So where do you want your “New Year” sent?

It’s pretty amazing to think about really, in exactly 2 days we will receive the very special gift of a whole new year to play with.

Untouched, untarnished, unused, a blank slate of 12 full months for us to write the days of our lives on.

So how are you going to use yours? Any plans?

This is the reason that people feel compelled to do New Year’s Resolutions. We kind of pledge to ourselves that we are not going to waste another one of those brand new years.

Well as you are pondering your “Resolutions” for the coming year here is a thought.

I heard a great quote from a motivational coach several months ago who was trying to describe how most people feel about success in life.

Like the old saying goes, he said that most people spend their lives waiting for opportunity to knock at their door.

He went on to say that if you really want success, forget waiting by the door, you should go out, track down opportunity, club it to the ground and drag it home with you.

The essence is of course, to decide what you want, understand that no one but you will ever lay it in your lap, and go for it.

Like the famous saying by comedian Jonathan Winters

“If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to meet it!”

Success in life is all about taking action, in every moment of every day.

So enough of the sidelines, watching is safe but it’s only in action that we will define our lives.

So let’s make that our resolution

As the ancient Romans used to say, “Carpe diem”

“Seize the Day!”

Still searching for Network Marketing Success?

So if you are ready to take your business and income to the next level you need to learn how to use the internet to leverage your business. Today there are hundreds of millions of people online and many are probably looking for a business just like yours, imagine for a moment just being able to reach out an tap just the smallest fraction of that huge traffic and bring it to your business.

Exciting thought isn’t it?

The good news is that you can learn how to use the internet as a tool and generate tons of leads to power your business by using powerful Online Marketing Systems that will teach you how to use the internet as a powerful resource for your business.

When I first started using online marketing systems I generated over 3000 leads, sponsored over 50 new reps and generated over $30,000 in affiliate commissions in just a few months. For a inside look at some of these powerful marketing strategies check out my free Video Training Bootcamp

Humm….. it’s that time of the year again.

You know, the time when things get busier and busier as we hit Thanksgiving, then all of a sudden it’s like we have been sucked into a time warp and it’s  a non-stop blast through the December holidays and suddenly here it is.

We stare across the gulf that separates us from the next year and we can feel it growing shorter and shorter by the day.

So our first thought is

December already?  No way! I want a “do over”!

Now tiding up all the loose ends and ending the year is a lot of work, so the first thing we do is to drag out our holiday greeting card list and reach out to that extended group of family and friends to say hello once again, to let them know they are still in our hearts and prayers (or that they are lucky to  still on our list), and maybe even toss in a little summary of what has happened in our life over the last year.

Maybe we even put in a little plug about getting on Facebook so they won’t feel so totally in the dark and shocked when they learn that cousin Mary Lou ran off with a 2^nd string baseball pitcher from Missouri and now lives in Japan and teaches English (just kidding).

Well as I dragged out my list and then wandered back over what has happened in my life over the last year, I re-read my blog post from last December 25^th , Holiday Best Wishes & A Special Gift. I smiled when I thought how true it was that the best gifts can’t be sent by Fedex, or special delivery, they are the gifts that we give of ourselves.

They are the friendship, the love, the understanding, the encouragement, and all the little and big ways we can reach out and give part of what we are to others.

This year as I did my review and tried to think of a gift I could give, I suddenly realized what an interesting transitional year 2010 was.

On one side we had an economic meltdown in the world economy and there was pretty much bad news spinning out of the media on a daily basis.

On the other side it was an amazing journey for me. I had the honor of presiding at the marriage of my son Paul to his beautiful wife Jo, (I bet you thought that part in my bio about “marriages performed” was just a joke). I becoming a grandfather for the 2nd time when his twin brother Aaron and his wife Erin had their 2^nd child, and my daughter Allison knocked out a master’s degree after spending 2 months in Patagonia with her partner Jacob on a travel adventure. (Sorry it’s a parent thing, I just have to brag on the kids).

I also welcomed a milestone birthday. I should rephrase that, actually I did not welcome it, however I know  that life is a journey to be lived to the fullest and we must cherish every moment on the way, even the stupid birthdays!

So I decided my gift to you this year would be the gift of “Choice”.

I know, you already have choice so in a way this is kind of like re-gifting.

So the point is this, we all have a choice.

No one’s life is perfect, that’s simply an illusion. We all have challenges, disappointments, roadblocks, and the highs and lows.

However we can choose what we wish to focus on, that’s the gift of “Choice”.

This holiday season more than ever before I hope you focus on all the good parts of the journey of 2010 and “Choose” to feel blessed, and I wish for you to feel all the infinite possibilities that life holds in store for you in 2011.

Happy Holidays
Marc

Humm….

Had a birthday the other day, well lets be more precise, August 31^st and yes that’s right I am a Virgo but of course if you have listened to any of my trainings you probably could already guess that … task oriented, highly organized, thinker, problem solver, yada, yada, yada.

Not sure I believe any of that stuff anyway, I believe we are who we choose to be.

Having a birthday always forces me into a period of reflection as I think back on what I tried to accomplish in the past year and what I actually did. For many people I guess the big event that triggers the reflection is Jan 1^st .

That of course is when the proverbial time door slams shut on the old year and we realize in a panic that we are supposed to set goals and plans for the new one.

My year closes out usually right around my birthday since I set a business plan in motion over 20 years ago that pretty much forced me into a period of planning every September.

It actually coincides with my journey into the world of MLM about 22 years ago. If you have read My Story on my blog then you probably know that I had been a real estate entrepreneur for years and then crashed and burned in the early 80’s.

However I have been very fortunate in life for I have found that whenever one door closes another one opens for me.

Now sometimes it takes a while to recognize it as a door, because in the beginning it generally looks more like a hole in the floor with a 3000 foot drop into a chasm.

However that financial disaster lead me to the world of MLM, and I had the opportunity to re-invent myself in a totally different way.

Once I get on a track I am pretty much an obsessive worker and not that I neglected my family, but I always wished there could be a way to spend more time with them and be more involved in their lives as my kids were growing up.

Well I guess you have to be careful what you ask for, or at least maybe be more specific.

Sometimes our gifts come in ways we never would have conceived (at the time I really would have preferred not have my business destroyed just to implement a better master plan, but the universe never asked my opinion).

Well I’m  rambling, but anyway when I had to re invent myself and setup a business plan for this new world of MLM I decided that I would create my perfect reality and then live in it.

So I decided rather than trying to make myself less obsessive about work, it was much easier to simply set a schedule that would force me into compliance with my goals. So I decided to take every summer off and spend it with my family and kids and then work obsessively the rest of the time.

Not a bad plan really, and that’s what I did for over 20 years. The network marketing business gives you the ability to generate huge leverage, and because of that you are free to structure it any way you want.

We had great times during those summers, taking months off and traveling in a motor home to Alaska or to other parts unknown, or sometimes traveling to the South Pacific and Australia, Japan, and others.

My reflection over the last several days caused me to think about and be grateful for how far I’ve come and how much I have learned:

The trials and frustrations of building a successful Network Marketing business and the incredible rewards that came later.

The challenging journey into the world of online marketing, and the frustration of being flooded with huge amounts of information and then the rewards of finally watching that business model gel into 25 and then over 50 leads a day like a finely tuned machine.

Was it hard, of course it was.

Was it frustrating, you betcha!

Did I ever want to quit? Every day!

Was it worth it…. Oh Baby was it!

However even as I bask in those feelings of accomplishment there is a gnawing uncertainty as I realize this coming year will probably be filled with even more challenges as I take this new craft of internet marketing to the next level, maybe even re-inventing myself again, Marc Version 4a?

Wow, when does it stop?

The challenge is that nothing is ever static and the more we try to keep it so, the more frustrated we get. Learn instead to embrace change and just love the ride.  It’s just like the famous quote by Mark Victor Hansen

“Sooner or later, we must realize that there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip.”

Now probably the biggest barrier to re-inventing yourself that we all face is letting go of the business self image we have created for ourselves, but that has to die before we can move on.

I know how hard this can be because I struggled with it, I mean I was the “Real Estate Entrepreneur” the “Deal Maker”, who could package and spin a project better than anyone. Who would I be if I let go of that, and what about all the years of skills that went into creating it.

I mean I was invested in that self image big time.

I mean it’s hard to do some people just can’t let it go, they just keep slamming their head against the same wall over and over.

You know we all face challenges in life that at times force us to re-invent ourselves and we have a choice to either go into the closet and hide, or to stretch and in the process become more than we are.

Stretch with me… There’s nothing interesting in the closet

Need help Re-Inventing Yourself? Click Here

]]> http://askmarcbarrett.com/rants/re-inventing-yourself/feed 0 http://askmarcbarrett.com/rants/visiting-mom http://askmarcbarrett.com/rants/visiting-mom#comments Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:08:59 +0000 Marc Barrett http://askmarcbarrett.com/?p=163

My mom is Helen, an inspirational lady in my life and she is 94 and loosing it slowly but surely. The love is still there but the daily mileposts and reminders and memories are now foggy. She still dances to the Beatles music when I take her for ice-cream but then it’s gone.

I visited her this last weekend as I do every week and I noticed something that reached in and seized my soul like an icy hand.

There were these little boxes outside the door of each of their rooms, boxes that they could put things into, mementos and pictures to symbolize them and their lives.

“This is what my life was all about, this is me. “

Wow, what as sobering thought. If we had to, right now  today, put our lives in a little glass box outside our door, what would it say about us?

Would you be proud of your own life? Would you have done all you wanted, or would you still be waiting with the big dreams unfulfilled?

Look before the thought overwhelms you, I will tell you I had a really hard time with that thought. I have had some great success, some huge incomes, I have kids that love me, but wow  my life in a box, that was disturbing.

Those boxes were filled with old pictures of wonderful people in their prime, in the passion of life, living in the moment and looking forward to a future of joy.

I looked at my own life and knew there was so much still left undone, so much still unwritten in my story. Sometimes life presents us with these moments of clarity, of clear view, and challenges us to either hide, or embrace the idea of change and move forward.

I choose forward, you know  its never too late.

May that box at your door be overflowing with a life well lived and with no stone unturned (your bucket list fulfilled). Like the ancient Romans used to say…..

Carpe Diem (seize the day)

It’s Christmas Day in my part of the world and I wanted to take a moment today and send a special wish that the holidays will be everything you want them to be.

I also wanted to give you a gift, its a special gift that can’t be delivered by UPS or Fedex, it’s a gift that we can only give to ourselves.

It’s the gift of  “Belief”

Now I am not talking about religious or spiritual belief although those are very important in our lives also.

I am talking about belief in ourselves.

When I entered the network marketing business years ago, I was pretty excited.

I saw a check for $15,000 that some guy called Mark Yarnell had made in his 4th month in the business. I thought, if he can do that I am going to be rich in 6 months!

That however is not what occurred. It took me much, much longer, I hit the wall over and over again, and I even quit the Network Marketing business several times in the process, but I kept coming back and in the end the success was huge.

How realistic is it to believe you can make $30,000 to $50,000 per month or more? Seems like fantasy doesn’t it. Is it even possible? I guess to answer that question, I will tell you that in my previous experience in network marketing I was with a company that had over 500 or so leaders, and in 1997 their average income was about $650,000 per year.

As I think about their backgrounds, their stories, their education, their socioeconomic status, there were people from every walk of life. I bet you could find one that is a duplicate of you.

Was their Network Marketing success just dumb luck?

I’ve never felt that success in business is a function of luck, it’s true that in network marketing that timing, being in the right market at the right time, can make a difference in how quickly we achieve our goals, but in reality we make our own luck by clearly understanding our objective in business, then charting a course of action, and having a business plan and marketing system that will get us there.

Then as long as we can stay on course, take it in daily bite size pieces, make adjustments as we go, and avoid being distracted from our ultimate goal.

Success will be ours as surely as those who traveled the course before us.

You know the great part about Network Marketing is that once you start down the right path, you can create an empire in just a few months.

I invite you to join me

Make this week matter for you, resolve to make it happen, and more than anything else

“Believe you can”!

Best Wishes for the Holidays

Still searching for Network Marketing Success?

So if you are ready to take your business and income to the next level you need to learn how to use the internet to leverage your business. Today there are hundreds of millions of people online and many are probably looking for a business just like yours, imagine for a moment just being able to reach out an tap just the smallest fraction of that huge traffic and bring it to your business.

Exciting thought isn’t it?

The good news is that you can learn how to use the internet as a tool and generate tons of leads to power your business by using powerful Online Marketing Systems that will teach you how to use the internet as a powerful resource for your business.

When I first started using online marketing systems I generated over 3000 leads, sponsored over 50 new reps and generated over $30,000 in affiliate commissions in just a few months. For a inside look at some of these powerful marketing strategies check out my free Video Training Bootcamp

For more on “My Story” review my blog entry “My Journey to the world of MLM”