is why you hire a designer to come in to make your house amazing.

The information is always there – but finding the time to apply it in your life can be a hassle – which is why people pay for information they can often find for free.

2. If someone is passionate about a topic – wouldn’t they already have the information they need to be successful?

Wow I can’t begin to tell you how this is hurting your success. Let’s see, if you are a high school baseball player and you’re top of your team.

Does that make you best in the world? No, there are always more techniques you can improve on, more skill to master, etc.

Don’t assume that the customers in your niche know everything from beginning to end. Just as in life- everyone has different experiences. This also applies to the people in your niche as well.

This is often why you get the same “rehashed” content in every product. It’s not that they are trying to rehash everything every time. They are normally trying to give everyone the same foundation to build on in later lessons.

The same applies to any niche. There will always be a basic technique that everyone needs to know and build on. Then there are different skills, and skill levels. So when moving into a niche, look for what the people are asking for – not what you think they already know and need to know.

All it takes is about a day of your time scouring forums and question sites to see what people are asking for in your niche.

When I first move into a niche, the first day is spent researching the forums in the niche, and then going over to Answers.yahoo.com where I search various keywords in the niche to see what people are saying and asking about.

This is normally where I get the ideas for chapters in an ebook, or free reports for list building etc. That way I know the content I am giving them is what they are looking for.

3. This isn’t the best product I can make – I need to keep working on it first.

Hmm… this one is always a hard “garbage pile” to tackle, but one you must. You see it has two bad sides – you either put out a product you know isn’t completely perfect or you continue to make no money while you perfect it.

All I can say is look at Apple. The iphone first came out in January 2007. In June 2008 – the 3G was released, in June 2009 3GS was released, and now June 2010, Iphone 4. Each product awesome – were they perfect? No. But the lesson here is put the best you have right now and then continue to listen to your customers and improve your product every month, every year, or as needed.

Think of the fan base that apple has created. Not only did their customers buy the first, but they continued to buy each upgrade as they came available – making the iphone into the success it is today. Your products will never be perfect, but you can show your quality in continually striving to make them better.

Even Experts Have Trash Piles

Here’s a couple recent garbage piles I found and conquered within my own mind…

1. I have to do all the work myself.

You see, I am quite picky when it comes to “my” business, just as you probably are with yours. However, one very important lesson is to let go – you can not do everything in the business and you shouldn’t. Your focus is on quality and money. You need to complete the tasks that are making you money, and as the business owner you need to keep an eye on the quality of the work being done by people that represent you.

That’s it. The rest can be handed off to someone that can specialize in that task. Lets take your computer as an example. When you open too many programs, what happens? Your computer starts to slow down and has a hard time processing the tasks you need to get done.

Well, now pretend you’re a computer… if you open your seo tasks, your customer relationship tasks, social media, product creation, paid advertising, coaching, phone calls, accounting etc. (you see where I’m going with this list).

When you have all those tasks running at one time, you’ll slow down and have a hard time processing the important tasks that need to get done. Are you having an “aha” moment yet? You should be!

To over come this – start giving out repetitive tasks to someone else. If it is tasks that can be done the same way over and over again then it can be outsourced to someone else and taken off your plate.

Not only that, but set them up for success by adding bonuses if they find better, faster ways to do things, while not effecting your quality. This is a lesson in a lesson – by adding the “get better” bonus you encourage your assistants to grow with your company.

If you only hire your assistant to do a specific task then they’ll continue to do this over and over and you’ll eventually choose to let them go because your company has grown, but not that assistant and you’ll see them as less valuable. When you encourage them to get better you encourage them to make your company better too.

2. My customers would never pay high prices

This lesson hit me like a brick to the face. About a year ago, a friend came to me and asked me to promote his product. I knew it was a decent product because I had a hand in building it, but I just didn’t like his price point – it was $97/month.

I just thought he had overpriced it, and I wouldn’t get good conversions with my list because of it. I couldn’t talk him down from the price, so I mailed out for him and ended up putting over 180 people into his site.

I didn’t expect those kind of results – it was more than I expected and I appreciated the recurring commissions. However, that was100 people I could have put on MY continuity site – $17,460/month I sent to someone else all because I “thought” my subscribers wouldn’t pay that much per month.

YOWCH! I learned a hard lesson there…

The lesson here is to never underestimate your subscribers. If you’re providing quality, and show them the value they will follow. Test different price points and find out what works well with your niche.

Now that you’ve seen some of my mental garbage piles and some common ones, I hope you realize that its normally you that is blocking your success. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing – it is just something you need to learn to recognize and stop in it in its tracks.

When you hit a plateau take a good look at what your “problem” really is and try to see if it isn’t just a “mental garbage pile” that needs to be dumped.

Start realizing your “mental garbage” and take out the trash. Sometimes the only way to take out those trash piles is to do exactly what it is you are afraid of, so that you see the REAL results for yourself. THEN you can make whatever judgments you want, based on facts you have seen for yourself.

I hope this has been helpful and any feedback or questions are greatly appreciated. Leave them as comments and I’ll hang around for the next couple days to answer them. I also accept all variations of compliments

Go Bigger,
Justin Brooke
Internet Mad Scientist

I’ve Been Emotionally Abusing The Internet?

The following post may seem “airy fairy” to you, but I think there’s a really important point in it so I’m going to make it anyway.

Before I get into it though, let’s get one thing out of the way. I’m pretty positive you feel energy to one degree or another. You might not say it in those words, but I’m sure you do. Have you ever seen a couple and known something was wrong even though they weren’t talking? Or maybe knew your significant other had a bad day before they said anything? Or maybe you just didn’t want to be around a certain someone because they gave you a “bad feeling”? Or looked at a picture and knew 2 people were in love even though you obviously couldn’t hear anything? Or maybe you’ve been happy just by being near someone (with or without them saying anything)?

I hope you’re remembering at least one example.

OK, so with that out of the way, I’m going to tell you about a couple of cool things I learned about recently. I realize some of these things might be too “out there” for some of you, but I’m going to post anyway because for the people who DO know what I’m talking about, I think there’s a stellar message.

See, I recently learned some awesome lessons about energy on ALL levels (not just with living things).

One of my first experiences with this was at a psychic meetup group. This particular session was on psychometry, the act of holding things and then feeling the energy from them.

There were all types of people at this meetup group – teenagers, men, women, people of varying ages, etc.

We had each been asked to bring in 2-3 different objects and then we held onto each others’ stuff. We had 3-5 minutes of silence while holding each object and we’d use the time to write down all the feelings and thoughts we got from the objects.

Despite the differences of the people who came to the group, many of us kept getting the same feelings from the same objects. It was pretty fascinating. For example, some of us touched an accordion. We all felt a male energy owning the accordion, and all on our own instinctively knew that the guy who owned it was normally shy but was completely at home playing this accordion in front of lots of people. We saw he had inherited it somehow and that it meant the world to him. The accordion had a “proud” energy to it and we all really liked it.

There was a ring that we all felt lots of laughter and joy around. The ring felt so good to me that I didn’t want to put it down.

Another item we touched was a watch. I got such a stern and unwelcoming energy from it that I put it down immediately.

Although I already suspected it, this experience really made me understand that every physical thing has some kind of energy to it.

The group also made me think of when I was talking with Mona. She mentioned that she mentally “talks” to the stuff in her house, asking where it wants to be, what it wants, etc. I know it’s crazy, but it does work. Try it – if you’re open-minded enough you’ll almost always instinctively get answers.

After those experiences I was fully on board with the idea that both people and physical things have an energy to them. There was no need to convince me.

I had a coaching call the other day that made me realize that it goes beyond even that.

It all started when I got an email about one of my businesses. It looked like there was yet again another problem with it. As soon as I read about the email I instantly felt deflated, exhausted, and irritated. The business seemed to be awful to me from the start.

(Now that I have the gift of hindsight I realize the first time a problem ever came up I got irritated instead of looking at it as a fun challenge. I guess I’m used to things coming easy to me. As more problems accrued, instead of a little irritation, I became angry, resentful, and annoyed with it.)

In turn, the business wasn’t the best to me. Random problems I never even knew could exist would pop up. Opening my email up every day was like opening a Pandora’s Box into hell. I had no idea what new crap was going to show up.

I started talking to Steph, my friend/coach about all the problems with the business. She asked me to tell her everything I didn’t like about it, and I just went OFF. I kept going and going for several minutes without even stopping to think. The reasons I hated this business effortlessly oozed out of me.

Steph asked me what would happen if I were to love the site and use loving actions with it. As much as I respect her, the idea felt ridiculously farfetched. I couldn’t fathom even not hating it, much less using loving actions with it. I hated everything about it. Even the customers, which are normally my favorite part of any site I have, seemed to find endless ways to upset me.

Because I’m usually the most loving person you could meet, I felt the fact that this was taking such a toll on me seemed to speak volumes on IT. Obviously IT was the problem – it’s not like it’s in MY nature to get angry for no reason.

After I vented, Steph reminded me of something I never thought of. She mentioned that EVERYTHING has energy to it – even digital, and even if I created it.

She acknowledged I’d been pretty awful to the business. And really – what does anyone (or anything) do if you hate them? They hate you back!

It only makes sense.

Steph told me to “talk” to the business. She had me write a letter to it and tell it what I hated about it, what I loved about it, and what my goals were with it.

When I was done, she told me to have IT write a letter to ME – what it hated about me, loved about me, and what its goals were.

She told me I’d probably see that we both wanted the same outcome but were going about it differently.

Turns out she was right.

That exercise turned out to be really eye-opening for me. I’ve been much more nurturing with the business since then (not immediately getting annoyed at customers, not immediately going on the defensive if I read incorrect/uninformed reviews, etc.), and my happiness levels have definitely increased. I’m realizing the business is trying hard (and no longer punishing me), and when there are issues, I’m looking at them as “How can I help this?” versus “I loathe you!”.

Things had the potential to go a lot worse but now that I’ve done the exercise things are  seeming to “magically” work out right now.

And heck, even if it doesn’t yet feel comfortable to you to consider that digital (or physical) stuff has energy, look at in a different way. If you did the same exercise solely to put yourself in another perspective, I bet it would help a lot. Ignorance is often the cause of annoyance. Getting a better view on something has got to almost undoubtedly at least improve whatever you’re struggling with in life.

Anyway, I just wanted to make this post in case there’s some kind of situation frustrating you and this type of perspective could help.

I sure hope so.

I don’t need your approval :)

I have been doing a lot of personality studying lately, and one thing I really noticed about myself is I’m pretty conditioned to doing things for other people’s approval.

I never really realized it before, but after studying the eneagram (more posts coming soon on that), it was quite fascinating to see just how much I do so other people may like me.

I never realized approval was the reason for my doing nice things but after learning the eneagram it became very apparent.

Truthfully I know most people do this at one level or another, but I’m not OK with being “most people” – I want to push myself as much as possible.

After learning the eneagram I started to watch my patterns from an observer’s standpoint without shame or judgment attached. It was very interesting to realize not only do I expect everyone to like me,  but if they don’t, I tend to want nothing to do with them.

That’s a shame since people who dislike me are probably the ones I could learn the most from (and they, me).

When my mentor Piperlyne shared the poem “The Invitation” with me yesterday, it seemed to fit everything I have been thinking about lately. I had seen it before but it never spoke to me on such a soul-screaming level as it does now.

I am using this poem to remember:

• Even if I already committed to something I have the right to change my mind (And not think of myself as a liar.)
• It’s OK to put myself before others (And I’m really just taking the easy way out by putting others first.)
• What other people think about me really doesn’t need to concern me. I can learn from it or I can ignore it – but I definitely don’t need to personalize it.
• When talking to people I should talk about what *I* feel. I no longer choose to watch people’s facial expressions and body language to gauge approval/disapproval and move the conversation accordingly.
• It is not “spiritual” to put other’s in front of me all the time. In fact it’s pretty fake and not at all honoring my highest self.
• I can still be nice to others. It’s just that it needs to come from a place of wanting to do it for the love of them/the world and not for approval.
• Sitting in pain is FINE and not something I need to hide from. I am allowed to feel sad, angry, or hurt and it’s a beautiful thing.
• It’s perfectly OK to look like a fool =)

Without further ado, here’s the amazing poem:

The Invitation by Oriah

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon…
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

How I’m Quitting Internet Marketing – And How To Tell A Lot About Yourself

WARNING: If you did not yet do this exercise, please do it NOW.

If you read this post before doing the exercise, you’ll lose all benefit of it. It only takes 5 minutes and can give you tremendous insight – so please go do it NOW!

Keep reading ONLY IF YOU’VE DONE THE EXERCISE…

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Okay, so as I mentioned, Eben mentioned that Joe Polish taught him this exercise, and it’s supposed to reveal your life purpose.

The top 3 things are things you need to accept and develop, and the bottom 3 are your shadows – things that exist in yourself but you don’t yet want to recognize.

If you write “liar” for example, remember that it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re lying to others (though that could be true) – it could also mean you lie to yourself.

Here Were My Results:

The 3 people I admired were:

Mother Teresa – unwavering faith, dedication to goal

Albert Einstein – open-mindedness and intelligence

Piperlyne (my mentor) – not accepting fear, being OK in the face of anything

I thought and thought and could only come up with 2 people I didn’t like:

A popular “guru” that I’ll leave nameless – scammy, willing to do anything for money, doesn’t care about people

A copywriting client I once worked with  – unnecessarily aggressive, liar

After I Saw My “Shadows”, I Had To Do A Double Take.

I thought, “I care about people! How could that make sense?”

Then it hit me. Hard.

I’ve been telling people I want to get out of internet marketing for years now. Being totally transparent, the whole “make-money” market kind of disgusts me most of the time.

My pattern has been that I’ll want to get out, think of a new idea that can make a good amount of money and “help people”, and convince myself that if I’m helping people, it’s OK.

Don’t get me wrong here – I believe in the products I put out, knew they worked, etc… but still – those products are NOT my greatest gift to the world. At all.

After doing the exercise I realized that putting out 99% of my make-money products is not coming from my heart. A factor is helping people, yes, but there’s also the factor of wanting instant money without having to do that much work. It’s amazing how so many people just automatically buy products without even thinking about it, and it’s beyond easy to make 5-6 figures with a good information product.

Then I started thinking…

How Can I Feel Good In A Market That Disgusts Me So Much?

My first thought was, “I know I can still help people with some of my products.  How can I do it from a heart-centered place? Or do I even WANT to?”

The first thing I thought of was to do more webinars and teleseminars so I could follow up with people to ensure their success. After thinking about that though, I realized I really don’t want to tie myself down to any weekly commitments.

Then I started thinking… why do I make products in the make-money niche?

I had a few answers:

• Good money
• Helping people
• I love when people tell me they quit their jobs
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And I asked, why do I hate the make-money niche?

• Feels sleazy often
• Many people hand me money they need in order to get something they’ll never use
• I would hate if someone I just met were to Google me and see long-form sales letters that just scream of “Scam” (even though they’re not.)
• Making money is important when you’re in survival mode, sure… but it’s not that big of a deal once you’re “comfortable”. There are a lot more important (in my mind) things that could be done to help the world – such as having people do nice things for others, inspiring people to push themselves, and really pushing their SPIRIT.
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I also realized I usually put out the make-money products when I’m in survival mode (bank account getting low, want to pay for something, whatever). Sure, I could do the offline tactics that I teach, and they work – but internet marketing is pushbutton. Put out a product, put a price tag on it, send it to the list, and bam – tons of instant money.

Again I want to be clear here that I NEVER put out crap and really worked hard to ensure quality – but still – the point is, it wasn’t coming from a super-heart-centered place, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself otherwise.

So if I ever do internet marketing again…

Here’s My Commitment To You:

I don’t even know if I will make a “make-money” product ever again.

If I do, though, it will be different.

Every product I have will have an application process with a few questions people need to answer in order to get the product. I feel this step alone will knock off 50% of people who just buy on autopilot without even thinking about what they’re doing.

If my assistant and I approve the application, I will give access to the product for free and then the customer will pay what they feel it’s worth.

If they pay nothing, it means they never went through the product. That bans them for life on all my other products.

I may also allow people to do nice things for other people as payment.

This makes me a lot happier to do internet marketing products, *IF* I ever do them, because I work with only qualified people and will only hear from those who are actually going to do something with the information I teach.

I want to mention 2 things with this:

1. Nobody has this model yet. I may continue to recommend other people’s products that ask for a set price, and they will only be products I have used and 100% believe in. I will find these ON MY OWN, so marketers… please don’t send me joint venture requests any more.

2. I have already committed to an event series with several marketers to give in-person conferences. I will continue to do that, and those conferences will have a set price. I am continuing to do this because:

a) I already committed to it
b) The price is very inexpensive compared to the value
c) I will speak about outsourcing, which is something that I could believe in, since I know outsourcing gives people the power to live a more fun-filled life. It’s just not just about make-money rubbish.

I am also not sure if I plan on changing my old products out or not. As I think about it I will continue to keep the old prices up. Most of them are with partners and I don’t want to shove this down other people’s throats.

That being said, I don’t think I’ll be doing a lot of marketing any more. It’s just not that stellar to me.

My True Goal Is This:

I want to get 5,000 people (short-term) to post on my blog with something nice they did for the world.

THAT is something that gets me jazzed and pumped. It comes from my heart and aligns with the exercise.

For the next few weeks I need to focus full time on a specific short term goal I have, and when I’m done, I’ll be doing a ton of work on this blog.

I want to get it redesigned and have it tracking people who do nice things. There will be prize giveaways and other awesome motivations, and I’m super-excited to get those rolling out.

I feel it’s high-time I started doing what my heart and spirit want again, and NOT what my bank account feels good about.

Want to learn a ton about yourself? Do this exercise!

While at Eben Pagan and Wyatt Woodsmall’s Personality Patterns seminar this week, I learned a PHENOMENAL exercise for learning a LOT about yourself.

It takes 5 minutes, is incredibly powerful, and will give you a tremendous amount of insight about yourself.

This changed my entire life (look for a follow up blog post shortly).

I’ll tell you exactly how to use this AFTER you do it, so for now, JUST DO IT.  Again – it only takes 5 minutes.

Step 1:

List out 3 people you really admire for one reason another. They can be living or dead, and you may only admire them for one specific reason (i.e. maybe you don’t love all of them, but you really admire one specific element about them).

List out a one-word reason (or reasons) on why you admire them so much, and you MUST do 3.

Step 2:

List out 3 people you despise. If you can’t think of anyone you despise, then anyone that brings up a negative feeling in you, or bad emotions. Again you don’t need to despise ALL of them – there just needs to be one part of them that you really, really don’t like.

Same deal – list out a one-word reason (or reasons) on why you despise them so much, and you MUST do 3.

Step 3:

Post your answers here on the blog. I will tell you what to do with them after you post them.

If you don’t want to give full names, then give initials or something.

I’ll post my answers in a follow-up blog post.

What a WASTE!

When I went to Boulder, I met an awesome guy who refuses to throw out ANY trash. If he has any waste, he’ll create something out of it – but there’s isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell he’ll throw it away.

When he first told me about that, it sounded kind of extremist to me.

However, the more I think about it, the more I find myself gravitating to that kind of thinking. It’s really incredible how much waste we have. A lot of the “green” movement consists of people buying cloth shopping bags to carry all their stuff, or buying energy-saving cars. These are definitely better moves – though they’re of course not reducing waste.

I’ve recently been reading about people called “freegans”. Some of them refuse to buy ANYTHING new. They’ll either swap with people, use freecycle (where people give away stuff they don’t want anymore), or go dumpster diving (digging in the trash for new things). There are all types of people who do this – I even read about a doctor/lawyer couple who does it.

It sounds crazy I know, but what’s crazier is how EASY it is for them.

I read one NY Times article that was being written as a group of people were digging through the dumpsters from stuff that recently-graduated NYU students left behind. The freegans were finding usable stuff – half full bottles of detergent, furniture, etc.

The most fascinating part of the article for me was when one of the upper-middle-class freegans was asked if she stockpiles the stuff she finds. She said no. In her words: “The sad fact is you don’t need to,” she said. “More trash will be there tomorrow.”

How crazy is that? Not only is there an entire class of people banking on all the waste we throw out but they don’t even stockpile the stuff they find! They’re crystal-clear confident that more trash will be thrown out tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that.

The United Nations says the leftovers in America could satisfy every single empty stomach in Africa.

I never really got into the whole “green” living thing until recently. That’s mostly because everything I read about was based on fear (“we’re ruining the planet!”) type tactics. Even though that may be true, negative spins on things just don’t appeal to me. If anything, they turn me off and I retaliate against them.

That being said, I freaking LOVE the beautiful world we live in, and I want to nurture it and make sure it’s here for a long time. I love the idea of everything living in harmony. Things like this or this make me realize how far ignoring things have gotten us so far.

So, even though I might not dedicate the rest of my life to green living, I find there are definitely things that can be done.

Even just yesterday, I was watching Sex And The City 2 and saw an awesome outfit Kim Cattrall was wearing. I thought, “Wow! I want that! It would look awesome on me, and I’m in the mall already…I bet I could easily find something just like it!”

Then I thought – “Do I really want more stuff?

The answer was no. I don’t need more clothes. I already have lots of clothes.

And that was it. For me, it was just a matter of taking a second to think and not act out of impulse.

Same thing when I went to go get a salad for lunch. I asked myself, “Do I want to get a salad from take-out, knowing there’ll be a plastic container given to me?” I was very hungry, so the answer was yes. (Maybe I’ll work myself up to the point of not doing that in the future – but for now, the answer was yes.)

As I sat and waited for my salad, I saw the staff at the restaurant taking every to-go order, putting it in a easily-carryable plastic box, and then putting the box in a plastic bag – complete with plastic utensils and another plastic bag holding a bread roll.

Just being CONSCIOUS of what was going on was really fascinating.

When the guy went to go grab a bag for my salad, I practically yelped, “NO!” I also didn’t take the utensils or the bread roll (which I wouldn’t have eaten anyway). I knew I had a perfectly good fork at home and it took no extra energy to carry the box.

It’s easy to do little things that really add up over time.

For me, I have a lot of fruit and veggie waste. That’s probably my #1 source of trash. Now I know I can use the scraps for compost instead of throwing them out. If you want to do that too, just Google “compost pile + your area” for more information.

Another easy thing is to give away clothes and things you’re not using, which helps other people not need to buy more.

Here are more ideas.

Oh, and lastly- if you haven’t yet seen Story Of Stuff, I highly recommend it. It’s quite interesting and not fear-based.

HOLY CRAP! This guy is my new favorite marketer, BY FAR!

I just made a video (in 2 parts) about this guy I just came across, Jason Fladlien.

I think he may be the most underrated marketer in existence. I cannot tell you how freaking STOKED I am about coming across his time management product.

I never blog about products on my blog. I usually find it super-tacky. I’m telling you though… this thing is pure gold.

I’ve written time management products MYSELF! I’ve read books, listened to renowned experts, modeled people who did all sorts of productivity challenges…

This, however, BLOWS ANYTHING I’VE EVER SEEN OUT OF THE WATER.

You totally NEED it!!

I don’t think I’ve been this passionate about promoting something since Warrior Camp a few years ago.

Sorry if the videos come across confusing. After going through it, I had TONS of ideas running through my mind. Normally I’d have made a blog post but I’m just so freaking EXCITED about this product that I wanted the world to know about it RIGHT AWAY!!! I IT’S AMAZING!!!

I’ve only ever gone through one of Jason’s other products, and I found it incredible. If his other stuff is on the same par as what I’ve seen so far, I’d honestly contemplate  not even bothering to market any more, and just send all my traffic to him. It’s THAT good.

Get it NOW at rachelrofe.com/jason

You. Are. Going. To. Love. It!!!!

P.S. I haven’t even got to this part yet, but there’s a bonus in there called “Day Job Liberator” for those of you who WANT to become internet marketers but only have an hour or 2 per day to spare.

!!! It’s so damn good!!!!

One of the most empowering things I’ve ever done…

For several years of my life, I let a machine (for under $20 at your local Wal-Mart) dictate my self worth.

Back when I was in junior high, I couldn’t even go near this machine. I was petrified of it. When I knew teachers at school were going to try and make me use it, I’d fake being sick and miss school. If I *had* to use it, I’d use all sorts of tricks to manipulate it. Heck, sometimes I’d be so scared of it that I’d close my eyes when I had to use it.

As I got older, our relationship changed. I got a bit more brazen. Not only did I not avoid the machine, but every morning I’d allow it to tell me my future. This thing was INCREDIBLE – it told me exactly how my day was going to go!

If the machine gave me good news, I’d be in an excellent mood. There’d be a little more skip to my step.  My smile would be extra friendly.

On the other hand, if the machine gave me bad news, my day would be tinged with a bit of annoyance and frustration. I’d feel less worthy… less confident… less attractive.

What a powerful machine this was.

This went on and on for several years, until one day recently.

I realized how there are so many other things that dictate my self worth – like… my SELF. How I treat other people. How much I contribute to the world. How I spend my time. What I’m learning. How I’m able to empower myself and others, and a SLEW of other criteria.

And that is why I threw my scale in the dumpster and will never look back.

—

I know for a fact that a lot of women (and men) feel the way I used to. Several of my female friends have confided in me that they go through the same thing I did.

If you are one of those people that could relate, I invite you to try on a few new thoughts:

1. I know someone who went down several jean sizes without the scale moving at all. She was literally shrinking by the day but feeling like she was a failure because the scale didn’t do anything. That scale is NOT an accurate measure of fat loss.

2. Even if the scale WAS a measure of fat loss, who cares? You don’t need it. Eat the foods your body asks for and get some movement in. If you listen to your body, it’ll tell you exactly what it wants. It’s the best ally you could possibly ask for. Once you truly get in tune with what it wants, you’ll be the healthiest you’ve ever been.

(Just use your intuition to know the difference between if your body is ASKING for something or if you’re CRAVING it – ie a Snicker’s bar.)

I bet you’ll save a lot of money on weight loss stuff, too.

3. Consider throwing the damn thing out – or at least giving it to someone to hold for a while. I know some people will say it’s a good barometer of where you are with your weight, it’s important to keep track, what is not measured is not managed, blah blah blah… but odds are, you’ve been measuring for a long time, and it’s only making you miserable.

I talked to an awesome guy on the phone today who gave me a great question to ask yourself. “If I would have known what I know now, would I have done it?”

His philosophy is if the answer is no, then why still do it?

If you could go back to the past with the knowledge that you would spend years making yourself miserable by giving your power to a scale, would you have done it?

If the answer is no, then stop.

Where I’m At With The 30 Day Challenge…

Back on April 22, I started a challenge to attract certain things into my life.

Now that I’m slightly halfway through, things are interesting.

It seems like some of what I wanted just a few weeks ago is not as important to me any more, and new goals are taking the place of those. Things have been changing REALLY rapidly.

That being said, I’m still working on lots of stuff.

Here’s a play by play on what’s going on for each goal:

1. 7 days of juicing only.

I did this!! It went extremely well, I had no detox pains and had phenomenal energy throughout the entire thing. It was a much better experience than the last time and I’ll definitely be doing it again.

2. Connecting one on one with people.

This has been going great too. I have made several new friends and keep getting confirmation that this is the right thing for me to do. Take a look at this super-nice post Tim Castleman made after he visited me.

I am actually thinking of opening up my home to “x” amount of people per month. I think it could be a fun way to meet new people and do whatever I can to serve. Otto says I should charge for it and make it a business type thing, which could be a LOT of fun.

3. 1762 clients for Burn Your To Do List.

Well, as I posted in the initial challenge, that number is dependent upon a lot of factors. I can tell you that we’re converting like CRAZY right now. 19.6% of the people who find our page sign up to become a member, so it’s just a matter of getting traffic to the site. 19.6% conversions are pretty much unheard of, especially on COLD TRAFFIC to a MEMBERSHIP SITE.

Proof of conversions is right here.

4-7. Flight ticket home, to London, to Kenya, and to Dominican Republic.

I haven’t gotten any tickets yet, moreso because I’m trying to decide on the best times to go than anything else. Some of those places lose their sizzle to me depending on when I’m thinking about it, but at the time of this writing, I’m excited to go again.

8. 500 sales per month of this delicious chocolate drink I’ve been drinking.

I made a rubbish sales letter right here for it, and then lost a little bit of interest. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue promoting it, but as of this moment I’m interested again. Oy oy oy…

9. Tons and tons of energy as if I was drinking the chocolate drink every single moment.

My energy levels have been AWESOME! After some blood testing I realized some things I could do to make it even BETTER, which is even more fantastic.

(Some of those things include getting a cellerciser and doing rhythmic breathing)

10. Will weigh 142 pounds.

I AM SO OVER THIS ONE! That was a goal I no longer believe in, and I threw my scale in the dumpster. I’m not allowing my happiness to be dictated by a number on the scale any more. I will continue to eat healthily, exercise, and respect and honor my body. I am sure whatever I’m supposed to look like, I will look like. I’m at a super-healthy weight for a 5’8 female and I’m not putting any more tension around this.

11. A hair cut and color. This is a smaller one, but I’m overdue.

Will schedule soon

12. Starting up belly dancing again. I miss it!

Belly dancing classes are on Wednesdays, and because I haven’t been around every Wednesday, I started following along with some YouTube videos.

13. Keeping a super-happy relationship with Otto.

Our relationship is at an all-time high. We just spent the week together and had a WONDERFUL time, and we’re both looking forward to living near each other again. I can safely say we’re both more in love with each other than ever before. I know this is corny, but every time I look at him, all I want to do is hug him, kiss him, and tell him how much I love him!

Here’s a picture of us from our week:

We were walking around Santa Monica and got asked to go to the front of an audience for People’s Court (remember that TV show where they supposedly have people in the audience and they ask them their opinions on the case?). It was a lot of fun. The host just reads out the gist of each case to the audience and we give our opinions. This is a picture from between takes.

14. My income being passive again.

I barely worked while in California and the money just flowed in. I’m continuing to work on this. My amazing business manager has also just volunteered to do all my SEO on sites for a cut of the first few month’s profits, which is a no-brainer considering I haven’t done a thing on them.

All in all, I guess the major things I’ve been hemming and hawing on are the flights and Chocolate Jump. Even with those though, I’ve made great strides. I’m happy to be where I am at this stage of the game.