To Get More FROM Life, Give OUT More Joy

Increasing Life’s Abundance

by Foster Hibbard


We are all seeking an increase in one or more areas of

our lives. We may want an increase in love, in health,

in career success or in prosperity.


Because of this desire for increase, joy is extremely

important for it has been called the first law of

increase in the Universe. Joy is the key which enables

an endless avalanche of abundance to pour into our

lives. The totality of love, health, success and money

that we now have is the result of the degree of joy

that we have experienced in our lives up to that

moment.

This means that at any moment of any day we can begin

to express more joy and, thereby, increase the flow of

abundance into our lives.

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Lighten Up On Yourself For Past Mistakes

Ignorance Causes Mistakes

by Foster Hibbard


It would be a great blessing if you and I could assume

the attitude that every mistake each of us makes is

based upon the information and wisdom that we have

acquired up to that moment. In other words, all

mistakes are based on ignorance.


Had we known better, we would not have made any one

particular mistake. Any mistake we have ever made in

our lives was based on information and wisdom we had

accumulated up to that moment. Everybody is doing his

or her best at all times. If we were wiser, we would

not make mistakes. I am completely convinced that

everybody on earth is constantly acting upon

accumulated information. I believe, therefore, we are

set free from feeling the need ever again of accusing

anyone of anything.

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New Standards for the Wealthy

I read an article yesterday in the Chicago Tribune business section about how the new global rise in wealth is causing the bar to be set higher when it comes to luxury goods.

Instead of $350 stilettos or $600 handbags, the status-consious look for $1,000 shoes and $5,000 handbags.

Montblanc recently sold a $700,000 pen in New York City. It took 15 months to make, and had rubies, sapphires, and diamonds.

Luxury sales have been rebounding since the 2001 terror attacks. Last year, worldwide luxury sales topped $150 billion, of which 30% came from the U.S.

The weak dollar has caused a surge in sales from Asian tourists, and Russians, who are very status-consious. The latest source of wealth are hedge fund managers.

Last year, the top 25 hedge fund managers made $14 billion last year.

Barring any geopolitical event, the forecasts are for luxury spending to continue growing at double-digit rates.

Some experts worry that tensions may grow between the haves and have-nots. Right now, the wealth disparity is supposed to be the greatest since the Depression.

In 2005, real reported income in the U.S. was up 3.4% on average. However, it fell slightly for the bottom 90%. The top 0.1% made $5.6 million (up $908,000 from 2004). The top 0.01% made $25.7 million (up $4.4 million).

My own feeling is that a disparity is always going to exist in a healthy capitalist society. Also, like everything else in a market economy (i.e. stock prices, etc), it is subject to fluctuation.

If the disparity climbs to an extreme, then market forces will eventually narrow the gap - automatically, naturally, and better than any forced measures.

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California Real Estate: Sales Down, Agents Up

Recently, I read an interesting fact in the Chicago Tribune real estate section:

In California, home sales in April were down almost 28% from the same time last year.

The number of licensed real estate agents in California, however, jumped 7.5% from last year, to more than 387,000!

The article noted that this was almost equal to the ENTIRE population of Miami!

By comparison, Illinois has about 86,000 agents.

I always figured that real estate agent income followed the 80/20 rule - about 20% of the agents probably earn 80% of the income. I would now guess that California's ratio is probably more skewed.

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Rich Jerk Revisited

In a previous post, I reviewed the Rich Jerk internet marketing course, and talked about how I really enjoyed it.

The biggest lesson it teaches is to think outside the box when it comes to making money on the internet.

Anyway, He released a couple more crazy YouTube videos, that show his wickedly twisted sense of humor (and how to really think out of the box):

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Real Estate Comission Rates Up

I read an article in the Sunday, June 10, 2007 Chicago Tribune real estate section that today's tough selling climate is having a surprising side effect - the average commission rate on closed sales rose slightly nationwide for the first time in years.

According to industry publication "Real Trends", the average commission rose by nearly one-fifth of a percentage point to just under 5.2 percent. This is despite the growth of "for sale by owner" and limited-service real estate brokers.

Commission rates are negotiable, but agents are free to reject the request and turn down the listing.

In the 80's and early 90's, 7% was considered standard in large metropolitan areas. During the late 90's and boom years, the average commissions dropped and stabilized around 5%.

This was because houses were practically selling themselves.

Now, that the market has slowed down, and selling is harder, more agents are refusing to list houses for less than 6%, and some "star" agents are charging 6.5 - 7%, and doing well.

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Linguistics, Chomsky, Recursion, and the Pirahas

I read a very interesting article in the Sunday, June 10, 2007 Metro section of the Chicago Tribune.

MIT's Noam Chomsky is considered the Einstein of Linguistics. His work revolutionized the field, just as Einstein's Theory of Relativity transformed physics. One of his key theories is that all human language employ recursion, which allows humans to share complex thoughts. It is what separates human language from animal squawks and grunts.

For example, in the nursery rhyme "This is the cat that chased the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built", the word "that" is a recursive device. It directs the listener to not just any cat, but specifically, the cat that chased the rat.

Recently, however, an unknown linguist from Illinois State University has contradicted Chomsky's theory, and stirred up the field.

This linguist, Dan Everett, has spent 30 years doing field work with the Piraha, a tiny tribe in the Amazon. He now speaks their obscure language fluently, and has found that they don't use recursives.

So, while Chomsky supporters discount his findings, people who support Everett now feel that recursion evolved in human language. It may not be, as Chomsky theorizes, hard-wired.

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Seth Godin, Forbes, and Funnel

Forbes Magazine recently celebrated its 90th anniversary with an issue about networks.

They think networks are an integral part of business and life - from railroads and the telegraph in 1917 (when Forbes magazine was founded) to the internet and social networks today.

They asked some leading thinkers in various fields to contribute essays. Marketing expert Seth Godin was one of them.

He stated that marketers are traditionally control freaks. They maintained control of their product's image, wrote and filmed the ads, spend the advertising dollars, and chose the medium.

The great brands and big companies were built on mass advertising. He used the analogy of a funnel - media filled the company's funnel with attention, and it slowly turned to cash.

Now, he says the funnel is broken. Mass marketing now only yields marginal results. For example, he said that American airlines might spend more than $1 million on a TV ad campaign, and attract only 100 new first class customers.

He says the tick now is to turn the funnel around, turn it into a megaphone. But, instead of shouting at your customers, give them the megaphone. Let them speak about your company.

In short, focus on service and quality. Take care of your customers, and they will spread the word, and get you more customers.

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College Loans and Sallie Mae

My son will turn 2 next month, so it will be a while before he starts college, but one of my wife's relatives will be coming to the U.S. as a foreign student.

She got a partial scholarship to cover some of the cost, and her college recommended Sallie Mae (the quasi-government organization that deals with student loans) for the rest. She asked us to co-sign her loan.

So, I started researching the student loan process - and Sallie Mae foreign student loans in particular.

It looks like a good choice for her will be their "Signature Student Loan". She can apply online, complete the first part of the application, and then create a co-signer confirmation number and pin for us.

Then, we can log into the website and complete our part.

Their loan rate is based on the Prime Rate, which is set monthly by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank. Depending on the school, credit history, etc. it could be anywhere from Prime -1% to Prime + 3%, or higher.

The current monthly Prime Rate is 8.250%. But, the prime rate does change with time. For example, back in December 2005, it was 7%. In May 2006, it was 8.75%.

So, for example, if you got a loan in Dec. 2005 for Prime + 1%, you would have started paying 8% interest. It would have gone up to 9.75% in May 2006, and would be 9.25% now.

So, its definitely more variable then, say, a mortgage.

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A Free Guide Recommending Internet Marketing Resources

If you are interested in internet marketing, or developing websites for any reason, you should download Mike Filsaime's free resource guide.

In it, Mike Filsaime (the internet guru behind "Butterfly Marketing") describes all of the internet tools and resources he uses to run his internet business.

It lists his choices for domain registration, hosting, shopping cart software, CD duplication, tele-seminars, web page design tools, etc.

I found this free guide very helpful, because it made me aware of websites and software I had never heard of. A lot of these offer free downloads and trials.

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Amazon Takes Innovative Step in Online Groceries

Amazon.com is brilliant. Their original innovation was "one click" purchasing.

Now, Amazon is introducing an innovative service called "Subscribe and Save". This lets you sign up for deliveries of non-perishable grocery items that you use regularly, such as coffee, diapers, shampoo, etc.

They designed this as win-win-win for the user. Normally, when you get "lazy" and shop online, you would think that you would pay high shipping costs.

But, Amazon is giving free shipping and price discounts. Also, the program is very flexible - you can change your delivery option (either every 1, 2, 3, or 6 months) or cancel at any time. You aren't locked into a contract.

To me, it sounds like something worth considering. Instead of running out of stuff, jumping in your car, and making an unscheduled shopping trip, you sign up with Amazon, set your options, and get on with your life. They will email as a reminder before each order is shipped.

Not only would you shop the "lazy way", but you would get "rewarded" - price discounts, no shipping, and possibly no sales taxes.

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Two For The Road

Two good quotes I recently found:


This is the best day the world has ever seen.

Tomorrow will be a better one.

--- R.A. Campbell



Too many people are ready to carry the stool

when the piano needs to be moved.

--- Anonymous

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The Key to Online Business: Do Something Small

If you want to have success in blogging / internet marketing, I think that you should consider starting small. Think "micro business" - zero start up costs, get profitable, and build from there.

That is what I have done. I created free Blogger blogs, wrote articles, and monetized them with Adsense, Kontera, Amazon, Clickbank, and paid posts from Payperpost, Blogitive, and Blogsvertise. After starting this, I began to sign up for all the free "infomercial" newletters, ebooks, webinars, and videos by the gurus.

Now, as I am making money, I am slowly investing some of it back on advertising, and buying books, ebooks, and MP3s. But, I am not going to invest in $2000 seminars until I start making $20,000.

In my first 10 months online, I made about $1500 and spent about $250. I made my first $750 before I even spent a dime. This was all from paid posts. I haven't counted my Adsense, Kontera, Amazon, and Clickbank, because they were still all under $100. Until I got checks, I don't count it.

I can't stress how powerful this is when you are getting started in internet marketing / blogging.

Sure, the books and seminars are valuable. But, unless you can prove this business to yourself by actually earning money these resources are more a hinderance than help. Newbies get paralyzed by all the info out there, and spend money on websites, marketing courses, etc. and then don't make much. Their business is in the red, and they are discouraged.

Last month, in fact, I was attending a free "infomercial" seminar, and an older man on there said how he was talked into paying $20/month for an autoresponder, and ddn't even know what they did.

You need small wins, small successes. In fact, I have to keep telling this to myself even now. I get ambitious ideas, but then they stay on paper. The only way to make them a reality is to implement something, even if it isn't perfect. You can tweak it later.

I learned my lesson in the offline world 14 years ago, when I bought get-rich-quick and direct marketing courses. I bought into a turn-key business to resell books through mail-order catalogs, and I lost about $2,000.

Now, I have seen criticism about making money through paid posts because it is active (like a job), not passive. That is true. You are limited by the time you have to post. You won't make money 24 hours in your sleep.

However, you can take this active money and convert it into a passive income stream.

You can reinvest your paid post earnings in setting up passive websites, and in advertising. In fact, I have signed up as both an advertiser and blogger with Payperpost. So, I can, for example, write 10 paid posts on my blog. Then, use that money to pay 10 bloggers to post about my products on their websites. So, in effect, I'm building infrastructure for free.

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