Ego is a powerful thing. Every human likes to believe that they will “not go quietly into the night.” We like to visualize ourselves as the super hero. Look at our childhood icons: Batman, Superman, Ironman, whatever man. There is something in all of us that wants to single-handedly take on the world.
One man can have a huge impact on the world, think Martin Luther King. Ask any poker player in the world “Who is the best?” and they will answer “I am” 99% of the time. Roger Federer is the greatest tennis player in history based on his work ethic. Every one of these examples shows the importance of individual confidence and laser focused determination. What you rarely hear about though, is the team of people that got superstar “over the top.”
The quote “There is power in numbers” is applicable in everything, especially business. When I met my partner Jay five years ago I had no idea the impact he would have on my life. When I met my other partner Alan two years ago we didn’t even like each other. Now we are like brothers. Each new person I have connected with has added another brick to my foundation. In some cases, they have been another weapon in my arsenal. Andy Andrews calls this your “board of directors.” If you can be completely honest with yourself, evaluate your skill sets, and figure out where your weaknesses are, you can begin to create your own “board of directors” to shore up your leaks. You should always have something to offer in return. A kind word and compliment may be all you have but that may also be enough.
I have said many times before: “Your net worth will be determined by your network.”

Go build your army.

Aaron Parkinson

The U.S. is going into an unbelievable death spiral. Even with the Dow up the unemployment numbers are staggering. This is why I preach entrepreneurialism. I believe that controlling your own future is not only your safest bet, but the best way to stay nimble and profit from this economic situation. I found this video  below showing the staggering picture of unemployment right now. It is one of the scariest things I have seen in a long time

http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html

Be prepared for what is coming. You have an option to profit or perish.

To your success,

Aaron Parkinson

How Congruent Are you Being?

I love to talk about three things, especially after a couple glasses of good wine. The topics are: personal creative power, the psychology of marketing, and wealth creation. I think the reason these topics are so fun to discuss is the fact that they are so intertwined. You cannot create one without understanding the other. As I sit on the deck of a house I rented on Lake Austin, my mind keeps coming back to the concept of congruency and how it relates to all three. There a couple different definitions for the word “congruent” but I think this one is the most relevant for this situation:

In psychology and NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming), congruence could be defined as rapport within oneself, or internal and external consistency, perceived by others as sincerity or certainty.

Look at the different words in this definition and how they apply to each topic. Let’s start with personal creative power. It is staggering how much of this we possess and how little most of us understand it. Combine creative thought with  persistent action, and then fuel the two with emotion, and you have the eternal recipe for “miracles”. Take Thomas Edison for example. He knew he would revolutionize the world if he could create a sustainable lightbulb. He actually created many forms that “worked” before he created the one we know now. The problem was they burnt out within a day, a week, or a month. Who wants to change light bulbs everyday? He tried over 10,000 substances before he found that bamboo worked the longest and the rest is history. Let’s look at how congruent Edison was with what he desired. As far as personal power is concerned, Edision developed the idea, so he “created” something out of nothing. The internal rapport was always 100% convinced that he could do it. He had both internal and external consistency in his message. Even when people mocked him after his 9000th try, he never waivered. It takes a lot of energy to break through the bonds of limitation and that is why a lot of people give up. Edison’s actions stayed congruent with his internal vision.

Now I said there were three topics, so let’s look at how the Edison example applies to marketing. Edison knew he could provide one of his first light bulb models and receive unimaginable praise. Remember, everyone was still reading by candle. A light bulb that could work for a day had amazing commercial ramifications. Edison, however, had a much bigger vision of how he was going to market his invention. He knew that if he could create a bulb that lasted for hundreds of hours, instead of just a few, he would have a product that the whole world could afford. He could have cashed in early. He chose to stay the course. His certainty was unshakeable. He eventually created a bamboo based filament and a bulb that lasted for hundreds of hours.

The third part to the congruency equation is wealth creation. If you look at the trials and tribulations of Edison it is surprising that he persisted so long. It is even more surprising, to some, that he didn’t take the easy money. When you truly realize the value of what you offer, when you really grasp the power of your creative abilities, and when you are congruent with every thought and every action, the creation of wealth is a guarantee. Wealth is simply a byproduct of you staying true to your vision and providing value to the world. I have always thought of it as a game. If I set my sites on a financial goal, all I have to do is work backwards down to the smallest actions. Combine that with passion and persistence and you are completely congruent.

To your success,

Aaron Parkinson

I was recently hanging out on the beach with my buddy Gregg Davison and we got in a fairly heated discussion about the concept of “fate”. Here is the definition of “fate” from Wikipedia:

Fate refers to a predetermined course of events.[1] It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed natural order to the cosmos.

Now, I realize that a big portion of the world believes that we were all put here for a specific purpose. I just think it’s BS. If there is one thing I have learned in my fight from the bottom to the top it is this: There is no “pre-written story” for you. There is no divine hand that will determine the rest of your life. I actually think “fate” is just a convenient excuse. It is a cosmic cop-out for why people fail. Think about it. When things go wrong it is a lot easier to point the finger at god and say “It’s your fault. You did this to me.” The thought of actually taking personal responsibility for ones life can be very sobering. Most people don’t want to face it. Sadly, by taking this stance, most people miss out on the single most powerful force in the universe.

That is the power of choice.

When you actually take responsibility for all the things that have happened in your life, good or bad, you make a choice to control your life. If you can admit that all your downfalls have been the result of your specific choices then it becomes easy to believe that better choices will create new results. I once had a friend that believed so strongly in the concept of personal responsibility that he told me if he was hit by a drunk driver he wouldn’t blame the driver he would blame himself. He explained to me that it was his choice to walk on that street, to pay better attention, or to leave his house at all, therefore, he was responsible for the outcome.

Now obviously, that is an extreme example.

A more obvious example is the guy who is undereducated, watches too much TV, drinks too much beer, and cannot figure out why he is broke.  Is he unlucky? Are these the “cards he was dealt?”

There is no mystery here. This guy has created his own situation. His actions and habits over the last five years have created his reality. This was not due to fate, it was due to choice. I believe that the choices we make every day create our fate. Do you want more money? Great. Start studying people who have done that. More importantly, study their habits. Lay out a plan and a time frame. Start spending your nights educating yourself instead of watching TV. Start looking at every result, good or bad, and figure out how you manifested it. The strength you will begin to feel is intoxicating. For the first time in your life you will know what it means to be “empowered.”

The next time someone tells you “it was fate”, you will know better.

To your success,

Aaron Parkinson

Five years ago, when I was still working as a nightclub bouncer, I was fortunate enough to be invited to co-host a conference call. I needed about $20,000 to expand my business and I was talking about the things I was doing in an attempt to raise the money. Some of them were downright brutal. My wife suggested we sell her wedding ring. I asked people for money while I was checking IDs at the nightclub. There was no such thing as the word shame. The call host asked me why I was willing to go to such lengths. My explanation was simple: My dream life was so great that I was willing to burn everything I had if it meant I even had a chance of living it. Looking back on that attitude it seems a bit Kamikaze but I have a lot more to lose now. That conviction is what allowed me to make the tough sacrifices: the time, the money, and the risk. It allowed me to find money for my business when I was borrowing money for baby formula.

Now I live the life of my dreams. In fact, I live the life of most people’s dreams.

The funny thing is people that people think I am an extreme. A fluke. I disagree. A new millionaire is being made every day in America because of the internet. Anybody can tap into its power. The sad thing is that most people think it is too much of a sacrifice. The sacrifice I am talking about is the time it takes to educate themselves. It might take as long as five years to make it big.

Or….here is another option.

The average salary in the National Football League is $740,000. Now I know what you’re thinking. I don’t want to play football but just follow me for a second. Imagine that football was the only thing you were good at. Imagine you devoted your whole life to being the best.

Your odds of making it to the NFL are 1 in 11.,235. Assuming you do make it in, the average career lasts 2.7 years. Once your ridiculously short career is over you have this awesome fact to contest with:

The average NFL player lives TWENTY YEARS LESS than the average human. You read that right. For the glory of 2.7 years and 2 million dollars you get to live 20 years less. Not to mention that money has to last you the rest of your life.

How does that glamourous option look now?

Let’s go back to option A. You sacrifice a couple years at most. You find a niche that you can get good at. You make money for the rest of your life because your finances are based on your brain and not your body. You live wherever you like because the internet is totally portable. You create your own brand and sell whatever you like whenever you want. You isolate yourself from any recession because the internet keeps growing.

So what is holding you back from your dreams? Is it you or the “perceived challenges.” If you answered “perceived challenges” it may be time to rethink the quality of your dreams.

To your success,

Aaron Parkinson

My life is ever-changing. Between CarbonCopyPRO, people approaching me with new ideas, and my other interests, I am always on the go. This month, however, has seemed a bit overboard. I have moved my family to another country, set up new bank accounts, applied for work permits, and put my daughter into a new school. In addition that we have two L1 events for CarbonCopyPRO and are scheduled to have 1500 people at our marketing event in November. Yes, I am busy. As I started to feel my shoulders tightening and my chest getting taught I took a moment to step back and reflect. There have been a few key times in my life where I have felt things were tougher than they needed to be. These times all revolved around massive changes in my life.

I think the average human retracts in these situations. I see it all the time. One setback after another occurs and the reason that initially motivated the change takes a back seat to the current stress level. This is what is known as the “elastic band effect”. If you have never heard of the elastic band effect then let me explain. Human beings are creatures of habit, both mentally and physically. When we try to create change we have to unseat all the established routines in our life. We also have to rewire our brain to do something different. As we begin to stretch the elastic band further and further it gets tighter and tighter. At the time where the most change is occurring the tension of the elastic band becomes almost unbearable. This can manifest itself it many different setbacks in your life. At the tightest point, most people allow the elastic band to pull them back into there old habits. Back to there “comfort zone”.

I have chosen the other path.

When that elastic band gets tightest and times get toughest I choose to be even more committed to the result.  I refuse to lose. Some people call this stubborn or egomaniacal. I call it greatness. This is the tipping point of what separates the best from the rest. That ability to endure pain that one extra minute, hour, or day. Eventually that elastic has no choice but to snap. When that happens, you experience a euphoria like no other. You realize your own strength and what you can truly accomplish. When I see it happen for members of our community it is my moment of pure joy. It is that “a ha” moment.

And then I tell them to begin the stretch again.

I saw these stats the other day and they were eye opening. If anyone thinks bailout plans and social programs will empower the world just looks at who actually FUNDS it all.

*The top 1% of American taxpayers pay 40% of the income taxes.

*The top 5% of taxpayers pay over 60% of the taxes.

*The top 10% of taxpayers pay over 70% of the taxes.

*The top 25% of taxpayers pay over 90% of the taxes.

*Even more mindboggling, the top 1% of taxpayers pay more taxes than the bottom 95% combined.

* In New York City, America’s financial capital, 40,000 taxpayers pay virtually 100% of the income taxes for a city of 8 million people.

This is why I encourage everyone to become an entrepreneur. Not only will you save yourself but you are the fuel on which all successful countries run.

To the courageous entrepreneur,

Aaron Parkinson

Wow,

I got the email below this morning and I nearly fell of my chair. I have been a huge fan of The Rich Jerk for years. His website is HILARIOUS. (www.therichjerk.com) He is a total A-hole so when I saw him endorsing my wife’s book my jaw hit the floor. It may be one of the funnier emails I have ever read:

re: Watch what these two kids have to say…
I think I might becoming compassionate…probably not:

The two kids talking video

Dear Loser,

Aaaaahh kids. Where do I start with this tasty
topic? 

When you are a rock star like “yours truly” there
is no room for children. In fact, most of the
time I think kids are only good for three things:

1) Fetching me beer from the fridge
2) Mowing my lawn
3) Hitting me with child support law suits

The biggest issue I have with children of this
generation is that their parents are idiots. Kids
have no discipline, manners, or self confidence.

If there is one thing I know lots about it is
self-confidence. It has made me what I am today.

When my friend Liz approached me and said she was
going to write some books about personal
development for children I was a little annoyed.

My first question was “Why haven’t you slept with
me yet?” My second question was “Why should I
help you?”

She then explained to me that if kids were taught
better life development skills they might grow up
smart enough to buy my products. Now that got my
attention.

Go here to see Liz’s Video:

Liz’s Video

These idiots below are even throwing in all these
bonuses to help her out. The goal is to make Liz
a best seller on Amazon today. I have no clue how
good these bonuses are because I am smarter than
all these people but hey…..it’s free stuff.

(Yes, the industry is pulling hard for
her………)

For ordering two books (one of each copy):

1) Two bonuses from Mike Koenigs of Traffic
Geyser:

* How To Write Your Own Book 
* The Soulmate Kit. (elizabeth2223@gmail.com)

2) One live teleseminar with Liz Parkinson where
she will answer the ten most commonly asked
questions about raising happy, successful
children. (elizabeth2223@gmail.com)

If you order 30 books you will get all of these
bonuses too:

1) A 30 minute consultation with Jimmy Davis, CEO
of MYSTORYMARKETING, on learning how to position
and brand yourself. ($1000
value)(MyStoryPartners@gmail. com)

2) A Free B.I.B from CarbonCopyPRO.com which
includes everything you need to start a business
online. ($400 Value) (elizabeth2223@gmail.com)

3) One month of the VRA letter courtesy of Kip
Herriage. Kip is a former Wall Street guru who
quit ten years ago when he saw the impending
doom. His newsletter and stock recommendations
have had such high returns the last five years in
a row that it is not legal for us to print them.
Yeah, they are that good. ($100
value)(kip@wmitoday.com)

If you have kids, go get these books now at
Go here now to get the books

If you don’t have kids buy
them anyway and give them to some other random
children. It will make the world a smarter place.

Later,

-RJ
(RJ Headquarters)

PS I just saw a kid have one of those “tantrums”
in the grocery store. I am glad I didn’t have my
gun. Order this book now before I do something I
regret. 

Go here now to get the books
.

Dear Readers:

I hope everything is going great in your world. Knowing you all, I am sure it is. I will get right to the point. I have a favor to ask. I know this may seem weird as I have never asked you for a “personal” favor but that is because I never want to cash them in for something unworthy. Today is the first time I feel it is worthy. 

My wife Liz recently wrote and self published two children’s personal developments called “Ronny Rhino”. See the books here: http://sn.im/pg9ej 

She wrote these books to help other mother’s raise confident, well adjusted children. We self published them and they are beautiful. Everyone who has seen them says the the quality is amazing and the stories are great. 

So here is the favor. I want to make Liz’s books a best seller on Amazon. I am sure many of you have seen this done before. My motivation is a little different though. You see, these books are about $7 each and they cost about $6 when you self publish after you take in Amazon’s cut, printing, design, etc. We have about 10,000 books so when we sell them all we will only make about $10,000. There are a lot of people who can use that more than us so we will be giving it to charity.

My motivation is simple. My wife Liz has supported every ambition I have ever had. The last seven years have been a roller coaster and her faith in me has never waivered. (At least outwordly) At one point we were eating Kraft dinner every night and were struggling to afford baby formula. Liz says she went to bed every night thinking “we are going to be poor forever.” But every morning she woke up with a smile on her face and told me that “today would be my day.” There really is no way for me to express how much I love her for that. A year ago she decided to exercise her own creativity and these books are the result of that. I want the spotlight to shine on her for once. She really deserves it. If you guys can help me by buying a copy on Tuesday, August 7th you know how grateful I will be and that I always return my favors. …. this is important.

A lot of my friends have put serious bonuses up. Thanks to all of them!

For ordering two books (one of each copy):

1) Two great bonuses from Mike Koenigs of Traffic Geyser: 1) How To Write Your Own Book and 2) The Soulmate Kit. (elizabeth2223@gmail.com)
2) One live teleseminar with Liz Parknson where she will answer the ten most commonly asked questions about raising happy, successful children. (elizabeth2223@gmail.com)

 If you order 20 books you will get all of these bonuses too:

1) A 1 hour consultation with Jimmy Davis, CEO of MYSTORYMARKETING, on learning how to position and brand yourself. ($1000 value)(MyStoryPartners@gmail.com)
2) A Free B.I.B from CarbonCopyPRO.com which includes everything you need to start a business online. ($400 Value) (elizabeth2223@gmail.com)
3) One month of the VRA letter courtesy of Kip Herriage. Kip is a former Wall Street guru who quit ten years ago when he saw the impending doom. His newsletter and stock recommendations have had such high returns the last five years in a row that it is not legal for us to print them. Yeah, they are that good. ($100 value)<kip@wmitoday.com>

Thanks to everyone for your support.

Aaron Parkinson

I got sent this great article by my friend Brian Martin today. Check it out:

A man in a hot air balloon realised he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, ‘Excuse me,can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago but I don’t know where I am.’The woman below replied, ‘You’re in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You’re between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude.”You must be in Information Technology,’ said the balloonist.

 ’I am,’ replied the woman, ‘how did you know?

”Well,’ answered the balloonist, ‘everything you told me is probably technically correct, but I’ve no idea what to make of your information
and the fact is, I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help at all. If anything, you’ve delayed my trip.’

The woman below responded, ‘You must be in Management.”I am,’ replied the balloonist, ‘but how did you know?”Well,’ said the woman, ‘you don’t know where you are or where you’re going. You have risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hotair. You made a promise, which you’ve no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it’s my f***ing fault.’

Now that is funny.

Aaron Parkinson