Its Your Brain Stupid

Posted on 28 April 2009 by admin

Are you to smart to be rich?

You know, I found a quote from one of the people I most trust (that is an incredibly important distinction to make, true trust is hard to come by) in the internet marketing world. Charles Heflin. This is what it said:

Online business is quickly lost by thinking too much.

Don’t think… Research… Allow the Internet to reveal the answers you are seeking.

It echoed some of the words that made a huge difference to me when I actually spent money to go to my first, learn to be rich seminar. (That was actually the name, it was a seminar from Robert Kiyosaki’s company, and was all about investing in real estate.)

The instructor asked again and again:

Are you dumb enough to be rich?

It is an interesting question. But a very deep personal success one that needs to be considered. The more you try to figure it out sometimes, the worse it gets. Everyday that goes by that it isn’t done, isn’t up, isn’t running is a day that you are loosing money. The fact is, we often stop ourselves from succeeding by relying on a very weak link, ourselves. There is so much experience, data, and help out there to make sure you don’t fail that there really is absolutely no reason to do so.

My personal analogy for this with internet marketing is finding a hole in a flat tire. ( I have actually had to do this recently) and it is nearly impossible to figure out what is wrong untill you are willing to put some air in the tire. It is no different with a website, sales process, optin page, or even a whole market. The axiom here in marketing is:

TEST! TEST! TEST! For a reason.

The question is simple. Would you rather get it right 100% of the time or what ever your percentage is? No one is perfect, so obviously you will be wrong some percentage of the time. Testing a market, an idea, a strategy, whatever will only get you closer to your goal, quicker. So there we have it. Research your market, and let the result speak for themselves.

I am needing to do this as well, as always. It seems that the advice I pass on here is basically the advice I needed to hear and apply. That is why I get fired up enough to say something.

To testing.

The images in my head when I ride…

Posted on 27 April 2009 by admin

5 Keys To Getting Your Way On A Plane

Posted on 25 April 2009 by admin

If you’ve been through an airport lately, or ever for that matter you know that there are a few tricks to keeping people employed by government agencies or failng airlines from destroying your trip.

I’ve been priveleged to fly and travel quite a bit in my life. I’ve hardly gone a year of my life without leaving the country or at least the main land, and to show you how crazy we ( it’s my family’s fault) are, we actually discussed taking a route back through San francisco from Sydney, on the way to new Zealand just for the miles… (if that didn’t make sense, you’re normal)

Needless to say I formed a lot of travel tactics when I was a defiant, authority hating teenager, that prove amazingly useful as you get older.

1. Check In

Not much defiance here, just smile big and try not to be a moron. I’ve got a process for having everything ready so I can be quick. There are a fee things I’ve noticed you can ask forgiveness for that will get you out of the lone though.

- remember “you have a choice of air lines, and they are glad you chose them”
- the 1k (first class line) will usually take you if you play it right. The key is to make it harder for them to turn you away than to just take care of you really quick.

2. Security: getting through quick is awesome, except there’s not a whole lot you can do here because these guts gave firs power. The key here is process. Gave nothing on you, except your ID and boarding pass. Put everything else in outside pockets of your carry on, especially your jacket.

Also, (hope I don’t get in trouble for this) but I never put my liquids or gels in the zip lock bag. As long as you move quickly, stay organized and answer the gels question as a “no” quickly, (and you’re not carrying a huge bottle of shaving cream or hair spray) they won’t give you trouble, at least they haven’t messed with me.

3. Overhead compartment

All you have to do is be a little faster, than the next guy. Gotta admit, you can get away with stowing more underneath the seat in front if you than you think, as long as it looks like you’re putting it away when the flight attendant comes by you’re fine.

( try not to call attention to yourself, by always acting compliant)

4. Keeping your “electronic devices on” even before you reach a cruising altitude.

This is the big one. You won’t get away with having your laptop out and on, but you can do just about anything iPhone.

KEY 1: use iPhone head phones, because they have controls on the headphones themselves.

KEY 2: run them under your shirt, and only use one. (It depends on the airline, I’ve noticed that the people on southwest are horibly annal about this, united us so so, and Delta has just stopped caring.) If you need to be sneaky, just use the ear facing the window on your side of the plane, the hide the other one in your shirt. ( If there’s a big middle section and that’s where you’re sitting, you’re already screwed so just deal with it.)

KEY 3: always make it more inconvinient for them to bug you than just leave you alone. There are a few ways to do this:

1- pretend to sleep
2- dealing with kids even if they aren’t yours
3- always be “finishing up” or “putting it away”
4- think the same way you did when you were passing notes in fifth grade.

5. Keeping your seat in the slightly laid back position and opening your tray table early

This will require collaboration from your fellow travelers. But as long as the seats look even, they can’t tell.

Follow steps from number 4 and…

As soon as the flight attendants have to put on their seat belts you’re free to use your tray table. If they come back mad, just be “sorry” or make it look ultra inconvienient for you to put it up.

Well, that’s it. Hope you chuckled a bit, and oh by the way, I wrote this on my iPhone, during take off.

AJ
Twitter.com/andrewjamesinc

Climbing The Hill, Reach Your Potential

Posted on 17 April 2009 by admin

I’ve had some amazing adventures this week.

One of the best powder days ever

Me after an awesome powder day at brighton!

It snowed probably (no joke) 30 inches on tuesday (april 14) night. So for “uncle Sam’s day” to celebrate having paid and being done with taxes, I went and rode Brighton. This was actually planned with a best friend of mine, one of the only people who has known me since I was 11, so it was pretty much an amazing day.

Climbing Suncrest today

Well as you can imagine, the cycling is going well, excpet for the days that it snows 2 feet. I had some great riding on monday, then just as quickly as it began it was over. SO, clouds cleared and I decided to go for it again. It was gnarly windy, but I got a really good ride in, and learned just how much air can change things.

My Route Today: 15 miles or so

It is incredible how much I have to be grateful for, I just realized looking at my life and my week. I have entrepreneurship to thank for a whole lot of it too. I guess the point is that it doesn’t take that much to drastically improve the quality of your life, if you’ll find a few of your adventures and make the decision and take the plunge to start living them.

Every bit of work I did outside of these adventures was just better. I just enjoyed life more as a result of working form this place. So, my hope is that this can inspire to some degree and maybe by seeking more of the ideas and abilities I have found that make adventure-prenuership possible, more people can live out their adventures too.

Reach your potential: By Brian Tracy

So, after my ride I came back to training my mind and turned on a short video segment of Brian Tracy. It was about reaching your potential, and it really made me stop and think. I have heard it a million times before. The fact is, we all have unlimited potential. The way he said it was “you couldn’t use the potential you have in a hundred life times.” This stuck in a big way.

Basically, we have to focus on learning to use what we have. The realization both in life and in business I came to, and shared with a business partner of mine this week, was

The only thing I don’t have now is an excuse

And that is really true for all of us. There really is nothing stopping our success but our excuses. And, there comes a point when you just don’t have one anymore. I am doing better and better, and I worry most about becoming complacent and slowing down. I know that a large part of the fulfillment comes from growth.

Anyway, hope this reaches and helps or somehow inspires someone this week.

Live your adventures!

Andrew

It's On, For Real… Now I just need to know what to do???

Posted on 11 April 2009 by admin

And here is the proof that I am serious about riding a road bike from the top of the PCH to the bottom…

My butt is wet, my heart is racing, and I think I need to wash my hands before I keep typing so I don’t get mud and grease on the keyboard…

It is just past midnight on Saturday night, 12:27 to be exact, and I am officially addicted. I couldn’t resist but take this new bike out for a spin and see how it really felt to ride for a good distance. Even though it was dark and raining, I clipped my (also new, fun little toy) iPod shuffle on and I was off… I didn;t go far, just up a good hill and back down, and far enought to go through a little play list and get a good feel for it.

I finallay decided that there was no more waiting, excuses, or finding the right time and exactly the right set of circumstances. If I am going to do this, I had better well start doing it. It is time to train and start the pain of getting fully in shape for what I want to embark on. I had looked at several different bikes, tested quite a few and finally decided that I would go with the best starting optin and upgrade and/or buy a better bike as I go along. Still I wanted an awesome bike that could do the job.

Since my ride will be a very long one (I think 1000 miles, but it may actually be longer or shorter) everyone told me that the Specialized Roubaix was the way to go. A little more upright for endurance, and it has shock absorption inserts molded into the carbon fiber frame in the key places to cut down on vibrations and make riding for a long time a lot more pleasant. I figured out after riding a few that I needed a size 54 frame, and I was good to go. A good friend of mine told me some one was selling that exact kind of bike… Long story short the guy almost sold it to someone else, I was carried away in other things today and didn’t have time to go out and look at the bike shop, but he called me at 9:45 saying he still had it. I told him I’d be right over with a check and the rest was just sweat and rain water and iTunes… Anyway, I learned a few critical things, and now I am really wondering what the best way to clean a bike after you ride it and if I need to do anything to it after getting all wet… (I am a newbie to the whole cycling thing). SO here’s what I learned.

All I can say is, for some reason riding a bike with the right music is like drinking 10 redbulls and a rock star for my energy, creativity, and overall “stokedness” on doing stuff (including work)…

So, for me and my work, it is an important lesson. One that I am continually trying to learn, relearn, and actually apply. The people who best taught me this were the authors of “The Power of Full Engagement,” Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.

Manage your energy.

Figure out what gives you energy highs, clarity highs, and when they most routinely happen and plan your work around that. You can fret and worry all day long about everything that you have to do, just make a list as thoughts come to your mind and then figure out what you have to do to get really really creative, and almost high and ready to work. I’m learning this and finding that I am able to produce a million times more and better work in about 30-45 minutes of focused high energy time than 4-5 hours of a normal day. SO…

My new plan is to try breaking up work with a lot more energy renewing activities (like bike rides) to see if it make me more productive.

Any Suggestions On The Trip Down The PCH?

Just looking for people who know more about cycling and these kinds of trips than I do. It wouldn’t take much, if so, let me know!

@andrewjamesinc

Are You Tough Enough To Make It???

Posted on 08 April 2009 by admin

Statistically You’re Screwed…

But from the mindset of an entrepreneur,

I can’t see how you will get anywhere if you don’t have this kind of persistence and attitude.

For some reason I just can’t quite get enough of these videos…

Billionaire Brains…

Posted on 07 April 2009 by admin

Getting inside the heads of people who have achieved extraordinary levels of success in any arena will always help you make quantum leaps in your mindset and therefore your results. When I look at the financial realm, I always want to look at the highest percentile of individuals, billionaires.

There are fewer billionaires on the planet than any other category of people. Why am I saying all this?

Well because I picked up a book today that I couldn’t quite put down. I know this is revealing of how much of a nerd I may be, but hopefully it will lead me to be a rich nerd.

Warren Buffet is the most successful, rich, and wealthy investor on the planet. He has stayed at number two or number one on the world’s list of wealthiest people for a long time, and I don’t think he will be dipping down too much any time soon. He is also, and this is an important note, one of the worlds greatest philanthropists.

If you want to learn how to make a ton of money and keep a lot of it, and have it keep growing, it is safe to say that getting inside warren buffet’s brain would probably work pretty darn well.

What’s the book? It is called…. drum roll please…

“Warren Buffet and the Interpretation of Financial Statements”

I know, probably a scary title, but Robert Kiyosaki has already yelled at me enough to get my financial literacy up and to develop the skill of reading financial statements. Who better to teach me how to do it than the man who has read more of them and made that skill make him more money than just about any other individual on the planet?

So there are a few Billionare conclusions I am coming to…
(By the way, I am thinking about being obsessed with studying billionaires.)

1. The way to make a ton of money it to buy stuff.

The big fact and paradigm that conflicts with just about everyone’s head is that you can make more money simple by spending less. This is a longer discussion and a whole other post but the fact of the matter is, the only way to make more money is to produce more value. Well, no one produces more value by hoarding…

This is kind of a rant simply because it has been a huge eye opener for me. Recently a friend of mine challenged me saying that there was no way I could become a billionaire. (Whether or not I want to or whether or not that matters is besides the point.)

Being the personality type I am I started figuring out how ot prove that person wrong and seeing what it would take. What if you really did want to and or had to make a billion dollars in 2 years? I came to an interesting conclusion, that the only way to do that would basically be to buy the right stuff. (assets, trades, notes, or intellectual property) Or to invent the right thing.

If you want to make more money invest more of your money, buy more assets, or put money and time into things that increase in value. Well enough with that rant. Back to Buffet

2. If you’ve got to buy assets to create wealth, then what do you buy?

Well, Warren buys businesses. Buy and sell businesses and figure out how to buy the right ones and you will win. This book and the others that prequel it talk about “Buffetology” and Warren Buffet’s simple twist on Benjamin Grahm’s “Inteligent Investing” formula. Also known as value based investing. Basically, you look for a company (because buying or creating companies is the way to create wealth) that you know is really worth X but the market has pushed down way below it’s true value. Kind of like real estate, we all know that a certain type of house is worth about $100,000 and even if the market is down, you know that if you can buy that house for $50,000 it’s going to be worth it in the long run.

Buffet seek’s what is called “durable competitive advantage.” You seek a company whose products, systems, services, ie sources of revenue, have a competitive advantage and all information indicates that things will tend to stay that way. Buy it, and hold on for a while and you’ll make a lot of money.

And that’s about all for me, this is an incredible book and anyone who would like to discuss it with me should send me and email or an @ reply on twitter, @andrewjamesinc

The fact is, you can think in the same way about your own business and your own financial statements… Do you as a person or a company have durable competitive advantage?

Protected: Questions That Changed My Life and My Business

Posted on 02 April 2009 by admin