Mon is a beautiful woman, mid 40s, who currently works two jobs. Morning job is running a restaurant. Evening job is serving drinks and running a bar. I met Mon on my first bar visit in Chiang Mai several weeks ago. She brought me my Singha beer, and we played a game called Get Four. Hanging out with Mon continues to be a joy. She has a big spirit and infectious smile. She has a teenage boy, and also adopted a now two-year-old girl. Let’s return to the first night I met Mon at Wayne’s World Bar.
Four beers later, and 5 straight losses at the game, Mon told me she would be opening her own bar, and it would be called Moon Bar. She told me about the sign for the bar, and I told her my ideas. I drew it out on a piece of paper, and she loved it. I took a few minutes and made a design in Photoshop (which is the image for this blog) and texted it to her. Soon her sign will be up, and Mon will be operating her very own bar in mid December. Two jobs, two children, single mom, you have to respect her work ethic.
As impressive as all that is, this is what I want to share. Mon is very popular with all the girls that work at Wayne’s bar. She appears to me to be a matriarchal figure. She is about 20 years older than most of them, and she has seen quite a bit of life. So last night I said, “Mon, are you taking any of the girls over to the new bar with you?” Without a thought, Mon said “No, not good for Wayne. No good for him, no good for me.”
I think it is fair to say that most people would not take that same position. Most people would be looking out for themselves first, and let Wayne figure it out on his own. Even though these women are friends of Mon’s first, she inherently knows that doing the right thing for Wayne is the best thing in the long run for both her and Wayne. Perhaps it is the Buddhist belief in Karma, which informs Mon’s life philosophy. I don’t know. I do know that when she answered my question, I knew she was right on so many levels. Her response was so simple, so spot on, so integrous and so pure. I have been in the position of starting my own businesses in the past. I did not always operate with “Mon quality” integrity. I suffered because of it.
“No good for him, no good for me.” Mon’s words and wisdom are well worth remembering.
About the Author
Jay Cradeur is an author, blogger, internet marketer, world traveler, and coach. Jay has helped thousands to achieve their dreams of financial independence. As an internet marketing coach with a focus on personal development, Jay may be able to assist you in reaching your goals. To get more information about Jay’s program, click on this link: Work with Coach Jay.
It’s just not that hard. Recently I had someone make this image of me. Since I am a phone coach, I asked an artist to take my marketing image, the big smile, and add some headphones. I sent him a quick selfie to see what the actual headphones (Logitech) look like on me. We went back and forth 3 times, each time the image and headset began to look closer to reality. After about 3 days, like magic, I had a brand new image to use on Skype and with my MOBE email account.
So you might think this was really expensive and hard to pull off. Well you would be wrong. I sent two images to a guy I found on Fiverr, and spent, are you ready for this, $10. And for this miniscule investment, I continue to get comments about how cool my image is, and folks ask me where they can get one made for their own marketing. Fiverr. Just about anything you could want or need in terms of building an online business can be found on Fiverr. At the end of this blog is a video I made with more examples of how I have used Fiverr.
You may wonder how I put out 15 pieces of content each week. I write travel / lifestyle blogs. I write some purely Internet Marketing blogs. I also post videos to YouTube. How do I do all that? I don’t. There is an entire network of independent contractor all over the globe, from the U.S. to India, from China to the Ukraine, from Pakistan to the Philippines. All these people have specific talents that they will sell to you for a very reasonable fee. These folks are generally referred to as Virtual Assistants, and they will make your life manageable, while giving the world the appearance that you are working night and day. My partner and virtual assistant, Jan, is from the Philippines, and he is responsible for getting all the content out to the world. I focus on creating the content. I get to go out and ride an elephant, and then share about the experience and lessons learned. I love it.
You can visit a site called Elance. I have used Elance quite a bit over the years. There are others, but I can only attest to Elance as they have been very professional and effective for me. Do your own research. Matt Lloyd has also created a program for $297 about all the dos and don’ts associate with utilizing other people’s time. It is called the OPT Formula and I highly recommend it if you are not working with me as a client, and would find the information valuable. If you are a client of mine, you will get the OPT Formula when you become an MLR (licensee).
Do what you are good at. Hire others to do the other stuff. Go have someone make an image for you. $5. Order a new business card image. $5. Take some action. Get some images going. It will stir not only your creativity, but also your vision. Watch this video and see how simple it really is.
About the Author
Jay Cradeur is an author, blogger, internet marketer, world traveler, and coach. Jay has helped thousands to achieve their dreams of financial independence. As an internet marketing coach with a focus on personal development, Jay may be able to assist you in reaching your goals. You can work with Jay for a 100% refundable fee of $49 by clicking on this link and committing to your future. Work with Coach Jay.
Just the other day, I sat down for breakfast at a little restaurant on Loi Kroh Road, Crema Café in Chiang Mai. While I had spent the last 2 months in Phuket, my breakfast was primarily chicken and iced coffee. My go to spot was a hole in the wall that served chicken in different curries and soups. Arriving in Chiang Mai, and living in a more touristy section of downtown, I have more food choices. I can eat a hamburger, a burrito, a mango smoothie, and a wide swath of Thai delicacies (including stewed pork leg). On this day, I ordered a cheese omelet, which came with a piece of toast. There, next to the toast was a small package of butter, the kind that you might see at Denny’s.
Shock and distress coursed through my veins. Butter. It had been 2 months not only since I ate butter, but also since I had even seen butter. You must understand, I am the guy who frequently states with great glee, “Butter makes everything better!” My children have looked at me with disgust when I put butter on the crust of my pizza. Egads. While in England, I discovered a butter called Lurpak. The local bakery made bread on Monday. I would go to the store in the morning, buy the bread (often still warm), cut a nice slice, toast it, and then slather on the Lurpak. I can say with absolute certainty that there was no happier nor content human being on the planet save for me at the moment the toasted Lurpak coated bread hit my palate.
So how did I break the habit? How is it that I did not eat butter for 2 months? I moved to Thailand. How is it that I no longer sit in front of a television and waste hours of my life surfing from channel to channel? I moved to Thailand. While I don’t’ expect many people to move to Thailand for the winter, there are two valuable lessons we can glean from this experience. First, take on a big project so that you don’t’ have the time nor inclination to eat crap and watch tv. Second, remove the vices out of sight. Get then out of the house. If you don’t see a TV or butter, you are less likely to use them. If you want to quit smoking, the first thing you do is get rid of the cigarettes, and clean out all ashtrays and anything else that may remind you of smoking. I quit smoking over four years ago.
I saw a post on Facebook. “Mother Theresa didn’t walk around complaining about her thighs. She had shit to do.” If I am focusing on my work and my health, I don’t have time to vegetate in front of the TV. What can you commit to that will propel you to a place where TV doesn’t make sense? Are there any foods in your home that you know aren’t healthy, that you can throw out or give to someone? The answer to these questions may be No. You may love your TV time and relish the idea of gorging on pizza and butter. I have been there too, and I had a pretty good time… for a while. Eventually, my spirit had enough, and demanded something deeper from me, something that require my full presence. Butter and TV make me sleepy. For me, it was time to wake up.
About the Author
Jay Cradeur is an author, blogger, internet marketer, world traveler, and coach. Jay has helped thousands to achieve their dreams of financial independence. As an internet marketing coach with a focus on personal development, Jay may be able to assist you in reaching your goals. You can work with Jay for a 100% refundable fee of $49 by clicking on this link and committing to your future. Work with Coach Jay.
Have you ever heard of the term Karoshi before? You might even be a victim of this and not even realize it!…
Translated literally from Japanese as ‘Death from Overwork’, it’s sadly taking the lives of more and more people everyday.
People even in their 20’s having literal heart-attacks from being Overworked and Overstressed.
It comes from this high paced world with demanding schedules, bosses, and an attitude that most of us carry such as:
I gotta get it done…
I need to burn the midnight oil tonight…
The deadline must be met…
Working overtime will get me ahead…
You can sleep when you’re dead…
And it’s that last one that might just come true if you’re working too much! 🙁
In fact, just a few months ago I remember a copy writer that worked for a well known marketing agency. She was constantly posting on Twitter that she was…
Taking Redbull to “get the job done”…
And then she tweeted out, “another all-nighter!”…
Then… she died.
All from over work. Over stress.
And for what?
That’s Karoshi.
I get it, we need to work hard, we’ve got lot’s on our schedules to take care of, but does it have to be so hard?
Do we have to work so much and neglect our health, our family, and our life in the process?…
Isn’t there a better way?
I think if you step back from all of the hustle and noise, that you’ll find there most certainly is a better way.
And that’s where Lifestyle ‘DESIGN’ comes in. You design your life the way you want to live it. You totally can do that and should!
Now…
There are a lot of things you can think of here to probably consider where, how, and why you should get control of your time and life.
One of these will inevitably be your J-O-B, or the type of work you do.
So let’s say that you’ve put yourself through some questions such as:
What do I really want?
How much would that cost me monthly? (Often it’s not NEAR as much as we think.)
What type of lifestyle do I want to live DAILY?
After you consider these questions, let’s say you conclude on the
money side of things that you need to be earning about $8,000
a month on average.
And when you consider the lifestyle, where you’re completely wanting to steer clear of the Hiroshi way of life, you decide you want to work no more than 20 hrs a week. (Smart feller you are!)
Basically that’s working 4 hours a day, Mon.-Fri.
The next question is HOW?
That’s where the power of leverage and working from the internet comes in.
However, you need to consider things even deeper than that… (In fact, maybe that’s where you’re at right now. You’ve seen the power of an online business, now you’re trying to figure out the next step.)
Without a doubt, most people find affiliate marketing to be the cheapest, and easiest way to start a profitable online business up fast.
So likely you start to research different systems and companies to work with.
Sadly, most are flawed as they just don’t offer you enough profits.
That’s why most smart and savvy folk end up working with High Ticket, or Top Tier offers…
It’s simple math and ‘labor required’ thinking to work this out really…
Make a few bucks per sale to get to $8k…
Or make less than 5 sales to get to $8k…
That’s how you get to the income level and lifestyle that you desire.
High Ticket baby…
And it’s not hard AT ALL, ‘IF’ you have the right system and plan
to follow…
So, if I struck a chord with you today, and I hope I did, I’d like to
invite you to check out one of my profit centers that literally can help
you transform your income in 2015.
You get capture pages, automated follow-up, and a sales team working FOR YOU around the clock, closing high ticket programs which you will get a commission on.
There’s literally no other opportunity out there like this! It also allows me to continue cranking in my core real estate business while outsourcing this but that’s a topic for a live call together.
These commissions range from $1,000, $3,000, $5,000 and up…
So literally ONE CUSTOMER per month could potentially put you over $8,000.
It’s the best way I know of to live an incredible life, ON YOUR TERMS, and to still earn an amazing income.
About the Author
Jay Cradeur is an author, blogger, internet marketer, world traveler, and coach. Jay has helped thousands to achieve their dreams of financial independence. As an internet marketing coach with a focus on personal development, Jay may be able to assist you in reaching your goals. You can work with Jay for a 100% refundable fee of $49 by clicking on this link and committing to your future. Work with Coach Jay.
After 55 years of life, and getting kicked in the teeth all too many times, I have learned that free will is a myth, an Illusion, a lie, something we like to convince ourselves that we have so that we don’t have to admit that we have virtually no control over what happens to us throughout our lives. My old teacher would often say to me, free will is for amateurs. What he meant was that I needed to get over my ego’s need to feel in control, let go of the tiller of my boat of life, and learn to work with life rather than trying to dominate and control life.
And so I have learned the phrase “Erleichda” which means “loosen up” or “let it go” in the book Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. Rather than determining what to do, I spend more time looking for the cues and subtle shifts that indicate for me or point me towards a specific direction. Life is very simple and clear if we can but silence the inner chatter, get in touch with our intuition, and trust that something far more magnificent and glorious than us is running the show.
Let’s be clear here. There are many things we can do to make our life amazing. Discipline, meditation, visualization, working hard, measuring our results, all of these things I do. This blog is about the big decisions, the ones that point our life in one direction or another. This is not about a way to live every moment of our lives. This is about creating the capacity to hear our inner voice when it speaks, and value the wisdom and guidance therein.
“Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige’s wall, there was this one: “Matters of great concern should be treated lightly.” Master Ittei commented, “Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.” – Ghost Dog (from the movie Ghost Dog)
Often this divine guidance shows up as subtle feelings. Feeling these subtle messages takes discipline and practice, and if you can find someone who knows what they are doing, a teacher can speed up the process. I remember doing an exercise back in England fifteen years ago, in which we would pair up with another person. We would look at each other, left eye to left eye, and one by one, we would intentionally pushes a thought into the other’s head. Our task was to notice when the thought entered and confirm it with our partner. My partner could not believe how accurate I was. Each time he thought, I caught it. That kind of sensitivity and awareness and openness is what is required. The trick is to be able to catch the thoughts of god.
For the past few weeks, I have been planning to go to Vietnam. However, as I started to look at flights, hotels, and transportation, I felt a longing for Chiang Mai. And just like that, for I am not one to question the universe, I decided to go to Vientiane, Laos for one week to renew my visa, and then return for two months to Chiang Mai. What about Vietnam? I don’t know. I don’t need to know. All I know for sure is I will be in Chiang Mai for a while. Something is happening here for me, and something else will be happening during my extended visit. This much seems clear.
As I look at this picture, I think of life. There is so much beauty. Each scarf, like every human being, or every experience, or every country, brings with it a unique color and texture and sensation. Each is radiant in its own way. How do you choose? This blog suggests that you don’t. Something else chooses for you, if you can listen and respond. I have made myself crazy in the past, evaluating colors and costs and projections and net net values, and in the end, something much bigger is at play. That is the game I want to understand and respect. It is the only real game in town.
I have people ask me; “Jay, why do you talk so much about meditation?” This is why. Meditation slows everything down, so that I can see and hear and feel so much more of life. If you don’t know how your mind works at its most fundamental level, it is tough to progress beyond a life of tasks and duties, the status quo, survival and a fearful death. But when you start to dissect who you really are, and who you really are not, magic starts to emerge. You can see the unseen, and feel the virtually unfelt. Life is a glorious dance with more and more to explore and discover. Go with the flow. Life is flowing slower than you think, and it is waiting for us to show up.
About the Author
Jay Cradeur is an author, blogger, internet marketer, world traveler, and coach. Jay has helped thousands to achieve their dreams of financial independence. As an internet marketing coach with a focus on personal development, Jay may be able to assist you in reaching your goals. You can work with Jay for a 100% refundable fee of $49 by clicking on this link and committing to your future. Work with Coach Jay.
Last night I was privileged to participate in the Loi Krathong annual festival celebrated in major Thailand cities. The event is held in November on the nights of the full moon. The festival centers around water, and placing your dreams, wishes and prayers on a flower bouquet alight with a candle flame sent floating down river. In Chiang Mai we have the Ping River flowing through the center of town.
I arrived at my friend’s home, and he and some friends were preparing food for the feast. While the curry and rice was being prepared, the tables were all being outlined in flame, with tea light candles placed in a beautiful design. There was a group of twenty, and we drank beer, ate the food, watched as fireworks exploded above our head, and reveled in the high energy of a group ritual. Everyone in town was participating tonight.
After our meal, we ventured over to the local temple. Here sat Buddha. We all lit a candle and placed it on the altar. This was a wonderfully solemn time, a moment of introspection and honoring of a master being that walked the earth. At first I did not even see Buddha, however once I backed up, I saw the 30 foot tall Buddha watching over the proceedings. That is a good analogy for Buddhism here in Thailand. The Buddha is all around, but not one person has tried to talk to me about becoming a Buddhist. Even me neighbor monks who chant every morning, they just smile at me and go about their business. Seems they are more concerned about their own inner life than about anything I say or do.
Next we headed to the river. Our host had reserved a small wooden shack that sat just over the edge of the river. Men fished from this exact spot each and every day, catching dinner and some extra to sell at the market. I began to think about the conversations I and my male friends would have, sitting by the river’s edge, throwing our fishing line out into the water, drinking a few Singha beers, and espousing on work, women, and the dire state of our souls. Note to Jay: Organize a men’s event in Thailand. Include a day of fishing and drinking. My oh my, that would be a blast. So while everyone was running around, lighting fireworks and lanterns, I sat still and looked out at the water. I feel a profound peace around water. The sound of water soothes my soul, dire as it may be!
I was the first of our group to light the candle and incense in the center of a flower bouquet and set it free to float down the river with my most sincere desires intact. I watch as it floated out and then downstream, soon joining the most sincere desires of so many others. While others were in a more playful mood, shocking one another with loud firecrackers, I found myself contemplative, blissful, and grateful to be in that little fishing shack on the Ping River in Chiang Mai, Thailand, watching the river flow.
About the Author
Jay Cradeur is an author, blogger, internet marketer, world traveler, and coach. Jay has helped thousands to achieve their dreams of financial independence. As an internet marketing coach with a focus on personal development, Jay may be able to assist you in reaching your goals. You can work with Jay for a 100% refundable fee of $49 by clicking on this link and committing to your future. Work with Coach Jay.
Jay Cradeur is an author, blogger, internet marketer, world traveler, and coach. Jay has helped thousands to achieve their dreams of financial independence. As an internet marketing coach with a focus on personal development, Jay may be able to assist you in reaching your goals. To get more information about Jay’s program, click on this link: Work with Coach Jay.
