Gary Barnes is a
global premier business, money and relationship coach; an author, and
an international speaker. He is the founder of MaxLife International, dedicated to helping people create wealth in all areas of life.
Gary
believes anyone can lead an empowered life, no matter what their
circumstances are. He has built three successful businesses from the
ground up. To do this, he developed principles and tools that helped
him increase his business 2000% over a three-year period.
He
also understands dealing with adversity - he has fought life-
threatening illness and won. He believes that your worst day is the day
you meet the man or woman you could have been. It's a choice. That's
why he's dedicated his life to helping people maximize
their lives and their businesses through workshops, teleconferences and
individual coaching. His mission in life is to make a difference and to
empower everyone he connects with.
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Look for POWER PARTNERS. A Power Partner is someone who connects to your industry in some way, but doesn't compete directly with you. Be a referral source to your Power Partners and receive referrals in return. Everyone wins ... including your customers.
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Greetings!
Hello and welcome to another issue of Maxlife News. With the economy still struggling, this month I'm focusing on " How to maximize results in a challenging economy". There are still abundant opportunities, but we have to be very deliberate in our activities. Also, I would like to ask you for your input for upcoming newsletters. What topics would you like us to feature? It's our desire to provide the very best content possible. Please email us at info@maxlifeinternational.com.
To your success,
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Take a Flying Leap
by Gary Barnes, MaxLife International
The question that I would like to ask this month is "How do we maximize our results in a challenging economy?" As we watch the news and see the results of this economy, many are wondering how to survive. I would like to share with you a three-step process that I have used to build businesses over the last 30 years.
First, I believe that we have to create a personal vision that is both vivid and passionate. There are three elements in creating a vision.
- Develop
a dream. I find that most people have lost the ability to dream. When we
were young and asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, we had no
problem in saying we wanted to be a fireman, astronaut, or President of
the United States. As we get older, we may have challenges in even dreaming
about where we would like to take a vacation. To stimulate your ability to
dream again ask yourself the following questions:
- What
do I want to do?
- What
do I want to give?
- What
do I want to have?
- What
do I want to be?
- Where
do I want to go?
These five questions will jumpstart
your dreaming ability.
- Create
one of your dreams into a goal by setting a date of accomplishment of that
dream. This can be unsettling because you are now risking the possibility
of not reaching that goal.
- Now
comes the fun part, creating the vision. To do this you must create a
picture in your mind that is so real that you can taste it, feel it, and
see it. By focusing on this picture you will be drawn to the Vision.
Second, you have to find a way to elevate and separate yourself from the competition. You have to be seen in a unique way. People are being exposed to a lot of information every day. So, how do I present myself in a way that I will be seen differently? One way is to create a distinctive branding of your product or service. This can be accomplished with a catchphrase, logo, or the way you deliver your product or service to the end user.
Third, take the leap!!! In times of uncertainty we experience a higher sense of fear. Have courage. My definition of courage is "Courage is not the absence of fear but action in the presence of fear". Keep moving towards your vision remembering that "God can't steer a parked car".
If you will implement these three steps, not only will you prosper in the challenging times, you will experience faster growth when the economy does improve.
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50 Things Your Customers Wish You Knew - Part 2
by Sonia Simone, Remarkable Communication
Last month, we featured Part 1 of this article. To read this article, click here.
Here are next 25 things your customers wish you knew: about them, about how they see you, and about your relationship.
- I hate salespeople, but I really like
to buy things.
- I only
like to communicate over the phone/web/mail and I
hate when you try to make me communicate with you over the mail/phone/Web. - I want
to buy your product, but I need you to help me justify it to myself.
- There's
something in my life I'm afraid of losing. If you can make me feel like
you've protected it for me, my gratitude will be intense and eternal.
- I'll
give you anything you ask if you can help me not feel silly.
- I want you to do the hard work for me.
Even better if I can get all the credit.
- I'd
rather do it the convoluted hard way than learn something new.
- I'd
love to know something about your product that I could use to brag at a
dinner party.
- I have the attention span of a
goldfish. Go too long without contacting me and I'll simply forget you
exist.
- Money
is no object when it comes to my obsessions.
- What
you think you're good at is not what you're good at. Ask me, and I'll tell
you what you do better than anyone else.
- I like
it when I feel like you're talking just to me.
- It
infuriates me when you answer the phone while I'm talking with you
face-to-face.
- Embarrassment scares me more than
death.
- I'm lazier
than I would ever admit.
- I'm
more selfish than I would ever admit.
- I'm
more vain than I would ever admit.
- I'm
more insecure than I would ever admit.
- Despite
all that, I secretly think I'm a better person than most people. Help me
believe that and we'll be fast friends.
- I believe I deserve much more than I'm
getting.
- I want
to tell you everything you need to know in order to sell to me, but I'm
lazy. Make it easy enough and I
will. (Especially if you flatter me a little.)
- I don't know what I want most of the
time. You need to figure it out for me.
- I
mostly daydream about making life better for myself, but I'll take action
to keep from losing what's mine.
- I
believe that most of what's wrong in my life is someone else's fault. Let
me keep that cozy illusion and I'll believe anything you say.
- It really is all about me.
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First Impressions
 by Karen Schatz, Virtually With YouI had a wonderful experience last month ... my first professional photo session! The picture you see here on the left is my own attempt at a "professional-looking" photo that I use as my web presence. As a small business owner, I am always mindful of how I spend my dollars (as most of us are). Now, as far as photos go, this is not a bad one ... I've seen worse. In my profession, I've often heard how important it is to have a "professional" head shot and the reason is that for those of us who work virtually, our photo is the only visual first impression we ever get to have on our customers and potential clients. So, even though I know this, I still thought that my own do-it-yourself "professional-looking" photo would be good enough ... that is until I had a truly professional one done. Last month, I had my photo shot by Danny Douglas of StudioDouglas ( http://dannydouglas.blogspot.com/). Since I had never sat for a photo shoot before, I didn't know if I would feel comfortable. Believe it or not, as extroverted as I am, I don't like to be in the spotlight (figuratively or literally). But it helps that I know Danny so I felt pretty comfortable sitting for him. I started off a little stiff but by mid-session, I was much more relaxed and having a lot of fun - as you can tell by my series of poses below. So, in preparation of my big event, I decided that I needed to look my absolute best (something more than I was capable of pulling off by myself) so I pulled together a team of people to help me accomplish this. Now, before you think "I can't afford to hire people to help me look good!" ... think about the people you know who would be happy to help. I'll share my resources with you as examples.
- Hair
Specialist: first, I had my hair cut and colored the week before by a good
friend of mine who bartered my VA services for hers.
- Hair
Designer/Make-Up Specialist: next, I paid my friend's daughter a nominal
fee to come to my house the morning of the event to apply the make-up and style
my hair. I chose this person because she
was trained in cosmetology but wasn't yet fully experienced (aka expensive). The other condition I had was that she
practice on me first so I was happy with the outcome before the big day.
- Outfit
Specialist: (that would be me with the help of my girlfriends) We chose outfits that looked good on me and
jewelry that accessorized the whole look.
- Photographer:
And that would be Danny. Finding
affordable photography can be a challenge but it can be done. Some different ways to afford this is to:
o Ask people you know who have photography
skills. Maybe they will offer you a
discount because they know you.
o Barter your services for theirs. In this economy, I'm finding that people want
to barter services more now than ever.
o Enter a contest to win photography
services. In my case, that's how I
afforded this opportunity. A friend
entered me into contest of Danny's and I won (thanks Puna!).
And there you have it ... a well-planned formula for creating a successful photo shoot and a photo that you'll be proud to display on the World Wide Net for everyone to see.
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The Missing Link for Motivation
by Nordine Zouareg, Triple Impact, LLC
If you've ever wished that you were more motivated to experience life at your full potential then this is for you.
Most of us set goals and work hard only to find our motivation fizzle out after a couple of weeks. But there are little tricks that will help you harness the power of your mind and propel you toward achieving your goal.
The Two Motivators
When you boil it down, you're motivated by two simple things:
- To avoid pain (fear of failure)
- To gain pleasure (promise of reward)
You are naturally geared toward one of these motivators. To figure out which, think of the last time you accomplished a task and then ask yourself the following: While doing the task were you thinking about what would happen if you failed to finish, or were you thinking about what you would gain when you finished?
Take note as to which motivator works for you - fear of failure, or promise of reward.
Set Your Goal: The first step towards unstoppable motivation is to determine your goal. You know you're unhappy with your body, but what exactly do you want to change? Why is it important to you?
Perhaps you can relate to one of the following goals:
- You need to lose weight for your health. Your doctor scared you straight or maybe you've had a recent health problem that landed you in the hospital. Your goal is to move away from the pain of sickness.
- You want to look and feel incredible. You've always wanted to feel vibrant and attractive. The idea of having more energy really excites you. Your goal is to move toward the pleasure and reward of a fit body.
- You're worried about your kids. They don't eat enough vegetables, they drink more soda pop than water and they play video games constantly. You have decided to model a healthier lifestyle and to encourage your kids to participate. Your goal is to move away from the risks of a sedentary lifestyle and to propel your kids toward a healthy future.
Train Your Mind for Weight Loss:
With your clear and important goal in mind, let's take a few minutes to train your mind to achieve it. You know that weight loss comes as a result of eating right and regular challenging exercise, so let's use your mind to conquer both.
Eating Right: Use this exercise to distance yourself from the self-sabotaging foods you really wish you didn't eat, and to naturally begin selecting healthy foods.
Take a moment to review your current eating habits. Identify the foods that you should stop eating (hint: sweets, anything fried, refined carbohydrates, sugary drinks). Identify the worst food that you eat regularly but know you shouldn't.
Now imagine the healthy foods that you should eat (hint: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean protein). Identify the healthiest food that you know you should eat regularly.
Now with the image of these two foods in mind, find a quiet place and do the following exercise (seriously this stuff works):
- Draw up the image of your unhealthy food item. This image will likely be quite vivid, with smell, taste and bright color. In your mind, fade this picture to black and white and distance the image until it is dull, fuzzy and remote.
- Draw up the image of your healthy food item. This image will likely be fuzzy and faded. In your mind, bring this picture to life with smell, taste, sound and bright color.
Regular Exercise: This technique can be applied in a way that encourages you to crave exercise rather than avoid it.
Take a moment to imagine how you feel after a great workout (notice the emphasis on the word after). Remember the physical satisfaction as well as the sweet feeling of accomplishment.
Now bring to your mind the aspects of exercise that you dislike. What is your biggest reason for avoiding exercise? Are you too tired? Do you not have enough time? Is physical exertion too much of a hassle? Pinpoint your greatest complaint about exercise.
Now with the image of these two aspects of exercise in mind, find a quiet place and do the following exercise:
- Draw up the image of your exercise complaint. The image is likely to be clear and accompanied by the sounds, smells and sensations. In your mind, fade this picture to black and white and distance the image until it is dull, fuzzy and remote.
- Draw up the image of the wonderful feeling you have after accomplishing a great workout. Magnify this image in your mind. Fixate on how you feel physically, mentally and emotionally. View the experience in bright colors and add a sound track of inspirational music.
Why It Works
If this was your first experience with training your mind (also called Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP) it may have felt a little odd. Many of the world's top achievers regularly use techniques like these to accomplish astounding goals.
The techniques above work because they train your mind to bring your behavior in line with your values. Think about it, you value health, you desire to be fit and attractive and you want to instill healthy habits in your kids.
These techniques encourage you to avoid self-sabotage and to make choices that line up with what you truly value.
Now that you are ready to accomplish your goals, call or email me today to start your fitness program that will greatly improve your life.
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