According to an article by David Frum in the Saturday edition of National Post, the director of the Congressional Budget office, Doug Elmendorf, warned this week that the economic recovery will be slow and that unemployment numbers in the USA will hover around 10% for the rest of 2010 and probably not get down to 5% until 2014.

What this means is that things are not going to get better quickly and if you are already struggling to survive financially, you cannot afford to wait and hope for the best.

Waiting and hoping are two of the most common but most useless activities known to mankind. The only more demoralising activity after waiting and hoping is looking back later and playing the “if only I had done something about it” game.

Any positive action, no matter how small, is the first step to improving your situation. Believe me, I have had to start again more than once in my life (see my story on the “About me” page). Improvement in any situation can only come with action.

There is a saying in self improvement that “What we focus on expands”
This is absolutely true, focusing on our curent state of misery, debt and hardship ensures that we stay in that state. Focusing on what we still have, still can do and what we want to achieve, lets us move forward.

I know how difficult it can be, but if you are still breathing on your own, you have the means to do something. If you have a roof over your head and basic food on the table, you are more fortunate than millions of people in the world.

The road to a better future can start with something as simple as a commitment to start walking for 30 minutes a day.

If you have a computer and Internet access to read this blog, you have the means to research more free resources than any previous generation. You have the means to start a business with virtually no start up capital.

For access to free training on Internet marketing have a look at this.

In my last post, I mentioned the baby boomer generation, if like me you belong to this group, even more reason to get started on building an income.

Age is no barrier to entry for a home business, in fact experience in interpersonal communication, language skills, resilence, perseverance and a solid work ethic gained over many years can often be a distinct advantage.

Wishing you success in all your endeavours.

I recently read that two thirds of all the people who have ever lived to the age of 65 are alive today! I’ll soon be joining them!

Think of the implications that has for marketers of any product or service that is, or can be, bought by our age group.

Add to this the fact that our baby boomer generation is not only living longer than previous generations, but is staying active longer. So the old thinking that retirees would not be interested in, or capable of using, many products or services, no longer applies.

Some examples, sports equipment and clothing, motor bikes, travel, education.

Some of the things I have bought after I turned 55, would have seemed improbable when I was 35, ice skates – I learned to skate at 56, horse equipment – I still ride, groom and care for my own horses, tools, bicycles, computers, software, educational programmes, business and self development books.

Then there are the products that this group have historically used, health and wellness, nutritional, weight loss, anti-aging just for starters.

Another interesting statistic is that one of the fastest growing groups of facebook users is women over the age of 55 who are using the site to keep in contact with their grandchildren!

Then look at the range of income levels for this generation, from affluent with mortages paid off, no child care costs and a healthy income from investments and retirement plans, to those desperately seeking ways to supplement a dwindling return from savings and investments decimated by the recession.

Now start putting all this together, are you targeting this market for your business?

Are you using the right language in your advertising, promotions and sales copy?

Are you assuming that because your generation X or younger target market understand your message that us older people will also understand it. Perhaps you should look at it from a different perspective.

Some messages that resonate well with my 35 year old son, not only don’t appeal to me but can actually turn me off.

Post a comment below and share your thoughts.

Here are two links that will appeal to most age groups:

“7 Strategies to Finding Your Target Market on Twitter” by Donna Gunter. Some good tips here to develop an effective twitter strategy.

GizaPage a time saving social media hub that allows you to have all your social media links on 1 page. Now you can just display your Giza Page link and your contacts can get to your twitter, facebook, Linked In and many other sites.

It is particularly effective for putting your social media links on business cards, one line instead of one side of the card.

And it’s free.

No disclaimer neccesary, I don’t earn a commission, just find it good.

Wishing you success in all your endeavours.

I subscribe to a self development site called Selfgrowth.com, it is a very good resource for information on motivation, inspiration and many other fields of personal development.

This article caught my attention “Decide to live your ideal life” by Jef Menguin, I really enjoyed it.

With all the negative news about the economy, it is useful to have a few guidelines to help us stay positive and live an ideal life.

I hope you enjoy it.

Wishing you success in all your endeavours.

Disclaimer: I am not an affiliate of, nor do I earn a commission from Selfgrowth.com. I recommend it because I find it a valuable source of information.

Yesterday I received an email that appeared to come from UPS.

At first it looked genuine, it had a senders name and a tracking number. The message said that a package could not be delivered to me because the address was incorrect, it instructed me to open an attachment to get the details and collect my package from the post office.

Because I was not expecting a delivery from UPS I paid a bit more attention, on closer reading, the email contained 2 grammatical and 1 spelling error. The grammar was not only wrong, the choice of words was not typically North American.

A further clue was the warning not to reply by email as “this is an unmonitored address”

Becoming suspicious, I checked the properties of the email and found that it had been sent from an entirely different email address from that which appeared in the”from” line in my email in box.

I did not open the attachment and immediately deleted the email.

After checking the tracking number on the UPS site and finding it fictitious, I emailed UPS.

Within 2 hours, I had a reply confirming that UPS were aware of these emails, they definitely were not sent out by UPS and that some attachments contained viruses. UPS also advised me not to open the attachment and to delete the email.

What impressed me about UPS’ reply was that they took the trouble to reply quickly and offer advice on a matter that had nothing to do with immediate sales, but everything to do with me forming a good impression of them.

A huge contrast to some of my experiences with other large companies who cannot take the trouble to reply to much more serious enquiries.

Well done UPS.

Here is my question to you. Do you give that much attention and consideration, and that quickly, to people who contact your business?

So pay attention to emails that purport to come from reputable large companies before opening attachments.

Wishing you success in all your endeavours.

According to surveys, only 8% of Americans successfully
achieve their New Year’s resolutions, whether they be weight
loss, stress reduction, to sleep better, improve memory, or
break a bad habit like smoking or nail-biting!

My friend Alan B. Densky, CH, an internationally know
hypnosis expert with 31 years of experience, offers hypnosis
and NLP CD’s & DVD’s that are Guaranteed to help you be one
of the 8% who successfully achieve their New Years
resolutions.

As a New Year’s present to you, Alan wants to send you a
FREE copy of his “Relax In A Flash! – Advanced!” which
normally sells for $39.77. This 2 CD program includes 7
hypnosis sessions. It is the perfect companion program to
every other program that he offers.

To qualify, order any single program worth $39.77 or more.
Order right away and you’ll also receive hundreds of dollars
worth of nifty bonuses as well!

There is a time limit on the FREE CD offer, so check out
Alan’s Neuro-VISION Video and Audio Hypnosis & NLP CD’s
before it’s too late.

Disclosure: Compensated affiliate.

Wishing you success in all your endeavours

Can an Internet marketing system work for you?

Here are 7 advantages for new Internet marketers using an effective system compared to trying to start from scratch.

Simple to set up and get started – step-by-step videos included

Important tools included – capture pages, sales pages, statistics

Provides a framework to customise multiple marketing campaigns

Shortens the learning curve – saves hours of trial and error

Built in affiliate links – generates additional income

Continuing training, webinars and support

Low monthly membership cost

Can a marketing system guarantee success? No it can’t, like anything worthwhile in life, it takes work. But it does provide a platform to get started and get going quickly, it saves hours of time trying to work things out and provides a valuable learning experience.

The system I use hosts webinars every Wednesday presented by industry leaders and successful Internet and Network Marketers.

On Wednesday 6 January 2010, the webinar will be presented by one of the founders of the company.

He had his most profitable year of his entire life in 2009, he built a company that did $2.3 million dollars.

There was a roadmap, he will present this on the webinar.

To reserve a place and find out how he did it go here webinar.

Disclaimer: The webinars are free, but I do earn a commission if you sign up for the system.

Wishing you success in all your endeavours.