I love to observe people. I really enjoy watching how people react to different situations and what type of attitude they have. One of my favorite times to do this is around Christmas time when the malls are flooded with people rushing around to get the hottest toy for their kids of the perfect gift for their spouse. It brings out the best and worst in people.

I like to go to the local mall and sit in the food court area. I usually get honey chicken with fried rice at the Chinese place. They use to have awesome wontons there but they got rid of them once they changed ownership. Anyway, I’ll sit there and nibble away while observing people complain about the long lines or that the one specific gift they came to get was sold out. Usually, the attitude that is displayed with these type of comments is a very negative attitude that points the finger at everyone else. Their attitude doesn’t make the lines any shorter or help them find the sold out gift. All it does is make everyone else around them more negative.

If you look carefully enough, you will see the more positive site of people too. While I sit there savoring my last few grains of fried rice, I see happy people with positive attitudes and a smile on their face as they enjoy the time of the year and enjoy spending time with family. They have to wait in the same long lines and don’t get that sold out gift but they have the proper perspective and they are upbeat and positive. They make people around them happier.

So, people are characterized by their attitude. What is your attitude? Are you portraying a positive or negative attitude to others? Do your customers dread calling you because you are grumpy and have a bad attitude? If so, they may not be your customers very long and they certainly won’t recommend you to anyone else. Or, do your customers enjoy talking with you because you have a positive attitude and they feel better about themselves after having a conversation with you? If so, they will be long lasting customers and they will recommend you to others they know and your business will grow.

Remember, business is all about people. Without people, you have no business. With a bad attitude, you have no business. Everyone has an attitude the portray - whether good or bad. Your relationships will be based on attitude. Be sure you have a positive one if you want a successful business and a happy life.

Many people I know seem to live by the motto of “working for the weekend”. They go to their JOB Monday through Friday and put in their time. They practically proclaim that they have no fun and don’t really “live” until the weekend comes and they don’t have to work.

People with job mentality tend to think a JOB is the way to success. They either jump from job to job every few years looking for happiness and maybe a little bit more pay or they work hours and hours of free overtime trying to impress their management to rise up the corporate ladder thinking that it is a path to success. They never really think about building their own business and creating their own success and freedom. They typically think that anyone that becomes successful in their own business had different circumstances than them or had some advantage that allowed them to be successful.

Why just work for the weekend when you can work for freedom? You can have the freedom to do what you want to do when you want to do it. If you can eliminate the things and activities that are robbing you of your valuable time and you focus on things that can make you productive and successful, you can determine your success in life whether it be monetary, physical, or spiritual. It is your choice. You can make the decision and take the action to make any of your wildest dreams come true. Make wise choices.

So, are you working for the weekend or are you working for freedom?

- Hill Robertson

We seem to be taught our entire life that to be successful, you need to get an education, earn a degree, and get a job . However, getting a job is not going to let you achieve financial freedom. It will barely keep you treading water until some unexpected expense comes up that wipes you out. Not only that, but a lot of your time is taken away from you. As many entrepreneurs will tell you, J.O.B. stands for “just over broke”. It is just enough to get by.

Sure, you may be able to survive working a typical JOB and then plopping on the couch to watch some mindless brain numbing television. But you will probably work like that your entire life and retire with almost nothing and just barely surviving. You have the choice to work at a JOB and live with these results. Or, you can start your own business and work it consistently until you are financially free and can do what you want when you want. You can even do it while you still work at a JOB.

Think a little bit about what your future expenses may be. Do you have kids? What will their education expenses be? Do you have girls that one day may have wedding expenses that you are expected to pay? Have you thought about what kind of taxes you may have to pay? (They seem to go up every year whether federal, state, property, or anything else the government decides to tax). As for me, my kids go to a private school and my tuition keeps skyrocketing every year. If I only had a J.O.B., I would not be able to even afford the tuition, much less save for college or anything else.

I’m sure your pocket book is getting too light too fast right now with gasoline well over 3 dollars per gallon. Also, many of the basic food necessities have jumped in price as well. Just the normal living expenses have been climbing and the dollar is weakening. What are you doing to combat it? Are you trading more of your time for money? Many people that I know are just working extra hours for a little bit more pay. However, they don’t usually realize that they may be paying more taxes on the overtime and getting less take home pay per hour. Back to my main point; the time is much more valuable than the money.

If your time is invested wisely in your own business and the right systems are put in place, you can make MUCH more money than at a JOB. You can also build it where you invest the time creating a product or service ONCE and continue to get paid without having to put in more work. This is the essence of a freedom mentality instead of JOB mentality. My biggest successes in business have been my service businesses where I spend my focused work efforts creating the product. Then, it is just a matter of making it available, writing good copy (which I am admittedly not very good at yet), and getting traffic. After that, the sales start coming in and the money comes in every month. I’m generating a very generous income without even being good at writing copy. I’m still learning the ropes in this area. The point is, you don’t have to be great or even good at everything to make money. Just start your business and work at it. You will make mistakes but you will learn as you go. You will get better and better. I didn’t know squat when I started, but I learned along the way and it has paid off. I’m still learning in a lot of areas (and will never be an expert at everything).

Don’t live your life thinking you must have a good J.O.B. to be successful. That is what we are taught but it is not a path to freedom. Stop trading your time for money. A J.O.B. is a path to slavery to your employer - until they don’t need you anymore…. Start a business of your own and pave your path to financial freedom.

Every now and then, something in your life just may grab your attention and make you think a bit about what you are doing with your life and what really matters. You’ve probably heard the saying, “Stop and smell the roses.” Generally, it refers to taking the time to appreciate the things around you and embrace life. Be thankful for what God has blessed you with. Slow down a little bit and realize what is really important in life.

Another saying by the great philosopher, Ferris Bueller - “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Once again, the idea is to slow down and really appreciate life and all of our blessings.

Every once in a while, you get a swift kick in the rear by some life changing event or challenge that makes you really focus on the things you are spending your valuable time on and what is REALLY important. What is really important to you? What should you be doing differently once you realize what your priorities SHOULD be?

It can be easy to lose site on the important things in life when you are trying to build an internet business. You can get so caught up in the busy work of running your business that you overlook your family and other priorities. You convince yourself that they are the reason you are building the business. While this is probably true, you need to focus your efforts on working smart. Do things in a smart way so you won’t end up doing “busy work”. Put systems in place and/or outsource your busy work so you can spend time with your family and do the things that are important. You can always build your business late at night and miss a little sleep. Missing a little sleep is much better than missing out out your family. You only have one chance to teach your children how to ride a bike for the first time - or catch their first fish - or hit their first ball - or FILL IN YOUR OWN LIFE MOMENT HERE. Don’t miss out on all of the little things in life. The little things in life ARE life. Life is a long journey full of “little moments”. You want to experience as many little moments as possible.

Keep in mind, the reason you are building your own business is so you can have the freedom to be able to experience more of these little moments since you won’t have to be working at a J.O.B. You will be able to be where you want to be when you want to be there. So, work smart so you can smell the roses.

- Hill Robertson

Do you have business systems in place that do work for you whether you do anything or not? A business system in place that gives you the freedom to focus on other areas of your business or take care of other matters is one of the key ingredients to a successful business.

Today was a great example of how one of my business systems kept my internet business rolling along while I was unable to. You see, today, I had an appointment with my eye doctor. I was planning on a normal checkup with no interruption to my regular business and family activities. However, it turned out that I needed to have my eyes dilated for some of the tests. Getting your eyes dilated in not fun at all. It disrupts a lot of your routine.

After the procedure, I had to wear 2 pairs of sunglasses (at the same time) to keep the light low enough to not be painful to my eyes. They said my eyes would not be “normal” for at least 3 or 4 hours. As soon as I got home, I got in bed and covered my head so there was no light getting to my eyes so I could have some relief until my pupils returned to normal. I had to wait a few more hours before they felt normal again. In fact, I kept the sunglasses on for the first few hours on my computer (and we’re talking at night) just to stay comfortable.

Anyway, thanks to my business systems in place, I didn’t have to worry about many of my normal functions (such as blog carnival submissions). If I had to submit them myself, my eyes could not have handled it and I probably would be in too much pain to write this blog posting.

So, set up as many business systems as you can to reduce the work you have to do yourself. This will free up your time to focus on other areas of your business (or let you go to the eye doctor and have your eyes dilated).

- Hill Robertson

Think back on some of the things you have been passionate about throughout the years. What hobbies have you had in the past that you really loved? Are you still actively pursuing those passions? Which of those passions have you lost interest in or have otherwise let fall to the wayside?

It can be very important to understand why you lost interest in previous passions. If you can determine the factors involved in letting go of your passions, you will better understand how to stay passionate about something for a longer period of time (or why you may not stay passionate about something as you look a little way down the road).

As we’ve discussed before, you will want to spend more time on things you have a passion for. Your desire will keep you motivated and it will be obvious in your work whether it is in your internet business, family life, hobbies, or just about anything else.

On the same thought, if you recognize the reasons you stuck with certain passions that you have had for longer periods of time, you can better understand what factors are involved in consistently sticking with those passions.

Identify your passions and use them to create happiness and potentially a successful business. Just think about the things you love to do. What would you do if time was not an issue? What would you do if money was not an issue? Those things are the very things that just may give you the time and money freedoms you desire.

- Hill Robertson

The big news today has been the presidential election primaries. Everyone wants their candidate to win for many different reasons. The issues cover just about the entire spectrum including religious beliefs, taxes, health care, illegal immigration, the war in Iraq, the economy, education, and the list goes on and on. When you boil it all down, people tend to vote for the candidate they believe will give them what they want.

What motivates the way you vote or who you want to win? Do you want the candidate that says they will give you everything for free (usually at the expense of others) or do you want the candidate that best enables you to build a successful business of your own? The lines often get blurred as to which side each candidate falls in these areas. Regardless of how you plan to vote (or if you are going to vote at all), you have a choice of how successful you will be.

If you put all of your hope and dreams in what someone else will do for you, whether it be the president of the country or your boss at work, you will end up disappointed. You are the only one that can control the path of your future. While other outside forces may change the terrain of your path and may cause little bumps, pot holes, and maybe even detours along the way, you are still in control of where you drive and how fast you get there.

It really just takes a decision on your part and then consistent action. You can choose to be successful and you can shape your future based on your actions today. Start on your journey of success today. It is YOUR decision. No matter who wins in the primaries or general election, your future is in your control - if you decide to take control. If you take control of your future and take action, the real winner is YOU.

- Hill Robertson

My favorite time to get things accomplished in my internet businesses is late at night. I am pretty much a night owl anyway. My creative juices really get flowing in the wee hours of the morning. Once the clock hits about 10 or 11 at night, my internet business mind kicks into gear. Even though I usually get up around 7 AM to help get the kids ready for school and have busy days all day long up until the kids are in bed around 8:30 PM, I’m just getting going.

I really like working my internet business at this time of night when everything is quiet and I can really focus on my work. I can quietly browse around the internet researching ways to get more qualified web traffic as I monitor web server logs, analytics, and new subscriptions. I start blogging and writing articles. I also work on coding up the next software product or website idea. It is nice and peaceful and I can really focus on good content, software, and products. Take a look at the time stamp on this post. Right now (as I write this paragraph) it is 2:08 AM. I’ve been working since 10 PM. I haven’t had any interruptions - no telephones ringing and no TV distracting me. It is just nice and quiet.

When is your favorite time to work on your internet business? Do you work at night so you can spend time with your family during the day? Do you work while your kids are at school and spend time with them at night? Everyone has different schedules and different motivations for working at different times. That is one of the big advantages of running your own internet business. You can work it when YOU want to. The internet is there 24/7. It is ready whenever you are.

I can get so much more done during these times of peace and quiet when I can stay focused than when I keep getting interrupted by sweet little voices asking, “Can you play with me, Daddy?” Plus, when my children ask me to play with them, I would rather play with them while they are still little and want to play. I can always work the business while they are sleeping. I know in 20 years from now when they are grown and out of the house, I’ll be glad I did. They are only little boys and girls for a little while. Cherish every moment with your kids.

Do I lose some sleep? Yep. Am I tired all of the time? Pretty much. Is it worth it? Absolutely!

Is it worth it to you? Can you lose a little sleep to build your internet business late at night so you don’t interfere with important family time? You can find the time if it is really important to you. It doesn’t matter when your best time of the day is. Just find the best time for you and take action. Stay focused and be persistent. If you can, work your internet business in peace and quiet. You will get more done when you are not getting distracted.

- Hill Robertson

To run a successful internet business, you need to value your time and understand what it is worth to you. If you really take time to think about it, you are probably spending a lot of time on “business activities” that you can better outsource or otherwise take the load off your own plate. It can be easy to get in this trap because you feel like you are working on your business and taking the next step. You may very well be doing that. However, can you spend that time on something more productive that you can’t outsource? Let’s look at this in more detail.

When I started my internet businesses, there were many services I could have outsourced easily. There was also software I should have bought to be able to do certain tasks of my business. Instead, I looked at the cost involved in outsourcing the services and purchasing software. So, in order to “save” money, I would write my own software that would accomplish the same goal as the services and software. But did I really save?

I would find a software product that would help me do a certain business task that I needed to do. It would cost $200. I knew I could write my own software to do the same thing. I would code it up myself so I wouldn’t have to spend the $200. However, it would take me 40 hours to complete the software. Let’s see, that is $200/40 hours. That works out to $5/hour. That is less than minimum wage! I haven’t worked for minimum wage since I was 16 years old. I certainly wouldn’t want to work for that today. Yet, that is exactly what I was doing. In addition, I lost that 40 hours that I could have spent with my family. That 40 hours is gone forever. All for a measly $200.

Of course, if you are starting out and don’t have any money, you may have to go this route to some degree. But really think about the value of your time compared to what it would cost to accomplish the same task through outsourcing in some way or another. There is a cost to everything whether it costs money, time, or both. You can always make more money but the time is gone forever. Think about how you are spending both and then spend your money and time wisely.

- Hill Robertson