When the economy gets a little rough and gas prices go sky high (among many other climbing expenses), people tend to increase their negativity.  They pay more attention to the negative things around them.  They get bombarded by media and practically everyone around them.  Many change their spending habits, cut unnecessary expenses, and do everything they can to survive without going under.

Right now, media keeps focusing on home foreclosures, job losses, oil going up, the stock market going down, food prices going up, and just about anything else that can cause someone on a tight budget to get depressed.  It is very easy to get caught in the trap of focusing on the negative and feeling like everything is “gloom and doom” and everything is going to get worse.  These ideas, thoughts, and feeling are exactly the WRONG way to be thinking………

Believe it or not, if you are reading this blog, most likely you are “RICH”.  Let me explain…….

If you have a computer, you are in an elite group.  Only about 5% of the world population has a computer.  Think about a few other things that you probably have…….

Do you have a roof over your head?

Do you have a car?

Do you have food in your kitchen?

Do you have …….  and so on….

Think about the things that you DO have in your life.  There are so many other people that have a LOT less than you.  They would love to be in your shoes.  They would appreciate having what you have and being in your situation.  Do you appreciate what you have or are you focusing on what you don’t have and how bad things are?

Do you have kids?  Do you focus on how they don’t clean up their room or all of the noise they make?  Do you focus on how much of your time it takes to take care of them or what you wish they did differently?  Or, do you focus on the joy they bring to your life - all of the times they laugh at silly things you do or when they pat you on the back or jump in your arms to show how much they love you?  Be thankful for your children.  They are a blessing from God.  Many other people long to have children of their own but can’t due to physical or other situations - and they would love to have a child that would mess up their room, make a lot of noise, and take a lot of their time.  To these people you ARE rich.  It’s all a matter of perspective…..

Do you have a home?  Do you complain about how much work it is to keep clean?  Do you complain about mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, doing the laundry, and cleaning every nook and cranny just to do it all over again the next day?  Or, do you focus on the fact that you have a home that you can relax and feel safe in?  Be thankful for your home.  It may not be a mansion, but their are countless people that wish they had a home.  They would gladly mow the lawn, do the dishes, do the laundry, and clean every nook and cranny and anything else they would need to do just to have a home.  They would be so thankful.  To these people, you ARE rich.  Are you thankful for your home?  Again, perspective…….

Take note of the positives in your life and focus on what you DO have.  Focus on how things will get better and look for the good in everything.  It is there if you look for it.  You will be much happier if you do.  Even in a rough economy, you are RICH.

Put your focus where you should.  Be appreciative.  It is all perspective.  Have a positive one and enjoy life….

- Hill Robertson

Some of the biggest complainers these days about the higher cost of gas, food, and other basic essentials have been those that claim to be on a “fixed” income. The truth is, there is no such thing as a fixed income. Now, you may have a fixed income for a particular job that you have but you are free to generate more income in other ways. So, fixed incomes are a myth.

Many times, people who complain about their fixed income are either lazy and just vegetate watching television all day or they come up with every excuse in the world as to why they can’t earn additional income. Even people with some kind of handicap can create additional income if they really want and focus on what they CAN do instead of feeling sorry for themselves and focusing on what they can’t do.

It is all a matter of attitude and actions. Anyone with the right positive attitude with the right focus and actions to accomplish their goals can be successful in anything they set their mind to.

- Hill Robertson

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

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

One of the most important pieces of a successful business of any kind is having a list of “customers”. My email subscription list is basically my list of customers. It doesn’t mean that any of them buy anything. But they do have an interest in the information I post on this blog. In a way it is similar to someone visiting a store and browsing the merchandise. Let’s look at an example…..

If I like model trains, I may visit a particular model train store every now and then to see what new trains are in stock. I probably won’t buy anything the first few times I visit the store but I will probably have a good time since I like model trains. While I visit the store, I may talk with the owner on occasion and build some sort of relationship with the owner. It still doesn’t mean I will buy anything. However, if someone else I know mentions something about model trains, there is a good chance I will mention the store that I like to visit. This is word of mouth advertising and can be very powerful for any business.

I would probably visit the train store many more times since I enjoy it and may learn something new about model trains that I didn’t know before. I will also probably meet some other people in the store that have something in common with me - model trains. This is even more reinforcement for me to return to the store another time.

Then, one day when I finally decide to buy a model train, I know exactly where to go. There is really not much “selling” or “pitching” the owner would have to do since I already have a relationship with the owner and have a sense of trust with him or her. I would probably even pay a little bit more to the store than I would to someone else that I do not know.

Blogs are really not much different. They are your “store” if you will. It is a place where your “customers” return on a regular basis and build a relationship with you and build a trust with you. They will keep coming back to see what is new with you and to hopefully learn a little bit more about what they enjoy.

This is one of the reasons it is so important to build a subscriber list. It allows you to let your subscribers (customers) know when you have updated your “inventory” or have some more words of wisdom to share with them. If you sell something through your blog, your frequent visitors will many times be the first to purchase your products since they already know you and trust you.

So, be sure to have an opt-in form so your visitors can subscribe to your blog and you can keep them informed and continue to build a relationship that will last a very long time.

One of the reasons I have started implementing the private posts is to encourage frequent visitors to sign up for my blog notification subscription so they can be added to my customer list. Subscribers benefit too with valuable information posts that I don’t publish to everyone and also with special product discounts or early releases.

Do you have a list for your business? You should. If not, get started right now….

- 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

Have you subscribed to this blog yet? If you haven’t yet subscribed to this blog, now is the time to do it. The best way is to fill out your name and email address in the subscribe area at the top right of this blog to get email notifications. You get several benefits by signing up for email notifications as follows:

• The popup box will not annoy you any more (see No Aweber Popup for Subscribers Procedure for more info)
• You will get passwords for special private blog posts
• You may get product offers earlier or at more of a discount than those who are not subscribed
• You may get other bonuses that I decide to give at any random time

If you don’t subscribe, you may just miss an awesome deal. Go ahead and subscribe to get updated with great success related information and products. There is no obligation and remember, I will never give or sell your information to anyone, guaranteed!

Subscribe and Enjoy!

- Hill Robertson

I am a Mac and Linux geek. I primarily use Macs or Linux servers to connect to my linux web servers that I have scattered all over the internet. I love using the almighty command line (we’re not talking old DOS here, we are talking real linux command line). It is very powerful if you know how. It is actually faster in many cases than using a GUI (graphical user interface). For instance, when I modify the underlying code of this blog or I update MySQL tables, I open up a terminal session on my Mac and ssh (secure shell) into my linux servers.

Am I confusing you yet with all of this geek talk? Well, this blog is suppose to be a bit geeky. I like to give some geeky blog posts occasionally. So keep reading and enjoy it. You just might learn something….

When I connect to my linux servers, I edit the PHP files directly on the server using a text based editor called vi (actually it is vim which is the improved version). This allows me to quickly update files without having to update a local copy and the FTP it to my server.

A little about FTP…..
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is probably the most commonly used way to send files from one computer to another. It is usually the method to upload files from your PC to your web server. One thing to keep in mind about FTP is the fact that it is clear text. This means that the data is NOT encrypted when you send it from your PC to your web server. So, if someone was sniffing (or monitoring) the network traffic somewhere between you and your web server, they can see your FTP login and password. If this concerns you, you may want to use SFTP (secure file transfer protocol) which encrypts the data as it is sent so it can’t be easily seen by someone sniffing the network.

In the same manner as SFTP, SSH also encrypts the data as it is sent. I use SSH all the time from my Mac and Linux boxes. If you are a PC person and you want to use SSH, there is a free client call Putty available. If you want to use SFTP or SSH to connect to your web server, your server will have to support it. Many web hosting accounts only support FTP.

Get a little geeky if you haven’t already. You just might like it. One of the goals of this blog is to help geeks and want-to-be geeks learn how to run a successful internet business. I had to learn the hard way before there were good resources like this blog to learn from. As I geek, I wasn’t too comfortable with the marketing side of things and especially the “dealing with people” aspect of it. Now, I understand internet business a lot better and understand how important it is to have a great relationship with your customers.

If you want to keep learning more about how to build a successful internet business, subscribe to this blog by sending your name and email in the subscribe form at the top right of this page.

Geeks can make money online too…..

- Hill Robertson