New Year’s Resolutions

Want To Make Your New Year’s Resolution Stick?

Choose Your Words Well

Most people are unaware of just how powerful their words are. The words we speak actually create what we experience in life. Powerhouse CEO, serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and author May McCarthy can attest to that. In the past 32 years, May has grown six highly profitable companies to as large as 250 employees. She credits her success, financial abundance and happiness to seven steps she practices every morning. One of those steps involves setting goals and resolutions with statements that are carefully worded to help her achieve more of her goals, dreams, and desires by activating her subconscious and intuition.

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”  Oprah Winfrey

“More often than not, we believe we are setting good New Year’s resolutions with statements like: I want to increase my salary this year; I will get a new job; I want to find the love of my life; I want to lose 20 pounds. According to May McCarthy, you are not likely to meet your goals with statements like those. Because they affirm the idea that you do not yet have what you want, they will actually keep you stuck in the lack you believe you are experiencing. Modify those statements, however, with specifics and in gratitude for your goals as though they are already complete, and the world you want is more likely to be yours,” says May, an Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, and Investor .

If you were to say, “I want to increase my salary,” you will forever be wanting, because you are declaring that you don’t have enough and you are not specific enough about your goal. If, on the other hand, you decided exactly how much you would like to net, you could rephrase your goal to something like, “I’m so grateful that I have overflowing amounts of abundance in my life with a minimum of $x that I use for all of my living, giving and entertainment expenses and more.  I am fully supported and provided for at all times in all ways.”

If you were to say, “I don’t like my job. I want to find another one,” you’ll probably be wishing it for quite a while. On the other hand, the assertion, “I am so grateful that I am now using my skills and talents in remarkable, fun, and satisfying ways to support my company’s efforts towards success.  I feel appreciated by my company and easily earn a minimum of $x. I enjoy all of my co-workers and customers and feel that they value me as well,” will more likely land you that plum job, whatever it may be.

Change “I want to find the love of my life,” to “I am so grateful that I am now experiencing a wonderful relationship with my perfect and loving partner, who is also my best friend. We have fun together and have similar values.  All of my friends and family adore him/her and his/her family appreciates me. We build a wonderful life together as we support and love each other fully,” and watch the magic happen.

Choosing the right words to declare your intention is just one of seven steps May suggests for attaining abundance.  To be most effective in activating your subconscious and intuition to help you see more opportunities to achieve your goals, the seven steps should be practiced daily. You can begin this New Year’s by phrasing your resolutions to describe the good you want to have so that you can realize it sooner.

May McCarthy has spent 32 years uncovering the mystery of how to rely on intuition to experience great levels of success, financial abundance, and freedom. She is a successful serial entrepreneur, CEO, angel investor, philanthropist, speaker, and author who has grown six highly profitable companies to as large as 250 employees. She serves on business, philanthropic, arts and university boards and is the author of the best-selling book THE PATH TO WEALTH: Seven Spiritual Steps for Financial Abundance (Hierphant Publishing 2015).

www.MayMcCarthy.com

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Book Review: Conquer Change and Win By Ralph Masengill

Conquer Change And Win:
Learn How To Embrace Change To Live A Happier,
More Fulfilled Life

Learn what 90% of Americans have no clue about.  Be the last person standing in the room by knowing how change affects our emotions and feelings.  Conquer Change and Win will show you how to control your reaction to those emotions and feelings that all change always causes. The result will be a happier and more fulfilled life.  This information will give you a leg up on making more money and having less stress in your life.

Every one of us is constantly affected by change. Change never stops, and no matter if it’s positive change or not, our first reaction is usually fear. The truly successful people of the world have a good understanding of change and how to make it work to their advantage. In his latest book, Conquer Change and Win, best-selling author Ralph Masengill gives readers an easy-to-read, fun book about the serious subject of change.

In forty-plus years as a consultant, coach, advisor and public relations strategist, Masengill has observed that successful people share two characteristics. First, they are willing to take a calculated risk and endorse positive change on a regular basis. Secondly, they have learned how change affects their emotions and how to overcome the fear of change.

“I believe the happiest and most successful people do not necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have,” Masengill says. He urges readers to choose change. “It is the path to true happiness and business success. Understanding how change works can alter your life for the better and give you a solid advantage.”

An advisor, coach, marketing expert, business consultant and public relations strategist, Masengill understands how companies work from within. He has the wisdom of one who has made the journey of sustained success himself, leavened by an ethics-based philosophy of helping others and the community around him. Masengill’s life story is one of personal challenge, tragedy, and triumph. His professional career has been defined by great success in both the private and public sectors. His agency, Masengill Marketing Associates, has won over 850 national and regional advertising and marketing awards.

One of the original change agents in the United States, Masengill and his team have been observing change and showing business leaders that embracing and understanding positive change is the sure route to effective quality improvement and substantial profit enhancement for decades. This extensive experience formed the basis for Conquer Change and Win, his second book.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Masengill’s postgraduate work includes the Dr. W. Edwards Deming course on quality and quality management. He and his wife Dianne live near the Great Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee. They have four grown children, two dogs and a cat. Masengill enjoys woodworking, oil painting, sailing and helping with his favorite charities in his spare time.

For more information, please visit http://conquerchangeandwin.com

Conquer Change and Win
By Ralph Masengill
Available at fine bookstores everywhere, at the author’s website,
Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble
ISBN:  978-1515191872

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Reviews:

The Editors of CreateSpace, an Amazon.com company: “…As author Ralph Masengill Jr. observes, death and taxes aren’t the only things certain in life. Change is a given too. Understanding and managing change can help you succeed both at work and in your personal life. People who know how to deal with change are happier and less stressed out, and they make better decisions….In entertaining, jargon-free language…[Conquer Change And Win] demonstrates how to transform the way you think about change, become a better decision maker, and seize every chance for success.”

Richard H. Roberts, Tennessee Commissioner of Revenue, member of the Governor’s Cabinet: “…a valuable roadmap to the one thing in life that we are certain to experience….Change! The points in your book confirm my own experience; I wish I had been as organized in my thinking and understanding. The quotes and anecdotes were especially interesting, and kept the text moving….”

Chet LaFountaine, Retired, BASF Corporation: “…Ralph Masengill has truly captured the collective wisdom about ‘change’….Thinking back over my 35 years of industrial management experience, I quickly realize how this book would have been a tremendous help to me, personally, and to the process of our change efforts.  At whatever stage of life you are in, take time to read, enjoy and learn from this book.”

Raymond Clark, AIA, INCARB, KCP Architects, LLC.: “Human history, if nothing else, is a study in Change….yet we resist it, we fear it, we try to control it, we ignore it, and many times we try to pretend it doesn’t exist. This book, by Ralph Masengill Jr., takes us through all the fears and resistance and shows us how we can ride the waves of Change to the promised land of acceptance, success, peace and happiness.”

Brian Broyles, Director of Development, The University of Tennessee, The Haslam School of Business: “….Ralph is able to mix expertise, fact and even a little humor (some at his own expense) not only to teach, but to also tell a story to the reader. Time and time again I found myself having these ‘aha’ moments of clarity because Ralph was able to mold his principles into simple, constructive lessons. Each chapter builds on the previous ones, which makes for a simple, straightforward approach to implementing change – personally and professionally….[a] delightful read that I would recommend to anyone who is interested in improving their own life and/or their company’s well-being.”

Jeffrey C. Taylor, Lawyer and founder of Taylor Law Firm: “…Conquer Change and Win provides user friendly examples and models that inspire and equip the reader to be a Change Agent to enhance the lives of their families, employees and themselves.  Masengill’s approach to Conquering Change is articulate, well informed and when properly applied could yield enormous victory.”

Lynn Elkins, Retired educator, higher education administrator and former director of Tennessee College of Applied Technology: “….The truth is evident on every page. Anyone who wants to succeed with an organization or managing people would profit by putting into practice Mr. Masengill’s proven experiences and making them one’s own.….The message in this book provides the correct guidance to tremendous achievement at all levels of any organization.”

Earnest Walker, Ed.D, Director of Educational Leadership and Assistant Professor of Education, Carson Newman University: “….Even though change happens with every tick of the clock the vast majority of people still have difficulty understanding why it happens. Conquer Change and Win by Ralph Masengill presents helpful approaches to learning more about change, and provides interesting ways to successfully manage the change process.”

 

Common Sense Answers to Difficult Questions

Illusions Of Wealth Brings Investors Common-Sense Answers To Difficult Questions About Investing

An understanding of how money, economics and investing work in our country is essential for anyone concerned about their future. In Illusions of Wealth by Doug Eberhardt, he provides the framework for making better choices.

“I hope to give my readers the awareness and confidence they need to develop investment strategies on their own,” he says. “To keep your wealth from being an illusion, you must possess the ability to adjust your portfolio as the economic and investment climates change. I want to grant you control of your future and your wealth.”

Because an inadequate education system may have failed to teach us how to invest, we relinquish control to advisors who may or may not have our best interests at heart. This book is written to bring readers the awareness, confidence and insight necessary to overcome the future panics, crashes, and crises that will inevitably arise, and teach them how to profit whether the market is rising or falling.

Investors need to ask themselves these types of questions: What are the economic conditions on the horizon that can affect your wealth? Why do you invest the way you do? Who do you trust for investment advice, and why? How much do they make from their recommendations to you? Did they protect your portfolio during the last financial crisis? Is another financial crisis around the corner? How have you structured your portfolio differently to protect your wealth if we were to experience another economic downturn?

Doug Eberhardt is the author of the precious metals investment book Buy Gold and Silver Safely. Doug has been in the investment management business for over 30 years and is now sharing his years of research and discovery, accurately pinpointing economic and investment conditions for his readers.

For more information, please visit http://illusionsofwealth.com
Illusions of Wealth
Available online everywhere
ISBN: 978-0982586136
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The Power Of Home Numbers

How to attract Success & Prosperity using Numbers 

Prosperity and success are just within reach: The Power Of Home Numbers: Personal, Business, Sports AstroNumerology Readings by Jesse Kalsi is a trusted resource for people coast-to-coast. A successful real estate broker, Kalsi combines his Eastern background with practical experience to help people thrive in every aspect.

“Numbers are alive and are represented by planetary energy,” Kalsi says. “They have a direct impact on our success, health, happiness and prosperity.” With clarity, insight, and compassion, Kalsi consults with individuals regarding their personal and business lives.

A world-renowned numerologist, Kalsi specializes in residential and business numerology, providing valuable insight on the power of numbers and how they affect our lives. In The Power of Home Numbers, he combines his Eastern upbringing with his Western experience to bring awareness and understanding of this phenomenon.

Over the past 20 years, Kalsi has consulted thousands of people and affected their lives positively. His clients include prominent business people and extremely successful communication and entertainment companies. Kalsi has appeared on many radio and television shows in the U.S., and his unique perspective on numerology has amazed his audience.

Jesse Kalsi graduated from the National Defense Academy of India and pursued advanced studies at the Indian Military Academy. He served as a Captain in the 1st Battalion, 3rd Gurkha Rifles, formerly called “The Queen’s Own,” before coming to the U.S.

Now a successful real estate broker, Kalsi is also a Certified Federal Aviation Administration Flight Instructor and holds a commercial pilot’s license. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in India and holds an LLM in International Legal Studies from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California. He lives in Northern California with his wife Karen and their two children.

For more information, please visit www.jessekalsi.com

The Power Of Home Numbers
Available at http://bookstore.balboapress.com

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Author TV Interview:  http://gooddaysacramento.cbslocal.com/show/live-video/video-3434206-attract-prosperity-with-numbers/

Testimonials

Christine Craft, KGO AM810 Radio, San Francisco: “I invited Jesse on the show on Northern California’s Number #1 radio station…KGO in San Francisco. I usually do pretty hard-hitting political topics and Jesse had some analyses of politicians in the news that were right on point and very funny! My listeners went nuts and began calling in, jamming the phones and the emails to have Jesse give them some information about their own house numbers and birthdates and the syntheses and meaning between the two things. Two weeks later…I was still getting requests which I have forwarded to Jesse and which he has answered. He was a most enjoyable guest and I highly recommend him for radio and television programs.”

Suzanne DeLaurentiis, award-winning Filmmaker/Producer: “Jesse Kalsi is an incredible numerologist. Jesse has written the definitive book on numbers. If you haven’t read his book, The Power of Numbers, I suggest you do.”

Pat Farnack, WCBS Radio, New York: “If you believe that some things in life can’t be explained in the usual, run-of-the-mill way, listen to what Jesse Kalsi has to say about the power of numbers. He was right on the money in so much of what he had to say. I have just ‘patched’ my house number. I can’t wait to see what happens!”

Bonnie Coleen, Host, Producer, Seeing Beyond Talk Radio: “Jesse Kalsi has appeared as a guest on my radio program, Seeing Beyond, many times. His unique method of combining numerology and astrology to help people is always intriguing. Jesse’s professional and compassionate nature is always welcome on my radio program.”

Risk-Reward Innovation in Business

 

How To Maximize The Risk-Reward
Relationship In Corporate Settings
A Safe Environment For Expressing Ideas Plays
A Key Role In Innovation

There’s no shortage of fanfare for the hottest corporate buzzword of the past several years – innovation. As Forbes noted in a 2012 article, the word has become the “awesome” of corporate speak. 

Innovation is the quality desired by business leaders, who tend to believe that if you’re not innovating, you’re dying a slow death. While volumes have been written about the path to reliable innovation, corporate coach Maxine Attong has found none with the key ingredient that she has found so compelling in her work, safety.

“In order to take risks, which is the foundation of innovation and subsequent rewards, a team member has to feel safe,” says Attong, a certified facilitator and author of “Lead Your Team to Win: Achieve Optimal Performance By Providing A Safe Space For Employees” (www.MaxineAttong.com). 

“Anyone who has ever been in a classroom or company meeting knows the potential risk of making an out-of-the-box statement, which could be seen as silly, frivolous or ignorant – or as a groundbreaking insight. Without a sense of safety, most employees will decide to silence an unconventional statement that could risk their standing.”

Unusual and unconventional ideas are a sign of strength in a company, Attong says. It shows that team leaders really are open to innovative ideas. She further explains the importance of the idea and how to create safety to voice risk-taking ideas.

•  A safe space is the “office Vegas:” what happens in the room stays in the room. While business plans may be neatly fitted into a blueprint, the reality of any strategy involving humanity needs to account for our unpredictability. We’ve all had those days in which we were stressed out by personal matters. Meanwhile, deadlines and expectations loom as the workload continues to pile up. The more you try to ignore your personal problems the more they come to mind.

“What would it be like if you could go into a room where you have total support and have a good cry for the dead dog, vent how angry you are at your loved one, or rant about how stressed you are over your coworker’s behavior,” Attong says. “When you are done, you leave the room knowing that your behavior was not judged, and your statements were confidential. That’s the kind of safe space that can facilitate innovation.”

•  Human beings have an amazing capacity for brilliance. However, the list of negative distractions is formidable: sick children, marriage or divorce, financial issues and other problems can take a focused mind off track. A safe space can get a mind back on track and people working creatively on new solutions; enable leaders to develop an outstanding team and instill stability. Creating a safe space can create a work environment in which team members actually look forward to work, a place where they can drop off their problems at the door and deal with them later. A safe place enables members to keep their egos in check and feel open to explore ideas. Innovation is often fun; it doesn’t have to be scary.

•  Safe spaces work on the inertia of several human traits. Safe spaces have been shown to work in other human affairs, including religion, addiction recovery programs, therapeutic counseling or coaching. People need to be heard, but they won’t reveal themselves unless they feel free from judgment. And, we need sensible guidance. After the safe space has been explained to team members, they’ll feel free to pursue productivity. The space assumes that the adults in the room want to be in charge of their lives and want to have relevant work experiences that contribute to their overall goals.

About Maxine Attong

Maxine Attong (www.MaxineAttong.com) has been leading small and large teams for the past two decades – both in organizational settings and in her private coaching and facilitation practice. She has helped organizations come to consensus, overcome the perils of ineffective leadership, redesign processes to suit changing environments, and manage the internal chaos inherent in strategy implementation. She has been trained as a Gestalt Organizational Development practitioner, a Certified Evidence-Based Coach, a Certified Professional Facilitator, a Certified Management Accountant and is a former Quality Manager. Attong is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, and divides her time between the Caribbean and the United States. Her latest book is “Lead Your Team to Win: Achieve Optimal Performance By Providing A Safe Space For Employees.”

Tips for Achieving Your Dream Job

How To Trade 9-To-5 Misery
For Your Life’s Passion

Serial Entrepreneur Explains Value Of 20/20 Foresight

It’s no surprise to some that people who dislike their boring-but-safe, 9-to-5 jobs tend to be unsatisfied and unsuccessful in their careers.

That’s because the first ingredient to success is to do what you’re passionate about, says serial entrepreneur Parviz Firouzgar, author of “20/20 Hindsight” (www.parvizfirouzgar.com).

“We all need money to get by, but if you ever have the opportunity to take a chance and do what you actually love, take it,” says Firouzgar, who left a middling corporate job in his early 20s and eventually earned a fortune a few times over.

“When I started out, if you had told me that in a few years I’d be an expert in sweepstakes promotions, I would have laughed – but it happened. I went on to learn to grade and price diamonds of any size and quality, became a radio talk show host, invented a new way of supporting needy children around the world and I now own a gold mine. Those are just some of the adventures I’ve had.”

If you don’t like what you do, you will tend to have an aversion to doing what it takes to be very successful, he says. Without passion, it’s almost impossible to distinguish yourself.

“If you keep your boring and safe job, you can keep your boring and safe income, but I don’t know how happy you could be,” he says. “Years ago, I would have told you I was crazy for thinking that I’d have such an adventurous career. The point is that nothing is out of our reach, for me or for you.”

Through trial and error and after decades of experience, Firouzgar has uncovered reliable tips for achieving your dream job.

• A mentor can help you with 20/20 foresight. Imagine having the ability to skip ahead to possessing that unique set of skills that comes with already having earned your first fortune.

“Had I known what it would take to earn my first million before I’d earned that knowledge, it would have come much quicker and easier, and that’s why I wrote my book,” says Firouzgar.

In the same spirit, he recommends developing a relationship with a mentor, who can also help you fast-track success. You’ll want to choose someone who is already successful so that the advice isn’t some form of wishful thinking. You don’t learn how to get rich from someone with low income. Ideally, you’ll find someone who has experienced hardship in life, and at least one major business failing.

• Failure is life’s greatest teacher. One of the biggest reasons why personal experience is so valuable – and why an ideal mentor has experienced some measure of failure – is because that’s where the most valuable lessons usually lie. Our first success is often fleeting and, meanwhile, one’s ego tends to get out of control. Then it all comes crashing down as flawed character traits surface and sabotage what took so much hard work to build. It’s our failures that positively mold the most important features of our character – including humility and gratitude. It’s when we experience and overcome failure that success becomes a sustainable possibility.

• The quality of your business plan largely determines your start-up phase.Getting excited over an idea is the fun part, but actually working through how an idea may fare is where the work begins. While investors seek confidence first and foremost in people – their passion, determination and past successes – a business plan is vital for raising capital. If multiple investors turn down your project, it may mean that the plan didn’t demonstrate how and when the investment would generate an acceptable return. More importantly, it’s a sign your idea hasn’t quite matured in the sometimes hard light of business. Remember, creating a business plan entails creating something where, previously, there was nothing more than an idea. So, if you truly believe in your idea, do it justice by putting in the appropriate time, thought and energy. 

• To-do lists provide the practical application of achieving goals. Among the abundant academic and self-help literature intended to help aspirational people achieve goals, there is one proven and reliable tool that sets the gold standard like nothing else: a to-do list. To-do lists act as cheat sheets for keeping your busy mind focused on what needs to be addressed at any given time. Entrepreneurs need to multitask to an extent. A list will keep you straight, and since you’ll be adding to the list regularly, make sure to cross out tasks that have been accomplished. 

“An added tip for a to-do list: do first what you like doing least,” Firouzgar says. “Even very disciplined people push off what they dislike. But if you get in the habit of accomplishing unattractive duties in the morning, the rest of your day can be that much more pleasant.”

About Parviz Firouzgar

For 25 years, Parviz Firouzgar (www.parvizfirouzgar.com) has founded several multi-million dollar companies. He started a mortgage company that employed more than 500 loan officers and has written business plans for startup companies that have helped them raise millions in capital. After he discovered a new way of raising funds, he expanded into the charitable arena. Within one year, his company was supporting 2,300 needy children around the world, providing all of their food, clothing and education. Most recently, he has been in the precious metals and diamond business, including owning a gold mine. Parviz was a radio talk show host and a long time instructor for Income Builders International (IBI), now called CEO Space, an entrepreneurial forum with internationally recognized instructors such as Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Bob Proctor, T. Harv Eker, John Gray and Lisa Nichols.

Buy Link

20/20 Hindsight: If I knew then what I know now I’d be a lot richer

About Lisa Quast

5 Tips For Reducing Stress
The Day Of Your Job Interview
Little Things Can Easily Derail Your Big Moment
If You Don’t Prepare, Says Career Coach

After months of responding to job postings, you finally land an interview.

This could be a pivotal moment in your life and career so it’s natural to feel nervous. But there’s no reason to let stress rule the day, says Lisa Quast, author of the book “Secrets of a Hiring Manager Turned Career Coach: A Foolproof Guide to Getting the Job You Want Every Time” (www.careerwomaninc.com).

“Life routinely throws us curves, and that’s just as likely to happen on your job-interview day as any other day,” Quast says. “Traffic could be bad. You might spill something on the blouse you planned to wear. Any number of things could go wrong that aren’t directly related to the interview, but can knock you off your game.”

While it’s not possible to anticipate every scenario, Quast says a little preparation can help you keep the anxiety level manageable.

She offers these tips for navigating your interview day as stress free as possible:

•  Know where you need to go. Don’t wait until right before an interview to make sure you have the correct address and phone number. Verify these online by checking the company website a few days ahead of time. You also should download driving directions or program the address into your smart phone or GPS to find potential routes and estimated drive times. “When in doubt, do a trial run,” Quast says. “You can drive there the weekend before to get the lay of the land and see where to park.” Don’t rely on technology alone. Always have a hard copy with the address and driving directions, just in case GPS or the smartphone fails you.

•  Obtain the correctly spelled name of the interviewer. And remember, bring a printout of the job posting. “It always surprises me how many people show up for a job interview and can’t remember the name of the hiring manager or even the job title of the position they’re interviewing for,” Quast says. “Don’t be one of those people.”

•  Schedule enough time for the interview. Block your calendar so you won’t need to rush from one job interview to the next, or go straight to another appointment or back to work. “The interview could take much longer than you think going in,” Quast says. For example, if things are going well, you might be asked to interview with others in the organization. Be sure to schedule ample time in case you need to stay longer. “You don’t want to be stealing quick glances at your watch when you should be listening to what the hiring manager is saying,” Quast says.

•  Turn off your cell phone. “When I say off, I mean off,” Quast says. “Don’t put it on vibrate.” The reason, she says, is that almost everyone can hear a cell phone vibrating in a purse, briefcase or pocket. You will be aware that a call is coming in for you. The people interviewing you will be aware. And you will be aware that they are aware.

•  Take a bathroom break before the interview. Use the restroom before you leave your house and avoid too much coffee or other liquids shortly before your interview. If you need to use the bathroom when you arrive at the company, ask the receptionist to point you to them before he or she informs the hiring manager that you have arrived.

“One additional thing you can do is give yourself a pep talk before the interview,” Quast says. “Mentally remind yourself of all the things you plan to do during the interview, the points you want to make about your experience and the questions you have about the company.

“You may not be able to eliminate all the butterflies, but your preparation should help reduce the stress and let you concentrate on making the most of the opportunity.”

About Lisa Quast

Lisa Quast is a career coach, a business consultant and author of the book  “Secrets of a Hiring Manager Turned Career Coach: A Foolproof Guide to Getting the Job You Want Every Time” (www.careerwomaninc.com). 

As a former Fortune 500 executive who climbed from the lowest rung of the career ladder, Lisa has a unique, comprehensive perspective on what it takes to achieve professional success. Lisa shares her insight and expertise on all areas of job searching, hiring and navigating the workplace in regular columns for Forbes.com and The Seattle Times and frequently contributes to nationally published articles.

Her female-focused career blog won the 2012 and 2010 Stevie Awards for “Blog of the Year” and her first book “Your Career, Your Way” has received several accolades. In 2014, Lisa released her second book “Secrets of a Hiring Manager Turned Career Coach,” which shares all of her inside knowledge on how to conduct a successful job search. In it, she divulges the secrets she shares with her coaching clients to help them find and get a job they love with a 100% success rate.

Book Promo: The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber

 The E-Myth Revisited:
Why Most Small Businesses
Don’t Work and
What to Do About It

 

by Michael E. Gerber

In this first new and totally revised edition of the 150,000-copy underground bestseller, The E-Myth, Michael Gerber dispels the myths surrounding starting your own business and shows how commonplace assumptions can get in the way of running a business. He walks you through the steps in the life of a business from entrepreneurial infancy, through adolescent growing pains, to the mature entrepreneurial perspective, the guiding light of all businesses that succeed. He then shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business whether or not it is a franchise. Finally, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business. After you have read The E-Myth Revisited, you will truly be able to grow your business in a predictable and productive way.

The Master Game
By Michael E. Gerber

There once was a man named DeRopp who wrote a book titled The Master Game.  No need to discuss his book or his philosophy here, other than to say it had to do with the shaping of one’s life and options through a lens few of us normal people have ever looked through before.

It brings to mind a question many people have asked me over the years about the entrepreneurial genius of Steve Jobs. What did he know that the rest of us did not?   My answer was simply that Jobs didn’t actually know more than the rest of us; he simply cared more.

I believe that’s the heart of choice; caring more. Not just doing more. And, certainly not just doing something different than what you’re doing today.

So, the subject then becomes, what does “caring more” mean? What does it look like and how does it reveal itself, especially at your age and mine? 

In my work with entrepreneurs and small business owners, caring more is a huge conversation, in that most of my clients and students over the years were confused about what it meant and how it related to what they were doing in their work.

They actually believed they cared, even when it was obvious as we pursued the conversation that they didn’t.

Yes, they cared about the money.  To live without it would certainly throw a monkey wrench into their lives.  So, in one sense they cared about making money, just as we all do.  But, Steve Jobs didn’t! 

Think about it. Here was a guy who dropped out of college in his first year, wandered off to India on a spiritual hippy quest that seriously disappointed him, took an engineering  job for which he was hopelessly unsuited, and then started his own company, Apple, in his father’s garage, without any hope of succeeding, if you measure success by a financially robust outcome.

In short, Jobs didn’t care about the money.  He cared about his dream.   And his dream was so outrageously incongruent with what was going on in the world of his time as to be, on the face of it, absurd.

So caring, as we’re beginning to look at it, has nothing to do with any of us personally – neither DeRopp nor Jobs cared about themselves personally – it has to do with the impersonal.  It has to do with something huge outside of ourselves.  It has to do with someone else.  And it also has to do with the ineffable.

What is the ineffable?

To DeRopp it was the product of the Master Game.

To Jobs it was the product of Apple.  Not the computer, but the product of the computer, the profound impact the Mac would have on the lives of his customers, and, then, through his customers, the unexpected outcome for the world.

Everything Jobs did had to do with the ineffable, which couldn’t be described perfectly (thus the ineffable). But he could experience it inside, as a picture that appeared to him, in his imagination, in his unconscious, in his visual, emotional, functional and financial mind. (Yes, Apple was a financial engine as well as an innovative engine – the innovative engine of our time.) That vision drove Jobs and his company, and all of the people he attracted, to be a force moving forward with unabated determination to completely transform the world.

All one can say about that is, “Wow!”

From our perspective, what Jobs did and what DeRopp wrote about and how he lived are far more ambitious than what any of us would do, so why even put it into our consciousness here? To feel guilty? To feel overwhelmed? To feel diminished or minimalized?

No, not at all.  The point is to feel what it means when I say, “Steve Jobs didn’t know any more than the rest of us do, he simply cared more.” 

Because each of us has the ability to feel more, to care more, to discover more, than we’ve ever felt, cared about or discovered before.

And if that’s true (and at age 79, working as I am on the creation of an enterprise  seemingly impossible for me to pursue,  I know that it is true)  then what in the world do we do about it?

That’s the question I wanted to pose to you: What DO you care about? And why? And what difference will it make to the world?

What is your ineffable?

How does it show up in your mind, in your imagination, in your heart, in your spirit?

What is your Apple?

What is your Master Game?

What is it that you’ve been placed on this earth to create?

About Michael E. Gerber

Michael E. Gerber (www.michaelegerbercompanies.com) is an entrepreneur, thought leader, speaker and best-selling author whose modern classic, “The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It,” has sold more than 3 million copies. He is the founder of The Dreaming Room™, where entrepreneurs and others are provided the tools and facilitation to see, experience, develop and design their Dream, Vision, Purpose and Mission. A free subscription to his Dreaming Room Monologues, a series of taped inspirational talks, is available through his website. His next book, “Beyond The E-Myth” is a passionate response to America’s current inspiration deficit.

The American Dream

Has The American Dream Hit The Skids?
Best-Selling ‘E-Myth’ Author Michael E. Gerber
Is Determined To Shock People Out Of Their Stupor

Michael E. Gerber is miffed and he doesn’t care who knows it.

The best-selling author of the “E-Myth” book series says the American Dream has been waylaid – no different than if it had been besieged by robbers in a dark alley – and Gerber is intent on rescuing it.

The way Gerber sees it, the issue is our confusion about the American Dream and what every one of us believe to be true about it. And it’s time to get it back on track, says the fiery 78-year-old small-business guru who vaulted to fame in 1986 with his original “E-Myth” book and has been engaged in realizing a dream of his own over the past 40 years.

“Somehow we’ve forgotten our roots and why there was an American Dream to begin with,” Gerber says. “We’ve lost track of the reason why millions upon millions of people came here to try to make a better future for themselves. We’ve also forgotten that the dream never was a political one, but a personal one for each and every one of us.  It’s the politicizing of it that’s created all the trouble.”

Gerber (www.michaelegerbercompanies.com) has a great deal of experience in how to restore faith in the American dream. He has worked with tens of thousands of small business owners over the past 40 years.

The trick, Gerber says, is giving small business owners and aspiring small business owners a splash of cold water to wake them up to see that the American Dream isn’t dead, nor is their business. Instead, what they are missing is a lack of commitment to their own dream.

To bring his point home, Gerber began a nationwide campaign this year in Riverside, Calif., where the city’s mayor, Rusty Bailey, helped launch Gerber’s first city-sponsored Dreaming Room.

Gerber invented the Dreaming Room, which he describes as an “entrepreneurial incubator,” in 2005, and has been delivering it to individuals worldwide ever since. It’s a program where the unemployed, underemployed, self-employed or small business owners who find themselves stuck in their current unworkable circumstances join together, led by a facilitator.

In an intense, small-group setting they go through a step-by-step process where they create, collaborate and test ideas to develop or improve their current circumstances by inventing a new business. 

Once developed, the concept for that new business is then put to work, with Gerber’s team helping the new entrepreneur apply Gerber’s entrepreneurial principles to design, build, launch and grow their new company.

Riverside was just a first step in Gerber’s vision for city-sponsored economic development initiatives in cities and counties throughout the nation and the world. Having launched Riverside, it’s on to Fresno and the 14 counties surrounding that California city of 509,000 people. In May, Gerber plans a Dreaming Room for the 96 mayors of all the cities in those counties “to awaken the spirit of entrepreneurship in them.”

“We will be teaching people how to make it on their own in Fresno, San Mateo, and every U.S. city who invites us in, you name it,” Gerber says. “In the process of inspiring and leading them and mentoring them, something remarkable will happen. Each and every individual will understand, many for the very first time, that he or she and no one else is responsible for their circumstances.”

Even as he makes more Dreaming Room plans, the prolific Gerber is still pounding out books, with three he’s working on simultaneously. They are “Beyond the E-Myth,” “The 5 Essential Skills of Extraordinary People” and “Making It on Your Own in America.”

The latter title has become an overriding theme for him of late. For Gerber, economic development is all about the individual and how personal responsibility is the key to making it in America.

“It happens with the individual or it doesn’t happen at all,” he says. “Every single individual is accountable for their own economy – an ‘economy of one’”.

“Our economic problem has been created through the belief that big government can solve our problems. We then created a monster of a government that presumes to think for us. That’s why our economy is in tatters. It’s why the number of people on food stamps has grown exponentially. It’s why the number of people who are impoverished has grown, and the number of unemployed has grown exponentially. It’s also why our federal debts and deficits have grown beyond the pale.”

“The way forward is to go back”, Gerber says. “Back to those inspirational days when the nation took its first awkward steps, the Constitution was written and the Bill of Rights was tacked on like a brilliant afterthought”.

“If it becomes a political discussion, it misses the point,” Gerber says. “It was never political back then, it was existential. It was an existential reality to liberate each of us to follow our own path.”

About Michael E. Gerber

Michael E. Gerber (www.michaelegerbercompanies.com) is an entrepreneur, thought leader, speaker and best-selling author whose modern classic, “The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It,” has sold more than 3 million copies. He is the founder of The Dreaming Room™, where entrepreneurs and others are provided the tools and facilitation to see, experience, develop and design their Dream, Vision, Purpose and Mission. His next book, “Beyond The E-Myth” is a passionate response to America’s current inspiration deficit.

Running your home like a business

How to Run Your Home More like a CEO
4 Tips for Time & Budget Management from a Business Development Strategist

All successful CEOs have one thing in common: They’re able to maintain a big-picture perspective. It’s also something successful moms have in common, says Zenovia Andrews, a business strategist, speaker, author and mom who coaches entrepreneurs and CEOs on time and budget management.

“In business, CEOs implement a process that achieves efficient time and resource management in the most cost-effective way; sounds a lot like a mom, doesn’t it?” says Andrews, founder and CEO of The MaxOut Group, a company devoted to empowering and teaching entrepreneurs development strategies to increase profits. 

“If every mom were a CEO, America would rule the world!”

Andrews, author of the new book “All Systems Go – A Solid Blueprint to Build Business and Maximize Cash Flow,” (www.zenoviaandrews.com), suggests the following tips for moms to better manage money and time.

•  CEOs utilize apps, and so should CEO Moms. When a CEO’s personal assistant isn’t around or, if it’s a small business and she doesn’t have one, then apps do nicely. There are several apps for moms, including Bank of Mom – an easy way to keep track of your kids’ allowances. Set up an account for each child and track any money they earn for chores or allowance. The app also allows you to track their computer and TV time as well as other activities.

•  Measurement is the key to knowledge, control and improvement. CEOs have goals for their businesses and Moms have goals for their family members. In either case, the best way to achieve a big-picture goal is to identify action steps and objectives and a system for measuring progress. Want to improve your kids’ test scores, help your husband lose weight or – gasp – free some time for yourself? There are four phases to help track progress: planning, or establishing goals; collection, or conducting research on your current process; analysis – comparing information from existing processes with the new one; and adapting, or implementing the new process.

•  Understand your home’s “workforce.” A good CEO helps her employees grow and develop, not only for the company’s benefit, but for the employee’s as well. Most people are happiest when they feel they’re learning and growing, working toward a goal, which may be promotion within the company or something beyond it. When they feel the CEO is helping with that, they’re happier, more productive, more loyal employees. Likewise, CEO Moms need to help their children gain the skills and knowledge they need not only to succeed in general but to achieve their individual dreams.

•  A well-running household is a community effort; consider “automated” systems. In business, automated systems tend to be as clinical as they sound, typically involving technology. Yet, there’s also a human resource element. Automated systems are a must for CEO Moms, and they tend to take the form of scheduling at home. Whose night is it for the dishes, or trash? One child may be helpful in the kitchen, whereas another may be better at cleaning the pool.

About Zenovia Andrews

Zenovia Andrews, www.zenoviaandrews.com, is a business development strategist with extensive experience in corporate training, performance management, leadership development and sales consulting with international clients, including Pfizer, Inc. and Novartis Pharmaceuticals. A sought-after speaker and radio/TV personality, she is the author of “All Systems Go” and “MAXOut: I Want It All.”