So I’m going to tie up my discussion of clarity today. We’ve spent the last couple issues on it and hopefully it has made some impact on your life and your business.

If you’re a Founders Club or BGS member reading this, you already know that. I’ve stressed the need repeatedly in a number or Founders Club reports I’ve written for you.

We touched on it in the Blueprint Report which helps you get clear about who your prospects are, what they want, who you are, what you want and then helps you build a business to bridge the two.

The Core Concept Report is all about getting clarity on that one message that helps you get what you want and helps get your prospects to become clients, to get what they want. The one message, the one sentence, that boils it all down.

The Core Myth is about getting clarity on the best way to transmit that core concept.

All these things fit together and it’s all about developing clarity so you can be more effective.

The Most Important Level Of Clarity

So clarity is one of the most important aspects or insights any person can have. And it doesn’t have to be about your business. Whether you’re a business owner, or you work 9 to 5… Whether you’re a student or a professional in the workforce… Whether you’re an artist, a bus driver, a plumber, a college professor…

The most important clarity you can get is about you.

So what about you?

What about clarity of who you are?… What you’re all about?… What it is you want?… And how you’re going to get it?

How much clarity do you have?

If we were to boil it down into more psychological types of phrases or definitions, we’d talk about how clear are you about your purpose, your mission in life, your spiritual beliefs, etc.

How clear are you about your identity, who you are and what you’re all about. How clear are you about your beliefs and your values, which values are most important to you, which beliefs you hold most sacred.

How clear are you about the skills that you bring to the table in your business and what the benefits are of those skills for others? How clear are you right now about the behaviors that are both helping you and hurting you.

The Most Important Benefit of Having Clarity

You see, the great clarity you have about these elements, the easier it is for you to be authentic.

Because, when you think about it, how can you be authentic if you’re not clear on who you are?

You can’t be authentic unless you’re clear about who you are. And that’s important. Because if you’re going to do video marketing or you’re going to do report writing or any of the type of cerebral type of marketing that ultimately requires you to get your prospects to make some kind of shift, authenticity in yourself helps make that a lot easier.

That’s an area where clarity greatly increases your ability.

And then of course we’ve talked numerous times about clarity about your market; about who your prospects really are and when you’re creating a video or message, any kind of marketing message whatsoever, the clarity about what it is you want them to think, what it is you want them to feel, what is it that you want them ultimately to do.

Do You Have Clarity?

The metaphor that, from my perspective, sums up whether or not you are operating from a position of clarity is – right now, do you feel more like a lion ready to pounce, just waiting cues you know you need to move forward… OR….are you more like a deer caught in the headlights uncertain, unfocused, confused, worried, afraid of what’s going to happen. Struggling without the clarity of exactly what you need and the exact steps that you need to take.

There are so many quotes about how you’re more powerful than you realize. You’re more powerful than you know. And that’s true when you’re operating with a sense of clarity.

So I wanted to share that clarity with you. How to get the clarity of what you want, clarity of where you currently stand, clarity on anything that is integral to your life. Clarity is a performance enhancer.

It is an igniter of more progress. It’s an accelerator of progress. Because ultimately you’ll know what you need and where you need to go next.

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1. The first is, “Q: What does done look like?“. The big overarching question.
2. The second one is, “Q: What does doing look like?“

In other words, when it’s complete, what will it look like? And, what are all the steps involved in getting it done?

Let’s look at these questions separately.

Are You Done Yet?

Q: So how do you determine what “done” looks like?

A: The way you surface the answers to that is by asking a series of questions like, “if this project was incredibly successful, how would it turn out?” “If it was everything I wanted it to be, how would I know?” “If this was a smashing success, how would it end up?”

So those are the types of questions that you ask to get extensive clarity about what does done look like. Obviously if it’s anything that is more than just a few steps, it requires that you actually spend a few minutes at the very least writing out your answer to that question so that you can have greater clarity.

Now once you understand that, the next step is to figure out what “doing” looks like. To do this you need to really start listing all the steps that will get you to “done.”

I think I’ve probably shared this before, but what I like to do to determine what “doing” looks like is to brainstorm all the steps.

I don’t try and make it linear – first step, second step, etc. – because if I do that, I box myself in too quickly. So what I try to do is just brainstorm all the steps first.

Then as I’ve kind of exhausted all the steps, then I put them in order. As I put them in order, I realize I might have forgotten certain things.

Once I get all that down, I’m able to put it into a step-by-step plan that will lead me to this outcome that I’ve already defined by determining what would this look like if it was an amazing success.

Make sense?

A Harder Question:

How do you know the questions to ask?

That brings up a more difficult question of how do you know what you need to know, to get clarity on anything?

To answer that, I’m going to go a little bit more global here for a second; a little bit more meta-level.

The answer is really pretty simple, but it’s not that easy to do. I’m talking about the ability for you, as an entrepreneur, to trust your instincts.

Why is it so hard to do?

Well you see, you’ve been trained ever since you were a child not to trust your instincts; that somehow your instincts were bad or wrong.

When you were a baby you wanted all your toys and your parents made you share them. When you went to school, you might have wanted to stand up and walk around; but you were forced to sit in class and pay attention. If you decided that something was interesting to you if it wasn’t necessarily interesting to your parents or your teachers you might not have been able to study it or get access to it.

You’ve been taught over time to trust outside experts to give you certain answers that ultimately you should be developing yourself.

The bottom line is, and this is just my perspective, because people don’t trust their instincts, they don’t know what it is they want or need.

They end up looking for answers without knowing what it is they need to know.

The problem with getting answers to questions you don’t know.

So they end up joining a program, they buy some books, they listen to an audio but they’re not really clear what it is they’re hoping to get out of it. So they go to wherever it is they’re going; the program, the audio, the course, the book, etc. hoping to find out what’s there and what potentially they need as opposed to walking in knowing exactly what they need and what they’re there for.

When you don’t trust your instincts you end up deferring to others to tell you more and more of what you need for the clarity. Ultimately you’re not getting your own clarity. You’re getting other people’s clarity.

Most of things that you want right now, whether you really want them or not, have been ingrained in you. Someone else has told you that you need to have it. It’s obvious what those things are. You want more money. You want a good relationship with someone who loves you. You want a good business that makes you feel like you’re making a contribution and getting the security and freedom that you desire.

So here’s another big question. Do you think you need something that you currently don’t have in order to get something you want? Do you think you need something that you don’t have right now in order to get more money; in order to have a good relationship with someone who loves you; in order to have a good business where you feel like you’re making a contribution?

And if you do feel you need something, what is it exactly? If you don’t know what it is you need to have in order to get that, how will you ever find it?

Unless you’re hoping that someone else takes responsibility for knowing what it is you need and therefore giving it to you. That is a very dangerous position to put yourself in.

I’ll share a personal story about that in the next post.

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Today I want to talk to you about something incredibly important.

For many entrepreneurs, I sincerely believe it’s the biggest obstacle on the path to the success you’re after. In fact, without this, I don’t see how you can be successful online or anywhere for that matter.

I’m talking about self-confidence.

The reason this is so important is that in order to follow that path to success, you have to have enough confidence to step into the unknown. I’ll write that again.

In order to follow your own path, you must have enough confidence to step into the unknown.

…continue reading The Incredible Power of Self-Confidence

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by Todd Brown

While hanging out at the ETR Bootcamp last week I heard a great little “gold nugget” about testing and optimizing your marketing results.

Mary Ellen Tribby, one of the sharpest business women I’ve ever encountered and good friend of our little Strategic Profits crew, was on stage along with the the other expert panelists.  Attendees were lining up at the microphone to grab their few minutes of “consulting time” during the Q&A portion of the event.

Personally, I was in the back of the room checking my email on my iphone.  So, I didn’t hear the exact question posed.  But, the moment I heard Mary Ellen’s answer I perked up. Here’s what she said…

“You want to test the things that scream. Not the things that whisper”

What a great way to articulate the importance of testing the truly impactful things, I thought to myself.

And, it’s totally and completely a savvy point.

Testing and tracking is essential to optimizing your marketing results. In fact, you can’ t improve the results you’re getting without proper testing and tracking. And, that’s really where the beauty of marketing online comes into play.

No matter how poor your results are today, you can always improve what’s happening by optimizing the key areas within your marketing and sales funnel. And, your optimization efforts come from the tests you conduct on the areas within your marketing and sales funnel that can have the biggest impact on the bottom line.

As I explained in our recent Conversion Clinic, when testing to improve conversions, you want to invest your time and attention on the big things. On the things that can have a significant impact on the numbers.

You don’t want to invest your time on minor aspects of your promotion or funnel (i.e. the color of your signature, the font you’re using, words that are bolded or underlined, etc.).

You want to focus on the things that play a massive role in conversions (i.e. the big idea or hook behind your promotion, the headline, the lead, the offer, etc.).

Think of it like this:

If your job was to double, triple, or even quadruple conversions and sales, what would you test? Whatever the answer; go test it.

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by Todd Brown

If you’re at all like most internet marketers, you have a desire to increase your productivity and… plain and simple… just get more done.

As somebody who used to struggle on and off with being consistently productive, here are 10 recommendations (in no particular order) you can use to be a HECK of a lot more productive in 2009.

1. Use self-imposed discipline.

In other words, put yourself in a position where you have to get XYZ done. For example, instead of waiting until you have the Power Point presentation done to schedule the webinar… schedule it today and announce to your list, so you then MUST get the presentation done.

2. Every project, task, milestone you work on should have a deadline.

Periodically throughout your workday, ask yourself… “does what I’m working on have a deadline”. If not, put one on it. If it’s not worthy of a deadline, dump it.

3. Only check your email 2x a day… and never before getting at least one hour of focused work done.

I try never to check my email before noon and then not again until 4PM.

4. Have the least amount of unscheduled time each day.

In other words, try to schedule every hour of your work day. This has been one of the most effective productivity tools for me personally.

5. Have productivity goals, along with your financial and business goals.

In other words, have goals for focused time and completion of tasks.

6. Have rewards at incremental stages of your goal achievement.

Far, far off goals tend NOT to motivate us. Close goals, that we can see, tend be a lot more motivational.

7. Pre-schedule repetitive tasks into your calendar in advance.

If there are certain things you do every week, they should get a permanent place in your calendar and they should be treated just like an important appointment.

8. Monitor the time it takes you to go from idea to implementation; and try to speed up the process.

9. Try to estimate the amount of time every task will take, then put it in your schedule with a start and stop time.

This will force to work faster and more efficiently. Think… the day before vacation.

10. Regularly consider the consequences of not doing something or of procrastination.

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Rich Schefren is giving away FOR FREE 5 of his most popular products on Wednesday, August 5th at 3PM Eastern Time.

PLUS, he’s giving away Membership to his brand new Founders Club FOR PENNIES compared to any other training he’s ever done.

IT’S JUST CRAZY RIGHT NOW!

This is truly YOUR CHANCE to get access to Rich’s most up-to-date marketing and business-building tactics in his brand new Founders Club for less than what you’d spend on a nice dinner out.

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Click Here To Download Your Free Copy Now

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Click Here To Download The Founder Formula Audio

Inside You’ll Discover:

• The only true SHORT-CUT to creating a profitable business online.

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• The most effective way to apply marketing tactics to your online business.  Do it any other way and your results will suffer!

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• The 2 areas of your online business that make you money and determine how much you grow. Most online marketers get this totally backwards.

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…. You’ve gotta ask yourself a question: “Do I feel lucky?”

If you’re a movie buff, then you recognize those immortal words of Clint Eastwood from “Dirty Harry”.

It was a chilling sight…the sneering face of Eastwood staring down the barrel of a .44 Magnum, as the criminal pondered his choices (which ultimately would be the last thing he ever did).

But I bring this to mind because of a discussion Brian and I were just having about “being lucky.”

Have you ever known somebody who seems to have the best luck in the world?

It’s like everything they touch turns to gold. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s in their business affairs or their personal life, they just seem to have luck on their side all the time.

I can add myself to that list. Because I consider myself EXTREMELY lucky.

I’ve built an 8 figure business, married the woman of my dreams, and have 2 beautiful daughters who are healthy and happy.

And along the way, I’ve had lots of lucky breaks–things that just sort of “happened” which ultimately resulted in me becoming more successful.

Business and Success Coach Tom McCarthy knows all about luck, He’s been studying it for years and claims that there’s an actual science to being lucky.

We’ll tell you more about Tom’s findings later, but for right now I want to give you 3 things that have always helped me increase my luck:

1) Get Out There: I’ve found that luck stems mostly from opportunities, and the more you put yourself in front of others, the more opportunities you’ll have. So don’t be an extrovert. Meet new people. Shake their hands. Look them in the eye and find out more about them. This will increase your luck exponentially.

2) Go With Your Gut: I can’t count how many times I’ve made an important decision based on a gut feeling and it’s turned out to be the right one. You should be doing the same. Follow your instincts and go with what you feel is correct. More often than not, you’ll see your luck increase.

3) Grab The Silver Lining: The most successful people I know don’t wallow in their misery when their luck goes sour. They find the best in the situation and focus on that. And guess what? They always turn their fortunes completely around very quickly. You can do the same.

That’s a few of the strategies I use to bring better luck to my life. But what about you?

What is your definition of “luck”?

Is it mere coincidence, a supernatural happenstance, or something else entirely?

Why is it that some people seem to be lucky in everything while others have no luck at all?

And how can you change your luck from pitiful to prosperous?

I want to know how luck has affected your life, both personally and professionally.

Tell me your take on this subject, and why (or why not) it’s important to your success. Post your comments below and let’s see if we can uncover the mysteries of good fortune.

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts…

To Higher Profits,

Rich

P.S. There’s LOTS of cool things happening here at Strategic Profits this summer, and the office is virtually buzzing with activity.

Some of these things you’ll be hearing about very soon, so keep an eye out for more emails and blog posts from me.

In the meantime, answer those 4 questions in the comments below and let’s hear what you have to say about the mystery of good luck.

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Imagine the scene…

…if 12 of the top internet marketing gurus stripped down to bare all.

Yikes!

Somehow I don’t think the internet marketing world would ever be the same again.

Fortunately, they all kept their clothes on… but bared it all during a rare, one-of-a-kind Teleseminar about how they each overcame their biggest business hurdle, obstacle or constraint and have since gone on to make millions online.

And, if you’re up for it, I want to invite you to listen-in to a one-time replay of this killer Teleseminar this Thursday night.

This is an ULTRA-RARE opportunity for you to learn from the struggles and frustrations of some of the biggest names in internet marketing.

And, even more important: it’s an opportunity for you to learn exactly what they each did to break-free from their constraint and overcome their obstacle… so you can follow in their footsteps in your own business.

Please keep in mind:

This is NOT your typical Teleseminar about traffic, conversions, PPC, CPA, or anything else like that.

I simply got 12 of the top online marketers on the phone and asked them 4 simple, yet profound questions:

QUESTION #1: What was your biggest constraint to your business?

QUESTION #2: How did you overcome that?

QUESTION #3: What was the quantifiable results of your solution?

QUESTION #4: What did you take away from it?

And, I think you’ll find, the answers they shared are some of the most profound content you’ll hear anywhere about REALLY being successful online.

If there’s anything you’re struggling with right now in your business, this Teleseminar should be a must for you.

When you’re done listening to this rare Teleseminar, you’ll understand how the top internet marketers were able to find and overcome their big obstacle, roadblock, or constraint – so you can do the same for yourself!

Click Here To Get Your Spot For The Replay

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