Every watch a scary movie and your heart starts pounding out of your chest?

Have you ever thought about why you do that? I mean it’s a movie – you know that – right? The people on the screen are actors and while nobody actually comes right out and says it; consciously you know that no humans were actually harmed in the making of that film. Consciously, we know that it’s all make believe.

So why does our adrenalin start to surge through our bodies, and our blood pressure rise when watching these actors on the screen?

Because your subconscious mind can’t tell the difference between what’s real and what’s imagined. Our subconscious mind is preparing us for the fight or flight response we have when watching. Subconsciously – that movie is very real!

The vast majority of what we do is subconscious. It’s why we can walk and chew gum at the same time without giving it a single thought. We just do it – seemingly without effort.

We’ve all learned how to do certain things that appear to be effortless now. Walking, riding a bike, swimming, even driving a car. When we first learned how to drive, we couldn’t even hold a conversation at the same time. All our focus and energy was focused on the act of driving. Today, we’re talking on the phone and texting while driving. Which I don’t actually recommend by the way, but see it done all the time. (And what’s with you women putting on makeup while driving?!)

The subconscious mind stores everything that’s not in your conscious mind. All your life experiences, the geometry you learned back in grade school, images of summer camp, to the piano teachers who use to bust your knuckles with a ruler for not doing your scales properly. Everything including your current belief system about money, and society in general all reside in the subconscious mind.

Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.
~Napoleon Hill

Bill Gates was only guided by a “belief” that a computer would be in every home. Those computers needed software. Some called him crazy; companies like IBM didn’t think software was where it was at. You couldn’t touch software – and most didn’t understand software at the time. To this day, the average computer user doesn’t have a firm grasp on computer code to this day.

But you don’t need to understand HTML in order to read this article. Just like you don’t need to understand how electricity operates to turn on a light switch. Nor do you need to know how a combustible engine works in order to drive a car.

My point here is that you don’t really need to know how the subconscious mind works in order to change your circumstances and beliefs. You just have to be willing to believe there is a better way.

“Don’t believe what you see – See what you believe.”

If you’ve been around YTB for any length of time, you’ve heard that before. And it works!

Let’s go back to the car example again. Ever see a car that you really – really like and want? Once you pick that car out it’s amazing how that car all of the sudden pops up wherever you look. It’s happened with every car I’ve ever purchased. When Mustang changed their model back in the early 90′s I fell in love with it and everybody was driving one. Same thing happened early at the turn of the century when Chrysler came out with the 300M.

Why is that? Because the subconscious has triggered a “Google Alert” that provide examples of that car at every possible turn. The cars have always been there, it’s just so happens that you’ve set an alert to provide examples for you without consciously thinking about it.

If it works for cars like this, could it work for clients or prospects for your business? You bet it could!

The trick is finding the desire and belief that it’s possible. You don’t have to know how, nor do you have to have the means to actually do it right now. However, like the movie example, your subconscious doesn’t know that you don’t have your first client or recruit. It’s primary job once you set that desire and belief is to alert you of the examples of a potential client or prospect. All you have to do is recognize that alert and act on it. Dr. Joe Vitale calls it “inspired action”.

Truth be told, this is the exact reason why people get lucky. They not only desire the outcome, they believe it’s possible. The only difference between someone like them and you is that they took action when the subconscious mind sent out the alert.

So the next time someone tells you that a belief or an intent is silly, doesn’t work or impossible. Remember that the subconscious mind can’t tell the difference.

And if you need reminded of that, go rent a scary movie.

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Do You ZamZuu?

I love this time of year. My creativity seams to flow much better after I’ve done a good round of goal setting.

I’ve done goal setting for years. In 2005 I wrote down “new business”, and two weeks later we got a call about YTB. In 2006 I did a round of goal setting and within minutes of putting down on paper the word “writing”, I got a call about some new thing called a blogging. Two years ago I started our Newsletter, complete with a full “7 Day Quick Start” guide to help team members get up and running. None of these ideas were anything more than a thought that was transferred from my head to a piece of paper and then circled as one of the things I wanted to focus my time on.

I couldn’t tell you if any of these opportunities would have come to me if I didn’t spend time thinking about what I wanted to do in my life. Ever since I was introduced to “The Secret” some years ago, I have found some compelling evidence both from personal experience and from what I’ve read that what the mind can conceive it can achieve.

One of the things I’ve learned over the years is to take “inspired action”. Joe Vitale (as well as many others) tell you to follow your small hunches. You may not know where it will lead, but if you do – you’ll be doing exactly what you suppose to do. I know there are many “Christians” who read this blog, and you call that force God. For others who feel more comfortable with “The Universe”  – you can use that terminology if you want.

Think about this phrase for a minute.

“Ask and you shall receive.”

What kills me is that so many people ask for things like a new car, a million dollars, a new soul mate and then just sit there waiting – and waiting – aaaand waiting.

Then end up complaining that it never happens.

That’s because they forgot about another quote that I know they’ve heard over and over again – but never actually do.

“Faith without works is dead.”

The point here is that when you ask for things like a new car, a million dollars, or a new soul mate and focus your energy thinking about those things, opportunities begin to present themselves to nudge you in that direction. It’s up to you to not only recognize what those opportunities are, but to actually move in that direction. If you do, you’ll find that thought an “inspired step” in the direction you want not only moves you closer to your intended goal, but this simple step turns out to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Why? Because that’s what God (or The Universe) wants you to do!

Look…here’s a recent example of what I’m talking about.

One of the items on my list of goals was an overhaul of our newsletters auto-responder “7 Day Quick Start Guide”. I’ve changed this guide a few times since I first created it two years ago. One of the nice things about auto-responders is that once it’s written it works on auto-pilot from then on. That being said – it can often take a back seat because it’s done and you really don’t have to think about it much longer.

This series however has been in need of an overhaul or some time. With all the changes to YTB since it was first published there were areas that needed to be updated and produced to provide a more timely and effective program.

Thanks to GoodDay@YTB and Andy Cauthen’s Goal Setting Tips that I published here on the blog and also provided in our Newsletter a brand new stream of subscribers have been opting-in to our Newsletter. I see spikes in subscribers from time to time, but this particular spike got me thinking.

“What if all these subscribers could get that new series I want to do from my goals list?”

That one little hunch or thought – prompted me to actually start my overhaul of the series – and as a result my series has been taken to a whole new level. It’s like being in “The Zone”. New ideas – new topics – new documents – a completely new look and feel that I feel really – really good about. The more I dive into this project – the more I know that this is exactly what I should be doing right now.

What I first thought to be a major “chore” and really didn’t want to do because of all the work it entails has completely turned around to be a truly inspiring and moving experience for me.

Why? I took “Inspired Action”. This thought – opportunity – project – whatever you want to call it – was presented at the best possible time for me because without knowing it – I was ready to do it.

But I would have never known unless I followed up on this hunch.

I think back a rainy night in January some five years ago after our introduction to YTB with an Opportunity Meeting. I remember talking with Ronda about this business as we weighed the possibilities and the obstacles that presented itself during our drive home. I had no idea if this business was for real – nor was it a proven leader like it is today.

But that one small voice – a hunch – a gut feeling told me that this was the right place at the right time for me.

Based on that hunch am I a millionaire? No.

Do I live in some mansion sitting beside the water? No

Am I financially independent with no worries or problems? Hardly.

But I DO have a business that’s provided for myself and my family. Not only that,  I’ve probably grown more as a person and as a business man over the last five years than any other time in my life. I also have a closer relationship with family and more friends than I could ever ask for. It’s been one of the most rewarding, most productive, and most enjoyable times of my entire life.

I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Stop and actually think the next time an idea or thought comes and rattles around in your head. Most of the time our past programming automatically negates it as either too hard or even worse -  impossible.

Kennedy wanted to put a man on the moon before the end of the 1960′s. Was that too hard? Was that impossible?

Just because you set a goal or state an intention of what you want doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. There’s work involved in anything worth while and many times you have to swim out to it instead of just having it was up on shore.

But if you follow your hunches – your gut instinct – not only will it lead you in the right direction – but you’ll have a blast doing it.

Take hold of that thought and use it to take Inspired Action. You’ll never know until you do how enjoyable life can really be.

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Do You ZamZuu?

I got a couple of e-mails and phone calls after Friday’s post asking me just how this new blog go so much traction so quickly. I owe much of that to the following I already had. You need to realize, I’ve been blogging for years.

But what about those who are just starting out, and wanting to get their own blog up and running? What should you do? How do you get regular readers and traffic coming to you day after day?

Blogging isn’t the same animal it was three years ago, and many of the resources I used back in the day wouldn’t work on today’s internet. A big reason why I switched formats was to keep up with the newest resources and latest trends out here.

If I were to have to do it all over again, there would be two guys, or two formulas I would follow in today’s internet to get the type of readership I would expect. What I like about both of these formulas is a no nonsense approach, step by step instructions, and tips and tricks for even the most seasoned blogger like myself. (I’ve always been the type who likes to learn new things, and look to those more successful than myself to achieve the results I want.)

I’ll write more about Joe Vitale’s Hypnotic Marketing 2.0 latter on in the week, but today I want to give you 10 basic steps from a little known Blogging Expert in Australia, named Yaro Starak. Yaro has a free report called Blog Profits Blueprint and also has a great two great videos on blogging that are very sound.

I would like to warn those of you who have what I like to call “wealth envy”. If the idea of making money from simply blogging offends you, this program is not for you. What most want when they start a blog is traffic and readership, and unless you use the steps outlined in either Blog Profit Blueprint or the videos, you have no shot of making money even if you wanted too because you’ll have no traffic or readership to speak of. (If you do suffer from “wealth envy” you need to read this book.)

Regardless, here are 10 tips I would use today to get traffic to my new blog, and I want to thank Yaro for permission to post this for all of you.

————————————————-

In every bloggers life comes a special day – the day they first launch a new blog. Now unless you went out and purchased someone else”s blog chances are your blog launched with only one very loyal reader – you. Maybe a few days later you received a few hits when you told your sister, father, girlfriend and best friend about your new blog but that”s about as far you went when it comes to finding readers.

Here are the top 10 techniques new bloggers can use to find readers. These are tips specifically for new bloggers, those people who have next-to-no audience at the moment and want to get the ball rolling.

It helps if you work on this list from top to bottom as each technique builds on the previous step to help you create momentum. Eventually once you establish enough momentum you gain what is called “traction”, which is a large enough audience base (about 500 readers a day is good) that you no longer have to work too hard on finding new readers. Instead your current loyal readers do the work for you through word of mouth.

Top 10 Tips

10. Write at least five major “pillar” articles. A pillar article is a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice. This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good “how-to” lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn’t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog the better.

9. Write one new blog post per day minimum. Not every post has to be a pillar, but you should work on getting those five pillars done at the same time as you keep your blog fresh with a daily news or short article style post. The important thing here is to demonstrate to first time visitors that your blog is updated all the time so they feel that if they come back tomorrow they will likely find something new. This causes them to bookmark your site or subscribe to your blog feed.

You don”t have to produce one post per day all the time but it is important you do when your blog is brand new. Once you get traction you still need to keep the fresh content coming but your loyal audience will be more forgiving if you slow down to a few per week instead. The first few months are critical so the more content you can produce at this time the better.

8. Use a proper domain name. If you are serious about blogging be serious about what you call your blog. In order for people to easily spread the word about your blog you need a easily rememberable domain name. People often talk about blogs they like when they are speaking to friends in the real world (that”s the offline world, you remember that place right?) so you need to make it easy for them to spread the word and pass on your URL. Try and get a .com if you can and focus on small easy to remember domains rather than worry about having the correct keywords (of course if you can get great keywords and easy to remember then you’ve done a good job!).

7. Start commenting on other blogs. Once you have your pillar articles and your daily fresh smaller articles your blog is ready to be exposed to the world. One of the best ways to find the right type of reader for your blog is to comment on other people’s blogs. You should aim to comment on blogs focused on a similar niche topic to yours since the readers there will be more likely to be interested in your blog.

Most blog commenting systems allow you to have your name/title linked to your blog when you leave a comment. This is how people find your blog. If you are a prolific commentor and always have something valuable to say then people will be interested to read more of your work and hence click through to visit your blog.

6. Trackback and link to other blogs in your blog posts. A trackback is sort of like a blog conversation. When you write a new article to your blog and it links or references another blogger”s article you can do a trackback to their entry. What this does is leave a truncated summary of your blog post on their blog entry – it”s sort of like your blog telling someone else’s blog that you wrote an article mentioning them. Trackbacks often appear like comments.

This is a good technique because like leaving comments a trackback leaves a link from another blog back to yours for readers to follow, but it also does something very important – it gets the attention of another blogger. The other blogger will likely come and read your post eager to see what you wrote about them. They may then become a loyal reader of yours or at least monitor you and if you are lucky some time down the road they may do a post linking to your blog bringing in more new readers.

5. Encourage comments on your own blog. One of the most powerful ways to convince someone to become a loyal reader is to show there are other loyal readers already following your work. If they see people commenting on your blog then they infer that your content must be good since you have readers so they should stick around and see what all the fuss is about. To encourage comments you can simply pose a question in a blog post. Be sure to always respond to comments as well so you can keep the conversation going.

4. Submit your latest pillar article to a blog carnival. A blog carnival is a post in a blog that summarizes a collection of articles from many different blogs on a specific topic. The idea is to collect some of the best content on a topic in a given week. Often many other blogs link back to a carnival host and as such the people that have articles featured in the carnival often enjoy a spike in new readers.

To find the right blog carnival for your blog, do a search at blogcarnival.com.

3. Submit your blog to blogtopsites.com. To be honest this tip is not going to bring in a flood of new readers but it”s so easy to do and only takes five minutes so it”s worth the effort. Go to Blog Top Sites, find the appropriate category for your blog and submit it. You have to copy and paste a couple of lines of code on to your blog so you can rank and then sit back and watch the traffic come in. You will probably only get 1-10 incoming readers per day with this technique but over time it can build up as you climb the rankings. It all helps!

2. Submit your articles to EzineArticles.com. This is another tip that doesn’t bring in hundreds of new visitors immediately (although it can if you keep doing it) but it”s worthwhile because you simply leverage what you already have – your pillar articles. Once a week or so take one of your pillar articles and submit it to Ezine Articles. Your article then becomes available to other people who can republish your article on their website or in their newsletter.

How you benefit is through what is called your “Resource Box”. You create your own resource box which is like a signature file where you include one to two sentences and link back to your website (or blog in this case). Anyone who publishes your article has to include your resource box so you get incoming links. If someone with a large newsletter publishes your article you can get a lot of new readers at once.

1. Write more pillar articles. Everything you do above will help you to find blog readers however all of the techniques I’ve listed only work when you have strong pillars in place. Without them if you do everything above you may bring in readers but they won’t stay or bother to come back. Aim for one solid pillar article per week and by the end of the year you will have a database of over 50 fantastic feature articles that will work hard for you to bring in more and more readers.

I hope you enjoyed my list of traffic tips. Everything listed above are techniques I’ve put into place myself for my blogs and have worked for me, however it”s certainly not a comprehensive list. There are many more things you can do. Finding readers is all about testing to see what works best for you and your audience and I have no doubt if you put your mind to it you will find a balance that works for you.

This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.

To get more information about Blog Mastermind click this link:

www.BlogMastermind.com

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

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Do You ZamZuu?

I got to be honest I really had a hard time with this post. I know I promised to have this to you yesterday, I wrote, I re-wrote, I edited, I put it down, I came back, I just couldn’t find the right rhythm for this particular post.

Why?

Because what I’m about to tell you…well it sounds a little “hokey”. There, I said it and I can now move on.

Thanks everybody! Have a great day!

Actually, what I’m about to tell you is the very thing that helped me overcome this fear that I had about telling you in the first place.

Not only am I someone who is open to new opportunities, ideas, and thinking, I revel in always learning and growing as a human being. I’m always, reading, listening, taking seminars, trainings; I even hired a Success Coach at one point, who I’ll have to tell you about one of these days.

I told you that I was rereading Joe Vitale’s “The Key” a week or so ago.
For those who don’t know “Mr. Fire” he’s one of the teachers in the hit movie “The Secret” and I LOVE the way Joe writes. (This by the way is no accident.)

I picked up “The Key” because I wanted to try some new techniques for clearing out some of the limiting beliefs I was reading about on one of those “other blogs” and while I was doing my best to logically maneuver my way through all the negativity there, I knew some had to have rubbed off. It’s like my 4 year old son and dirt. There’s just no way the two can avoid each other.

Here’s the thing. I told myself I was going to let this all go. I told YOU I was going to let this all go. But the reality of the situation was John Frenaye and this blog of his was still swirling around in my head. It’s like a bad allergy or something, I just couldn’t shake it and I didn’t know why.

Logically, I knew it didn’t really matter. Logically, I knew that his views spoke more about him than it did about me. Logically, I knew that giving this negativity “energy” wasn’t the way to go. And finally, logically I knew there wasn’t a blessed thing I could really do about changing this mans limiting beliefs about our fine company and business model.

So why did it still matter?

I hate to break it to you, but I’ve been programmed to think a certain way.

Everything you and I believe has been taught to us by someone, or something else. There have been an excess of sources that have been working on our thoughts, emotions, and views our whole life. Parents, teachers, neighbors, bosses, even the media have been at work telling us how we should think and feel.

Let me give you an example.

I’m a “P.K.” AKA: Preachers Kid, which I also refer to as “T.O.” or Theological Offspring. (And yes, what you’ve heard about Preachers Kids, it’s all true. ;-P)

Growing up money was spiritual in nature. We would only have just enough to be comfortable. We never lacked for anything but we lived modestly, often in Parsonages or homes the church would supply for our family. I was taught not to be greedy but at the same time, I shouldn’t be fearful that we wouldn’t have enough to take care of ourselves and our needs.

Tithing was also very big, and even if we had to sacrifice something right now, the 10% given away will continue the promise of being able to have it returned.

I was also taught that money does not buy happiness. (That “love of money” thing we see in the Bible that I hear so much about these days.) Rich people are greedy and also for the most part very unhappy. I have a very wealthy Uncle who I was told was very unhappy. (Although, he never appeared that way to me.)

Two years ago most (not all) of my beliefs were blown right out of the water by a guy named T. Harv Ecker. If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you’ve heard that name before. He’s the first person who started me on the right path that your outer world is simply a reflection of your inner world. (The Secret was another big turning point for me as well.)

I had heard a lot of this before, from books and tapes that I’ve had for years. My copy of “Think and Grow Rich” for example must be at least 20 years old. However, we’ve all heard this “Kool-aid” line before…

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

I never really “listened” until I attended the Millionaire Mind Intensive two years ago when Harv taught me that a lot of the way I view this world, especially about money, were, well…just plain wrong. These views or beliefs were keeping me from becoming successful. One of the things it helped me with was reprogramming my views and beliefs so that I could become successful.

Lack of money isn’t a problem, it’s a symptom. A symptom of limiting, false beliefs we have about how to make it and how to keep it. I had tremendous breakthroughs over that weekend.

But that was just a weekend. Sure I was given tools and homework to do for the next 90 days, which helped tremendously, but what about other problems, other issues that have come up since then? Namely the John’s of the world who try to bring me back to a way of life and a though process that I tried once before, didn’t want any longer, and knew didn’t hold value. (Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.)

Frankly, that type of thinking and mentality stinks.

Sure, I could sign up for another one of Harv’s programs, and I probably will this summer, but I wanted to do something about it now, and the tried and true tools that I had at my disposal didn’t seem to offer any relief or answers until I picked up and looked at a few of Joe Vitale’s clearing methods in his new book.

There was one in particualar that I was finally willing to try, and it just so happens that it’s that “hokey one” I told you about at the beginning of all this.

Joe had introduced me once again to a very inspiring and fun guy by the name of rget="_blank">Brad Yates. I met Brad once before through an EFT Master named Carol Look about a year ago. I had listened to some of the teleseminars, read some articles, and thought all this was very nice, but at the time really wasn’t willing to try it because life was going very well and I thought I had all the tools I needed.

EFT is based on the ancient Chinese technique of Acupuncture, and EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Technique. Now, I’ve never tried Acupuncture because needles and I really don’t get along. (One of those fears that EFT could probably help with?) But I loosely understood that Acupuncture has neurological properties of meridians and acupuncture points to help alleviate many different symptoms.

EFT however is used to help clear out some of the limiting beliefs and baggage that is blocking me from moving forward.

This post for example.

I know that some will view this as nothing but a hoax, something silly, and I’m crazy for even promoting such an idea. I also know that some have a problem with people promoting things, no matter how much value it holds for them or others. I can’t deny that I’m feeling much better however, I’m less stressed, and the tennis match that had been playing in my head concerning letting our Traditionalist go have been reduced to almost nothing. I can now go to John’s blog, read it, and not have any emotional attachment either way about what this man or others think. I don’t own their problems or limiting beliefs.

They are free to think that YTB will eventually collapse because we will run out of people. Yet I know there hasn’t been one example of that ever happening, so why own it?

I know they think the $226 Million are “fees” and not “Travel Sales” and yet Travel Weekly wouldn’t even consider “fees”, so why own it?

I know that they have a huge problem with all the posts on Craig’s Lists, yet I’m willing to bet that none of them even advertise there, so why own it?

I know that they think Coach, Scott and Kim will eventually leave us with the Millions they have made off our backs. Yet they’ve been with two companies in close to 30 years, and the only reason Coach left AL Williams is because he wanted to retire. So why own it?

Fear is nothing more than False Evidence Appearing Real, and you can eliminate the emotional charge of this false evidence by using EFT.

If your gut is telling you that this is right for you, like it is for me, the tennis match that is playing in your head is keeping you from achieving your goals. You need to clear it in order to move forward. It may not be EFT for you, but it’s been doing wonders for me.

I recently bought a program from both Brad and Joe called Money Beyond Belief that has me really stoked. I’ve been listening to some of the calls that came with this and it’s not only very comical, but it’s amazing how I’ve felt just after using EFT. I can’t describe it, but it’s an amazing feeling of relief, calm, and inner peace that I just can’t put into words. It also gives quite a buzz, or tingling over my entire body. You literally feel the energy.

By the way, you’re free to write this off as nothing more than some hokey program. EFT helped me with letting that go too. You’re free to call pr post with someone who cares about your own limiting beliefs.

I’ve got to go have an amazing day now…

Thanks for stopping by, and remember, if you’re reading this right now, there are no accidents in this universe of ours.

Think about it and if you feel lead to, go buy the program.

If you have enjoyed this blog and are a member of YTB, please feel free to subscribe to our weekly Newsletter!

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

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