“I came from Latin America where intellectuals were always talking about political and social revolution and where a lot of bombs were thrown. But revolution hasn’t changed much. It takes little daring to bomb a building, but in order to give up cigarettes or to stop being anxious or to stop internal chattering, you have to remake yourself. This is where real reform begins. Don Juan and I were in Tucson not long ago when they were having Earth Week. Some man was lecturing on ecology and the evils of war in Vietnam. All the while he was smoking. Don Juan said, “I cannot imagine that he is concerned with other people’s bodies when he doesn’t like his own.” Our first concern should be with ourselves. I can like my fellow men only when I am at my peak of vigor and am not depressed. To be in this condition I must keep my body trimmed. Any revolution must begin here in this body. I can alter my culture but only from within a body that is impeccably tuned-in to this weird world. For me, the real accomplishment is the art of being a warrior, which, as don Juan says, is the only way to balance the terror of being a man with the wonder of being a man.”

Perhaps if we all tried our very best to change those things within ourselves that we really don’t like, we would realize how hard fundamental change truly is, and we could approach the world and our understanding of the problems with new eyes and new vigor unknown to us previously.

Click the link to read the whole interview entitled Seeing Castaneda by Sam Keen, Psychology Today (1972)

Peace

Behold, it comes in might,
The power that is not power,
The light that is in darkness,
The shade in dazzling light.

It is joy that never spoke,
And grief unfelt, profound,
Immortal life unlived,
Eternal death unmourned.

It is not joy nor sorrow,
But that which is between,
It is not noght nor morrow,
But that which joins them in.

It is sweet rest in music;
And pause in sacred art;
The silence between speaking;
Between two fits of passion –
It is the calm of heart.

It is beauty never seen,
And love that stands alone,
It is song that lives un-sung,
And knowledge never known.

It is death between two lives,
And lull between two storms,
The void whence rose creation,
And that where it returns.

To it the tear-drop goes,
To spread the smiling form
It is the Goal of Life,
And Peace — its only home!

- Swami Vivekananda

Whether you are promoting other people’s products or promoting your own products – that doesn’t matter because after all it is nothing but your own business and your means to earn good money. So whichever be your case, I am sure you would not want to leave money on the table and invite others to steal your share of profit.

Even though the industry of affiliate marketing is pretty competitive but if you are cautious and are strategic in your marketing techniques then, it could be very profitable for you.

Take a close look at the industry, you will see that not every one who gets into affiliate marketing is successful. People who are doing well leave no room for failure and take all security measures and understand its importance.

Yes! Security is one of the key factors in affiliate marketing. If you do not adopt proper security measures, then your business will be at high risk. One of the most important way to restore security is to protect your affiliate links. Do not take them for granted. A bit of carelessness on your part in regards to affiliate links may cost you a lot of dollars.

Do you know the long complicated links that you send to your prospective customers not only look convoluted but they can create a lot of problems too! If you send such an affiliate link to your customers, then the smart ones will definitely figure out that you are promoting someone else’s product and they would rather visit the parent company. Also, if your link does not function then your customers have to type a really long URL into the browser, which will definitely put him or her off.

You could be a victim of even a worse situation. What if some devious Internet pirates steal your affiliate links and replace them with theirs. If they do that, then you get no commission at all.

Did I scare you off with all of the above possibilities? Well, that certainly wasn’t my intention. I just wanted to open your eyes and state facts that actually happen in the world of Internet. It happened with me until I came across ViralURL , that brought a revolution to my online ventures.

So, if you are not getting the desired results out of your affiliate marketing,don’t lose hope. There’s definitely a remedy to this problem and that is ViralURL.com

Do I hear you asking, what is it and how can it help in averting any adverse situation for an affiliate marketer like me?
Be patient and read on, if you love your business.

ViralURL is a link cloaker that protects you in the truest sense. There may be many unethical people lurking around, who might play with your affiliate links by cutting them off or replacing them with their own etc. How much effort you put in towards building your business and advertising your business, if your links are tampered with, then all your hard work will be rendered useless.

In order to avoid such a rip off, ViralURL gives you full protection and sees to it that your affiliate links never get exposed to others.

So save yourself from getting ripped. Get all the commissions to your account that you rightfully deserve. All this is made possible by ViralURL.com

It is a blessing for every affiliate marketer like you and me, who wants to achieve success in their endeavor.

Is ViralURL limited to only link protection?

NO!

It does much much more than that. Let’s see what ViralURL can do for us:

*ViralURL helps us in protecting commission.
*ViralURL helps in building mailing lists.
*ViralURL helps in tracking statistics.
*ViralURL helps in earning extra ad credits.

In short, ViralURL allows us to create massive business leverage.
I don’t see any negative aspect associated with ViralURL. All you have to do is join it for free, then cloak your links, promote them and see your business soaring higher and higher.

You can get all detailed information about the program from the site www.ViralURL.com . There, you can find several unsolicited testimonials from various users of ViralURL. So if you want to protect your business and see your earnings grow, try ViralURL. You have nothing to lose with it.

Taking the viral nature of this new paradigm into account along with its ever increasing choke hold on personal privacy, now more than ever we must take a step back and look at the big picture and consider the ethics of the usage of such personally encroaching technology. We, as business owners and consumers alike, need to start asking the questions… How do I put the full power and potential of this technology to use without negatively affecting the experience of any other users in cyberspace but rather finding techniques and strategies of using this amazing technology to positively impact the experience for each person within the online social community.

Here are a few guidelines (courtesy of the YOUmoz blog site) to keep in mind for you marketers out there concerned with staying ethical and avoiding a harsh public backlash from your honest efforts to establish social marketing campaigns:

Social Media Campaign Goals for Small Business:

1. Have people engage in positive conversations about XYZ Company

* In Social Networks, Forums, Twitter and Blogs

2. Provide useful information

* Teach people about the benefits of your products/services

* Give people useful tips to deal with problems

3. Create friendships and communities

* Develop circles and connections in the online community

* Have friends on Facebook

4. Listen to customer feedback

* Track both positive and negative feedback

5. Become a trusted source!

* You want to create so much trust that people in forums ask for your advice

Rules of Engagement:

1. Transparency

* Never post as a ‘customer’

* If someone asks who you are, tell them you are an XYZ Company Employee

2. Never fight, provoke, flame or offend

* Do not respond to criticism of the company unless specifically asked; even then, send the Marketing Manager an email first so you can respond appropriately

* Do not enter controversial topics

3. Inform – do not promote

* You should never say “try our product’

* You can suggest your types of products as long as you provide information. If someone says they have problems, don’t suggest your Brand Name Product, but give information about the products like yours– they will find your Brand Name when they search for what you told them to search for. You should also give tips that will help with their problem even if it doesn’t require buying a product.

4. Don’t insert links in forum posts – allow the signature to act as a link

5. Don’t respond to post more than 3 months old (use your judgment)

6. Don’t answer a question that has already been answered unless you can honestly add something useful

7. If you are posting as yourself or your own web personality, do it from home

via YOUmoz | Social Media and Ethics for Small Businesses.

This recession has unemployment rates at 10-year 20-year highs, foreclosures reaching all-time highs and hyper-inflation that is sure to wipe out people’s life savings – So what are we going to do about it? …

Get educated!!

The result of our currently dreaded economy is due largely in part to unsafe financial practices by individuals both educated and not educated in the ways of finance and investing. But not all education and investment knowledge is created equal – if it were we would all be taking ‘wealth building’ classes at our local community college. But there ARE ways of reaching this highly exclusive and sought after knowledge that isn’t taught in ANY university in the world. If these individuals responsible  for this outright robbing of the American people were a part of the exclusive wealth group known as Wealth Masters International and were receiving the unrivaled wealth education that we are all privy to as a private member of WMI, I guarantee that this fiasco never would have happened.

Whether you have a recession-proof job or have just reached the unemployment lines, it doesn’t matter. If you are truly sick and tired of being pushed around and don’t know what else to do – come join the family that is trying to give back to the economy and turn this thing around. Learn from us & take control of your life FOREVER!

When it comes to finding a legitimate home based business, where you – the individual actually stands a chance of succeeding, there is absolutely NO excuse for making the same mistakes someone else has already made.

I am going to present some very simple methods that you can implement and put to use towards assessing the character and integrity of any company in this industry.

Of the 30 million plus people who have been involved within this industry over the past 20 years, there are plenty that are carcasses lining the roads to leave enough hints as to what works and what doesn’t.

Approximately 97% of the people in this industry SPEND MORE MONEY THAN THEY MAKE. For most, the journey towards financial freedom and independence is a tricky one. Like most who decide to embark on such travels, they usually discover that the final destination is a far deeper financial hole than they started out in.

Here is what you have to show for your efforts: maxed out credit cards, houses refinanced to the hilt, personal and professional frustration, and just flat broke! This is and should be a very loud wake up call. The odds are already stacked against you in this industry, and the chances of you succeeding on your own are tough enough. Not to mention that you are swimming with hundreds of sharks looking to prey on you, your dreams, and your wallet.

I have had the privilege of working with hundreds and hundreds of individuals just like you. Optimistic hopeful people, all with their fingers crossed that they too will discover the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Countless hours spent teaching, coaching, and training them how to set up and run their own successful businesses from home. You could almost say that I have seen it all.

I have worked with doctors, lawyers, truck drivers, nurses, stay-at-home moms, CEOs, and corporate executives. Just to name a few. I have seen all types of people, from all walks of life; both fail and succeed in this industry.

Let me ask you a few questions: How long have you been an “outsider” looking in at this industry? How long have you wondered if it was really possible to build your own business, and finally get paid what you are worth? How long are you going to have to work that job you hate until you die of stress, old age, or sheer frustration?

Have you been buying into other people’s dreams? Have you been subscribing to their money games and schemes while they pretend to be concerned with your success? Only to discover later that their primary objective was to recruit and sell you on their products and move on to the next sucker???

Let’s be frank, it is time for a real opportunity! One that will finally pay you what you are worth; one that will instill all of the necessary skills required towards becoming a successful and profitable entrepreneur. More importantly, an opportunity that will arrive without any of the BS!

What I am about to share with you, will not only save you years of trial and error and thousands of dollars, but it will eliminate the countless bruises you will receive from banging your head against the wall day in and day out.

I am prepared to unveil a few secrets of my success. Keep in mind however, that I will NOT be giving you some hyped up – fluffly -hypothetical BS. Rather, I will present some facts on ways that have propelled me from a manager at Midas to one of the top income earners in the industry today.

Whether or not you choose to believe anything I say is strictly your perogative. I will however make this promise…to call it only as I see it, and leave the “taking action” part in your hands.

BOTTOM LINE: You CAN NOT afford to learn these lessons the hard way!

FIND A MENTOR:

First and foremost, find a mentor! A mentor is someone you can trust; someone who already has obtained the results you are looking for; a leader who is willing to listen to your needs and actually cares about your success.

Your mentor must also have a long-term financial interest in your success. Make sure they get paid EVERY TIME you do, for life. (Do not involve yourself in a business that does not pay out a residual income, more on this later.)

It is imperative to find someone you like and get along with. An individual who is personable, who motivates and challenges you, but more importantly, a person who at the end of the day you want to be friends with or want to hang out with.

Please keep in mind, that the role of your sponsor is that of a coach. Be SURE that you are working with a strong leader who has no problem telling you “the way it is” by being completely honest and straight with you. An assertive and communicative person who is willing and able to teach you everything they know.

DO NOT get stuck with an individual without the fire it takes to succeed, someone who likes to sugar coat information, or is afraid to stand up and take a stand. This will only lead you backwards.

COMPENSATION PLAN:

Most “Top Tier” home based businesses require you to pass up a specific number of sales to your sponsor as part of a “qualification process.” They usually require you to give up your first 2, 3, or in some extreme cases, even your first 5 sales before you actually get to make any money yourself.

They call these “training sales,” because your sponsor is supposedly training and coaching you during the beginning process of making your first few sales. All the while what they are really NOT telling you, is that you will be most likely HUNG OUT TO DRY after you have passed up these sales.

Think about it! Seriously! Why would your sponsor invest any further time supporting and training you after they have collected on your hard earned training sales? Why would they not rather spend their time “training” their two new recruits that you just more or less handed to him?

Answer: It is not in their best financial interest to do so.

Furthermore, you are now officially regarded as competition once you have passed up your sales. What makes you think that your sponsor would want to teach you any of their secrets? In many instances they’ll support you just enough to make your training sales. They are getting paid on those, but not much more than that! Again, it is all about their personal financial interest, not yours!

As far as MLM goes, in my opinion, save your time, energy and money. MLM died a long time ago. It is like an old fossil that was finally buried along with the stigma it carried on its back.

Far too many people still seem to think that MLM is a viable way to earn a significant income quickly. That is simply NOT the case, and you can bet your bottom dollar it just won’t happen.

By the time you build an organization of 10,000 people (to earn a measly $10K a month or whatever), your leaders are liable to bounce to the next big best deal and take half your organization with them. It’s like trying to build your fortress on the top of a mountain that’s likely to turn into a mudslide come the first heavy rainstorm.

I have personally never achieved any significant success with MLM. The attrition is too big, and the commissions are too small. After two and a half years of struggling in MLM, making very little, I made the move over to Direct Sales and it totally changed my perspective network marketing. Aside from the increased ease of establishing new clients with this model, I shear earnings potential due to an entirely different compensation structure makes it a no brainer.

To more clearly explain my position, here is an example of the earning power of Direct Sales vs the MLM business model.

With top tier direct sales like WMI for example, you would only have to recruit 3-5 new consultants per MONTH to generate an income of between $10-15K that particular month. That is assuming you are positioned at the second level. (Remember that 30-50% of your level 1 sales will convert to level 2 sales) You can build this yourself without relying on thousands of people to join your team and best of all you can do it relatively quickly; in a matter of months if not weeks.

In addition to the pleasant monthly income you now have, you can also begin to build a $10-$15K monthly residual income. That is on top of the money you just earned through your own production.

Take WMI’s compensation plan for instance: Let’s say you turn around and teach 10-15 people to do exactly what your sponsor taught you? (I.e., generate leads, interview, and train your consultants) That would mean you would earn another $10-15K per month in residual income. This would put you at $20-$30K a month (hypothetically).

Again, with the right focus and determination along with a solid and successful mentor, this could be easily attainable within a few short months.

MY ADVICE: Find a solid direct sales company with a good reputation, and get to WORK!

Hey guys,

I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

After much anticipation over what the spy theme would be for this year’s Underground Online Seminar 5, which was put on by Yanik Silver of Yanik’s Secret Service, we all watched with unflinched attention at the stage and screens as we viewed the dazzling and completely over the top opening ceremony of the conference and the entrance of none other than the top secret agent himself – 007 – AKA Silver… Yanik Silver.

Oh ho! You thought I meant James Bond?! Well, it just so happens that for fear of disappointing the audience, Yanik was able to get an actual Bond to appear at the conference and sign autographs and take pictures.

Giordan standing w/ George Lazenby - Star of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"

George Lazenby, lead actor of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, stopped by for the weekend for the meet and greet and to cruise around in Yanik’s brand new Astin Martin that one lucky conference goer was able to win a week’s use of after winning a Bond trivia test.

Aside from all the hype and shaningans however, the conference and the individuals who attended were truly first-rate. I was just happy that those of us from the Warrior Marketers Team were able to snag a ticket to the quickly sold out event. There was certainly nothing at the event that wasn’t thought of. The VIP Night, which was an exclusive post conference event for those who snatched up the early-bird tickets, was elegant and we were all dressed to play the part – after all, it was a 007 themed party complete with beautiful Bond girls and ample martinis, shaken of course

For those of you who are interested in having some fun and learning from the top internet marketers and entrepreneurs in the world at the same time then you don’t want to miss next year’s underground event which will also be held at an undisclosed location in DC. Check out this year’s sold out event page so you can input your e-mail to be notified when tickets for the 2010 event go on sale!