Why Your Belief System Determines Your Success
Mar 29 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Business
What if I told you that, without fail, you could achieve anything you wanted to do?
As an aspiring entrepreneur you may have the money and technical expertise to start a new Internet business, but it is your belief system that ultimately determines your success.
So, as you raise a cynical eyebrow to my first comment, think of everything you would achieve in Internet business–or life–if you honestly believed you could not fail. To what would it prompt you to…
- Quit your job
- Start a profitable Internet business
- Develop and existing business further
- Take greater risks and investments
- Find the love of your life
- Reach 150+ years in this life
- ?
Starting A Profitable Internet Business?
Success in Internet business relies on your mindset, the guiding principle that is influenced by your own belief system. (No, it is NOT determined by luck or money.)
Many of the most successful businessmen (and women ;-) and visionaries left behind a very humble upbringing, but knew that they had every resource within themselves to succeed, as we all do.
Belief systems are a founding principle in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), in which co-developer Dr. Richard Bandler established that your behavior is governed by your beliefs. Therefore, if you can fit any behavior, from being unemployed to achieving millionaire status, into your belief system, you can achieve it.
Quite simply, if you believe you can succeed and focus on what you desire you will achieve your goals, but if you focus on a negative outcome, such as failing in your Internet business or career, you have limiting beliefs which will most certainly anticipate your downfall.
Successful entrepreneurs possess a belief system that promotes wealth thinking, or “prosperity consciousness,” while on the opposite side of the scale, the belief system of “poverty consciousness” limits your future success.
Most people worry about money, but if it dominates your every thought, whether you are wealthy or not, your belief system is one of poverty consciousness.
If you start a new Internet business and you focus on a future full of poverty when it fails, or you worry about how you will pay the bills when you leave your job, you are limited by these thoughts, which restrict the future success of your Internet business, and your sense of any achievement.
Out With The Old And In With The New?
Belief systems are our internal representations of the outside world, and a state of mind that develops over a lifetime of experiences. It analyzes and filters the world around you and creates your own perception of events, which also acts as a protective tool.
These thought patterns are developed from childhood and are influenced by our families, peers, and our own personal, daily experiences.
I agree, it may be difficult (yet it’s possible) to immediately switch between negative and positive mindsets, as we are habitual thinkers and can easily revert back to our old beliefs, which all need to be weakened and reprogrammed, which is where NLP becomes a valuable tool in directing your belief system towards a positive outcome.
As all successful businessmen will tell you, right from the start they had an unfaltering belief in their own abilities and knew they are going to succeed no matter what. They had complete confidence in their (Internet) business, and the ability to market and sell it successfully.
Any hurdles can be viewed as learning curves or opportunities and they were unyielding in their direction and achieving their goals.
Believe in your abilities, as success is all in the mind.
—Marcus Hochstadt
17 CommentsPermalink Tags: belief, confidence, success
Protected: James’ Answers (Video)
Mar 29 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Business
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Whats that, “Protected”? Password?
Mar 28 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Business
Didn’t I warn you? I did say I’m going to publish a password protected post today, didn’t I? And now you want access to that post, right? Well…
Sorry, it’s too late.
Though, you can get access to future password protected posts. How? Easy…
Subscribe to the blog announcement list. What is the “blog announcement list”?
See that form in the upper right, right below my picture? (Click here to go back to the top of the page: http://www.hochstadt.com )
Simply enter your name and e-mail address, confirm your subscription, and you’re well on your way. In the future, whenever I publish a new password protected post, you’re going to receive the password to that post in your e-mail box and therefore access to it.
You’re also going to receive short e-mails announcing new blog entries (hence the term blog announcement list).
—Marcus Hochstadt
Protected: James’ Answers
Mar 28 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Business
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Only 3 Hours Remaining
Mar 28 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Specials
The end of the 24 hour special is very close… only 3 hours remaining.
I figured not all of you took a close look at the DVD cover at kunaki.com (by clicking on the green “Rotate Case” button in the upper left.) On the backside of it one can see a lot more of the topics covered on this particular DVD, The (Internet) Life Of James Brausch — From Homelessness To $160,000/Month.
So I thought it’s a good idea to list them all here on my blog now…
- The time James Brausch got started on the Internet
- How he lost $7.5 Million literally over night
- How to get the right information from forums
- Proper and profitable keyword research
- SEO misconceptions (and his secret on getting #1 rankings)
- Components of a successful sales letter
- How James made $1.5 Million/year using affiliate marketing
- How he sold two of his Web sites for $150,000 in 1.5 hours (which took him 4 hours each to build)
- Article Marketing and what 99% do wrong
- The crucial part in order to hire good ghostwriters
- How James built a 100% automated Internet business (that he still profits from)
- How to find the right business partners
- The secret tip John Reese shared with James
- The clever idea that brought James to develop Glyphius
- What he did to get a float of visitors to his first blog
- What his #1 Top Seller product is (and why)
- How to set up payment subscriptions properly to maximize profits
- And much, much more…
Obvioulsy, this DVD is jam packed.
Here is the link to order the DVD…
http://kunaki.com/sales.asp?PID=PX00X8PNR2
Until noon PST, $35 instead of $100.
—Marcus Hochstadt
5 CommentsPermalink Tags: internet business, james brausch, success
Last Chance For Private Post
Mar 28 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Business
In a few hours I’m going to publish the password protected post containing the answers to the questions some of my blog readers posted when I traveled to Costa Rica.
In order to receive the password and therefore get access to the post, all you need to do is to subscribe to the blog announcement list.
See the form in the upper right, right below my image? That’s where you enter your name and e-mail address. Once you clicked on the “Submit” button, the only thing that remains is to confirm your subscription and you’re ready to go.
Not that you say I haven’t warned you… ;-)
—Marcus Hochstadt
1 CommentPermalink Tags: costa rica
Aaron Brandon Boy
Mar 27 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Pickups
Even Aaron Brandon took advantage of my 24 hour special…
http://www.aaronbrandon.com/i-just-bought-this/
That tells me my DVD contains information he hasn’t gotten yet? Wow!
—Marcus Hochstadt
24 Hour Special
Mar 27 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Specials
The (Internet) Life Of James Brausch
From Homelessness To $160,000/Month
Would you like to know when the Internet business millionaire, James Brausch, got started on the Internet? OK, maybe not that interesting, but…
Would you like to know how he made $8.7 Million/year, then lost $7.5 Million literally over night? A shocking story…
Or what about some major SEO misconceptions, and his secret on getting #1 rankings at the Search Engines for highly competitive keywords over and over again?
Then there is how James made $1.5 Million/year using affiliate marketing.
Oh, and the secret marketing tip John Reese shared with him over dinner table.
Ah yeah, we also talked about what 99% do wrong in article marketing.
Then there’s the critical factor when setting up payment subscriptions in order to maximize profits, which is also revealing.
Also, the crucial element that enables him to find and hire good ghostwriters.
Or how James built an Internet business that’s running 100% on autopilot. (He still profits from it BIG time.)
HA! I know what he did to get a float of traffic (i.e., visitors) to his first blog. That secret is also on the DVD.
DVD?
Yes, today is a special day.
I’m going to release the first DVD of the interview series I did with James Brausch in Costa Rica this month.
Until noon tomorrow (PST which is GMT-7), you can get The (Internet) Life Of James Brausch — From Homelessness To $160,000/Month for $35. After this 24 hour special the price will go up to $100.
Here is the URL to order the DVD (opens in a new browser window or tab)…
http://kunaki.com/sales.asp?PID=PX00X8PNR2
And right at the beginning, he couldn’t help but perform a short Frank Kern parody… ;-)
—Marcus Hochstadt
P.S. We did this interview in the luxurious Tabacón Grand Spa Thermal Resort in Costa Rica. You may feel like you are right there together with us while watching the DVD. Sun is shining… we’re drinking cocktails… bubbly hot springs in the background… awesome.
14 CommentsPermalink Tags: internet business, james brausch, success
Sponsoring Contests
Mar 26 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Business, Contests
I’m just too tired…
Do you consider asking me whether I would contribute or sponsor your upcoming contest? It may happen I am willed to do that, though please keep the following in mind before ever asking me. It could save us a lot of valuable time…
Just recently, the following happened. One guy approached me asking whether I would sponsor his contest and if so, what. I agreed since I like(d) his blog. I told him what I could contribute and the monetary value of it. He responded wondering why it would be “so high” (i.e., ‘expensive’.) He even tried changing my price by putting HIS price (i.e., value) over MINE.
That’s just bad, bad business practice.
Imagine you would ask one of the well-known “big names” in the Internet business world whether they would contribute. Would you question the monetary value of their time or contribution? Certainly not. So…
Stop questioning mine, or else I simply forget about your contest and maybe anything else about you. As simple as that.
My time is too valuable to be wasted.
Of course, feel free to ask any of those “cheeper” options. Just be aware that you may get something cheap in return…Thanks for reading.
—Marcus Hochstadt
Larry Brauner Conference Call
Mar 25 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Reviews
Larry Brauner is an expert when it comes to Social Networking. That hit me the first moment I found him through Entrecard.
He just published a video replaying his August 8, 2007 conference call covering the difference between social networking and advertising.
Very interesting. Check it out…
http://online-social-networking.com/social-networking-vs-advertising/
Way to go, Larry! And so true, many people still mix those two.
—Marcus Hochstadt
The “Not Enough Time” Excuse
Mar 24 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Business, Strategies
“There are never enough hours in the day.”
This is a common excuse and everyone is using it. As I figured out over time, for our customers and colleagues, it’s exasperating to hear, and only highlights our poor time management.
When you bring up the topic of Time Management, it’s often dismissed as nonsense; business jargon from do-gooders with too much time on their hands. Try working in the real world is the response, no one could possible understand or do their job in the measly 24 hours allotted every day.
Even if you start work every day with the greatest intentions, time management is constantly challenged. You are distracted by phone calls, e-mails, or that mountain of mail that arrives on your desk daily. After hours on the computer you are lethargic and cannot concentrate, or the demands on your time are causing you considerable stress.
Or here’s another scenario… The project you are working on commands more time and resources than you can possibly handle, but you are reluctant to delegate this project to a colleague, contractor or employee.
There Is Logical Reasoning Behind This
Maybe you don’t want someone else to take the credit for this project; you want the praise, or even want to play the martyr for completing this task alone.
Another—and equally misleading—reason for not delegating work is the fear that the other person may not be able to complete it to the same standard and you will have to waste more time putting it right. You know the age-old saying that if you want to get something done correctly, you are best doing it yourself.
How insane is that…
Of course, if you cannot produce services to an agreed deadline, people may look elsewhere for a more reliable source. The internet has made this even more demanding. As technology has advanced, human beings struggle to keep up.
Also, some folks expect instant responses to their e-mails. They can purchase goods online in seconds and they can instantly buy into any online service with very little effort.
Still, performing all tasks by yourself due to fear of rejection or imperfectionism is a surefire way to 24/7 busyness (i.e., all-nighters) and discarding freedom.
So, Now That We’ve Heard The Excuses Let’s Look At Fixing The Problem
A successful Project Manager knows that you have to organize every project into small easily manageable tasks. By breaking the project down into small pieces, you can assign a timescale and budget to each of these components and then delegate roles. Delegating administrative and less important tasks gives you breathing room and time for finalizing more important and/or more confidential tasks.
Ever heard of the “80-20 rule” or the Pareto Principle?
The Pareto Principle is a business model that decrees that we achieve 80% of our results from only 20% of our efforts. The model is based on the Pareto Index, a parameter outlined by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, when he proposed that 20% of the population owned 80% of the wealth.
New models have changed the percentages slightly over the years, but the 80-20 rule can be applied to many different areas from the laws of nature, to human and social behavior, such as our network of friends, recognized when we spent 80% of our social time with 20% of our friends (or that 80% of our sales is generated by 20% of our customers.)
When you apply this to Time Management, the 80-20 rule seems quite outstanding. How can you possibly achieve 80% of your results with 20% of the effort. Does that mean you only have to put in 20% of the hours?
Well, when you start delegating and outsourcing, yes, definitely!
Now you probably recognize that you work hard 20% of the day, while the rest of the day is full of distractions, breaks for coffee, needless conversations on the telephone, browsing the internet instead of working, and on and on…
Ha! I caught you. :-)
Think about how you organize your time. Break projects down into small manageable tasks and don’t be distracted by those 80% time fillers. Plan your week, plan your day, and use whichever method gets the best result.
If you can, only review and answer your e-mails twice a day and not every ten minutes, when the server drops down the latest batch of junk into your inbox (including that distracting sound alert, uh!)
The same applies to your mail. Organize as it arrives. There should be only three categories: Action now, File, or Throw Away. If you have to add an Action Later category, you will soon find that the contents will end up as junk as well.
Although many businesses have standards of correspondence, when you receive a letter, rather than spending time typing another letter in return, could you simply write your response on the bottom and send it back? It’s good for the environment too.
And as for all that paperwork - clear your desk. It takes only five or ten minutes at the end of the day. This allows you to further organize your work for the following morning and walk into the office without being confronted by a mountain of paperwork.
Write To-do Lists And Prioritize Your Time
Another tried and tested Time Management technique is to list the five most important tasks to do in each day, or maybe ten depending on your Internet business, but make that list and stick to it. Prioritize the list further by listing the tasks in order of importance. Then make sure you complete the most important task first thing in the morning!
This tip alone—if applied consistently—saves you another 1-2 hours each and every day. (Don’t believe me? Why not just do it and experience it yourself… ;-) So did I.)
Finally, delegate any tasks that you are able to, empowering your contractors to be fully involved in your internet businesses success. After all, you should be managing your business, not suffering under the stresses of not having enough time…
—Marcus Hochstadt
Back Home…
Mar 23 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Lifestyle
It were great two weeks in Costa Rica, I learned a lot, and we are happy to be back in our good ‘ol home at the beach in sunny Natal, Brazil.
There was a nice experience on our 18+ hours way. At the airport in Costa Rica, they told us our seats would have been canceled. You can imagine with which eyes we were staring at him, can’t you? And the check-in guy could experience the other side of my otherwise happy and very friendly wife. ;-) (After standing one hour there the guy could finally get us our boarding passes.)
Either way, there are lots of things to do now. How good it’s Sunday so we have some time to clean and fix the most important things.
—Marcus Hochstadt
P.S. Happy Easter! :-)
Think And Grow Big
Mar 20 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Business
Do you have big dreams? Do you know of people who have?
I know people with big dreams. Each and every single one of those dreams involves making a significant change in the way these people are currently living their lives.
Have you ever asked yourself why so many people spend all that time dreaming, but so few actually manage to live the life of their dreams?
The way I see it, the world is split into two camps: the world of people who actually get things done and the world of people with wishful thinking. So, what really makes the difference?
The answer to that question is twofold… It depends on peoples’ level of commitment to their goals and the way they go about achieving them.
Your Level Of Commitment
Big, ambitious goals demand a lot of energy, passion, commitment, determination, and persistence.
Why do you think Michelangelo took four years out of his life to carve the famous statue of David? Why do you think NASA keeps sending astronauts into space? Why is the tallest building in 2020, the planned Al Burj on Dubai’s waterfront, going to be over 1,000 meters high?
All these big projects were and will be achieved because they have one very important thing in common. The people behind them cared enough about them to make them happen. Tackling the question of what the source of true commitment is, then, becomes quite simple.
Commitment always starts with identifying a dream that is truly worth having, one that makes you stay up at night.
What do you really care for?
What is it that you really want, from the bottom of your heart?
How much does your dream mean to you?
Does it mean enough to you to commit yourself to it?
It’s something you need to become clear about before you embark upon achieving your goal. I cannot stress that enough.
How Do You Go About Achieving Your Goals?
Turning to the issue of how to go about achieving ambitious goals…
I often come across extremely driven, determined people who just don’t seem to be making any progress. Most of the time, it’s because they fail to find the correct balance in setting their short and long-term goals.
In other words, they set short-term goals that are too big, and long-term goals that are too small.
Setting big, even huge, long-term goals is nothing to be afraid of. You can make your ultimate goal as big as you like, as long as you stay conscious of the fact that anything worth having does take time, passion and determination.
You cannot earn a degree, master a musical instrument, or have a thriving Internet business in a couple minutes. Just like Rome wasn’t built in a day. Instant Gratification is a virus that needs to be stopped.
On the other hand, setting short-term goals that are too big can be detrimental to the achievement of your final goal. Motivation is vital for getting things done. So, when you fail in one of the shorter term goals, you risk losing your nerve and abandoning your dream completely!
A wonderful technique to avoid that from happening…
Cut the big picture into small, very small and doable pieces. Transform your journey towards the final goal into a series of tiny, mini-steps. Make sure each of these steps is so small that it makes you think they’re too easy—they might not even look like actual steps!
Write down every single one of them in a list. Tackle each step, one at a time, and check it off on the list once you’re finished with it. Ticking things off is a very powerful technique to motivate yourself. You are giving yourself a personal reward of sorts every time you complete a task. This will keep you going until your dream finally materializes.
Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?
Well, one could say simplicity was the father of achievement. ;-)
Bottom Line
The right strategy is to think big, but execute small. After all, the only way to get from here to where you want to be is by taking all the little steps in between.
Give yourself permission to motivate you.
—Marcus Hochstadt
20 CommentsPermalink Tags: achievement, goals, visions
Xandari Spa Resort Costa Rica
Mar 19 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Business, Lifestyle
Yesterday was the third interview day with my Mentor, James Brausch. He geniously agreed and offered a second and a third day with him, which I’m endlessly grateful for.
“Dude, either you drink that cocktail now or I do…”
We were in wonderful Xandari Resort & Spa and had a great time there. Xandari is a luxurious hotel with a spa center, located in the central valley of Costa Rica. It is very beautiful with lots of flowers, trees, and has a very friendly staff, always with a smile on their face and very helpful & supportive.
In this and the last week I really got James to work 10+ hours. (He usually works only 3 hours/week.)
If you know James you know that he lives his life on his own rules. He is the one who decides what to do and who to meet when. So why and how did I get him work more than 3 hours? What did I do to get him in front of my camcorder three times? What was the reason?
Giving value to his business
The goal of an interview is giving value to all three… your audience, you, and the person you interview.
Some folks are tempted to think of their own advantages whereas, optimally, a good interview ends in a win-win-win situation.
“That lunch was excellent, like sheeeeeee’s…”
For now though, I have been put to work. There are 10+ videos that I have to get out, which I’ll do withing the next days and weeks. (Geez, if the Internet connection at our location would not be so awfully slow…) Here are a couple topics we covered in great detail in those three interview days…
- Building an Internet business from scratch (and how to make the first $1,000 within 24 hours)
- Step-by-step plan on how to create a product, which product, to which price, ways to overcome “product creation blocks,” etc etc
- Blogging essentials and how to start one
- Internet business optimization and how to increase traffic, reader interaction, income, word-of-mouth, etc
- Outsourcing secrets and an exact step-by-step plan on how to find top contractors, the top 3 sites, which text to use, etc
- Top tips on traffic generation (incl. step-by-step plan when starting from scratch)
- Article marketing (and what most people do wrong)
- List building and ways to increase your list (and his take on RSS and Feedburner)
- Affiliate Marketing and Google AdSense, the biggest mistakes people make, how to approach it properly, and his biggest successes
- When James started his Mentoring program (and when & how to start one)
- And much, much, much more…
And there was a chance of asking him the questions some of you, my precious blog readers submitted. (Was literally in the very last minute.)
Again, I’m going to post the answers to these question as a password protected post soon. To receive the password to that post and therefore the answers, you’ll need to sign up to the blog announcement list. The sign-up form to that list is located right below my image, in the upper right hand corner. (If you tried it before and it didn’t work, please try again. It is solved now and shall work again.)
Alrighty, off to some production (and lots of other) work… Very exciting times are coming! :-)
—Marcus Hochstadt
1 CommentPermalink Tags: costa rica, internet business, james brausch, xandari
How To Save 2 Hours Per Day
Mar 17 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Tutorials
We all need more time in the day, but short of waving a magic wand to stop time or creating more hours in the day, the only thing we can do is run around in a mad rush to get everything done, right? Wrong.
It is possible to accomplish more in a shorter amount of time – and all with less stress! It only takes discipline, focus and learning to say “no.”
Discipline: to eliminate (or outsource) internet “surfing” —
Focus: to tackle tasks with efficiency — and
No: to extra things with no value that add to an already crazy schedule.
Without further ado, here are 10 tips on how to save two hours per day (while regaining your sanity)…
- Check e-mail only at specific times — Of all the time consuming tasks each day, this one has to take the cake. As I’m living prove, you can easily save 2 hours per day just on this one task by implementing a two rules: 1. Save the personal e-mails for off-work hours. 2. Establish set times to check e-mails, preferably twice a day max.
Even better yet, hire assistants and have them filter your e-mail messages, only forwarding the essentials.
- Use a daily planner — This can take a little getting used to, but it’s worth it. Include everything in your daily planner… appointments, “to-do’s,” and phone calls. Be sure to add travel times and an extra 15 minutes on the end of everything for a buffer. You’ll be surprised when you have time left over at the end of the day.
- Focus, Focus, Focus — It’s easy to get stuck in the trap of multi-tasking only to spend the entire day scrambling. Concentrate on completing the tasks at hand until it’s done, and then move on to the next, again, until it’s done.
- Avoid personal phone calls during work hours — We all love our friends, but we have to make a living. At the end of the day, our friends don’t pay our bills, so reserve working hours for Internet business only and call friends after work.
- Learn to wrangle in “needless conversation” — We’ve all been victim to the occasional rambling co-worker or employee. Be tactful and courteous, while gently leading the conversation to its purpose and conclusion.
- Consider different working hours — These days, people sit in traffic every day all around the world. In case you still have and need to get to a day job, consider alternative times when getting to and going home from the office will not be spent in traffic. Did you know the average person spends 38 hours per year in traffic? Glad that excludes me!
- Consider telecommuting from home — More and more people are working from home either full-time or part-time. Eliminating the drive to the office just one day a week could save time and money.
- Give up the TiVo — I talked about this a few times already… The tube is everyone’s friend : - ) but it also takes up valuable time. Reducing time spent in front of the TV allows for the time to do so many other things—like building your Internet business!
- Switch it up — Try a new routine. Talk to friends, co-workers, business associates—or better yet, a Mentor. Ask them how they save time and balance life with a demanding schedule; they might just provide a gem of a tip.
- Plan the next day the night before — Before going to bed, go over your daily planner for the next day. The mind is amazing at accomplishing goals, and while you’re sleeping it will be working everything out to save even more time and increase productivity. This 10th tip is well worth a separate post as it can give you another 2 hours per day. So stay tuned!
There you have it.
Now, the goal is to pick the one that you like most and implement it. Don’t play with all 10 by “trying” here and there a bit. Instead, choose the one tip that you think brings the most rewards in terms of saving two hours per day and act upon it to its fullest.
Then and only then pick another one with the aforementioned approach.
—Marcus Hochstadt
22 CommentsPermalink Tags: internet business, time management
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