A Cool Business Decision (IMHO)

Sometimes when you're out there "doing what you do" you never know what great things are waiting in the wings to support your journey.  And when you MAKE A DECISION to make something happen, it sparks some action in the universe and sometimes the MAP to the treasure chest just appears at your feet.

If you've been following me for a while then you know I've been fine-tuning my business model and I determined that 2012 is my year. I'm unifying all the facets of my business activities under one brand -- Intensely Positive -- because it identifies my mind set and my life choice, really, and many awesome things have presented themselves to help me on my adventure.

One such awesome event was being chosen by Jacqueline Edwards of Business Pipeline for a promotional interview to be posted on her website and exposed to her contacts and colleagues, that could help increase my visibility. She'd been looking at my activities via Twitter and thought her services would be of value so she approached me. Initially, I thought she was just being nice to me because I was a nice guy, so when she mentioned that there was a fee... I balked -- had an attack of that small business / small mind thing.

These days, whenever something comes into my life I query it to see how it fits, and why the opportunity came to me, and the words of my good friend and advisor Sophie L'hoste rang in my ears.  Two years ago Sophie said to me, "Kelvin, I notice that whenever an opportunity comes to you, you like to bargain for it. You want to have money but you never want to spend money; you like the free stuff.  If you look around your life -- your business life -- you'll see that you are attracting people who feel the same way you do.  They don't want to pay for your services; they want to bargain and get it for free."  Those words have been with me every day since she said them... and they've changed the way I look at things.  In the words of Wayne Dyer, "When you change the way you look at things; the things you look at change."

So I said yes to Jacqueline, sent her the (very reasonable) fee she requested and we scheduled the interview! Note that the interview was for a 5 minute spot on her new website.  I asked Jacqueline for the interview questions ahead of time, and she gently declined with, "I want  your listeners to have authentic answers, not something you rehearsed to perfection."  (Hmmm. Integrity; how about that.) I didn't like it, but I agreed.  I am a Toastmaster, after all (hee hee), so impromptu questions aren't a problem for me.  So the morning of the interview, she called -- precisely on time.  We had some initial hello chat (we'd been twitter followers for two years but had never taken it off 140), conducted the interview, then had some more chat, then off she went.  In two weeks (busy season for her) she posted the interview on Twitter.

I was initially shocked. She under-promised and over-delivered.  I expected a 5 minute interview posted on her site, but the teaser YouTube video really got me excited.  Then she spent time promoting that video and interview to her lists. Just looking at the work she put in to putting that presentation together, my first thought was, "Wow... this is worth way more than she charged me."  Major Win!  And there were other nice surprises I didn't expect.

So am I glad I did it?  Absolutely!  Was it worth it? Absolutely, because not only is it on her web site and promoted to her clients and contacts, but I have the option of putting them on my website as I wish.  Small business owners -- really small business owners -- don't usually have access to quality presentations.  We tend to do a lot ourselves FOR ourselves, and most of us aren't really talented enough to create the presentations we really need to represent us.  I believe that Jacqueline and Business Pipeline can give us that little extra "umph", that little push of exposure, that little boost to our public image, whether she's sending new traffic our way or whether the traffic we already get starts looking at us in a new way.  What's one new client worth in your business?

So check them out at their website, follow her on Twitter (@helpbusinesses), check out my video and interview (the interview link is right under the video), and decide for yourself.

To your success!  Have an awesome day.

Kelvin

Point to Ponder

Most people have dozens of reasons to fail; when all they need is ONE good reason... to succeed.

Notes from the Universe

I subscribe to "Notes from the Universe" from Tut.Com, owned by Mike Dooley (of The Secret video).  Very good notes, addressed to me by name. I lliked this mornings so I'm sharing it, in large part.  Feel free to substitute your name, for mine, and think about what this is saying.  If you like them, check them out at Tut.Com

"What  if, Kelvin, loneliness was simply a feeling of impatience,  telepathically sent to you by friends you've yet to meet, urging you to  go out more, do more, and get involved, so that life's serendipities  could bring you together... Would you still feel alone?

What if illness was just the signal a healthy body sent to urge  clarification of your thoughts, feelings, and dreams... Would you still,  at times, think of yours as diseased?

What if feelings of uncertainty and confusion were only reminders that  you have options, that there's no hurry, and that everything is as it  should be... Would you still feel disadvantaged?

What if mistakes and failures only ever happened when your life was  about to get better than it's ever been before... Would you still call  them mistakes and failures?

And what if poverty and lack were simply demonstrations of your  manifesting prowess, as "difficult" to acquire as wealth and  abundance... Would they still cause you to feel powerless?"

What if?

Have an awesome day.

Kelvin

 

It's What's Inside!

Recently, I spent over 13 hours with Dr. Wayne Dyer -- not in person, but it may as well have been. Mother's Day weekend, I drove the 13+ hours round trip to visit my mom in Maryland, and stayed to celebrate my oldest sister's birthday on Monday, and my mom's 82nd birthday on Tuesday. On the drive I listened to Dr. Dyer's The Secrets to Manifesting Your Destiny CD set.

A lot of things caught my attention, but one of the 9 steps he spoke of was developing unconditional love, and after listening to him, I conclude that very few people on the planet are really acquainted with unconditional love -- on either the giving or receiving end. I consider myself to be a very loving person... but I discovered I've got some distance to travel.

He used the metaphor of a simple orange: "When you squeeze an orange, what happens?" You get orange juice.  If you squeeze it hard or soft or with various instruments or devices, does it change?" No; you still get orange juice.  "How about if it's hot or if it's cold when you squeeze it?" No difference... it's always orange juice. "Okay, but I squeeze if versus YOU squeezing it, what then?"  You still get orange juice, because that's what's inside.

So it is, he explained, with unconditional love. Unconditional love exists without condition, or return, and is independent of life's circumstances. If you're the orange and someone squeezes you in a negative way, what comes out of you? If someone we're dealing with is kind to us it's easy to love, but when they're not... does our orange juice turn sour?

When life squeezes us, what comes out? Hate, anger, distrust?  Doubt, fear, uncertainty? Whatever is inside of us at the core -- at least me -- is what comes out when we get squeezed and as nice as I (think I) am, some days I'm much better than others. If we need some role models, Dr. Dyer presented some powerful examples of people who -- when squeezed hardest -- their unconditional love came out: Jesus, Ghandi, Buddha, Mother Teresa... and more.

And insofar as our destiny is concerned... the point he was made was that these negative emotions and feelings -- this orange juice -- sets up a vibration that blocks the abundance and good fortune we seek in our lives, and as the law of attraction goes, we attract what we focus on and have the most energy / emotion for.

What is coming into your life right now? Whatever it is, is being brought to you by your thoughts and your emotions and by what's inside.  If you're happy with that, you're in good shape. If you're not... maybe some introspection is in order.

The quality of my orange juice isn't as consistent as I'd like it to be, so I'll be working on me even more. I'm a work in progress -- so, don't squeeze me too hard just yet.

Have an awesome day.

Kelvin

In this groundbreaking audio program there’s an amazing, ancient 20-minute technique that will enable you to create anything you want in life, whether it’s love, money, improved health, a better job, or anything else you want or need.

The Pursuit of Happiness

When we're running the race to be successful, sometimes we get so wrapped up in the pursuit that we forget about the happiness part. It has been said that happiness is not the destination; happiness is the journey. The journey should leave us energized, invigorated and excited about life and it's possibilities.

If your journey (pursuit) is leaving you drained and unhappy and unpleasant to be around... something is out of whack. Maybe your goals, maybe your "why", maybe your expectations, or your balance. Or maybe you're just running so hard that you forget that every once in a while your batteries need re-charging.

Take a day off from the pursuit; take an intentional moment to sit and relax, concentrate on and enjoy the parts of your life that are good. Get back in touch with -- appreciate and be grateful for -- the good and positive things, people and circumstances that already exist in your world. Take a day to enjoy your existing happiness... then get back to the pursuit "tomorrow."

It will be a good thing. Trust me.

Kelvin

Born Leader... or not?

Born Leaders! They're out there, you know. We all know one -- resourceful, likeable, everything they touch turns to gold! Always on top of things, nothing ever phases them, nothing is ever a problem, nothing ever stands in the way of them winning; the epitome of "rags to riches" and "lemons to lemonade."

But, not all of us are so empowered, and if we happen to have that kind of success in one area of our life, we wonder why we don't have the same kind of success in the other areas of our life -- at least I do. How do I get off "pause" and press "play", and make my life work the way I want it to ?

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across something called ThinkTQ. It was an AdSense ad, really, on my friend Mitch's site. I don't remember why I went there, and have no idea why I clicked on the link -- I'm not a clicker. Yet, I clicked, and once I was there I became intrigued... then engrossed.

I've studied lots of success programs, read lots of books, listened to lots of tapes, yet somehow this one was different. It struck a different chord. Intentional Excellence! they call it, and they have a daily Lesson in Excellence - FREE. Intriguing. Not just a "motivational quote" but a complete daily lesson... with tips on how to make a difference "now." I don't know if it will have the same effect on you, but the first person I shared it with also became intrigued... then engrossed... then energized!

SO... I'm passing it on. I liked it so much that I incorporated their Daily Lesson in Excellence on my web site, and subscribed to their daily TQ.

So, if there's someplace you want to go, and you just can't quite seem to get there, but you really want to get off pause and get to "play", check it out. I'm not telling you to buy anything, I just want you to look around, kick the tires a bit. Check out the free stuff, the tests, read what they're all about... see how much you know about yourself.

I'm betting that you'll feel this is "something different." If you do, let me know.

ThinkTQ!

Kelvin

All that from making a cup of tea...

I had a visitor this weekend who "taught" me something (speaking of the boxes we operate within...) and they don't even know it. My friend wanted some very hot water for her tea, so she got one of my pans, put water in it. placed it on the stove, then turned the burner (electric) up on VERY HIGH, and in short order -- seemed like just a few seconds, really -- the water was boiling feverishly and begging for attention.

In all the years I've used that stove to heat things up, it never dawned on me to turn the burner up on HIGH or VERY HIGH to heat it up quickly, then re-adjust the heat to the "operating" temperature I needed. I've always just turned it to medium and waited... and waited... and waited... until it crawled it's way up to where I needed the temperature to be.

Do you realize how much time I've wasted standing in front of that stove waiting for a pan of *something* to boil, or get hot... just using medium heat? (sigh)

I'm looking at other areas of my life, and realizing that I'm using just medium heat and waiting for something to happen when what I really need to do is turn it up on high and get it heated up quick... Then I can adjust my effort back down to where I need it to be to sustain it and keep it going.

Wow. Definitely a V-8 moment. And all that from just making a cup of tea.

Kelvin