Is Richard Branson teaching a class on network marketing?

No, he isn’t.

Honestly, since I have never even seen anything published by him on the subject, I couldn’t honestly say what he thinks about the industry.

But I have built a large part of my life around the study of successful people and success itself and key fundamentals hold true regardless of the industry.  If you take a look at Sir Richard’s life and look at how he’s lived it and how he runs   his businesses, you will find many nuggets to pull out for your daily use.  Assuming you are a network marketer, these lessons can support you in growing a massive, long term business…and enjoy every step of the ride.

Take Risks
If Branson’s life has been about anything it’s been about taking the leap first, then figuring out what to do.  Sure, he has planned and executed extremely well, but throughout his career he was constantly faced with challenges.  Those challenges always brought choice.

Branson has consistently chosen the biggest possible direction, regardless of whether he knew exactly how he was going to do it at the time.  He’s followed the motto – commit first, then figure it out.

We often think we need to study this, learn that, be this or be that before we can really get after growing a huge business.  Just go for it.  Life rewards the courageous.

Push Through Your Perceived Limits
Branson can almost be viewed as an adventure extremist. Whether it’s the hot air balloon journey’s attempting to circumnavigate the globe or the transatlantic crossing in an open hull Hobie cat, he has constantly push his own personal limits.  He’s not only done the above feats once, but numerous times.  He’s a man that, even still at 60 years old, is constantly pushing himself to learn more, do more, become more and achieve more.

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Lot’s of people pump out great content and if you do that long enough in our wonderfully connected small online world, you will build up a tribe of followers.  In the fast response world of social media, if you are doing something good…someone is going to tell other people about you.

Well, what if you want to speed up that process?

What if you want to aggressive build followers so you can grow your business?

Here are some fantastic tools that can support your efforts, save you time, give you a much broader audience to speak to and ultimately…build your subscriber list faster than Joey Chestnut scarf’s done hotdogs.

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When did it happen?  I really can’t recall the time…but it did.  It happened.

Manscaping became popular.  It’s apparently the norm of twenty somethings, thirty somethings and even forty somethings.

I think the baby boomers are safe…I just can’t see it.  Or perhaps I just don’t want that visual of Dad going to town with his clippers.  Ha!  Now each of you has a visual.  Go away, go away, get out of my head I say!

I sent a Facebook post out the other day to take the pulse of people and see what their thoughts were on the whole issue of trimming the lower forty…it was interesting.

For the most part, both men and women seem to prefer some male pruning.  There were a few holdouts…still preferring the “natural look.”  I don’t know what’s natural about having to hack your way through a jungle to find what you are looking for…but that’s probably saying too much!

I suppose this day was coming, right?

Men have for years wanted their women neat and tidy and apparently this is one area women have put their foot down and are demanding equality.  It’s not equal pay for equal work…but it’s a start.

I love our gender but admittedly, we often use a double standard when it comes to appearance.

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With the New Year upon us, planning is everywhere.  Everyone is talking about it.  New Year’s resolutions are like the ultimate peer pressure for success.

The “Success Drug Dealer” on the playground coaxing all of the kids, “Come on, everyone is doing it, plan some goals.  Just try it.  Johnny planned some goals yesterday…you want to be like Johnny, don’t you?”

We have heard all of the success quotes on planning.

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

“To be prepared is half the victory.”

“It pays to plan ahead, it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”  (that is assuming you believe there actually was an ark but that is another story entirely!)

Planning is essential.  Planning is important.  Planning supports the effort and energy you put out.

But I want to caution you to not get stuck underneath the weight of your plans that you lose your ability to follow creative inspiration, intuition and purposeful impulsiveness.

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Remember high school? For some people it was at absolute blast and for others it was four years of torturous hell. For most people it was some of both.

What I remember most about high school was the feeling of not quite fitting in. I was popular and all and had many external successes, but as you know, our mind often creates an entirely different reality.

I spent a lot of energy trying to be like other people that I thought were cooler, better looking, smarter, funnier, had a better body…you fill in the blank.

It wasn’t until years later as I dove into personal development work that I found out many, many people experienced very similar things. Like me, tons of people lived (and are still living) through comparing themselves to others.

What’s the deal with that?

It’s fricken exhausting, isn’t it?

Why do we run from our own self-expression?

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Something strange has happened to me recently.  I started feeling stuff.

I started feeling stuff that I didn’t know was there.

You see…it was about 14 months ago that I got divorced from my wife of 6 years.  By divorce standards it was rather simple and over quickly.  We agreed on things and got it done.

It’s not really necessary for me to go into what happened that caused our divorce because it is always cumulative to some degree.  What happened isn’t nearly as important as how I felt about what happened.

I was obviously angry – really, really angry and hurt.  My family was being turned upside down, but tried to balance it all and not get caught up in all of the emotion as I didn’t think it would serve me well.

I processed a lot, but that was more intellectual than emotional.

I am not sure if it is due to the holidays or what, but for the first time since my divorce, I am experiencing sadness.

It just sort of hit me one day.

It’s been a bit painful.

I am in a coaching program that has a mastermind group and we got onto this conversation the other day about feeling our feelings, shifting off of them, learning our lessons and our perception of it all.

Here is my take.

You have to feel.  You have to give yourself the space to connect with what is going on for you.  Feel it…and feel it fully.

For me, I want to embrace all of my emotions and not stuff or deny any of them.  If I am sad, I get to feel sadness.

If I am angry, I get to feel anger.  If I am joyous, I get to feel joy.

In my experience, denying the emotion does not get rid of it; it just tucks it away to resurface later. By the contrast, the times when I really let myself feel however I am feeling fully…I often get to the other side of it.

When I went through my divorce, I never felt sad.  I am not sure I needed to at the moment, but I certainly never let myself feel it.  I just got pissed and moved on.

So often we seek to deny our emotions and get back to “our priorities and things that really matter.”  I believe that there are times when feeling our emotions fully is what matters most.

I have so spent much time in personal development programs that talk about “shifting” so you aren’t feeling anything that isn’t productive.  “Shift,” “Get over it,” “Get off of it.”

Sound familiar?

Feeling an emotion fully is the only thing I have ever experienced that has allowed me to be done with it.

I mean, really done with it.

If we go back to my divorce, let’s face it.  My family broke up…that is fricken sad.  I never felt it…I buried it in anger.  It came back and it paralyzed me.

So feel people feel!

Don’t judge your emotion or why you are feeling it.  Just know that’s what you are supposed to be experiencing.  Feel it fully so you can see clearly from the other side.

Then, once you have given yourself that gift, start looking at how you can frame the experience for your greatest learning and value.

Choose a world-view that empowers you.  Choose to see what value you have brought into your life through this experience.

Feel it fully.  Let it go.  Embrace the learning.

Please comment and share your thoughts and feel free to send this to anyone you “feel” would benefit.

Did you know that it is estimated that we are now exposed to more information in a single day than our parents were in an entire month at the same age?

Take that same comparison back a generation to your grandparents and the reference point is an entire year.

That’s insane, right.

Consider the following: Facebook with all the newsfeeds, Twitter, YouTube, Good old fashioned TV, magazines, RSS feeds, Google alerts, emails, the internet in general, Iphones, smart phones, Ipods…it’s daunting.

But it’s true.  So much, so very fast.

There is no place that this is more evident than in the world of online marketing and social media.  I just came on the scene over the last year or so and I have been studying feverishly.   I tell my clients and subscribers… “I know more than most and less than many.”

When you are trying to build a business online…it’s tough to know where to start.

Who do you listen to?  There are so many ‘experts.’  Who is right?  Which direction do you go?

So many people come online and try to find a quick fix.  That’s not the right mindset.  Business online, in many ways, is the same as offline.  You need to commit to learning a core set of skills and you need to provide lasting value for your customers.   Most importantly, you need to continuously learn how to become better at doing both.

Some people think they can hide behind an online veil.  That may be true for a while, but if you want to build a long term, successful business, you need to be authentic in all of your communications and business dealings.

It’s easy to see who is putting out content that they really believe is valuable and who is putting out content that is simply to generate traffic.   The people I am going to share with you do both consistently by focusing on the first.  Their content rocks and people love them for it.

HERE ARE MY 5 TOP INTERNET MARKETERS OF 2009.

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I’ve been divorced for about 14 months now.  There have been some good times and some tough ones.  That’s to be expected.  There are more of both to come and I am prepared for that.  That’s not just divorce…that’s just life.  It ebbs and flows.

Having joint custody of my son Brennan has been an amazing experience.   I know I am a better Dad now than I was when I was married.  My attention is more focused, I get to spend more time with him and I believe my intention has shifted to one that is much more appreciative and grateful for the time I do get to have with him.

Brennan turns 5 in January and for those of you who have kids that have passed that age…it’s really a great time.  He is becoming a little man, getting more expressive everyday and going through shoes like nobody’s business.

The other day, Brennan really threw me for a loop.

It was our first day back together after 5 days with his Mom and we were getting ready for bed and I said, “I really missed you when you were gone.”

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There’s a cultural phenomenon that’s been sweeping the land:  poker as a spectator sport.  My gosh, is this a great country, or what?  Poker is America’s newest spectator sport.

It gives new meaning to the term “couch potato.”  We can now sit in the comfort of our living rooms and watch, with no physical exertion on our own, men and women sit around a table and play cards.

Let me be the first to admit that I find myself occasionally hooked by the high drama of watching people playing poker for big money.  Poker’s got everything – deception, intrigue, fear, and a generous dose of showing off.  

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