Yes, you read that correctly.

If you want to do business through this incredibly viral, wonderfully targetable, highly searchable social platform…you need to at least learn some of the basics to get started.  In this video, which I originally posted through Facebook as a welcome gift to new friends, I cover 3 simple yet powerful strategies that make a world of difference.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s the small things that make the difference.

Then why do the vast majority of people keep searching for that magic bullet, that secret ingredient, that special something to catapult them to success?

Van Gogh said, “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

Vince was a pretty talented guy. You know, Starry Nights, Irisis and like a gazillion other amazing masterpieces. We remember him for great things. Monumental things. Brilliant things.

And yet he says it was all about the small things.

Thoreau said this, “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand. Simplify, simplify.”

Henry was a pretty talented guy too and produced some literary masterpieces on his own.

Now, I am not suggesting you go cut off your ear or go find a cabin in the middle of the woods and close yourself off from the world. I mean, if you think that’s what you need, go for it…but there are likely other routes to take.

In our insanely fast paced world, we often try and do it all. We imagine ourselves into this huge life and often think we are going to get there with one great leap forward as if there is that one thing that will propel us forward into greatness.

It doesn’t work that way.

Of course, there are exceptions. There are those occasional one-hit-wonders in life. There are the Tin Tin’s of business and entrepreneurship. (anyone who didn’t grow up in the 80’s is now Googling “Tin Tin.”)

People who struck it big on seemingly a single attempt. “Kiss Me” by Tin Tin was said to be written in 24 hrs after the band was signed by their label. It’s still on the radio today. Yeah, I know Tin Tin is the guy who went on to form Duran Duran…but he wasn’t at the time…he was just a dude who wrote a song.

It happens…but very, very, very, very rarely. Did I use enough “very’s” to make the point?

More often, it’s the Sinatra’s who make it. I tried to find exactly how many songs he recorded, but it was tough to find the exact number. The most accurate account I could find was 1285.

1285!

And that’s probably a little low.

Wow! That’s a serious body of work. That’s 25+ songs a year over a 50-year career.

That’s enough to make you feel lazy, isn’t it?

It was the countless number of hours writing and recording in the studio, consistently over his career that made The Chairman great.

It was the countless performances he gave to crowds of all sizes that made him great.

When he was first starting, he played rooms where only a dozen people showed up.  He sang his ass off anyway.

It was the thousands of martinis he drank and women he flirted with…

Okay, I got carried away.

So, what’s our lesson here?

Small forwarding, positive actions over time create enduring success.

It’s the seemingly insignificant things that when we do them don’t seem to make a difference that over time either create greatness or perpetuate mediocrity.

In relationships with ourselves and others…

It’s getting off work a little early once a week to pick your kids up from school and spend some uninterrupted time together.

It’s having family dinner consistently together so you can just talk.

It’s bringing home flowers on a Tuesday…that’s not her birthday, anniversary or mother’s day.

It’s rubbing his shoulders without being asked.

It’s setting aside “us time” and “me time” consistently…not just when you can’t take it any more.

It’s meditating, working out and reading…at least a few times EVERY WEEK.

It’s eating that one raw meal a day.

These are all seemingly insignificant things that add up over time…and over time they contribute to the body of work that is our lives.

In business and marketing…

It’s making new contacts and exposures to your business every single day.

It’s putting out 1 single piece of good content online every day.

It’s being of value in the social media space with your dialogue and interactions.

It’s stepping up to lead even when you may not think you are ready.

It’s stretching yourself past your comfort zone…and doing it with joy.

It’s doing the thing NOW, not tomorrow or next week, but NOW!

I know that we sometimes seem to get a lot of conflicting information in the world of personal development. Some advice teaches us to focus on getting the big parts of our lives in order, to focus on vision, to make sure the most important things are our priorities.

These things are all true.

But we don’t get where we are going by leaping the chasm. We get there by putting one foot in front of the other and simply taking a step forward.

It’s really not that hard.

And that’s the challenge.

It’s simple.

So most people miss it.

Do the small things anyway.

Choose what you want. Create the vision. Decide what things need to be done to move your forward towards your goals.

Then just get started…and stay consistent…even when you don’t feel like it.

Hold your vision in mind while focusing on what’s next. What is the next right thing you need to do? Then just do it.

Check it off the To-Do list.

This is so much more than just staying in action. It’s adopting a belief system that success is the culmination of many small influences and actions. It’s “a knowing” that the thing you are doing right now is either moving you closer to or further away from what you want.

Let’s go get it done.

But please, please, please…do it with style. Put YOU into your daily actions. If you are going to show up…SHOW UP!

Show up with 100% of who you are – whether it’s parenting, being intimate, marketing, training, talking to a prospect, learning from a mentor, taking care of yourself, working out, being quiet or making a difference for someone.

So what are you waiting for?

Go get jiggy with it.

Here’s one way right now for you to get jiggy. ReTweet this post for me to your followers. Be valuable for other people and repost a link to this article for your Facebook friends.

Looking forward to seeing your version of “My Way.”

Most people in the U.S celebrate Thanksgiving with massive amounts of heavy, trytophan-laden coma inducing foods.  It’s all good though…if it takes comfort foods to bring families together, I am all for it.

Instead of the normal turkey sandwiches and such that are a common use of the leftovers, here is a great little recipe I created for the most amazing Thanksgiving smoothie.

Use your Vita-Mix or high powered blender.

Ingredients

• Ice
• 1 cup raw almonds
• 2 tablespoons (a nice hunk) of organic peanut butter
• 2 scoops milled flax (optional)
• 1 organic banana
• 1 cup cranberries (they must be cooked, the whole ones are best)
• 1/2 cup wild organic blueberries
• Almond milk – enough to make smooth

Add all the ingredients and about a cup of almond milk to start.  Begin mixing.  As the ingredients start to blend, add more almond milk under the smoothie is to your desire consistency.

Enjoy.

What are your favorite HEALTHY Thanksgiving options?  Go make this smoothie right now and let me know what you think.  It’s off the charts yummy.

So here you are…you have identified your niche.  You are clear about your brand.   You are committed to writing a successful blog.  You sit down at your keyboard to crank out a new post and your start to write.

You publish it and wait.

And wait.

You check your dashboard for your stats.

8 visitors in 3 days.  Ouch.

You swear you can hear crickets chirping in the background somewhere.

“What gives?” you say to yourself.  You think, “This is phenomenal content.”

It may very well be, but it’s a bit like the old adage about a tree falling in the woods, does it actually make a sound if no one is there to hear it?

Of course your blog post still exists if no one is there to read it…but does it even matter?

Blogging has emerged as the center of most online marketers world and it’s incredibly valuable to understand how to cultivate traffic.  If your message is good, which I am sure it is, then the world deserves to hear about it.

Here is a simple introduction to 4.7 powerful strategies to get people running to read your blog faster than a bunch of drunken Scotsman run towards sheep.

1. Keyword Target Your Post – Sometimes great posts create themselves, but other times you create the post after identifying a keyword(s) you want to target.  Take some time and use a free keyword tool like WordTracker or Nichebot Classic to research some of the ideas you have.  You are looking for the wonderful combination of two factors…high search traffic and low competition.  This is the Holy Grail for internet marketing and great organic SEO rankings.

For example, if you were researching “Doggy Day Care” and found that it had 250 searches a day and 320 competitors, but      “Doggy Day Care Services” had 110 searches but only 35 competitors, you may want to go after the keyword with lower competition and dominate the page rankings.

2. Keyword Integration – Once you have identified the keyword phrase you want to go after, you need to integrate it into your post.  For best results, put it in the title of the post such as, “How To Find The Best Doggy Day Care Services In Your Neighborhood.”

It’s not enough to just put your keyword in the title, in order to really write a successful blog post, you must integrate it into your post as well.  Don’t be a keyword whore, but use it as much as possible to maximize your keyword density and improve your rankings.

If you look back over this post, I’ve pimped out my keyword phrase three times already and have a number of supportive phrases.  Unlike the unfortunate streetwalkers, these pimped out keyword phrases will keep working for you day in and day out without ever complaining.

3. Send Your Post To Your Inner Circle Network – my back itches, please scratch it.  Just let me know when you need a little help yourself.  This is a great rule to follow for bloggers.  Establish a group of partners that you appreciate their content and they appreciate yours.  Send your post through to them and ask them to comment on it, share it, Tweet it, Digg it and any other social networking or bookmarking site that lights them up.

Google is a bit like high school.  It’s a huge popularity contest.  If your content is relevant and people start talking, Google will love you.

4. Ask People To Take Action In Your Post – in addition to your inner circle, let all readers know that you would appreciate them sharing your post with others.  Ask them to share it with their networks.  If it’s good content, they should want to.  Content sharing is a great way for people to building up their lists…they may as well use yours.

Once you ask, make sure you provide them the means to do it.  Install a WordPress plug-in like Sociable or Share This to make is simple for people to tell the world about your amazing and successful blog post. <– Pimped out again!

4.7 Write Within Your Brand – Everyone may not agree with this, as there are lots of ways to put content out on the web.  But I think your brand is extremely important and I believe you want it to shine through as much as possible in everything you do.

When you first start writing your blog, it’s easy to get caught up in just writing to write.  You need to give it a bit more consideration than that.  This is a piece of your work…give it your personality.  If you would never ever talk about sheep boffing Scotsman, whores and pimps…then you shouldn’t.

Be you…all the time.  Authenticity is key.  Over time, your tribe will attach themselves to your brand & your style.  That’s what keeps you at the top of their mind and keeps them coming back like Courtney Love to the Betty Ford Clinic.

So, people go get your blog on!  Be creative & have some fun.

Please leave your comments below.  If you feel your network would benefit from this article, please share it with them.  Blow up Twitter.  Plaster it on your wall in Facebook.  Help me get some Google love…I often felt left out in high school…don’t scar me again!

Until next time…

Keith O’Brien

http://authentic-networker.com

There are too many times to count that Brennan’s natural way of being reminds me of some grand lessons of life and the brilliance of being 100% in the moment of who you are. For your enjoyment, I’ve picked my top 9.7.

9.7 – Get excited about life.
Dive into experiences with energy and enthusiasm, as it is often this intention that creates our level of enjoyment and our results.

9 – Explore & Learn.
Take time to stare intensely at how a door opens and closes and what makes it work. Become intimately fascinated with new ideas, concepts, experiences and completely immerse yourself in the learning.

8 – Image isn’t everything.
Who cares if you have oatmeal or ketchup or sweet potato all over your face? Did it taste good? Absolutely!

7 – Make sure you get enough rest.
Sometimes there is nothing better than a power nap. Making time to recharge your batteries can pay huge dividends.

6 – Show your appreciation for the things you love.
Clap, smile, high five, laugh, be in JOY, giggle, squawk, scream…express yourself fully in appreciation for the people and experiences that support your growth and happiness.

5 – Get over it.
Hurt your foot? Who cares! It seemingly stops hurting if someone hands you your favorite toy. Be in your experiences, connect with them, learn from them and move on. Getting stuck in the drama of things in the past robs our ability
to connect with the present moment.

4 – Never take the relationship with your parents for granted.
My son is intimately connected to where I am, what I am doing and what mood I am in. I encourage you to look at how a toddler views his relationship with his parents, how important he feels they are to him and how much he values them…then answer those same three questions for yourself. Any difference?

3 – Believe in your ability to do things you have never done.
Take chances, risk, be bold, be courageous and strive forward with energy and optimism without giving a rat’s ass about what anyone else may think.

2 – If you aren’t getting what you want, stand up for yourself.
When a 4 year old isn’t happy, he’ll let you know. Now I am certainly not condoning how they go about conveying their message every time, but I applaud their commitment to their goals.

1 – Be FearLESS.
Walk around the edge of pools when you don’t know how to swim, play with light sockets, go down stairs at full speed, eat bugs, drink cold smoothies quickly and don’t worry about the brain freeze, walk up to stray dogs and jump off beds that are higher than you are tall. Seriously though, how many times do we let the fear of something stop us in our tracks, petrified by the outcome we make up in our own mind? Acknowledge your fears and go for it anyway!

Thank you, Brennan, may I repay you with the gift of teaching you as many things as you have taught me over your lifetime.