The amazing thing about opportunity is that it is usually sitting right in front of your face, screaming at you, and you still can’t always see it! I have been fortunate enough in my life to have an entrepreneurial mindset. In other words, I think in terms of “what if?” However, I am not the managerial type, in that dealing with the nuts and bolts of the business is not my forte, so I must have a solid business manager. I can be a great technician, an individual who loves to get in there and do the work, write the articles, make the videos, build the websites, and all the rest.

In essence, I can be two of the three people necessary to run my business, any business, my Internet marketing business or my brick and mortar company. That is, I can be all those people doing all those things, and stretch to be and do a few more, if I never sleep, never spend time with my family, and never spend time doing the things I love, like reading!

Basically, I need one person to do the books and the tedious stuff I hate, the stuff that others love (go figure!), and one person to be there to apply all the ideas that come pouring out of my head. The marriage of the 3 is not a difficult one but it is difficult to find one person competent in all three areas…and that’s the rub! Internet marketing creates some amazing opportunities and there is a great deal of freedom from the traditional clock…but Internet marketing also presents some real challenges.

Enter The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber.

I recently came across The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It and all I can say is, “What an Godsend!” Whether is offline or an online business, this book should be required reading for anyone just starting out and those who have taken the plunge but are beginning to chase their tail; and, it seems most do at some point in their businesses evolution!

I thought I was lazy or that there was a serious flaw in my makeup. After all, why couldn’t I handle all three of these areas? Certainly others did! Interestingly, most don’t, and that’s why many fail. Interestingly, I am not alone. It seems there are quite a few businesspeople, in fact most of them, who fall into exactly the same category…strong in one area, maybe two, but lacking in at least one of the three key personalities necessary to really make things click.

I wholeheartedly recommend The E-Myth Revisited to anyone wishing to make a go of it long term in business, in Internet marketing, some other type of e-commerce, or in a traditional brick and mortar store. Had I read this book, and a couple of others I will review through the next week, things could have been so much easier, so much smoother, and so much less time consuming!

The irony of it all is not lost, as I am seeing myself page after page and stage after stage described by Michael Gerber. The nice part is that it didn’t come too late! I have started and run businesses before and have always done quite well, but I can see the pitfalls and the traps Michael Gerber describes emerging in my newest online venture. And, I can see them in 20/20 hindsight in all my old ventures.

Having gutted through similar experiences before, I was simply committed to gutting it out again! Had I only known what was happening, I could have fixed the problem, adjusted for the conditions, and made the necessary adjustments; and, things would have been so much simpler.

Now?

I have that luxury!

And, compared to the road I was going down once again, one full of sleepless nights and deadlines dancing in my head (no sugar plums, to be sure!), the alternative is delightful and Internet marketing is a pleasure once again! You see, I found out it isn’t a sin to be less than competent in all aspects of a businesses identity, in fact few business people are. I am now focused on building the correct business model and taking me out of the equation…at least as much as is possible. What remains should be a profitable venture that can stand alone and be replicated.

How great is that!?

So, do yourself a favor and read The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber. The E-Myth Revisited will change your perspective and change your business life…Internet marketing or brick and mortar!

I will be reviewing a few other books I have been reading lately as I try to shore up my knowledge of business building and move into the new year in high gear!

Join me as a subscriber and get ready for a monthly newsletter that is already shaping up to be something quite special!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
216-539-7412 (bus)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

PS, As many know I am into video marketing in a big way and I have access to a FREE video that can help transform your Internet marketing business! This video is about a young US Marine, just discharged, homeless, and now making a great income online. In fact, he did it in a matter of a few weeks and, knowing what he does now, it could have been days! Check this video out and if you have any questions about how to apply it to your own Internet business, let me know, I will be happy to answer them for you. Just click here!

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How to Succeed in an Online Business

Going from Newbie to Profitability in a few Short Months…Instead of Years!

The journey from what they call a “newbie” to profitability has been an interesting one, one that has taken many hours, days, weeks, and months. Making money with an online business has taken quite a bit more time and effort than most would have you believe while they attempt to rope you into the latest “get rick quick” scheme.

The road to Internet marketing profitability has been full of ups and downs, with quite a few moments when I simply wanted to throw my computer right out the window…and then track down each and every person who had introduced me to the computer age…to “thank” them, of course!

Sound a bit harsh? Not if you have been in the Internet marketing world for any length of time, either attempting to make money in an online business or with an Internet presence for a traditional brick and mortar business!

Before we get into the highs and lows, the strategies that work and the schemes to avoid, let’s define a few terms:

Newbie: The word newbie is a slang term for a person new to some form of online activity. For our purposes, the definition we will use applies to an individual engaged in Internet marketing and online business for the first time…with little or no experience. While in some corners it has derogatory connotations, for our purposes and in the manner most people online use the term, it is for descriptive purposes only. Of course that is not to say there aren’t those out there who won’t use it in a derogatory fashion; this is, after all, the real world and there are people like that in every walk of life. But for our purposes, it simply means an individual just starting down the road to an Internet marketing education, usually to build and online business of some kind.

Guru: The word guru, and I am using it with a small “g” on purpose, has entered the online lexicon, conferring the status of “more-than-expert” on an individual. While the original usage of the word had religious connotations and was bestowed on an individual with great authority through wisdom and knowledge, particularly in India with Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism. In much of the Western world, the term or designation of guru generally applies to anyone who amasses a number of followers, not always in the religious or philosophical sense…but in business and academia, as well. In it’s latest incarnation, the Internet Marketing and online business usage, the term guru is used to denote authority due to a particular set of skills…in this case building online businesses and marketing on the Internet.

The above terms are used in various ways by the Internet marketing crowd. Suffice it to say, they are not universally recognized or applied, often meaning different things to different people. The term “guru” being particularly problematic, as the designation of one with great authority and wisdom has carried over from the original usage and meaning; and, this use of the word has been encouraged by many Internet marketers today, for obvious reasons!

Significantly, as a beginner or newbie online, and one not completely understanding the nuances of the jargon and the history behind the evolution of the usage of the words above, this often leads people to chose to follow someone who has not earned the designation conferred or bestowed upon them…a designation either bestowed by others or, just as often, by the person himself or herself!

So Newbie Beware!

Things are not always as they appear online…but this is true in the offline world, as well. The problem online is many of the Internet marketing “gurus” are often quite adept at pushing all the right buttons in just the right way, creating a sense of desire and urgency, a powerful combination and an often irresistible force! Some of them are true gurus, at least in the sense that they are excellent marketers, fully capable and willing to part a budding newbie from his or her hard earned, and often limited resources!

So, how do you succeed at Internet marketing? In fact, who do you believe and who do you learn from if you don’t know who is a legitimate Guru and not simply a self-appointed, or self-anointed “guru”?

The best advice I can give you is to talk to other newbies. Most newbies will tell you if they have had a bad experience with a certain Internet marketer (see The Law of 250 below) and will usually be forthcoming about what works, and what doesn’t, as well.

Also, follow the conversations on social media, many of the conversations, and I am not referring to the recent unending linkfest over at Twitter, what a spamfest that has become, I am talking about reading the articles posted on LinkedIn and Mashable, just to name two excellent resources for newbies. Another wonderful resource is the free material provided by some of the more established Internet marketing firms, including TrafficGeyser, StomperNet, and HubSpot. (see the links below)

Opt-in to the email lists of the recommended programs (below), read their free material and follow the advice. When ready, they are some of the best programs on Internet marketing and they will teach you everything you need to know once you join…and they will help with implementation too, a rare combination.

The first steps to take in building your online business:

1) Decide on a niche. There are literally thousands of niches, so pick one you can get excited about. But also make sure it will pay!

2) Do the necessary keyword research and competitive analysis before jumping into an unprofitable niche. (I use Market Samurai, Google, and Wordtracker)

3) Only after the first 2 steps are completed should you purchase your own domain name. (I use GoDaddy)

4) Make sure you have a hosting company, a good one, one with 24/7 support. I use HostGator and SEOHosting (Both owned by the same company and they offer Fantastico…a must)

5) Get an email account set up, for your email marketing and your autoresponder. (I use a branch of AWeber)

6) Set up your profile for your social media image and make sure it is appropriate to and for your business model.

7) Set up an account at EzineArticles and a couple of others and begin to write a few articles. (We will get into this in an upcoming article)

Set up your YouTube, Break, and Viddler Channels for video. When ready, go to TrafficGeyser-link below-don’t try to “go it on the cheap” with the
freebie services, they all have major drawbacks and hooks! You get what you pay for, especially with implementation!

9) Find a great SEO course and apply yourself immediately. Get the SEO right from the beginning because it is huge and once everything is set up correctly, it will be your biggest asset! Get it wrong and you will pay for it in a myriad of ways and over the life of your business.

10) Find a mentor! I cannot overstate this point!!! Even Michael Jordan, Kareem, Tiger Woods, Babe Ruth, and Hank Aaron had/have their coaches and mentors. The major Internet marketing Gurus have coaches and mentors. They may not always talk about them but they all have them! Once you have a mentor? Follow their advice! If you play for Don Shula or Pat Riley or Joe Paterno and you don’t follow their advice…you are off the team! The same holds true for following a mentor! If you don’t think enough of the mentor or coach you have to follow their advice…find another one, because you obviously don’t need the one you have, or you would apply what they teach you. Lombardi, Hayes, Jackson, Paterno, Riley, Rupp, whomever…if you don’t play by their rules, you don’t play on their team. So, once you are fortunate to find a quality coach or mentor, one willing to spend their precious time on you, apply what they teach you because good coaches are hard to come by! Every Tom, Dick, and Mary is calling themselves a coach, mentor or “life coach” nowadays…make sure you have a good one, and then hold on for dear life!

11) Keep learning! Internet marketing and online business building is as fluid as any marketing and business endeavor I have ever been involved in. If you do not continue your education, and I am talking about daily, you will be left in the dust. Internet marketing is active, vibrant, and engaging. If you do not stay current, you will not prosper.

OK!

That’s a lot to cover and we have quite a way to go, yet! However, if you lay the proper foundation, if you get the bare bones stuff right, you will be on your way to profitability! Get it wrong and you will be struggling a year from now…if you last that long.

This is not rocket science! All you have to do is listen to some of the people who have made it, and made it big, to know that you can do it. It simply takes a concerted effort, application on a daily basis, constant education, and what Tony Robbins calls CANI!

Constant and neverending improvement!

If you build each day upon the one before, you will prosper. It will take time but if you apply yourself and understand that there is a learning curve and that The Law of 250 is a make or break proposition, you will do well. In fact, there may come a day when someone refers to you as an Internet marketing Guru…capital G!

One last thing…and this is the biggest of all!

Stop listening to the siren’s song and the promises of “Instant Wealth” every Tom, Dick, and “guru” that comes along is making! Get with a mentor or a quality program, learn it, stick with it, and build it! The tools are available, you simply have to educate yourself and then apply the knowledge to your Internet marketing endeavor. If you do? Your online business will be amazing, and so will your profitability!

REMEMBER: DO NOT LISTEN TO THE SIREN’S CALL!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

PS, Here are the resources I promised. Quality Internet marketing and online business programs:

1) Video Marketing: There is only one for video marketing, the rest all feed off of this one in one way or another! Or they just don’t measure up!

2) Article Marketing: There is only one number one!

3) SEO or search engine optimization: Again, there are a lot of wannabes…but only one quality program and it addresses it all and offers an amazing Internet marketing and SEO education! I didn’t realize how much I had yet to learn until I joined this program!

4) Domain Manager: GoDaddy (see icon on side panel and type in “diggnation” at checkout for the best deal) If you are purchasing more than one domain name? Check only the .com and .info boxes (how can you not buy .info for less than a buck?). Then at checkout you will be offered the remainder of the .org .net and .us or whatever at 50% to 75% savings! Do NOT check them ahead of time…only as part of the upsell process after you proceed to checkout. Then, add “diggnation” into the promo code box for additional savings.

5) Hosting: If you are building one website and/or blog, stay with HostGator (on the sidepanel again). Purchase the “Business” account, not the cheapy ones! You will get a dedicated IP address and an 800 number free. These two add-ons are well worth the extra 4-5 bucks! The psychological impact of being able to offer an 800 number, even if you rarely use it, is huge! The little cues make or break a business early! Take advantage of this cue and apply it!

6) Social Media Marketing: HubSpot is super for social media education…they have it down to a science! Do you need their service? No, at least not at first. But you do need their education. They also have a couple of cool tools for grading your efficacy online…so use them!

PPS, There are a lot more tips and I will pass them along in the weeks to come. January 2010 watch for a new online business building tool for any niche in Internet marketing….it will be comprehensive and it will be all you need!

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How to Succeed at Internet Marketing: The Learning Curve!

“If it sounds too good to be true…”

Spend any amount of time looking for ways to make money on the Internet, and you will come across many people happy to help you out – out of your money, that is!

Maybe you weren’t even actively looking for an online business opportunity…but a savvy Internet marketing guru with a clever email subject line popped into your inbox!

So, you decided, “What the heck, I’ll check it out!”

Usually it begins with a promise. Yes, in just a few short hours per week you are going to make loads of money, millions even! And they have already done most of the work for you!

While they worked on rebuilding, and selling, the Brooklyn Bridge!

Easy, right?

Plugin and play! Set it and forget it!

Just like those chicken roasters they sell on TV infomercials! [Now, just off to the side let's have an idiot card telling everyone to say "Ooooh-aaaah!" and then clap!]

Yup! They know precisely what buttons to push and when; and, it’s all scripted to one end, to gain access to your wallet.

They are very good at it, too!

Hopefully, somewhere in the back of your mind, you hear your parent’s or grandparent’s voice echoing off in the distance:

“If it sounds too good to be true…it probably is.”

Folks, I don’t mean to sound cynical, mocking or facetious here. Well, maybe a little!?

The fact of the matter is…there are no “get rich quick” formulas in Internet marketing!

The whole notion of getting rich in a matter of days, weeks, or even months in Internet marketing is one of the late great snake oil sales campaigns!

BTW, I also have swamp land on the North Face of the South Slope of the Grand Canyon…and you too can own this beach front property just a few paces from the Caribbean…or was it the Pacific! Yeah, that’s the ticket! Next to the British Army gun emplacements next to the Belize National Airport!

Sure, there are instances in which a person has accomplished a great deal and done quite well in a matter of a few months. That individual usually has a history in sales, marketing, management, and/or entrepreneurial endeavors…but it certainly did not happen overnight!

In fact, most overnight success, and Hollywood and the music industries are great for building up this mythology, takes years. Years to gain overnight stardom, overnight riches, overnight success.

Years!

I have been a student of marketing for over 30 years. A student! I have built businesses and worked in sales, marketing, and management for some amazing companies, including my own, and for some amazingly successful entrepreneurs.

I have been blessed to see some of the best sales, marketing (in Internet marketing and also traditional brick and mortar marketers), self-improvement, and personal development gurus in the world speak, in person.

While we hear of the tremendous financial success many of these “gurus” have now, each and every one of them went through a learning curve…and it was hard work.

Eben Pagan of Altitude speaks of living in a tiny trailer, writing his first ebook in his “next-to-nothings.” Close your eyes you can see him sitting in front of his computer monitor in his skivvies writing all night.

Eben picturing what he was going to become.

Frank Kern of Mass Control 2.0 speaks of going to door to door in a black suit, in the middle of a Macon, Georgia summer, selling credit card vending machines…and that’s after burying a dog collar containment business he ran out of the back of a used car office!

Yet, Frank had this belief he could be something more, he knew it!

Tellman Knudson of The List Building Club, a man currently running across the country barefoot for homeless children, had already overcome significant medical issues as a child, tried a few other business ventures, including hypnosis, and failed. Tellman found himself at the end of his rope without enough money to buy lunch one day. Humiliated, he wrote an IOU to the diner for the cost of his lunch while the eyes of the people he saw every day were upon him. The dreaded double beep, he called it…rejection and humiliation!

In spite of the terrible humiliation…or because of it…he made it! Tellman envisioned something better, something great!

Jeff Herring, The Article Guy, was once homeless on Christmas Eve. Living in a hotel lobby, Jeff had nowhere to go and, seemingly, nowhere to turn.

Even while homeless, Jeff had a belief he could and would be something more, something greater!

Mike Geary, of The Truth About Abs, was “not in a good place financially,” working a regular 9-5 job as a scientist in the environmental field, trained people every evening and then went home to work on the computer until 4 in the morning…day after day, month after month, for several years before he made it…”overnight!”

True to his nature as an athlete, and as a scientist, Mike Geary knew he could achieve something great, he had the formula, it just took a concerted effort and belief!

Tony Robbins was a 20 year old kid with a beat up car, some stories have him living in it for a time, barely a penny to his name, going from appointment to appointment, speaking to business people with more experience and more money.

Yet instead of saying I can’t, it’s too hard or I don’t have the experience, Tony Robbins made it work!

I can go on…but you get the idea…I hope!

Every one of the above mentioned individuals had one quality. Every one of them believed above all else in their ability and that all things are indeed possible to those who believe!

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve!” Napoleon Hill

The greatest service I can do for you is dispel the myth of overnight riches! The 4-Hour Workweek is probably the most misunderstood and misinterpreted work of the past few decades. Misunderstood, because the title has morphed into the entire message! The 80/20 Principle has also caused the same sort of issues, being widely misquoted and misunderstood!

Significantly, both of these books are one writer’s OPINION!

Interestingly, people often read a work and, because it is in print, has been published, and has achieved a certain amount of notoriety, it is considered fact. It has always amazed me how the written word can on one hand be relegated to the back burner by an entire generation, the video generation, and yet still hold immense power and authority.

Truly a paradox…a conundrum!

To have true and lasting success as an internet marketer, you have to become a student of the craft. To succeed online you must become comfortable with the sales process, marketing (both offline and Internet marketing), and with business building. After all, that’s what we are doing…right? We are building a business as entrepreneurs…as Internet marketing entrepreneurs.

Who do you believe and believe in? Are there reputable programs available for someone interested in making money online?

Yes, there are reputable programs out there, a few by the individuals noted above. Interestingly, the better programs available aren’t going to do all the work for you. And, the best Internet marketing programs aren’t going to do much of anything at all for you!

Why?

Well, there’s something to be said and much to be gained by taking the time to do it yourself! If you are serious about making money online, whether in the Internet marketing niche itself or in any one of the myriad of other niche marketing possibilities available to you, willing to take all the necessary steps, and don’t try to take shortcuts around the learning curve…you will prosper!

Take time to learn the real behind the scenes stories of how some of the successful internet marketers got to where they are today. They will inspire you!

Then, once you understand some of what it takes, it is time for implementation!

We will cover implementation in the next article! It is in combining education and implemetation that will lead you to prosperity in Internet marketing!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

PS, For more on the subject of success online and in life, just click this link and go to The John Zajaros Blog!

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Dan Hollings was brilliant tonight, talking about the Twitter marketing portion of StomperNet’s new Internet marketing platform.

As has been the case with every member of the StomperNet faculty over the past month, Dan was fantastic! The ladies and gentlemen of the StomperNet faculty have defined Internet marketing and online business success; and, they have also demonstrated the professional way to launch an Internet marketing product, with first-class information and a quality platform!

If you follow me anywhere on social media, you know that I am a big advocate of implementation. In other words, taking action using the proper tools, and to do so in the most efficient and effective way possible. I am talking about an Internet marketing business system, combining the necessary tools to make money online, along with those necessary to run a business effectively, not just in the sort run…but for years to come, should that be your desire.

I am always skeptical when I read some of the sales letters written by people calling themselves “gurus.” In some instances, these tomes are written by people barely able to keep their businesses afloat, offering this program or that, many of the words bandied about are:

Guru, and you may already know how I feel about that term as a descriptive adjective for most marketers!

Mentor, always at a prices that would make a Vegas Madam blush!

Coach, I wonder what John Wooden or Joe Paterno would say?

“Life” Coach, as opposed to what?

And many more!

Many of the people using these appellations have never built a lasting business of their own, in good times or bad, and fewer still have any real idea what it takes to be successful in the long-term. Yet we are bombarded daily with parroted advice from those among us…

“Faking it, until making it!”

Don’t get me wrong!

I am 100% behind people making a go of it online, in Internet marketing proper or in affiliate or niche marketing, because it’s all really the same thing (or is it?), they have my respect and admiration!

The problem I have is with people attempting to run before they have a good understanding of what it takes to walk…and attempting to lead others over the same cliff you may be heading for. The drop is steep and unforgiving.

So, my question is this:

If you aren’t sure of what you are doing, how in the world are you going to teach others?

The answer:

You can’t, at least not without pulling the both of you down together!

You see, sales and marketing is a lot more complex than most people maintain in their books with the catchy phrases. While many throw around names like Hill, Nightingale, Ziglar, Hopkins, Girard, and now Robbins and Tracy, they have little understanding of what drives people to act on a consistent and continuous basis, on both sides of the equation; sales/marketing; and, the purchasing-target audience/market.

Unfortunately, certain Internet marketing “gurus” have created an air of positive expectancy that doesn’t always match up with reality.

Some marketing “gurus” claim the “chosen few” will make from $10,000 to $100,000 per month in a matter of a few weeks, implying that all you have to do is:

1) Spend $X dollars for an application fee…that one kills me!

2) Spend $Y dollars an ebook…usually written in vague generalities in order to sell more, you guessed it, stuff!

AND

3) Spend $Z dollars for a monthly membership…and we get what for that? More stuff!

FINALLY

4) The heavens will open and all will be made clear from one high!

After all, their sales letter maintains…just look what Gee Willacres did in just 6 months after:

1) Having a leg removed…the wrong one!

2) Being trampled by a horse…a pony from the traveling carnival really!

AND

3) Having open-heart surgery…when he was supposed to have a kidney transplant!

If Gee can do it…well, gosh…so can you!

Pile on top of this line of whooey, whooey being a technical term I learned at the George Carlin School of Internet Marketing and Online Shenanigans Annual Conference, in suburban Tehran, the idea that a web presence (nice word for mass produced website) set up as some sort of a cookie-cutter, big scheme Internet marketing (Read: MLM) template is going to do draw the thousands to tens of thousands of victims, I mean visitors, per month necessary, based on even the best conversion numbers online, to generate that sort of income is flat out tom-foolery!

Another Carlin school term! Being a graduate, I am allowed to thrown them around!

And I am being very kind with the descriptive adjectives…sans the four letter ones!

Reality?

The reality of an individual with no clear idea of what to do and how to do it, just laid off from his or her job at Bob’s Burger Palace and Horseshoeing Emporium, a gig they’ve had for the last 20 years, and turning to the Internet in desperation is very different from the reality of an individual who has a marketing background, a stable home life, time to build a proper foundation before going full time, which includes the time educate one’s self, the moxie to network properly, and plenty of resources to spend on education and to fall back on if he or she takes a header off of one of those Internet marketing, online business cliffs!

Yet Internet marketing “gurus” seem to focus on the target market en mass…without realizing that Joe Palooka’s Internet marketing needs are very different from Betsey Homecki’s online business aspirations! Very few people (read: gurus with a small “g”) actually take the time to build any version of “Bob” (watch The New Money Masters with Frank Kern and Tony Robbins, brilliant!), and if they are, they must be way off the mark, because most of the people I talk to are frustrated, angry, disenchanted, and even bitter…tracking back to their experiences with the “gurus!” They want to make it, many want it with a white hot desire! The problem is with the delivery of information at a reasonable cost and in a way that is truly user friendly.

I don’t believe many of the “gurus” have a clue how people learn, much less what it takes to teach them! The end result is a support nightmare, a lot of people referring to “gurus” as scam artists, and a stadium full of people (Read: Joe Girard) screaming don’t buy from so-and-so! More to come on this topic!

So, getting back to Internet marketing, online business success, coaching, mentoring, and implementation!

The problem most people have starting out is not a lack of information, there is plenty of good information available if you know how to research and know what you are looking for; it’s not that there isn’t a proven template for success, there are several successful online business models available; and, it’s not that there is a lack of quality software to implement even the most ambitious strategies, there are some great Internet marketing implementation platforms available. The challenge is in knowing who to listen to, understanding what they are saying, which means cutting through all the hype; and finally, which program to invest in…in order to pull it all together…or at least start on the right path.

Who: Who to listen to and, more importantly, who to believe!

What: Understanding what they are saying. This means understanding the basics of marketing in general and Internet marketing specifically!

Which: Which way to go! There is no shortage of voices in the wilderness, some as soothing and convincing as any Siren’s call! Knowing which program to invest in has with it its own set of qualifiers and traps to avoid!

Beware!

Or better yet: Buyer Beware!

The reality…ah, back to reality…is that you can go any which way and get to where you are going. Or, as the old one-liner goes:

“You can’t get there from here!”

Ultimately, you have to put your faith, if trust is too big a word right now, in someone and something…both of them!

You must deal with the 3 Ws:

Who
What
Which

Back to Stompernet!

I have recommended a handful of programs over the last year, the ones I have wholeheartedly endorsed, and still use, I can count on one hand!

Enter StomperNet!

At $10,000 per year, it was just not in my make-up to invest that kind of money, even at $800 per month, in a marketing program, particularly at the stage of development I was in when StomperNet appeared on my radar. I have followed Brad Fallon, and he back, almost from day one of my involvement on Twitter, so I knew of Brad and StomperNet…and had heard nothing but good about both the man and the Internet marketing opportunity, because StomperNet is much more than a program, it is a complete system!

Ah, finally! The final piece of the puzzle:

System!

Like TrafficGeyser, a much more specialized system, one I endorse wholeheartedly, StomperNet is not only an Internet marketing system, it is a community, a university of sorts…in a very real way, a bit of academia on the Internet.

StomperNet is perhaps the only true Internet marketing university!

For that reason, and because I am so impressed with the StomperNet system and it’s community, including its amazing faculty, I am going to make the following offer:

If you purchase StomperNet using my affiliate link, you may contact me at any time, day or night 24/7 for the next 365 days, no kidding, for the next year, and we will work through the implementation together! I will always get back to you in short order, always!

PLEASE!

Do not take this as some sort of a “I am the greatest, I will lead you” ego trip!

I will be starting with StomperNet just like you, from the beginning! However, I do have experience with some of the components as individual products, so we will not be flying blind. What I am offering is a mastermind of at least two, open almost at your beck and call, and all you have to do is make your purchase through my link.

We will do the rest together.

In fact , I will make this even better:

For the next 90 days, we will meet online, via Skype, 3 evenings a week…for at least an hour a session…perhaps longer!

After the first 90 days we will see how things go. You never know, we may find we enjoy the mastermind sessions and simply expand upon it.

That’s my offer! I am so impressed with StomperNet, I think this is something that can serve to push a bunch of new “stompers” up all at once!

Once you get your email confirmation, and I get mine, we will set up our first session!

I am looking forward to having you as a fellow Stomper, as a colleague, and as a member of a mastermind focused solely on our collective success in Internet marekting!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., PhD
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com (my very personal email address)

PS, In case you missed it, the links toward the top of the article above are for the webinar series, the ones down the page are going straight to the StomperNet main page! Either way, see you soon!

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• 

The August Internet Marketing Quest Revealed Newsletter was a huge success!

September’s newsletter promises to be even better and will be out the week of September 14, 2009. It is my hope you will join me as we build our subscriber base. It is my intention to continue offering the newsletter as a free service, with an eye towards building a big subscriber case and creating a free and open forum for the exchange of ideas among subscribers.

Please join us and subscribe to the newsletter! The video will describe the upcoming edition more completely, I hope you enjoy it…and and it useful!

If you would like to see any issues covered in an upcoming newsletter, just leave a comment below and I will work to make it happen!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

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• 

Twitter, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, and Internet Marketing Seem to Be Inextricably Linked!

This is the first in a series on Twitter applications, tools, and their usage, both in a purely social sense and in a marketing context. It is my hope that by the end of this series you will have at your disposal a hole new set of tools and applications, and a clearer understanding of the true nature of Twitter and how it fits into the Internet marketing landscape.

The world is a flutter over Twitter, it has emerged as the darling of social media and all of the Internet. There are a myriad of Twitter tools and applications available for novice and expert, alike. Or should I say “newbie” and “guru,” alike? Interestingly, the jargon of social media, in fact the lexicon of all Internet marketing seems to have accepted this rather broad [mis]use of the term “guru.” Be that as it may, Twitter is an undeniable hit and a social media platform that in this author’s opinion has yet to reach its full potential. The number of applications, tools, websites, articles, blogs, marketing strategies, and advertising opportunities centered around and focused on this latest phenomenon are absolutely mind-boggling. In this article, the first in a series, and future articles we will discuss a few of the more popular Twitter usage platforms. While this article will focus on the most used, and most accepted of the Twitter usage platforms, single and/or multiple, Twitter itself, subsequent articles will reveal several remarkably innovative tools just now beginning to emerge, taking their place in what some refer to as the Twitterverse!

Twitter as a stand alone platform!

The first application or platform we will discuss is of course the most obvious, Twitter itself. Remarkably, for all of the alternative tools and applications available, Twitter offers an impressive array of features without ever leaving the nest. By now we are all aware of the 140 character limit, and while there is an application available which makes it possible to double the limit, most of us have become quite comfortable using 140 characters by way of abbreviations, contractions, and other Twitter-esque codes, enabling us to get our messages or “tweets” to one another.

Trending Topics

“Trending Topics” is just one tool made available without ever leaving the front page. The “Trending Topics” tool allows one to view, at a glance, the most popular topics of the moment. Interestingly, most topics have very little to do with Internet marketing, at least directly.
The search feature, usually found on the sidepanel, at least on the more basic, traditional page, allows Twitterers or Tweeple depending on who you listen to, to type in any keyword and, regardless of whether you are following the individual or not, you immediately get up to date tweets, relevant to that keyword. There are a number of applications using various approaches to the search, various Twitter search engines, but the very simple search application is more than adequate for most Tweeple!

The Profile Page

The profile page allows an individual, any individual, to check out at a glance what any other Twitterer has been tweeting about, as well as refreshing their mind about their own tweets. Not only that, it also provides, in most cases the name, location, web address, and a short biography about the individual. The profile page also includes the number of followers and those people who are being followed by the person. Finally, the profile page also provides the number of updates for any given individual, indicating how active, in a very broad sense, the individual is or has been, and their last tweet. With the information on this page, you can tell what a person is focusing on, how often and at what times of the day or night they are most likely to be on Twitter and tweeting, and how many and whom they are following; and, vice versa. Actually, this is a great deal of information and can be very useful when deciding whether or not to follow or follow back.

Find People

The next tool Twitter offers its users is the “Find People” feature. Interestingly, this tool has a number of uses, beyond simply locating a specific individual. Like the search application, the “Find People” tool may be used to find everyone who has mentioned a given keyword, when they have talked about it, and to whom. Beyond that, Tweeple can then see who those individuals are tweeting with and if those Twitterers are also tweeting about the same topic to others, going deep into another’s list of followers and across lists. The keywords can be anything from back pain to the Iran elections, the results are the same, identifying possible followers, Tweeple with like interests. With this information you can decide whether or not to follow someone, simply offer a suggestion to help them or the maybe answer a question, perhaps make a comment about an observation they made, thus enhancing your authority, “your brand” in the Twitterverse!

Setting and Connections

Finally, one of the newest features or at least the one the social media phenomenon has enhanced greatly of late is the “Connections” feature, within the “Settings.” Twitter has added several tools and applications that not only enhance your search abilities but also allow you to follow others easily and to unfollow faster, as well. Many of the applications and tools in “Connections” are designed to enhance your ability to connect with other Tweeple with like interests, track current trends, and also advertise yourself and your services across the Twitterverse. I would definitely recommend FlockToMe, Twibes, and Tweeple pages. In fact, any of the tools listed on this page with help you build a nice following, and free!

Does Twitter Pay?

Twitter has taken the Internet by storm. Social media is the darling of the Internet and social media marketing the new brass ring everyone is reaching for. Social media marketing may in fact be an oxymoron, as stated previously. Interestingly, social media, for all its recent press and attention, is still something of a conundrum, a paradox even. While many believe there is wealth in social media and particularly in Twitter, I believe the jury is still out. Ploked just announced that Dell’s announcement of 3 million dollars in sales, attributed to Twitter, is validation that the social media giant is now a legitimate marketing vehicle. I am not so sure. In this series of articles, we will discuss the various applications and tools, particularly the really cool ones; and there are some awesome ones!

The $3,000,000 Question!

We will also spend some time analyzing the state of social media and attempt to get a handle on such assertions as those made by Ploked, Mashable, and others. Because that is actually the 3 million dollar question, isn’t it, “Does social media pay?” And beyond that: “Does Twitter pay?” In this author’s opinion, the data while suggestive is by no means conclusive, and may be misleading. We will see in subsequent articles, and videos, in this series on social media.

We will look for your tomorrow, as we continue this discussion!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

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• 

The debate continues into what constitutes a social media expert or “guru?” Internet marketing, in all of its manifestations is incomplete without including a social media strategy. As Internet marketing and in fact all online business changes, social media marketing is one of the fastest growing facets of entrepreneurship. What defines an expert is one of the central debates in all of Internet marketing. This article is Part III in a series on social media and Part II into this specific debate.

What qualifies an individual as an expert, mentor, coach or, my least favorite of all terms, a guru? It’s a funny thing, almost dialectic, of sorts. A thesis, an antithesis, leading to a synthesis. On one end we have the newbie expert (there’s an oxymoron!), the poser, the wanna-be faking it until they make it. This individual is clearly the thesis, positioned at one end of a spectrum with no clear rules or boundaries. On the other end, we have the indignant, self-righteous, perhaps justifiably so, true expert, the expert who feels he or she has earned his stripes on the field of battle, so to speak, and cannot believe all these wanna-bes and posers are running around here and there attempting to dispense knowledge only HE (notice the caps) should be privileged enough to share! On the middle ground, the ground no one wants to inhabit for too long, neither newbie nor guru, a no-man’s land with absolutely no power or credibility, no chance of making it and no chance or being heard, stand the vast multitudes. A transitionary state from newbie to guru no one wants to be stuck in for too long.

There is a conundrum here, a puzzle to beat all puzzles. How do you get from thesis to antithesis, how do we reconcile the two and come to a synthesis? I know this analogy is a stretch…but work with me here. It is kind of like the kid with a lot of moxie but no experience, you just know he has it, that intangible it everyone wishes they have just a small amount of. You know he’ll make a heck of a salesman but he has no experience, plenty of street smarts but no actual nuts and bolts experience to back up his application into the bigs. Do you hire him? If so, what sort of accounts does he work on until ready for the mythic 7Figureland client? Do you throw him right in and have him consulting with your prize accounts or do you place him under someone else’s wing and allow him to shut up and listen, learn, and perhaps role play a bit until he is ready to get his feet wet.

On the other hand you have a nice young couple, just had their first child, he has a great job, perhaps just out of the Army as a first lieutenant, but they have no credit and little savings. Are you going to lend them money? No actual credit experience, just a lot of promise! In both instances, we have people who, given the right opportunity and the right set of circumstances, may prove themselves worthy of the trust they need, and perhaps deserve, to rise to the appropriate station or level…or just get that new house!

So, what does this have to do with social media, LinkedIn, dialectics, and conundrums?

Glad you asked! It’s really very simple.

How do you get from A to Z without going through the rest of the alphabet?

How do you get experience without someone allowing you to play at actually being a salesman?

How did the ball player get to the minors, much less the big league, The Show?

How do you buy your dream house if you can’t get a signature loan or your first credit card?

How many baseball players never, not ever, make it out of the minors?

How many college football players never go pro but end up coaches, or life insurance salesmen from Lima, Ohio? Sorry Lima life insurance salesmen!

How many coaches are there at all levels?

What makes one coach NCAA Division One stuff and another a DIII coach barely winning a game? Ha! If you can answer that in ten words or less we can all retire!

The fact is, there is no simple answer and there is no right or wrong path, no clear-cut, proven highway to becoming a social media expert either, because, in my humble opinion, there are no experts!

Get that?

There are no real experts!

This is all too new, it’s kind of like spending 4 years at a prestigious university to learn how to write in C or how to use reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in DNA processing, and you find out that as soon as you have mastered the technique, the language, it has all changed, evolved into something altogether new and different. Thankfully for a lot of DNA scientists, they haven’t experienced that quite yet, at least not to any level they can’t keep up with and adjust to, and they are a pretty bright group, so they will adapt. C on the other hand? Well…

And that brings me to my final point. Bet you thought I would never get here! Many of the wanna-bes learning to spread their wings on Twitter and facebook and the other social media platforms, at least the ones who stick, the people who aren’t part in the 60% who quit, because 60% of the people quit everything, they are learning, they are playing little league on their way to the bigs…maybe. And, just like any newbie knows, the best way to learn something is to teach it! In teaching others, a social media experiment of sorts is taking place. How great is it that these people are practicing on each other? The strong are rising to the top and the weak, quitting (the 60% again). All the time, the strong are sharpening their skills, not on some 7 figure client but on each other, to the benefit of whom?

Yup! All of us!

We all benefit from this laboratory, this social media and social media marketing (an oxymoron) experiment.

Are there casualties? Some, but not many! You see, people are a lot smarter than most other people give them credit for being, at least when it comes to sniffing out a phony, a false prophet, a wanna-be-but-not-quite-guru. And yes, there are a lot of phonies…but there are also a lot of very bright people cutting their teeth and spreading their wings, you gotta love these little clichés, while all the time doing it in a social media marketing laboratory, and not on some 5 star, 7 figure client. They learn, they grow, they prosper, they quit, they evolve, they adapt, and they learn some more! Sounds like it’s right up my alley, sounds like evolution and natural selection at work in a social medium…

Sounds like life!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

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• 

The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed Now Examines the Benefits of Social Media as an Inbound Marketing Strategy!

We hear about the demise of this Internet phenomenon and the death of that social media platform from various pundits and prognosticators as they attempt to sound intellectual or just in the know. We even hear about the death of various forms of advertising and marketing as various Internet “gurus” and self-appointed inbound marketing “experts” attempt to validate their lofty status in an effort to improve their brand and sound “in the know.” Lately, we have heard about the death of Twitter, with its high turnover rate and lack of retention, as high as sixty percent, the death of MySpace with the emergence of mini-blog phenomena, facebook and Twitter, and the death and rebirth of network marketing, with every Tom, Dick and Web Prosperity citing Donald, Robert, and Warren as their authorities.

In an attempt to lend credence to their shaky, often tenuous arguments, the various authorities point to this indicator and that metric while all the time keeping a close eye on what the herd is doing. The herd! To paraphrase Mark Twain who said it best, writing in his notebook of 1904, if you find yourself siding with the majority, it’s time to take a step back and think about the side you are on. In other words, it’s time to “pause and reflect.” Somewhat earlier, but on the same topic, Twain wrote in an unsent letter to Baynard Taylor, 1878, “When you set aside mere names & come down to realities, you find that we are ruled by a King just as other absolute monarchies are. His name is The Majority. He is mighty in bulk & strength…He rules by the right of possessing less money & less brains & more ignorance than the other competitor for the throne, The Minority. Ours is an Absolute Monarchy.” The herd effect or herd ethic is incredibly powerful when it comes to advertising and marketing, exponentially so when it comes to Internet marketing.

The social media marketing phenomenon is a complex and difficult puzzle, a conundrum, neither fully understood nor tested, social media is an excellent example of the herd effect in full stampede. There can be little doubt that social media marketing holds with it the promise of untold wealth, if properly applied, its strategy carefully mapped out and implemented. However, the rush to Internet social marketing gold has novice and “guru” alike maneuvering, clambering, and even elbowing for the ultimate prize, Internet marketing gold. Not unlike the California Gold Rush or the race to acquire the untold and forbidden wealth of China throughout history, entrepreneurs are engaged in the ultimate Internet gold rush, pursuing the riches promised, yet rarely achieved, as many as sixty percent, and perhaps many more, going home broke.

Twitter marketing is the most recent phenomenon in the Internet marketing derby for online riches. There are a myriad of products available to automate, optimize, and monetize the Twitter experience and more created daily. Industrious marketers have created plug-ins of all sorts and kinds. Designers have created amazing landing pages and Twitter backgrounds with incredible graphics and impressive visual effects, many offered at no charge. Of course there is usually an upsell, for just a small price. After all, what self-respecting Internet marketer would forget the upsell? Others have created automated tweet functions to happily tweet the day away completely on autopilot, I still can’t believe I use that word, “tweet.” Automated follow and unfollow applications are also available and make it possible to build massive followings, again on almost total autopilot. Twitter makes it almost imperative that members drop those pesky people who either fail to reciprocate and follow back or drop followers as soon as they reciprocate, a phenomenon called “pump and dump.” You see, Twitter applies a metric, a ratio of following to followers, and if the ration is off, “the powers that be” will stop a person from following anyone else until they achieve nirvana. Well, at least until they achieve Twitter balance, the Twitter version of ying and yang, The Tao of Twitter! Being cut off from following others, particularly for the spammers, is a kind of Twitter death. Since the new mini-blog marketing phenomenon is viewed by many as a numbers game, the more followers, the greater the audience. The greater the audience, the more clicks on the links embedded in each and every tweet; and, the more clicks, the more conversions. Ultimately, tweets with links lead to clicks, and the more clicks the more conversions; and, the more conversions, the more sales. Or does it?

Interestingly, the data does not support this supposition, the logical next-step that links lead to clicks, and clicks to conversions, and conversions mean sales. What many Twitter marketers are discovering, and perhaps this is one part of the reason why the retention is so low, is the tire-kicker phenomenon. What I refer to as the tire-kicker mentality is explained best as follows:

•Twitter followers tend to follow like-minded people, other Internet marketers, coaches, soccer moms, whomever.
•Twitter marketers are marketing to other marketers who are interested in self-education.
•Internet marketers (a.k.a., Twitter marketers) can get all the free education they need by. signing up for another’s offerings, taking full advantage of the free education and whitepaper resources.
•Internet marketers who find a good product will sign up as an affiliate and purchase it from themselves, rather than from the individual who initially referred them by way of the link in the original tweet.

The conversions and sales? Yes, sales are being made but, as many find out when offering Clickbank products, particularly Clickbank products offered to other Internet marketers, they are not being made by the individual initially responsible for the introduction of the product to the consumer. Additionally, most Internet marketing products, sold by other online businesses have little or no tracking capability if an individual decides to beat the system. The moral of the story? In this author’s opinion, the opportunities to make a living as an affiliate marketer, even with a sizeable following, are limited, at best. The reality? Multiple streams of income is still the best approach. Social media in and of itself, and twitter in particular, may offer advantages as part of a total marketing strategy but if you plan on making a living solely from this sort of income producing methodology, you may be in for a bit of a disappointment.

So, what are the alternatives? What solutions are there for the Internet marketer bent on making a living from social media? One solution? Don’t sell to Internet marketers. That’s right! Get out of the Internet marketing niche altogether and offer products to the public at large, those not actively engaged in online business. Another solution? Create your own product and offer that exclusively. If you create a product that solves an immediate problem or does something better than a current application does, you can then offer that product to anyone, given the right advertising and marketing strategies. A third solution? Create your own company offering a unique service or one you feel you can do better, cheaper or with a different spin than the current online businesses are. There are other strategies for making a significant income online, and there are opportunities to cash in on the social media marketing gold rush, just not in the way many envision and not as quickly and not at the click of a link We will discuss the real value of social media and other social media marketing platforms in the next article in this series.

The transition for the old to the new, from an entirely “outbound” marketing strategy to an online focus has resulted in the formation of a new company, The Ultimate Internet Image, with offices in several states and more coming. The need for personalized marketing strategies, incorporating a synergy between the best of traditional offline marketing techniques and innovative and revolutionary new inbound, Internet marketing strategies have resulted in a company with one goal, excellence! For more information stop by our new blog at:

http://www.UltimateInternetImage.com

Russell Brunson’s Absolutely Amazing 27 Day Challenge! Just cover S&H and you will have invested in a program worth thousands! This is as good an offer as I’ve seen from DotComSecrets…don’t miss this one!

Marc Joyner’s Simpleology will do what the name implies and so much more! This program will focus that energy to a knife point and you will experience productivity like never before! The best part? It’s totally free! That’s right, free…always! No trial period, no hitch, just free and absolutely awesome! Sign up today!

Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter and, if you are interested in pursuing the offer I mentioned to work along side me, and along with the rest of the Ultimate Internet Image Mastermind Group…and the business that goes along with it? Contact me at the email below!

Best wishes and I am available for personal consultation any time!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

For additional articles: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Zajaros

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• 

The question I asked myself, and the question you need to ask yourself is, where do you want to be 5 years from now?

Do you want to be working a job you hate the rest of your life or do you want to have an amazing life, one you can only glimpse a small part of now?

Either way, 5 years from now you are going to be alive and breathing, the question is do you want to pay a higher price now and have something amazing? Or do you want to be where you are today…5 years from now and for the rest of your life?

Before I started my businesses a very smart man who is my mentor asked me some questions when I said I was 53 and was questioning whether I could spend the time to build something at my age, and in my sate of health.

He said and asked me this:

“Let’s say it takes 5 years to build a million dollar a year business or multi-million dollar a year business. How old will you be?”

I said, “58!”

Then he asked, “How old will you be if you do nothing?”

I said, “58!”

He said, “So, in either case 5 years from now you will be 58, is that right?”

I said, “Yes!”

He said, “Since in either case you will be 58, and exactly the same amount of time will have passed, 5 years, where would you rather be? Where you are now? Or, where you envision being if you dare to be great?”

I said, “Where I envision myself being, of course!”

He said, “Well then, are you willing to pay the price for 5 years? Or, are you willing to pay for not making the right decision for the rest of your life? Because either way, you will be the same age 5 years from now, the real question is….How do you want to live the rest of your life? Do you want to live the rest of your life as you are today? Or, do you want to live the rest of your life as the owner of a million dollar plus per year business, because 5 years from now you are either going to be who your are today or who you envision becoming? Do you want to spend the rest of your life being unable to provide for yourself and your family, without struggle and doing something you hate? Or do you envision providing for yourself, your wife, your children, and your childrens’ children in a way you can only begin to image?”

I said, “Where do I sign?”

You see, you must think long term and you must get out of your comfort zone! It is easier to be broke, as painful as that is, than to step outside yourself and do something amazing! It is more difficult to step outside yourself and do what most people will not, dare to be great! Fewer still will put in the effort to be great! Even fewer still will take a chance and run the risk of failure…to be great! And that’s why only 1% or 3% or at most 5% are ever great!

Fear of failure and an unwillingness to get out of your comfort zone!

I once had a regional manager working for me, Steve Wilson (name changed), I will never forget Steve. Steve was 10 years my senior at the time and wise beyond his years, he knew how to be successful. I was 29 and his boss but he was the teacher that day. I owe him everything. Steve taught me more than I ever taught him. Steve asked me a few very simple questions way back a quarter of a century ago. I had just thrown up, pulling off the side of the road, running around to the back of the car, and puking my guts, I was so sick, I was about to have my first bout with duodenal cancer, terrible and didn’t even know it yet!

Out of the car he came, walked up to me and looked me in the eye and said,

“Are you willing to pay the price, because this isn’t the half of it?”

All I wanted to do was go home and climb into bed and he asked me again:

“Are you willing to pay the price, because this isn’t half of it?”

I couldn’t speak, I can still see the exact spot we were at in my mind’s eye, back on Sperry Rd. Westlake, Ohio, in the summer of 1984.

I couldn’t speak, I was afraid I would throw up again, and I nodded my head…

YES!

Then he made me say it, not so much with words as with a look…

“YES!” I screamed, yelled, bellowed, whatever it was, it was a YES!

He was right, it wasn’t half of it. But do you know what? We got back in the car, drove to our next appointment, instead of going home and getting in bed, which would have been the comfortable thing to do, the perfectly justifiable thing to do, even the rational thing to do!

We also made a sale! “Ace” Heating and Cooling (name changed), I remember it like it was yesterday because I was visibly ill and we still made the sale…for a ton of money.

Then? I went home and went to bed! I spent the next 12 weeks in Fairview General Hospital and Metro General Hospital, in Cleveland, but I will never forget that question or that sale!

The lesson was clear, sometimes when everything in your body and your mind is screaming stop, I don’t like this, this is uncomfortable, even painful, if we somehow force ourselves through the pain barrier and through the comfort zone…

WE CAN DO GREAT THINGS, WE CAN BE GREAT, WE CAN LIVE A GREAT LIFE! BUT WE MUST FIRST…DARE TO BE GREAT!

Every time I think of quitting, I am taken back to the side of the road and that surreal scene a quarter of a century ago. Steve was at my wedding to Connie in Las Vegas and remains for ever in my thoughts.

Everyone has a Steve in their life, some listen to the message and some quit. I hope none of you don’t quit! Quitting is easy and quitting becomes habit…and then you are going find that there is no way back until you break the mold and begin to believe in yourself again. Difficult? Yes! Impossible? Never!

“Never, never, never give up!” Winston Churchill

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Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

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