If you are not literally ‘battling’ for success, then chances are, success is not going to find you. Even someone I grew up with, now known worldwide as ‘the situation’, battled through a lot just to make it on to that reality show that made him famous. I’m not going to go into details, but trust me, the kid could not get someone to get a slice of pizza with him 2 weeks after the show stopped filming. Now, everyone I know talks about him and how ‘lucky’ he is.

I’m not a big believer in luck. I kind of think, bad or good, everyone has luck. It’s how you deal with everything else that matters. Battling for success is about understanding first & foremost that it is going to be a battle. A tough one at that. It is going to take everything you have to win this battle. There will be many ups and downs that cloud your confidence. Staying focused is the key.

Understanding how to battle your way to success is going to come from inside you. Only you know about the ‘voices’ or ‘intuition’ you get when you know you should do something, but you don’t want to. That is part of the battle. In fact, as I said before, you should try to look forward to the things you don’t want to do, cause each one brings you closer to your goal.

Reaching that goal is what this site is dedicated to helping you with. So, with that in mind, I have put together a few lessons I have learned about battling toward my goal of success, which is to make a living doing what I love.

Enjoy the Storm

As I write this there is a Winter Storm blaring on par with a level 2 Hurricane out my window. It’s a perfect analogy for the battle to success. Success is like a far destination you have to get to in this kind of weather. At first the road may seem easy to navigate, but as the weather worsens, and the storm picks, up, things will get extremely difficult to manage.

The way you react to these obstacles is what defines your success. Think of it this way. If you are driving in a snowstorm, what’s the best way to drive?

If you step on the gas, rev your engine, and peel out down the snow-covered block, chances are you will not get too far before the sound of metal crunching is heard.

If you put on your emergency lights, and drive 2 miles per hour, stopping every time the car seems to slip the slightest bit, as your two ghost-white sweaty palms grip the steering wheel like life depended on it, chances are you should not even bother getting on the road. Ever notice, car accidents happen a lot to people who seem solely focused only on avoiding them?

The best approach to driving in a snow storm is to take your time, not overreact, and calmly assess each situation on the road as it comes up. You have to come to a calm understanding that, even though things are really bad outside, you can handle it. In fact, you live to handle it.

There’s Only One Way to Get a Black Belt

Once you understand you are in a battle, you will realize you have to take your lumps too. Can’t become a great fighter without getting beat up. It’s just not possible. Same goes for success. You are going to make mistake after mistake. Some people call this failure. I call it learning. In fact, I have yet to meet a success that had not lived through some sort of failure.

There is a saying in Jiu Jitsu that there is only one difference between someone who gets a black belt, and someone who does not. It is not their athleticism, or their physique. It is not their genetics, their technique, or their personality. It is only one simple thing that separates every white belt who ever got on the mat and the people who eventually succeeded in getting black belts. Do you know what that difference is?

The black belts kept coming. That’s it. If any of those white belts would have done the same, eventually, they would have became black belts themselves. Maybe not as fast, or at the same pace, but they would have eventually reached their goal.

The point of the story for you is, what ever your goal, you must get on the mat. If you want to win the lottery, you must first play a ticket. If you want to hit a home run, you must first strike out (or get really lucky). If you want to be successful, you must first….TRY! Then you must try, try, try again, until you get there. No matter how long it takes, you will not give up.

Success is a mindset!

Being successful at anything is all about your mindset, not your finances, or your clothing brand, or your material things. Take all of that away from a successful person, and chances are they will get it right back. That’s because they believe they are successful.

If you can’t picture yourself successful, or you judge every detail of your journey as a make or break moment, then you will not be successful. Successful people are like black belts. They know, whatever challenges they face, they will be successful. They know if they fail a challenge, they will just come right back and try again. However, this time, they will be even stronger from their previous defeat.

It is this mindset that lead successful people to their goals. They are not just lucky, or born more fortunate. They simply have taken the hand life dealt them and rolled with it. If someone’s got a better hand, so be it. If someone’s hand is worse, so be it too. After all, it’s not the cards, but how you play them.

In life, it’s not the battles that matter, it’s simply how you choose to fight them.

Based on this experience, I thought it would be a great value to list the top ten lessons I have learned on the web as a business, blogger, and every day web surfer.

1. Information is Today’s Money Maker

Welcome to the information age. On the web, people, businesses, and anyone in between are all after one thing: Information. They will stop at nothing to get it, mercilessly entering phrases into their favorite search engine until they find what they seek. You do it, I do it, we all do it. Now that we know what everyone is after, we can move on.

2. Branding is Everything

Branding your business, or self, is the key to success on the web. Remember, people are looking for information. Once you figure out what information you are going to provide, the next step is to build a ‘brand’ around it. You don’t have to be Nike to take branding your business serious. Know what value your information holds, who is after it, and then brand yourself as that answer. Branding encompasses your web design, brand message, and defines who you are in the minds of your target market.

3. The Value of Your Information or Service = Your ROI

We understand that everyone is after information. However, a key to success on the web is using web analytics (tracking) to help determine exactly how many people are actually searching for that information daily. You may be the foremost expert on how to build doghouses from snow, but if no one is looking for that information, it is useless to start a blog or business about it.

I am not going to get into the depths of analytics, and how to use the information. There are endless resources on the web that can explain it much better than me. In fact, that’s how I learned. Just be sure you understand the value of being able to see how much of a market there is for your idea, before you dive into it.

4. The Web is the Central Hub for any Business

Years ago, if people wanted information, they had to find it. If a business created a brochure, commercial, or even a website, they focused their efforts on giving as much information as possible all at once, for fear of the client not getting more than one impression.

Well obviously, the web has changed everything. Now businesses know, whatever marketing they do, the target market is most likely to check the website before contacting the business. It’s just easier for them. Why go to the hassle of calling someone, and speaking to them, when the information is only a few clicks away?

Businesses know this, and the trend has been toward more enticing marketing pieces with less information. In fact, the less, the better. Put the relevant information on your site, and let that be the ‘central hub’ of information for your business. That means, if anyone wants to know anything about your blog, or business, they have to go to the site to find out. The marketing pieces simply concentrate on spreading your brand’s message, not necessarily the info about it.

5. Social Media takes time for any ROI

So you opened up a twitter account, and now what? You have been tweeting away, even on Facebook, and trying all sorts of things to gain traffic. After a few months of effort, it is getting kind of redundant. What can you do?

You may not want to hear this, but just keep going. Social Media can take time, and a little luck, to really work for you. The basic idea is to keep plugging away until you get what you are looking for. Do not pay much attention to the ‘subscriber number flexing’ of other sites. Simply put, concentrate on putting out the best information you can, and tough it out. Eventually, if your information is valuable enough, the fruits of your labor will begin to blossom.

6. Every Social Media weapon has its Uses

Okay, so I signed up for twitter, facebook, linkedin, myspace, digg, reddit, stumbleupon, and every forum I could find, but I have not had much success. What’s the deal?

If this sounds like you, let me help you out. Social Media tools, like the above sites, are like Martial Arts weapons. You don’t have to master every weapon to become an effective Martial Artist. You start off mastering one, and when you are done with that, then you move on. The same goes for the web. Try out one Social Media weapon at a time, and see how it truly works. If you just jump all over everything, you may never see which one truly should be your brand’s weapon of choice.

7. Practice makes Permanent

Like anything else in life, practicing using the web to your advantage is the only way to learn. You can read up on methods, ideas, and strategies all day, but the truth is, until you try them for yourself, you never know how they will work. Every blog, business, and entity is slightly different from the rest. What works for one, may not work for the other. That’s okay. Just put the time in, and everything else will follow.

8. Your Competition is Your Friend

Growing up in the real world, I learned all about the sometimes cutthroat competition between similar businesses. Well, the web has changed that too. Now, your biggest competition is also your biggest asset.

Remember, we spoke about the value of information for a target market. This blog is all about the daily battle for success in life. It is a personal development (PD) blog, which means, that other PD blogs are my FRIEND.

How can that be? Well remember, people who read PD blogs are my target market. On the web, it is quite easy to surf from one blog to another. So chances are, if they like my competition’s blog, they will probably enjoy mine as well, and vice versa. That is why if you link up with the competition, both of you can benefit from each other’s traffic.

9. Building a Web Presence is Hard G** Damn Work

Sounds so easy, right? Well don’t get too excited. Building a web presence takes relentless effort and dedication to be successful. It rarely happens overnight, and if it does, there was probably a lot of work prior to getting to that point. So tuck your chin, and get on the virtual mat to take your lumps. Think of it this way. If you are not working on getting that traffic, that traffic isn’t stopping. It’s going somewhere else.

10. Can it Be That it is All So Simple?

Love ending with a Wu-Tang classic! The truth is, using the web to your advantage is really simple. It takes a plan, execution, and then you make adjustments, and start again. Simply put, you have to put in the work to learn how business works. However, be warned, there is no excuse. Every piece of information you desire is located somewhere on this world wide wondrous web, which means success is only fingertips away.

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Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

Every person in the world runs into at least one problem a day. When you are a business owner, it can seem like you run into a problem per minute. Every time you solve one dilemma, an even tougher one seems to pop up out of nowhere. 

Dealing with problems is part of the job description for every entrepreneur. If you are not dealing with them, you are certainly delegating who is. Either way, you are going to set the tone for how problems are handled in your business, and better know the difference between problem solving and problem evolving.

If you tend to get emotional, your staff will do the same. If you tend to ignore the problems, your staff will follow suit. If you are waiting for someone to care more about your business than you, you are simply not cut from entrepreneurial cloth. Your business is your baby. Problems come with the business. Therefore, problems become your baby. The question is, are you a problem evolver, or a problem solver?

Problem Evolvers

Oxford American dictionaries states the definition of evolve is ‘to develop gradually, from a simple to a complex form‘. When a problem arises in a business, a problem evolver takes the initial problem and begins to mold it into something much, much worse. Their focus is solely on the problem, it’s possible consequences, and how they can be affected by it the least.

Problem evolvers tend to constantly bring up the problem, it’s inevitable doom, and who is to blame. They focus on the problem, who is responsible for it, and what consequences that party shall face. Instead of focusing on the solution, they make the person most responsible for the problem the target of their energy.

Problem Solvers

To solve a problem, according to Oxford American, means to ‘find an answer to, explanation for, or means for effectively dealing with (a problem or a mystery).‘ Essentially, problem solvers treat problems like a big game. They turn problems into fun riddles and challenges that drive them to find solutions.

Problem solvers never pinpoint blame, even if it is rightfully deserved. They don’t see an employee or a client as a problem. They see the position that that employee or client was put in as the problem. Problem solvers don’t worry about the potential consequences. They focus on how to surpass those obstacles, even when it seems there is no hope of doing so. Problem solvers remain calm, cool, and collected in order to take a fresh approach to the problem. After all, it is a game, and they want to win as much as possible.

The Unavoidable Truth

Truth be told, if you are in business, you are going to have to learn to deal with problems on a consistent basis. The growth of your business, especially if it’s yours, solely depends on your ability to navigate through the daily, sometimes seemingly insurmountable problems that swoop in like rain clouds on a sunny day.

If you can’t avoid them, you might as well learn to enjoy them. Become a problem solver, make it all a game, and challenge yourself to lead your business through whatever storm might come next. You are ready. You are confident. You are excited, because you are a Problem solver. Problems are what you love. In fact, you look forward to them and revel in setting an example for your staff and clients. Handling them is the daily challenge that gets you out o bed in the morning. What once was a burden, now becomes your fuel. Say it with me…

‘I am a problem solver. Handling problems is what I do. I know a problem without a solution does not exist. In fact, the bigger the problem, the more fun the challenge.‘

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Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

Every Wednesday is Personal Development in Business…

I recently learned an important lesson in business that I’d like to share with you. My partner and I run a website & video production company. We produce design driven media to help companies brand their business online. Our business is highly dependent on team work, and therefore putting the right team together is imperative to each project. Everyone involved in a particular project plays a role, and as the saying goes, you are only as strong as your weakest link.

In order to stay versatile in the web business, it is imperative from time to time to work with contracted outsources. Picking these outsources is where I learned an important lesson. Like many other businesses, we have formed relationships with many different outsources that we feel confident in. However, sometimes, because of the rapid changing technology, you need to go outside your trusted sources. This happened to us a few months ago. We needed a developer specializing in a rather new coding language. So, as the process goes, we put out a job ad, and then checked out the work from the responders. It is evaluating these sources where I learned an important lesson.

Picking your team is critical to success in business…

At first, my partner who handles the majority of the creative decisions, would sift through the work and pick out the most talented and qualified people. After this, we send emails to each of them to get an estimate of both the cost and the time for completion. Then, after we have all of this information, we make a decision on who to meet with. It is during this interview that we decide if we have made the right decision.

The lesson I learned is the order of importance for certain characteristics when selecting who to work with. See, at first, my partner and I, like most people, were all about talent. The more talented the work, the more we wanted to make them a part of our team. Talent is an important part of the creative process, and everyone figures the more talent you have, the better off you are. However, this was our mistake.

Headaches Cost Money…

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation, and only 5 minutes to ruin it.” -Warren Buffett

Talent is not the most important characteristic when building a team. In fact, it is last on the list. Time is money, especially in business. Therefore, the less headaches, the less time spent, and consequently, the more money made. Plus, even more important, is building a relationship with clients. The more headaches for the client, the less likely they are to work with you again. Nothing is worse than having to cover for your team when you know they are wrong. Protect your reputation by choosing the right people to represent your company.

A perfect example of this is last year’s Dallas Cowboys football team. They ignored all external factors when putting together their roster, choosing to go with talent over all else. Their squad was loaded with talented players with questionable character. What happened was the locker room collapsed, the distractions became too many, and they are still dealing with the aftermath from this season. They sold their soul and now they are desperate to get it back.

Anytime you work in a team, it is the culmination of that team’s effort that makes a project successful. It is never just one talented individual, no matter how it may seem. Everyone plays their role, whether it’s a success, or a failure. To help you get the most out of your team, I have come up with a priority list to refer to when judging candidates. Whether outsources, employees, or just a 5th member of your local basketball pick up team, this short list will help you make the right decision.

Top 4 Characteristics for Picking Team Players

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1. Professionalism

The key to quality and efficiency is professionalism. This is defined as a person who understands they are part of a business and therefore acts in a professional manner. They understand what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. They help out with client relations by providing honest feedback, quick responses, and by meeting deadlines. In short, their professionalism makes your job easier. Even though they are not representing your business, they act as if they are.

2. Relationship Builders

A good team player thinks long term. They understand that one project can be the beginning of a beneficial relationship for both parties. Good team players will ask about the project, give their professional input, and list their price for services. Individuals will give demands, worry about themselves, and think short term. If the person starts to ask questions about personal goals, benefits, or rewards, then you may have to move on. These types focus only on the single project and how it affects the now. Long term team players worry about building a relationship. I have found businesses, even one person shops, understand the importance of relationship building better than the work-starved freelancers eager desperate to pay their bills.

3. Experience

Nothing makes working with someone easier than experience. Experience means they have learned from their mistakes, and can even add to your experience. Nothing makes life easier than have someone to work with who has experience doing what you need them too. It gives you confidence in their abilities. This confidence makes life easier, because you will spend less time questioning if what they say is accurate. Simply put, you know they’ve been there, done that, and therefore they can do it again.

4. Talent

Talent is important, but it takes a back seat to these characteristics. Don’t get caught up in the wow factor of someone’s work. Take it into consideration, but look past the glitz and glamour. Remember, no team is dependent on one person to carry them. A team is only as good as the sum of its parts. Adding talent to one part of a team is useless if it is going to drain the talent from other parts of the team.

Comment Below

What characteristics do you find essential to building the right team?

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Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

Every Wednesday is Personal Development in Business…

Unless you are living under a rock, I’m sure you are aware of the historic day that took place yesterday. Barack Obama was sworn in as our 44th president of the U.S.A. Stepping aside from our own political views, you can not help but like this man. It is undeniable that he is a natural born leader, regardless of what you think he will do as our President.

This country has been desperate for a leader to guide it into the information age, and to connect with the exploding youth of today. It appears for now that we have found what we have been looking for.

As a business owner, there are many things to learn from Barack Obama. Being a business owner is like leading a very small country in your own right. You do not have all the answers. You are not always going to be right. There are many different opinions on what is right and wrong, and there is also a balance of keeping everyone involved relatively happy.

However, watching President Obama make it look easy yesterday, I thought long and hard about his approach. I believe that is why he is such a magnetic individual. His personality resonates with everyone because he speaks from the heart. We believe, whether wrong or right, he has our best interest in mind.

Inspired by watching this natural born leader during the inauguration, here are…

7 tips to make you a better business owner.

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1) Being right is less important than doing what’s right.

Work with your team. Sure, you can have an opinion or a firm belief, but being a leader is about listening to those around you, not just pretending to.

2) Know your limits

President Obama made it clear that he can only do so much. It is up to each one of us to help guide this country to a better place. He put the challenge on us to be accountable for our actions.

3) Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow.

Being a great leader means knowing when it’s your turn to follow. Sometimes, a person beneath you may have a better plan. A good leader recognizes this, and understands that sometimes you lead by following others.

4) You catch more bees with honey.

As a business owner, just like a President, you can have many enemies. Some are even in your own camp. However, it is how you handle these disputes that conveys your leadership ability to others. Do not overreact and try to make each issue a case of right and wrong. Listen to your enemies, and challenge them not with words or power, but with your example. You may find an enemy becomes a great ally.

5) Take it one challenge at a time

Imagine being President Obama right now. He faces some of the toughest challenges any president has ever had to. The same can be true for a new business owner. Try not to get caught up in the pressure. Simply handle each challenge one at a time, and take it from there. You can not fix everything in one day, so no need to try.

6) It is okay to be Human.

President Obama did not come out and claim to know everything, have all the answers, or prove he is smarter than everyone else. Instead, he let his humanity show and that is what drew us all to him. We are all human, no matter how hard we try to be perfect robots. It’s okay to show our humanity. We all make mistakes, and a business owner, or the President of the U.S.A. is no exception. Admit it when you make a mistake, and take the pressure off of everyone else afraid to do so.

7) Don’t worry about the haters.

Haters to me are people who have not been able to get things in their own life to go right. Therefore, they hate on everyone else trying to accomplish the things they could not. It is most important to believe in yourself, no matter what those around you say. If you believe you can change the world, than you sure as hell have a chance of doing so. Look no further than a man named Barack Hussein Obama for your inspiration.

Now it’s your turn. In the comments section, add some other ways President Obama may have inspired you….

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Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

Every Wednesday is Personal Development in business….

How many of you have ever built a bridge before? I’m not talking about a monstrous metal road connecting two pieces of land over a body of water. I am talking about the kind of bridges built between people. The kind that starts with introducing yourself and explaining what you do. Some people refer to this as networking, but I prefer the term ‘bridge builder‘.

In my business, being a bridge builder is extremely important. It is for any business, really. However, as much time as I have spent building bridges, I have also seen many of those bridges come crashing down in flames. To me, there is nothing more harmful in business than wasting your time on burning bridges.

Wasted Energy

We all have been there before. We have an expectation from one of our employees, outsources, or clients, and they fail to meet it. In fact, they fail so bad, it makes you want to harm them. You can not believe the disrespect someone would show you after how courteous and professional you have been. All of a sudden, you switch from nice Mr.Bridge builder to a wide-eyed, flaming Bridge Arsonist. A fury swells in your belly. You are determined to get revenge.

It is natural to want to show the client the mistake they made because we are emotional, and feel betrayed. It is the definition of being human. The problem with this approach, though, is the wasted energy you will spend to undo the work you already did.

For example, lets pretend a client you have bent over backwards for suddenly goes with a competitor because of a difference of a few dollars. Of course, being that you were loyal, you feel betrayed. Why didn’t the client come to you and tell you the situation? You may have even met the competitor’s price because of the loyalty the client has shown. But instead, at the drop of a hat, all that hard work you did gets washed down the drain. For a few bucks, the client has left you high & dry, and quite angry.

When you are loyal to people, and do right by them at all costs, you expect the same in return. When someone does not offer the same, we immediately feel hurt, angry, and our blood boils. We want to call the client and give them a piece of our mind. How dare they do this. After all you did for them, this is how they repay you? We’ll show them, right?

Wrong.

This is the approach of a bridge arsonist. A bridge arsonist spends some time building bridges, and the rest of the time burning them down at the 1st hint of trouble. They expect each bridge to be reciprocal. I scratch your back, you scratch mine. However, life, and especially business, is much more complicated. People are under pressure, and pressure can cause people to react in all sorts of crazy ways. As Jay-Z says, “Pressure busts pipes.”

The Siddhartha Approach

I found a totally different approach from reading a great book called ‘Siddhartha‘ by Herman Hesse. Without diving too deep into the story, the moral of the book is that judging people for the way they act is a waste of time because you can not change them no matter how enlightened you may be.

Each person makes their own path in life, regardless of what anyone else thinks of it. Judging this path is actually harmful to you. Why judge something that can not be changed? Instead, Siddhartha teaches you to understand them. Reserve judgment and just see the path they are on. If they are disloyal, then you know they are disloyal. No need to be mad about it. Just make note of it for future reference. No need to bend over backwards for someone who does not show the same courteousness in return. However, there is no need to waste your energy making it a bigger issue than it has to be.

This may seem like the wrong move at the time. When we are angry, nothing will quench the thirst for revenge better than giving that client a piece of our mind. However, by doing this, and giving into our emotions, we become bridge arsonists. Think about it. You did all this work to develop this relationship, and now, at the first sign of trouble, you are ready to light the whole thing up in flames just to prove a point. You will spend the time going over the conversation in your head, then calling them to yell and make them understand they are wrong. However, another very human trait, is the failure to notice when we are wrong. Chances are, that client is not going to say,

‘Gee, you know what, you are right. I am an asshole. I’ll call that competitor and cancel the business. I’m sorry. I hope you can forgive me.’

Unless your address is 101 Fantasy Lane, this is not going to happen. Most likely, the client will defend their actions, and never speak with you again. Instead of letting it go, you have just created an enemy, and burnt the bridge you worked so hard building.

The Comfort of Being The Better Person

The question is, why waste your energy trying to make someone else see the error of their ways? Instead, take solace in the fact that you know better. You are the better person, and there is no reason to have to make them live up to your high standards. They have shown their true colors, and you are thankful you have seen that. You now know the path they are on.

However, by not reacting to their actions, you leave the bridge standing. Sure, you may not ever want to do work for them again, but as my mother always said, ‘Never say never.’  Times can get slow, economies change, and businesses change as well. Plus, picture the client like a little kid near a hot stove. You warned them not to touch the stove. The smart people will listen, but many of us have to get burned before we really learn.

Let’s say this client goes to your competitor, and afterward, really appreciates your work. They realize they made a mistake. If you have burnt that bridge, they will still not come back. No one is going to come crawling back to someone after you make them feel like crap. They would rather try out 30 new competitors before they ever did that. It is just the nature of Humans.

The lesson is to give people a chance to see the error of their ways. Let them have the time to see what you know to be true right away. Do not yell, scream, or give into your emotions, because that guarantees you will never get business from them again. In addition, you never know who someone knows. You may meet another new client who is a friend of theirs. Imagine when they hear how you reacted from their friend. Chances are pretty good they will skip out on doing business with you, because they trust their friend’s word over a stranger.

Being the better person is a comfort we all can live with. After all, we have worked hard to become bridge builders, so better to spend that time continuing to build bridges, then worrying about whether or not they should still be standing.

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EEEEH! EEEEH! EEEEH!….

I was awoken this Friday morning by the 5 am alarm clock on my iphone. As I wiped the crust from my eyes and stumbled into the bathroom, I realized that today was really the 1st day in 2009. I turned on the shower, debating whether to really count the 1st, which is more of a holiday than a typical day. Now that that was over, I had to once again teach a Muay Thai class at 6 am, just like the Fridays of last year.

As the water warmed, I stepped in the shower and thought about why this is considered a new year. I mean, yes the calendar has changed, and the dates on my checks will have 2009 on them, but other than that, what exactly is new? My routine is still the same. Nothing significant has changed in my life, and yet I am supposed to be excited for 2009?

That’s when it hit me (not the water, of course). If you plan to reach all of your resolutions in 2009, then TODAY is your opportunity to get started on the right foot. TODAY is the one day you must have the courage to change. TODAY is the first in a line of 363 other dominoes waiting to fall. The choice is yours whether they fall the same way as last year.

Make a Change

It is time to replace the words ‘New Year’ with the phrase ‘New Opportunity’. If you are expecting to make this year better than the last, then you have to make a commitment to change by taking your first big action TODAY. That is your opportunity.

Do something different. Take that initiative, and let the rest of the year follow suit. Many of us spend our Holiday recapping the prior year, and thinking about all the wonderful things 2009 can possibly bring for us. Well, the only way any of those things will come true is if we start to make a change right now.

Not tomorrow.

Not next week.

Not on Monday.

Today!

If you plan to lose weight, then start that diet today. If you plan to get in shape, make today your 1st workout. If you drink coffee every morning, maybe for some motivation today, you should try tea. The point is you must make an effort to change.

If you just go about the same routine as last year, how can you expect anything to change? Think of the movie Groundhog Day. Until Bill Murray actually made a change, he kept waking up to the same pattern over and over again..

That is why it is imperative to start on your resolutions NOW. To help get you motivated to do so, Yin vs Yang has come up with some resolutions of our own.

A NEW Year at Yin Vs Yang

This being our 2nd year, we have decided to take a more routine approach with our writing. We are going follow our own advice on change and set a new weekly routine.

• Mondays - Personal Development through Jiu Jitsu
• Wednesdays – Personal Development through Business
• Fridays – Video post or Video review.

In between, we will have random topics, jokes, stories, and quotes. However, this routine will give everyone a chance to know what’s coming, and when. So if you are a fan of the Mixed Martial Arts world, then you know every Monday I will have a story for you. If you read Yin vs Yang to improve your networking, business approach, or financial situation, then Wednesdays will be for you.

If you are a fan of the increasing popularity of videos on the world wide web, then Fridays will be a fun day for you.

If you enjoy them all, then sign up for our RSS Feed or subscribe by email below.  This way you won’t ever miss an article.

Take some inspiration from Yin vs Yang and make a change today in your own life. Our goal this year is to help make 2009 the best year for all of us. However, it all starts with today. Are you up for it?  Inspire us all by leaving the change you are going to make in the comments section below.

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“I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror. I’m Asking Him To Change His Ways.
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer. If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place, Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change.”
-Michael Jackson from the song ‘Man in the Mirror‘

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The one thing I definitely have learned over the course of my many business ventures is you do not have to reinvent the wheel to be successful.  As a matter of fact, it is a complete waste of energy.  As the title says, leave the wheel alone!  Success is not based on you creating a brand new way to do everything.  You simply have to build off of others success.

For example, when I started my mortgage branch, it was an exciting time.  I needed to get in Loan Officers and somehow generate leads in a declining market.  However, I did not need to reinvent the wheel doing so.  There was no magic lead source, or magic lead system.  It strictly took working the phones, canvasing, and word of mouth.  That’s it.

Many times, people start a business and they think they have to start from scratch when putting together the system.  That is not the case.  Research is the key.  Find out who owns, or tried to own a business similar to you.  Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart Stores, spent years studying how other stores similar to Wal-Mart did business.  He would spend over a year sitting in stores like K-mart, writing down everything that could be better.  That is how he founded one of the most successful chain department stores in the world.  He did not reinvent the wheel.  He simply made it better.

So take some pressure off of yourself.  You do not have to come up with a miraculous idea to be successful.  You have to come up with an idea that works.  A lot of times, the best place to start is where a similar idea is in place.  Nothing like good old fashioned research to get you on your way.

Just leave the wheel alone!  No need to start from scratch.  Instead, put your own spin on something.  Make something better.  Think the person who decided to sell bottled water was looked at as a genius?  I bet they are now, though.

Remember, sometimes the simplest answers are the best, most profitable solutions.

Growing up, I was always taught to do my best.  Although I did not handle losing very well, I loved to compete in just about anything.  As I grew older, I learned that I had to work harder and smarter than the next man if I wanted to get ahead in life.  It was a constant competition.  Now, however, I realize that times have changed.  In this day and age, getting ahead is all about cooperation, and nothing about competition.

The world has opened up itself to us.  In the last 10 years, China has become a major market and world trade has become more lucrative than ever.  With the internet especially, you never know where your market will come from.  I have a friend who is a big hit with his website in a small section of Canada.  He has never been there, nor does he look or sound Canadian.  But for some reason, he appeals to them.

The point is, in this vast market on the web, the opportunities are endless.  There are plenty of customers for everyone.  Therefore, your goal is not to compete with people in your market, but rather to cooperate with them.  Networking with each other gives people in the same market opportunities to see both sites.  You both gain a market share by working together.

This works in the real world too.  Speaking and befriending your enemies is not just a tactical ploy for gangsters.  It works in real life as well.  Except, of course, the part where they throw the competition in the ocean with a new pair of shoes (at least most of us).  Passing knowledge and learning from one another is a great way to move forward.  This helps both businesses out as well.

Try to put into the past the thought of being better than everyone else. You never know what could happen.  For instance, when I had my mortgage company, I befriended another broker in NJ.  This guy did business just as I do, and I liked his honest style.  I learned a lot from him, and even though I never made a dollar off of him, I allowed him to operate in my office.  In turn, he fed me some business for Reimagine and lifelong tips.

Now, I am out of the mortgage game.  He is still doing well.  Every time I get a call from a past client, I give the business to him.  So, I still get to see a small income from mortgages, and he gets free deals to work on without having to develop a relationship with the client from scratch.  It is a win-win for both of us, and keeps the clients in good hands as well.  If I would have shunned him as my competition, this opportunity would not be present.

Being the best is a race against yourself.  Not anyone else.  In order to excel in life, work together with people involved in the same challenges you are.  Help them learn, and in turn, they will help you learn.  Remember that you are cooperating with these people to help yourself, not anyone else.  You may be helping them as well, but that is a benefit, not a harm.

Through cooperation, you will not only be successful, you will be well respected among your peers.  This alone, will create an endless avenue of opportunity.  Who better for a young entrepreneur to go to with a new venture than the successful, well known business man?

Cooperating with your competition will help you…

1. Stay on top of your market.
2. Pick up unique business strategies.
3. Gain new resources.
4. Spark ideas by brainstorming with the competition.
5. Open up new opportunities.

I don’t see how closing the doors to these 5 possibilities is a positive thing.  In fact, it is completely negative.  In this day and age, cooperating with the competition is a necessary way to survive.  Information changes at rapid speeds, along with the technology.  No longer are markets seemingly safe forever.  In fact, in this rapidly progressing world, movement is the only way to empower your business.  Information is the only way to pick the proper movements.  And cooperating with as many people in your market as possible is the best way to gain the right information.

One hand washes the other.  I’ve definitely heard that before.  Maybe this strategy is not so new after all.  I guess it is just making a comeback.

Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

The number one problem I think most people have is a lack of confidence.  So I have come up with a list of reasons why everyone should be confident in themselves.  Be proud of who you are by understanding exactly what, who, and where you stand in the grand scheme of things.

This list is based on a theory of mine.  The theory goes something like this:  We are all living during this time period on the earth.  Everything right now seems of major importance.  There are wars all over the world, hunger, crime, terrorism, corruption and all sorts of terrible things.  Each day, the news brings up the devastating events from the day before.  For each person involved in those events, the memories can scar for a lifetime.

But if we were to pretend for a second that we were not of this world.  That the world was a TV show we are watching.  A long running TV show that has been on for longer than we could ever imagine.  The show changes a lot, but mostly it is the same routine.  Every day, when something major happens on the show, we know it is just a small event in a much larger series.  The same is true for life.

Human life is just a small spec in the history of the world.  Before us, there were countless other creatures to rule the planet for various periods of time.  Time itself seems endless, b/c no one is quite sure how long it has been around.  Basically, almost any event, no matter how major, will be completely forgotten in the next 1,000 years. Time has a way of burying its past.  So should you.

I am writing all of this to hopefully help open up your eyes.  Though events today seem like the most important events to ever happen, they are not.  Most of these events barely matter in the grand scheme of things.  Yet, during these major events, or even minor ones, many of us get caught up in the pressure.  We get nervous, scared, hesitant, and become a shell of ourselves.  We panic at the thought of messing up the present.

Well, I am here to tell you it has to stop.  Nothing is as crazy as it seems no matter what it is.  Try to relax and step back for a moment each day.  Think about all the crazy days in high school when you the thought the world was over b/c someone was mad at you.  Life today is very similar.  Except we are out of high school and in real life.  Yet, we still are in a small section of a large world.  Even if things fail miserably in one place, you can always move to another, just like transferring schools.

The most important thing, though, is to be able to step back and relax.  Changing jobs or locations, and not your habits, will only delay the inevitable.  So what we need to do is to remember that everything is not as important as it seems because life will go on.  Therefore, we don’t need to constantly judge others, or ourselves, based on these seemingly major events.  The reality is, these events are not so major at all.  In fact, they are actually quite petty.

And if something is petty, then we should have no fear of it.  We should be confident that we can overcome it, no matter what it is.  Humans are a highly adaptable species.  They can overcome the seemingly insurmountable with just pure will.  Chances are, if you are reading this, that you are human.  Therefore you are also very adaptable and able to overcome the seemingly insurmountable with just your willpower.

Here are 10 reasons to be extra self-confident in your ability to overcome anything:

1. Whatever problem you have, someone has probably had something similar happen before.  You are probably not the first, and definitely not the last.  How did they handle it?

2. Everyone makes mistakes.  Everyone wishes those mistakes never happened.  But not everyone is able to sit back and gain a valuable lesson from their mistake.  Are you?

3. You are a unique individual with an amazing talent that no one else has.  This is not an opinion or a hope.  This is a fact.  The reason I say this is it has to be true.  You see all talents are based on experience and genes.  Therefore, since you have a unique set of genes, and a unique life experience unlike anyone else, there has to be something that sets you apart.  It is a simple fact.

4. If your self-confidence is low, write down the reasons as if you were describing another person.  Hang that list up and try to attack one of those items at a time.  Each day, you will do something to change the outcome of just one item on your list.  You will concentrate on one item at a time until it’s fixed.  Only then will you move on to another item.  Do not try and fix the whole list all at once.  One item at a time.  And remember, everyone has a list they can make, so don’t feel stupid.  By taking action you have already begun to change your confidence level.

5. Confidence is defined by Oxford American Dictionaries as….’The feeling of self-assurance rising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities.‘  No where does it say your confidence arises from others.  Confidence is a personal issue.  Things you accomplish may raise your confidence only because you have proved to yourself it can be done. But true confidence comes from deep within your soul.  True confidence is not deterred by what others think.  True confidence even trumps repetitive failure.  You don’t need success to be confident.  However, you do need confidence to continually be successful.

6.  Finish this sentence:  You are the only person you know of that has ever……

7.  Everyone has an opinion, and most of them will not match yours.  This is okay.  Do not take it personally when one person believes differently than you.  This goes for your confidence level as well.  If someone thinks that you are not good enough, not talented enough, and is not confident in your abilities, it does not make it is a fact.  What it does mean is it is true for them at that moment.  For that moment, you were not good enough in THEIR OPINION.  That is okay.  That does not mean tomorrow, or next week, or next month, the opposite won’t be true.

8.  No one’s opinion should hold no more weight than your own. Everyone has an opinion.  So do you.  Picture it as if everyone has $1.  If everyone has $1, then everyone has something of equal value.  Just because someone’s dollar is slightly different than yours with different numbers, designs, or years produced, doesn’t mean it does not hold the same value.  Anyway you look at it, it is still just a $1.

9. Success is defined as never giving up.  It is not a secret.  It is not a trick.  It is not something that happens over night.  Success is the sum of continual confidence and relentless determination.  Success is not achieved by accident, rather it is the product of our own willpower. Success is a choice you make.  Make the choice to be successful.  Remember that choice will help you hurdle over every little obstacle along the way.

10.  Just by reading this list you have already made an effort to improve your life.  You are already determined to have more success than the average person.  So be confident, be proud, and remember that no one is quite like you, and that is the best card you have to play in the crazy game of life.

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