What is prosperity to you?  Think about it.  If you had all the money you have ever dreamed of what would you do? I’m sure you are thinking, buy this, buy that, etc.  But that’s not what a “prosperity mindset” is all about.

I want you to stop for a moment.  Think of how you are attaining your wealth right now.  Think of the why.  

If it is for you and your family, if it is for a new car, a bigger house, etc. that’s ok, but understand that you’re talking about money, not prosperity.  People often think prosperity and money are the same thing,  but they are not.  Money is a tangible currency that you can buy “things” with.  Prosperity is a mindset.

So let’s think in the prosperity mindset.  I am working hard for the sake of something bigger.  Giving!  That’s right boys and girls.  Think of how much you can give to others.  I’m sure you have a passion to change things in this world to make it a better place.  Think of that one thing you are passionate about and how you would make it better.  Now, you are in the flow.

When living life with a prosperity mindset, you focus your actions and efforts on what you can do to benefit others.  And, as fate would have it, this is the way so many people attain more growth in their businesses and become more successful than they ever thought they would.  Not because they actively sought money first and foremost, but because they acted through their mindset of prosperity to make their world a better place for everyone.

Don’t accept a mindset of limitation.  When we are working hard and sincerely thinking of others, doing things to benefit others, the energy of prosperity flows more freely than you can possibly know.

I have a personal passion for an organization. I dream about it.  It is my driving force to work harder than ever each day to benefit the organization. That is in my mind.  I don’t focus on accumulating stuff for myself.  Those things will take care of themselves.  

Call it the Law of Attraction, power of prayer, magnetic marketing… whatever. The point is that the Universe responds to a mindset that expands out of the box and in passionate desire to help others.  This is the prosperity mindset, and it is no coincidence that it helps you become prosperous enough to be giving.

Call to action:  Try acting today through a prosperity mindset, not a “success” or “make money” of “financial freedom” one.  It may be difficult because we are programmed to make money.  But focus on what you can do right now, today, that will benefit others.  Expand this into a new way of doing things, accept it as your new mindset.  Then watch your business flow, like the waterfalls at the end of my video.

Many blessings,
Donna

It has come to my attention this week that people are complaining that their blogs are not getting enough comments. There may be several reasons to combat this problem.

Are you writing good content?

Comprising good content, you must remember that you are writing to readers in your niche searching for answers to their questions. Your style can be informative or it can use story telling, humor, technical expertise, or any other way you find most suited to you. Giving quality information on a subject generally makes for the best niche blogs.

The Information Blog
An example of an information blog is this. If you are in the weight loss niche, you can write endless amounts of good content on things that are weight loss related. For instance, exercise, nutrition, low carb intake, state of mind and relaxation techniques come up for people on diets or otherwise trying to lose weight. I could list hundreds of articles related to this example.

Are you pushing a product… or business opportunity or system?
There are many blogs that I go to and cannot leave a comment because it is all about a product. What it says to me is “BUY IT BUY IT” That is a turn off to me and many others. Blogs are supposed to be comprised of original content bearing good information. Not sales or opportunity pages! We are no longer living in a push economy, but rather a “Thank You Economy” as Gary Vaynerchuck points out in his newest book “The Thank You Economy.”

Illustrating the concept of “caring,” Gary gives an example of the old Butcher shop in days gone by. The butcher knew every customer that came in. Socialized with them and knew what cut of meat they wanted, what the customer’s family liked to eat, etc.
Apply this analogy to your readers. You need to know what your niche readers need from you. Then go the extra mile to provide it, and even more… get to know them. After a while your “readers” become your “subscribers”, and ultimately, your “customers.” Why? Because you expressed an authentic interest in them. This creates, not only customers, but loyal customers.

So, think about it. Does your approach need to be re-vamped?

ANOTHER way to Blog like a pro, is to leave good comments.

Don’t leave a one-liner that says something like “hey, great blog!” That’s what the easily identified hacks and spammers do. People are not likely to click your commentluv link, or follow you off the post when you do that.

You need to READ the blog and give a good, clear comment that reflects what is written. Doing so, you will most likely get that blogger’s attention to come visit you and leave a reciprocal comment.

Comments are of utmost importance. I find that I attain a great many friends, subscribers and clients from my blog comments. Many of them come over to my social sites and blog because of what I wrote, and because I wrote it “genuinely” and thoughtfully.

Bottom line,
Besides the machinations one must undertake to spin out a blog in the technical sense, there are the human qualities to consider. And that’s what really works when you want people to visit your blog and comment. I’ve had great success and profit by employing this technique carefully and consistently over a substantial period of time.
Blessings,
Donna

When several of my internet marketing clients struggled to define niches for themselves this week, I was compelled to write about passion. Passion is the first step for ANY business. If we are passionate about what we do, we are excited each and every day to get our message out and talk about it. The internet gives us a great platform for doing this

I walk my clients through several steps designed to help rid them of the old voices in their heads. These are the voices that remind them constantly of what they cannot do. They must be replaced with new voices, those that reinforce them in doing what they love.

FIRST
I start by asking the question, “What is your passion?” There almost always comes a dead air space when I ask this. Frequently, they give me a surface answer like: “I want to make money, I want to be the top of my team, I don’t really know”. These are common answers for those who have never probed deeply enough to unearth what their motivations are for living the life they do.

SECOND
I tell them that Passion is what is in your heart. It’s what you enjoy talking about and sharing with others. Forget your business plan for a moment and tell me what excites you. What inspires and excites you, and what do you know and want to learn more about.

The answers start to come. They start talking about gardening, home schooling, children, etc. They really start to open up now… jabbering about how wonderful it is to have their hands in the dirt while nurturing a seeded plant. Whatever the case may be, they start talking. Here I have to be an active listener. I cannot miss a beat of what they are saying.

THIRD
I then tell them “Hey, you are talking about your passion.” And I see clearly that they have fifteen blog posts in their minds and they don’t even know it. To their surprise, this revelation often links their thoughts to an action almost immediately.
Looking for our internet niche? Yes, you can blog about this all day long. It is YOU. It is YOUR PASSION. You will never run out of material when you are passionate about something. And you will never tire of engaging in the effort.

FOURTH
Once this is established in a client’s mindset, he or she feels more comfortable about setting up a blog and writing what they are passionate about. They now have a new vision of how to begin their internet “business”.
But the big question is ALWAYS “how do I make money doing this?”
Answer: Very easy! Once you are established in routinely writing about your passion, people are drawn to you. People are always attracted to those who put themselves front stage, conversing from the heart.
And your readers will share your passion. After all, this is your niche. As you are writing, you are sincerely giving answers to their problems. They will appreciate this “go-giving” process and eventually build trust.

FIFTH
Passion Builds Trust. The more you reveal your heart and share your knowledge, the more trust you will earn from people. You will start making friends and building “organic”, grass-roots relationships. Nine out of ten times you will get an email or a Facebook message designed to explore your business offerings more fully.
PASSION is in all of us.

The common mind-block is that somewhere along the line we were told that “You can’t do that” or “you’re just not smart enough”. This is the CRITIC in your mind. This is what stops most people from embarking on their journey to follow their passion. I will address this issue in my next post.

Thank you for visiting. I appreciate your comments, feedback and questions.

As a “Life Coach”, I often work with clients who are struggling in various Network Marketing businesses.  This week, I worked rather intensely with a couple who are internet newbies.  Among other issues, they wanted me to show them how to use the internet to “quickly” build a downline and rise to the top in their company.

There were several struggles I had because of the Mindset of the leaders in their companies.

The Company Duplicated Website

They were led to believe that they should have a company-duplicated website to promote to prospects, and to capture leads.  I explained to them that such a website is fine for people to learn about products and go through particular sign up procedures.  But it would also be branding the company in the eyes of their prospects, rather than themselves as powerful leaders who were highly capable of taking their downlines to success.

Personal Branding

For personal branding, I suggested they really develop their own personal wordpress blog.  Blogging about the larger problems that their company’s products seek to solve, would attract prospects attracted to their leadership first, the company’s products second.  And such prospects could be harnessed into a “prospect list” in ways that would not be easy via a company duplicated site.

When explaining this to them I had to bring to light that people buy people.  I gave them examples of what they were doing with their warm markets.  People were purchasing their products or business options because they knew them and trusted them.  The same applies in the internet world.  Creating our personal branding via a personal blog helps us attain trust and friendships with other people. 

The 80/20 Rule

Here is where they all got confused.  They had been trained by their upline to push push push… to be go-getters. Go up to people and befriend them.  Then tell them about the product they were representing.  How old school is that?  I explained to them that they needed to become “go-givers” rather than go-getters: give free advice and information 80% of the time, and solicit business only 20% of the time.  This dumfounded them.  “How do I do that?”

I told them that first they had to be passionate about their product.  Then write broadly within the niche that this product fell into.

Make Money Now

This couple was clearly of the mindset that they could make money NOW.  Of course, that came directly from their company training.  They were scurrying around trying to pull people off the street to buy their products.  They were wondering why it wasn’t working.   I explained to them that you cannot PUSH.  Forget that elevator speech.  It makes for interesting trainings, but rarely works in the real world. 

Developing associations and friendships with people online is often a more targeted process than just grabbing them in the grocery store.  Social media outlets, for instance, allow you to find and interact with people who you can qualify as folks that are interested in your niche.

But this takes time.  It doesn’t happen over night.  The more time you invest into the process, the quicker you’ll begin to see the fruits of your labor.  And it’s a lot more fun than harassing people who don’t share the same interests and concerns as you.

But “How” Do You Get Started On The Internet?

I mentioned earlier that this couple is totally “newbie” when it comes to the internet and technology.  They feared the learning curve and the expense of getting started.

I had them get hold of a (free) video series called “Up and Running” that was developed by my husband David a while back.  It’s slightly dated, but still one of the best “primers” I could suggest, especially for the price!  It was developed specifically for newbie network marketers and MLM-ers.  It’s a basic step-by-step outline of how to get your business up and running on the internet.  

They were grateful and enthused, and I’m waiting to see how they do with it.

Mindset

To me, the most important thing in ANY business is your mindset.  You have to be ready to make a commitment of time.  You need to know how much time you can really spend and what are you willing to do to create a presence on the internet. 

You can’t focus on the expense, the hard work, and all the other obstacles that your mind dreams up.  You need to be clearly commited to enjoining the journey that you must endure to get to the “place” that you call “success”.

I was so happy to see this couple eagerly grow in their understanding of what they must do next.  They are beginning to see that it is a vast and different world on the internet, with many pieces to the puzzle that you need to figure out if you are going to succeed with any Network Marketing venture.

This is why I enjoy my work when coaching people.  Opportunities are many and all one has to do is to make a choice to change to seek financial freedom.  When newbies come into my circle it is such a joy and privilege to be a part of their growth.

Blessings,

Donna

I finally got this problem under control because of my friend, Gavin Mountford. I’ve worked with Gavin on several projects, and he’s become a trusted mentor of mine.

So let me begin by asking you this…

How many emails do you get on a daily basis? 10, 50, 100, 300? More, or less?

I know some people who get over 300 emails on a daily basis and they are supposed to be able to manage them!

How?

It get’s a little overwhelming at times, having all those emails coming in doesn’t it?

The worst part is that most of the emails are junk, spam and rubbish from newsletters you signed up to 6 months ago and all you do is DELETE them…

Pretty crazy how most people will keep the emails coming in to their inbox which they don’t read, only to delete them as soon as they come in!

How much time do you WASTE scanning and deleting emails you don’t want?

Chances are… a lot!

Plus, all that mental CLUTTER and space it takes up when you just look at your inbox…. along with the feeling of dread when you think about it.

So, what can you do about it?

Well, Gavin uses a special formula to empty his email inbox on a daily basis…

He knows exactly what to do with each email and is able to separate them into actions such as: “waiting for”, “to read”, “delete”, “reference”. All this means your emails just became much easier to handle because you applied the steps of the formula…

In fact, he’s created a $97 special report and 5 how-to video’s to show you exactly how to implement “The Empty Email Inbox Formula” into your life so you can ELIMINATE email overwhelm once and for all…

Do you know the best bit?

For a LIMITED amount of time, he’s giving it away FREE…

All you need to do is to head on over to “Eliminate Email Overload”, read the CRAZY but true headline, wait for the access button to pop up, then CLICK the button & connect with your Facebook account…

You’ll go directly to “The Empty Email Inbox Formula” main page. There, you’ll be able to download your 26 page special report and watch the videos so you can easily implement the formula yourself.

Let me know how it goes for you! I love the formula… I really think you will, too.

Here’s the link again, and feel free to share this with your friends/followers and fans to help them with managing their own emails:

Grab your Free copy of “Eliminate Email Overload” right here.

I don’t know how long Gavin will be offering this for FREE, so I’d do it now if I were you.

I appreciate your comments and would love to hear how this works for you! I’m so glad to be able to share this with you so can eliminate email overload, too.

Reflecting back on 2011, I realized that despite many obstacles that took me away from my internet business, I have learned and accomplished so many things.

Caretaking “Distraction”
My father-in-law had a massive heart attack that required hospice care in our home for over half of 2011. That became an unexpected priority. It seemed like a “distraction” at first, because life and death situations always take immediate and intense effort.
You can just imagine the 24/7 caretaking of a man we all loved, as he declined day by day. It was certainly a life lesson. But I soon learned that giving 100% of yourself to another human being is far more than a distraction. It is also a bittersweet gift.

You come to realize that this job is one of the most important ones you will have in your life. Sure, the emotional, self-centered side of you just wants life to go on as usual. But the lesson here is that as precious as life is… there’s a lot more to it than just staying “alive”. The last days of life proved to be the sweetest part of the experience. Watching my father-in-law go back “Home,” and observing his transition between going in and out of the world-at-hand and the spirit world, is the single, most significant experience in the cycle of life.

Like A Cat, I Jumped On Every Opportunity To Move Forward
You could just imagine trying to work in those months. I was determined. While my husband took the lead with his dad, I was determined to keep moving forward with my online business, because that has come to define much of what my life is about. Because I am a firm believer in God, the only way I could have possibly stayed focused in my progress was to “Let go and let God.”
In the beginning, it was difficult. I decided to take some time away from working on my “business” and invest it on working on ME.
What do I really want to accomplish?
What is the best way to assist people so they won’t give up their business, and their quest for financial freedom?
What do I know well, so well that it is second nature to me?
What can I contribute to people struggling through the economic chaos surrounding us all?

I wrote it all down and realized I already knew what I had to do.

Increase my mentoring load as a means to my own self-fulfillment; and fine-tune my own inner SELF in order to enhance my ability to teach others to confront theirs.
At this same moment, Teach Jim and Gavin Mountford announced that they were starting a group called “Do What You Love For A Living.” I immediately joined, recognizing the synchronicity of this event. I want to thank them for their inspiration and guidance along the path that I had embarked upon.

I Am Grateful To So Many People
Looking back on last year, I have so many people to thank. I am truly grateful they are in my life and an integral part of my success:

Gavin Mountford and Teach Jim for their timely course, and the time they invested in helping me clarify the process of developing online products.

Dave and Dawn Cook, for all the time and effort it takes to run the TSA community.

Of course, Kimberly Castleberry and her ever-helpful Just-Ask-Kim which has been a blessing, and top-priority resource for me. Kim is always there, offering the latest and greatest tech advice, and business problem-solving strategies. I swear she has a clone!

Ken Pickard, who picked up the pieces of The Empowered Tribe Network. He gave so much time to pull it all together this year.

And of course, all my sydication buddies. I learn so much from the go-giving process. There are so many people that came into my life this year, I know God has blessed me.

AS FOR 2012:

IT’S GONNA BE DONNA 3.0
I am taking all that I have experienced last year because it was a blessing. I will be putting it all together and rolling out my incredible learning experience to share with others so they can live by my own motto: “Never Give Up.”

What are your thoughts of the past year?  What have you learned and did you or will you apply it.  I would like to know.  Please leave your comments below.

Blessings, Donna

Please watch my video below to see what I mean.

This is the final blog post in this 4-part series on developing your power. You may like to view the entire series, beginning with Develop Your Power – Part 1.

I hope you will share this post within your social media outlets.

I also invite your comment below with own perspective of living your life in power, as a truly dedicated power person.

They spend great amounts of energy trying to avoid responsibility for so many things: their health, their mindset, their situations at work, home or relationships. And as a life coach, I see far too many people fail to take responsibility for their success.

Avoiding to take responsibility may seem to be the “easy way out,” but in the process, you surrender the very core of your person. Don’t give your power away. Make it your mission to take charge of your mindset, your success and your life. That’s what this Develop Your Power series has been all about.

Please share this post with those who may benefit within your social media streams.

I’d also love to have you comment below with your own stories and thoughts about your understanding of how, in your own life, you have come to develop your power by taking responsibility.

To fully develop your power…

you must take firm command of your self-esteem. You can blame low self-esteem on your upbringing, your surroundings, your parents, friends, teachers, the Church, television or anything and anyone else.

To fully develop your power, however…

you must abandon the blame game. You cannot be a victim while you develop your power. Ultimately, you and you alone determine your self-worth.

As a victim, you wonder “can I?”

To develop your power, means you have only to decide “will I?”.

Will you live a a life of victimization, or will you make the conscious decision to reorient your life, and live it through the abundance of the Universe. That means living in your power.

Please share this post with those who may benefit within your social media streams.

I’d also love to have you comment below with your own stories and thoughts about self-esteem, victimization and how you develop your power.

Develop your power and enjoy a whole new sense of being. It may feel alien in the beginning. It may feel uncomfortable and unfamiliar. But the more you use your power, the more you will sense that you have converged with the greater flow of the power of the Universe.

I’m interested in hearing your comments and your own stories of developing your power. Also, I always appreciate your retweets, Facebook and other social media shares of this post.

Many Blessings,

Donna