by Elaine Lockard on January 25, 2010
I recently watched the 2009 remake of the movie Fame. In it, one of the characters gives her impression of what success is and is not.
The passage is very inspiring. It speaks not only to the material but the spiritual side of success. It reveals the underlying feelings you get from true success.
Simply stated, you can have all the materials possessions which can come with money, wealth and power but if you don’t have joy in your heart, if you don’t love what you are doing, if you don’t help others, then success is a hollow victory in your life.
Here is the passage for your review:
Some things success is not: it’s not fame, it’s not money or power
Success is waking up in the morning so excited about what you have to do, that you literally fly out the door.
It’s getting to work with people you love.
Success is connecting with the world and make people feel.
It’s finding a way to bind together people who have nothing in common, but a dream.
It’s falling asleep at night knowing you did the best job you could.
Success is joy and freedom and friendship and…
Success is love…
by Elaine Lockard on January 16, 2010
So, you have decided to start your own home-based business and stop working 9 to 5 for someone else. Congratulations!!
Now, the first question, or questions, you must ask yourself are, “Do I really want to do this?” ”Do I really love or, at least, really like what I am going to do?”
Why ask these questions? The answer is motivation. If you are going to stay motivated to work, willing to put in the extra hours (yes, more than 40 hours a week), do the marketing, sales, bookkeeping, clerical work, etc, that goes with any business, then you should have a passion or, at least, a strong liking for what you are going to do if you want to be successful. Without this passion, you will over time loose your motivation and interest and eventually your business will fail. You will be back to square one with only a depleted bank account to show for it, if not worse, and will have wasted a lot of your precious time.
With passion for what you are doing, you happily put in the time to grow and maintain your business. Just think of how many times in your life you had to do a chore. Did it feel like a chore when you liked doing it? How about when you did not like what you had to do? Which was easier? The former I bet.
To paraphrase a quote I just read, do what you love and is easiest for you and charge for it. Believe me, in the end, you will have more of a chance of succeeding and you will be happy and enjoy the ride while getting there.
Now that you have asked yourself these first questions and decided what you are going to do, what is the second question you must ask yourself and consider?……………..
(This article is the first in a series of articles about starting and maintaining a home-based business. Come back later to read the second and subsequent articles.)
by Elaine Lockard on December 22, 2009
How many of you have a “To Do” list? I bet most of you do. I know I do. We have such busy lives, we need a plan to stayed focused on what’s needed, what’s important.
In business, especially a business that markets through the Internet, you must have a plan of action or you spend too much time and resources doing other things that bring in little money for the effort.
That is where Strategic Internet Marketing comes in to help you get to where you want to be in your business success. This article, “What is Strategic Internet Marketing?” by Kasey Traeger, explains how and why it works. I invite you to read it and reply in the comments how you are using this in your business and, if not, how could it be of use to you if you started.
by Elaine Lockard on December 12, 2009
Networking is founded on building relationships. What better way to build a relationship than by being of service to your business partner 
or colleague and they, in turn, are also of service to you. This exchange or giving to one another is called reciprocity and is a very powerful tool in building and keeping your network of contacts and connections.
I recently ran across an excellent article on this subject by Harrison Monarth called, “Harness the Power of Gratitude with the Reciprocity Technique.” This is an excellent article, which I invite you to read. It contains a wealth of useful information.
