Do you know how life seems to get busier, how it gets more difficult to accomplish the important things we must do?

I had set a goal to have a new capture page for one of my Internet campaigns set up by last Friday. I knew it would stretch my creative and technical limits to complete it. The week was exceptionally busy for a whole variety of reasons, but that’s life.

By Thursday evening, I had not started on the project, I can procrastinate like an expert when things seem difficult. A few other things needed my attention, but at 9 pm I resolved that I would complete the project that night. I cleared my desk of all distractions and took the first step, after that it got easier and by 1:15 am it was done, tested, published, re tested, finished.

Sure it took me longer than a computer guru and it could be improved, but remember, I am an old ex-farmer from Zimbabwe who had hardly ever used the Internet 4 years ago.

So what was the difference between Thursday night and the earlier part of the week?

Focus and Goal setting. I had set a goal to have it done, but by Thursday I was running out of time so at 9 pm I focused absolutely on that task, no emails, no social media sites, no research or any other distractions. 100% attention got it done.

How well are you focusing on the important areas of your business?

Want something to focus on? Find out what Donald Trump is doing in Network Marketing.

Wishing you success in all your endeavours

Last week I mentioned that the window of opportunity for corn planting for maximum yield per acre closes on 20 May.

Well, 20 May has come and gone, farmers are still planting corn. The cool, wet start to spring and late frost created difficulties for farmers to start planting early.

What is the difference between those organised farmers who still got most of their crop planted in or close to the window despite the conditions, and those who only got a small part of their planting done?

Is it the same thing that separates successful entrepreneurs from the less successful? Is it a weakness in planning, preparation or taking action?

While pondering on these questions, I came across this article in Early To Rise about how to think like a billionaire by Michael Masterson. It makes interesting reading.

In his thoroughly entertaining book The Prime Movers, Edwin A. Locke gives this example of the way entrepreneurs think:

An average person observes evergreens growing along the roadside and thinks that they look pretty, especially when partly covered with snow. At this point, his thinking stops. An entrepreneur observes the same trees and thinks, “These trees would look good in people’s living rooms at Christmas. I wonder what people would pay for them?

And he would continue to ask such questions as:

How hard is it to grow evergreens?
What investment is required?
How big should they be before being cut?
How difficult would it be to cut and transport them?
How much would it cost?
How long would they keep before losing their needles?

Where would they be sold?

What would the competition be like?

Could I make other, related products – e.g., wreaths?

Can I make money in such a seasonal business?

How much?

How can I get started?
This kind of active, directed thinking is one of the things that separate entrepreneurs from the rest of humanity. In fact, the most successful entrepreneurs in history – all of them mega-billionaires by today’s standards – seemed to have dynamic, pragmatic minds.

Locke gives plenty of examples, including these:

Thomas Edison: He was a “virtual thinking machine. Almost until the day he died, his mind poured forth a torrent of ideas, and he might track as many as 60 experiments at a time in his laboratory.”

Steve Jobs: He bombarded people with his ideas – his investors, his board of directors, his customers, his subordinates, and his CEO John Scully.

Henry Ford: “He threw himself into every detail, insisting on getting small things absolutely right…. But he never lost sight of the ultimate, overall objection. He had a vision of what his new car (the Model T) should look like. From all the improvisation, hard thought, and hard work came a machine that was at once the simplest and the most sophisticated automobile built to date anywhere in the world.”

You may be thinking, “Hey, I’m no Thomas Edison or Steve Jobs or Henry Ford.” Well, neither am I. And I could rattle off a dozen multi-millionaire entrepreneurs I know who don’t have that kind of brain capacity either.

Raw intelligence is not the issue. If it were, Einstein would have been wealthy. What matters in the world of commerce is how you think.

Some people, whether because of their upbringing or their DNA, have a natural billionaire mind. But just about anyone who is smart and ambitious can learn to think like a billionaire.

You can transform your mind completely and permanently in a matter of a few short months by making small changes, one at a time. It will take some effort, though. As Joshua Reynolds once said, “There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.”

Begin by vowing to talk to every successful person you know or meet. Tell them how much you admire what they have accomplished and ask them how they do what they do.

You may be amazed at how open they will be to such inquiries. Nine times out of 10, they’ll be eager to tell you just about everything they know.

Unfortunately, many of the twentieth century’s greatest entrepreneurs have been disparaged by historians and the media. As Locke points out in The Prime Movers, if you mention the names Andrew Carnegie or John Rockefeller or Cornelius Vanderbilt to most people, they think “greedy robber barons who took advantage of their circumstances.” They know nothing about their accomplishments. What they know, for the most part, is based on persistent myths that prevent them from learning from these men and prospering.

Locke says:

“It is often claimed that the Prime Movers have been viewed with suspicion at best and with distaste or repugnance at worst…. The most basic motive is… hatred of the good for being good… it is hatred of the Prime Movers because they are intelligent, successful, and competent, because they are better at what they do than others are.

“The ultimate goal of the haters of the good is not to bring others up to the level of the most able (which is impossible) but to bring down the able to the level of the less able – to obliterate their achievement, to destroy their reward, to make them unable to function above the level of mediocrity, to punish them, and, above all, to make them feel unearned guilt for their own virtues.”

When you become super-successful, you’ll have to learn how to handle the people who are going to resent you for achieving what they themselves have been unable to do. But first, you have to get yourself into that enviable position. And you do that by practicing the thinking of the great entrepreneurs who thought like billionaires and so amassed billions.

I’ll be writing more on this subject in the future. But for right now, here are eight characteristics of the billionaire mind that you can emulate:

1. A “normal” person is concerned with protecting his ego. When dealing with a problem he doesn’t really understand, he pretends he understands the contributing factors and doesn’t try to find out what anyone else thinks. A person with a billionaire mind asks questions incessantly. He has no ego when it comes to learning. He knows that knowledge is power.

2. A “normal” person has a consumer mentality. He looks at a hot new product and thinks about how he would like to own one. A person with a billionaire mind has an entrepreneurial mentality. He looks at it and thinks, “How can I produce this or something similar in my own industry?”

3. A “normal” person is wish-focused. He daydreams about making gobs of money. A person with a billionaire mind is reality-based. He is always analyzing his own success and the success of others and wondering how he could learn from it.

4. A “normal” person, when confronted with a challenging idea, thinks of all the reasons why it might not work. A person with a billionaire mind sees the potential in it and disregards the problems until he has a clear vision of how it might succeed.

5. A “normal” person resists change. A person with a billionaire mind embraces it.

6. A “normal” person accepts the status quo. A person with a billionaire mind is always looking to make things – even good things – better.

7. A “normal” person reacts. A person with a billionaire mind is proactive.

8. A “normal” person looks at a successful business owner and thinks, “That guy’s lucky.” Or “That guy’s a shyster.” A person with a billionaire mind thinks, “What’s his secret?” And, “How can I do that?”

Start by being humble and asking questions. Do this until it becomes a habit. Then take on another characteristic of the billionaire mind – like looking at a successful new product and thinking, “How can I do something like that?”

Go through the list, mastering one characteristic at a time, and within three months you will be able to create new businesses almost automatically. You will become a natural leader. Money will flow to you like water coming down a hill. And then you’ll be ready to deal with all the “normal” people who are jealous of your incredible success.

[Ed. Note: Get more of Michael Masterson's surefire strategies for getting ahead in business in True Path to Profits: A Master Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Success. Find out more (including how you can get a bonus subscription to his VIP newsletter, Ready Fire Aim) here.

You can learn more about how to develop a billionaire mindset - straight from a man who mentored four billionaires. Discover how to get proven achievement advice and powerful success techniques that can help you reach new heights in your business and personal life right here.]

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

Wishing you success in all your endeavours

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I live in a part of Ontario that produces a large acreage of corn. Generations of corn farmers have found that, despite the development of high yielding and short season corn varieties, the window of opportunity for corn planting to ensure a good crop is very short.

There is a popular saying “After 20 May, a bushel a day”. In other words, every day that planting is delayed after May 20 will result in a reduced harvest of a bushel an acre. So in round numbers of say, $5 a bushel, a 1000 acre farm would lose $5000 for every day that planting was delayed.

This spring has been wet and cold, many scheduled planting days have already been lost, the window of opportunity has been shorter than usual.

Have you missed the window of opportunity in your business? Do you continue to miss smaller window’s of opportunity by procrastinating, putting off contacting potential customers or failing to follow up and implement ideas?

What is a customer worth to you over the course of a year? What will the cost be if you miss an opportunity by not taking action when you should.

There are “windows of opportunity” all around us, unlike corn farmers, for most businesses, ours open up all year round we just need to be aware, to look for them and take action.

There is a huge “window of opportunity” coming in Network Marketing, it will be the window through which many people will see success. Will you be one of them? More details in my next post, or visit my website and contact me if you want an early view through the window.

Wishing you success in all your endeavours.

I limit my newspaper reading so as to lessen my exposure to negative news, but I am also aware that it is important be informed of what is going on in the world around us.

On Saturday, I read an article that started out as an example of a teenager standing up for himself against a bully only to end with the teenager himself being suspended from school.

According to the report, the teenager was proficient in one of the martial arts, when attacked by the bully, he defended himself. In the ensuing altercation, the bully received a broken nose and the incident was over. Until the school authorities got involved.

The teenager was suspended, the police were called in and he may face a charge of assault.

Apparently the the teenager was well supported by his fellow students who have protested at the unfair treatment he received.

What is concerning about this incident is that it appears to be yet another case of the victim being punished and the perpetrator being let off too lightly.

Bullying has been around for generations, it occurs in groups of people of all ages, in schools, the work place, on committees. It does not have to be physical in nature. It is generally ended by the victim standing up for him or herself and refusing to be bullied.

Anti-social behaviour like crime and bullying, must have consequences. When the consequences are more severe for the victim than the aggressor, is it any wonder that some victims of bullying see suicide as the only escape?

What has this to do with Marketing or Business? At first sight not much. But with the increasing erosion of our individual rights it reinforces the need for all of us to be financially independent. Financial independence gives us the flexibility to choose where and how we live without having to rely on an employer or any one else.

The current economic conditions are creating an ideal opportunity to start a home business. For some ideas, visit Focused Prosperity

At last some good news from the economy with the big gains on the North American markets yesterday.

And lastly, an impresive win for Canadian bred Mine That Bird in the Kentucky Derby.

Wishing you success in all your endeavours.