Of course, there will be some who PREFER to believe otherwise.  Dan Kennedy says,

“Virtually all secrets are visible.  But people prefer belief in invisible secrets to the harsh reality of personal responsibility, to the visible explanation for success and for failure.”

Essentially, we tend to warmly welcome all of the “it’s not your fault” condolences when we lose big time… in business, in life, in marriage.  They feel good for the moment… when the sting of failure is still raw.   But, they don’t serve us.

Because we WILL get back into the ring again, ready to fight, ready for a new challenge, ready to win.  And if we believe the secrets to winning — in ANY area of life — are hidden from us, then it’s not our fault when we lose… and of course, there’s nothing we can learn from losing.

Let me be frank.  This is B.S. YOU are creating your life, your business, your marriage.  Every day, with the choices you make.   As for invisible secrets… let’s dig in and see what’s REALLY invisible.

Maybe it’s MINDSET you say…. After all, you can’t see someone’s mindset, Right?  And mindset is CRITICAL to your success.

Many people mistake me for an optimist.  (EVEN those who know me really well…. but it’s a false assumption.)  I am not an optimist.  I work very hard to be a REALIST.  I want a mindset that is committed to both DREAMING BIG and ACCURATE THINKING.  I want this mindset because I KNOW that the highest achieving entrepreneurs in the world have it… and I want to be one of them.

Is this a secret?  NO.  Is it visible?  Yep.   It’s visible because no one is born with it… therefore the mindset of a REALIST is something that must be deliberately created and maintained.  This “secret” becomes very visible when you consider the books littering the office and coffee table of multi-millionaires.  It becomes visible when you observe what they are reading, listening to, and watching… and it is even MORE visible when you consider what they’re NOT reading, listening to, and watching.  Mindset is visible because it must be built and the tools and habits used to build it are very, very visible.

What about FAITH? You’re a woman of faith, right?  Yes, I am.  And no, maybe you can’t see my “faith,” but my God says that Faith without WORKS is dead.  Useless.  So, my faith (should) show up in my words, my actions, my habits, my worship.  If it is of any use to me at all, it will be visible.  (Same is true for people of ANY faith or belief system.)

Here are some more “invisible” secrets hidden in plain sight, but often ignored:

Personal Responsibility.  When I win, I am proud of me.  When I lose, I know who to blame:  me.  When I am the problem, I can be the solution.  But as long as I make YOU the problem, there’s nothing I can do to change things.  The MOST successful among us are intolerant of such impotence.  A successful person adopts THIS mantra:  There’s always something that can be done.  By me.  Today.  (Period.) Is it visible?  YOU BET.  It’s visible in the lack of blaming.  It’s visible in the hustle of your day… as if it all depends on you.  (It does.)

Rational Decision Making.  Success is built QUICKEST when you do not allow your emotions to run things.  Emotions are AWFUL at decision making!  I remember laughing (he has a really dry, but hilarious sense of humor!) when I heard Steve Chandler talking about this fact. He said, and I’m paraphrasing,

“You can’t afford to go around taking your emotional temperature all day, wondering:  Do I FEEL like doing this or not?”

Emotional temperature.  I think that’s funny… because — like ALL great comedy — it is SO SO true.  You see it everyday.  People who do what they FEEL like doing instead of what they NEED to do.  This leads to a life and business of mediocrity.

Trump isn’t calling in “depressed” when he has a deal to close.  He goes anyway.  Oprah’s not wondering if she “feels” like taping another show today… she just shows up.  Tyra Banks — who actually RUNS her own company (actively) and is a super super savvy entrepreneur WORTH your study — doesn’t ONLY do what she feels like doing. She does what has to be done to get a very specific result.  Is this visible?  Yep.  It’s visible in the LACK of excuses, the LACK of missed appointments and missed deadlines.

Commitment.  Unwavering “whatever it takes” commitment.  THIS is obvious and visible.  Because setbacks for the uber-successful aren’t deal breakers… or even time wasters… they are only worthy of a  SLIGHT change in direction. It’s visible in the fact that these achievers do not give up.

Bottom line:  the SECRETS to being rich, thin and happy aren’t reserved for a lucky few… and hidden from the rest of us.  They are visible for those pursuing them.

The only question left is this:  WHICH do you PREFER?  The easy-on-the-ego excuse of invisible secrets or the harsh reality that it is — when all is said and done — up to you?

Wait — just in case you’re not exactly sure what a “joint venture” campaign (actually, BETTER defined as “affiliate marketing)  is — it’s essentially where biz owner 1 BORROWS biz owner 2′s list to sell a product or program.

Biz owner 2 sends out an email to their list, promoting (with total fervor and flair) whatever biz owner 1 hopes to sell you, and biz owner 2 –the owner of the list (the one you trusted with your email address) — gets a portion of the sale — if you buy.

This will explain why you’d get a form email from 3 different “gurus” promoting the same special deal… 

So, back to my politically correct answer.  It goes a little something like this:  ”I don’t do JVs.  Right now, my list trusts me.  And they know that when I recommend something it’s NOT because I’ve got some vested interest in them buying it… it’s because I BELIEVE in what I’m promoting.  For me, this is working.”

And all of that is true.  Every word of it.  But there is more that I’ve always left VERY unspoken… until now.  So,  in the interest of total transparency, here goes:

1) I don’t like being “sold to” all of the time, and I assume you don’t either.  So — frankly — if  I’m going to hound you to death to buy something, I’d rather it be MY something.  lol…

2) I believe this stuff really cheapens our relationship.  For me, my “list” is not a list…  I KNOW a lot of you, respect you, and really value our relationship, regardless of how “virtual.”  I have zero interest in passing you around from marketer to marketer, so they can each try their best to get a piece of your wallet.

3) I’d be embarrassed to send you a series of emails — prewritten — SUPPOSEDLY from me… when I know the chances are HUGE that you’d be getting those same emails from some other coach you also listen to.  (I don’t know… dressing up the SAME as everyone else is just not really my thing.)

Bottom line:  I watch these joint ventures go down everyday.  And the business woman in me wonders how much they’re REALLY making.  Both the person selling (after giving away 40% – 60% to their JV partners) and the JV partner themselves.  (Hey — businesses are about money… so it’s natural for me to at least wonder.) But in the end, passing YOU around to all of my marketing buddies to take a pass at you feels a little like offering you up as the fraternity house bimbo.  Yuck.

Side Note:  You have seen me promote some things that I DO very much believe in.  www.thebizzybuzz.com for example. LOVE them.  Love Mara.  Another example is www.dankennedy.com and www.stevechandler.com  – I don’t get one red penny if you spent a million dollars with each of these businesses.  I promote and recommend them because I know they can serve you – well… not because I get a kickback if you buy.  

Now, keep in mind… I knew I wasn’t going to be attending either.  (It was also opening weekend for Little League baseball.)  But, this knowledge didn’t keep a smile from spreading across my face.  You see, these are familiar signs of HOME.

I cross the state line, see those banners and know:  I am home.

Your best clients — those you serve well, those who refer, those who cheerfully pay your fees — should feel the same way when they walk in your door, hear you speak, or click on your website.  For me — ironically, lol… —  some of my best and most successful clients are NOT from the south, have probably never even HEARD of a mud bog, and  only tolerate my  southern pride.  =)

BUT, when they heard me speak, or visited my site, they KNEW I was speaking to them.   All of the sudden, someone was calling out what they were upset about…. speaking out against the “miracle solutions” that left them broke and bummed… and making business success achievable again…  EVEN for those of us on “Mainstreet America.”  In short, they knew they were home.  They knew that on “Planet WOW!” business was done differently, and they knew that DIFFERENT was going to be a perfect fit for them.

I go out of my way to make my clients feel at home… to attract those that belong… and to — without apology — repel those that just don’t.  (Usually whiners, complainers and those who prefer a good excuse to solid action!)

So, how do YOU make your clients feel like they’re HOME with you?   Hint:  A GREAT & CRITICAL step in the right direction is to KNOW who really belongs with you…

KNOW who you’re talking to.  KNOW what they want, what they need, what keeps them up at night, who their heroes are, and also who they’re mad at…. KNOW what they think of your competitors and your industry in general… KNOW what they’re reading, and what conversations they’re having.

RESEARCH those you hope to sell to… TALK to them.  ASK questions.  AND then… create  a HOME just for them.

It’s always good to be home. =)

1) I have no friggin’ clue… because if I did, I’d be doing it already; AND

2) Doubling my income would STILL leave me with “not enough.”

Man, was I being shortsighted.  Just the CONCEPT of doubling your income is worthy, because it JOLTS us out of the typical “incremental thinking” that keeps so many of us so FIRMLY ROOTED in the status quo!  In the following three months, I added a ZERO to my income.  A 10X increase.  In three months.  GRANTED, my income wasn’t super great in the first place… =) BUT a ten-fold increase ain’t a half bad return for that short amount of time.

Yesterday, I received word from a Rapid Results participant who wanted to share her success with me.  At this point — regarding these specific details — she’s asked to remain anonymous.  But,   this is what she said,

When you and I had started working together in December my prospects were at about $19,000 (all of which was work I had mostly NOT yet done— and that would take a LONG time to get paid for— although I had no idea it would take as long as it did).  At the time we were working together, not only was I broke, but could not find additional contracts, and I was headed down the “I will just work for free and hope that my blood and tears— leads to recommendations etc..”— I was going to offer over $15000 in work gratis!  oh boy.

Today I am happy to report that I have generated an additional $28,000 in work (upcoming and current contracts) and my eyes are brightly and clearly focused on making at least 100K this upcoming year and (250K OR MORE) if I continue to focus and plan correctly.

Your coaching, patience, guidance, and, kindness and friendship has been such a tremendous light on my path….. THANK YOU.

Ahead of projected.  That’s a good result.

Another Rapid Results participant is happy to be named and tied to her phenomenal success.  Her name is LeeAnn Fay -Ellis and she’s an amazing business owner, wife, mother of two and NuSkin distributor.  Her typical sales for the month had been about $2000.  Not bad, but not where she wanted to be.  After about 5 weeks in the Rapid Results program, she JUMPED from $2k in sales to over $4500 in sales… for the MONTH.  WOW!

So, I asked her to SHARE how SHE DOUBLED, so you can too! Here are her thoughts! Thanks so much LeeAnn…. and Congratulations!

#1   Be Real & Accountable in setting Goals- I LOVE the phrase “if it is going to BE it is up to ME” that being said I know the importance of a great support system and accountability partner.  I always set BHAGs I figure if I shoot for the stars I’ll land on the moon

#2  Personal Development…Books & additional coaching with Miss Michelle   I had gotten away from reading…back into it like a morning cup of coffee.   In addition to Michelle’s weekly Modules w/ Rapid Results, I’ve been reading: Og Mandino, “The Greatest Secret”; Dave Blanchard, “Today I begin a New Life”  and Darren Hardy, “The Compound Effect.   From this I have been changing poor habits and replacing with better! There is NO PV (personal volume $$) in TV. Have cut back on the crappy TV and focused on creating positive results.  The assessments from www.thecompoundeffect.com and my “unbalanced wheel” was a real eye opener!

#3  Different approach when working with my TOP TEN from Rapid Results potential clients or business partners.   NO sales pitch!  Listening more and finding out if they are open or in a place of need.  More about how I can help them then what they can do for me    Givers Gain, for my team to grow and experience their own success I need to set the example…Now off I go to what some might call work… I don’t