Is your attitude holding your business back?

Tonight we are continuing our discussion on attitude and where your business is focusing. The other day we talked specifically about where your business is focusing, and started talking about how your attitude could negatively affect your small and home based business decisions. As promised, tonight we are going to cover some myths about attitude and how to overcome the feelings that trigger some bad decisions.

Is your attitude holding your business back? From the time we are born, we are conditioned by family, friends and environmental conditions. Perhaps you grew up with your parents telling you that you won't amount to much, so why bother working so hard. Perhaps your parents were saying that not because they believed it in you, but because that is what their parents taught them. Or, you may have had parents that believed the only way you would ever succeed is by going to school, studying hard, get a good job and work until it is time for you to retire. So when you strike out and start a business of your own, your parents are telling you that it is a dumb or crazy idea. You almost believe them because you have been pre-conditioned to believe the only real way to succeed is by working a regular job.

The key here is to identify the beliefs you have held for years, or even decades and determine if any of those closely held beliefs are misleading, or false. This is not an easy task, mostly because we tend to react emotionally first when one of our core beliefs is challenged. What we need to do is to stop and examine the emotional reaction and see if the reaction is in line with what caused the reaction. You also need to see if your emotional reaction is reasonable.

Some people may have been conditioned to believe that if they do not work a regular job, they will amount to nothing. Or that if they start a home based business they are doomed to failure. They may try the business, but if they fail once, they will never try again, because that one failure, in their eyes, is proof of what they have been pre-conditioned to believe. We all need to look at our own personal emotional responses to stimuli and determine if those responses are reasonable, or if perhaps we need to re-train ourselves to a new emotional response.

Most of your prospects do not make a purchase based on logic alone, they are purchasing products and services more based on emotion rather than pure logic. If you have managed to tap into their emotional triggers, then you should be able to look at your own emotional triggers and work to make the triggers positive instead of negative. By discarding the beliefs that are misleading or false and replacing them with positive beliefs, you will have a much more positive attitude and be more positive about focusing on your business decisions. The positive attitude should allow you to make more positive business decisions. If nothing else, the positive attitude will allow you to think more clearly about what decisions need to be made with regards to your small, home-based business.

We must keep in mind that even if outside events and challenges have some influence over our business situations, it is us alone who have the ultimate outcome and ultimate decision making power. Once we realize that we are in the driver's seat and that outside factors can be made to work for us instead of against us, our attitudes will be much more positive and will reflect positively in our business dealings. We then learn that our attitude is no longer holding our business back.

If you are looking for a second income business opportunity, we may have something that would interest you. Please feel free to contact us with your questions, perhaps we can help you earn that second income or help you on your way towards financial freedom.

Until tomorrow...

What is My Greatest Achievement

While searching for an interesting topic for tonight's blog, I came across a great question from Plinky.com. Tonight I am going to answer the question, what's your greatest achievement? How many of us can actually answer that question? There are so many small achievements to be proud of, but to find one that you would classify your 'greatest", well that takes some serious thought.My greatest achievement to date is having started Hawgwash, LLC and kept it running successfully for over 4 years. We have beaten the odds for new start-up companies so far. This January Hawgwash, LLC will be 5 years old. This is a huge achievement, especially since we have had a declining economy for most of those 5 years. (no the decline in the economy is not because we started Hawgwash, LLC)

I had been a corporate person for the majority of my adult life, working my way up from general sales, into accounting and finance. It had been tough, slowly climbing from rung to rung, long hours, minimal pay increases, but with time I succeeded in the corporate world. The difference was that I was still working for someone else, helping them to get rich. Four and a half years ago, with help from Steve, I left the corporate world to start Hawgwash, LLC.


We now travel around the country, from various shows (Motorcycle Rallies, Car rallies, RV Rallies) meeting the neatest people and promoting our products ad services. When we first started Hawgwash, LLC, we had a pretty basic business plan and a limited product offering. We were the Waterless Cleaning people. We would detail cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats and RV. Basically any vehicle you had, if it had decent paint on it, we would clean it for you.


As the economy started changing, we started adjusting our marketing strategy and expanding our product line. Our initial products went from the waterless cleaning items, to towels and additional cleaning supplies. At the suggestion of a good vendor friend of ours, we began carrying other items not specifically related to waterless cleaning techonolgy. This way, if we were in an area where they could care less about keeping the paint of their vehicle clean, we had other product offerings to entice customers.


We continued experimenting with other product offerings and removed products that did not produce solid results. As time goes on, we will continue to expand our products and services, always on the lookout to provide the best of the best for our customers. This philosophy has served us well over the years and we will continue to review products and services to be sure we are providing the best value for our customers


Because of our constant search, we have changed our goal of Hawgwash, LLC. We are not just the waterless people anymore, but are now Second Income Specialists. We offer several small business opportunities for people looking for a second or additional income stream. We have business offerings in the legal, nutritional and waterless technology fields. We are always open for questions and are more than willing to help guide people to find an opportunity that best suits their needs, even if it is an opportunity that we do not work with.

If you are interested in what we have to offer, or have questions, please check out our website at www.hawgwash.net or feel free to e-mail us. We welcome your comments and suggestions. As you can see, after almost 5 years, I am still very proud of this business of ours, Hawgwash, LLC. I consider it my greatest achievement to date.


Until tomorrow...

Millionaire Spotlight

Tonight we are going to take a brief look at who Warren Buffett is and why he is in our Millionaire Spotlight. I am sure many of you have heard of Warren Buffett, his name has been in the news for years, you may have heard some of his comments on the economy and investing. Since he is so often quoted and watched in the news, I thought it would be beneficial to find out more about who Warren Buffett is and why he is so often quoted.

Warren Edward Buffett is an American investor, industrialist and philanthropist. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and is currently ranked the third richest person in the world by Forbes in 2010, after Carlos Slim Helu, and Bill Gates. Warren Buffett is called the "Oracle of Omaha" and is well known for his value investing philosophy and for his personal frugality. As a child, Warren Buffett was interested in making and saving money. He used to go door to door selling gum, Coca-Cola or magazines. He worked in his grandfather's grocery store for some time. While in high school, Buffett and a friend pooled their money to purchase3 a used pinball machine which they they put in a local barber shop. Within a few months, they purchased several more pinball machines and placed those in different barber shops.

By 1962, Warren Buffett officially became a millionaire, mainly due to his partnerships which had an excess of $7,178,500 (of which $1.025 million belonged to him). Is is currently ranked second richest man in the United States after donating billions of dollars to charity in 2009. His net work is up to $47 billion. What is interesting is that his children will not inherit a significant amount of his wealth. He wants to provide just enough for his kids so that they feel they could do anything, but not too much so that they don't do anything. Warren Buffett has been very wise in his investing and does not invest unless he has researched the opportunity. He does take calculated risks, but again, not unless he has carefully studies the particular company's management along with the company's Income Statement and Balance Sheet. It is not the numbers alone that interest Warren Buffett.

The lessons with Warren Buffett are very similar to what we have seen with other millionaires; even though you earn a lot of money, it is not necessary to spend all of it. The key to becoming wealthy is to earn money, save most of it and reinvest it again to continue building profits and income. In 1957 he purchased a 5-bedroom stucco home for $31,500 in 1957 and still lives there today.

If you are looking for second income opportunities in order to further grow your savings, we may have something that will work well for you. After reviewing our website, please feel free to e-mail us with any questions regarding the income opportunities listed. Hopefully you enjoyed this week's Millionaire spotlight. If you are interested in learning more about Warren Buffett (there is a lot of information that cannot be easily encapsulated here), there is a wealth of information and biographies on the Internet.

Until tomorrow...

Need for Small Business Motivation

How do you stay motivated in your small business when it feels like you are continually struggling? You start struggling with the tough questions: is now the right time for my business; do I have the right product and service mix for the current customer base and lastly, should I call it quits? These same questions have most likely plagued all small business owners at some point (or at many points) of their business career. There is a very strong need for small business motivation. It is very tough right now to remain successful and when times get tough, it is hard to remain motivated to keep your small business going.

We have discussed in other articles the need to keep an eye on your competition to see what they are doing correctly or incorrectly. Then you strive to fill the gaps that your competition cannot fill. We have also discussed keeping your products and services appropriate for your customer base, changing or adjusting products and services as your client tastes change. What we didn't review lately is how to remain motivated while you are working to keep your small business profitable and hopefully growing.

One way to know you are going in the right direction with your business is to regularly measure your progress against your established milestones. These metrics should have been included in your business plan, but if you did not include any measurements for growth, now would be a good time to get those benchmarks developed. By measuring your existing business metrics against what you believe should be, you are able to verify either improvement or problems. Either way, you will be motivated, if you are doing better than expected, you will be motivated to continue the momentum. If you are not doing as well as expected, then you are more motivated to get your small business back on the path to financial success. Either way, instead of worrying about where your business might be, you have measured your current business standings and know for certain where you should be taking your business going forward.

Another way to stay motivated with your small business is to talk to others about what you are doing and what you plan on doing in the near future with your business. Because you have taken your ideas out into the light (talking to people) you are now making yourself more accountable for your plans, others will begin asking how you are progressing. Knowing that you have others watching with interest your success will help keep you motivated and continue on with the plans you had discussed. Sometimes we come up with so many plans, we get overwhelmed and end up not implementing any plans. By discussing these new ideas with close friends or other business associates, you can manage and prioritize the ideas (some for implementation now, others for implementation down the road) and then remain motivated to keep your new ideas moving into your business.

Lastly, remember that difficulty is part of being in business. If you look at almost anyone who has started and run a small business, most of the time the business did not grow without difficulties. You need to understand and appreciate that you will be working under pressure (a lot with a new business start-up). Some tasks will be much more difficult than other tasks, and all tasks will most likely be more difficult than you first thought they would be. The difficulty of the task should not stop you from performing the task, just keep in mind it will most likely be challenging. If it was easy to start and continue to run a small business, everyone and their brother would be in a small business. The motivation here is knowing that everyone who has started a small business has experienced difficulties. The bigger motivation is knowing that once you have passed that difficult stage, you can look back and appreciate where you came from and enjoy where you currently are. Remember, odds are that if the task is difficult, the rewards will be higher, and the personal satisfaction will be greater once you have completed the task.

Hopefully these points will help you to remain motivated while you are building your small business. The current economic times are very tough, many businesses are shutting their doors, now is the time to really focus on keeping your business successful because once the economy starts on it's upswing (and yes, it will come up again) you will be riding the front of that wave and wonder why you questioned your business.

If you are looking for a second (or third, or fourth...) income along the lines of a home based business, we may have something that would interest you (www.hawgwash.net). We offer business opportunities in StemTech (adult stem cell nutritionals), Pre-Paid Legal, Waterless cleaning technology and in Mona Vie nutritional drinks. These business opportunities all have a great pay plan and are very reliable business opportunities. Please feel free to contact us with any questions regarding these or any other business opportunity you are considering.

Until tomorrow...

Discovering a Business Breakthrough

I have been talking at length about home based businesses and presenting various ideas on how to grow your business. Some of you may have been in business for several years and may be currently stuck in the proverbial rut with your current small business. It is times like this when you need to find that business breakthrough that will propel your business into the next level. For many of us with a small business, it is hard to find the time to discover a business breakthrough. We have our hands full with the day-to-day processes, sales and associated issues and concerns.

Tonight I would like to suggest a few different ways to view your current business. By taking an outside view of your business, you may find that critical breakthrough that you have been searching for. Most of the time we need to step back from what we do to take a fresh look at our businesses. It is very hard to do when you have so much that must be completed on a daily basis. You end up getting into a routine and not even realizing that you are doing the same thing day in and day out. That is when your business may become stagnant. Hopefully these questions will help to get your creative juices stirring.

These ideas are similar to free-association, hopefully they will get you looking at your current business situation in new and different ways. It is very difficult to discover new and better ways to do things if you don't have an uninterested third party looking at what you are doing and asking questions. This is a way that we can simulate an uninterested stranger looking at your business and asking questions.

How do you see your products or services changes in the next 3-5 years? Do you see yourself adding or removing product or service lines? If so, why would you change? If you changed products, why did you offer the products in the first place?

Is there a new way to market your product to your customer base? Is your product environmentally friendly? What does your product do that your competitor doesn't do? Is there some off-the wall use for your product that works, but you never tell your customers about? If so, why don't you talk about it? Sometimes a new application for your product can revitalize sales.

Can your products be used by children? Or, if you have products for children, can they also be used by adults? What would need to be adjusted if you changed your demographics?

Is there a different way you can introduce your products to new customers? Do you have testimonials? If not, why not? If you do, are they current? I many businesses I have visited, I have noticed that many testimonials hanging on the walls are years old. Does this describe your business? If you walked into another business and saw testimonials years old, what would go through your mind?

Can you do any word association with your products? Is there a way you can create a silly jingle for your products or services? (i.e. wacky widgets, squeaky clean mouse car cleaners, donut dusters) Even if you don't publish your jingle, it may be enough to get you thinking about your product or service in a new light. That may then suggest other marketing ideas for you. Have fun with the jingle, the only person who may ever hear it could be you. Be sure to record all of your attempts, then come back to your attempts another day. Taking several days to create a jingle and then review it may help to again find new advertising ideas.

Hopefully some of these questions will trigger other ideas for you, they are not meant to be followed religiously, but they are intended to get your creative ideas flowing so that you can come up with even more creative ideas for your specific products or services. With luck you will discover a business breakthrough that will allow your business to be even more profitable than it currently is.

Check out our website if you are interested in adding a second income to your current portfolio. We may have something that will compliment what you are currently doing, or we may have an opportunity that will expand what you want to do.

Until tomorrow...

Millionaire Focus

Hi guys, sorry about being offline for the last 2 days. As you know, I have been taking Saturday's off, but this last Friday, I was so tired after it got dark, I fell asleep. I then intended to post on Saturday to make up for my missed Friday, but again fell asleep. I guess I needed the rest. I am back in the saddle this evening and will pick up tonight where we should have been on Friday - Millionaire Focus.

Tonight, we are going to cover some spending tips that are used by various modern millionaires. As we have discovered in prior posts, many of our modern millionaires do not spend money like we had seen in the past. Many do not go in for the gigantic estates, the fancy cars, etc. Many modern millionaires are much more frugal and it could be useful to see what they do and perhaps mimic some of their behaviors.

Forbes posts a list of the world's billionaires, and as of 2010, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu (Carlos Slim) currently holds the number one spot for being the world's richest billionaires. He is now richer than Bill Gates ad Warren Buffett as being the wealthiest person on earth. He is also known for his frugality. His net worth is somewhere around 60.6 billion dollars. What that means to you and me is that he can spend $1,150 a minute for the next 100 years before he runs out of money. What would you do with that much money.

Part of Carlos' frugality includes living in the same home for more than 40 years. Just because you have the money does not necessarily mean you need to get a larger home. The key is to keep your home simple, get the best you can, within your means. Before you go out and purchase that huge mansion, ask yourself, do you REALLY need all that extra space? With a larger home comes larger maintenance costs (electric, water, cleaning, etc.). Consider all the costs involved with a larger home and determine if the larger home is necessary for your comfort, or if you are just looking for a larger, more expensive home because you want to impress friends and neighbors. By keeping your home simple, you should be keeping your costs more reasonable. Just because you may be making large quantities of money now, does not mean that cash flow will continue indefinitely. By keeping things simple, you are increasing your chances of success for the long term.

Another trick many millionaires use it to purchase their clothes off the rack. Do you really have to have that designer outfit that costs hundreds of dollars? Will anyone really care how much you spent on your clothes. Make sure you have good quality clothes, but you do not need to go overboard on clothing. Some frugal billionaires believe it is not worth the effort or expense to purchase designer clothing. Heck, you may meet some billionaires who predominantly wear jeans and a t-shirt. It is not the clothes that make the person, but rather the person who makes the clothes.

Carlos Slim also does not own a yacht or a plane. He does not spend on any luxury items that he does not need. The key to remaining wealthy is to reduce the amount that you spend. If you do not purchase what you don't need, you can invest your money elsewhere, where it will work for you instead. You should not be working for all the "toys" you purchase. Making your money work for you instead of the other way around will help you to continue to grow rich. Another billionaire who skips many luxury items is Warren Buffett. He believes that "Most toys are just a pain in the neck."

As we continue our our odyssey of examining millionaires and billionaires, we will most likely continue to discover a commonality, that most of these people are extremely frugal. If we can reduce the amount of money we spend on things we really don't need (analyzing want versus needs...) we stand a better chance of keeping our money where it belongs, in investments. If we spend less than we make, and reinvest the money we have saved, then there is a good chance that we too can enter the ranks of the millionaires. If nothing else, we will become richer without having to work much harder.

If you are looking for a second income stream to help build your cash portfolio, you may find some interesting business opportunities on our website. Please feel free to contact us with any questions regarding the business opportunities we offer. If we don't have what you are looking for, we may be able to at least point you in the right direction.

Until tomorrow...

5 ways to grow your business

Many of us with small businesses may sometimes experience slumps in that business. No matter how hard you plan for the fluctuations in customer's buying pattern, it is still educated guesswork. This is the time when you should be referring back to your business plan and confirming that you are still on the path you had originally set. If you feel that your original plan is not working properly, take time to work out a modification to that plan, be sure to include measurable actions in it and continue working. If you are working your business plan and are still having some concerns, now might be a good time to look again at why you started your own small business in the first place. Tonight we are going to talk about 5 ways to grow your business even when you feel like nothing positive is happening.

1. - Now is the time to go back and re-discover why you loved going into business for yourself. When times get tough, it is hard to remember why you started down this path. Hopefully when you initially created your business plan, you included all the things that you loved about starting your own small business. Go back and rediscover why you were passionate about your business. Fall in love again with what you wanted to do, do not let the current economic problems color your feelings (hard to do, I realize, but important to not let current the situation ruin your long-term plans) but strive to remember what you were passionate about. Imagine yourself a year from now and where you want to be. Work to see past the immediate problems and you may be able to figure out a solution to the current obstacle.

2. - Make sure you have a vision of where you want to be. Not where you want to be tonight, but where you want to end up after all is said and done. Once you know where you want to end up, then make a decision that you will make it happen. After deciding you will make the outcome become a reality, start slowly making steps towards that destination. If you are able to focus on your long-term goals, the short-term problems will begin to resolve themselves because you fought to find a solution to them. Your short-term problems are not insurmountable if you are always looking towards the future.

3. - Don't be afraid of the obstacles that crop up as you work towards your ultimate goal. It may sound corny, but the difficulties you experience now will make you a better business person in the long haul. Another way to look at difficulties is, think of the success story you will have to tell. There are many millionaires out there that failed miserably in one endeavor or another, some may have even bankrupted themselves, but they still got up, dusted themselves off and started to work toward their dream again. How do you feel when you hear these millionaires tell you of the times that they failed? We are all human, we will encounter difficulties, we will fail, but we will get up and start again. Failing is only one way of discovering what not to do next time. Won't you feel good being able to stand in front of hundreds of people telling them that there were times that you thought you couldn't go on, but despite the problems and difficulties, you prevailed? It proves you are human.

4. - You need to continue working towards your goals. No matter how hard things get, nothing will ever beat out good old-fashioned work to help a business succeed. Do not fall into the trap that there are businesses out there that do not require large amounts of work in order to be successful. To find a business that does not require any effort on your part is like finding a needle in a haystack. Again, referring back to the numerous millionaire profiles we have been doing, they all have put in the sweat to get their business going. You need to work in order to reap the rewards. There is no free lunch, no matter how many Internet marketers will try to tell you otherwise.

5. - Lastly, don't believe your friends and family when they tell you your business will never succeed. New ideas always seem strange to many people. Inventions like the light bulb would not have occurred if people were afraid to follow new ideas. As long as you have a solid business plan and reasonable chance for success, do not let some people tell you it will never work. Some of the modern millionaires were told their ideas were stupid, but they continued anyway only to end up making millions more. If you decide to discontinue one particular line in your business, be sure you are terminating it for solid business reasons, not because you are bending to outsiders telling you that your idea will never succeed.

Hopefully these ideas will be helpful in igniting lagging enthusiasm in your small business. Times are tough, many businesses (even long-established businesses) are falling by the wayside. The key is to remain flexible, strong, and keep measuring your successes against your business plan.

If you are looking for a second income, perhaps we have something that will appeal to you. Please let us know if you have any questions about the business opportunities we offer on our website. We would love to assist you in finding an additional income stream, and hopefully even helping you to achieve the financial freedom you have dreamed of.

Until tomorrow...

Origins of Labor Day

Today was a day that many of us enjoyed because we didn't have to go in to our regular job. It is now a day of rest for many and a signal of the end of summer for others. How many of you actually remember learning about the origins of Labor Day? I had some inkling, learned about it in grade school, but thought a refresher course may be in the cards. The cool things about Memorial Day and Labor Day for me was that one was the last Monday of the month, and the other was the first Monday of the month. There was a symmetry about that which I always appreciated.

I always remember that the summer is bracketed by two holidays, Memorial Day and Labor Day. As a kid, I would occasionally get the two holidays mixed up because they both represented something about summer and school. School would end shortly after Memorial Day and start up again right after Labor Day. Now with different schools taking different holidays, and some schools essentially year-round schools, Labor Day does not quite mean the same thing anymore. No more end to those long relaxing summer days. No more vacations... time to get ready for school and start thinking about cold weather. I am not even sure if the school systems teach the origins of Labor Day anymore, so here is a brief history lesson.

In the late 1800's working conditions were not very hospitable. There were more often than not extremely long hours, low pay and uncertain jobs. Children worked alongside their parents and there was no sick pay allowed. People were afraid to stay home sick for fear that they would be replaced by others eagerly looking for work. Essentially it was an employers market, and many of the employers took advantage of the workers. In time, a man named Peter McGuire, son of an Irish immigrant, got tired of the long hours, poor work conditions and started learning about economic and social issues of his day. There was talk of organizing workers in order to pressure the managers to improve working conditions and shorten work hours.

In time, organizing workers according to their trade spread across the country and those organized groups became the labor unions that we know now. These organized blocks of workers were better able to negotiate improved work environments and shorter work hours for decent pay. The unions were also able to make the jobs the workers had more secure, including being allowed sick time. Peter McGuire decided that a planned holiday for organized workers would be a good idea. They chose early September (about half way between Independence Day and Thanksgiving Day) as appropriate for an annual holiday. On September 5, 1882 the first Labor Day parade was held in New York City to commemorate the first planned holiday for the workers. In 1884 it was decided that the first Monday in September would be the official holiday. Labor Day is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of the American worker.

So, now you have had a brief history lesson on the origins of Labor Day. Many people look forward to Labor Day because most businesses are closed and it becomes a last tie to enjoy the remaining summer weather without having to take additional time off of work. Some of us are perhaps more blessed, we do not have a Labor Day observance because we are self-employed. We can take the time off and do nothing, or choose to work, at our discretion. If you are interested in learning how you can earn an additional income or ultimately become self employed, please feel free to contact us through e-mail or check out our website for some income earning ideas.

Until tomorrow...

There is no magic bullet

Tonight's topic is regarding the myriad of e-mails I have been receiving about the latest and greatest "magic bullet" that will make all of my financial woes go away. Personally, how did they know I had any financial woes, and really, it is none of their business if I did have any woes at all. My woes are my problem unless I consult someone else and these people are complete strangers to me. Even still, I am compelled to read some of these messages, not because I am looking for that magic bullet, but because I am curious as to what the particular company/person is trying to get me to purchase. Another reason I like reading these messages is that it gives me ideas about what not to do. Sometimes you really have to wonder about people, and how many would really purchase the latest and greatest system to do all the work for them and the money just rolls in.

Honestly, who in their right mind really and truly believes that there is a magic bullet system out there that can resolve all their financial woes? Really... Guess what folks, there is no magic bullet. The only 'magic bullet' I have ever know is good, hard, honest work. That's it. If you want something done, you have to work at it in order to get it done. You cannot think it done. You may believe you can think things done, but there has to be some exchange of energy to get other things done. It is the law of physics. Money does not just roll in your door just because you purchased this nifty computer program and it is doing all your selling for you. Come on, do you really believe that?

Granted systems do work, but not the way most of them are promoted. Systems work because somebody did the work and figured out a way to streamline a process. Purchasing a system may be helpful to your small business because is streamlines a process, but you need to look critically at what you are being offered. Will it resolve some problem that you have been struggling with? Will it do a particular task that you have been manually doing? The bigger question is, what does the person selling the program get out of this? If it is just money for the program, and the program works for what you need, great, it's not a magic bullet, but a solution to a particular problem you are having. Otherwise, if this 'system' is going to generate leads for you to sell someone else's stuff, how can that really help you? You may read about how Joe Blow earned a six-figure income in the first 4 weeks of using the system, but Joe Blow may have been the first person to use the program.

The minute this program is offered to the world for sale, do you really think that it is going to work for everyone? It MAY work for the first few who use it, but my bet is that it will not work for everyone. If it did, you wouldn't see any other offers out there, would you? If one system worked as well as it is promoted to, and generated as much money as they claim for EVERYONE, then EVERYONE would have gotten on the bus and there would be no more competition. But you are probably seeing at least 2 or 3 offers for the latest and greatest magic bullet that will solve all of your financial worries on a daily basis. If they discovered the one solution to all your problems, why are there so many other "solutions" out there?

What I find interesting is that I am receiving the same offer for a particular software solution from several different people (none of whom I know). The wording is slightly different, but they are all hawking the exact same system just adding different bonus packages to it. If it works so well, why is everyone selling it? Would you give away your company secret because you have already made all the money you possibly want? Come on now...really? I believe there are people out there who have made as much money as they want, and that is fine. Those people also most likely give back to their community by helping others. I just seriously doubt that those same people would tell you that they purchased this one program that solved all of their problems and they want to sell that system to YOU. It's just not there.

We have been doing a weekly series on modern millionaires and the common theme within this series is that the particular person worked their tail off getting to where they are today. There was no magic bullet, there was no working 2-3 hours a day to make their millions. They worked hard, they put in long days for YEARS to get to where they are now. They also had bumps in the road, there were failures, but then as they worked, there were also fabulous successes. But the common thread to all of those millionaires is that they WORKED for what they have today.

Some of them were lucky, found a niche that worked well for them, found a need that had been previously untapped, but even with that luck there was a lot of good-old fashioned work (sweat equity) involved to making those millions. I have not met or read about one modern millionaire who just waved their hands in the air, purchased one 'magic bullet' software program and "POOF" all the money they could ever want came rolling into their life. There is no magic bullet, no matter how much you wish there was. Heck I really wish there was a magic bullet that would solve all of my financial woes.

When you see offers for systems that will make you a six-figure income in a short period of time, take a step back and really look at what they are offering. Is it something that you could really and honestly use? We have talked about additional income streams, and having more than one income stream is important, but take a good hard look at what is being offered. I have seen a frightening number of people get bamboozled into purchasing programs that they don't need, won't use, or don't understand and then wonder where the money is. Do not lose your head when you read these offers.

Keep in mind, if you expect to make money, there will be a large amount of work involved. It will not be easy, but in the end, you will be able to look back on it all with pride and see that you earned every penny you have. There are good, legitimate business opportunities out there, but as in any opportunity, there will be work of some type involved. The key is to find the business opportunity that suits your personality, your work ethic, your passion. If you are doing something you are passionate about (we have covered this before too...), then it won't feel much like work, but there will be (should be) some version of sweat equity in any business opportunity you enter into.

There is no magic bullet. Do not expect to purchase one thing that will solve all of your problems. How do they know what your problems are? How do they know how much money you want to make? And again, how do they know that this will work all the time, every time.

In a nutshell, when presented with other opportunities or solutions, look carefully at what is offered. Focus on what they are selling, do not get lost in all the wonderful stories they will tell you about how Joe Blow and Jane Doe made so much money while they slept. Look at what is being offered, how it works, and then ask yourself, if it is so great, why are they selling it to everyone? A bigger question to ask is, "Will it blend well with what I am currently doing?" Don't lose sight of your core competency. If you wander out of what you are good at, you will probably not do well in the new endeavor. Even if you are told this is an "Exclusive Offer", do you personally know the person who is making this offer to you? If not, then odds are that same message is being sent to thousands of people at the same time. Look before you jump.

If you are looking for second income streams, we do have some different ones that may interest you. Not all business opportunities are for everyone, so look carefully and ask a lot of questions. If we do not have anything that is interesting to you, send us an e-mail, even though we may not offer a solution, we may know someone, somewhere that may have what you are looking for. We are here to help, and if we refer you to someone else, we do not get compensated for the referral, nor would we want to be compensated. It is not our style. Happy hunting, feel free to shoot us an e-mail if you have questions, we may be able to assist. If not, we will tell you that too..

Until tomorrow...

I'm not motivated

Tonight's topic is on motivation. It is tough many days to stay motivated. It is even tougher to stay motivated when you are a small business owner. There will be days for all of us when we don't want to get up out of bed. You just don't feel motivated to do anything. We all experience that lack of motivation, but, if you are doing what you love, those non-motivated moments will be few and very far between.

For those of us who may be MOSTLY doing what we love, there are days or parts of the day when you just look around and realize, "I'm not motivated to do ANYTHING". This may become especially apparent on days that you may have been running around like crazy, had tons of things go wrong, or just had no sleep the night before. Then the tasks that are yet to be done seem insurmountable and you lack the proper motivation to tackle those jobs.

We are going to review a few tips that might help generate those motivational juices when you encounter those low motivational times. When you are motivated, you feel like everything is in balance, you can climb any mountain, and no problem is an obstacle. The key here is to recapture that feeling so you can get the work done that needs to get done...even if you are a procrastinator...

Have you noticed on days or hours within the day when you are feeling particularly unmotivated, that you are also not feeling particularly happy? I do not know of a single day when I was happy and laughing that I was not motivated to accomplish tasks. But I can easily remember my non-motivated days usually because I was not in one of my more light-hearted moments. So, if you are not feeling any motivation to do squat, take some time out of your day and find something to do that will make you laugh. It is amazing how much more you can get done, and how much smaller problems become after you have had a good laugh. I look for comics, (which may not work all the time), funny TV shows (if you are not at work) or look for something to laugh at (hopefully not a co-worker...that may not help either of you in the long run...). Laughing relieves stress and allows the blood to start flowing freely through your body again. When you laugh, you are forced to take deeper breaths and if you breath deeply, you will also find your tension levels will decrease.

Laughing has been attributed to increased health, less wrinkled faces (in my humble opinion) and an overall better attitude. Granted there are days when you really don't feel like laughing, but those are the days where it is most important to find something to laugh at or with. Find a funny movie, have on-hand a book of silly jokes or go to a pet store and watch puppies play. There is always something that you can look at that should lighten your mood and at least make you smile for a few minutes. Make a list of things that make you laugh, keep it close for those days when you can't find it in yourself to laugh. This will help with motivation.

Along the lines of keeping a list of things (or stories) that make you laugh, you may also want to keep a log of the times you overcame obstacles or had major breakthroughs. Think back on times when you overcame problems that at the time you believed could not be beat. Remember how good you felt when you beat the problem, or won the game they said you couldn't win? Keeping a log of those can be very motivating. You may even find a situation that you had been in some time in the past that is very similar to your current situation. That in itself is very motivating because you now have written proof that you overcame the obstacle before, so obviously you can do it again. Also, by reading all the times you had breakthroughs, it makes you feel better, knowing that you are very capable of beating the odds. The log of all your successes will help keep you motivated, especially if you have just been dealt a blow.

No matter how bad things may appear at the time, remember there will always be failures. The trick is to be able to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and to keep on going. Sometimes I have found the biggest demotivator is my fear of failing. Once I have dealt with the fear, I am no longer worried about what will happen and I have the energy and drive to get the project done. Even if your project died, at least you are done with it and can move onto the next task at hand. Do not wallow in the failures, don't keep a log of them, but if you end up overcoming a failure and becoming wildly successful, then that is something you will keep in your log-book. It is sometimes through failure that you really succeed. If you did your best, performed your best to the absolute best of your abilities, then be happy with that, even if you did fail at the particular task. Heck, I know I will never, ever play golf like Tiger Woods, but that won't stop me from playing Golf... Be happy doing the best you can with what you have. Beyond that, don't worry about it.

If you are currently in a situation you do not like to be in, if you do not like the job you are currently working at, perhaps now is the time to look into a second income stream. Do not quit your current paying job for a second income stream, but if you begin working an additional income, you may become more motivated at your current job. That motivation could be due to the knowledge that you are doing something proactive about your current work situation. Being proactive can also provide a very motivating feeling. So, on those days when you just don't feel motivated, look for something that will make you laugh (or at least smile) or look to your list of breakthroughs and remember that feeling of success.

Until tomorrow...

Interesting Trivia from 1910

Tonight we are continuing our trivia facts from 1910. These things occurred 100 years ago and it is interesting to see what life was like then versus now.




Regarding medicines in 1910, marijuana, heroin and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. I bet there are a bunch of people today that would LOVE to have that available to them now...



The pharmacists claimed that heroin cleared the complexion (to say nothing of the brain..), it gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is a "perfect guardian of health". Really? They must have been partaking of the heroin too...



Did you know in 1910 18% of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help?





There were about 230 reported murders in the entire United States. That would be really nice now.





Traveling medicine shows were becoming a spectacle and making their way westward. It was the only entertainment one could get living in a rural part of the United States. These medicine show quacks would do anything to sell cocaine filled snake oils, useless liniments, beer-filled Kickapoo cures and the most exciting part of the show...Painless Tooth Extractions!! Yeah, right, the only painless tooth extraction was the one where you were unconscious...





Lastly, on May 18, 1910 Halley's Comet was visible. At the time, thousands took to their roofs huddling for comfort and praying for salvation. Many people believed that the end of the world was near. The tabloids discussed the catastrophic effects that Halley's Comet would have on the earth's atmosphere which is what caused many people to panic.





Many scientists were excited about this opportunity to improve their study of astronomy. By late 1909, several of the world's major observatories were preparing for the appearance of Halley's Comet.





Aren't you glad you don't have these things to worry about now?

If you are looking for additional income to purchase a new electronic gizmo, check out our website for second income opportunities. We have business opportunities that can be a whole lot of fun to do.

Until tomorrow...

Why look at millionaires

Over the past several weeks, we have been spot-lighting several modern millionaires. I wanted to pause and point out why we are looking at these various millionaires. We are not doing this to make others feel bad, but I am choosing millionaires who, in general, came from humble beginnings, like most of us. Some of these millionaires have higher educations, but many did not have advanced degrees from prestigious colleges. So, why look at millionaires?

I am choosing to spotlight various millionaires to see what we can learn from them. Sometimes it may feel demoralizing to read about self-made millionaires, but these types of people are made every day. They are not born into the money, they find something and make the most out of what they have discovered. The concept of our millionaire spotlights is to hopefully provide some inspiration for you and perhaps there will be something that they do which you can do that may make you into the next millionaire.

Keep in mind, the modern millionaire is not necessarily the person who fly around in their own jets and sports all kinds of expensive clothing and jewelry. Those types of millionaires are not that common anymore. You may be surprised, but many of the modern millionaires may be living in your neighborhood. These people may still live in middle-class neighborhoods, work full-time and shop at the local Wal-Marts.

Currently, the modern rich are not as willing to flaunt their wealth, but are more inclined to reinvest it for future growth. These are the people who work because they love what they do, not because they have to work. They are able to educate their children the way they wish, and are not limited to just the public school systems. Despite this recession, there are still millionaires among us. Did you know that in order to be listed in the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, a Billionaire no longer qualifies? Now, (in 2010) you have to have a net worth of at least $1.3 billion before you can be listed in the Forbes 400. So, the rich may still be getting richer, they are just more quiet about it.

OK, so now we know why we are looking at millionaires weekly. If they live among us, what really makes them different from us? Some of the millionaires say that it is critical to set your goals and stick with them. Do not lose sight of where you want to be, despite the obstacles that may crop up. Defining your goals and sticking to them are what will help you to become wealthy.

Another important point is to continue your education. Even if you think you know everything about your area of "expertise", there is always more to learn. Keep reading, asking questions, and looking for others who are in the same field that you are focused on. Education does not necessarily mean you have to continue to spend time in classrooms. You can attend one day seminars, subscribe to magazines and talk to other experts in the field. No matter where you look, there is always an opportunity to continue to learn. If you are the ultimate expert in your field, then perhaps you should go out and start learning something new that may be somewhat related to your area of expertise. The key is to continue learning. Learning is what will keep your mind sharp, and learning will allow you to find other ways to improve current situations.

We will continue talking about what else the millionaires next door do next week. We could learn a lot from these self made millionaires, perhaps one day one of those millionaires will be us.

If you are interested in adding to your current income stream, or looking for a second income stream, check out our website for additional ideas. We have several business opportunities that may help to supplement your income. We always welcome questions, so feel free to either leave a comment or e-mail us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com.

Until tomorrow (actually, since tomorrow is my day off, Until Sunday...)...

A mini vacation

Today was an absolutely wonderful day. Let me back up a minute. As many of you may know, I have been going non-stop for months now, and have not had a "down" day in a very long time. The downside to having your own business is you do fall into the trap of working around the clock. Even though I choose not to post blogs on Saturday nights, doesn't mean that I am not doing something work-related. I also am aware that I have been advising others to remember to take time out of their day for themselves. Something like, do as I say, not as I do. I finally took a mini vacation.

Well today, I worked, which I am still doing, but I took the PERFECT 3 hour break which ended up feeling like I had taken the whole day off from work. I realize that sounds very strange, but it is true. I am back at work, refreshed, feeling like I am finally rested up and ready to tackle the upcoming week. For the first time in a long time, those 3 hours I took off, I didn't worry about anything, I just enjoyed. The best part is that I didn't even leave the house. I even spent the majority of those 3 hours outside, and in Arizona right now, that is very unusual.

Now you all are probably thinking I am totally off my rocker. I probably had too much heat, so I am not thinking clearly. The truth is that I spent probably about 2.5 hours sitting in the pool finishing up reading a really good murder mystery. It is not the book that made the day so great though. The book started off very slowly, and it has taken me a long time to finally get to the end, but more importantly, it was how I spent the day that is important. This is critical for anyone and everyone. Especially those of us with small businesses, those of us with many obligations. We all need a mini vacation more than once a year.

As I have talked about in the past, it is critical to take time out from your normal routine and give both your brain and body a rest. Sleep is not necessarily the right thing for rest because your mind is still processing experiences, thoughts, impressions and worries while you are sleeping. What works for one will not necessarily work for everyone, but for me, reading a book, even remotely engrossing, in a very comfortable location will give both my mind and body the rest it so desperately craves. For me, half-way decent books keep my mind from wandering towards work, and keep me from worrying about everything else in the world. The trick for me is to find a nice, quiet place in which to read that book.

It has been excessively hot here in Arizona (actually in many parts of the country) so I have been pretty much stuck indoors when I wanted to get some reading done. Unless you live alone, and even then it may not work, it is hard to find a quiet place in the house to read. There is always something around you that is needing attention, be it dogs, other people, or chores that you have taken a break from. I discovered that I could sit in the pool, up to my neck in water, and read a book. The water in the pool is almost 90 degrees, so you don't get cold too quickly. I balanced on the seat in the deep end of the pool, kept my hands (and the book) and my toes out of the water.

Granted, this balancing act probably looked pretty silly, but it accomplished four things at the same time. I stayed cool because there was very little of me exposed to the 110 degree temperatures, my book stayed dry, I got some isometric exercises done, and I managed to relax. Once I finished reading, my eyes, may be tired, but I got my exercise, and I got a much needed mental break from work. I feel refreshed, more than even a good night's sleep would have been.

So, the lesson here is find what really makes you happy and be sure to take a few hours out of your hectic week (strive for doing this at least once EVERY week) for yourself and do what you really, really like to do. Do not think about all the things you SHOULD do, or the things that NEED to be done. Those things will be there after you "come back" from your mini-vacation. The difference is that you will be in a much better mental state to deal with those issues if you take the time to rest. You will find your work will get done more efficiently, your thought processes won't feel so bunched up and confused, and you feel like you have a renewed purpose to your life.

There are a million and one things that will always have to be done, and they will always be there. If you don't take care of yourself, even by just taking a few hours off, nobody else will be there to take care of you. If you don't treat yourself right and don't respect yourself enough to take care of yourself, you are in no position at all to help others. I have put back into practice what I preach, and it works, really.

If you have questions about how to take a mini vacation from your busy life, please feel free to contact me at hawgwash1@yahoo.com. I will be more than willing to offer suggestions on how to take a mini vacation without going anywhere, or breaking the bank. If you are looking to find a second income source, please check out our website. We may have something you have been looking for, or we may trigger some additional ideas for what you can do.

Until tomorrow...

Fun Historical Facts

Wahoo, tonight is Monday, which is another installment on Fun Historical Facts. As you may know, last month, I started posting some fun historical facts on Mondays, just to help relieve the Monday doldrums. I have a blast looking up these facts, and hopefully you all have fun reading these fun historical facts. Perhaps, even some day they will help you win at some trivia game or something... You never know. These fun facts tend to get stuck in my brain, and come out of my mouth at some of the most inopportune times. But they are fun, even though I do get some pretty odd looks from people...

Do you know what life was like on hundred years ago (for those of you math challenged - 1910)? My guess is that most of us may have heard something, but let's have some fun with 1910, shall we?

The average life expectancy for men was 47 years old. (was that because they married so early and the women wore them out???).

There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads. Now that would be FUN.

The downside to that is the maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 miles per hour. Most likely so that you wouldn't frighten the horses, which were still prevalent.

This next one I get a real kick out of - fuel for the car was sold in drug stores only. So, you can go into the drug store, get your thimbles, other supplies, and oh, yes, can I get some fuel for my car? Just don't mix the fuel up with the tonic you are to drink in the evening.... Obviously, because there were so few of those "horseless carriages" there was no need for fuel to be carried elsewhere.

Only 14% of the homes had a bathtub. Now if only 14% of the homes had a bathtub, where did people go to get bathed??? Now I know why they didn't bathe much...

Only 8% of the homes had a telephone. That is something I wouldn't mind being without all the time now... Do you know anybody who doesn't have a cell phone?

In 1910, the tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

The average US Wage in 1910 was 22 cents an hour. Now you have no reason to complain about your wages. The average US worker in 1910 made between $200 and $400 per year. Heck, that wouldn't even pay rent for a storage unit around here..

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2,000 per year (I knew I liked that profession, except women were not accountants [officially] in 1910) a dentist earned $2,500 per year, a veterinarian earned between $1,500 and $4,000 per year. Lastly, a mechanical engineer earned about $5,000 per year.

Let's chat about doctors in 1910, since more than 95% of all births took place at home, we had more of a need for mid-wives than Doctors. Also, 90% of all doctors had no college education. Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were contemned in the press and the government as "substandard".

Looking at all of these things, aren't you glad you live in 2010 instead?

If you are looking for second income opportunities, please take a look at our website. We have some wonderful home based business opportunities with a very low cost of entry. If you have any questions, we would love to hear from you, please e-mail us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com.

Until tomorrow...

More Fun Facts

Yes, it is Monday, so that must mean it is time to provide you with more fun facts. Hopefully this little segment on Monday's is helping you to cope with the "after the weekend blues". I have fun digging this information up, not sure how long I will be able to keep up the digging, but we will continue as long as I can find some fun things to divulge:

Did you know that if you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on your right side? If you are left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side. After I found this little factoid, I started paying attention to my chewing and only discovered that I now tend to bite my cheeks more because I am thinking so hard about which side of my mouth I am chewing on. Now that you are aware of this piece of information, I dare you to not think about it when you eat. I have tried to start chewing on the opposite side, just to prove the fact wrong...not working too well for me...

This next piece of information is really not fun as much as important, especially for those of us living in the desert... did you know that if you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. When the human body is dehydrated, it's thirst mechanism shuts off. I have also been told that if you are feeling thirsty, you are already dehydrated. It is very important to focus on staying hydrated. If you stay hydrated, you will notice that your skin will look better, and you will feel better overall. I know, something we should all KNOW, but hey, nobody said we all LISTENED to our mothers...

This next piece of information I will have to try. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying. I don't usually have problems when peeling onions, only once and a while a particularly strong onion gets me to tear up. I do know my mother ALWAYS cried when peeling an onion. I thought it was because she hated peeling onions, but perhaps her eyes are more sensitive to them than my eyes are.

Now, this next fact I find ironic and funny: The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal. Gee, I wonder why???

For those of you who have family or spouses that don't react a bunch when you give gifts, this next tidbit may be very helpful - The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing. This could also be very helpful when you are trying to determine WHAT gift to get for someone. You probably have someone in your life who claims they "don't want anything...really" but you still would love to get some kind of gift for them. Now, unless they are in major control of their body, you can potentially take them to the store to look at things you think they will like and watch their pupils.... if you see the pupils dilate, then you know that is something you can go back and get because the recipient WILL find it pleasing.

I will leave you with this last little piece of useless information - Dalmatians are born without spots. Does anyone really know about this one? I never heard about that, and I thought the spots were there from birth. Now I have to hunt around to find out if this piece is true..

Next Monday will be another installment of more fun facts. Hopefully some or all these gave you something to smile about.

If you know anyone who is looking to earn a second income, or additional income, you may want them to look at our website, we may have something that will interest them. There are several options on earning additional income, and we are also available to offer suggestions if there are no options posted that are inspiring.

Until tomorrow...

Millionaire Spotlight

I am going to try something new tonight, we are going to look at a millionaire and see what pearls of wisdom they can provide us as we strive to grow our home based business, or as we strive to grow personally. I will work to find either a millionaire or billionaire each week and discover where they came from, what might make them tick and what bits of information we can use personally.




This week's millionaire spotlight is on Elon Musk. Elon Musk is not an old man, he was born in 1971 and currently lives in Bel-Air, California. He was born and raised in South Africa, emigrated to Canada in 1989 at the ripe age of 17. While he was growing up in South Africa, he got his first computer at 10 and taught himself how to program. By the age of 12, he had sold his first program, a space game called Blaster.

When in Canada he worked summers cleaning out grain bins and working in the vegetable patch. He also cleaned out boilers and later cut logs with a chainsaw. He started college at Queen's University in Toronto, then moved to the United States after receiving a scholarship to the study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He did receive his undergraduate degree from Wharton and stayed an additional year so that he could complete his second bachelor's degree in physics.

As you can see from this brief bio (and we are not done...) this is very much a driven man. It does not look like he allowed many things to distract him from his vision. After he completed both of his undergraduate degrees, he decided there were three areas that he wanted to get involved with (his "important problems"): Internet, clean energy and space. How many of us had such a clear picture of where we wanted to work?

Elon Musk is the co-founder of PayPal, is currently the Chairman of Solar City and CEO of Telsa Motors and SpaceX. So, even after all these years and no doubt many challenges, he continued to work towards his initial "important problems"; Internet, space and clean energy. Interestingly he is currently listed as Time Magazine's 100 people who most affect the world in 2010. He was also the inspiration for the genius billionaire, Tony Stark (the character in the newest Iron Man movie). He describes himself as a workaholic.



As you can see, Elon Musk really started life not much differently than we did. He just seemed to have a very clear picture of what he wanted to do and did not waver in that path. He continues to work toward resolving his "important problems". His views in business are very useful too. He is willing to take risks, when he was developing rockets for space exploration, he tried to learn as much as possible from prior private sector attempts. In his mind, if nothing else, he was committed to failing in a new way. As you can see, he had no qualms about failing because with each failure, you learn what not to do the next time. Eventually, with enough failures, you will succeed, and Elon Musk was willing to take calculated risks in order to ultimately succeed.



In business we all must realize that there is always a risk of failure. The advantage of failure is that with each failure, you have now learned what will not work and can then try again. If you don't fail, you don't learn. How many times did Thomas Edison try to make a light bulb before he was successful. New innovations would never be possible if people didn't make efforts ad fail at them. Eventually, you get the right formula and become wildly successful. We all need to keep this idea in mind so when faced with a failure, we can get back up, dust ourselves off and continue working towards success.



If you are frustrated with your current financial situation and are looking for a second income source, please feel free to visit our website. We may have something that will interest you and something that may bring additional income into your life. Please feel free to contact us with any questions, we would love to help, even if it is to help point you in a different direction. Our goal is to help you achieve your financial goals, however (legally) you wish to do that.

I would love some feedback on this millionaire spotlight. Is this something you would like to see weekly? Monthly? Never? Is there some other topic you would prefer I periodically review? Let me know...

Until tomorrow...

Have you ever had one of those days?

Tonight's topic will be brief, but hopefully relevant. Have you ever had one of those days? No, really, one of THOSE days? One of those days where no matter what you do, time just slips away from you. Today was one of those days for me. The day started off well, I woke up. Waking up is always a good thing. So, since today was not booked with a bunch of appointments, it looked like it was going to be a great day to get things done.

Boy, was I off about that. Granted, I did get things done, but not in the order and quantity that I would have liked to have them completed. For starters, the network was nice and slow this morning. Usually we have connection issues later in the evening, but today was not good from the morning. That is not too bad, but I tend to get distracted if I have to wait any amount of time for a screen to refresh. I am sure you have all had the same issues over time. So, as I was waiting for the screen to refresh, I kept fiddling with papers on my desk, which I then proceeded to knock over and have to collect and re-stack...yep, one of THOSE days...

Today seemed like one of those joke e-mails you may have received. You start one thing, need something else to finish the first project, and continue to get distracted all day long only to finally finish the day and discover that you are pooped and have nothing completed. Today wasn't to that extreme, but I sure didn't get nearly as much done as I would have liked.

I guess you could say that the funny part about today is that the car finally got cleaned, only to have a massive rain storm roll through this evening. I am not sure what the car will look like tomorrow, but I am pretty sure it will look OK with a few bits of dust and leaves stuck to it. Luckily our waterless wash does not allow much to mess up a vehicle after it was cleaned, but it does get frustrating to find out that within hours of cleaning your vehicle it got rained on....a bunch. The good news is that we finally got rain. I have been hoping for rain for a few weeks now.

We have watched the thunder clouds roll overhead, we have watched them rain heavily on the mountains, but we only got a few drops of rain each time. I am so happy to have had a good gully-washer today. It was a great opportunity to clean off my roof, clean out the drain pipes of any critters that took up residence (and we did have a few of those). I was able to wander out to the pool in between down pours and pull out some big beetles that were washed into the pool. I don't know if I should have, but I fished them out and let them go. If these beetles mess up any of my plants, I will hunt them down....

Anyway, even though I didn't get too much accomplished today, I can almost justify today as a 'rest' day. Got the necessary errands done, did get some networking done, got e-mails cleared, and got my blog written. Not a bad day, but not one of my stellar days either.

The good news is that I managed to find a new recipe to try for dinner and it didn't turn into a colossal mess. There are many times that I find recipes that look good, but once I try them, the food is not fit for anyone or anything to eat. This recipe will need some tweaking, but it tasted pretty darned good the way it was written. Since I am not the most inspired cook on the planet, I do not have the talent to read a recipe and know what is missing. I have to cook it as I read it and then make notes on what needs to be done next. So, this recipe was OK, just needed some jazzing up and it will be a very enjoyable recipe. So, once I get the recipe to my liking, I will let you guys know what it is and offer it up as something easy to cook and it tastes good...

So, overall, today was not a bad day, but I just couldn't complete all the things I wanted to do and kept losing track of time... It was one of those days, but we all need that occasionally so we can appreciate when everything does come together.

If you or someone you know is looking for second income sources, or looking for some business opportunity just to keep busy, please feel free to visit our website, www.hawgwash.net. We may have something that will interest you. If anything, please feel free to visit and read the weekly quote that is updated on Mondays...

Until tomorrow...

How Hot is It?

Alright, everybody has been complaining about the heat around the country. Granted, it has been warm, but really How hot is it? Depending on what part of the country you live in, hot is a relative term.

Hot back east may be in the low 90's, but once you factor in humidity over 50%, then the heat index goes up and you are very uncomfortable. I don't know about you, but "heat indexes" mean nothing to me. I visualize a library with a bank of index cards (yeah, I know, I am dating myself again) and there are cards that are all about heat indices...

On the west coast, hot means anything between 85 and 90, with relatively low humidity. I don't think Californians really understand the concept of heat. Now here in Arizona, well we know all about HEAT.

It is so hot here, that after going in the pool, you get in the Jacuzzi to cool off.

It is so hot that you turn on the cold water tap and get scalding hot water. The cooler water comes from your hot water heater.

It is so hot in Arizona that you don't need a bidet, all you need to do is sit on the toilet and flush, and you get your own personal steam bath.

We wanted to go on a motorcycle ride the other day, when we turned on the GPS to get directions, it stated, "Are you KIDDING?"

It was so hot today, I saw two trees fighting over the dog...

It was so hot here that birds had to use potholders to get the worms out of the ground.

It was so hot that the cows here in Arizona are now giving evaporated milk...

When it gets this hot in Arizona, people at the malls don't fight for the closest parking space, they fight for the space with the shade...

Lastly, when you get in your car in Arizona, you learn very quickly that your seat belt buckle makes a very effective branding iron.

Hopefully some of those made you chuckle.

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Until tomorrow...

How do you stay Motivated?

Tonight's topic is partly for you guys, but mainly for me. Tonight I have been struggling with motivation....a LOT... I have been busy getting all kinds of tasks, projects and business completed, but there are days where I completely lose motivation to do anything. It is days, or evenings, like that that cause me to ask the question, how do you stay motivated?

This topic was touched upon in a prior blog, but after re-reading that blog, I found there there was a lot missing. Actually, there are tons of books on motivation, so how do I think a brief blog on motivation will cover all aspects? Silly me... But, since I have been lacking in motivation this evening, it is a good time to re-visit the topic. I suspect that everyone wrestles with motivation, or lack thereof, at some point in their life. There are motivation seminars, there are also books and audio all covering motivation. I am by no means an expert on motivation, but I will freely admit that I struggle with motivation. Motivation, or lack of motivation can be the bane of the home-based business entrepreneur. If you want to grow your business, you have to remain motivated the majority of the time. But, due to human nature, motivation will come and go. The key is to harness that energy when you have it and use it to the best of your ability.

In order to remain motivated, one trick you can do is to determine the time of day when you feel you are the most productive. Some people tend to get a lot of work done in a short period of time first thing in the morning. There are also those who do their best work late at night. You know what time of the day you are most productive. Choose to do some of your more challenging tasks during that time of day. That way, when you are most motivated, you will have fewer challenges, distractions (or excuses) when completing those tasks. After that, when your energy level starts waning, you will be more motivated to get the easier tasks done because you are relieved at having finished a big, challenging task. Haven't you noticed that once you finish a task you have been dreading, you have more energy? Same concept. Get the hard stuff done when you are feeling your strongest. Then when you are on the "high" at having a big task completed you will be more motivated to complete other tasks.

Another item to help retain motivation is to learn to say "NO". It is critical to learn how to say 'no' to distractions or to small tasks that crop up during the day. I am not suggesting that you don't do those tasks, but learn to put the unimportant tasks off until you complete the bigger task that you are currently working on. By saying 'no' to distractions, you are beginning the prioritization process. You will find that those distractions will then either go away because they resolved themselves, or once you finish the project at hand, the smaller task is much easier to deal with. It is also a major kick to be able to put a small task on your 'To Do' list and then cross it off later in the day.

"To Do" lists can also be a great motivator, as long as you don't make the list impossibly long. When you create your list, be sure that you have identified things that can be completed in a reasonable day. If you make your list pages long, that can become a major demotivator. If you have a lot of tasks that must get completed, write your "To Do" list in a manner that some projects are completed in one day, and then assign other, less urgent, tasks to another day. By spreading all the things that must be done over days, it makes all that you have to do much more manageable and again, you get a great motivational boost when you can cross tasks off your list. Be sure when you create you list that you do not carry "To Do's" from one day to the next. If you do that, you will again have the problem of too many things to do in too short a period of time. If you cannot finish a particular task in one day, look to see when you can complete it, assign it to that day, then move other tasks appropriately. Do not assume that you can complete 28 hours worth of work in a 24 hour day. It is not possible, or if it is possible, it is not reasonable to expect. Doing that on more than an exception basis is also extremely demotivating.

Lastly (for tonight), when you are feeling a distinct lack of motivation, go out and get some exercise. Exercising outside may not be possible all the time, but be sure to find some physical outlet that can allow you to take a mental and physical break. You can do a brisk walk outside, or do some push ups or jumping jacks inside. Exercising will help you to de-clutter your physical body and release endorphins into your blood stream. Endorphins are what make you feel good, and by releasing them, you are allowing your body to relax a little bit. You may even find that if you were facing a challenging problem prior to exercising, when you are done, you may have found a simple solution to the challenge. Exercising is great not just for clearing your physical body, but can help to clear your mind of unintended obstacles.

Hopefully these ideas on how to stay motivated were helpful and heck, ....even motivating...

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Until tomorrow...