I feel like someone who buys one of those Acai, or is it Acia, cleanses must feel like after the last 10 days!
In my opinion, we tend to think others see the world in terms of how we perceive it to be. When, in fact, there is a HUGE population out there totally computer illiterate and most don’t even know how to set up an email account!
That is good for the future of the Internet generally, and creative Internet marketers specifically, but it is a reality many seem to miss when shaping their world view, our world view!
The key to success online, to Internet marketing success, is not trying to sell each other, the trick is to tap into the virgin market still available and waiting for a creative approach and the right message!
Instead of preaching to the choir, we should be focusing on the masses…because that is where the real opportunity resides!
The choir knows the song by heart, it is in reaching those just beginning the search, just beginning the process of online education, whether in online, stay-at-home businesses or in some other form of Internet commerce, the real opportunity for service and for success rests with the novice, the “newbie,” and not in restating the same message to the same followers in the same way, day in and day out, online, whether through social media or whatever!
It is nice to be back with a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective. Often, the best way to understand something is to step away long enough, and in this case, far enough to be able to see the forest for the trees.
John
Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
216-539-7412
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com
Life delivers in direct proportion to your belief that all things are possible. When coupled with a burning desire, forged by sheer determination, and driven by concrete action, the meaning of life comes into view, it happens, becomes real. In Internet marketing, as well as in all aspects of business and, in life in general, it is not enough to simply want or desire something. Wanting, wishing, desiring, and/or hoping will not, in and of itself yield the desired results. In order to convert ifs and wishes to a tangible and lasting reality, an aggressive, forward-thinking concrete plan of action must be envisioned, designed, initiated, and carried out. In order to succeed in any of life’s arenas, and there are a myriad, you must be willing to burn your ships! I said burn your ships, not your bridges!
The funny thing about life is that it will provide in the exact measure and to the nth degree…but you must ask of it. Once asked, life will offer and one must be in tune with, and receptive to, its message.
There is a statement attributed to the Bible that applies here, and I paraphrase:
God always listens and answers the prayers of His children. However, He answers them in His own way and in His own time. Interestingly, the answer we wish for, the answer we desire, and the answer He provides for us are not always the same…but He does answer. He also answers in His own time!
I don’t believe God, however you envision Him, Her or It, whether as some fire and brimstone, burning bush kind of God or as simply an Infinite Intelligence providing order and balance to the Universe (capital “U”), He does not always respond as if we were receiving a Western Union telegram. The fact that the answer to our prayers is often obscure, that it isn’t a subject line scrolling on endlessly at the bottom of our 55” Mitsubishi widescreen television like a news update, does not diminish the power of our prayer or His answer…
We simply, or not so simply, must be in tune with the Universe and His message!
The ironic thing about all of this is that our ability to hear, really hear His message does not diminish the role and/or efficacy of prayer or whatever you want to call your communication, your communion with Infinite Intelligence.
In other words, prayer, as with desire, our communication must be a fervent request, a burning desire, and not simply some wishy-washy, kinda-sorta-gotta-hafta message to the Almighty.
The prayer, the message, the communication, the communion must be passionate, it must be from a place deep inside of you, it must be from that ache deep in your soul, within your very being or self that no man or woman can quench.
Your desire must be a fire that consumes you!
The problem with most prayer, with most desire, and with most goals is that they are in fact wishy-washy and kinda-sorta-gotta-hafta messages. The messages, whether to a God, an Infinite Intelligence, or to the Subconscious are simply amorphous masses of gobbledygook that can’t possibly mean doodley-squat to anyone…even to one’s Self!
Hence we come full circle to the point of this message, that it is in fact the message and how it is delivered that takes us to a place where are able to receive His answer…because the answer will be all around us and will in a very real sense take the form of a burning bush.
The challenge?
If we are wishy-washy in our message, we will get nothing or worse than nothing back!
How can an answer be worse than nothing?
Well, it’s kind of like how we understand computers. The Mind and/or the Self is just one big computer; and, if you believe in a God, or not (?), linked to every other computer in the Universe in some sort of mass, information sharing network, an information highway, if you will. Interestingly, even if you don’t believe in a Supreme Being per se but in some sort of Infinite Intelligence or simply, or not-so-simply an Interconnectedness, an Interrelationship with every other form of energy in the Universe, all working together en-mass to some future end we are simply too small to understand or envision, our prayer, our message has real power…or none at all.
It is the “none at all” that confounds us, perplexes us, and puts us in a place where we not only disbelieve. You see, in such instances, we are incapable of receiving because we are not in tune! We just aren’t on the same frequency, and so we dismiss the efficacy of prayer, of communication with a God or our Selves. We fail because we are doing it wrong and are thus incapable of hearing and/or seeing the response, much less envisioning it…a response all around us and screaming to be seen, heard and felt, to be lived!
The lessons here?
1) We must have a clear and concise vision of what it is we are asking for. It is not enough to kinda-sorta-hafta want something.
2) Along the lines of number one, we must want whatever it is we are asking for! We must really want it with a burning desire, a burning desire in the pit of our very Soul! It must be physical, a visceral response whenever we think about it!
3) Once we know what we want, we must then ask for it, send a message to God, Infinite Intelligence, to our Selves in such a way that it is simply impossible for it not to be heard.
4) Next, we must transform our desire into action. Not simply a desire though, a burning desire, into a clear and concise plan, a concrete plan of action as Napoleon Hill would say. Something magical happens when we envision a result, something we want with every fiber of our being, we become a magnet. However, and this is crucial, we must be moving in the right direction, with the proper mindset, or the messages, the signals, and/or the answers, and there will be many, to our prayers will be lost…we will never hear them!
5) Finally, we need to be receptive. It is not enough to want, ask, and implement…we must also tune in. The messages will be all around us, it is our responsibility, in fact it is a requirement for continued success, that we align ourselves with God, the Universe, Infinite Intelligence, and/or our Selves in such as way as to not only hear the messages and signals we will receive but to feel them…and to act accordingly. Without this ingredient, we will ultimately lose that link and the answers will cease.
Ache!
Ask!
Answer!
Apply!
But is that enough, will that do it? If we have a burning desire, get in touch with Infinite Intelligence, tune in, and act…is that enough?
No!
The final ingredient is a biggie! Biggie being a technical term!
The final component in this master plan, the road map taking a burning desire and placing it and your Self on the road to success?
Burn your ships!
Ah!
Bet you thought I forgot about that one? Burning your ships is the final piece of the puzzle, the linchpin that holds all of the above together, it is not only necessary, it is essential.
Burning your ships?
You must remember two things about history, it repeats itself and it is written by the victors and the survivors. A similar story to the Cortez “myth” (based in fact), has been attributed to Sun Tzu, and a historical parallel has recently come to light, via the movie 300. 300 is the retelling of the heroic and inspiring last stand of the Spartans’ stand against a vastly superior Persian army.
History is revised throughout history by each subsequent generation and thus is not a static re-telling but an ever-changing mythology.
What does that mean?
Well, let’s use this as an example, it’s one you may be familiar with:
Start a rumor at one end of a row of 50 people. By the time you get to the end of the row, the story has morphed into something entirely different, rarely resembling the original story.
The same applies to history…ours, there’s, everyone’s!
The illustrative aspect in the story of the Spartans is that almost everyone perished. Burning your ships is not without its share of risk, and it is certainly not for the faint-hearted and/or inexperienced, and certainly never for those with a sorta-hafta-wanna mentality. Burning your ships is for those totally committed, with a clear, well-thought out action plan before them.
Do not!
I repeat!
Do not quit your job, burning your ships, which may also result in burning your bridges, until you are ready. The ships, by the way, Cortez may have simply damaged them, not burned them…as a point of historical accuracy. He also made sure the supplies and provisions were safe-guarded first.
In other words, do not go off and quit your job tomorrow but make sure all of the components above are in place first…and make sure this is indeed a burning, speaking of burning, an ache in your gut, an all-consuming desire, and you have a clear and concise action plan that has been properly tested.
In other words, don’t jump into the English Channel to swim to France if you can’t do anything more than the doggy paddle! You will drown! Regardless of how badly you might like to run the Boston Marathon, if this is your first day running after back surgery, it ain’t happening!
Not yet, anyway. And that’s the key!
Make sure you have a burning desire, a concrete plan, and the tools…and then go for it!
Ultimately, achieving your goals and satisfying your burning desire still requires planning and managing your actions. Every endeavor in life and every goal contains a degree of uncertainty and risk, but risk in and of itself should never keep you from aching, asking, listening for the answer, and acting! Through proper implantation of a concrete and concise plan of action, achieving your burning desire is not only a possibility, it is a reality. Go for it!
I would like to invite you to one of my other blogs, The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed. With The John Zajaros Blog I am attempting to develop a central hub, a single place from which people can jump off to my various web properties, my Internet real estate. So, whether you are looking for information about Internet marketing, online business in a variety of niches, back pain and sciatica, online or in-home tutoring, soccer training tips, football training information, the coolest new stuffed animals and innovative, novel toys on the market, addiction information, the ultimate weight loss plans and more You can come here and then jump off to wherever you need to go…through The John Zajaros Blog.
Or perhaps you simply want to connect with me by way of the various social networking sites like Twitter, facebook, or LinkedIn to name just a few…The John Zajaros Blog will get you there or at least get you started (see the sidepanels for more) !
It seems longer, almost an eternity ago. I was living my life from pain pill to pain pill…more like PAIN PILL to PAIN PILL…and doctor’s appointment to hospital stay. It certainly doesn’t seem like a matter of months…it seems like a lifetime ago! Yet, as I think back, it really wasn’t that long ago at all! So, how did I get here? How did it all happen so fast? Is it important to tell my story at all?
Well, to the last question I would say yes…but then, I am somewhat biased. Not egocentric, mind you, just somewhat biased.
You see, I think my story is important. The story isn’t important in the “Here I am!” and “See what I did!” or “Look what I have!” sense but it is in the “See what I’ve been able to accomplish and you can too!” sense. The story is important if only to give someone else hope, to assure others that, no matter how dark their present may be, there is an alternative future just beyond the range of their sight, beyond the horizon, just out of their grasp. It is a life-lesson, passed on from me to you, assuring you that you can get there, wherever and whatever there is for you, if you simply persevere and remember that someone else, in this case yours truly, has been there before you, with you, and has done it, whatever it is…so you can too!
This seems to be a time for baring of the soul, telling how we got here, sharing the trials and tribulations that brought us to the point of self-realization, self-discovery, and finally, of self-knowledge.
But that is way ahead of the story…way ahead of it!
Before we get to all the self-actualization “stuff,” to use a technical term…cuz everybodies got “stuff“! Just ask George Carlin!
Oops! Got off the subject with George there. Hope you came back! Or, better yet, click the link later. It will be worth it, too funny…and true!
Back to self-discovery:
Self-actualization is a term that has been used by psychologists in a variety of ways and for a long time now. The interesting thing about the term self-actualization is that the term is used in slightly different ways by different psychologists at different times. In many instances, as with history itself, psychological thought is a reflection of the times it was written in as much as it is or was about the subject matter itself. While a topic for a different time and a different article, it is interesting to note that our history, and much of social scientific and physical scientific theory seems to reflect the period it was written in, as much as being a reflection of the thought or theory itself. Meaning, like it or not, we see the world in terms of the world we live in…and that is a very difficult bronco to buck!
So, as we seek to understand ourselves, we also need to take a hard look at our context, how we are living our lives and who is shaping our beliefs, consciously or unconsciously…some would say subconsciously.
OK! Back to self-actualization. To quote Wikipedia (Why not? Everyone else does!): “The term was originally introduced by the organismic theorist Kurt Goldstein for the motive to realise [sic] all of one’s potentialities. In his view, it is the master motive—indeed, the only real motive a person has, all others being merely manifestations of it. However, the concept was brought to prominence in Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory {Tim Schmidt has incorporated this nicely into his Tribal Marketing concept!} as the final level of psychological development that can be achieved when all basic and mental needs are fulfilled and the “actualisation” of the full personal potential takes place.
In other words, as a consequence of our life-lessons, by way of a journey of self-discovery and the eventual fulfillment of the needs below on the pyramid, below self-actualization on the hierarchy, we come to an awareness of our full potential, our “full personal potential” or our “potentialities.”
I would argue that there is, in fact, a degree above this, true self-actualization takes place when we implement our potentialities, when we put our selves (spelled put our a##es) into gear and get going with the business of living…thus achieving our true potential or potentialities, whatever that or they may be!
Just to be clear, because the image, when transferred, blackened out the labels somewhat, the lowest level of needs in Mazlow’s hierarchy are physiological. Next up on the pyramid are the needs associated with safety. Then come the needs associated with love and belonging. The next level up are the needs related to esteem, and this is where most people get stuck…if they get to this level at all. And finally, we reach the peak of Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs, those needs labeled as self-actualizing, or simply self-actualization!
Whether you agree with the whole of self-actualization theory and Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs or not, it seems apparent, at least to me, that we all search for a purpose, something larger than ourselves to identify with and to incorporate into our schema of the world, the meaningful world we seek to identify with and become linked to.
Why do you think social media is so popular, aside from the whole issue of marketing…spam notwithstanding? It’s because we all seek to attach ourselves to something or someone greater than ourselves! Notice the emphasis here on selves! Something or someone exciting, larger than life if you will…and certainly larger than our lives! Our current lives anyway, the lives many of us wish we could escape, or at least change drastically!
So what is stopping us?
Well, I hear a lot of gobbledygook phrases (wait to click it until after you’ve finished the article, OK?!) like:
Inertia!
Take action!
Visualize!
Whatever the mind can conceive and believe…
You know the remainder of the last one, you finished it without me even writing it out here, didn’t you?
…it can achieve!
Change your state!
Huh? What? How?
We all know the catch phrases, we all know the goobledygook terms…but how the heck do we implement them and what has to happen in our lives, to our lives, in order to get us to the point where we:
1.) Counter the inertia that is our life!
2.) Take the necessary action because we simply can’t stand the pain of inaction any longer!
3.) Get to a point where or when, although it may be difficult, if not seemingly impossible, we know there must be something, anything that ranks higher on the life-satisfaction scale than our lives do now. Something out there that ranks higher in terms of satisfaction, reward, meaning, and here’s the million dollar word…potential!
It is the potentiality, the possibility of potentiality, that will ultimately fuel our action, breaking through the inertia of our inaction that is our lives! Without belief in the possibility of potentiality…we are doomed!
That takes me back to my story!
Phew! Thought we’d never get back here, didn’t you?
The fact is, I thought I was doomed! I was absolutely, totally, completely, utterly, finally (get the idea?) doomed! That was my mindset, just roll me over and stick a fork in me…I was done!
Here I was at the time, a 53 year old guy with a huge gap in his employment history because of catastrophic illness (almost dying in the process-see below). I had finally come through several surgeries to save my life after doctor after doctor (some of the “best” in the word), and hospital after hospital (also a few of the “best,” like the Cleveland Clinic) misdiagnosed me, or didn’t bother to diagnose me at all.
I actually had one doctor, I had to admire is honesty, who told me my back was too big a mess for him to handle and he’d, “rather not touch it!”
Yup! Doomed!
I was in so much pain, I couldn’t crawl to the bathroom, literally. It was horrible! I was on so much pain medication that when I finally found a surgeon willing to operate, I almost couldn’t find an anesthesiologist to do the honors! That would have been the height of irony…and about my luck back then! Fortunately, I found a guy, a good one, who was willing to take me on and it ended up saving my life.
Osteomyelitis!
They woke me up in the recovery room to one of those good news-bad news lines:
“Mr. Zajaros,” who cared if they got the title wrong, “the bad news is, we couldn’t fix your back.”
“Mr. Zajaros,” did it again, “the good news is, we found a massive staph infection throughout the vertebrae and the surrounding tissue. We think it may have been in there for several years…and you are going to live!”
I have to tell you, the pain when you wake up from spine surgery is worse than anything you can possibly imagine! You really think death would be a relief, it’s that bad. But at least I knew all the pain I had experienced up to that moment was not in my head, there was a reason, it was based in a medical reality; and, that was strangely satisfying. Just knowing that I hadn’t imagined it all, that it wasn’t “in my head,” that it wasn’t “rebound pain” or some other ridiculous misdiagnosis…
…I was relieved.
Little did I know, the battle of my life was just beginning.
That was May of 2000.
Several more surgeries, many years in hospitals, yes years, and I can’t tell you how many pills, bills, and doctors I went through on my way to recovery.
“Recovery?”
I walked away from a comfortable 6 figure a year job (well, they got tired of waiting for me to get well and put me on leave), spent months going through our retirement, 401k, IRAs, everything we owned, including the better of the two vehicles (a brand new minivan we had payed cash for), to keep from living in a box…or in the back of a 1992 Chevrolet Cavalier Station Wagon!
Had it not been for amazing friends and the help of Catholic Charities, we would have been homeless, evicted while I was in the hospital having surgery number 13…of 14 or 15?! We had run out of time…and money! Thank goodness we still had friends!
We moved…started over.
Operation.
Moved…started over.
Operation.
Moved…started over.
Operation. Addiction (there is no such thing as a “controlled addiction,” physician monitored or not). Depression. Blackness.
I felt utterly and completely doomed!
Then, in March of 2007, I fell while walking out our door and down the front walk. The winter had lifted the sidewalk and I didn’t notice it. That is, until I was falling into the bumper of my in-laws new pickup truck, denting the bumper with my head, ripping open my scalp (100+ stitches), and the concrete sidewalk (crushing my shoulder). The osteomyelitis had weakened my bones, when I say I crushed my shoulder, I mean it was almost completely destroyed, they pinned it back and rebuilt it as well as possible but, as you can see from the videos, it is still quite a mess!
While recovering from the reconstruction, yet another operation if you are keeping track (15 by now), I had a pulmonary embolism, along with another large clot in my shoulder, congestive heart failure, and a myriad of other health consequences and complications.
By April of 2007 there was little left of our previous existence, I should say our previous lives…because what we were doing by 2007 was existing. We no longer had our lives, we muddled through each day, I on the sectional or in the recliner, taking pain pills to kill the pain, physical and psychological, in pain 24/7, severely depressed, truly at the and of things…all things…or so I thought.
I was doomed in every sense of the word…except one…I had an amazing wife and family!
Each time our standard of living dropped and our prospects diminished…my self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-worth with them! Yet, my family never gave up on me and I never saw anything but love and respect in their eyes. I will never forget that, I can never adequately express my feelings concerning it…or ever repay what it meant to me or did for me.
I will work the rest of my life, for them, that is my burning desire…my one thing!
It literally kept me alive…their love!
You know, it seems like everyone has a near death story, it’s almost the new Horatio Alger, Rags to Riches thing….
As an aside:Horatio Alger wrote rags to riches stories, yet at the time of his death he was living with his sister and brother in law, he never made a lot of money from his writing. His image today is somewhat tarnished by rumor and innuendo, another tragic fatality of revisionism and conjecture in historical research. But the American Dream, the ideal of a rags to riches life of achievement based on honesty, hard work, integrity, and ingenuity is embedded in American social culture at least in part due to his stories.
Anyway, back to the recent wave of “I Survived…Buy from Me!” stories!
< For a moment, anyway!
Or
“I Survived the Black Death and Learned 12 Life-Lessons! You can learn them all for $997 and $97 per month!”
Or
“How I turned lessons learned from the plague! Yes, the actual Black Death, I survived and turned it into a marketing miracle, you can too!”
“Get your ‘I Had a Heart Attack and Now I Para-Sail in Cancun!’ Home Study Kit!”
OK! Maybe the last one is a bit much…but just barely! Maybe they para-glide off of Mt Everest!
My point is, illness and disease, near death experience and all the baggage that comes with it has sadly, almost tragically become cliche! Amazingly, the rags to riches stories have too! We have, as a society, a nation, even a world of skeptics. We have become jaded, not knowing who or what to believe. It’s sad, almost tragic.
And, if we do believe…so what? What does it mean?
Well, I really don’t know…what it means!
The only reason I’ve told you as much as I have, and I have waited quite a while to do that, is to get you to this point, to the here and now of this article…so you will get what comes next…I hope!
By April of 2007 I was ready to throw in the towel, quite literally! Had it not been for my family, and the knowledge of what it would do to them, I would not be here today. I am not being overly melodramatic, I am being brutally honest when I tell you that I was in so much pain, physically and psychologically, I was ready to leave this world.
Nothing had changed, I still felt doomed.
I had come to the rubicon, I was either going to commit to life, giving it everything I had one last time…or I was out of here!
So, I checked myself into a clinic, got off the pain medication, went through 28 days of meetings, treatment, the whole ball of wax, and got clean and sober! It was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do. Remember, I was on prescription pain medication for a legitimate chronic pain condition, I had been through 15 major surgeries. And, I was totally, hopelessly addicted. There was absolutely no way I was getting off of the pain medication on my own…no way!
It had been 10 years…and remember how hard it was to even get an anesthesiologist! And that had been 7 years before, in May of 2000!
The treatment was an ordeal, at first it was brutal. Again, getting off of the medication was one of the most difficult things I have ever been through, but it worked and the fog started to lift; and, so did my mood. You see, once I got off the pain medication, I started to believe other things might be possible! I even talked about working again and, to my amazement, my family didn’t discourage me, also something new.
Here we are at the beginning of the article!
I’m a 53 year old guy, a huge hole in my employment record, a catastrophic illness just behind me, overqualified with almost 3 decades of achievement in business and academia, including a doctoral fellowship at one of the most prestigious academic consortiums in the country, perhaps the world, and I can’t get a job. I can’t even get an interview. Every day I go out, make calls, fill out applications and every day nothing. I started to get the old feelings again.
Was I…doomed?
I have to say, feeling mentally sharp and being rejected every day was humiliating. And, it was the first time in my life I saw another expression in my family’s eyes…pity!
Pity!
Was I imagining it? Certainly I felt ashamed, even humiliated, by the whole experience. The economy hadn’t hit bottom, but it was heading there, yet I still felt like I should be able to get a job, something…anything!? And yet there I was, each and every day, more ashamed and more humiliated than the day before.
Heck!
I didn’t even get called back for a pizza delivery job. And I’m not talking about Papa John’s or Domino’s, I’m talking about the neighborhood pizza shack! The owner with his belly hanging over his belt, dirty t-shirt, the whole deal. That’s where I was! That’s what I would have accepted! Just to get someone to say, “Yes!” to me!
Then, I got a call from BP!
Yup!
The gas station people. Not for a management position, not for an assistant manager position, also known as the night manager, not even for full time work, days or nights, but for a part-time counter person working afternoons, 3 days a week. That was it…after weeks of looking, a part-time job at a gas station/convenience store down the street from my house.
Well, I almost took it. In fact, I went in, interviewed for the job, passed the background screening and credit checks, was set to start…and didn’t!
You see, I knew one thing with a certainty that was so clear it was frightening, I knew if I took that job I was in fact…doomed! I can’t tell you how or why, but I just knew.
That night, the night I made that decision, I asked my daughter if she knew anything about building websites and would she help me. Well, as much time as she was on the computer, I figured she would know, right? Wrong! But I knew enough to stumble upon (yup! pun intended) the right resources, constructed a website, placed a few ads, and by the end of the night had put my education to work and had built an online and in-home tutoring business. It had been in front of me the whole time! I had tutored kids for years before getting sick. I love kids, teaching, coaching, it was a natural!
At first?
Nothing!
Surprise anyone out there?
I got very discouraged, this would be the final humiliation if I failed at this…I just couldn’t do it again…or so I thought at the time.
Enter an email from Anthony Garcia, a very nice guy who works for Tony Robbins. Well, I talked a bit to Anthony via email and on the phone, told him my story, a little of it anyway, and he was very kind and offered me some encouragement, some words of advice, and was just in the right spot at the right time.
Interestingly, I don’t think any of us realize the real power of a kind word or gesture at just the right moment. In this case, the right gesture, at precisely the right moment kept me on track, gave me enough of a push to go just one more day.
Do any of us realize we have that sort of power?
I wonder!
Anyway, a short time after that Tony Robbins started video blogging, vlogging, and he was online quite frequently. Having purchased one of his original programs, Personal Power II (I still have it on my desk) years before, I have always followed his career and watched for his products, purchasing them when I felt the need. So, when I discovered this free resource and his videos, I felt I had hit the mother lode!
In fact, Tony said in one video that he would stay up all or most of the night reading the comments from people. Well, one of those people was me, and I was moved by the message in one of his videos, so I commented and mentioned how much Anthony’s kindness had meant to me and what a difference it had made in keeping me on track…just that simple act of kindness. Well, one night he must have read my comment because I got a response, then a call from Anthony, and then a pretty amazing gesture from Tony himself.
The gesture was a small one in the grand scheme of things and I never did take him up on the offer. However, the gesture kept me going, inspired me to “pay it forward,” in fact my email address and the semi-annual “Zoobies for Kids” is inspired by Tony’s action and the challenge he made to pay the kindness forward. I have…and I do!
After that?
I started to get a nibble, then a bite, and before long I was working…and I mean really working my tail off!
One thing lead to another, I worked and I began to study. I started looking at Internet marketing as a second doctorate, this one in entrepreneurial science..so to speak. So, I consumed everything on Internet marketing I could find! I got some great stuff and I got ripped off…sound familiar?
In the end? I’m not there yet! I now have over 5 separate enterprises and close to 50 blogs and websites going, with more in the works. I literally have trouble keeping up and am looking for help now, full time help! John Zajaros, who almost took a menial, 3 days a week job for next to nothing! Imagine what my life, my self-esteem would be like…never mind speaking of potentialities!
I am still learning, growing, and evolving into the entrepreneur I have been for most of my adult life. I started my first business in 1974, 19 and just out of the Army. And, aside from my stint in academia and as Indiana Zajaros trotting the globe, I have been involved as an entrepreneur, primarily in sales and marketing, my whole life…usually as a business owner but occassionally as a top sales representative.
This is just in a different arena now, one with new rules, one with limitless possibilities.
However, had I quit, given up, rolled over and played dead, or worse, I wouldn’t be succeeding in the manner I am today.
Had I not taken the necessary steps to reclaim my life and then followed through, as painful as it was at the time, I would not be facing the amazing future I am today.
Had I taken that menial job…how different would my life be today? Talk about self-esteem and self-worth!
Had Anthony Garcia not been put in my path, sent me that email, made that call?
Had I not answered his phone call!?
Had Tony Robbins decided to spend time doing something else that night, instead of being online with his videos, answering comments, making one small gesture….
So much for coincidence!
This has become a tome instead of an article…I dread the thought of proofreading it!
My point here is that if I can do this, so can you…anyone can! It is simply a matter of perseverance, determination, and faith!
You may or may not be aware of the fact that almost two months ago I initiated a marketing campaign based on my passion to help people suffering from neck pain, back pain, and sciatica. The marketing campaign has been quite successful for a variety of reasons, most of which have nothing to do with leads generated and sales made!
The biggest benefit derived from the marketing campaign has nothing at all to do with income. The most significant payout has been in terms of life-shaping energy, in fact a whole new perspective on life, including my firm belief that I am indeed the captain of my own ship.
I have also come away with a new and very powerful commitment to my burning desire…my life goal(s)!
If you subscribe to The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed, The Ultimate Internet Image and/or the Ultimate Internet Marketing Newsletter(s) you know my formula for success. If you do not currently subscribe to one of them or this one, please do so today, particularly if you hope to make a living, or simply supplement your income, online. I can assure you it will be well worth the effort (i.e., typing in your name, email address, phone number [optional] and then confirming it, that’s it!).
Well, something very remarkable happened once I started my most recent marketing campaign. Actually, quite a few somethings occurred!
The marketing campaign, still running actually, deals with how anyone (man or woman, young or old, working or disabled), regardless of the severity of previous neck pain, back pain and/or sciatica issues (e.g., I’ve had 14 spine operations, a compressed vertebrae in my neck, a rebuilt shoulder complete with plates and screws, insulin dependent diabetes, and a myriad of other health issues and complications, including being overweight) can, if properly motivated and equipped with the right knowledge and advice, change his or her life!
In fact, he or she could, in short order, live a relatively pain free existence…just as I do!
So, on June 29, 2009 I initiated a program that has changed my life. And, from what I am told, it has also transformed the lives of many other chronic pain sufferers who are following me in one way or another as we take back our lives. Some people who started walking with me, even if it was only to the end of their respective driveways, have achieved neck pain, back pain and/or sciatica relief for the first time in years! How exciting is that?!
Talk about amazing, albeit intangible, results!
Yes, the results are anecdotal and difficult to quantify, much less track, and there are no metrics (to use a Goobledygook term), yet they are so rewarding that being paid with a piece of paper pales in significance. How wonderful to not only be able to transform my own life, but the lives of people who are, or were, suffering from neck pain, back pain, and sciatica just as I was! There isn’t a check you can write that will pay me like the last 59 days have…in every conceivable way!
And yes, I have made money!
Want to know something? The money doesn’t matter, it simply isn’t as important as the intangibles are. The intangibles provide meaning, as well as real and lasting value here…everywhere! The intangible rewards are where the true meaning of success is to be found!
Why am I telling you this? Well, there are myriad reasons. However, and let’s get this one out of the way right up front, it is not to toot my own horn!
One of the primary reasons has to do with the fact that I am in a business that equates success with million dollar days, fancy sports cars, and mansions. Just recently several of the main guys, the “gurus” in the field got together and during a video equated the first million dollar day online with Sir Roger Bannister’s 4 minute mile. I suppose in one sense they’re right, or rather Tony Robbins is right, he made the analogy. Yet, when you think about it, does making a million dollars in one day online come anywhere close to breaking a record that stood from the beginning of recorded time? I suppose it is a reflection of priorities and perspective…two things I am big on!
Another reason is that the marketing campaign has had such an incredible life of its own, I had to tell someone, so I decided to tell everybody! The premise behind the campaign, initiated as a way to reach out and help people with their neck pain, back pain and/or sciatica, while making money at the same time, is not a new one. I suppose other campaigns have had an equally profound impact on both the marketer, in this case yours truly, and the target audience, those of you who read the blog posts, the articles, watched the videos, etc. It’s just that the results have been so amazing, utterly unexpected, and have benefited me to a far greater degree than those I was trying to help…I have indeed received my efforts back ten-fold! In every way but money! Yes, as I have already said, the money came too…but this is about so much more than just money.
The real payoff? The real payoff has been in the area of what I set out to do, help people suffering from neck pain, back pain, and sciatica! I had one gentleman with arachnoiditis call me from across the country, in California, to tell me what an impact my videos had on him. I had a sciatica sufferer from Florida email me and contact me on twitter to tell me how much my message had helped her. I had a facebook friend tell me about her experience with the right shoes for walking with neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica, and so on.
There are many others who have contacted me. Many more who just dropped me an email, called and left a message on my voicemail or Skyped me! Talk about getting paid!
I saved the best for last! Here are just some of the many benefits I have experienced personally as a result of my marketing campaign to help others overcome their neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica!
1.) I have dropped several inches off my waste. I actually had to buy new belts, pants, underwear, and even shoes! Dropping over 20 pounds in 59 days will do that to a wardrobe. Must have had fat feet too!
2.) I have incredible energy and work and play for hours each and every day (18 to 20 hours a day)!
3.) One of my doctors, the one I’ve consulted the most, for a variety of issues over the last four years, said last Wednesday that he has never seen me look and sound better.
4.) My blood tests came back perfect for the first time in years, I am illness free for the first time in forever. Some of the people I have mentored over the past year know just how much of a victory that is…it is nothing short of a miracle! An absolute miracle!
5.) Having been diagnosed diabetic in the early 1990s, I was put on insulin in 2004 and had to test myself 4-5 times a day. I took 8u of Novolog before every meal, plus a sliding scale (you diabetics know what I mean, I was sick!). I also had to take 30u of Lantus, a long lasting insulin at bed time every day, just so things would stay regulated over night. I no longer have to take insulin at all and my blood sugar stays right at 100 plus/minus 5! For the uninitiated, that’s very, very good…in 59 days!
8.) I ride a recumbent bike up to 65 minutes a workout, in addition to my weight training. This, after a total shoulder replacement/rebuild in 2007, and a pulmonary embolism that almost took my life…on top of the 14 back surgeries and the osteomyleitis (staph infection in the vertebrae and much of the surrounding tissue from T-12 to S-1) that almost did me in too! I think I am running low on lives!
And many, many more benefits…but that will do for now. Once again, the purpose of this post/article is not to toot my own horn but to give you an idea of just how successful one can be…way before money every enters the equation. In fact, had I been fixated on the money, I doubt I would have realized that the true potential for success here was as much about what it was doing for others, and for myself, as for how much paper I could accumulate per transaction.
I hope this provides a window into the true possibilities, way beyond those we traditionally think about and fixate on. In other words, it ain’t always about the money! In fact, it is rarely about the money! In this case, while attempting to put my passion into action and help people suffering from neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, I helped myself in a way money never could have! Ever!
Now that is real success! That, and the 4 minute mile! Tony Robbins et al. notwithstanding!
Best wishes always!
John
Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy 216-712-6526 Skype: johnzajaros1 johnz@johnzajaros.com
I wonder which will come out on top? That’s the subject of the video below, the blog post grew out of it!
How?
I haven’t a clue, I just get these ideas and run with them.
I hope you find it interesting!
But like the video, we make assumptions every day about people, situations, prospective clients, and life. I just thought this video might give you an interesting look into how wrong, even fatal, certain assumptions can be, not only in an aquarium but in Internet marketing and life, in general!
I’ve been on this assumptions, perspective, and perceptions kick lately, if you haven’t noticed, and I hope it is helping you, I know it is helping me! I am doing what some have referred to as “an agonizing reappraisal.” And, I have been re-analyzing not only my marketing and business strategies, but of my life strategies too.
One of the things I’ve noticed as I grow older is how much of what I thought I knew, I actually don’t know very well at all!
The fact is we go through life, many of us anyway, thinking we have things pretty well figured out, until we come to an epiphany of sorts. Some people undergo a change during some sort of major life-event, a catharsis of sorts.
A catharsis?
The word has been used for hundreds of years in medicine for a “purging,” of sorts, usually of the bowels. Hey! That’s probably more than you wanted to know! But what the heck, with everyone doing the “cleansing” thing lately, it’s not that far out of bounds!
The word catharsis has also been conscripted by modern psychologists, particularly Freudian psychotherapists, to explain and describe the act of expressing, or more precisely, living through and/or experiencing feelings and deep-seated emotions in one’s past. The focus is on those feelings repressed or ignored from early in life, those that have never been properly dealt with or experienced until some sort of major life-event brings them to the fore, forcing one to deal with them head-on!
It happens to almost everyone at some point or another in their lives, earlier with women and later with men. That isn’t quantifiable, there is no data to support my observation, it is purely anecdotal. I sense that about women, they generally get it, life that is, sooner than men do. Why? I have my ideas but I think I will keep them to myself, at least for now. It’s kind of like the whole Venus and Mars thing so popular a while back. You know what I mean?
A classic of sorts, and very popular with the women!
Anyway, no matter whether we get it early in life, or later, most of us seem to figure this out at some point along the way, unless you are a total loss, and there are far too many of those.
Take heart!
If you were one of the lost, you certainly wouldn’t be reading this…or anything else for that matter!
Anyway, back to the assumptions, perceptions, perspective, and what we just don’t know!
Ultimately, what we don’t know, what we can never know, not really, is the mind of another person. In fact, what we don’t know fills libraries! Pick any topic and then “google” it.
Let’s say the “Korean War.” I got 26,400,000 results for that phrase when I “googled” it, without quotation marks.
Now go to the nearest public library and go to the row or rows of books that cover “The Korean War.”
See what I mean?
You can spend a lifetime on just one aspect of the Korean War and not get to everything written. In the information age one thing is clear, there is too much of it!
Beyond this, and this is really my point, the more we know, the more we know…the more we don’t know!
Obviously, you don’t have to do it to know what I am talking about, right? In fact, I would be absolutely astounded if anyone actually did what I suggested and went to the library. I don’t have that kind of control!
But next time you are there, if anyone even goes any more, except to use their computer room. that is. Check it out. Just pick a topic and see how many books there are, how much knowledge there is! It is harder to get the real sense of what I am talking about when you “google” it, the numbers are somehow “less real” but the books really bring it home in a tangible way.
We simply cannot know everything about anything!
This brings me to my final point before the video.
Phew!
Thought I never get there didn’t you!
Marc Joyner talks about dealing with information overload in marketing and focusing energy in one of his videos; and, a particularly good one too. The video and his example are appropriate for this article. Marc Joyner uses the example of piercing a box with two tools, a knife and a rock. The rock may be powerful and cover a broad surface area but the knife’s energy is focused on a single point, thus piercing the box easily. The rock just cannot do it as cleanly or as effectively, the energy is to spread out, not focused like that of the knife!
We have the same sort of dilemma in marketing, we can either bring our focus, train our attention and bring it to bear on a single task, or we can try to do too much at one time and get little or nothing accomplisghed!
So, we have assumptions, perceptions, perspective, agonizing re-appraisal and the gender gap, control, and information overload all linked together. How to we know what to do? How to we know who to listen to? How are we supposed to take the millions of search engine results, and tens of thousands of volumes of books available, and make sense of it all? How do we know what products to buy and which “guru” (geez, I hate that word) to follow?
Well, the answer is as simple as the knife’s energy is focused! You trust yourself and your instincts! However, until you can trust your self more completely, and you should never trust your instincts completely, you should always have at least one trusted advisor, you need to find a coach and/or mentor. Just like everyone else does, in every endeavor and/or pursuit in life worth achieving, you need a mentor.
Whether you are Tellman Knudson and find a Shawn Casey, Robert Kiyosaki and find Donald Trump, or Frank Kern and Bill Glazer and find Dan Kennedy, or Michael Jordan and find Phil Jackson, we all have mentors and coaches, and we all need trusted advisors!
Let me say that again!
We all need trusted advisors!
The problem? Most of you are looking for one in the wrong places! We will get into this more in the next post but for now know this…you must have a mentor if you are to be successful! Whether it’s a Rich Dad or a Donald or a Dan or a Vince Lombardi…we all need that certain someone to trust and bounce ideas of of, someone who is not afraid to tell you when you are full of “it” because they are are afraid of losing a $97 DVD sale or a $9997 coaching sale for that matter!
You must have someone in your corner who you have faith in and someone who will tell you like it is.
AND someone who is not financially motivated, at least not primarily! Ultimately, finances drive the world but there has to be an intangible, a certain something that links the two of you and forges a bond that will last through the trying times ahead! And there will be trying times ahead! There will be times when your coach or mentor will have other things on their plate and you will feel slighted. I guarantee it! Get over it and grow up! Stand on your own, forge ahead and learn from your mistakes. As so many have said before me, we all learn from our failures! Attempt, grow, fall, fall, get up again, and fail again! Every time you get back up, you will be stronger than the time before, and that much closer to success. You will fail if you don’t get back up…that’s a certainty!
Woodrow Wilson had a nervous breakdown, yet went on to lead the country through a World War and became the champion for what would ultimately become the United Nations. Harry Truman faced failure and disappointment several times before becoming president. Truman’s father went bankrupt and then he was refused admission to West Point due to his eyesight. Later, after closing his business due to recession, he even had to move in with his in-laws; and, he still became President of the United States! We all know the story of Michael Jordan, cut form his basketball team as a sophomore in high school!
In every instance, those individuals above went on to do great things because they had someone in their corner who believed in them, someone they could confide in and someone who would tell them like it is, even Harry Truman himself, known for his tell-it-like-it-is-manner, had Bess! Michael Jordan, his coach. And so on!
That sort of relationship is rare!
And it takes time and effort to develop that sort of relationship. It doesn’t happen in 90 days on Twitter and it doesn’t happen overnight on facebook or Skype! It takes getting to know and trust the person well enough to put your financial future in their hands and know they will not cheat you, lie to you , or take advantage of you! In most cases, and their are exceptions, money corrupts the relationship!
So, for now we have raised more questions, I hope, than we have answered. Now to the video that stated all of this!
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Internet Marketing is NOT for the Faint of Heart or Thin Skinned Individuals! Internet marketing has been an education by fire! Learning the nuances of an online business takes time and effort….and more than a little bit of money! Anyone who is not willing to put in their own blood, sweat, and tears will find that [...] […]
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Success is about Positioning & Differentiation! How people refer to you when you're not in the room & what makes you the one to do biz with! http://twitter.com/JohnZajaros7 hours ago
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...with a finer spirit of hope & achievement. You're here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand. W. Wilson http://twitter.com/JohnZajaros18 hours ago
