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Many people ask me what my life in Africa was like. It’s a long story and it will be published in a book, but not yet.

I have posted a short version on my About Me page.

My intention is to show that despite the worst that the recession or even just life can throw at us, only we can decide how we respond.

We can choose to stay in the victim role or we can choose to pick ourselves up and start moving again.

Sue and I chose to keep moving forward, I am so glad we did.

Wishing you success in all your endeavours

Last Wednesday evening, I attended a webinar presented by Jim Chao on effectively using facebook as a marketing channel for internet and network marketing businesses.

The information was extremely valuable, but perhaps the most significant thing I got out of the webinar, is how simple new ideas seem when someone else has thought of them and started using them.

Some questions we should all be asking ourselves are;

Do we use the time we spend on social media sites effectively?

Are we sending out a coherent overall message on the various sites we use?

Does our communication create a positive image of us and our business in the minds of our friends/visitors/contacts on these sites?

Does our social media activity gently and “socially” encourage people to visit our blogs or other websites and arrive there in a receptive state of mind?

Plenty to think about on this subject.

To get notifications of our free Wednesday night training webinars, click here. Training webinars

Wishing you success in all your endeavours

This post does not at first sight have anything to do with marketing or business, but it does.

I am a good way through reading an inspiring book “An Ordinary Man” by Paul Rusesabagina.

This is the account of how one man, through his incredible bravery and doing what was right, saved 1268 people from certain death during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

The author recounts his childhood in a village on a hillside in Rwanda, how the lessons he learned from his father prepared him for rising to the challenge when his actions alone saved all those people.

When thousands of people were being hacked to death by mobs, Paul maintained an oasis of safety in the hotel he managed in Kigali the capital.

His only weapons were words, but he used them and his relationships with his network of contacts to provide a refuge.

Why has this book had such an impact on me? I travelled to Rwanda three times in the early 1990’s, the last visit was just after the start of the civil war that lead to the genocide. I saw at first hand the rising tension and building animosity between the two ethnic groups. The situation was deteriorating daily and I had great difficulty in getting out of the country, but that is another story.

Rwanda is a jewel of a country, near the equator, almost in the centre of Africa, fertile soils, breathtaking scenery and largely unspoilt by urban development.

Even if I had not spent most of my life in Africa, this book would still have had the same impact. It delivers three important lessons:

The power of words and language, so here is the connection with marketing, what are our primary “weapons” we use in our campaigns, letters, emails, – words.

The importance of networking, building, cultivating and improving relationships over a period of time.

Doing what is right, for us, for our customers, our families, friends our suppliers and whoever we come into contact with. Having the courage to do what is right without thinking of the personal risk.

Here was one man who took personal risks that could have been his death warrant, used his words and his contacts to save 1268 people, because it was the right thing to do.

This book is well worth reading, you can order it here from Amazon.

An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography

Wishing you success in all your endeavours.

There was a question posed on twitter this week “When were you the most nervous?” My immediate response was, when riding my motorbike around my farm, I was surrounded by 6 drunk, drugged, or both, political thugs during the chaotic farm invasions in Zimbabwe in 2000 -2002. Their intent to do me serious harm was obvious (13 farmers were murdered and hundreds of people severely beaten up in this period). Luckily, I was able to escape unharmed by aiming my bike at the ringleader and taking off as fast as possible.

The question has been niggling away in my mind all week, and I realised that although that incident did increase my heart rate somewhat, when the adrenaline rush subsided, I felt extreme anger, not nervousness.

So when have I been very nervous?

The most nerve wracking experience for me was having to take my driving licence test at the age of 54 after arriving in Canada. My Zimbabwean licence was not acceptable here. Although I had been driving for close on 40 accident free years, I found this experience to be almost enough to reduce me to a quivering wreck. Fortunately I passed.

A close second was creating and publishing my first website, setting up autoresponder messages and starting email campaigns. I had visions of doing something wrong and being locked up as a spammer or worse.

It is amazing how venturing into unknown territory can make the bravest people so nervous that they are afraid to take the next step.

So how do we overcome this fear? Just take the next step. Believe me if you take that step the next ones get easier.

If you are nervous about taking the next step to setting up your website, blog or autoresponders, here is a resource that I have found very useful and well worth the investment. The List Building Club

Wishing you success in all your endeavours.

So many positive things have happened in my life in the last month that it was time for a bit of reflection on what did I do differently to bring them about.

There are several reasons, including: improved focus, better time management, and strengthened committment.

Digging a bit deeper, choices I made some time ago, which did not initially bear fruit, have led me to a place where I am both achieving more success and feeling more confident about my future direction.

In my case, a decision to spend money on training to improve my business skills and for personal development has let me meet people and find opportunities that I would otherwise have missed.

For me, the choice to spend several hours each night on training and personal development instead of watching TV have paid dividends. Other choices along the way have added huge benefits and all contributed to getting me further along the road I have chosen.

So what choices do you make? The easy option of doing exactly what you have been doing? Or stretching yourself by choosing to move out of your comfort zone and make a 100% committment to improve your life.

Here is a choice you can make, choose to look at this opportunity today, or stay as you are. The choice is yours, one way could change your life, the other result in years of asking yourself “if only I had acted.”

A Game Changing Opportunity

Wishing you success in all your endeavours