How many of you have seen the commercial about “freecreditreport.com?” I guess the better question would be, “How many of you have not seen it?” It’s a service that allows you to check your credit report for free. Awesome right!? You get to see how behaved you have been in the alternate universe of credit and what your borrowing ability is.

So answer this one question: Is your credit report important to you?

Let me make it easier for you. What is credit used for? Come on…this is easy. The answer is simple. It’s to get into more debt! See! I told you it would be an easy answer. You strive to have good credit so that you can get that new car and get into more debt. It’s used to leverage what little cash flow you have coming in so that you can afford that new car or the nice home, right?

Credit is used by 90-95% of the worlds population to get into debt and it’s funny, the answer to this question varies depending on the way you use money. So is that really what you were thinking? Is that your final answer? Do you maintain a good credit score to get into more debt?

Very few people look at a credit score as opportunity. A tool for leverage. Frankly, most people have no interest in looking at their credit score because quite frankly, it’s not too pretty! It’s not something they use correctly so they don’t see the value in maintaining it. At the same time, some people absolutely stress out about having a good credit score out of fear of non-compliance to the credit system. Having bad credit means they’re slackers and can’t handle their money.

Some people have no need for a good credit report because they have enough cash flow. Others have bad credit that know it’s value but took a risk and lost.

My advice with credit….don’t let it consume or dictate your choices. Don’t become so uptight about maintaining a good credit score that you lose site of your ambition. Use it to leverage your financial situation. For a very small portion of the masses, credit isn’t used to get into more debt. That’s not the mindset behind it. It’s used as leverage to create an increase in cash flow instead of a lengthened payment plan.

The last time I checked, the definition of credit didn’t contain the word “Stretch” in it. Meaning, don’t use it to stretch a small paycheck, use it to make the paycheck larger the next time it comes in!

As many of you know I am a home based business entrepreneur and have been working from home for the last 5 years. Every once in a while I have people who want to know why I chose to get involved in a home business instead of doing some kind of brick and mortar business. The answer is simple, it’s all about lifestyle for me. I wanted so much more than just the bi-weekly pay check with two weeks of paid vacation. That’s a life of misery. I wanted financial freedom and the time freedom to enjoy it. I wanted to be at home, to be my own boss and set my own schedule. That’s why I choose to stay right where I am. It’s lucrative, it has given me lifestyle and I am my own boss. What more could you ask for?

So as you all know, a business requires marketing. I do several things for my marketing but my major source of lead generation is through my self-hosted WordPress blog. I share tips on mindset, personal development and business opportunity and by doing so, people naturally become interested in what I do. For me, it generates some of the highest quality leads one can get. If they like my content, chances are, they will enjoy my business as well. The perfect lead! Qualified with a common interest.

With my WordPress blog, I have certain plugins I use to promote my content and extend its capabilities. If you have any good ideas for new plugins, I’d sure like to try them out. They are as follow:

• Platinum SEO Pack – Prepares your blog for Search Engine Optimization
• All in one Adsense – Enables the all popular ad serving network of Google to place relevant ads on your site. I also use it to place a contact form directly following each of my blog posts.
• Twitter Tools – Connects your blog with your Twitter account and updates your Twitter account every time you publish a post.
• WPing.fm – This plugin makes ‘Twitter Tools’ and ‘Wordbook’ nearly worthless. It uses a service called Ping.fm to automatically send a status update every time a blog post is published with a link back to your post.
• WordPress Automatic Upgrade – This doesn’t necessarily assist in extending my blog but is a very convenient plugin. The name should be pretty self explanatory.
• Vipers Video Quicktags – This makes posting videos to your blog posts easy!
• Google XML Sitemaps – This will aid you in a few things. It helps you track the health of your blog by seeing how Google, Bing and Yahoo search bots view your site. It also gets your site indexed with the major search engines quickly.
• Add to Any -This is a social bookmarking plugin that allows your readers to quickly share your content on various social sites around the web.
• Stray Random Quotes – I love quotes and love to share them. This is a plugin that will easily allow you to add quotes to your blog in various locations. Have the quotes rotate, stay the same or change with each visit.
• Wordbook – Updates your facebook account with every published, edited or revised post and/or page.
• Yet Another Related Post Plugin – Enables your readers to get deeper into your archived posts. It shows posts with similar tags and topics below the post they are currently reading.

Feel free to look them up in the “plugins” section of your WordPress back office to see what they do. Each of them play a significant role in my marketing campaign.

Just as periods of time throughout history have been named for their accomplishments, such as the Ice Age and the Industrial Age. With the creation of the Internet and the ease of communication around the globe, today can honestly be considered the Information Age. Passing information from one person to the next or finding information on any conceivable subject is just a click of the button away. On top of the Encyclopedias, media, dictionaries and other sources of recorded facts and information, there are blogs full of the wisdom of millions of professionals in every different profession. It is literally impossible for someone with access to the internet to be ignorant, unless by choice.

All is good when it comes to learning right? But there is one principle that always stands true with everything: “To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.” Everything has it’s opposite. Good and Bad, Right and Wrong. With all this accurate information readily available, it is sometimes difficult to decipher what is legitimate and what is not. With all the good information available, there is the opposite…..bad information.

I know you have all heard the phrase: “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet!” I know! You are reading this on the internet! You are and have always been entitled to your own opinion, and so is everyone else. That’s why what you read on the internet is not always fact, or as accurate as it should be. Between the self proclaimed guru’s and professionals out there, confusion can set in. Look at the Network Marketing industry. You can find good and bad on just about any company large enough to be on the map. Who do you believe? Is the information you are reading right now correct and true? Can you trust David Allred? How do you know that I am not filling your head full of crap right now?

Guys, there is a way to gain clarity and to decipher what’s right! I have always operated on a core set of principles. These principles are based on religion, common sense and my personal education. These core values are impenetrable. They remain as the source of sorting through all the misinformation out there. What seems right to Joe may not be right for John and what’s right for me is not right for you.

Here’s a prime example that I am sure many of you can relate to. Do you remember the movie “The Secret?” It was a huge phenomena that many people connected with and many people disagreed with. The Law of attraction is a true principle to me regardless to other people’s opinions. The part that didn’t sit well with me, was the fact that the “Universe” is the energy behind the law of attraction. Being religious, I know that is GOD. So instead of completely disagreeing with the entire documentary, I took what I knew to be true according to my core values and used it to my advantage. I left the rest. My core values are the pattern that I compare everything to. When they don’t measure up, they don’t hold weight.

My advice is this….don’t be confused about who you are. You know! All you are searching for are ways to add to the person you already are. Establish your core values, get some education on how things work, and add to that. The things that measure up, keep…and the things that don’t, leave. In fact, I am in a business opportunity of media. Positive media and Personal Education is the way to gain clarity on what these core operating values are. It all starts with a DVD called “Know for Yourself” and moves into a higher level of learning that will teach principles of success, value and surety.

If you knew how to gain clarity on every bit of information you become exposed to….whether accurate or not, would that be something that would benefit you? It has been priceless for me.

I’ve compiled a few pictures here for a real quick survey. Look at the pictures below and tell me which view you would prefer while working.

Which workspace suits you best?

Workspace #1

Workspace View #2 – Supervisor of Workspace #1

Workspace View #3

Workspace #4 – Getting Better!

Workspace #5 – Very Nice!

Workspace #6 – Priceless! Working from Home!

So which of these work spaces looks the most appealing to you and which of these spaces are you somewhat currently in? Man, if everyone could just get this one concept: You have just as much of a choice to not work where you want as you do in working exactly where you want! So I chose work spaces #5 and #6 nearly 5 years ago. I used to work in something similar to work space #3. I think I definitely upgraded!

So you might ask the question: Is a home based business all it’s chalked up to be? The answer for me: YES! The answer for you: (Fill in the blank)!

I know that this is kind of an off the wall post, but honestly, how many of you have actually husked a coconut? I mean literally picked one up off the jungle floor and with some short of a stationary sharp object, husked a coconut? Now all of you who live in places where coconuts grow, you can’t answer these questions. That’s just cheating. That’s like asking me if I have ever blown up a cactus with a shotgun or “accidentally” hit a Jack Rabbit on the highway(I apologize in advance for my destructive nature at times…I’m a guy). This was my first one and I was pretty excited about it, obviously.

So the setting is on the Big Island of Hawaii this past summer. We were on the Hilo side of the Island and were there in Hawaii for about two weeks. Danny Hawman, a good friend of mine and partner in business, was the camera man. Enjoy the lifestyle, do things you have never done before, otherwise, what’s the point?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7drNgTwYbM[/youtube]

The one concept you must always remember when setting a true long term goal is…would you literally chop off your arm to achieve it? Would you “Burn your boats!” Is it something that means that much to you that you would sacrifice things that you currently have in your life to be able to obtain it? You must become emotionally attached to the outcome.

I think that the reason most people never ever actually get to live their dreams is the fact that they just don’t know how to see that far. Some common goals you might hear in others is the desire to get out of debt, replace their income, have a little extra money, become filthy stinking rich or just find a home business that works. In this business, most people set income goals. “I want to make $100,000 in the next 6 months. When I do that I will be rolling in success.” Great! That’s a good mark to hit, but what about the how, what and who of your goal. Meaning, HOW will you feel when you reach that goal, what will be different in your life when you do and who is going to be there to share this moment with you. When setting goals or visualizing your future self, people don’t really attach themselves emotionally to the outcome because they leave out the details. The big, fat,  juicy details are the ingredients that make these things real. The details are the things which inspire emotion and emotion inspires a solid connection.

It is a pretty simple concept. Think about the last time you caught whiff of a smell that reminded you of something you had experienced in the past. Whether it was a perfume, a fresh baked turkey, a nasty smell or a baked apple pie, that smell brought up a powerful emotion that triggered something in your brain that wanted to have whatever it was that you once had in the past.

As people, very little of the things we do are done in the absence of emotion. When shopping for the new home, the car, the LCD TV or the new girlfriend, they all involve a degree of emotion. The less emotion involved, the less desire there is to achieve the goal.

Most of the time, the ones who fail in business, relationships, hobbies or anything of this nature, it’s because they weren’t really emotionally attached to the outcome, they were only emotionally attached to the short term results. For example, in my business, I place advertisements throughout the internet and interview people who are looking to earn income from home. At times, everyone I interview fits the profile of who I am looking to mentor and at other times, nobody seems to fit the mold and I get nowhere that day. I could dwell on that, get depressed and possibly become stagnant in my business. That’s being attached to the short term results. But if I am emotionally attached to the outcome, the thing way up there that is an accumulation of all my short term results, then I have the willpower to carry on and move upward and onward.

So how do we emotionally attach ourselves to the outcome? It’s simple….it’s the BE-DO-HAVE concept. Become the person you want to be, you will then do the things that person does and have the things that person has. It’s all in the emotional connection…..the BIG FAT JUICY DETAILS. If you want that $100,000 income, what will that income provide for you, IN DETAIL. Okay, so you want a new Ferrari, what does it look like? Have you driven one yet? NO?! Why not? How does it feel, in my case, when the wind rushes across your bald head in that new convertible? Can you see the look on everyone’s face as you drive down the street? How does your wife look in the passenger seat? These are the things that connect you to your future self. The BEING.

Emotionally attached to the outcome

So here are some easy action steps to assist you in becoming emotionally connected to your outcome:

• First, set aside time every single day to visualize the outcome, not the short term results, but the outcome. Example: You don’t just want to get out of debt, you want to live in a 5 bedroom 4 bath cabin in Durango Colorado, have a Denali in your 4 car garage, a pair of snowmobiles and 5 acres of land to ride them on. Getting out of debt is a short term result of this vision for your future self.
• Get a taste of your future, a smell or something to connect you to it…something physical that inspires emotion. Example: Remember the smell example? Take a trip to Durango, rent some snow skis, tour a 5 bedroom home, take a deep breath while out amongst the pines. Make it real! These smells, the memories, they will all come back to you when you visualize and it will become real.
• Now just work in reverse. What must you do to make this happen? What are the short term results that will stack up on top of each other and ultimately land you right where you want to be?

The process of attaching yourself emotionally to your goals is simple and natural….but just like everything else, it requires immediate action!