I would like to wish all of my readers a happy and healthy holiday season! Mery Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy Kwanzaa!
Additionally, I would like to thank you for taking the time to stop here, to thank you for subscribing to our blog and to the newsletter. Thank you too for commenting when the urge or need to do so strikes you.
I welcome and encourage you to take an active role here and to make your opinions known, they are respected and appreciated! Not only are your comments appreciated and respected, they are invaluable. The comments I receive help me determine what I am going to write about and what the focus of the blog will be from day to day and week to week, so please comment freely.
In the coming year, I hope to expand upon the newsletter and to make it highly visible, as many of you are either not receiving it or not opening it when you do receive it. I hope to resolve this challenge in order to serve you better. By more of you, efficiently and effectively, it is my hope you will feel more connected to my various blogs and visit them, comment on the posts and videos, and perhaps contribute articles of your own…I encourage you do do so!
By helping just one, whether individual, cause, or community we help ourselves; and, the impact will be exponential, one building upon another as we make “Pay it Forward” more than a catchy phrase or a good theme for a feel good movie, it becomes your reality and shapes or reshapes your thinking, and your life, forever!
Merry Christmas and God Bless You!
John
John and Connie Zajaros and Family
216-712-6526 (home office)
216-539-7412 (bus office)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com (my personal email address)
Regardless of where you are in the world, there is something you can be thankful for on this day!
Even in the depths of despair and depression, there were things I could focus on, things that would remind me of why I was glad to be alive, and so I pressed on! More times than not, my family was my focus, it is what defines me and keeps me going when every fiber of my being wants to say…
“Uncle!”
We have all had moments when we are tested; and, those moments may range from seconds to weeks, months, and in the worst cases, years. Times and challenges may come when were feel more than a bit like Job.
And yet, if we persevere, if we press on and do not give up all hope, things turn and our lives become amazing…again!
Amazing!
The other day I was walking my Little Big Dog. For those of you who have watched Little Big Man (1970), with Dustin Hoffman, you will understand why I refer to him in this fashion. I swore I would never own a “little” dog, a “yappie” dog, and yet here I am with a 15 pound “little-yappie” dog who thinks he’s a cross between a Bull Mastiff and a Doberman. We inherited the puppy when my son-in-law and daughter had to pick up their household and move south for his US Army Reserves commitment, his second call-up.
I am a disabled veteran and am proud of him for serving. I hate war…I love my country!
Interestingly, our other dog, a Shetland Sheepdog, was also inherited through the same daughter when her boyfriend, another soldier (go figure!), was shipped off to Iraq and needed a home for his puppy. AJ never came back for the dog! He would have had a very hard time getting him back anyway.
Anyway, back to the Little Big Dog, dog number one…in his mind, anyway. This “Little Big Dog” has the perfect name, a name he earned after surviving terrible illness as a puppy, TuffGuy! TuffGuy is indeed tough. Yes, I do know we have played with the spelling, but once again that was a name we had no part in selecting. In retrospect, how could he have been named anything else?
Interestingly, that little dog, that tough little dog, TuffGuy, nursed me back to health very much in the same way, and at the same time, I was nursing him back from the grave!
So, there we were the other night, 3am in the morning actually, walking down the street as we do every night or early morning, both happy to be alive, healthy, and each other’s company! The ultimate Odd Couple, an Internet marketing entrepreneur reborn and a Puggle…Mutt and Jeff, just happy to be alive!
It’s funny how life often brings us back to certain points again and again. I can remember driving down the street in 1983, again in 1987, in 1993, and once again in 1998 (just before I got sick); and, in every instance I had the music up loud, the windows of the car open, and the wind in my face, literally and figuratively, just happy to be alive. Ecstatic, actually! These moments were all attached to specific events and/or periods in my life, periods of super achievement, living with a sense of what is possible. In fact, with a very real sense that all things are possible! There have been many more throughout my life!
That was the feeling the other night…that all things are possible!
As Yogi Berra would say:
“Deja vu all over again!”
It is the most amazing feeling in the world, it is better than any drug, it is a natural high…the likes of which you have got to experience to understand!
It is on that note that I say I am thankful, not simply because it happens to be a day earmarked by our government years ago as a time of celebration, but because it is a time in my life for celebration, for a victory dance of sorts, for being thankful, and for thanksgiving!
I have a wonderful wife who has stayed with me through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, until death do us part…through years of being in the hospital 2 of every 4 weeks, for months on end. I have 4 wonderful children whom I love dearly and would sacrifice my life for. I have two of the most amazing little granddaughters a grandfather could ever brag about…and I do! I have amazing friends, a few and I treasure them, and I have met a few new ones. I have Bart, a wonderful, quiet, and very special Sheltie we just paid over $6,000 to “save,” after he broke his leg. And I have TuffGuy…or he has me!
I am an extremely wealthy man!
Interestingly, I had a YouTube viewer comment that a video I made showed a lack of material possessions and that it must say something about my financial status.
In fact, it said more about his!
We have been to H#ll and back over the last few years…and I have survived, we all have. I have survived because of the wealth I have that has nothing to do with a bank statement and everything to do with the true value of life and the real measure of a man’s place in it…his family, his friends, and the things he holds dear!
And yes, sometimes that is a “Little Big Dog” named TuffGuy!
I am rich beyond words, beyond description, and it has nothing to do with my bookshelves or the background in my videos or the balance in my bank account.
Sam Walton, the story goes, was on his death bed and uttered these words:
“I blew it!”
I intend to say the following on mine:
“I did it!”
In the mean time, I will simply say:
Thank you, one and all for taking the time to be a part of my life, for reading my thoughts and feelings, for sharing your own. I am richer for the exchange, and I am wealthier for the knowledge you have shared with me.
Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving…each and every day!
I just thought I would share a moment with you. The sun was setting, it is mid-October and the clouds were beautiful, purple and billowing. I live not too far from the spot where the video I shot (below) was taken and I love walking there.
After overcoming a life-threatening and life-altering illness, one that put me in the hospital for months from December of 2004 until April/May of 2008, it is as if my eyes are seeing things for the first time, that I am once again experiencing life.
I am beginning to see the possibilities in life again, the things that make my heart beat a bit faster, and the things that don’t necessarily mean success as much as they simply make life a bit more fun. I have experienced all the trappings of success, have been known as a “success” for much of my life. To have had it all vanish, all the trappings, while fighting for my life was disconcerting but I always knew, if I could just get through to the other side, I would have it all again.
Interestingly, having made it through catastrophic illness, having beat back the most dreaded of diseases and lived to start again, my perspective has been forever altered. The “things” I once thought important are no longer so and the “trappings” of success are now viewed for what they are, impermanent and easily replaceable. The things of value, the things that really matter, friends, family, my faith in people, my faith in Something Greater have all been restored, renewed, or significantly strengthened.
Success no longer has the same meaning…but success still has the same definition!
Figure that one out for yourself….
By definition, success is a progression, an improvement in your overall quality of life on daily basis. Tony Robbins talks about CANI! CANI! is “consistent and never ending improvement.” Tony Robbins talks about the improvement in the quality of your life on a daily basis, incrementally, continually, and consistently. Early Nightingale and Napoleon Hill talk about progression toward a worthwhile goal or ideal. Interestingly, every great thinker has equated success with progress, a progression, a journey that includes never ending improvement.
If that is the definition of success…I am a success!
Every day of my life has become a success, a mural of sorts, and I thought I would share just a moment of it…me and my little dog, TuffGuy…my Higher Power is the painter, my life the canvas!
The video below will be up around the web, on my personal blog, The John Zajaros Blog, and elsewhere. It’s just a moment, a glimpse, and Martin Scorsese has nothing to worry about.
I challenge you to find your own personal place or places, your space if you will, that spot or those spots you can retreat to, that inspire you, not only your entrepreneurial spirit, if you have that sort of wish for your life, but personally and spiritually. Because those personal places are the best places to take a step back and renew, recharge, and refresh the Spirit before facing the ups and the downs life invariably throws at us daily…on our journey, our progression, our never ending quest!
This has just been a moment of personal reflection:
The Quest Revealed!
As stated, the most significant and meaningful trappings of success are no longer the same for me. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t get excited about a new Hunter sailboat, almost purchased a while back, or a comfortable houseboat for Connie and I to retire on. TuffGuy, Bart, kids, and whomever else wants to come along with us, as well! Well, maybe? But the landscape has changed, the Master Gardener has done a real job on me, I no longer yield the same produce and life on the other side of H#ll is indeed Heaven!
We are tested throughout our lives but one thing I know with absolute certainty…Tony Robbins is right! CANI! is the real “secret” to success. Only through constant, consistent, and never ending improvement, never quitting no matter what the odds, will you prevail.
Not only will you prevail, life will be amazing!
But you must demonstrate:
Faith– in yourself, your loved ones, your friends, your Higher Power (in what ever form you see it) and, most importantly, your Self! Hope– above all, hope! Without hope, when things are their blackest, you will falter! You must have HOPE! Determination– there were times when the only thing that kept me going was determination, that refusal to quit regardless of what everyone and everything was saying! Persistence– just a bit different from determination, a one-two punch of sorts. Determination is the mindset, persistence is the implementation! Goals– It is not enough to want something, you must have concrete goals and a plan of action. Without goals you are truly a ship without a rudder, blowing this way and that! Burning Desire– this may also be called “The One Thing!” It is not enough to have goals, it isn’t even enough to have a plan of action, you must want it, whatever “it” is, with all your heart! You must want it in the pit of your stomach, it must burn within you like nothing else…it must make your soul ache!
IF you are able to define, clearly and concisely, what your “One Thing” is, write it out, burn it into the very fabric of your being, and then have complete faith in the reality that it will be yours, put the plan into action and improve upon it in some way each and every day, constantly and consistently, you will prevail!
In the words of one of the greatest statesmen to ever walk the Earth, “Never, Never, Never, Never Quit!” And you will prevail!
John Zajaros
216-712-6526 (home/business)
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com
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!
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)
