FROM THE DESK, MIND AND HEART OF JEFF HODGES
Hello Everybody,
First of all, I would like to thank all of you for your kind calls and emails wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving. I wish the same for each and every one of you. It is a time of the year that seems to bring out the best in people, sometimes even people that would otherwise not exactly be the essence of right thinking. Welcome to both my regular readers and, also, my newcomers to the newsletter. It’s nice to have all of you join me by the fire. As always, if you have missed an issue or if you are new and want to read my previous editions, just go to either:
http://www.letmemakeyousuccessful.com/links.html (bottom left corner of page)
OR
http://www.jeffhodges.blogspot.com
********************** Success University *********************
Wow !!! That’s all I can say. Every day this phenomenal company grows by leaps and bounds. The good news for all of you is that it still has not reached momentum. What’s that? You say you don’t know what momentum is? Well, allow me to educate you. There are four phases that ANY network marketing company goes through, irregardless of the nature of their business. Those phases are Formulation, Concentration, Momentum and Stabilization. Momentum is the phase where everything just TAKES OFF!!! It is the phase where over night millionaires are made. Success University is just a few months away from momentum. I just have one question for you…….. WHERE WILL YOU BE WHEN IT HAPPENS ???
http://www.jeffhodges.subuilder.com
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I have spent a lot of my life traveling and, let me tell you, after a few hundred miles it can get tough to keep yourself entertained. You can only listen to so much music, so much talk radio and play so many travel games in your head before you need a break. Sometimes I just shut everything off, set the cruise and actually take in the scenery. A part of that scenery is billboards.
I was driving across Arkansas a few weeks ago just checking out the billboards. I like to do this because it amazes me the different ways that they come up with to convey the idea behind their product or service. Being in marketing myself, I’m always on the look out for new and innovative ways to promote my own business. Then I came across one that just really grabbed my attention. It was simply a picture of a field of corn and these three words……. PLAN, PLANT, PROSPER.
You know, that applies to a lot more than growing corn. It applies to you and your business. Think about it. In my mind these are the three key elements to running a successful business. And sadly, I think that the vast majority of business owners out there don’t apply them. The reason I say that is because I handle the support for the team in my business and the proof is in the calls and emails that I deal with on a daily basis. If they were implementing these three elements, most of them would not have needed my help.
Let’s examine these elements for a moment:
PLAN - This is the most important and most neglected of the three. Look around you. Look at the highways, the buildings, anything you can see that started as an idea. Do you think the people that built the school that your kids go to just showed up one day with a load of 2 x 4’s and a bucket of nails then just started nailing things together? Of course not. Months and months of planning and research went into those things. The same is true of your business. I don’t know how many people I get emails from on a daily basis that have spent hundreds of dollars and literally months of time on various forms of advertising THEN email me wanting to know what to use to promote their business because they are going broke slinging money at everything that comes along. If they had researched and planned they would have saved a lot of time and certainly a lot of money.
PLANT - The next thing is that even when people do get a plan together they fail miserably when it comes time to put it into action. I have never been able to figure it out. I have known people that are on every training call and read all the materials but just can’t seem to get their motor running. In all likelihood, it is a form of FEAR OF FAILURE but that is something that they should have dealt with in the planning stages. It does no good to have a PERFECT plan if you won’t go when the light turns green. The only way you ever get results at anything in life is to take action. Great battle plans never won a war but going out there and implementing them did. Just ask Patton or McArthur.
PROSPER - Here is where a lot of people REALLY drop the ball !!! Listen, I’m going to get right in your face with this one. You can have the best business in the world, the best compensation plan in the world, be the best at what you do and if you don’t have the brains to take your earnings and use it to further your business by investing and increasing your marketing efforts because you are too busy KEEPING UP WITH THE JONES’S……. YOU WILL FAIL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “Fake it till you make it” DOES NOT mean that Little Johnny just must have a bigger four wheeler than the neighbor’s kid. It doesn’t mean that you need to blow money on a new car because the one you have now doesn’t fold your laundry for you. You need to stay focused and use wisdom. The sad fact is that MOST lottery winners are broke five years later. People, that is ABSOLUTE INSANITY !!!! And it’s no different with your business. I you begin turning a profit and go on a spending spree and fall on your face, to be honest with you….. YOU DESERVE IT !!! You are not ready to go out blowing cash until you have reached a point that, if you needed to, you could live on the interests from your investments alone. Enjoy your life and enjoy your success but not until AFTER you can afford to and AFTER you have your business growing at a rate that can outrun your spending habits !!!
So, take a moment and evaluate your own situation. Do you have a plan? Is that plan well thought out and based on adequate research? Are you ready to take action? Are you ready to go do what you planned to do? And, when the fruits of your labors begin coming in (and they will if you properly utilized the first two elements) are you prepared to exercise restraint and wisdom in the use of those fruits? Will you use your fruits to plant more seeds? It’s up to you………..
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“He does not posses wealth that allows it to possess him.”
- Benjamin Franklin
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What is it about growing up that causes us to lose our ability to dream? When exactly does that happen? Think back to when you were a kid. If somebody asked you what you were going to be when you grew up you didn’t even hesitate. You would spout off something like, “I’m gonna be a doctor” or “I’m gonna be a policeman”. You never let it cross your mind that there was a possibility that you were not going to become that person.
Then you grew up. You began to cater to concepts like failure, doubt and impossibilities. This has been the breakdown in the course of life for far too many people. It has shattered hopes and taken away dreams. So, why do we let it happen to us? Why do we accept those terms for our lives? Why do we spend our childhood living in the land of Possibility only to end up living in the land of Pessimism?
Because most people have a misguided idea of what reality is. Most people think that their present reality is JUST THE WAY IT IS. They don’t understand that they create their reality. Winston Churchill said, “We create our Universe as we go along”. He understood that the power we all had as children still exists in our adult lives. He understood that if you could suppress the idea that life is the hand you get dealt and that you control your future with right thinking, you really could make dreams come true.
I challenge you to do something you probably haven’t done in a long, long time. I challenge you to do something that, if you do with all your heart and all your childlike nature, will make dramatic changes in your life. I challenge you to take time to dream. When you go to bed tonight and the next night and the next night and just dream. Forget about everything else. Visualize your life as you want it to be. No obstacles or restrictions exist. Picture every detail just as you would have it be. Picture yourself doing the job you want to do. Picture yourself living in the house you want in the location you want. Picture every aspect of your life in it’s most perfect form. NO RESTRICTIONS, NO LIMITATIONS AND NO OBSTACLES !!! You know……… Just like it was when you were a kid. You just might be surprised at the results. Hey, what have you got to lose, right?
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“I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
- Henry David Thoreau
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Well, I suppose I should close now and get ready for tomorrow. Mondays always excite me. It’s like a fresh start. It’s a chance to spend another week pursuing my dreams and helping you pursue yours. Working in personal development and coaching people on getting where they want to be in life is a career that has rewards that will never be equaled with a paycheck. To see a smile where there was none or a look of relief and new found hope where before there was only fear and uncertainty gives me things a dollar never will. I hope that your lives are equally fulfilling and that each day has new hope and new promise for you. Until the Good Lord grants us this opportunity again, always remember to…….
JUST SAY “NO” TO NEGATIVITY !!!
Sincerely,
Jeff Hodges
JeffreyHodges@thedreameffect.com
http://www.thedreameffect.com
http://www.letmemakeyousuccessful.com
http://www.jeffhodges.subuilder.com
http://www.jeffhodges.blogspot.com
615-230-7997
270-320-1324
Skype ID : jeffhodges1
