I received a free review copy of the newly published book, The Skinny on Networking: Maximizing the Power of Numbers by success coach Jim Randel. However, every opinion expressed in this article is completely my own.

Not Your Typical Business Networking Book

The Skinny on Networking is not like other business networking books I’ve read. The Skinny on Networking is unique in at least five ways:

1. The Skinny on Networking is written as a short entertaining story, and all of the book’s characters (including author Jim Randel) are adorable (skinny) stick figures.
2. While The Skinny on Networking is a how-to book, its mission is to illuminate basic business networking principles rather than to serve as a comprehensive business networking guide.
3. You can read The Skinny on Networking in about an hour and obtain a quick business networking overview. Then, each subsequent rereading will help deepen your appreciation of business networking concepts and plant them more firmly in your mind.
4. The Skinny on Networking draws from the works and expertise of such business networking masters as Harvey Mackay and Ivan R. Misner, who are frequently quoted.
5. The Skinny on Networking explores both offline and online business networking and the connection between the two.

The Skinny on Networking Story

The main characters in The Skinny on Networking are Billy, a high school history teacher who’d much prefer to teach music at a college, his wife Beth, a lawyer hoping to find new clients despite her shyness, and Jim Randel, their savvy business networking coach.

Jim teaches networking to Billy and Beth and helps them step-by-step to overcome obstacles and advance in their careers.

Business Networking Concepts

The Skinny on Networking develops and illustrates the application of many business networking concepts, which include the power of numbers, diversifying contacts, maintaining a long-term perspective, creating and using social capital, and the importance of reciprocity.

My favorite is social capital, “the strength of a relationship you have with another person,” as defined by Jim, who adds, “You create social capital by building on a relationship.”

In the past, I’ve thought of social capital as accumulated goodwill.  The social capital you have determines what you can reasonably expect to request from another person without damaging your relationship.

The Skinny on The Skinny on Networking

If you’re looking to achieve greater business networking success and open to new networking ideas, I strongly recommend that you read The Skinny on Networking: Maximizing the Power of Numbers by Jim Randel.

I look forward to networking with you on my new Ning business network, Small Business Networking.

Hope to see you there.

Tags: Books, business networking

Who wouldn’t want the kind of web presence that drives hundreds or thousands of targeted visitors to his or her web site or blog and converts them into customers or followers?

I’ve created that type web presence for myself. However, most businesses that try to build such a web presence fall short of achieving that objective. How about yours?

This a long article that covers a lot of ground. My hope is that this article and those articles and resources it links to will enable you to take a fresh look at your social media and web marketing program.

Over the past few years I’ve identified dozens of factors that contribute to lack of web marketing success, and in this article I discuss 25 of the most important ones:

1. Failing to Plan - Strategy must precede tactics. Taking action is easy, but will that action help you achieve your objectives? Do you know precisely what those objectives are? It’s imperative that you define your objectives and devise marketing strategies to help you reach them effectively.
2. A Flawed Plan - Including thinking too big or too small, e.g., with your keywords, quantity of social networking sites you employ or frequency of your blog posting. Be ambitious but realistic. Your time is limited. Make a plan that’s simple but not simplistic. Shama Hyder Kabani’s The Zen of Social Media Marketing provides an excellent overview of the planning process.
   
3. Ignoring Your Competition - Developing your plan in a vacuum without any competitive intelligence prevents you from learning from your competitors and identifying optimal marketing strategies and tactics.
4. Having Unrealistic Expectations - View social media and web marketing as a marathon, not a sprint. It takes a substantial amount of time to build credibility with your potential customers and with search engines too.
5. Not Focusing on Your Niche - The more focused your message, the more it will influence your target audience. Trying to be everything to everybody will make your website look like a patch quilt. I’m sure you’ve been to websites that look like menus at diners or aerial views of battle zones. You hit the back arrow and breathe a sigh of relief. Successful offline marketers know that a highly targeted ad gets the best results, even with those people who aren’t targeted by the ad.
6. Following the Pack - Don’t do anything solely because it’s trendy. Check new options at your disposal for consistency with your plan and expected return on time invested. You’ll need to rely mostly on intuition, but the more extensive your knowledge, the more reliable your intuition will be.
7. Not Optimizing Your Web Site - What good is a website that looks great yet is dysfunctional? It doesn’t attract any traffic. Search engines are confused by it. Or it attracts traffic, but that traffic doesn’t convert. The lack of web site results is so wide spread that business owners tend to be very skeptical about the web’s marketing potential. See 10 Easy Way to Improve Your Blog or Website and 10 More Easy Ways to Improve Your Website.
8. Optimizing for Search Engines Only - Some marketers optimize their web sites for search engines but fail to optimize for humans. The result: traffic that doesn’t convert. Optimizing “user experience” is more important than search engine optimization. SEO is only one of numerous ways to attract visitors to your site. On the other hand, all methods drive traffic to your website, and if that site is weak, your work is in vain.
9. Your Logo or Flash Dominates Your Website  - A constant battle! A client said he wants his website to have an upscale image similar to that of the fluffy Tiffany site. Will that work for him? He’s trying to build his brand online. The Tiffany brand was powerful before the web even existed. All they really need is a pretty site with product illustrations and a shopping card to help you spend your extra funds on beautiful high-end jewelry. However, let’s be real. If you’re not a Tiffany or an Apple, nobody cares as much about your logo or flash as you do. They want content to digest. They want to know what you can do for them and whether or not they can trust you.
10. Too Little or Lame Content - They say that content is king. I believe that is true. People are searching online for content. To succeed, feed people great content, such as text, video, pictures, podcasts, etc., and you’ll  gain positive recognition for your brand.
11. Trying to Spam the Search Engines - Search engines are smarter than you might think. Game them, and you’ll come to regret it. But, feed them lots of solid content, and over time they’ll send your web site thousands and thousands of targeted visitors.
12. Leaving Everything to Your Web Developers - Web developers are neither experienced marketers nor skilled copywriters. Check out Web Developers Don’t Know Social Media.
13. Making Bad Money Decisions - How about the following example? You spent tens of thousands to engage top notch social media and web consultants, but you don’t want to spend a couple of thousand on the new website design they recommend. Why not? Because that would imply that the money you spent on the original design was wasted. Am I missing something here? Tell me.
14. Not Hosting Your Website or Blog Yourself - Your website or blog is the core of your web presence. Should Blogger or Wordpress.com determine its disposition? Invest in a web hosting account — it’s not pricey. Learn how to use the Wordpress.org content management system to create and maintain your website or blog.
15. Not Building Yourself an Online Community - If you have doubts about social media or the power of your own community, Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk will make you a believer. Gary has built a community of wine lovers around his Wine Library TV brand, and his social media efforts have greatly added to the bottom line of his business, the Wine Library.
16. Not Engaging Your Community - To cultivate and nurture your community of customers and fans is a golden opportunity to connect with the people who matter to your brand.
17. Not Being Authentic - We live in an age of trust and transparency. Being who you’re not will set you apart from your competitors in a counterproductive way.
18. Not Integrating Online Marketing with Offline - Relying only on Internet marketing when you can achieve results offline as well, including driving visitors from offline to your website. Marketing offline is not dead.
19. Never Meeting People Face-to-Face - Nothing builds trust like an in-person meeting. If you’re in the New York area, let’s have coffee or do lunch.
20. Not Diversifying - Don’t put All Your Social Media Eggs in One Basket — nor all your other eggs.
21. Not Using an Autoresponder to Build an Email List - Most potential customers need to get to know your brand better before they buy. Keep in touch with them by letting them add themselves to your autoresponder newsletter or blog subscription list — even if you use RSS.
22. Not Touching Base Frequently with Your Email List - If you don’t stay on people’s minds, they’ll forget you. Then when you do email them, they’ll flag your message as spam. That in turn will hurt your ability to get your email through the filters of the Internet service providers.
23. Relying on Trial and Error - Keep reading. Keep learning. Trial and error is a luxury you may not be able to afford.
24. Never Seeking Help - A little help can save you from much trial and error and many hours of spinning your wheels but remaining where you are.
25. Taking Your Web Marketing Too Seriously - Lighten up. Make friends. Have fun.

Here are social media and web marketing resources you might find useful:

• Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk
• Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel
• The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Hyder Kabani
• 31 Days to Build a Better Blog by Darren Rouse
• Building Social Equity free and premium social marketing videos
• Who’s Blogging What free web marketing newsletter and digest
• Web marketing articles from this blog and other archived posts
  

Wishing you success with your web marketing.

Please subscribe, leave a comment, click on some of my Facebook like buttons and share this article with your friends and colleagues. 

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Tags: Books, marketing books, SEO, Web Marketing, web presence

I’ll share one of my idiosyncrasies with you, but promise you won’t laugh: Most people go to the library to find books — not me. When I accompany my kids to the library, I take my own books with me to read while waiting for them to finish.

Think that’s peculiar? I can assure you that there’s a totally rational explanation: It’s rare to find the trendy business books I like to read at a library. I’m much more likely to find them at a bookstore.

Still, my kids like to tease me about this seemingly odd behavior.

Imagine my surprise when on a recent library visit, I found both Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk and Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel in the new arrivals section. Finding these books was a fluke, but nevertheless, I do plan to check back in that section in the future.

I read and thoroughly enjoyed Crush It!. The words of @garyvee helped to reinforce and refine my personal approach to business and social media branding. (I’m still in the middle of Six Pixels of Separation and liking it so far.)

Business developers are starting to approach me to explore joint ventures. They tell me how successful they are and then talk to me about changing my path, building a giant email list and making videos.

Gary, on the other hand, talks about building your personal brand through social media by being authentic and “delivering your content by video, podcast, or blog.” Being authentic guarantees to “differentiate you from everybody else, including those who share your niche or business model.”

Gary’s whole book resonated with me. However, his emphasis on building a personal brand around one’s passion got me to stop and reflect for several days about my own passion.

I realized that while I love social media, the web, and data crunching, I have a greater passion for helping people solve difficult problems. Throughout my career, I’ve been happiest when solving business problems has been at the core of my work.

Gary Vaynerchuk writes that loving your family, working super hard and living your passion are the keys to success. What’s your passion, and are you building your personal brand and future around that passion?

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Tags: book review, Books, branding, critical success factors, Gary Vaynerchuk, marketing books, personal branding, personal branding strategy, self branding, Social Media, success secrets, Success Strategies

This is my final blog post for 2008. I have enjoyed our interaction this past year.

Thank you. I learned a lot.

I look forward to more give and take in 2009.

Thinking Outside the Box

In 10 Not Simple Success Strategies for 2009 I stated, “What worked in the past may no longer work in the present economy. You may have to make some tough personal or business choices going forward.”

To succeed in 2009 we need to be flexible and to think outside the box. According to Wikipedia, thinking outside the box is “to think differently, unconventionally, from a new perspective. This phrase often refers to novel, creative and smart thinking“.

I hope to help you think outside the box and navigate through some of the challenges and choices that lie ahead.

If you don’t yet subscribe to this blog, I ask you to subscribe now. Let’s stay “on the same page” as I continue to publish thought-provoking and hopefully outside-the-box articles on a broad range of topics.

Networking Outside the Box

If you are not yet a member of Critical Thinking Outside the Box, my no-spam online social network, please join now. This social networking site is a place where you and I can share ideas and network with each other.

Set up your profile there and add me as a friend. That way you can contact me whenever you wish.

By starting discussions and participating in existing discussions on the forum, you’ll brand yourself as a leader. If you’d like to become a featured leader on the site and have me promote you there, send me a message and we’ll discuss the details.

Marketing Outside the Box

Online social networking and social media marketing are still very much in their infancy. We’ll see plenty of growth and change in 2009 and beyond. To market outside the box you’ll need to keep abreast of online and social marketing changes, and you’ll need to keep learning new skills.

One excellent training and support program that I highly recommend to learn and implement new marketing ideas is Affiliate University.

Founder Bill Hibbler is a successful Internet marketer and an excellent instructor. Bill along with Dr. Joe Vitale is co-author of Meet and Grow Rich: How to Easily Create and Operate Your Own “Mastermind” Group for Health, Wealth, and More.

The Affiliate University training program has ten modules, and more will be added in the future.

Additionally, I’m starting a marketing clinic to complement the Affiliate University curriculum and help you through the rough spots as you put what you learn to use.

Achieving Outside the Box

Setting and following through on goals require ongoing support from peers. Mastermind groups provide that support and have long been known to increase focus and speed movement towards achieving objectives.

Affiliate University will start you on the path to forming a mastermind group. After teaching you the basic concepts and mechanics of mastermind groups, their forum will help you connect with prospective members for your group. I will help too.

If you believe that you can benefit from one-on-one mentoring, I offer special consulting rates for my “inner circle”. See the bio and endorsements on my about page for information about my qualifications.

As usual, feel free to comment on this blog post or ask questions… And let’s have a great year!

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to my RSS feed or by e-mail. Also, visit my About, Services, Media Buzz and Connect pages to learn about me and my social media and web marketing services.

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Tags: Affiliate Marketing, Affiliate University, Bill Hibbler, critical thinking, mastermind groups, online social networking, social media marketing, social media marketing training, Success Strategies, thinking outside the box

What is Twitter?

Twitter may very well be the hottest online social media venue today. It’s a social network, micro-blog, instant messenger, mobile communications tool and giant party — all rolled into one site.

Twitter is a great branding and marketing resource with the potential to reach thousands of people. I myself am a very enthusiastic Twitter user.

Originally Twitter entries were status updates that answered the simple question, “What are you doing?”

Twitter has evolved over time, and members now post all sorts of short messages which we affectionately refer to as “tweets”.

How short is short?

There is a strict 140 character limit so members can tweet via text messaging wherever they happen to be at the time.

If you’re on Twitter and want people to “follow you”, write a comment below explaining briefly why you like Twitter and including your Twitter link.

Twitter Training

I found a three-hour course that fully answers the question, “What is Twitter?” and goes step-by-step through complete Twitter setup and usage.

There are also extensive interviews with Warren Whitlock and Deborah Micek, authors of Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online, who provide many useful Twitter tips.

Affiliate University

The Twitter course is being offered by Affiliate University as a free sample of their social and search engine marketing training which was designed primarily for novice Internet marketers and more seasoned marketers who want to increase their skill set.

Affiliate marketing, referring customers to others’ websites in order to earn commissions, is a great way to develop multiple income streams, create passive residual income, and generate leads for nearly any type of business from mortgages and real estate to network marketing.

It isn’t very difficult to get started in affiliate marketing. Having your own website isn’t required, but if you have a website or blog, that’s a big plus.

Affiliate University teaches the necessary concepts and techniques in a structured and easy to follow format.

Founder Bill Hibbler is a successful Internet marketer and an excellent instructor. Bill along with Joe Vitale is co-author of Meet and Grow Rich: How to Easily Create and Operate Your Own “Mastermind” Group for Health, Wealth, and More.

If you have experience with affiliate marketing, feel free to write a comment below and share your experiences.

In any case, enjoy the Twitter Course. It’s excellent, and there aren’t any strings attached.

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Tags: Affiliate University, Bill Hibbler, branding, Instant Messenger, Marketing, mobile technology, social networking, Twitter, What is Twitter

Yesterday I was asked how it is that I’ve learned so much so quickly about social media marketing and search engine optimization.

My response was simple.

I learn from reading many books, e-books and blogs, and from speaking frequently with friends and mentors. Having mentors has greatly shortened my learning curve.

I do admit that I am a much more focused learner than the average person. I was able to finish high school math at 15 and by 19 I was one of the top chess players in New York.

As an adult I’ve gone on to acquire skills and expertise in many areas including business analysis, social media marketing, search engine marketing, and online social networking at social networking sites, the original motivation for this site.

One of my greatest teachers and mentors was Eric Marder, founder of Eric Marder Associates and my employer for 23 years. One fundamental thing he taught me about business was that I should always seek the truth.

At 56, I still place a very high priority on continuing education, personal development and masterminding with my mentors and peers. You can ask any of the friends with whom I consult most often, David Alexander, Ivo Jackson, and Tom Long.

Other friends and mentors whom I wish to acknowledge:

• Bill Weber of Direct Matches, who taught me to build it right
• Diane Hochman of My Private Classroom who develops leaders through her training
• Mike Litman who taught me that You Don’t Have to Get It Right, you just have to get it going
• Also Ann Sieg of The Renegade System, Mark Wieser of Surefire Sponsoring, Mike Dillard of Magnetic Sponsoring, and Tim Draayer, a master blogger

Diane Hochman of My Private Classroom, like myself, offers free tele-seminars and webinars. To receive announcements and invitations to these classes, join my e-mail list at my free social media training site.

I used to recommend the training Bill Arnold offers through Network Success Builders, but came to realize, as I wrote in Orovo and Network Success Builders, that Network Success Builder’s training was mediocre and that Bill Arnold lacked personal and business integrity.

Make a commitment to read at least one business or marketing book each month. Choose mentors to guide you and then set aside time each week to learn something from them.

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Tags: Ann Sieg, Bill Weber, Books, David Alexander, Diane Hochman, Direct Matches, I.C. Jackson, Magnetic Sponsoring, Mark Wieser, Marketing, marketing books, Mike Dillard, mike litman, My Private Classroom, Network Success Builders, online social networking, search engine marketing, social media marketing, The Renegade System, Tim Draayer, Tom Long

I was away yesterday with my family. About once a month we all spend a day in a group home for multiply handicapped girls. Our hope is that they will enjoy, at least for a brief time, a warm family environment.

When I arrived home I found three pleasant surprises.

• Another reader had registered as a user of my blog bringing the total to 105.
• My blog had moved up to #8 in Google for the keywords online social networking. I’m back to #51 today, but it felt good to receive validation, however temporary, from Google.
• An envelope had arrived by Priority Mail with my very own copy of Mike Dillard’s Building on a Budget.

Today I’m feeling jetlagged from the advance to Daylight Savings Time, but I’m happy to report that I’ve already read Mike’s book cover-to-cover. Here is my feedback.

My book review of Building on a Budget is mixed.

The advertising promises to show network marketers how to leverage a one-time cash outlay of about $500 to acquire new skills and resources and generate a continuous stream of leads without further expense.

Building on a Budget outlines an excellent marketing approach and provides great tips that all marketers could learn from — not just network marketers. The Internet and social media marketing concepts presented in the book are explained very clearly and concisely.

The book discusses one pre-requisite and five marketing strategies which are more effective than the strategies that most marketers currently employ. There’s a chapter each for lead capture pages, Craigslist classified ads, video marketing, press releases, blogging and funded proposals. I feel that these are all excellent choices.

Social networking sites are mentioned but only in passing.

Here are my reservations about Building on a Budget.

I have the knowledge and the resources to implement Mike Dillard’s suggestions. I’m already using several of these techniques in my online marketing, but what about a newbie?

Let’s say that our enthusiastic new marketer decides to follow the book’s instructions. He or she sets up web hosting, domain names and an autoresponder, all absolutely essential tools, and purchases Magnetic Sponsoring, MLM Traffic Formula, Black Belt Recruiting, a camcorder, Camtasia Studio, and one or two other items. The $500 figure can very easily top $1,000, and paid third-party assistance might still be needed.

I have spent much more than that to educate and equip myself to market effectively in today’s environment, and I’m a former IT professional with more than ten years network marketing experience.

I don’t regret it at all.

What I object to is an unrealistic $500 price point established by Building on a Budget. And not only is it unrealistic, the book itself is a powerful sales letter — not an academic marketing text. It’s written to sell information and recruit affiliates. Mike points out that he’s a great copywriter. I totally agree. However, I don’t fault him one bit.

I will make good use of Building on a Budget. It’s a compact reference that I will want at my fingertips. You may find it useful too. However, please be careful about your expectations.

Oh, before I forget to mention it. I will schedule conference calls to help. So if you purchased the book, expect to hear from me.

I welcome questions and comments about the book, but please, keep them upbeat.

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Tags: autoresponders, Black Belt Recruiting, Blogging, book review, Books, Building on a Budget, classified ads, conference calls, Craigslist, domain names, funded proposal, Internet marketing, keywords, lead capture, Magnetic Sponsoring, Mike Dillard, MLM Traffic Formula, network marketing, online marketing, press releases, social media marketing, video marketing, Web Hosting

I promised in my recent post on The Law of Belief that you would hear more from me on the subject of changing beliefs. I said that I would discuss replacing disempowering beliefs with empowering ones.

I’m not ready for a broad treatment of the subject. However, after Robin’s touching comment I feel compelled to write something more without delay.

Robin’s words inspired me to pick up and re-read one of my favorite books, The Ultimate Secret to Getting Absolutely Everything You Want, written by Mike Hernacki in 1982.

What is “the ultimate secret”?

Know what you want and be willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish it.

This is called intention. It is tied in with commitment and is one of the critical success factors.

Please, don’t say “duh” or tell me it’s merely a matter of semantics.

Most people have difficulty with either the “know what you want” part or the “be willing to do whatever it takes” part of the principle, and Hernacki’s book addresses this difficulty. The book also explains how the Law of Attraction comes into play.

The Ultimate Secret has been in and out of print a number of times since its publication in 1982. I suggest you buy it now while it’s available. Over the years I have repeatedly bought and given away copies of this book to my friends. I read it myself over and over again and grow from it each time I do so.

In connection with Robin’s remarks, I want to focus on the “willing” part of the formula.

Mick Hernacki says that we must have a sense or a belief from the outset that we will be able to handle anything that comes our way — “whatever it takes”. All accomplishment stems from this particular form of belief even if we’re not consciously aware of it.

Here’s the good news as I see it.

We don’t have to line up all our beliefs like ducks in a row to be successful. the only belief we need to succeed at something is the belief that we can handle whatever challenge that might arise with respect to that one objective. One empowering belief can bring enormous success even if our overall belief system is far from perfect in other respects.

When I prepared to run the New York City Marathon in 1984 and 1985, I knew precisely what I wanted — to complete the marathon.

I assure you that I didn’t have my act together at all. However, I did have confidence that I’d be able to overcome all obstacles — discouragement from friends, athletic injuries, rain, snow, cold weather, hot weather, lack of sleep, and whatever would come my way.

I did just that.

I even dealt with severe leg cramps both years towards the end of the race.

What a wonderful accomplishment this was! I even have a picture from 1985 which I may very well scan some day and post online for my readers to gawk at.

So my advice to you is to know what you want. Be passionate about it. Be open-minded too. And believe that you will handle whatever challenges lie in your path. Your eventual success is assured.

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Tags: Books, critical success factors, intention, Mike Hernacki, New York City Marathon, success secrets, Success Strategies, the Law of Belief, The Secret, The Ultimate Secret to Getting Absolutely Everything

Who says you can only do online social networking using social networking sites?

For quite a few years Max Steingart has been showing people how to use Instant Messenger to develop new friendships and business contacts online.

Today we have social networking sites available to us, however the real-time aspect of Instant Messaging makes IM a great social networking tool.

I recommend that you visit Max’s site, join his mailing list, and download a copy of his e-book, Make the Internet Your Warm Market.

Some of the key topics Max covers in his book are:

• “What is your Warm Market and how can the Internet replace it?”
• Why you want to use Instant Messaging
• The Member Directory
• The required steps to making a new friend or gaining a new client
• Searching for the right people
• How to start a conversation
• Internet etiquette and safety

Not only will you learn another way to network, the training you will receive can help you network more effectively using any social networking site.

Don’t miss any posts. Register, it’s easy, or subscribe to my RSS feed!

Tags: Books, Communication, IM, instant messaging, Instant Messenger, Internet, Internet etiquette, Make the Internet Your Warm Market, Max Steingart, online social networking, warm market

More Critical Success Factors

In my previous post, The Go-Giver, I discussed a new book, The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea, which introduces The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success. These laws pertain primarily to the relationships essential to business and life success.

In another favorite post, 10 Simple Success Strategies, I suggested techniques for coping with day-to-day challenges.

In this post I want to present four laws of success that are psychological, spiritual and metaphysical in nature.

1. The Law of Belief. Our motivation and how we act is determined by our underlying beliefs. If we don’t believe that something is possible, we won’t even try to make it happen. Please listen to a conference call I recorded on 8/22/07 that illustrates this concept.
2. The Law of Expectation. This is briefly mentioned in the second chapter of The Go-Giver. Our subconscious minds manifest that which we focus on.
3. The Law of Attraction. This is the essence of The Secret book and video. The universe manifests that which we focus on. This is the spiritual or metaphysical counterpart of the Law of Expectation.
4. The Law of Appreciation. By recognizing the good in our lives, we show the universe that we’re ready to attract and receive more good. Appreciation accelerates the re-ordering of things and events in the universe, so that good comes to us easily and swiftly.

It’s The Law of Belief that determines how we think, what we focus on, how we act. It determines everything!

Belief is the missing ingredient without which all great ideas, books and courses change nothing. And that’s why all the fantastic personal development books have little or no effect on our lives. Our belief systems are strongly entrenched, and we are unable to assimilate and integrate what we learn.

There is hope, however, as I’ll explain soon in a future post. I promise.

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Tags: belief system, Books, critical success factors, Law of Attraction, relationships, success secrets, Success Strategies, The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success, The Go-Giver, The Secret

Nearly 100 years ago Wallace D. Wattles wrote a short book, The Science of Getting Rich. Wattles inspired Napoleon Hill and others to write about the power our thoughts have over the world around us, and about the beneficial consequences of having certain beliefs and acting in a certain way.

The Secret book and video recently repackaged this body of knowledge for mass consumption. Whether all the hoopla over The Secret will have been justified by a tangible positive shift in peoples’ lives remains to be seen. I’m not at all aware of any new paradigm shifts in the world at large since The Secret was distributed.

I don’t want to sound cynical, because I’m really not. And I love personal development books and courses. Nevertheless, I cannot help but notice that despite the course’s apparent lack of impact, its promotion was a huge marketing success.

The success of The Secret hasn’t stopped with the book and the video. Bob Proctor and his Science of Getting Rich program have seemingly managed to keep the momentum and monetization of that momentum going.

Is this the only way to spell $u¢¢e$$?

Meanwhile, two accomplished social networking experts and authors, Bob Burg and John David Mann, brought out their new book, The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea, late this past year.

This short book teaches us how to achieve success by relating an inspiring parable about an ambitious young man named Joe and his encounter with The Old Man. We learn The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success as well as the importance of applying them as soon as we learn them. Each of the laws is exquisitely illustrated within the narrative.

The first law, The Law of Value, that “your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment,” is also exemplified by the authors’ present undertaking. They and their publisher have made this wonderfully written hard cover book available through Amazon.com at a very modest price.

It’s one of those books that I know I will re-read again and again in the months and years to come. Each time I will progress farther to integrate and internalize The Five Laws in my life.

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Tags: Bob Burg, Bob Proctor, Books, certain way, John David Mann, Napoleon Hill, Science of Getting Rich, SGR, social networking, Success Strategies, The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success, The Go-Getter, The Law of Value, The Secret, Wallace D. Wattles

I am happy to announce that my dear friend Janice Weinberg will contribute regular articles on changing careers and on mothers re-entering the job market to this blog beginning some time this month.

Janice is a successful consultant, lecturer, author and founder of Career Solutions. Her book, How to Win the Job You Really Want, was published in 1995. Her newer book, Debugging Your Information Technology™ Career, became available very recently.

Janice will discuss a number of fascinating and relevant topics that you will enjoy and find beneficial. If you have a specific issue you would like her to address, please post it here as a comment. Unfortunately I cannot guarantee that Janice will respond to each and every question, but I do promise to pass every one on to her.

Don’t miss any posts. Register, it’s easy, or subscribe to my RSS feed!

Tags: Books, career change, careers, How to Win the Job You Really Want, Janice Weinberg, job hunting, re-entering the job market

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