This morning I was obligated to take a drive with my one year old daughter. We took this drive at 5 AM in attempts to get this little girl to sleep. I had been up with her since 3 AM and enough was enough. The good news, it worked! The bad news, I only got 2 hours of sleep last night. I’ll live!

As I was driving around, I saw cars idling in their driveways warming up for the trip to work, people coming out of their homes and apartments in their work uniforms, contractors pulling up to job sites and it was barely 5 in the morning. Now, I live in a small town where the commuting time isn’t huge, so I know that these people would most likely be starting work at 6 in the morning.  As the time went on and 6 Am started rolling in, the streets were full of people heading to work.

It seems as though the so called “9 to 5” job is no longer only 9 to 5. In fact, I don’t think it has ever been 9 to 5. It is more like a 6 to 6! If you think about your time spent getting ready for the job and traveling to and from the job, it should all be counted. It is time spent for someone other than you and yours. That is time spent that you are not getting paid for. Take into account how much time, if added up over a few years or even a lifetime, that you are wasting in preparation for your job. Let’s say on average it takes 30 minutes to get ready, 60 minutes to commute to and from, and 30 minutes to get, so called, “unready.” That is 2 hours a day. Over a one year period, you have spent an average of 10 hours a week, 40 to 50 hours a month and around 520 hours a year preparing to get paid for your time instead of getting paid for your time.

What if you invested that time into a business opportunity of your own? I can tell you that I know people who have, like myself, made more in a 10 hour work week than most people make in an entire year! It’s all about getting paid for your results instead of your time. There is only so much time, but results are unlimited.

I have become a sucker for animated films and for all of you who have children, you know what I mean. I catch myself saying things that normally a man wouldn’t say, such as, “I’ve got to go potty!” So now I am addicted to animated movies, Wii, and several other activities that pertain to having three little girls.

I just barely found the opportunity to watch the movie Wall-E. What a great flick with some great messages about companionship and responsibility. For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, I may ruin it for you. The earth becomes very polluted and the population was given the option to leave earth on a spaceship while it was being cleaned up. Well, Wall-E was one of the robots created to clean the earth and over time, ended up being the only one left.

He ends up finding his way to the spaceship that contained all the children’s children’s children’s children of the ones who left the earth so many years before while following a robot sent to earth to discover signs of life. Well, over the years the people on this ship had become so robot and technology dependent that they grew fat, very fat. None of them even walked and they all floated around on these hovering chairs all the time with a TV screen in front of their faces. They were all so fat and so consumed with what was right in front of their face that everything else around them was non-existent. Once this screen was turned off, by Wall-E of course, they could see a universe of possibilities and then starting to truly enjoy life. They started walking and taking action.

The best line of the entire movie, at least for me, came from the captain of this spaceship. Back in the beginning years of this spaceship, the man in charge put the ship on autopilot and programmed it to keep all the inhabitants of the earth in space indefinitely because the earth was unsuitable to sustain life. Well, Wall-E’s little robot friend discovered life on earth and in order to return to earth, the captain had to put this plant into a sensor that would activate the ships return sequence. Well, the captain and this Auto Pilot robot ended up into an argument. The robots job was to make sure the humans survived. That was its mission.

The captain then said the line, “I don’t want to survive. I want to live!”

T0 just survive would be a waste of life. To truly live and experience all that life has to offer is our true nature. Take some time today and think of what “Living your Life” truly means to you. Where are you at? What are you doing? Who are you with? If you are not currently doing it, what in the heck are you waiting for?

Life is short. Very short! Enjoy the journey. Don’t end up at the end of it wishing you would have!

Since our move from Pinetop to Payson Arizona we have been able to enjoy a few quick trips down to the Phoenix area. Where it would take 3 hours from Pinetop it now is only an hour away and so these few quick trips happen a little more often. This past Saturday we decided to do a quick trip to the Phoenix Zoo. So we packed the kids in the car and took off.

The Zoo was pretty packed when we got there. We actually drove around for 25 minutes before we finally found a spot, and guess where it was? It was right up front!! That’s the law of attraction in the works right there!

The kids had a blast. Animals, Kennel Corn and Snow Cones make up for a great time when you have children. It was cool to see the excitement on their faces. I asked them what their favorite part was and you won’t believe what they told me. When we were looking at the Rhinos, one of them decides to let go of nearly 50 lbs of dung and urine no further than 20 feet from us. So yeah, that was their favorite part!

The point of my post is not to tell you of the great time we had but to speak about Elephants. Here is an interesting fact that you all may not be aware of: Elephants in captivity die 20 years sooner than those that live in the wild! Elephants in the wild will travel nearly 25 miles a day where animals in captivity don’t. Now the biggest killer of Elephants in captivity is their feet. Zoo keepers are constantly cleaning and taking special care of their feet because they don’t have the opportunity to wear down the bottoms of their feet while in captivity while those that live in the wild have little trouble at all. Elephants in the wild will normally live up to around 80 years old.

You know, I think there is a little more to it. The professionals blame these early deaths on foot trouble and that may be part of the issue, but let me throw this idea out there. The elephants natural home involves a seven letter word, “Freedom!” They go from traveling 25 miles a day in the open to maybe just 5 miles of the same old cage. Even if they were born in captivity, it still runs through their veins. They are animals that were created to be free and to roam in their domain. How would that feel to know you were capable of more, yet, you were being constrained or held back from what should be natural?

It is amazing to see the growth in the people I assist every day in this business. Especially when they are coming from a place of captivity. If we all truly understood what we were capable of, the world would be a very different place!

I would be interested to know the average life expectancy of a person that works in a cubicle for an employer for his entire life versus an entrepreneur who travels frequently and has complete control over his time. I bet the stats are somewhat similar. I know for sure which of those two people would experience the most joy in life.

You see, there are different forms of captivity. When you take a look at an Elephant in the zoo, one might think, “Wow, now that’s captivity!” On the other hand, is being cooped up in a job any different. It’s basically a lighter form of house arrest. We can call it ‘commercial arrest’. After you are finished doing your time, you are allowed to go home for a few hours for relaxation, but, you had better be back the next day to do it all over again. What sounds enticing about that?

My advice: Make absolute certain that you are living your life as freely as you possibly can. You will be happier, you will experience more joy and you will live longer. And I sure hope it doesn’t take a trip to the zoo to help you realize that!

As you all know I am a huge movie watcher. I don’t really care for TV shows but love the movies. BraveHeart! What a great movie with a great message. Yeah, I know that a ton of people had to die to get this great message across, but even past all the blood and gore in the movie, it had a great plot. The plot of freedom. It shows how average people become great and accomplish great things. Where there is a will, there is a way and where there is passion, many will follow.

Inspirational Quotes from Braveheart

How many of you who are in your current job would like to tell your boss or employer something like this: “Before we let you leave, your commander must cross that field, present himself before this army, put his head between his legs, and kiss his own arse.” -William Wallace

I was once told by an well respected colleague of mine that most people only really get one shot, maybe two, to make something great of themselves. When facing that one opportunity, and having turned it down, you may never get another chance. William Wallace says it best, “Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you’ll live… at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin’ to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take… OUR FREEDOM!”

Don’t be caught years from now wishing that you would have taken that one chance to do something great with your life. Don’t wait to live. Living is for now, not for later. Don’t just sit around on the couch with a false sense of security just because you have a job or a steady paycheck. I once read that most people die at age 30 and are dead men walking for the other 60. “Every man dies, not every man really lives.” -William Wallace

When you think about freedom, what does that mean? Does it mean living in America and being able to go here and there, from state to state, worship as you may, have the right to bear arms and the freedom of speech? I love and enjoy those freedoms, but still, Dad’s are away from home ten to 12 hours a day just to kiss their kids goodnight and in some cases, the mother also. Their children are being raised by someone else that is paid to just watch them instead of nurturing them and teaching them how to be great. In trade for food and shelter they sacrifice their family time and their freedom! There is so much to live for, to enjoy and to experience and working my life away for someone else is not my idea of freedom.

“It’s all for nothing if you don’t have freedom.” -William Wallace

Can you generate a significant amount of leads with blogging?

The answer to that questions is a definite YES! Blogging is one of the best ways to generate the most targeted traffic that in turn will produce the highest quality of leads you will ever have.

I built this website to educate Entrepreneurs through Personal Development and to find those who are looking for a Business Opportunity to teach them how to become successful. I have my static pages that provide general information about the opportunity but have a blog as well.

So how do you connect your blog to your opportunity and what do you blog about?

Your blog is the GIVE. Your static pages and lead capture forms are the TAKE! So in your blog posts give your thoughts, your advice, your expertise, what you have learned, strategies, results, polls, etc. In order to be effective at blogging for leads you must have great content. Content that brings value to your readers yet enticing them to want to learn more. For example: I wrote a blog post called Top 3 Ways How I Make Money. In that post I speak of ways that someone looking to generate an income doing something similar to what I am doing can gain from my content. So I offer free advice. There is no reason to hide my knowledge from anyone. Chances are, if they read the post and want to know what I do, they will contact me. Bingo, there’s a lead. It seems as the more open I am with my results and my expertise as an Entrepreneur, the more traffic I get and the more leads come in. Give and Get!

Also, if I have a blog post that I feel is good article content, I will submit it to article submission sites such as Ezine Articles and Article Base. Most article submission sites allow you to add links into your text that point back to your site. Find the appropriate keywords that fit your blog post and link it back to that post or a post with similar content on your blog. They will visit your blog and chances are, will get curious and look around your site a bit. If you have a contact form or lead capture form that is visible and user friendly, they just might fill that sucker out. Also, you have your author bio and your authors box just below your articles with links pointing back to your site.

So where do I put my contact forms and lead capture forms you ask? I have a contact form directly under each individual blog post, right before my Adsense ads. How simple have I made it for my readers to fill out the form? I also have forms in the sidebar of almost every static page I have. Also, I have a “Contact Us” page with a link for that page in my header. If someones interest is spiked, they feel they would like to learn more, it is very simple for them to request more info.

The easier your blog is to navigate, the more user friendly it is, the more leads you will get. Some visitors get overwhelmed with content and will leave the site within seconds. So make your blog content visible, legible, free of errors, and with value and after some time and consistency your blog will be a lead generating fool!

Search Engine Optimization is a great way to market your blog. Now I know you can do a search on SEO and get a huge variety of information on what is most important. There is definitely not a shortage of information out there. It’s just doing it that is so tasking. Remember, to have the results you desire or to have something you have never had, like search engine rankings, you must do something you have never done! Search Engine Optimization is fairly simple, just time intensive.

Once your site is optimized, I feel that powerful content and link building are the most powerful tools in SEO. The better your content, and the more of it, the better your chances are of getting listed in the search engines. When I speak of link building, I am referring to the number of sites that link back to you site or blog. One of the best ways to get links on other high ranking websites is to create a profile on that site. So I have compiled a list of 10 blog directories to submit your blog to. Create a profile, add a link back to your website where ever possible. Most sites that allow you to create a profile will have a designated place for you site. So here they are:

1. http://www.blogtopsites.com
2. http://www.blogtoplist.com
3. http://www.topblogarea.com
4. http://www.blogratedirectory.com
5. http://topofblogs.com
6. http://www.bloglines.com
7. http://www.mynewblog.net
8. http://technorati.com
9. http://www.blogarama.com
10. http://www.globeofblogs.com

There you have it. This will give you a head start on getting your blog out there and getting some links coming back to your site. Make sure you place your blog in the appropriate category and also have some quality content on your blog.

I know there are many more blog sumbission sites out there on the net. I have provided just a handful. What other submission sites would you recommend?